Violin in C Sharp

 The next flavor in my Twinings gift box that I decided to try this morning was this Earl Grey with Jasmine. Now, from the front of the package, I thought it was Earl Grey black tea with added Jasmine essence, flavoring, or flowers.  Oh-ho, NOT SO says the back of the package - this is an Earl Grey mixed with a Jasmine scented Green Tea.  Boy am I glad I read the ingredients these days because that shifted my entire expectation for the flavor profile. Now, here's the thing I became worried about - black tea and green tea brew at VERY different temperatures, so I had to figure out where I thought I should brew the water on the temperature scale.  I wavered a bit for a while - but finally decided to go with the packaging and use the boiled water for black tea.   The reason I wavered and worried over this was because I do not like the harsh taste of green tea when it has been brewed with too hot water.  It loses its sweetness and dries out my mouth - and ...

 The second tea from my massive Christmas Twinings sample box. This is a caffeine free rooibos option - and it is one that I very much enjoyed.  I was expecting the cinnamon taste to be stronger on the profile.  Instead, what I got was something that tasted like the unsweetened tea version of orange juice - which was entirely delightful.  I have a korean tea that is sort of like an orange marmalade jelly that you add to hot water which I really enjoy but is often too sweet for me late at night.  This reminded me of that jelly tea without the sweetness. Final thoughts:  I will need to buy more of this - it is a delightful caffeine free option.

 One of my Christmas gifts this last year was a massive sample box of Twinings tea blends containing all sorts of flavors that I have never tried - well, you KNOW that means I have to review them all as I drink them! To start off, I knew that this wasn't going to be my favorite blend since the basic Twinings chai is not a chai I enjoy.  It's not... BAD - I just prefer my chai blends to have WAAAAAAAY more spice than Twinings uses.  I was curious to see what vanilla would bring to the chai party though, because it's not a flavor that I usually have in my chai.   So, what DOES the french vanilla bring to the chai party?  The answer is - nothing much.  In point of fact, what little spicing is in the Twinings chai is utterly masked by the addition of the vanilla and the cup tasted like regular black tea with a bit of vanilla creamer added.... sans cream. Final thoughts:  Not a Twinings blend that works for my tastes.