Cavocorax

Nothing too fancy here, folks. Just black current on a smooth base.

Sipdown! (I’m down nearly 20 samples this month!)

Speaking of samples, a friend tested me about one I gave her that was a. (she thinks) green tea with white chocolate. :O I went through all my notes and I have no idea. (You know you drink too much tea when…)

I’m not sure the directions are right on this – steep 3 minutes and then resteep 2-3 more times for more flavor and to allow the leaves to unfurl. I steeped it in my little gongfu pot and those leaves are already unfurled. Maybe I should have tried a minute to start?

(i don’t know how am i supposed to know i need to trust the directions whaaaat)

So my first cup is very strong and malty. It smells really good – earthy! I’m enjoying each sip, except right at the end the flavour kicks up a notch and is nearly too malty.

Second cup: First reaction, “wughh!” Not a great sign. This seems stronger? I am detecting cocoa notes now though, and I’m actually enjoying this now that I made it past the first few sips.

Third cup: Ok. This is more like it! Very smooth. Lots of cocoa notes. It’s very woodsy! I bet I could get another cup out of this!

I love how smooth this tea is. I could have had this with my sore throat!

Looking forward to trying this again sometime!

I love this! I just drank a full cup and am off to re-steep. The raspberry is so strong!

I’m still a bit sick so I’m being lazy with my reviews. It’s either that or a) I don’t log anything or b) I’m afraid to drink anything.

This is okay. A nice basic black with a bit of fruity mango taste.

Ozli was right. There’s little to no maple flavour in this. It’s good, with the slightest touch of sweetness, but compared to 52 Teas Pancake Breakfast, or that other maple tea I just had this might as well be a strong black.

I did steep it for an extra minute – will try it for 3 minutes next time and see if that helps.

The base tea is so very smooth and I love it for that. I’m a wimp when it comes to astringency.

Mmm. This is nice and sweet, and warm and… toasty?

I’m still sick, but my throat is much improved, and over the past two days I have watched an episode of Sherlock, 1.5 episodes of Doctor Who and half a season of Game of Thrones. Add in a few hours of Guild Wars, a quarter of Northanger Abbey and being able to drink again,and I’m doing pretty good.

Mostly. This baby has been making it extra hard relax lately.

Anyway I was excited to drink tons of tea but didn’t want to drink something I couldn’t appreciate. I’m happy I chose this. It’s comforting, relaxing and good for a treat. I’d probably grab 10g of this next year.

This is much better! I wish I’d dumped out my licorice tea hours ago. :P

Burn it! Burn it with fire!

… that’s actually what this tea is doing to my throat right now. :| I take back every nice thing I’ve said about it. A tea with chili pepper and a bunch of weird ingredients is not what I want to keep around to soothe a sore throat or help with sinuses. Well maybe that’d help with the sinuses but I’d rather be able to drink something atm. :P

Maybe I’ll put this up for a swap? I think I have 40-50g of it.

So, it’s come to this… Time to break out the I’m sick – feel sorry for me tea. :| I knew it was going to happen though – hard to avoid when the baby has been sick the past few days and has trouble sleeping unless you’re holding her. Hopefully it’ll just hit me hard today and then I can shrug it off.

Hopefully.

This tea is a pretty good start though. Sadly my first thought when I realised I was for sure sinusy/sick was ‘Oooh, time to try out these teas!’. I know you guys understand. I like this though and have tried it when I’m not sick. I’m not a huge ginger fan so the echinacea and mint do a good job covering it up and creating a tea that is remarkably soothing.

I may even want to restock this once I run out, although I hope I never really need to use it.

I’m happy my mom bought this one for me. This way she can take care of me while I’m sick, even from a different city (although I still gotta get up and brew it. :P)

With a name like this, I wasn’t sure I would like it; it sounds medicinal and ’it’s good for you so shaddup and drink it.’

It tastes like a refreshing mix of licorice and spices, with a bit of a kick that’s probably the cardamom. If it didn’t have the mate in it, it would make for an agreeable evening tea!

Oh, I’m describing things as ‘agreeable’ – must be because I’m reading Jane Austen again. I haven’t read Northanger Abbey before, but I’m enjoying the satire immensely. It’s also a nice change from Anna Karenina, which I finally managed to finish for the Steepster book club, as this is much lighter.

I guess today wasn’t the day to try this as I ended up having company over, and a crazy baby to deal with so I didn’t get to take many notes while I was drinking.

Here’s what I’ve got:

1st Steep (30s): Very light and grassy with spinachy/grassy notes. I love the shape over these long pretty leaves, and they look great in my mini-gongfu pot.

2nd Steep (30s): More buttery/spinach notes this time around. Very good

I steeped it two more times after that but don’t remember the details except that I enjoyed it. I’ll have to order this sometime!

…sipdown…. :P

Ooh. Very nice. It really really tastes like grapefruit. All fresh!

I bet this would be great in the summer. Also if it were iced. I’ll have to get this again sometime.

Because seriously, it really tastes like grapefruit!

Last sipdown for tonight.

No notes yet.

This is different. It seems as though it’s bolder than other black teas, and I can see why people say it reminds them of coffee. Yowza! I think I’ll pass the other half of this sample on to ozli as she enjoys coffee more than I, and this may be more her thing!

It’s a nice enjoyable cup. I don’t think it would be a staple, but I might grab 10-20g sometime.

Thanks CrowKettle. I was curious about this tea, and it’s round little balls.

Oh, and… Sipdown!

Sipdown!

I liked the idea of creating my own blend. I thought pear and mint might make for an interesting oolong, so here we are.

It seems a little weak, but it’s not too shabby. The pear is the strongest flavour, with hints of oolong at the end of the sip. I’m not really tasting much wintergreen.

I like it,but it needs some tweaking before I would buy any.

Sipdown!

Okay so this is pretty good too. I noticed these Adagio teas have a certain… je ne sais quoi… smoothness or mellowness. I like it. I still like the TARDIS blend better. (I still dream of that blackberry mouthfeel.)

This is nice and creamy and enjoyable. My only complaint is that I would expect more attitude/zing from River.

Sipdown!

This is a great blend. I made it extra strong because I was feeling it. This is smooth, smoky and the rose is a nice touch.

Regarding Anna Karenina, the smoke and rose suggest passion and femininity, but they also push the boundaries a little. Is it too much? What will others say? I suppose it could be a cup of sorrow or regret, but if you live in the moment nothing going can stop you from surrendering to each sip…

Thanks again to Josie Jade for the sample. The Steepster book club will discuss AK on the 25th and I’m looking forward to it. I hope we continue with this!

Potato tea whut?

I was curious about this so I requested this as a free sample with my last order. I’m so happy I did. It really smells of applesauce, and each sip is fantastic. I’m getting potato (but not starchy terrible potato), and apple and butter and it feels full-bodied. I was going to drink this with lunch but it almost feels like I just had lunch.

This wouldn’t be an everyday tea, but I’d love to keep an ounce of it around when I’m craving something savory and sweet. Idek what a potato pancake is, but I’d like to try that too!

#sipdown!

It’s here! And I’ve already set some aside for ozli as I’m sure she’ll want some too.

It does taste root beer-ish, and there are some odd flavours lurking underneath. I guess that’s the licorice etc. But it works! And there’s something sweet – vanilla, maybe?

Yep, while I wouldn’t want this all the time, I’d sneak out of Hogwarts for this. :)

So I have no self control, you guys. I grabbed DavidsTea gongfu pot today and am experimenting with it. Instead of wasting a sample from CrowKettle, I went with a favourite that I’ve enjoyed many times.

I have no idea how to do this so I tried 30 seconds at 80C for my first steep. The water is only slightly yellowish so I was worried I understeeped it, but the taste is perfect. It’s very fresh and green and full of buttery, buttery creaminess. I love coconut, you guys!

Okay, second steep actually took hours to finish because of the crazy baby and housework and general life-things getting in the way. I think this was more floral and greener, but also sweeter. I steeped it for 40 seconds.

The third steep is nice and greenish-yellow, but I’m losing the flavour here. It’s more oolongy than it is coconutty. Still enjoyable but this’ll be the end of it for me. (50 seconds)

Results: this isn’t so hard! I didn’t realize you could steep, empty the pot and then wait awhile before doing it again. I had this impression that you had to do all the infusions at once and I didn’t know how you could dedicate all that time to do (although that would be great).

Wow. It really is pancake-y. After having that maple tea a few days ago I thought I knew what I was in for with this, but I was SO WRONG.

It has a maple flavour but a lot of what I’m getting is butter and pancake/pastry. How do they do this?

My bf walked by so I got him to take a sip and asked if he thought it was pancake-y. NOPE, he says, but he also said that if I want he’ll take me out for pancakes somewhere. So… YES PLEASE. Off we go!

(And maybe if we hit a mall I will buy that gongfu pot from DavidsTea? Maybe? IDK. Gaiwans can be so pretty too though, but if I get the little glass pot I can look at the leaves…)

So I’ve had genmaicha before, but it was only the grocery store variety and it was super nutty. Almost TOO nutty. I had to be in the right mood before I could enjoy it.

This was a nice treat though – thank you again to crowkettle for the sample! Oh man – Steepster is GREAT for swaps. Everyone is so generous. I think I’m over 100 teas now because of all the swaps I’ve been doing. (At least they don’t take up too much room because most of them are samples… :P)

Anyways this is much milder than I expected genmaicha to be. It’s nicely chocolately, nutty and green. I really love this combination. I ended up resteeping it, and I may just try it again in the morning to see if there’s any more life in it.

If Frank ever reblends this, I’ll be sure to pick some up!
(Another note – I love how Steepster allows us to get on a first name basis with the people we buy tea from!)

I was out today at SFU with my bf, and getting my hair cut so I filled my travel mug with this tea. It was moderately successful. I drank it but it’s really not the same. I wonder if I’d be better using an unflavoured black in my mug?

It was funny at SFU because it was club days and there was a tea club looking for people to sign up. They sound pretty awesome and it would be really fun hanging out with tea people, swapping things and experimenting with blends. I told them I wasn’t a student but they said I could sign up anyways. WOO! :D I’m super shy so I don’t know if I’d actually show up to a meeting, but… I’d like to? They probably wouldn’t mind if I brought the baby either.

I told them about Steepster too, and put my Steepster name on the sign up sheet. Hopefully some of them will check us out as this community ROCKS. ILU GUYS. Also, Hello SFU Tea Club People! If you make it here and find me! :D :D :D

I drank bubble tea while I was out as I was disappointed with the Ceylon Star but I’m not going to log it. It was a milk coconut mix with bubbles and it was sugary and milky and great.

And that was my afternoon in tea!

Note: Seven hours after steeping and my tea is still warmish. The bad news? I know this because I couldn’t make myself drink it all. :| Stupid travel mug.

Thanks to CrowKettle for the sample!

When I first smelled it, I thought of a smooth Ceylon black, but there was also something else in the scent. Interesting.

Now that I’m sipping away, I’m reminded of DavidsTea Himalayan Blend, but this is a little danker and maltier – in a good way! I think there are also some honey notes slipping in too.

I’m happy I was able to try this but I don’t think I’d buy it at $10/50g.