Uniquity

This is one of the teas I was unsure about when i ordered…green and I have issues sometimes. It makes me queasy occasionally (no clue why) and it always seems like too much work. Ironically, when I’m at work it’s one of the easiest, since the water is nowhere near boiling and I can just take it from the spout.

Anyway. I tried to give this a good shake because I could see lots of mint at the bottom and lots of tea at the top. I got a good mix in the end, and I see some sticks in there, but some pretty large leaves as well. I can smell the mint and vanilla mix more than anything in the dry and steeped tea. It makes a mouthwash sort of smell, but luckily not a mouthwash taste.

I find it brisk and refreshing, leaving my mouth cool but not too sharp. I don’t get any green tea taste, it must be hiding under the bold mint and the creamy vanilla. It’s definitely nice, since I love mint, but I don’t love this tea necessarily. Yet. Silly green tea. I’m having a weird week with teas. I’m sick so I think that is affecting all my perceptions, even though I can still taste properly, my general unwell feelings affect my judgment.

EDIT: (Over)Steep #2 brings out more hints of green tea flavour, but this is still predominantly mint. THe flavour has thinned out a bit, but is still a comforting cuppa minty goodness. I am getting a hint of the mouthwash flavour I associate with 52Teas Mintastic…I think it is the spearmint they use, maybe.

Sadly, this one did not blow me away. I made some of this for my breakfast tea…It tasted better than it smelled dry (I wasn’t getting any apricot smell…I didn’t really smell much at all, really. It wasn’t like rooibos or apricot or cinnamon, but weird). Steeped, I got some of that apricot flavour, but didn’t find it to be very strong. I didn’t get any cinnamon, so it was just a decent and drinkable but mildly disappointing cup of apricot-ish rooibos.

My 52Teas order arrived yesterday, and I made a pot of this to try out. The smell in the bag was wonderful strawberry sweetness, like candy or strawberries with a lot of sugar. Steeped, the smell diminished somewhat and I personally found the flavours surprisingly muted. i got a hint of something I would call cinnamon (is there any in there? I hope so…) and would have liked a but more strawberry flavour to go with the dry smell. I think next time I’ll steep for longer and see how it goes. I also totally missed out on the pie flavours. I’ll try harder next time : )

Dear Saigon Chai,

Just a quick note to thank you for your loyal service. After the bad brew last week I was worried we weren’t to be friends anymore, but that was a false judgment. Today, you are delicious as usual, and a refreshing cup of hearty cinnamon based chai. I don’t appreciate your crumbly nature before steeping, but you do turn into a lovely brew if I drink you in a reasonable time frame. That said, I would appreciate less powderiness, as it is tricky to keep you from over-steeping and getting bitter.

Keep on keeping on,
Love,
Uniquity

EDIT – I’m sorry to do this to you, Saigon Chai, but you keep going gross as you cool. I’ve had to lower your rating. Now you need a bit of sugar and there’s nothing around to help with that. Naughty!

So, it’s administrative assistants appreciation week at work, and we get treats. Today was a coffee/tea break from Pete’s Frootique, and I snagged a bagged chai from Twinings, I’m always wary of bagged greens, and that was all that was left at the time. On the plus side, I got gruit and muffins!

I’ve already burned my tongue on this poor thing, but it’s definitely a decent bagged chai. I find it better than the (mediocre at best) PC brand bagged chai, but they just never capture the deliciousness of proper chai for me. This’ll do, but I’d rather my 52teas order arrived so I could have some of my Extra Bold Masala Chai instead.

That said, it’s nice to be treated at work! Thanks, work!

Resteep from…yesterday? The day before? Still delicious, but lacks the oomph of the first steep. I miss those bold juniper berries.

I steeped for nearly ten minutes today accidentally, and got a wonderful sweet baked apple flavour. As I near the bottom the tin, the compponents seem to be more and more apple…there is only one large orange piece left! I’m quite glad I’ve warmed up to this wonderful wintry tisane…

Dear Lady Grey,

I’m so sorry for always thinking I don’t like you. I don’t know what it is, but when your beautiful scent and taste aren’t right in front of me, I forget your wonders. Instead, I associate you with dusty dry bergamot, and your terrible husband, Earl Grey. I don’t know why he and I don’t get along, but you, my Lady, are a pleasure. Thank you for your faux lemon/faux froot loop taste and your conveniently packaged teabags. Forgive me my forgetful nature, and try not to hold a grudge when I inevitably think (once again) that I don’t love you. I do. I swear.

Sincerely,
Uniquity

PS – You really are best enjoyed at a 2 to 3 minute steep time. Who doesn’t love a quick Lady? ; )

Love. This is one of my first David’s Tea loves and it still holds strong. I love the juniper, the lemongrass, the whole thing. If you don’t like gin, avoid.

No notes yet.

Re-steep from yesterday. Mint has diminished and the chocolate has become textural. It’s weird. Must have melted more the second time around, I keep getting a ring of chcoolate around my mug. Still nice, but thinned out.

Enjoyed a cuppa with my breakfast this morning. I really do enjoy this tea…it’s pretty easy to deal with, nice flavours and not too assertive. The tea is definitely there, but muted by the berry flavours. It is not super sweet as some berry teas can be, so I think maybe the tartness of cranberry rounds it out. That said, if I didn’t know the ingredients, I wouldn’t say it was cranberry, necessarily. Just berry. I guess that’s what happens when you have three delicious fruity flavours! I really enjoy it, nonetheless! : )

I love that I love this lately. I have yummy minty breath, chocolate on the back of my tongue and there was even some tea in there somewhere too. This spoon had a bit more chocolate than I might have preferred, but it also had a bit extra mint and that balanced it out nicely. I really do love it when I come to embrace a tea. Sure, it’s great to fall in love right off, but learning to love a tea is a great experience!

Mmm..BLECH! That’s my result. I had a memory of liking this bagged tisane. BUT…Two bags to a 15 oz cup, smelled great, tastes good at first but then got soapy chamomile sort of taste. There isn’t any in there (apparently!) but I couldn’t drink it. Poured out. maybe the beau will like it…

Travel mug of this for work this morning. It was really nice,a bit tart, but still had a hint of that creamy dimension I so enjoy. I’ve had this so many times that there’s not really anything new to say!

Had a delightful cup of old faithful this morning. I had a week of sketchy teas last week, so I think I’ll be turning to some of my favourites this week. This short week! I am so looking forward to my four day weekend with my family. My grandmother will be 83 on Thursday, and the beau and I are spending Easter in her neck of the woods, so yummy teas are in order!

Had an enjoyable cup of this on this rainy afternoon. There was a slight sweet fruity sort of a taste, more fruit punch than anything identifiable. The tea wasn’t overly vegetal, but really complemented the melange of fruit.
As I said last time, this might be the right kind of tea to get me into greens. Huzzah!

Well, this tea seems to have seriously split reviews, and I’m not going to help with that. It’s fine enoguh, but not my thing. I’ve suspected for some time that I don’t really like white tea all that much, and this has sort of convinced me. I don’t get very much strawberry taste, I mostly just get white tea, and that doesn’t really excite me too much. I definitely don’t feel like re-buying this one. The dry smell is similar to DT’s White Tiger (which I did like) but it mostly just becomes a sweet white tea once steeped.

So, the beau and I went into a fun store full of kitchen wares today to take a peep around. I spotted some tea supplies and went to study them, then spotted tea! There were 4 or 5 random bags of loose tea and artisan flowering teas from Metropolitan Tea Company. Not only that, but they were extremely discounted and still have really far off best before dates. I bought 100 g of this for $3 – Apparently the crazy co2 decaf process makes it last forever. Or something like that.

Anyway, I have practically zero unflavoured black teas and no palate for it at all (YET!), but I figured this couldn’t hurt. At $3, I don’t feel bad if I have to toss it, but if it’s at all palatable I can use it as a base for my highland chai mix from the tea brewery. Win/win, right?

I went light on the steep time, out of fear. I don’t think I needed to, but I don’t regret my choice. 1 perfect teaspoon to two mugs of boiling water (11 oz cups) and only 2 to 3 minutes steeping. It started out as a lovely blonde honey colour, then deepened into an amber. The smell is that of black tea, but lighter and sweeter. The taste is…shockingly sweet. Like there’s already a bit of honey in there. I know there isn’t, but it’s nice. It’s really nice. I could definitely enjoy this on it’s own, or as a base for chai, or something to add some peppermint to, or even to cut other teas I dont like so much. Good thing, since I’ve got a pretty substantial bag of the stuff. At the very end of the sip as it cools there is a hint of something bitter, but it never really forms. This is good as I hate bitterness in my tea, probably why I love flavoured ones so much. All in all this $3 investment was a GREAT one!

After my disaster with cinnamon heart yesterday, I decided to put on a brave face and have a cup of Saigon Chai. I like this one a lot, historically, but I am a little uneasy about strongly cinnamon teas for a little while. I wish I didn’t get taste aversion so rapidly. Luckily, this is still yummy to me. Not as much as before, there is too much cinnamon going on at the mo for my liking – giving it an almost soap-like quality that I do not appreciate, but that is my fault, not the teas, so I’ll leave the rating alone.

EDIT: blegh. Oversteeped, or something. This is getting quite bitter as it cool,s but I am in switchboard and can’t get sugar or milk or add water to thin it out. Don’t oversteep this chai!

I couldn’t resist. This is sweeter than the honeybee from DT, without that weird aftertaste. Of the two, this remains my favourite, so far. Good thing, since I have like 5.5 oz left of it. Sweet creamy rooibos with a hint of sweet lemon, no rind or bitterness to be found, really. Delicious!

Oh, wow. Dry, this smells much like Lush’s “Honey, I Washed the Kids” soap which I bought to replace my peppermint blue soap. Strong honey smell, followed by a tinge of something unusual. I’ve never had or smelled mate, so I find myself thinking it might be that. The steeped liquor is a rich amber, and the smell is magnified.

First tastes are delicious. I got a strong honey flavour, but then there is a strange after-taste/texture which I, once again, assume to be the mate. I realized after a few sips that it reminds me a lot of Joy’s Teaspoon’s Lemon Zest, only without the lemon. I think the sharp taste at the end is what echoes that lemon taste for me, but the honey sweetness is so creamy and delicious. The beau also mentioned that it reminds him of Lemon Cream Pie, but I don’t actually remember that being very creamy.

I will enjoy the rest of my sample package for now, but this might be a re-buy. However, I do have lots of the Lemon Zest, so if this is similar to it as I remember it to be, I don’t really need it. Except to learn about mate. We’ll see.

Had a cup of this after work today. Unfortunately, I started feeling nauseous right afterward. I like to think there is no link between the two.

Another David’s Tea pu-erh mix that I can’t stand the smell of. I bought this ages ago on a foolish whim, before I knew anything about tea. I still haven’t developed any taste for Pu-Erh (the smell drives me off long before the taste) and this tea is still mostly un-drank. The last time I had it, I felt nauseous afterward, so I’ve been hiding from it since Christmastime-ish. The dry smell is cinnamon, the steeped smell is cinnamon and pu-erh (aka earth and fish and wet dog, to me). The taste is pretty much just cinnamon, though I have to be careful not to breathe in. I definitely would never re-steep this, not because it couldn’t, but because I want it gone. I’ve got a few people in mind that might like this, but if not, it might be up for grabs someday, since my relationship with it has not improved. I like cinnamon too…but this is just not my cup of tea : ) If there were no smell, this tea would also rank maybe a 60 for taste. Stupid smell! I wonder if I can cut it with something…