Uniquity

I love this tea…I need to buy more of this tea when I run out of the current tin. It’s gently ginger, but you get some fruity loveliness as well. Yum yum!

Backlog from last night:

The second steep was as yummy as I expected. Is it normal to enjoy the second more than the first? I find the tea taste tones down a bit for steep #2 and the creamy vanilla takes over.

dancing around with tea in hand

Filled up the travel mug with a big spoon of this. I love watching mint teas steep, the little pieces floating up and down like a trippy tea lava lamp. My only complaint is that the water at my work is never hot enough. Can’t wait to switch positions and locations, then be able to BOIL WATER!! YAY!

Okay, first things first. Swamp Music by Lynyrd Skynyrd is hopelessly stuck in my head. I blame the tea. Secondly, I haven’t had this tea in months. It is one of the first I bought at David’s Tea so it must be getting on in age, but it’s been sealed in it’s tinand smells divine. I remember liking it well enough, it just fell off my radar with the constant influx of new treasure.

The smell is very fruity – I only have two teas with green rooibos so I don’t know what that smells like on it’s own. I don’t discern anything that I could point to in that regard. It does, of course, have the cute little candies in it. I assume those are what create the best part of the tea – the nasty colour. All morning people have “yuck!”ed when they see it, but then they smell it and start to swoon.

Being a rooibos, I just tossed a spoon of this in my travel mug this morning and it’s been steeping in there ever since (we’re 1.5 hours in, at this point). It tastes lovely – one of the many features of rooibos that I love is that you can’t really do it wrong. The smell is still fruity, and the taste is too, but not overwhelmingly so. It’s a surprisingly mild tea, considering the ingredients and the lengthy steep time. It’s naturally sweet and I would never even consider adding any sweetener to a rooibos, but I avoid most sweetener anyway. I used to go for a dob of honey in black teas, but it’s been months.

Anyway, I like this tea. Another great tea to travel with, and one to share with all ages since it’s got no caffeine but a lot of attitude. Yummy attitude!

I love this one – I really do! So yummy, I continue to get bluleberry as the dominant berry. Just yummy in a cup!

Second steep. First sip had an unexpected minty tang. Did not see that coming. Maybe I didn’t wash my teapot very well last time? Probably the case. Interesting and nice, nonetheless. I want mint ni my everything!

Apparently I didn’t try this yet – Either that or I didn’t rate it. This is one of the three teas that my aunt sent me for Christmas from Pippins Tea Company in Toronto (which no-one else has ever logged, what’s up with that??) All of these teas came in a gold bag, but no product description and the name hand written on the outside. It’s a mystery! Well, not this one, since cream of earl grey kinda says it all.

I did this up in a T-Sac today, which I’ve closed in a different way than usual, to allow tonnes of room for expansion. I feel quite smart, but really I should have caught on ages ago. I just tucked the extra flappy bit inside and stapled the edges like a “regular” teabag. I have the size 2 ones, so it’s quite roomy, which I like. Watching the swirls of amber come out is one of my favourite parts of steeping.

I didn’t smell it pre-steep – Sorry! Once steeped the liquor is a golden amber, and looks like an ordinary black tea. I went light on the first steep for now, as I’m treading unusual waters, for me. The steeped smell has a hint of coconutty vanilla, which worries me. I loathe coconut! But, so does this aunt, so it’s unlikely to be coconut. There is also a really fruity smell hidden in the middle, I don’t know how to explain that. Maybe the cornflower blossoms they threw in there? They’re pretty, if nothing else.

First sip – Mild. Very mild. Missing the earl grey flavour here, but that’s likely because of my short steep (1.5 – 2 minutes). It’s sweet. I’m throwing the tea back in for another 30 seconds, see if that brings out its muscles.

Sipping again – Still weird. You can get the earl grey flavour at the end of the sip now, but I still get a hint of something coconutty. Starts off sweet still as well. I think that the “tea water” container at work has been contaminated by coffee, as something is weirdly coffee in this steep. I’ll drink it and I’ll try for a re-steep but I think that a proper measure of the tea will be done at home when I’m in charge of things like water temp. For now, no rating, as this was a weird example. It’d probably get a 65 – 70 if I were going to go numerically right now though. I’m coming to like it more and more as I go through he cup, but I definitely want to try again with some boiling water, that doesn’t have a hint of coffee.

Backlog:

This was my breakfast tea today, enjoy slowly while I played gin rummy with the beau and ate peanut butter crackers for breakfast. Then, of course the usual scurry to get to work on time. But while I was drinking this and playing cards – relaxation. I didn’t get a very strong vanilla hit off this one either, but I intend to re-steep this evening when I get home and I expect I’ll get a stronger vanilla taste again, like last time.

Finally having the big mug I was meant to have yesterday. This tea continues to be a favourite in large quantities, especially when I have to head out into the cold world in the morning.

Today I found myself wondering what it would taste like with some mint thrown in, so I might give that a shot sometime. Probably terrible, but I really wanted to give it a go. Another time!

In exciting news, the new travel mug is working out fine so far, though it is nearly identical so that’s to eb expected. Kept my receipt, so I can actually use the warranty this time if necessary.

Mmmm.

This is the only other kind of black tea I had at work, and I love it – A lovely way to end the work day!

In my usual OCD manner, I’ve gone overboard. Since “realizing” I had no chai, I’ve bought 1 chai-like tea, another that is def. chai and found my lovely apple vanilla white chai in the back of my cupboard, as well as these bags. Nonetheless, I still keep wanting to buy more chais. This tea buying ban is not going to go so well.

Anyway, I’ve decided to officially stick with black teas for the day, so I pulled my last chai teabag from my drawer. I’ve got more at home, so I will have to re-stock. I bought these for mulling cider, but they’re not terrible to drink either. On the lighter side of chai, though I would be interested to see if they are more spicy when prepared on stovetop with milk.

Continuing on my roll of black teas. I find myself wondering why I rate “plain” or pure teas so low? (Though I suppose my only plain teas tend to be bagged, lol) Only the flavoured teas get in the 90s for me. I think it’s unfair of me to rate additives (in flavouring, content, etc) more generously than pure tea. I know that it’s my general preference for flavoured teas and tisanes, but it still seems harsh. Ah well.

I’ve sourced my new travel mug – seems nearly identical to the old only with a five year warranty. Gonna pick one up for me and one for the beau tonight and we are keeping the receipts for warranty this time!

Anyway, this tea is same as always. I actually find it quite sweet already, so I rarely add anything to it anymore and today is no exception. Nice nice nice.

Well, apparently my travel mug was so excited about the arrival of tea last night that it partied too hard. When I poured water into the mug of Wellness I was meant to have this morning, it cracked. Twice. Loudly. So, it sits in the sink at home, waiting to be disposed of once it cools off. Now I need to make a trip to the mall tonight to get another. I think I will stick with the same brand, as there aren’t very many options locally and I really want a clear one – That seems surprisingly uncommon around here.

So, now, as you can read, I am drinking Lady Grey instead of Wellness. Maybe I’ll have an all black tea day. All I know is that it’s extremely cold outside, and I need something to warm me up from my wait for the bus. I don’t look forward to travel mug searching tonight, but this winter I don’t want to go two days in a row without my lovely travelling companion.

Re-steeped the teabag from last night – Worked out surprisingly well. Tasted more of the vanilla, and it was deliciously creamy and smooth. You know you have a lovely tea when a bag re-steeps this nicely!

It’s HERE!!!! Thank you so much Meghann M for this and the SEVEN other treats you sent. The beau and I opened each sachet, sniffing them all with the excitement of children at Christmas. I completely forgive Canada Post for taking forever with this package, as it is heaven sent and needed the most delicate of care.

Of course, in my usual impatient style I put the water on to boil as soon as the Vanilla Comoro was opened. The smell of the dry bag reminds me of a dry hot chocolate mix…smells yummy, and not the overpowering vanilla I kept imagining.

I boiled my water and let it steep about five minutes as Harneys suggests….the smell of the steeped tea closely matches that of the dry. I’m so impatient! If I get really close to the cup, I get a black tea smell, with some lovely overtones of vanilla and milk chocolate. I don’t know where I get that smell…

After burning my tongue (again with the impatience!) I finally taste the tea. I definitely taste black tea. A lovely base, really smooth and creamy. No bitterness at all, it actually tastes like it is lightly sweetened already. I find I get all the vanilla taste afterward, and I’m left with a deicious and satisfying aftertaste.

All in all, it doesn’t quite reach my astronomical dreams, but I really like it. I’m ordering 1 pound of it. Now. I think playing with the steeping parameters will really open this up for me – I also imagine it would be lovely as a latte….Or as a base for hot chocolate or cocoa!!! MMM!

Thank you again, Meghann!!!!

I ended up erring on the side of caution with my first steep and took the (awesome!)infuser out of my travel mug altogether after about ten minutes. In a stroke of brilliance, instead of dumping the tea leaves I put the infuser in my work mug, that way I can resteep without any mess. So, that’s what I’ve done!

I know that I’ve drained a lot of the flavour already, but I figure I might as well maximise what I have here at work. I think a big mug of spearmint will come after this, since I’m really enjoying just filling the travel mug with tea you don’t have to worry about. It keeps it substantially warmer than my work mug as well, so I don’t have to get up and make a new tea every 20 minutes.

Last logged Jan. 27? Seriously???

Throat starting to feel more and more like I will be ill by tomorrow, so I filled my travel mug to the brim with some hot water and threw in a teaspoon of mojito. I actually tossed another half teaspoon or so of David’s Tea’s spearmint in there for a mintier kick. Tastes delicious! I’ve actually burnt my tongue, which is a bit of a downer, but I still get the lovely taste.

I persist in deliusions of vanilla in here, with a muted flavour reminiscent of lime bang. (Which I find to be vanilla-ish). I don’t get the black tea, but I definitely get the mint! I’m still on the fence about leaving the tea in the mug for the duration (I’m lazy!) or if I should take it out to avoid over steeping the black tea and ruining the whole thing. Past experience dictates that this is an extremely forgiving tea, so I think I will leave it, unless something terrible happens.

Staring at the tea I realize that one of the flavours I can never pin down is Rooibos…this tea has everything! While others claim to get a coconut taste I (thankfully!) don’t. I do get a hint of a rummish something, sort of reminiscent of a buttered rum life saver.

Sidenote – When David’s Tea discontinues or retires a tea, they remove it from the website. Accordingly, I can’t see the ingredient list anymore which drives me bananas!!

I’m gonna start off with a complaint here. Why does Ruby Red never show up in the first drop-down list off options after typing Ruby Red in the search box? Teas that don’t even have those two words in the title come up first. Very annoying. Happens a lot with my teas. Maybe it’s based on popularity?

Anyway, I brewed up a mug of this to go as I wanted some loose leaf in my morning. I got a different mix this time, more tropical fruitiness. The rooibos is always there, but I love rooibos (apparently!) so that’s fine by me. I picked out an extra chunk of pineapple and threw it in my scoop, and I’ve been realy picking out a pineapple flavour, especially in the aftertaste.

Unfortunately, I’ve got a feeling in my throat that implies an impending sickness. This tea is making me feel happier, though I can see some Detox, mint and ginger teas in my future. For now, I’ll enjoy the lovely tropical Ruby Red (in which I continually want there to be grapefruit. I really want a good grapefruit tea. I don’t even know if that would taste right.)

A good kickstart to the morning. I wanted a little looseleaf, but the beau wanted lady grey. So, I’m grabbing a big mug of ruby red to go! : )

I totally wanted this tea today – out of nowhere! My work brought in cupcakes and I felt unwell after eating one (way too much icing, etc) so I figured no more sweet teas today. Then what do I do? I pick out the raspberry zinger! I gave it a brief steep time, only 2 or 3 minutes and that was short enough to not allow the hibiscus to develop. Right now, this is an exceedingly pleasant cup. And it even looks sort of Valentines-y! (I never knew I was this into themes…)

Giving this a second steep – Mostly out of obligation to not waste tea. Starting off this time with a splash of cream to mute the chocolate a pinch of raw sugar to enhance the strawberries. I really enjoyed it cold last time, so I think I’ll let it sit a bit.

All the flavours muted with this steep. Not a very dark liquor, more of a chocolate milk taste now. I also just realized that the weird waxy feeling on the roof of my mouth/my tongue is from the chocolate in this tea. This is good to know, as it was freaking me out!! However, I do wish it wouldn’t happen. It’s rather unpleasant.

I was inspired by the Valentines Day madness. I thought I’d treat myself to this tea. Of course, after pouring it doesn’t smell like what I want at the moment, but I’m a woman. I’m supposed to change my mind! : ) Pouring it was the usual extravaganza as well, since my little one cup work teapot has a minor flaw in the spout and it makes the tea pour wonky, often dripping down the side. Between the mess and the washing up I almost never use it, but today was an exception. I might give this a shot at re-steeping, so I can keep the leaves in the pot while I enjoy my cup.

Today, this tastes strongly of a liqueur. It smells like there’s booze in my cup…sort of like kahlua mixed with some strawberry liqueur. I’m sure there is one. Still reminds me of thoe little strawberry cream filled chocolates, as well. I definitely got a different mix of things in my cup as this tastes markedly different than I remember – It’s a little heavier on the chocolate and I think there is more rose nosing about in this cup.

As this cools I contine to get the weird liquor flavour. I’ve no clue how that came about but it’s not impressing me right now. For today, I’m bumping the rating down. Maybe next time it’ll show off. I’ve gotta say, I really want to like this but it just isn’t working for me. Maybe I’m not meant to appreciate chocolate in tea.

EDIT: A bit of cream and sugar make this much more palatable but still a disappointment. I see a cup of mojito in my future – My package arrived from Jessie on Friday and I brought it to work….yay!

SECOND EDIT: This is shockingly good cold….maybe that’s the way for me to go? Putting the rating back up a bit for cold! : )

To be fair, these have been lost at the back of my cupboard for a year and a half, largely because I can never remember if it’s the PC cranberry that’s terrible or the pomegranate. I have both.

Steeping this up today I get a vivid red liquor and a smell strongly reminiscent of hibiscus…Which I just noted is of course the first ingredient. That implies to me that the cranberry is the one I always thought was bad. There’s a tinge of a cinnamon smell in there as well, and something that (excuse me) reminds me of vomit. I’m trying to ignore that note…

First sips come in much milder and sweeter than I would expect. I’m not getting the hibiscus right off, but instead a sweet fruit smell (wouldn’t call it cranberry). As I sit with this mug the flavours will change, I know, since hibiscus seems to take the lead as tea cools, but this is a good start.

A few sips in I am finding it a bit more tart. As the beau suggested, I think a tiny drop of honey would work to sooth the hibiscus and possibly enhance the “cranberry” flavour. Of course cranberry is tart on it’s own, so I don’t know why they added hibiscus. Cranberry must just not come out strong?

Anyway, it’s drinkable. Very plain and doesn’t stand out, but I remember serving it to friends who’d never had loose leaf and they liked it. Strange to remember the days of picking up all the weird teas PC had for sale and thinking I was really getting a different tea experience. Thank God for loose leaf!

Holy Hannah, I love this tea. Brewed some up this afternoon while watching Scott Pilgrim Vs the World again with the beau. Unfortunately when we got this they were almost out at David’s Tea and the tea lady was forced to give us the bottom. Accordingly, there are lots of littles broken bits in my tea : (

I strained it through some paper towel to keep the small bits out of my mug and am enjoying it. Still really grapey, I feel confident in saying that I can taste the delicate white underneath it. I’ve had a couple different white teas now and I think I can finally identify the taste of the itself. It’s really interesting, and almost like a fleeting flavour at the end/underneath the sip.

Unrelated, but I think I will try 52Teas Cantaloupe Bai Mu Dan once again soon and see if my burgeoning appreciation for white teas allows me to more fully enjoy that one. I hope so! I also want a mug of their apple vanilla white chai. I think I’m going to end up with a tea queue if I’m not careful!