Sil

Mmmmmm blueberry matcha!
Catching up on my matcha reviews since I’ve been a slacker in that department. This matcha is delicious! I love blueberries! I’d eat blueberries all the time if I could since a while back some of my favourite fruits started to give me an allergic reaction. I was prompted by steepster reviews to pick this one up – in particular MissLena12 and Ninavampi.
Once again, Red Leaf has managed to create a flavoured matcha that isn’t artificial tasting. However, this isn’t the taste of regular old blueberries. This matcha tastes like wild blueberries. It has a sweet taste but there’s also a strong BLUEBERRY taste! I think with this particular matcha because it’s not artificial tasting, I could bump up the flavouring to robust, though I always err on the side of caution and get fruity flavours in distinctive first :)
As usual, I made a blueberry smoothie with this matcha. I still can’t get into drinking straight matcha so this is the way I do things. I love the way the milk adds creaminess to the matcha and with the blueberry it’s no exception! One thing I would like to try with this particular matcha is adding it to pancakes along with real blueberries!
I’m looking forward to
My matcha was composed of the following:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Distinctive

Buy it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/blueberry-matcha.html

In my continuing quest to figure out which Matcha flavours are my favourite, I opted to pick up the strawberry matcha a while back but haven’t had time to do a proper review. Since I’ve managed to do a sipdown today, I figured this was as good a time as any :)
I won’t bore you with the packaging except to say that if you’re picking up matcha from Red Leaf, it’s a good idea to pick up one of their tins as well to store the matcha after you open the non re-sealable package.
The scent of this matcha is delicious and totally like natural strawberry flavouring. The first smell of this matcha when I opened up the package was amazingly delicious! I really love that the strawberry isn’t artificial.
I made a strawberry smoothie with this matcha – frozen banana; milk and matcha! The first sip of this tastes like ice cream made with real strawberries. The kind of ice cream that you pick up from a dairy or one of those mom and pop stores. It actually made me think of the little place up north that Ian and I visit when we go up to the cottage – Kuwartha Dairies. They make the most amazing ice cream and milk related product fresh! It’s soooo delicious and this matcha makes me think of their strawberry milkshakes.
I’d order this again in a heartbeat :)

My matcha was composed of the following:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Dinstinctive

Buy it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/strawberry-matcha.html

I picked this tea up on the weekend when tea blendz was closing down their retail store. Three 50g bags of tea for the price of one (think 6$)! This might be the first tea where I’ve tried two versions of the tea. I have to admit i didn’t like the first version of toffee dream that i tried from zen tea. There was a nuttiness to it that didn’t sit well with me. This version though is a pretty nice version. Not only is it a pretty blend with the light blue flowers in it, but it’s a light toffee tasting tea without a nutty feel to it. I’m quite happy with this, so even if i hate the other two teas i picked up, i’ll consider my weekend tea purchase a success!

Edit: resteep not bad but a little week, likely need to up time to 6 mins or so

12 days of christmas tea swap!

Yes i know..it’s a little late, but at the time i wasn’t really feeling that whole mint feeling back then. This isn’t bad tea. It reminds me a whole lot of read my lips, though a bit nicer. A big thanks to Sare for letting us try this one out! I totally miss the awesome packages and teas that everyone pulled together for the swap!

Sipdown! Been drinking this in the afternoon and I’ve come to the conclusion that this might be the second tea from Della Terra that I love. Bumping the rating up a little since it was much tastier this afternoon. I’d consider picking this up again as a semi-permanent dessert tea for my cupboard.

Bumped up the rating on this one a little since adding a bit more tea that usual produced an improved cup. Same story with other della terra teas for me. Enjoyed it but not enough to keep it in my cupboard :)

SIPDOWN! Finished up the last of my sample on this one. I’m still not overly convinced as to the amazingness of this tea but it was a little better this time around. That might also be due to the extra leaf i tossed in. Still, a decent enough tea that i wouldn’t turn down but also don’t feel the need to keep around permanently. I vastly prefer the wonder grandma’s pumpkin pie that Della terra does :)

mmmmm! I haven’t had this one in a long time so i pulled it out this morning. Another half sipdown since i finished off the one bag i had and started on the second. That makes me feel good – since there’s a wagon load of tea on its way for me to try. My other half thinks i like tea so much because i get mail, i can write about it and he pretty much doesn’t think i’ll ever get down to a reasonable list of favourites since i’ll never stop finding new tea companies and new teas. lol He might be right, but Butiki teas is probably at the top of my list of places to reorder from and keep going back to.

This Mango lassi is no exception…see previous tasting notes but all in all this is a really nice mango tea. I don’t like it cold brewed as much as i enjoy it hot brewed.

Cold brewed this and it tastes nothing like pear! However, its a really nice tasty cold brew. I think i’d really enjoy this in the summer – have a hot pear cup, turn it into a nice fruity cold brew :)

Night cap for this evening. So delicious and exactly what I wanted and needed.

Mmmmmmm gaming and tea! Yay. Let this one steep for over 7 mins and its better than the first time. It still tastes like something I can’t place. May need to get my other half to drink some when he’s not stuffed up to help me figure it out. Overall, not a bad tea esp for something sweet without caffeine.

So tasty tonight. Jut what I wanted with dinner. A splash of vanilla to go with our meal. Such a good day today.

Packed this to take along with me while my other half and I enjoyed a wonderful Saturday together. Managed to not only pick up some majorly awesome deals on tea, but we had lunch at a friends restaurant and he made us pulled pork spring rolls! Sooooo good!

This was a nice one to have while wandering around in the cooler day, and its been a while since I’ve had and chai so yay!

Kinda of a sip down. One bag finished, now on to my last bag of good morning sunshine in the house :) mini victory! In a rare turn of events this morning, my other half is still sleeping. We’ve both had a rough week so while he gets a bit more sleep in, I’m relaxing with a few cups of GMS to start my morning before I wake him. He’s indulging me today since we haven’t had a Saturday off in ages, and is going out with me to a new Toronto tea shop that’s have a 3 for 1 moving sale. Then we’re going to hit a new restaurant for lunch and spend the afternoon wandering somewhere we haven’t been before. Just because. :)

Chose this tea for a spot of sunshine in my day since its kinda of cold and overcast here today. I really love the lemon goodness of this tea. Another hit from Stacy :)

Laaaate night. Going exploring in the city with my other half tomorrow because he finally has a Saturday off!! First stop? Farmers market. Second stop….tea store!

Crashing out now..up later than we wanted to be.

weird… could have sworn i rated this already. Ah well… i don’t mind this tea…but gingersnap it is not. This is more like a fruity tea with ginger in it…sort of. There’s a nutty taste to it as well, similar to the sweet almond cake that this company does as well. All in all not a bad tea but it’s not gingersnap – that wonderful delicious cookie that i love!

had this tonight…a decent cup but nothing spectacular.

So this is a sipdown…because even though i haven’t finished the sample bag i bought, I don’t want to. And i think this is gross enough that I won’t let anyone else get stuck with it. so there. blech.

This was in my December AMODA Tea box and it pretty much made me delightfully happy because I’ve been wanting to try these out but there’s a hefty price to them that just hasn’t left me inclined to order something that i don’t know if i’ll love. wow that sentence just hurt my head. punctuation much? yeaaaah…

so anyway, first off, this is a really pretty tea. I love the purple flowers in it. And man did this smell like wine! Now i prefer white wine over red, but I have been known to enjoy a good red wine from time to time. This tea smelled exactly like the last little bit that’s always left in the bottle no matter how long you hold it upside down heh.

How does it taste? Like grapes…but with a hint of…spice? hmm not sure if that makes sense.i can taste the currants and the brew is smooth. This tea makes me want to try some of the others to see how they compare. I don’t think i’d drink this everyday but I’d absolutely drink this from time to time.

Brewed up some of this morning and it’s exactly what i needed. I am a fan of this tea even if it isn’t one of stacy’s staples. I’ll be honest though, i prefer what is in her current stash, though this one is nothing to complain about. It’s a rich brew with an almost sweet note that hits at the end of the sip. mmmm today? today is a good day.

TADA! Betcha thought this was going to be strawberry…or blueberry but it’s not. I picked this up a while ago and haven’t gone back to revisit it. I still really enjoy it. I love the berry taste. It’s been a long time since i’ve had boysenberries but this matcha reminds me of the memory of having them. All in all, a nice tasty matcha morning kick off!

soooo random teavivre sample of the day! I pikced this one, and of course didn’t realise, half asleep that i was, that this was an oolong. Now, to be fair I picked up some oolongs, greens and blacks from teavivre as my first order, to try and branch out from my blacks.

When the water hit the leaves, it was the smell that woke me up. There is something about the smell of green oolong that just makes me cringe. I was originally going to take this to work in my travel mug, but as it sat there steeping and the smell intensified, i just couldn’t do it. I was close to just saying i give up and dropping it down the drain, but instead i poured it into a mug and let it sit there…watching me…taunting me.

So i did it. I took a sip (albeit it was after i’d brushed my teeth, so maybe that influenced my tongue) and it was kinda good. While the smell was OOLONG, the taste wasn’t quite the usual oolongy taste that I’ve come to associate with oolongs. I did manage to drink nearly all of it while running around the house getting ready for work and brewing up my other teas to take to work.

I’m going to hold off rating this one because i didn’t take the time to experience it and really focus on it, but all signs point to this possibly being something i might enjoy, if i can ignore the smell. I have the leaves i can resteep tonight, as well as another package i can try.

Soooo for now, thank you teavivre for this. I drank almost a whole cup of greeny oolong! woot woot!

Sooooo good! Had this today as well as it had been a long time since i’d had a chance to sit down and enjoy MY grapefruit tea. I’m so impressed with how much this tastes like grapefruit. It was totally worth the wait to finally get this one from Stacy. I’m not sure she’ll ever really want to tell me about upcoming teas though with all the poking i did in anticipation (is it done now? how about now? now? when will i have it? naaaaaaaaooooooo!) :) I highly reccommend this to anyone in search of a grapefruit tea. So good!

Random Teavivre Sample of the day!

Wheee! I accidentally ordered a sample of this in addition to the sample that comes in their black tea sample. Luckily though, I’m enjoying this one. SO much so that I was just kind of sipping on it this morning without thinking about the fact that this was a brand new tea! gasp the horror! :)

I can totally get behind this tea. It’s the first dragon pear i’ve had so it was fun getting to watch them unfurl as it stepped this morning. I’m sipping on this tea while munching on the last of my cardamon and orange shortbread…yes you heard that right. Visit shortbread.ca if you want to see what i’m talking about…sweet AND savoury shortbread! I am also digging their garlic and asiago….though not with tea :)

Ok on with the tea…. This tea is much more chocolatey than other blacks that i’ve had that I enjoy. I wish there was a bit more maltiness to it, but it’s also nice not to have that total malty taste up front for a change. It’s on the lighter side of blacks that i typically enjoy but it’s delicious nonetheless!

The more i drink this, the more i am really enjoying that this is a more “pure” black in that there’s just the dominante chocolate flavour coming through. So glad i got to try this and happy that I have a bunch more thanks to my order mistake lol