Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Flavoured Tea

All Reviews for Flavoured Tea

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For the last few weeks I’ve been stricken with an odd quandary. At the end of my day, I found myself too tired to brew up tea. Even the herbals. There was a time – not long past – when a good tisane was what the end of the day (or night) required. That ritual fell by the wayside in favor of…well…

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This review is being written in the middle of a heat wave.  Industrial air conditioners around town are failing in the force of the oppressive heat.  The skin on the back of your legs begins to cook the moment you step foot out of the house, causing many to turn and run back into air conditioned houses…

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The NecessiTeas’ selection of rooibos teas reads like a decadent bakery menu. Chiffons and cocoas and various sweet temptations are elements of every item. My first sniff of the Orange Marzipan dry mix sent my taste buds crazy, craving sugar cookies with almond flavoring…

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When I was growing up, my father loved cheesecake-flavored ice cream. Specifically blueberry cheesecake ice cream. So this aroma makes me nostalgic.  And drool.  Because oh my goodness! This tea smells amazing!  Creamy, cheesy, and fruity. I almost want to nibble on the tea leaves it smells so amazing…

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I tend to like tropical tastes. Much to the chagrin of my family, when I order pizza, I usually choose pineapple and ham as toppings. This just grosses people out but I like it. So how about pineapple tastes in tea?…keep that thought in mind, okay now add to it guava. This combination makes…

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I think that one of the best things that ever happened to Earl Grey tea was meeting the vanilla bean.  It must have been movie magic.  I can see it now…

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The smell of the dry tea bag is of a classic Earl Grey tea with bergamot oil. A three minute infusion and the tasting profile are of citrus. No perfume as some EG’s tend to lean. This one needs no milk or other additives. The tea base is smooth, no astringency. Overall…

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Although I normally cut open teabags and steep them loose, I decided to steep this tea in its own bag and why not, Tea Forte has one of the most attractive teabags in the industry. I kept the teabag in for the full duration of my drinking the tea. Steeped leaves show broken…

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Earl Grey tea is one of the most popular and well-known kinds of tea in the Western world. It was named after the second Earl, Charles Grey, of Britain in the 1830s. Charles Grey was the prime minister at the time the act was passed to abolish slavery in the British Empire. This is quite an accomplishment…

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There are over 5 million ways to divide the world into two groups. Licorice is definitely one of them. People either adore black licorice or hate it. I personally fall into the “love it” camp – unless it’s salt licorice. Because it’s just..

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The leaves are rich black with a sweet waft of vanilla. Three minute infusion…first sip…ummm…the black base is not what I was expecting. It leaves me wanting a more robust black tea in its place. The vanilla while…

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I did a double-take as I was typing up the ingredient list for this review: it isn’t a typo or an omission on the part of my new bifocals; I’m not seeing “pear” anything, are you? It doesn’t matter: whatever mix of blending mojo, culinary science, and olfactory…

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When I scanned the list of teas we had to choose from to review, this caught my eye – strawberry cheesecake, one of my favourite deserts. It tastes delicious as a food, how bad can it be as…

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Ingredients for this were thankfully simple. Along with the touted natural blueberry flavoring were Bai Mu Dan (White Peony) leaves and cornflowers. Telling them apart wasn’t a difficult feat, even for a bespectacled boob such as myself. The tea leaves were forest green-to-brown – wilderness-like in appearance

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The Blue Q company of Pittsfield, Massachusetts sells odds and ends on their internet store. Ok , really odd things such as hand sanitizers, pencil cases, chewing gum and factory seconds on insulated mugs. So right there, tea sales probably won’t be taken seriously…

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Usually I shy away from packaged tea. However, the word “Organic” on the front of the Mighty Leaf package got my attention. I’m also a fan of Earl Grey. I was curious about the “artisan whole leaf pouch”. The contents were just that – artisanal silk tea bag with fancy unbleached…

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The chief thing Blue Q’s line of tea has going for it is the cute and clever packaging: in this case “ooo-long” is punctuated by a retro Daschund and a pink box that reminds me of a 1960′s Dippity-Doo ad. Then again, Blue Q is not exactly a tea specialist—their…

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Smell in bag is of vanilla and cream-Whoa-I can’t get the water boiled fast enough! A 3 minute infusion releases the cream notes. This tea is perfectly balanced, the bergamot is present but not over the top. No need for sweeteners, I did add a splash of milk to bring out the vanilla …

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Some days–okay, some weeks—you just need chocolate. In copious amounts. And after multiples of those Reeses’ peanut-butter-cup-snarfing, Oreo-bingeing weeks, one finally reaches the conclusion that one must find a more healthful alternative. Tea Forte’s Hazelnut…

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nderfully aromatic! Sometimes pear flavored tea will smell fruity but not specifically pear. This one definitely is PEAR. And cream. The aroma carries through to the brew. Looking at the ingredient list, I was suprised to see fennel seed – I don’t tend to mentally…

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A 2 minute infusion yields a pale infusion, the first sip is good…I can taste the coconut and the vanilla and the ratio is just right for both ingredients. The vanilla is a natural taste, not fake like so many vanilla flavored teas..

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Pre-steeping, my nose revels in the wonderful and delicious smells coming from the dry leaves. This tiramisu smells delicious, and it is strong enough that I can hardly detect the scent of the red rooibos underneath it…

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I’m always up for a blueberry flavored white tea!  And it’s rare if I don’t like a nice/clean Pain Mu Dan!  This was the first time I tried TeaFrog’s version and I must say it’s lovely!  It’s a moderately flavored white…not overly so – with plump Blueberries and a hint of floral taste…

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Lapacho goes by many names – taheebo, trumpet bush, Ipe, and (my favorite) Pau D’Arco. The latter name seems to be the most common one used in herb shops I’ve frequented. Why this is, I don’t know; perhaps because it sounds less “Latin”. Personally, I prefer…

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OMG, this is the best smelling tea! Sweet with a wee bit of spice. As you sip, the slight sweetness of the pear lingers on the back of your tongue. The white tea base is very pleasing to the palate, not flowery (is that even a word?) like most white teas that I have tasted…

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I’ve been working on this review for a month. Or more specifically, I’ve been trying to start writing this review for over a month, but never get as far as getting anything written down. I’ll open the tin, smell…

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The first thing I noticed when I went to drink this tea were the directions on the side of the sample package I had. They said to empty the contents of the package into eight ounces of water and steep for three to four minutes. I have to raise issue with this as there is enough…

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This is probably the creamiest Tiramisu tea/tisane I have ever tried which is somewhat refreshing…since the others have been so coffee-like and almost bitter. I can taste the chocolate-goodness and that is the part I like most.  Some additional notes about this TeaFrog offering…

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This is the first of three samples I received that I am trying from Tea Forte. I love Tea Forte’s packaging for their bagged teas. They are in a nylon/mesh bag, with a bendable leaf that sprouts out of the top of the bag (which allows you to hook it over your cup while steeping)…

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Hmm, the scent of this dry rooibos is legit. And by legit, I mean it legitimately smells like vanilla. Not fake vanilla like is used in various desserts, but real vanilla. Adding three teaspoons of this tea and steeping it in two cups of water for six minutes, I was left being tantalized…

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Today I’m trying some Melon from Golden Moon Teas and I can’t wait. I love white tea and I love melons, sounds like a good match. Opened the sample and was surprised by how little was in it. The directions only say how long to steep it and how hot the water should be, doesn’t tell me how…

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Da.u.de samples always come in lovely tins with beautiful labels. Opening this tin an AMAZING scent washes over you. Dark fruit, sweet berries, and lovely sweet tones and floral high tones. I would wear this scent daily this scent as a perfume if I could. However, teas with…

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The name makes me curious. Why would a tea be called Love? Aside from being TeaFrog’s most popular rooibos blend (imply that people love it), I couldn’t figure out the reason for the name. So, taking this initial assumption in hand, I had high hopes for this tea. Opening…

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Category: Black Tea Company: Golden Moon Tea (website) Ingredients: High Quality Black Tea, Bergamot and Lavender Vendor Suggested Preparation: One small spoon of leaves, 3-5 minutes in freshly boiled water. I’ve had a long and pleasurable relationship with Earl Grey so I was excited to taste this tea.   I opened the package and was [...]

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Well, these pearls certainly are downy…I felt one of the little balls of tea and it was soft and fuzzy. The jasmine smell is sharp and sweet in the dry leaf, and makes me wonder if the taste will be the same.

I used approximately two teaspoons of pearls, in two cups of water, for three minutes (give or take ten seconds, as I initially forgot to start …

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When doing a little background digging for this blend, I ran across an interesting factoid. Bamboo isn’t actually a tree, rather it is part of the grass family; “true grass” or Poaceae, to be precise. The shrubs or tree-like specimens in this family are called bamboo. To think of any part of the Orient…

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I found myself in the mood for some Chinese red tea and reached for this one. The loose leaves are full and black, mixed with bits of ginger. The smell of apricot was the first to hit me when I opened this bag, then came the scent of peach, then ginger. Perfect scents…

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like this one a lot better than I thought I would. Even tho it has 4 floral type ingredients it’s not overly flower-like.  It’s not that bitter/floral type taste that I sometimes get and am worried about.  The Black tea and the green tea along with the flavors all make sense…

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I’ve had Tea forte before and consider it a premium tea. This whole leaf organic tea comes from a single estate Assam. Assam tea from India is known for its exceptional malt flavours. The packaging indicated that the bergamot oil used in the manufacturing is a 1st pressed Italian…

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Inside my sample I find small, broken leaves with a few yellow marigold petals. The dry smell reminds me of black tea with a hint of something sweet. Two teaspoons in boiling water with a three minute infusion produces a rich brownish red tea. The taste…

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Rooibos, in my bizarre tea-description vernacular, is the sensory equivalent of a favorite faded and ratty flannel shirt. My favorite rooibos add-ins are gentle comfort flavors like chocolate, vanilla, almond, and cream. Since lemongrass is a nice, gentle tisane on…

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Dry leaves are brown with green specks and slender brown twig like pieces. 3 minute infusion produces a light brown brew that smells of mint. The first sip reveals the perfectly balanced vanilla undertones. Most vanilla tea that I have sampled are fake tasting, the vanilla in this blend is mild and smooth…

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When I was contacted and asked to try the Celestial Seasonings Fast Lane Black Tea, I readily agreed. Celestial Seasonings was the very first company to respond to our inquiries when we started IAATL, and sent our very first batch of teas for review, something for which I…

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The cold weather always makes me reach from stronger blends so today I’m trying a nice black tea blend from SpecialTea Brew. It’s called Pink Grapefruit and you can see pieces of citrus mixed in with the dark leaves. The dry leaves smell amazingly rich and fresh…

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First let me preface this review by saying that the flavour cherry has been instilled in my mind and forever associated with the cherry flavour Children’s Tylenol I had to take as a child for cold and flu. Smell and memory are connected…

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I’ve been saving this particular blend for just the right day. I love the smell and taste of vanilla – in everything. The dry leaves are dark yet shiny fresh, I can’t see the vanilla pieces in the blend but I can definitely smell them…

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Category: Green Tea Company: SpecialTea Brew (website) Ingredients: Organic Chinese Green Tea, organic ginger root, organic lemon grass, and organic lemon myrtle Vendor Suggested Preparation: not listed The name of this blend is really inviting, who doesn’t love lemon, ginger and snap? Really. The only concern I have with this one is whether or not [...]

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My first tea from T Salon and it looks divine. It’s a blend of roses, vanilla and almond with a red tea base. The Rooibos is clearly high grade, long and slender stems, mixed in with a generous portion of vanilla and almond. I’m happy to see rose pieces in the blend because…

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Today I decided to review a herbal tea from Distinctly Tea, a new tea shop in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. The tea is Ginger-peach Supreme. To the eye, the tea contains black leaf tea with white tea buds, sunflower petals and some other white flower petal that I could not identify. Upon reading the ingredients I found out that the black leaf is Ceylon tea and the white flower petal…

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My first impression is that this tea smells awesome; dark and sweet and tangy. And upon the first sip, the taste lives up to the smell. I brewed this up in my zarafina tea maker at work, and added half a packet of sweetener and the first cup disappeared…

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The smell in the bag is soooo good, I could barely get my nose out of the bag to brew the tea…

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Upon opening the package, you are hit with the most incredible, rich, fresh scent of blood orange that smells it has been freshly squeezed. The dry leaves are thin…

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To review this tea, I decided to once again utilize my awesome Tea Forte Cafe Cup…

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When I read the name of this tea I was intrigued. “Erase Your Past Tea”? How can a tea erase my past? I checked out the website. It was on blueq.com. The tea flavour was Orange Peel Oolong. Nope, still no idea how that ties in with erasing my past. I scanned all…

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It has been blistering, sweltering hot this July down south in Louisiana. So, I have been guzzling lots of iced tea this summer, especially white teas, instead of my beloved pu’erhs, and chais, which sit ignored at the back of my cupboard as they seem too heavy in this oppressive heat…

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I was so excited to sample Adagio’s version of Chocolate Chai, which is one of my favorite blends. I just cannot resist the classic pairing of chocolate and peppery spice, as celebrated in movies like “Chocolat”…

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Recently we received a shipment of teas from Distinctly Tea, a company in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. I exchanged several emails with Distinctly Tea, the net effect being a very interesting assortment of samples being sent for review. Among these, one caught my eye personally…

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he sample of Sunrise in Tibet from TSalon came in a two-part clear plastic package. The lower compartment sealed in 25 grams of loose tea from the upper compartment that contained 2-10 gram servings of loose tea in organic fold-type…

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Dry leaf appearance: dark green, flat leaves with pineapple, brown rice, cardamom, bamboo shoots, red pepper corn, papaya and coconut. The smell transports you to an island vacation. I suspect that the coconut is the reason my teapot had…

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The name of this tea is somewhat misleading—it represents the accurately, but doesn’t convey its character well at all. With sugar and caramel as the leading adjectives, I expected a heavy, sweet tea with the flavor of Sugar Daddies…

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Black tea with Madagascar vanilla and coconut slivers? hmm, hmm, hmm. Now we’re talking. The dry tea pyramid smells fantastic, can’t really make out the coconut smell, reminds me more of hazelnut for some reason…

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This smells like black tea, fruit, and floral. It’s a nice Reddish-dark brown. Taste-wise it is really good… a sugary-sweet tasting flavored black. It reminds me of Rose Marzipan from Teavana without the Rose…

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Dry leaf appearance: black wiry leaves with bright orange and goldenrod shavings mixed throughout…

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y first reaction to this tea was that it smells very sweet and a lot like potpouri! The scent of roses blends nicely with the fruity smell of mango and the sharp scent of jasmine…

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I love the smell of jasmine, and a good jasmine tea can be an absolutely wonderful thing. The aromatic quality of a good jasmine takes the normal scent profile of tea and ramps it up to an amazing place. Additionally, I really like pearl-style teas. Watching them slowly…

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oday I’m reviewing to herbal teas from Mighty Leaf and I’m excited because they are one of the few companies I know of who offer high quality in sachets.  Perfect to have in a pinch if I’ve forgotten my finum because they tea pouches are large enough to let the tea infuse properly…

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The taste is distinctly that of a dark oolong – bakey with a slightly woodsey note to it. Unfortunately I found that it tasted more than a little on the harsh side in the way you’d expect a lower-quality oolong to taste. The peach flavouring was nice – it wasn’t too artificial…

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Before, During, and After infusing this tea is all about the freshly cut Pineapple Smell…once the infusion was complete add the fresh Pineapple smell to a Green Tea and there you go! It has a typical Sencha type color and the taste is refreshing and creamy, yes, creamy…

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Have you ever smelled a Tea or Tisane while it’s infusing or steeping and you just want to swim in it!?  This is one of those teas/tisanes for me!  Seriously…

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The name of this tea is somewhat misleading—it represents the accurately, but doesn’t convey its character well at all. With sugar and caramel as the leading adjectives, I expected a heavy, sweet tea…

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The smell of the tea leaves (dry and wet) is musty. Oh, I see pollen pieces on the ingredient list. That would explain the slight musty…

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Much to my delight, I recently received a shipment of 3 teas from Davids Tea. I have been looking forward to sampling and reviewing tea from Davids ever since a store opened close to me here. They are truly a Canadian company (unlike the mistake I made with Mighty Leaf, Davids really was started, and is run, in Canada ), and I have been itching

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This tea is confusing, and complex. When I first opened the packet I did a double take – bubble gum! But I was opening tea, not gum…

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I’ll start off by saying I wasn’t exactly sure how to brew this tea. The sample packaging had no steeping parameters on it, so I tried the website and didn’t find any suggestions. I decided to brew this a little on the safe side and stick to…

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Ginger Peach is a popular flavor combination. It’s also a very difficult one to pull off. Too much ginger and the peach will disappear. Too much peach and any discernible ginger is gone. Sometimes popular dessert combinations do not translate well to tea blends…

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This is my first tea from Harney & Sons and I must say that I have heard a lot of amazing things about Florence. I truly hope to not be disappointed…

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Pulling out my specially made Tea Forte cup with it’s perfect little hole in the lid, getting set to try their African Solstice.  Love rooibos in the evening and this blend smells delicious.  I’ve failed with some other Tea Forte pyramid teas in the past because it just never seemed that there was enough room for the leaves to steep properly, this one I hope is going to be different.  I can’t see the rooibos clearing enough (through the pyramid)…

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My general aversion to bananas goes back to one greasy teenage summer schlepping banana splits at the Dairy Queen; I’d come home with fiber under my nails and reeking of overripe peels. (To this day, I won’t eat one raw—playing the “it’s a texture thing” card…

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I received this tea from a friend and had only HEARD about it prior. Because I LOVE the fact Frank from 52 Teas ‘thinks outside the box…or in this case, the bag”…I like to try as many blends of his that I can…

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I love Earl Grey. I used to drink it quite often, but a couple of months ago I came across a couple of EG variations that were bad. They gave Earl Grey a really horrible, perfume filled name. It used to be my favorite variety of tea, so I was excited to try this version from Mighty Leaf in hopes of renewing my faith in Earl Grey…

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The fancy teabag/pyramid/thing had a wonderful fragrance when I took it out of its packaging. The vanilla was deliciously fragrant and smelled like actual vanilla bean rather than some random perfume or extract. I could smell the tea base underneath which had an oddly lightly spiced sort of scent. I had to concentrate for my nose to pick up the coconut, but I think I detected it up. There’s something about coconut that just seems to blend really well with vanilla.

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These leaves are beautiful. I was surprised at how large the coconut shavings were. These were no ordinary shavings used in baking coconut, no not in this tea! This tea brewed up a beautiful lemon lime green. The aroma is very coconutty with a bit of citrus sneaking in as well. It reminds me of Harney and Sons Bangkok Green tea (minus the ginger). There is almost a buttery note to the scent as well…

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First off, I am a sucker for clever packaging, and the little pyramid single-serve boxes from Tea Forte just scream “adorable.”. I pried mine open very gingerly so I could preserve the pattern—I work with fifth graders at my church, and I’m seeing triangular game pieces…

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I was really excited to try this tea, as I have a love for white teas that is unfulfilled much of the time. Tea Forte’s website says that this tea is supposed to have vanilla, coconut, and fruit flavours. To start with, I am already a bit apprehensive about the coconut, since the last Tea Forte tea…

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Okay, clean slate, trying the second of my Kalahari teas, Cherry Vanilla. As soon as I opened the package, the scent wafted out.

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I love genmaicha so when I saw this blend from TeaFrog I knew that I had to try it. I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of flavor but I was imagining some type of genmaicha/chai/tropical hybrid…

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The dry leaves are quite large and long sencha leaves. The scent of the dry leaves is a bit tart and quite blueberry like. Once brewed the aroma is more mellow, berry and almost a little floral with a light tartness. The liquor is quite darker than I imagined. It’s almost as if a blue/purple food coloring was added lightly to the green tea…

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The dry leaf smells like cinnamon and star anise, though predominately of star anise. Through the bag I could distinguish long black tea leaves mixed with small bits of what appeared to be the ginger and cloves….

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For those of you that know me, the fact that I am reviewing an Earl Grey tea may seem a bit… strange. For those of you that do NOT know me, you should know that I do not like Earl Grey. I have tasted teas from all over the world, different cultures, countries and hundreds of different blended and flavoured tea, and I could just never get my head around one of the most well known teas, Earl Grey – until now…

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Real chocolate draws your eye. The scent of exotic spices pulls you closer. By the time you taste this rich and complex black tea, you’ve already fallen in love….

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I got this sample from Teafrog and it lasted me all of two days…

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On the Mighty Leaf website this description is given: Bombay Chai with a melange of spicy notes conjures the steamy, aromatic delights of an Indian street market. Black tea leaves with subtle hints of Pepper, Orange, Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Clove make up our chai, the Indian word for tea. Bombay Chai is delicious when brewed fresh and blended with heated milk and sugar to taste…

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On a recent trip to Banff, we passed this quaint little tea store. There was no resisting, you just never know what you are going to find, and I wasn’t disappointed. They offered a whole wall of teas from Maple to Almond and even an ice wine tea…

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Mighty Leaf is one of few popular Canadian tea companies. As a Canadian, I celebrate that fact, and always look forward to sampling a new Mighty Leaf tea. However, in this case, I am left with a bit of a *meh* feeling…

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This rooibos blend from Tea Frog Tea is well named – I LOVE this tea!! According to Tea Frog: “Our most popular Rooibos blend, the Love blend is an aromatic delight that you will not be able to resist! This tea is so good, we sample it at every show, and sell out at every show! The scent and flavor are simply to die for!”….

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The Mighty Leaf Organic Earl Grey tea is quite a delight. Opening the package to find a silk tea bag is very impressive and allows the customer to use the loose leaf tea without the usual mess and effort. I definitely love the tea pouch style….

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