CaesarsTea

Sipdown!! (147)

Goodbye strawberry papaya juice tea. It was fun while it lasted.

When I first tried this tea, I had it hot and it was vegetal and had just a hint of strawberry flavor. In a desperate attempt to use up the leaf quicker, I decided to cold brew it – no that cold brewing uses more leave per ounce but rather if I am not enjoying it, it is easier to drink it down quickly.

However, despite my worries, this ended up being an awesome cold brew. The vegetal base disappears to the background and the strawberry flavors take center stage. More than that, papaya flavors also appear making for a tasty, juice-like drink. Yum!

Though your many cold brewing suggestions all sounded great, I didn’t have any of them. What I did have was a lot of this tea. I worried that this might turn vegetal since when brewed hot it had that quality. However I am glad I relented because this is so much better this way. After 15 hours there is virtually no vegetal base. This is sweet strawberry (mewakeling, I actually thought of you while having this as it is reminiscent of DAVIDs Sweet Strawberry) and papaya all the way. The rating got bumped and I will definitely be making it this way from now on. One of the best cold brews I have had thus far. In fact, I might make another bottle tonight and cold brew some of Caesar’s Lemon Tart while I am at it.

This is not a bad green tea. I have had (and do have in my stash) better but I have also had worse. There is a bit of that vegetal green base creeping into the flavor but mostly it is just a mellow strawberry taste. It is a weak flavor but it definitely is there. Plus it is clearly natural which is always nice.

I sent this off to Dexter3657 without ever having tried it myself. I figured it was chai and so she might like to give it a try. However, I put this off for a while and her review simply made me push it off even more but I decided I must buckle down and try it before I officially pass judgement. Although, tbh, reading the description and the ingredients, I find myself questioning why I ever bought this to begin with. I am not huge on pu’erh nor chai and I typically overlook anything with licorice. So there isn’t high hopes here.

Alright so after my first sip, I am getting the pu’erh which is earthy but not as “dirt-like” as others I have tried. And there is a hint of berry. I don’t get chai and thankfully no licorice. As I continue to sip, I might detect some spices but they really are hidden well. Also there is no mango. I added some milk and that sort of (not really) brought out the spices but it really bumped up the pu’erh. Honestly, this is not a bad cup but it definitely does not live up to its namesake. To the swap box with the rest and I think this cup is getting poured. I am at the point in my tea journey where I realize there is just not enough time to waste it with cups that aren’t for you.

I realized that I still had some CaesarsTeas that I have not tried. I decided to use this opportunity to give them a taste.

This is one that was recommended by the saleslady, and if I recall correctly it was one of the many free teas. Though it is not a bad tea in any way, I am glad it is not one I paid for because ultimately it is not all that amazing or particularly memorable. The black tea, as with all over CaesarsTea is smooth and combined with the orange, this is sort of reminiscent of Orange Pekoe tea. The flavors are natural tasting but fairly weak. I am not going to pour this cup out but I think this might be added to the swap box because though it is good, it is not something I would reach for when I have so many more delicious teas in my stash.

Thank you to VariaTEA for sending this my way in a swap!

Smells lovely in the package, light lemony loveliness. I get the lemon bit drinking it, however it’s missing anything creamy, custardy, or tart-like. It’s okay, however my mind is wandering, wondering how Butiki’s Stacy would make this…

Sipdown (183)!

This was the third and final roadtrip tea. My parameters were the rest of the sample sent from VariaTEA in a 12 oz. timolino steeped with boiling water for three minutes.

My first cup of this was pretty much average, but a good average. However, this cup was super gross! I’m not sure why this was so different when I’m pretty sure the steeping parameters were quite similar to last time – but this was like drinking highly tart and kind of “turned” (rancid?) orange juice.

I can’t really describe it…

But it was just bad – and NOT the good cup I had earlier on my vacation. I don’t think I can solely blame this on funny taste buds either. How disappointing. Anyway, I didn’t finish the timolino full, and dumped the rest when I got home.

Lowering my rating…

And, right now, not really so disappointed that this is a sipdown.

Finally trying one of my CaesarsTea samples from VariaTEA! I brought this one with on my vacation knowing I’d likely got short on some teas, and that’d force me to try the samples I’d brought which I’ve been sort of putting off trying at home. That’s been pretty true so far (and I still have five days left here).

I don’t remember why I asked for a sample of this one: maybe because it’s a flavoured black, and I don’t particularly have an orange flavoured black I keep in regular stock. Anyway, the sample I received from VariaTEA certainly doesn’t have as many non-tea bits as the display picture shows, so I don’t know if that’s gonna affect what I taste at all.

Parameters for the mug I’m drinking were: 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in an 8 oz. mug steeped with boiling water for four minutes – which was the low end of the suggested steep time spectrum. I went with the low end partially because I was worried about this being bitter, and partially because the other teas I was simultaneously steeping had steep times right around that point as well.

Dry this has a very faint orange smell; like orange rinds with an equally faint black tea smell. Steeped, the liquor is a sort of watery brown with some muddled red hues in there and smells like faint, creamy orange. I drank the first half of the mug while catching up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and honestly wasn’t paying attention to taste – but I happily sipped at it so I suppose that says it wasn’t gag inducing awful.

Eventually I did start paying attention to the taste, and really this isn’t bad though it doesn’t scream “Blood Orange” to me – more so just sweet, regular run of the mill orange. It’s not really that bold in the flavouring, and surprisingly more delicate than I would have imagined, but that could be a result of the low steep time. The orange is light, sweet, and surprisingly creamy and I also get notes of lemon and super faint notes of maybe grapefruit? But a sweeter grapefruit – not a bitter taste. There’s also a sort of floral quality to this, but I’m having a hard time placing what. A few sips reminded me of sweet orange juice, as well. It almost feels like maybe this should have orange pulp in it?

Honestly, it’s a pretty good cup – though nothing exceptional, and not really Blood Orange like titled. I’m surprised at how good and creamy it is, especially after reading Sil’s tasting review in which she characterised this as very tart. I get no tartness at all, nor any astringency/bitterness. Maybe I just hit the sweet spot with the steep time? I have enough for one more cup, so maybe I’ll push for a longer steep time with that one.

Anyway – I’d happily drink this again. But would I want anywhere near 50g more of it? Probably not – it’s not that exceptional.

Thanks VariaTEA! I think this was a good introduction to CaesarsTea.

PS. Poor Coulson :(

sample sipdown! (162) I figured i really needed to get in at least a couple sipdowns today so my goal is 160 so that i can spend the rest of the time drinking new teas and deciding which ones i love the most! haha That will also put me in a good spot to have 1 a day until the end of the month and STILL reach my goal (unless tea shows up from Miss B or terri or dexter…or kallieboo or…yeesh).

This tea smells lovely! it’s blood orange all the way. Drinking it though? WOAH man there is some serious tartness to this. It needs sugar to be drinkable and this reminds me more of grapefruit on the tail end of the sip…while the front end is orange.

Thanks for sharing Cavo! :)

Smells so good, tastes like tea flavoured cardboard. Boo. I WISH this one lived up to the smell.

Thanks, VariaTEA. :)

This one came with me in my travel mug today. It got pretty bitter sitting during the day, and I didn’t manage to finish it. Kinda sad, because it smells divine!

I have one cup left, and will try to have it in ceramic so I can try it properly. :)

Thanks, VariaTEA!

Phew back down to 150 after adding my teas from Cavocorax into my cupboard…that’s not saying much since it’ll be up again but every little cup counts. I figured i should start in on drinking some rooibos tonight so i opted to try this one out.

I have to say…i don’t get much from this one. the rooibos base is nice but i do not taste any sort of white chocolate truffle except in maybe the aroma. What i do sot of like about this one is the mint that is there but not OMG IN YOUR FACE. Admittedly it’s mostly rooibos with the hint of mint but for whatever reason i’m ok with that since this is the nice sort of rooibos and not that woodsy sort that i don’t like on it’s own :) thanks cavo! (and technically variatea)

This isn’t the strongest tasting rooibos I’ve had, but the flavouring is a little delicate. I am getting a little creamy mint to it though so I’ll enjoy this cup, and pass the last cup on to Sil bc he might not have had it yet, and I. Want to push her cupboard numbers up.

Thanks VariaTEA!

I was really hesitant to try this, but if VariaTEA is generous enough to send it to me, I should at least give it a shot.
Yeah, I know – I’m the queen of chai – have TONS in my house – but the ingredient list doesn’t read like chai to me. (I also really don’t like licorice – this says both star anise and licorice.) Oh well here goes nothing….
This is too strange, there are too many conflicting flavors – and I don’t think chai is any of them. Fruity pu’erh with licorice (not strong – more subtle star anise). Weird, I think pu’erh adds nice depth and undertones to chocolate flavors, and to things like Davids Coffee Pu’erh – but this pu’erh is fighting the fruit for attention – then I just can’t get past the licorice.
Sorry VariaTEA – really liked the coconut chai, really don’t like this one. I’m not going to rate it re me not liking licorice, but this gets abotu 25… Will take the deodorant white over this any day.. :))

This is MUCH better!! I like this so much more than the fruity white last night. Thanks VarieTEA for the chance to taste this one.
It’s a really nice fruit white tea. Nice subtle white that is present but in the background. Sweet poegranate, just a touch of tart. Well balanced. I don’t have anything negative to say. I like it.
I’ve done well so far with the CaesarsTeas that VariaTEA sent me. Need to make a mental not for next BF…

I received this in a surprise package from VariaTEA – thank you so much.

I really like this – really really like this. It’s creamy coconut with mild chai spices. I really like the balances of spices and then the coconut is just a bonus addition. I don’t think this is my perfect chai, but it’s getting close.
Thanks VariaTEA for introducing me to this one.

Thank you to VariaTEA for graciously sending me her whole sample pack so that I could try it. The name brought out delirious visions of mousse cake for me, which is one of my favorite treats, and thus why I wanted to try it.

Dry, my son said it smelled “nice”. I left it to steep and then had to leave for a bit when I took out the tea bag, so I’m drinking this now slightly cooled but still warm.

If there’s mint in here, I’m completely missing it. Chocolate I get, sort of.. at least the richness of a milk chocolate, if not the flavor if that makes any sense. Zero cake. Lots of black base which is slightly bitter.

I had high hopes here, and while reality was about where it should have been, I’m really glad to have gotten the chance to try it. It would have bugged me until I could make an order! Thanks again VariaTEA.

Thanks VariaTEA! I’m really enjoying this vanilla rooibos. I think I would order some if I did a CaesarsTea order. It’s just really smooth and the vanilla is nice and creamy. It makes me think of marzipan a little, but I also get some kind of fruity note, possibly raspberry.

Yum!

Today something miraculous happened that changed this day from meh to awesome! I got back not one, but two papers, each worth 33% of my final grade and both were…As!!! Okay one was an A- but that is still an A of sorts, right?. Anyways, what makes this so miraculous was I was actually pretty sure I did not do so great on both papers. In fact, I was trying to figure out just how amazing my final paper for the class would have to be in order to pass (I was calculating this out with the grades I thought I would have gotten). Both papers were on subject matter that I did not find particularly interesting nor was I very comfortable writing about them (I mean one of the papers I was so lost as to what to write about that I ended up pulling an all-nighter and not finishing the paper until noon, just 4 hours before it was due) but apparently I was comfortable enough to do well so YAY!

I thought I would share my exciting news because it definitely brightened my day but now on to the tea. Dry this smelled so coconut-y and delicious. So when I took my first sip of the steeped tea, I was definitely surprised as to how much coconut I did NOT taste. I mean, if I had not known it was a coconut chai, I would have never been able to guess because there was NO coconut. What did I taste? Ginger, with a bit of cinnamon. The ginger flavor was just so dominant that I decided to turn this into a chai latte and see if that did anything.

As a latte, the ginger calmed a bit. Some of the other spices were able to pop a bit more. Still, I missed the coconut I was promised. I finally decided to try one more thing in hopes of bringing out the sweet coconut-y goodness my nose promised was hiding – sweetner.

Given I drink tea to get flavor into my diet, I hate having to resort to additives to make the tea taste how it should. You will never find sugar or honey (unless I am sick) in one of my tea cups just because that would defeat the purpose of the tea. However, the other day I picked up some Truvia that I have been wanting to try so I decided now was as good a time as any. Wary of making the tea too sweet, I added less than 1/4 of the packet. Luckily that was enough to bring the coconut out.

So 1/2 cup of frothed milk (more than I usually use but I got distracted pouring) and some Truvia later, I am finally enjoying this cup of coconut chai. The ginger is still prominent but no longer over-powering and dominant. Its flavor is blended with a sweetness from the coconut and a little more spice from the cinnamon. Is this my favorite cup of tea? No, not by a long shot. But, it is pleasant for this cold evening to sip on something different from my usual dessert teas.

Backlog & Sipdown (78)

I forgot to log this when I drank it yesterday. I was completely distracted by the fact that this was puerh. I didn’t read the description well enough I guess. So, my mind basically went. Wait, puerh? Puerh? Hmm, still puerh. I was stuck in a loop. And that was my first cup.

Happily the second cup was much better as I was able to actually think about it. And it was pretty tasty. It was dark and woodsy/earthy like a puerh with the caramel notes mixed with it – it wasn’t like a puerh from Davidstea where the flavouring is so strong you wonder what the base is. Instead this is fully in your face puerh, with flavouing to ENHANCE those notes. It was really quite good, and (as VariaTEA) had hoped, makes me curious about trying more from CaesarsTea.

Thanks for the sample VariaTEA!

Looks like I’m in agreement with VariaTea. This one smells good, but it just falls flat when it comes to flavour. It’s just meh.

So, sipdown, (79) but I’m happy I got to try it at least.

This tea tastes like rooibos and not much else. Where is my white chocolate goodness? Where is the minty freshness? Because it is certainly not in this cup.

If I try really hard I can very, VERY subtly detect mint but I don’t think it is worth the effort.

At least it is a pretty good quality rooibos.

I realized that I had not finished watching Lost when I finished Firefly. I had about 1/2 of the final season left. I am trying to pick up where I left off but all the flashbacks/flashforwards/flashsideways have me a tad bit lost. I am sure it will all come back soon enough.

Anyways, while I watched, I decided to get in a few sipdowns. This one is not as vegetal when brewed at the right temperature although it still is rather grassy. Also the smell of lemon in this is so much greater than the taste. I definitely won’t miss this one now that it is gone.