Jackie T

Thank you to Dexter3657 for this sample!! When I smelled this brewed I thought “this is soda” and then I sipped it and it was like hot flat soda…which actually was kind of better than it sounds. This tea has ridiculously awful reviews which is funny because I didn’t hate it. It was weird for sure, but like the note that came with my swap package said “everyone should try it at least once”! It is very cola like, I can’t understand how they get it to taste like that. It isn’t something I would purchase if it ever came back, but I am definitely glad to try it!!

sipdown on this sample! I don’t have a variable temp kettle at work so I brewed this at boiling, the flavors are so muddled at boiling though. For anyone wondering, YES…SV flavored black teas are best (in my opinion) at 180 degrees F for about 2.5-3 minutes.

Shut up, the smell of this is insane. It’s like the freshest most fabulous apple pie ever in a mug on my desk right now. Ya know what it really reminds me of? A baked apple fresh out of the oven with cinnamon and some nuts mixed in, it definitely has that nutty warm scent. Maybe it’s cinnamon sugared nuts mixed into a baked apple. I haven’t even sipped it yet, I’m just dying over how fabulous it smells. I’m really nervous I’m going to love this because I don’t live in SK…I live in the US.

Anyway, got this in a SURPRISE swap from Lala and am just getting around to it now because I need something easy on my stomach (I’m a notorious black tea addict) and this rooibos sounded heavenly. Yes this is a problem. I love this tea. I get a bit of the rooibos taste, but the first layer of the sip is more like apple cider. Stop it. This is so good. This is the most spot on apple pie type tea I’ve tried. I generally hoard apple teas because I LOVE apple, but then I remember I don’t usually like apple tea, and then I have a bunch of apple tea that I’ll never drink. But this one is different, it’s special! I love it!

oh my God, so delicious. try it. seriously just try it.

Got this in a swap from TastyBrew and am sipping it at my desk since I have a good chunk of time right now that doesn’t involve seeing clients. It’s so beautiful in Vermont today, high of 76 but we don’t have the super dryness or super humidity, it’s a peaceful comfortable 76 with the occasional warm breeze and draft off of the lake.

Brewed hot, I can smell primarily cinnamon. There’s also a rich malty scent that is clearly the chocolate but it doesn’t smell overpoweringly like chocolate. The first sip is fabulous, this seriously tastes like a brownie. It’s more of the cakey dry type brownie than the gooey underbaked kind that I prefer. The cinnamon is a nice note throughout the sip but it isn’t the dominant flavor. I think the flavors in this tea are so well balanced and I didn’t expect that at all. I’m thinking this would be fabulous with a little milk even though I drink my teas straight. It just makes me think of having a glass of milk with a brownie…

I got this in a swap. I really don’t get a ton of pineapple flavor, but I do get a subtle cilantro which is a refreshing surprise in a tea. I like this, I don’t LOVE it, I don’t think I’ll order my own bag but I will certainly enjoy the rest of the sample to the fullest!

I had a sample of this from a swap and it is freaking delicious. I love the taste of the potato, because it tastes buttery and savory but not weird like I expected. Then towards the end of the sip I taste the apple, then the cinnamon. It’s like a meal in a cup, you get every layer of the flavor at its best, no compromising any part of it.

On the Butiki website it says add salt to bring out the potato or sugar to bring out the applesauce. I’m going to have to try it both ways and report back. This time I drank it straight because I drink 99% of my tea straight.

I was wicked excited to try this one, and it was ok, but I got this sticky aftertaste that I just didn’t love. I’m sure it’s just sugar from the caramel but it felt artificial and left the taste in my mouth for a while. However, in terms of the flavors being accurate, they definitely are. The apple was a classic granny smith apple taste, which personally is my favorite kind of apple to dip in caramel.

It does kind of feel like I’m at the country fair, which I appreciate, and I can definitely imagine enjoying this more in the fall. OOOH or as a latte in the fall!! Awesome. doing it.

Swap from TastyBrew!! I wasn’t expecting to like this because from what I’ve tried, I don’t like most apple teas. I LOVE apples, and mostly everything apple flavored, but teas just don’t hit the mark for me. However, this had a fresh baked cinnamon apple flavor. Like baked apples fresh out of the oven sprinkled with some ground cinnamon. But it also had the cakey, bakery like taste of the coffeecake. It’s a smooth tasty combination with distinct flavors. I might steep it at a little bit of a cooler temp that 212 though, I might go with 180 because the bitterness of the black tea CAN overpower the flavors if you steep even a second too long. Usually I find a lower temp fixes that.

Ok I am going to need a larger amount of this ASAP. I got 3 tsp in a swap with TastyBrew who has the cutest little bags for swapping. I don’t remember smelling the dry leaves because I was too excited to taste it. So once brewed, this smells precisely like a freshly baked slice of cinnamon raisin bread with buttered spread on it.

Every Christmas, my uncle/Godfather hands out these loaves of bread to the people closest to him, it’s the thing we anticipate most about the holiday in my family. It’s a huge loaf of cinnamon swirl bread with the thickest, fullest swirls of cinnamon you can imagine. It makes the greatest tea accompaniment and the BEST french toast. We call it “Joe Bread” because my uncle’s name is Joe. This tea could not smell more spot on like Joe bread.

I think I will not only need a large amount of this for myself, but special bags for every member of my family as well. The flavory is sweet, doughy, rich, and smooth. Such a treat!

Oh my goodness. So last night I tried to make french macarons. Fail. I still wanted some delicious tea cookie treat and I had the ingredients for shortbread cookies.

I got to the part with a tsp of vanilla, opened the cabinet and yelled “NO VANILLA!” because I ran out last weekend and forgot to get more. However…I DID have banana extract. So I tried banana shortbread cookies. To complete the odd cookie, I sandwiched them together with some nutella between. BAM! Banana shortbread nutella cookie sandwiches. THE PERFECT thing to accompany a smooth, strong, simple cup of tea.

With sweet things I tend to want a plainer tea, instead of my regular dessert tea. So the earl grey was the perfect touch. This is also the best earl grey I’ve ever had.

OH! The shortbread cookie recipe:

2 sticks of butter softened (I wrapped them in parchment paper and smooshed them around with my hands on a cutting board, then microwaved for 20 seconds)
1/4 Cup of white sugar
2 Cups of flour
1 tsp of flavor extract

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix the softened butter and sugar until well blended. Add extract and mix. Add flour and blend it all together (I use my hands for this). Grease cookie sheet, roll dough into 1 inch balls and flatten. Bake for 10 minutes, let cool on tray for 10 minutes, move to cooling rack for 30 minutes…then they are ready to make into sandwiches if you want.

one more edit this makes about 2 dozen cookies. The original recipe called for double all this and that was just too much for me.

I didn’t think I could love this tea any more than I already do but then I made it into a latte. I found the recipe for the latte on DAVIDsTEA Pinterest and you can find it at this link:

http://thebakingbird.com/how-to-make-a-bowl-of-soul-tea-latte/

I used almond milk instead of soy milk and WHOA was it incredible. It had the perfect amount of creaminess and the delicious sweet flavor of the tea that I love so much, plus I topped it with a little nutmeg like the recipe calls for and it blew me away. An amazing bathtime treat in my opinion.

I sent the link to my stepmom because I bought her 100g of Birthday Cake Rooibos for her birthday and I thought that she would really enjoy a Birthday Cake tea latte to curb sweet cravings and could top it with colored sprinkles instead of nutmeg. I encourage everyone to experiment with this tea latte recipe and you favorite teas and decorative toppings. I also ended up needing about a cup and a half of milk because my mug was too large.

DO IT. do it.

First things first, I love my tea friends. I love that I have tea friends and I love talking to you, swapping with you, reading about every tea you drink. I hope I get to met every single one of you someday because you make my work days easier and my off days relaxing.

Into this tea, I’ve always been a fan but I learned today that if I brew it a little longer I get a creamier caramel flavor and a buttery type of mouth feel. If you’re one of the people who is under pleased by this tea, steep it like a minute longer. Yummmm, I want more now.

Just logging this, I’m up at 230am ET feeling nauseous but this tea and my snuggle hungry boy cat are making me feel better already

So about a month ago, maybe more, I wrote to Simpson and Vail. I had a sample of DAVIDs Cocomint Cream not expecting to like it and I fell in love. It reminded me of home and cured my constant homesickness, the coconut reminded me of putting on sunscreen before going for runs to the beach on the coast in CT where I served for a year, and the mint reminded me of my dad making me peppermint tea after hockey games in the winters when I was little. It only made sense to reach out to a local family owned company in my home state to top it off with perfection.

I sent a sample of Cocomint Cream to Cyndi at Simpson and Vail and she said they would try to come up with their version of it. They promptly sent me back their own sample of their blend and BAM…I’m obsessed. The only difference (and it’s one I love) is that SV uses unsweetened coconut while DAVIDs uses sweetened.

After telling Cyndi that this is my favorite tea I’ve ever tasted (freshest mint, smoothest flavors, light coconut aroma- would be GREAT iced), I asked her when and where I can buy it. It is now on the website but you have to search for it…type in either “jaclyn” or “cocomint” to find it. I immediately ordered a pound of it and cannot wait to drink it without having to savor each last drop because it is a limited tea.

SV, and Cyndi in particular, offered and displayed the absolute top of the line best customer service I have received in any setting. It felt like I was talking to my family about this idea. If you have never tried a Simpson and Vail tea, you will NOT be disappointed with your order (try my cocomint one!!).

And my name is in it…it’s JACLYN’S. best day of my life.

I’m going to re review this one. At first I loved it, I tasted the cake. Now I get kind of a weird flavor with roasted mate. I think I’ll mix this with some of my adagio flavored black teas instead…

ummm YUM. I sip this and I get the blueberry of course, but you know that pure sugar coating they put on donuts and danishes that you know was once liquid and they just poured it over…GLAZE, it’s called glaze. I can taste the glaze and it’s freaking crazy awesome. I can taste the cream cheese vanilla-y icing that adds a creaminess to the flavor of the tea. The body is still a beautiful Assam so you don’t forget you’re enjoying a cup of tea, but you remember that you’re enjoying one of the best teas you’ve ever had.

This smells way more just like pure sweet blueberry than it tastes, the flavor encompasses everything you imagine about a danish, like I said from the glaze to the cream cheese filling. I don’t think I can get enough of this.

I ordered 2 bags of this and only 1 came in the mail :( Anyway, I tried it this morning, I love to keep flavored mate on hand for waking up in the morning and I’m obsessed with dessert teas so something cake flavored with a jolt in the morning is my dream.

I’m impressed! it is definitely cakey, this is going to sound odd but you know how there’s a difference between the smell of cake baking and the smell once it’s done? Like while it’s baking it smells moist and once it’s done it’s drier? This tastes more like done cake, and I like that, it’s chocolately and cakey and I can even taste the cream cheese frosting which I did not expect. This may need to be stocked a little higher on my shelf so when it runs out I still have plenty.

I don’t have much to say about this, my teas all got tainted by the flavors and smells of the other teas in the package so this just kind of tasted like a weird mix of fruit and flowers. All of them tasted the same so I had to get rid of them. Also my desk drawer smells like the fruitpourri too.

I’m not a Dr. Who fan, I’ve never watched Dr. Who, I’ve never even Googled Dr. Who…I once walked by the BBC section of FYE and saw the DVD case but that’s it. I am however a huge dessert tea fanatic and buttered toffee caramel corn black tea sounds like heaven to me.

I steeped it at 212 for 3 minutes, and I find with 52teas I have to let the tea cool a bit before I get the flavor. But on the first sip I get some caramel and a fabulously delicious black tea base, I have totally fallen in love with 52teas black tea base. As it cools I get a more buttery feeling and flavor. I’m not sure I can taste the toffee, either that or caramel and toffee are too similar in a tea to be differentiated. Or they just combine and complement so well that it doesn’t matter.

This is a tea that I really enjoy, and I will be happy it’s in my desk drawer for a while, but I won’t reorder it. I really like it, but I don’t LOVE it.

Last night Rick and I watched Life of Pi…one of my favorite books ever and I bawled like a baby when Richard Parker was sick. Anyway, I got up to make tea because my life has been seriously lacking in the tea department lately (I should never allow myself to be so busy that I say that again). He asked for a cup which is crazy rare and I made him Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake (score! he loved it!)

I made this for myself, I’ve had 2 cups of the Marshmallow Genmaicha and over the past month or so, genmaicha has started become my comfort tea. I don’t know genmaicha well enough yet to really taste the flavors but they were subtle and warm and complemented the coziness of the rice while balancing the grassiness of the green tea itself. I put a few pieces of rock sugar in this but I think I like it plain much better. I’m excited to read everyone else’s reviews and then have another cup and see how my tastes adjust.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

Got this in an AWESOME, like out of this world, swap from Marcel Duchamp

So far I have tried this one, the Strawberry Cupcake, and the Red Velvet Cupcake and Strawberry is reining first place. This is a very very close second. The smell of this is fabulous, spicy cinnamon, creamy vanilla, and a bakery warm freshness. I am always hesitant with flavored rooibos because I don’t LOVE rooibos, but I love flavors so I’m always hoping for more flavor than rooibos. I get that with this, I get just enough of the rooibos tea taste for me, it comes through slightly but mostly it’s this amazingly smooth combination of perfectly balanced flavors.

I think this may have just gotten ahead of the Strawberry Cupcake. I’m having this right after lunch and the rooibos is being so kind to my digestion, but it tastes like dessert. I bet this is a killer nighttime tea or with a little cream and some rock sugar as a legit dessert. mmmm this would be a great latte!!

I mean, what tea would you drink if you woke up to identity theft? Ok not real identity theft, credit card identity theft. I’ve already reviewed this tea so I’m taking this post as a vent session.

I got a recorded message this morning from one of my credit card companies saying they’d like me to call them to verify some recent transactions. I get this a lot from PayPal Bill me Later so I figured it was routine and whatnot. Called them back, and it turns out that there was a transaction attempted yesterday in Brooklyn NY for $900 somewhere (ummm I live in Northern Vermont), then there was another one for $750 in Target in Brooklyn (Vermont is one of the only 3 states without a Target, which just adds to my frustration). Luckily, my shopping habits are so that I didn’t have nearly $750 left on my limit and it got declined. There’s this angry badass side of me that wants to track down the SOB and sue the shit out of him (or her, sorry) but then there’s the tea drinking side that thinks a good meditation, a hot cup of a decadent tea, and my favorite lipgloss is all I need to bounce back.

Has this happened to anyone else? I know it’s super common in the US but I don’t know a single person who it has happened to and I never in a million years thought it would be me.