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This one wasn’t my favorite. Chocolate teas and I don’t tend to get along, but also this type of hazelnut flavoring reminds me of hazelnut coffee creamer and for some reason that taste is just so cloying to me. Not sure why, it’s not like I had a bad experience with hazelnut coffee ha ha.

I actually didn’t get a ton of chocolate, but the hazelnut was quite strong. At least the glitter was restrained! ;)

Sipdown! (33)

From the January subscription. I’m actually sending the rest of the pouch to a friend, but having a cup from my own tin to mark the sipdown (shipdown? sharedown?).

I will say, the age of this tea is definitely noticeable after tasting the fresh batch. The blueberry is much more muted, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your preference ha ha. Still a nice tea, but I feel like green teas in general suffer from age more quickly, so I’m not getting much flavor from the base. Still an enjoyable and mellow cup, but next time I think I’ll add more leaf.

Sipped this last night and don’t recall a whole lot other than I enjoyed it. The spices were well-balanced, potent but not overly strong, and I could mostly taste cardamom and ginger. I didn’t specifically taste lavender, but I feel like lavender and cardamom can be somewhat similar, so perhaps it was just melding in there. The base was smooth and inoffensive, maybe a tiny bit nutty. Overall it was a pleasant afternoon/evening cuppa sipped while knitting. I’m not sure I feel the need to have a green chai in my cupboard, but this would be a good choice if I did.

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From the January subscription. The name of this tea made me laugh because it’s so vague compared to what I’m used to. Going to assume it’s a TGY since that’s the most common, but who knows ha ha.

It’s good though! Definitely on the greener side of things, but still has some nice bake-y sort of notes to it. Silky smooth with a nice balance of fresh green and sweet grainy notes and a touch of floral in the finish. I wouldn’t seek it out again, just because I tend to prefer Taiwanese oolongs, and anyway I generally buy flavored and unflavored teas from separate sources. But enjoyed my 3-ish cups!

Another Tea Girl sample down!

This was a nice enough blueberry black tea. Not candylike or jammy, but not quite fully fresh blueberry either. Dried blueberry perhaps, like Blueberry Morning cereal? There is something that’s giving me a slightly hint of almond or grain as well, so maybe that’s why my mind goes there. The base is Ceylon, which is never my favorite, but I found cutting the steeping time short by about thirty seconds really helped to smooth things out.

An enjoyable morning cuppa, thanks Courtney!

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From the January subscription.

I had the pleasure of trying this in the advent calendar, so I already knew I liked it. It was nice to have a chance to try it a few more times, though! A very mellow and well-balanced blend, with a nice amount of smoke that isn’t overwhelming. The bergamot is subtle but adds a welcome brightness to the earthy base. I’m not sure I would order the full size, just because I have a somewhat similar blend in my cupboard already. But really enjoyed my three cups!

Another of Courtney’s Tea Girl samples finished off. These are only two servings, but you know how it is – too many teas, too little time ha ha.

This was a bit similar to the French Toast Crunch black tea, but perhaps a bit less specifically maple and more brown sugary (but still buttery). The base also seems a touch smoother, but she doesn’t specify what type of tea it is. Looking up Canadian butter tarts, they seem a bit like a runnier pecan pie without the pecans. I’m not a pecan pie fan, I find it too sweet, so I doubt I would like these either, but at least the tea was nice! I laughed at the “mixed in raisins for controversy”, it make me think of oatmeal cookies and the raisin vs. no raisin camps. Personally, I am always pro-raisin ha ha.

Poor, neglected Herbs & Kettles samples… Oops? This is why sipping through samples is one of my tea goals for this year. XD

Anyway, this is nice enough. I don’t taste rose, but there weren’t a ton of petals in the leaf, and honestly I don’t mind that it’s missing ha ha. Cardamom is definitely the predominant spice, as I would expect. There’s some clove and ginger in the background as well. The CTC base is fairly smooth, but still adds flavor (I do think I underleafed this cup slightly, but it’s not overly thin).

I mostly just ordered this to be thorough, because I am not a rose fan. But it made for a pleasant cuppa this morning!

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The last of my Murchie’s teabag samplers! I do still have some loose leaf to sip down, but still nice to get the teabags cleared out.

I’ve been really interested in trying all of their green-black blends, and this one is similar to the No. 10 (one of my favorites). It seems to just include a stronger Ceylon base, which looks to be a CTC (and the description mentions a touch of bergamot, but the No. 10 already has that as well?). It’s lovely though, a nice balance of jasmine and citrus with the green and black teas. I always steep these using green tea parameters, so the difference in the Ceylon may not be as pronounced as it would be if you steeped it hotter. It does have a brisker edge to it, and I do think I prefer the No. 10, but it was fun to try!

From the winter subscription box.

This sounded like a weird combination, but I’m mostly just tasting the coconut with a touch of cinnamon. And since I’m not a coconut fan, this is going into my rehoming box. It’s not bad though, it actually reminds me a little bit of horchata, but coconutty. There’s a distinct toasted coconut note to it.