Sweet Canadian

Sunday Sample sipdown! This one has been in my cupboard for a while and I finally finished it off. It’s best brewed for 3 minutes at a temp in between green and black, or else it gets bitter. I added some aguave, yum yum! Great iced and hot. Not sad to see it go but definitely a great flavored tea for people who don’t love flavored teas.

I went in and got a wee amount of this one today as I was at the bank near Davids, but I cannot WAIT for Wednesday to go in and try all the new spring teas :)

The dry leaf smells like key lime pie to me. I was like yum when I opened the bag. I steeped for just a few minutes because Davids whites get bitter super quick. The liquid is a nice light gold colour. I did a little bit cold and a cup hot.

Taste: It tastes Thai that’s for sure. The coconut makes it thai for me, otherwise it would just be a lemon ginger tea. The predominate flavor is lemon, with a bite of ginger, and creamy sweetness lingering in the background. I also think it tastes/smells kinda limey but I don’t know if there is any lime in there.

If you like lemon teas, and if you like thai food, you will love this tea. It would go really well with an Asian themed meal.

Yay I get to have the first tasting note on this one!

I will start out with a story: I have been a bad spender these last few months since we came to Ontario. With a Davidstea so close, and being on steepster all the time, I’ve been buying a lot of tea. My hubby finally has a job, but we are still trying to catch up from the last few months and my tea addiction wasn’t helping. So after putting in an order with Red Leaf, and two orders with Della Terra, and an order with 52 teas in January, I put myself and my best tea buddy here on a no tea buying month until Davids Spring collection comes out March 6th!

BUT THEN THIS TEA HAPPENED! I love flavoured oolongs. Well I love all oolongs but I am always looking for amazing flavored ones. And so I knew I couldn’t buy it because 1) Shipping to Canada is now crazy 2) I was on the no tea buying restraint and I had already broken it for the iHeartteas sale. Which as a side note, my friend who was also no allowed to by tea responded as such: “WHAT YOU BOUGHT TEA! BAD!” Me: “It was such a good sale! I got 2 bags of 52teas discontinued blends for $12!” Her: “Why didn’t you tell me….” Me: “I didn’t want us both to fall of the bandwagon” Her: “But why didn’t you tell me so I could get some too…” We are bad enablers.

ANYWAYS so my husband and I have been doing gifts to each other every month for our anniversary, leading up to our one year of being married. We think its a nice way to let the other one know we still care, and we alternate so it’s like every other month one of us is being spoiled. So far my hubby is winning, he got me: A steeper, dinner at my favorite restaurant, candy, and now this tea because I basically begged him to get it. Yesterday was our “mockaversary” because February doesn’t have a 30 in it. So much to my “surprise” I got a bag of this!

And that is how I almost avoided buying tea for a whole month, while still getting one of the most exciting blends I’ve seen in a while.

On to the tea: I brewed this one up for 2.5 minutes. The dry leaf smells sweet and tangy. I literally couldn’t stop smelling the bag last night. It is a lot stronger than I expected based on Frank’s description, but I am totally ok with that. Brewed up it is a nice light gold colour. On tasting I am first hit with the sweet/tart cranberry, and then as it mellows on my tongue the smoothness of the oolong comes through. Definitely happy to have gotten to try this one, it is a keeper! I think cranberry anything is fantastic and I am happy to have the cranberry hugging my friend oolong here.

EDIT: I lied, and I cannot lie to your Steepsterites, I also went to Davids once and bought 3 15 gram samplers of some Mates. I was there with a friend…it was a semi successful no tea buying month. Luckily the Spring collection comes out Wednesday and I will be all over that. I may even get a new mug/pot :D

EDIT 2: I remember now why also we evoked No Tea Buying month, it’s because my friend and I had also placed an online DavidsTea order because they were discontinuing so many things. And then the next day we took advantage of Red Leaf’s new customer 50% deal. So within 2 days we had both spent $70 on tea, in addition to all the other tea I had already bought in January. I need to give myself an allowance.

This is my favorite out of the four flavours I ordered. It tastes exactly like a green apple candy, and goes really well with vanilla almond milk. This morning I mixed in 1 tsp of matcha with a half a cup of DavidsTea White Tiger, and then added hot Almond Milk to the top of my glass. Yum! It is sweet and tart at the same time. I tend to prefer fruity flavours so I knew I had to try this one, and I have to say it is a winner :)

I finally got my first order from Red Leaf Tea last week! I have been able to try all of them now, but I am going to start by logging the one that I had as a latte this morning.

I have been drinking matcha with half almond milk/half water. I got this one as basic grade/robust flavour. The raspberry is tart and the chocolate is sweet, but this is probably my least favorite of the four I ordered. I wish the flavours came out more, I found they got lost in how I prepared it.

This was one of the ones in my Mystery Box! I have been too busy to log a lot of them (I’ve now tried them all) so better to start late than never.

I had this one this morning with a hint of honey and some milk. The bergamot really comes through with lingering orange and floral notes in the background. It’s not my favorite tea ever, but it was a wonderful addition to the sweet/fruity teas they also sent me. I would drink this when I want something more traditional in terms of flavoured black teas.

I had this in the morning today as a latte. It’s like licking a sweet, delicious, creamy pumpkin. Sososososo good. I will be very sad when this one is gone especially since it just sold out on the 52teas website.

This is my favorite Lemon tea. I will be so sad when the package is gone. It’s so bright and has a wonderful lemon flavor without being overpowering. Yum.

If I could only drink one tea for the rest of my life, this one would be up there. It is so deep, complex, and delicious, kinda like a good boyfriend. Thank you chocolate rocket, for getting me through so many early/lack of sleep mornings. I steep it for as long as I like, and the roasted mate flavor really shines through. There are hints of nuttyness and sweet raspberry chocolate in the background. This tea is phenomenal.

Having this as a latte tonight, and it is strawberry perfection. If anyone else is looking for an amazing strawberry tea, this is your ticket.

I had to run blog this tea quickly before I go to bed. I have been searching for the perfect strawberry tea and I may have found the one. It is SOO delicious, with some nice cinnamon-y notes to complement the warm strawberry.

I had this tea tonight from my MYSTERY BOX! Please do this again della terra, I loved it so much. I think I’ve said this like 20 times now but really I love surprises.

This tea is a nice mix of rooibos and apple. I don’t know that I love it as much as classic apple pie, but it is a nice caffeine free apple. I added a bit of almond milk and the rooibos flavor really shines.

I made THE best latte of this today. Sweet and light. I wish it was more chocolatey but I see why others would love it.

I had a very pumpkiny morning today, consuming this and David’s pumpkin chai. I like both. This one is much sweeter and creamier. It was the one black tea from the 12 days of christmas that I had to get more of. Yum yum.

This is the perfect lemon green tea. Light and sweet, pure deliciousness.

I love having a tin of this around for cold evenings. Tonight I enjoyed a cup of it while watching my favorite TV show, Once Upon a Time. It’s both sweet and tart, and I think the red colour appropriately matched Regina’s red apple.

Ok so my Davids FINALLY got this back in stock. I had been trying to buy some for over a month, first at the family and friends sale, second with a few gift cards I got for christmas. I’m so happy its back though, this is by far my favorite straight tea!

I’ve been drinking it a lot since then. It is buttery and sweet, with a slight sourness as well. My hubby actually likes it too, which is great because oolong is a nice tea to drink straight. I have a tin of it now so I think it will be a regular everyday tea for us from now on.

Being a huge Harry Potter fanatic I had been dreaming of trying this tea since I learned of its existence. When I got my 12 days sampler for Christmas, I cheated and opened this one to try immediately.

I didn’t account for the fact that I HATE rootbeer. One day, I will get to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and see if their butterbeer can tickle my pallet. And this is probably the best rootbeer flavored thing I have ever had, but I just don’t like that flavour. I’ve tried it now as a latte, straight hot, and iced. I think iced was the best. But still too close to rootbeer.

Everyone! I am sad/panicking because I just went to steep my first cup of this from my recent order, and there are no blueberries to be found! I know my 12 days of christmas sample had many, is this normal? Did anyone else get any recently without? I will email Frank but I thought I’d ask first, because part of what I loved about this tea was the plump blueberries within.

I have been meaning to get a flavoured genmaicha for my stash for a while now. This one tastes like normal genmaicha but better, it has a hint of chocolately-ness that I really like. I drank a bunch of it yesterday at work.

My first Della Terra order arrived today! Everything looks lovely, certainly will not be my last. I decided to brew this one up tonight as I wanted to make sure I was going to be able to fall asleep early this evening. I was up late last night and I want to get lots of sleep before I have to get up early tomorrow.

I did not find the dry smell very attractive. But after the pungent-ness wears off, I could smell a hint of eggnog.

The brewed tea is a nice dark caramel colour. I added almond milk to enhance the experience and the flavours definitely allude to eggnoggy goodness. This is definitely a nice winter rooibos to have around. I like the flavour a lot.

I’ve been getting annoyed all day that fellow steepsterites haven’t been posting enough to aid my procrastination! But I guess I should be critical of myself since I need to blog all the delicious tea I tried over the holidays.

I adore this blend. I finally got to try 52 teas on Christmas when my hubby “surprised” me with the 12 days of christmas sampler that I told him to get me, and this is one of my favorites in it. I really really like the green teas in the box overall, but this one is so light and delicious. I expected to like graveyard mist better but the lemony flavour of this one is addicting. It’s so nice on its own, even better with a touch of honey. I have more coming on the way with my first 52 teas order, along with some Browncoat Genmaicha, some caramel pumpkin cheesecake, and some boo-berry cotton candy.

Nice strong ginger tea. I like ginger a lot. The spice and sweetness of ginger is there, and some peppery-ness remains in my mouth after each sip. I added some honey, it’s pretty yum. Would still be good straight. I will probably pick some up for colds because it would definitely clear your sinuses.

I am back to the tealogging after a bit of a holiday break, and even though I have a bunch to catch up on I will start with the tea I am drinking right now.

Wow! I think this might be one of my new favs. I’ve been meaning to try it for a while, but always forget because it is muddled among the many other herbals at Davids. I may get a tin of it since I have some gift cards to use up there. I think it is nice both iced and hot. I will have to see how it holds up since I am making a big jug of it right now. It is minty and citrusy, a really refreshing combo that also works hot for me.