ShayneBear

As my favourite tea from the Wine collection, and having run out of it months ago, I was excited to see that Bubbly was being offered on the tea wall!

As someone who’s not a fan of champagne itself, the alcohol bite combined with the carbonation makes it difficult to enjoy, I was excited to try champagne flavour, in tea form. From what I can get from real champagne as far as flavour, I think this tea is a pretty close match. Hot, it doesn’t need any added sweetener, but iced I found it needed a little something, and oddly enough, Stevia was the best match. I think the mild tartness caused by the slightly astringent green tea lends itself well to hiding the odd aftertaste of stevia. half of a 1/8 tsp was more than enough to sweeten a 16oz cup of iced tea.

someone else described the floral notes as being jasminey, but I taste more hibiscus. I think it’s the floral notes, combined with the unique flavour of the pineapple, that give the palate the illusion of grape flavour.

I really like it and look forward to bringing in the new year with a cup of Bubbly!

Pretty sure I’m the only person to actually destroy a timolino completely, and I accidentally ran over it with my work van, and it’s about the size of a HandiDart (short) bus! smooshed it right flat. I cried. three days later (payday) I bought a new one, and it goes everywhere with me. My tea-loving pony knows what it’s for nnow too, and will yank it out of my hand to get to the yummy treat inside. So it gets a LOT of horsey abuse, and there’s a few teeth marks in it, but it’s never leaked, keeps tea HOT or COLD (I usually plop an ice cube into my hot tea so it’s a more drinkable temperature, otherwise it’s burn-my-face-off hot for HOURS. I’ve had tea stay hot for 12 hours before, and have had ice cubes still clinking around after 8 hours)

this thing is indestructable, and I’d be lost without it!

I went into the Uptown store today in a real funk. The wonderful staff (who have quickly become friends) picked up on it and surprised me with a cup of Superberry. Well, it definitely put a smile on my face!

I’m actually quite a fan of the juniper berries, they give the tea a bit of a bite, which is a welcome contrast to the sweetness of the blueberries. Normally not one to add sweetener to tea, I actually chose to add a tiny amount of agave to my cup, and it’s exactly what it needed. The sweetness of the agave highlighted the flavour of the acai, bringing the whole thing together.

After trying it iced in the summer, and being rather disappointed with it, I was quite thrilled to discover how tasty it is hot! It seems like a good tea for making a latte with, it’s strong enough to not get lost in the milky goodness. I can imagine it tasting a bit of mixed berry oatmeal in a latte. Hmm, might have to try that next time I’m in!

Be careful though, I feel like this would be really easy to oversteep. I went for about 4min30sec on mine and it’s nice and strong without any bitterness to it.

I haven’t actually made a hot cup of matcha yet, but I’ve made several matcha frappes recently. In all honesty, I only bought a tin of this for my pony, Java, as a way to wean him off of his mineral supplement (a green powder, the colour derived from seaweed). Now, he won’t eat his dinner unless there’s “supplement” (aka matcha) in it! Little bugger!

I think I can safely say that this is Java’s favourite tea, seeing as he will not touch his bucket if he can’t see/smell the matcha in it.

I absolutely can NOT drink this one hot. Something about hot watermelon is just too wrong and I can’t get past the idea of it.

Iced however, wow! The tin smells like pure watermelon, but the taste is something more. I don’t pick up the honeydew (which is good, I’m not a fan of the stuff), but like someone else said I taste banana?!

I like to steep it triple or quadruple strength, ice it, then use it (steeped goodies and all) to make slushies. Add a splash of vodka or red sourpuss for a more adult summery treat ;)

On its own, this is a sweet, lightly spiced tea with a light creaminess to it created by the melting marshmallows (and unlike many things that contain mini marshmallows, the ones in this tea are actually soft and squishy, not “Lucky Charms” stale/chalky! Yay!). But I don’t get “toasted” marshmallow from it.

So what do I do to remedy it? Why, add a bit of Lapsang Souchong of course!

I use a 3 to 1 ratio of Toasted Marshmallow to Laspang Souchong, adding the Laspsang about 2 minutes into the brew time, and it’s EXACTLY what I needed to get the toasted flavour I craved!

WOW! As a huge fan of the Quangzhou Milk Oolong, I was really excited to try this new oolong, and I wasn’t disappointed!

The tight “mossy pebble” leaves are perfect for adding to a travel mug and just topping up the water as you go along. It’s definitely the greenest liquor of all my oolongs, and something about that makes me happy.

It’s a sweet, slightly creamy tea with a subtle almost honeysuckle undertone. After drinking, it leaves a lingering sweetness on my breath, which in turn leaves a smile on my lips. I’d never had ginseng before, so never would have thought to combine it with oolong, but I’m really in love with the combination!

I participated in a tea tasting with the staff at the Uptown (Victoria BC) store (I consider them to be my friends now, really), yesterday evening to try the three new teas they received. I can’t wait to try the other new ones when they come in too!!

Being an avid oolong fan, and having a great love of the Quangzhou Milk Oolong, I was extremely excited to see a new straight oolong! This is even more special as it is the first tea they’ve received from Vietnam!

We did both a gongfu and western style brew to taste it, each brew style bringing out slightly different notes of the flavour. The gongfu brew brought out more of the delicate floral notes (reminds me of orchid? Magnolia? It’s definitely more floral than piney), and the western style brew brought out a rich sweetness reminiscent of the Quangzhou.

I went home with 100g and will likely need to get more before the month is up!

Let me start by saying that this tea has an extremely strong smoky aroma, reminiscent of bacon and campfires. But don’t be put off by it! Once steeped, the aroma is slightly muted. The taste is smoky and comforting. When drinking, the muted aroma reminds me of the smell of old books, and I feel compelled to curl up in a big comfy chair, with a book, while drinking.

Lapsang Souchong has officially taken place of Hojicha as my favourite smoky/roasted tea. Complex yet simple, strong yet subtle, it’s a paradox of a tea, and is my new go-to for when I’m feeling sad.

Total miss :(

It’s bitter, lacks any flavour even remotely resembling s’mores. Smells burnt when I sniff the tin. Adding milk/sweeteners/ice cream/whipped cream didn’t help.

Really disappointed that I don’t like it after reading all the hype about it, and then waiting to finally have it in stock so I could try it.

No notes yet.

I have this, as well as the Tea Master from Teaopia, and David’s Tea Steeper is by far the more used. The wider base fits over my favourite mugs better,and the shorter but wider brew area allows for better expansion of some of my leafier teas. It’s also easier to get my hand in to clean it. I use it multiple times daily and can’t imagine life without it <3

This was my favourite chocolate tea…untill the Cocoa Canelle came out this week that is!

Rich chocolatey tea, fantastic on its own or with milk. I’ve even made milkshakes with it! Sweet enough on its own, with all the chocolatey goodness in it. Smells like brownie batter when I sniff the tin, but smells like fresh cake when I smell the brewed liquid. I keep a container of mini chocolate chips on hand to add to my second brew to kick up the chocolate flavour once most of the chocolate has already been used the first time (the leaves themselves are good for 3-4 steeps I’ve found).

Try making it extra hot/strong and adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a dollop of whipped cream!

Quite possibly my favourite mint tea AND my favourite pu’ehr, all in one cup! Rich, creamy, full-bodied tea with a sweet minty flavour. I absolutely despise licorice, and can’t detect any licorice in the flavour (yay!). Adding a bit of milk makes it taste like the base of chocolate chip mint ice cream t do what I did and add the liqueur to the tea, it makes it way too strong, almost to the point of being undrinkable. oops!)

Lovely blend of white and green tea, though the green tends to overpower the white. Perfect balance of floral notes, not too much of anything. I really enjoy it but can’t help but think it’d be better as a straight white blend, rather than having the addition of the green.

LOVE Forever Nuts! Tried it in a sample set I got for Christmas, and fell in love. Try adding a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg, a splash of banana liqueur, some banana chips, or a few chocolate chips to the steeper for an extra decadent treat. Liquid banana nut muffins anyone? I even add the soggy steeped goodies to smoothies!

I keep a stash of this handy in the fridge, cold-steeped for 24hrs. I then heat it up and brew other teas in the hot brewed mate. It gives a really good jolt without too much flavour, so is versatile for mixing with herbals that taste awesome but don’t give you the morning boost. I don’t like hot steeping it, I find it burns fairly easily, like a green tea. That being said, the blends that DT offers that have green mate in them don’t get the burnt taste to them if I use hot water. Weird. Anywho, cold steeping it, it’s impossible to oversteep. Half the time I leave the leaves in the pitcher for days and only filter it out when I pour it. Right now there’s no room for a pitcher in the fridge, so I have some dixie cups in the deep freeze full of it, and I use them to chill iced tea without watering it down too much and adding a boost.

Hands down the best jasmine green tea I’ve tasted. Beautiful green tea with just the right amount of jasmine. Smells more strongly of jasmine than it tastes, which is how I like my jasmine green. I like to drop a few pearls into a cup of water, slightly cooler than suggested, and let it continue to brew as I drink it. I have found this method to bring out the richness while keeping the astringency down, but it also allows me to re-steep the pearls up to 3 times, giving me a bit more bang for my buck. I really enjoy the progression of the flavour in each cup when brewed this way, every sip is like a slightly different tea, and it smells like bliss.