Compass Teas

Sipdown! (276) Yes..that’s 2 higher than yesterday but i found a couple of teas i hadn’t logged in my cupboard and since my verdant cups arrive today, so did the sample that i tucked into that order to get free shipping lol.

I still like the taste of this one. Vanilla and cinnamon…this is a really smooth blend.

This was a backlog from a few days ago.

Okay, 2 minutes really made a strong, bordering on astringent, brew!

It seemed to get less astringent as it cooled, and the cherry and black tea went really well together.. reminded me of a maraschino cherry taste, which was pretty good. I like fruity teas when they are iced so I gave that a try today too – my next note will be on that version!

This is a fantastic earl grey cream.

It is smooth, as the name suggests, with a good balance of bergamot and vanilla. It was also pretty flexible on the steep time, too…I forgot about it and it went for 3:45 instead of 2-3 minutes as recommended. (Not a huge overage, but some teas really don’t let you get away with even that!)

This is one of the best of it’s kind, that’s for sure.

No. Just, no. This isn’t for me.
Maybe it’s the green rooibos? There’s some notes running underneath that I don’t like at all.

Last sipdown for the day. I call this a successful Sipdown Saturday!

Thanks joonsusanna! another tea that she was looking to get rid of that i scooped up. Truth be told, apparently my taste buds are off because i’m not getting the orange that everyone else has. Now, i’ve had 52 teas cinnamon roll honeybush blend thingy that i LOOOOVEEEED the first time i had it and then stopped loving it a little while after that. If i was looking for a cinnamon bun tea, i’d be going for the steap shoppe’s cinnamon swirl bread. however, in a honeybush, this tastes closer to a cinnamon bun than 52 teas, which has a whole lot of cinnamon with some more cinnamon. this one is a smoother, less cinnamon and more bun version.

Let’s not talk about how i’m back over 300 teas lol. Thank you joonsusanna for this one! I’ve wanted to try compass teas for a while now, and when she was getting rid of a bunch of her teas, cavocorax and i were blessed with her willingness to send us a bunch of them for the two of us to share! I’m so used to steeping my rooibos for 7+ mins. Compass recommends 3-4 minutes for this one, but i think i’ll try much longer with the rest of my sample. At 3.5 mins this is a creamy sort of rooibos but i wouldn’t call it irish cream just yet. I hope that with a longer steep, more of the flavour will come out a bit :) For those that don’t like rooibos too much, so far this does have that rooibos taste, so likely not a first choice for anyone curious if this is a rooibos-y rooibos lol it is.

I’ve been averaging six hours sleep a night so I really should go to bed, but I’m 92% done my book (the last Wheel of Time) and I just don’t want to! :O Guess that means I’m not good at being an adult? I might regret this when I wake up at 8-9, but that’s what strong tea is for, amirite?

I didn’t realise that Compass had loose-leaf tea. Thanks to JoonSusanna for the rooibos samples. I’m getting a bit of cream and caramel, and lots of rooibos, but not in a bad way. This is pretty enjoyable actually, and it does remind me a bit of Irish Cream!

I like having a lot of variety for caffeine-free teas, so maybe I’ll grab a bunch once I drink up all my current samples! I’m pretty excited to try the Cola rooibos, but I’ll save that for an afternoon.

Backlog:

I was kind of surprised by the stemmy-ness of this tea when I first opened the package. Usually I find one or two stems in a tea … it’s to be expected, although generally, the more stems, the lesser the quality (Generally speaking of course). However, after closer inspection of the ingredient list … it actually says “Camellia Sinensis Stems” … it’s supposed to be stemmy!

There is a nice roasty note to this tea. I found that the tea tasted better when it is allowed to cool for a few minutes. When served piping hot, the flavors were kind of … obscured. But after a few minutes (about five) the flavors began to pop! Ah… there’s the butterscotch! Buttery, caramel-ish, and absolutely YUM!

Sweet, but not cloyingly so. (I like butterscotch, but I find that it can be a tad cloying to me … I didn’t get that with this tea). The tea base is the strongest flavor of this cup, and perhaps that’s why the butterscotch did not become an overwhelmingly sweet thing for me. The tea is robust and rich … A really tasty dessert tea.

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea. It’s really good. I was surprised to find that it’s no longer on the Compass Teas Website … I guess it’s either out of stock or it’s been discontinued. It’s a tasty tea, though.

It has a really nice Hazelnut flavor, and the black tea base is rich and bold! It would be a great first thing in the morning tea to help shake the sleepeez but, it is also nice as an afternoon pick me up. I’ve become quite a night owl lately, so, this is … my afternoon. Yes. 11:06 pm. Hey … it’s still AFTER noon.

A really tasty tea. I hope they bring this one back.

This tea has the most amazingly wonderfully delicious aroma. It came in the mail today and I grabbed it as we were leaving so I couldn’t brew it up right away. So instead my excitement grew and grew to try it.

At least it smells good. But the tea is not great. I’m hoping I can coax a better flavor out of this by experimenting with temps and times. I let about half my cup cool completely while I was making dinner and it actually kind of tasted like caramel corn and genmaicha. I resteeped my leaves and the second round had kind of an old butter flavor. Bleh.

I really want to like this. It has so much potential and I love flavored genmaichas. And seriously, it smells amazing.

Tried this again, brewing it for 5 minutes straight this time. Smells great! Just like a ginger snap. Tastes lovely, too, though still not like a cookie. I tried it with 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla agave. Still tasty, still doesn’t taste like a cookie. Just tastes like ginger and vanilla. I still have enough of the sample to make another two cups (not counting resteeps), so I’ll try it with proper sugar next time.

Thanks to JoonSusanna for sending this along. I love ginger snap cookies, so I was really excited about this tea. Ultimately, I think it’s pretty good, but doesn’t quite taste like ginger snaps.

The dry leaf smells like a very gingery cookie. Brewed, it still smells like a gingery cookie (in a good way!). The package says to steep for 2-4 minutes. I initially steeped for 2.5, but it came out kind of weak. It tasted like a good rooibos. I couldn’t make out any ginger though. So I steeped for another 2 minutes and it was better. Didn’t taste as thin and the ginger flavor came out more. Another minute of steeping and it was much, much better. The rooibos and ginger work together nicely. Still doesn’t taste like a cookie, but very nice. So 5-6 minutes is a good steeping time. I will say that this tea has a nice gingery aftertaste, exactly like a ginger snap.

This resteeps pretty well. I got distracted and ended up leaving the leaves in for 8 minutes. It actually worked out nicely! Super tasty. I will definitely be drinking this again. Will try it with sweetener next time, as suggested.

I think I have enough leaf for one more cup after this, and then it looks like its gone from the Compass Teas website. Makes sense, I guess, as even the name is seasonal. Well, I take that back – it’s present in sample size quantities, but I can’t see myself placing an order consisting of like, 3 sample size bags and that’s it.

It’s quite a shame, because this is a great marshmallow tea. It’s not toasted marshmallow, which would probably be the only thing I’d add to this blend – but it is equal parts marshmallow and black tea. The base reminds me of my beloved East Frisian blend, only it’s as if someone treated it like a hot chocolate and put a marshmallow on top. With milk and sugar (not a lot of either, and not necessary at that) I am absolutely in heaven.

I wish there was a way to add a toasted flavor without burny/smoke flavoring. I can’t do the lapsang. Maybe some toasted rice from a genmaicha? Or maybe… my LAOSHAN BLACK CHOCOLATE GENMAICHA. OMG. I think all of the lightbulbs in the world just went off inside my head – that is a blend that will be happening the next (last?!) time I make this tea.

If it’s good I may just find a way to place an order of only sample sizes. The things I’ll do for my tastebuds. :)

Finished this off with another cold brew that I drank along with some delicious Greek food. This is a very good tropical tea, and I definitely want more.

I prefer macarons over macaroons, to the point I have an irrational hatred for macaroons for when people spell macarons like macaroons.

But I do like coconut. A lot.

So this was okay at first without sugar. It smells really nutty. But what I think must be the base tea is giving it this smoky aftertaste. It’s not offputting enough for me to dump the cup, but it just really doesn’t match the sweet cookie thing this tea has going on otherwise. I added milk and sugar and it makes it more tolerable, as does letting it cool off a bit more.

I added way more sugar than I usually do, which makes this tea taste like I’m having dessert for breakfast.

Thanks, JoonSusanna!

Started my day with at least 3 cups of this one today!
I’m a little behind logging, sorry!

See other tasting notes on this one!

I got this in a swap a looong time ago from someone, and just never got to it. I was looking for a cold brew candidate last night, and this sounded good. In the bag, it smells very delicious and fruity and tropical.

After cold brewing, I took a sip and didn’t taste much. Disappointing. I decided to add a bit of sugar and WOW did it make the flavors pop. I haven’t had much green rooibos, so I’m not sure what it tastes like, but I’m not getting any of the medicinal smells or flavors that I can get with red rooibos. The papaya is the main flavor, while all the other flavors kinda mix together behind that to give a general fruitiness. This is reminding me of something I’ve had but I can’t quite think of what. I absolutely love tropical flavors, so I’m really enjoying this. Too bad I only have about enough left for one more cup!

This smelled kind of like marshmallows to me when it was dry, and it tasted kind of marshmallowy too, once it was steeped up. The 2 minutes was a good call, because it had plenty of flavor and no bitterness – I would have tried for longer due to my normal tendencies where black teas are concerned, but I’m glad I trusted the recommendations on this.

With milk and sweetener, I get caramel and marshmallow. Kind of like Eight Candles from Della Terra, actually. I may have to make that up tomorrow to compare them, now that I’m thinking of it…

My brain is fried after the last few night shifts I’ve done, so I’m sorry for how little substance this review has. I feel like all my Compass Tea reviews are like this though. The teas taste like they are supposed to, no decorative frills in the leaf (which I don’t mind either way) no extra complexities in the flavor profiles. Just a good solid drink that will be true to it’s name – which really is all you can ask of a tea!

Steeped this time for 3 minutes, and added some of the acacia honey from my Fauchon set to sweeten it. Perfect way to add a boost to this tea! Acacia is so light in flavor but has just a hint of vanilla and wow it makes the banana pop and kind of gives this the pancake flavor without me waiting for it to cool off.

I ended up finally being able to go back to sleep after I ate breakfast, so now this is cold. The pancake flavor definitely comes out even more now with the honey. I may have to cold brew the rest of this sample that I have!

Will be starting my 2nd cup of this soon! First one wasn’t hot enough. Still tasty, tho!

See the Discussion/Threads for a special message from me about a Chocolate Giveaway on my blog today!!!

Happy Weekend!

Full review on March 12th 2013 on http://sororiteasisters.com/ but here are snippits:

This tea can be purchased by the ounce or in a try me size which is really special because yellow teas are not only a little more rare to come by but usually you won’t find a means to sample them easily.

I was really happy to find this tea in my most recent package of tea samples from my SororiTea Sister Jennifer. I love yellow teas and am always eager to try a new one. I do recall having seen this tea offered by Compass before but I sort of spaced it out and never got around to ordering any. Also I will admit, orange flavored teas are not generally my “go to” flavor in teas, yet I am so happy to have had the change to sample this one. It’s quite delightful!

I’m first to review this – feels kinds of strange being in uncharted territory, haha!

I don’t know that I really got the chance to say so, but my recent Compass Teas order included 12 random samples. 12! And they weren’t like, one cup samples, either. They were all about an ounce. I got a lot of rooibos, and some black teas and one gen mai cha, which works out good because herbals and black teas are more my thing than flavored greens/whites.

Anyway, so this was one of the 12 freebies, and one I REALLY was excited about because I love butter pecan. I don’t eat ice cream much but when I do, butter pecan is one of my top choices. Also, being southern, pecan pie is one of my Thanksgiving undertakings that I do because my dad is even more of a fan than me.

Being that this is new for me and I have no other tasting notes to go by, I followed all the recommended brewing instructions for this, which was 1 tsp. leaf per 8 oz, at the below parameters. Also being that nuts tend to be rather astringent in tea, I just added milk and a bit of sugar from the beginning.

The result was pretty yummy! I could definitely see this getting bitter if steeping went beyond the 2 minute mark, but as is, I got just what I was supposed to – this is definitely butter pecan and it is perfect as a black tea. I love that the flavor was captured so perfectly, and that I’ve got a few more cups of this to enjoy!

I can’t believe I didn’t write out more of the steeping parameters I used last time – you’d think that somewhere in the space of that small novel I would have done so. Anyway – 1 tsp. leaf per cup, milk and sugar to sweeten the first cup, just sugar on the second for this time around.

Had this today while we planned out our month over breakfast. Moving is all about logistics, but it looks like things are falling into place. Still, I can’t wait for it to be April 1st.
This is going to be an interesting couple of weeks, but at least I’ll have plenty of tea to relax on in whatever downtime I get. :)