Captain Mal blend
Blended with black tea, oolong tea, orange peels, rose hips inclusion loose, hibiscus inclusion loose, natural chocolate flavor, dark chocolate chips, cocoa nibs, natural almond flavor, natural orange flavor.
Teas: blood orange, chocolate chip, almond oolong.
Accented with orange peels, chocolate chips and cocoa nibs.
Mal smells like blood orange, black tea, and... stuff. I do get a hint of cocoa now and then, but this blend mainly has other things going on, some of which are hard to tease apart. He is fruity and floral and a bit almondy (without seeming nutty at all, if that may make sense), with a whiff of chocolate here and there. But Mal is not at all bitter, even though I let him steep for 4 minutes instead of 3.
So, I like this. But I wonder if maybe a little less going on would have been better, because I feel like some flavors are just crowding others, making the blend indistinct without adding much to it. When you add too many colors, you just get brown no matter which colors are involved, and Mal is a browncoat.
Except for the orange. That's pretty clear.
When I'm able to test him with anything added, I'll add to this.
Mal is listed as high caffeine.
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Zoe blend
Masala chai and caramel, with extra cinnamon-ny goodness blended in. This blend is not for the faint of heart, but will definitely wake you up something fierce on cold mornings. Sweeten this tea with a bit of milk and sugar, and it's absolutely divine.
With nothing added, Zoe is still tasty. The caramel is like the chocolate in Garrus in that it seems to bridge other flavors and smooth them out, rather than trying to take over. There was a whole clove sitting in the tin that I included in this steeping, and I can certainly taste it and the cinnamon, but this is balanced. I get a little more bitterness from this than from Garrus, but it's still a comparison of small amounts.
With almond milk and a little sugar, Zoe's caramel is filled out. The milk overwrites the trace bitterness; unfortunately I lose some of the spice taste as well. Still, a good cup.
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River Tam blend
Blended with black tea, green tea, rose petals, rose flavor, natural vanilla flavor, orange peels, natural bergamot flavor, blue cornflowers.
Teas: earl grey green, summer rose, vanilla.
In the tin, River smells like roses, with other flowers behind it that together remind me of a slightly spicy carnation oil. I try to grab my first scent impression before reading the notes -- the notes say roses, marigold and cornflower. After the flowers, I get its vanilla and a little bergamot accent.
It happens that I'm testing Alice from BPAL today, too, which is showing well its milk, honey, rose, carnation and bergamot. Alice and River go together wonderfully, being clearly not the same, but sharing qualities. I added a little white sugar to River since the creator mentions doing so, but a little cream (not almond milk) and honey would be my next choice to try, and would probably bring out even more in common.
A little sugar is good, though, and I inhale with every sip because the flowers are so warmly pretty. I get no bitterness at all. I'm drinking it hot, but this is one to try iced as well.
I'm probably going to get more of this, especially for when I'm wearing a rose fragrance. And/or wearing some shade of red, because really, that's where this goes, and it's lovely.
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Jayne Cobb blend
Blended with: black tea, lapsang souchong, natural caramel flavor, cocoa nibs inclusion loose, natural chocolate flavor, natural vanilla flavor, candy cane pieces, natural candy cane flavor, peppermint teas.
Teas: candy cane, lapsang souchong, tiger eye
Accents: cocoa nibs, apple pieces
Jayne smells like a campfire and starts out all acrid smoke. He's on the bitter side, but I may have let him steep too long while doing other things. I get a touch of green apple, and some mint in the aftertaste, but no other flavors in the plain hot-water cup. Once fully cooled, he is sweeter and mintier, and the bitterness is gone. He might also do well with some sweetness added to help bring the non-smoke flavors out.
I can't help thinking that if Adam Baldwin smelled like a campfire and nothing else, that would be ... just fine. Sorry, got lost for a second
there.
("Sweet, sweet Jayne" -- Cowboy Junkies)
Jayne as a cool tea with sugar turns into smoked apple candy canes. Woops. This is less than awesome.
Sorry, sweet Jayne!
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Inara blend
Blended with black tea, assam melody, cinnamon bark, ginger root, cardamom inclusion loose, natural spice flavor, dried coconut, lemon grass, orange peels, cloves inclusion loose, natural coconut flavor.
Teas: thai chai, assam melody, oriental spice.
Accented with rose hips, safflower and raspberry pieces.
With nothing added, Inara is a spicy black tea that leans toward oranges and something almost like rose (rose hips?) in the aftertaste.
Vanilla almond milk (no sweetening) overwrites some of Inara's spice, but the impression is basically a soothing chai. Ginger and coconut notes still come through for me, with the rest as a background. It's a tiny bit peppery.
This is a fine blend, but out of the spicy chai-type teas sampled so far, I think I prefer Garrus and Zoe.
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Serenitea
Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens. Love makes Serenity a home, and love also so happens to make her a tasty cup of tea, with mint, hazelnut, and slightly smoky gunpowder.
Spearmint, gunpowder, black tea, natural hazelnut flavor.
As with the previous tastings, I've sampled this twice so far: first plain and then with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
In the plain test, I didn't know what to think of this for the first few sips. Mostly, I thought "dirty water." It didn't quite rate as "hot leaf juice." Then, suddenly my taste buds cleared and the mint, smoke and nut locked arm in arm and walked in together.
This is tasty. The elements seem balanced -- maybe more balanced than I like best in a mint tea? I feel like I want it to either be more minty, or a little floral, but I don't know how well the latter would work with the hazelnut.
I really like the steam aroma of Serenitea when it's been steeped in hot almond milk instead of water: a creamy and smoky mint. The hazelnut is also there as a woody presence; it intrigues before it stands out. I've smelled fig playing a role like this in a couple perfume oils I like a lot, like The Apothecary. However, when I sip the almond milk version, the hazelnut stands out a lot. The almond brings it forward. I didn't have this happen with the hazelnut in Garrus, so maybe this is a fluke cup, or maybe it's not, but there it is. For me, it's a little overpowering. This brew is perhaps better plain.
Other reviewers for this blend mention Moroccan mint. I like Numi's Moroccan mint, which doesn't list gunpowder in its ingredients, but I guess "Moroccan mint" is supposed to be mint and gunpowder? So say a couple sites on the Internets. It might be correct anyway. ;-)
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