Violin in C Sharp

 It's been a hot minute since I did a tea review that wasn't part of an advent calendar, but this morning I felt like trying something new, and so - a review is in order! A while back, Plum Deluxe sent me this Strawberry Rhubarb Oolong sample as a freebe with one of my orders and it has gotten lost in my tea cupboard for longer than it should have.  This morning, while digging for the right tea to satisfy my mood, I rediscovered this little dime bag hiding among the larger stashes and decided that her time had come! First off, I was surprised that while being a billed as an Oolong, that the package said it should be brewed at boiling temperatures since light Oolongs are usually brewed at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit and dark oolongs at 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit. But then I noticed that the oolong was blended with some black tea, and so that made more sense. I felt like drinking out of a newly arrived witchy mug that happens to be a very dark burgundy, so I don't have a photo...

 LAST DAY OF THE CALENDAR!!! *Ehem* excuse me.  After not finishing my 2022 calendar due to health and taking about 7 months to finish THIS calendar as well, I'm feeling more than a bit of accomplishment here at the end of things. When I opened my final little door and discovered the name of this tea I was OH SO HOPEFUL that I was going to get something for Christmas Eve that tasted a bit like hot apple cider - but tea. The write up began to confuse me.  "Orchard-ripe fruit and berries infused with warm baking spices."  I say confused because... berries?  I was not expecting berries.  Still, I cued up Muppet Christmas Carol and brewed my cup.  No tea, just an infusion, which was a fine way to wind down at the end of my day. When I sipped my first sip, the berry flavor hit me first - and it was delightful.  I think it was a mix of cranberries and maybe blueberries?  Regardless, the berries gave the infusion a tartness that balanced out the swe...

 Oh dear. Chamomile. *sigh* There is a skit from YouTube comedian team Foil Arms & Hog called Tea Addiction in which one of the characters perfectly describes what chamomile tea tastes like to me.  He says that chamomile is just "water that's gone off!" and I wholeheartedly agree.  It tastes and feels like dusty water with no additional flavor to me.  I'd rather drink a cup of plain hot water. That having been said, when I read the description and it said "Egyptian chamomile by herbs and flowers" I was EVER SO HOPEFUL that "Egyptian chamomile" might taste different than the regular chamomile that I'm used to.  Or perhaps the herbs and flowers would give the tinsane an additional flavor so that it didn't feel both wet and dusty in my mouth. I was sorely disappointed. This went down the drain.  It was just regular old chamomile with a fancy description.

 I apologize to my fellow grammar nerds for putting the tea flavour in all caps.  I had to compromise between copy/pasting the name from the Tea Forte website in all caps or neglecting to add the accents since I don't have the keyboard knowhow to type that stuff in on my own.  I know how to do it on my phone, but not on my desktop.  I'll learn one day, but today is not that day. Right then, PEACH BRÛLÉE (God that's annoying, I will do my best to avoid naming the tea as much as possible in the body of this review to avoid all those jarring caps).   "A refreshing juicy-sweet tea, lush with marigold flowers and mango" .... ho boy.  I've already told my regular readers how I feel about peach as a flavoring - I don't like it.  Adding more fruit doesn't tend to help as my palate finds peach to be an OVERWHELMING flavor.  This was no exception, no matter how much I wanted it to be.  Even having some shortbread with it to try and make it ta...

  When I first opened the little door and saw the title of this tea I said out loud to my kitchen "what the hell is White Ambrosia?"   As much as I love Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Russian Caravan and other like-named blends, new blends that have names that tell me NOTHING about what to expect from the flavour have a tendency to annoy me - especially in the morning before I've had my first cup of tea!  I acknowledge that this is a silly first world problem with more than a touch of hypocrisy and no basis of logic. So then, after reading the description on the bottom of the box.... "The flavors of rich vanilla and coconut complement delicate white tea leaves" I was... perplexed?  Slightly worried?  I'm not sure how best to describe the emotion - but it wasn't excited or overly hopeful for the blend.   White tea is such a delicate flavor that I was worried that the vanilla might overpower the tea altogether if the tea blender put too much in.  As for...

 I opened this at night and was sooo excited at the mere name of the tea that I saved it to drink as the start of my day the next day. I love orange in my tea, I love chai spices like clove and cinnamon too - especially in a good black tea.  I had high expectations for this blend.  So after reading the write up on the bottom of the box, I was even more excited. It was a nice dark black tea base with a lovely orange peel on the mid note and a zesty citrus hint on the end note.  The cinnamon added a familiar warm spice that I often get in holiday blends.  I've had lots of tea with that mix of profiles, and greatly enjoyed them.  The addition of the clove in this blend did some interesting things.  The warmth of the cinnamon was heightened and moved across the middle of the tongue instead of staying at the edges.  The tannins of the black tea were heightened in mouth feel but not in flavor - which is to say that I got the drying sensation on my tongu...