Cornelia Bean

… interesting. Definitely black currant, definitely puerh. I think I quite like it, but it’s not what I was expecting (what was I expecting?).

With almond milk.

Yum yum. So orangey. Also with nettle leaves, for the health factor.

Yum. Another favourite. Good thing the bag is never ending, because the minimum $100 order means I’m unlikely to ever get more of this one!

Lovely orangey sagey nettley tea. It’s super good with honey, but I’m not having honey tonight.

Oh, I’m really really liking this tea. Thanks for the order idea, VariaTEA! :)

So orangey. So sweet and herbal. Lemony as well. I like it best with ~1/4 tsp honey in a 16 oz mug, but it’s good plain as well.

SMELLS SO GOOD. So orangey. And it’s soft and bouncy like a pillow!

Steeping, it smells divinely orangey.

Steeped, it tastes orangealicious. And a little herbally from the nettle and chamomile.

SO GOOD. Well. Unless you don’t like one of the ingredients and then it would be terrible. But for an orangey, nettle-and-chamomile-and-other-things tea? This is really really nice. I bet it would be good with a little honey, and poured over ice, too.

This isn’t my favourite tea because the rooibos is kinda heavy and overly present. However, it smells divine and has worked out really well this evening with half a spoon of Teavana’s Limeade Twist and 1/4 tsp honey.

Yum.

I think I need more.

I cold brewed this! 3 tbsp in 2L water, overnight.

SO GOOD! It’s sweet, and limey, and somewhat herbaceous. Green, is the colour I’d assign to this tea.

So amazingly good! Yes, there’s a little woodiness from the rooibos (stronger now that the tea is almost room temperature), but the sweet and the lime and the herb are so present.

A+ choice, self. A+ choice.

My first cup of this is GREAT! It smells intensely limey with some sage, but the flavour is mellowed out a bit by the rooibos.

I was kind of expecting more sage, TBH.

But it’s still good.

Nice and herbal-y. Nice and limey.

WOOOO!!! I got the shared tea orders from VariaTEA today! Butiki (which needs to be shipped off to Amarial tomorrow), and Cornelia Bean. And some samples. I see what you did there, VariaTEA. :)

So this is the first one I’m trying. Next up will be a white chocolate raspberry and cream matcha latte, I think. Mmm…

Right. Back to the tea I’m with now. This is definitely an assam. I sniffed it dry and brewed, and it’s very… assam-y. Yeah. There is some vanilla in it, both a hint of alcohol-based flavouring and the bean. Takes milk well.

So yeah. This is pretty good. I don’t really think it’s spectacular, but it’s tasty and nice and strong. Not too fussy of a base, and fairly mild flavouring. It’s mostly enough vanilla to take the edge off and supplement the flavours of the base. Makes the tea a little creamier.

This is a really interesting tea. There is a fair amount of sweetness derived from the figs with a hint of caramel drizzled on top. As I continue to sip, the floral of the rose kicks in but in a fresh sort of way as opposed to being chemical or perfumey. Finally, the sip ends with rosemary which sits on your tongue long after the experience is over. Definitely a unique flavor profile and one I am glad I will get to have again. Hopefully, OMGsrsly enjoys her half of this as much as I have enjoyed mine.

A few days ago, Roswell Strange mentioned enjoying this cold brewed so I decided to follow her lead. Then I strained this and forgot about it as I focused on my sipdowns. However, today Cavocorax and I were talking about this tea and that reminded me of this sitting in the fridge.

Tastewise, the meringue element comes out much more in the cold brew than the hot tea. The rhubarb, on the other hand, is a bit more muted. Now if only the base were toned down a touch more, I would be one happy camper. As it is, I just find that the hint of grassiness coming from the green base is a distraction from the rest of the experience.

My friend asked me which teas have I not tried. This was one of the few that I have yet to taste so I brewed some up for us to try. Personally, I far prefer the Strawberry Meringue as I am finding the flavors in this to be muted. The base is buttery and it is definitely the most prominent element. I am not really detecting much rhubarb though and the meringue only seems to be present as a slight sweetness in the cup despite two meringue bits being in the steeper. All in all, this won’t be a restock but it is not bad.

Cold brewed this and it definitely tastes like a liqueur. Both the nutty and alcohol components are present and there is no rooibos to be found. Alas, I guess when I bought this, I was hoping for more of a nutty flavor and less of an alcohol taste. So I give it points for being accurate but I am just not loving this tea.

So the only other review for this tea is by Dexter3657, who loved this, but as I sip away at my mug, I can’t help but feel like we are drinking two completely different teas. I am finding the taste a bit off, like rather than the tasty flesh of the almond, I got all the woody skins (wow that sounds more morbid than I intended). Nothing is really coffee-esque to me and there really isn’t anything in the ways of chocolate either. I suppose this one is just not for me, though I will play with it a bit more to see if I can make it work. Hopefully, OMGsrsly’s experience with this tea will be more akin to Dexter’s when I finally get around to sending her her half (I am sorry it has taken so long btw!)

Sipdown!! (160)

This is actually only a sort of sipdown as I am eventually going to be sending the rest of this to Roswell Strange so she can try yet another seabuckthorn tea. However, I am starting to doubt the presence of sea buckthorn in this as I really don’t get much out of it. As OMGsrsly said, this is Cream Rooibos and not much more. Not bad, but not what I hoped it would be either. At least it was hydrating :)

I really can’t wrap my head around this one. I know there is a taste there that isn’t the rooibos but I can’t quite describe it. There is a hint of sweetness but nothing distinct enough that I could explain it. I really hope OMGsrsly has a more sophisticated palate and will be able to figure it out when she gets her half of this tea.

So I have no idea what sea buckthorns are meant to taste like but this tea sounded appealing so OMGsrsly and I decided to split 50g. Sipping on it now, it is certainly creamy and the rooibos is present but there is another element present which I am guessing is the buckthorn though I can’t quite describe it. This is not bad and I won’t have trouble getting through 25g of it but I don’t think this will be a reorder

I enjoyed this tea when I initially had it but overtime I have lost interest. Into the GCTTB it goes, where hopefully, it will be enjoyed by others. So long sweet strawberry tea. It was fun while it lasted.

I was packing some of this up to send away and I decided I should give it a try. The base is incredibly smooth and provides the perfect foundation for the light strawberry flavor and the hint of meringue. It definitely captures the strawberry meringue taste without being too-over-the-top which makes this a nice dessert tea, but one you can have more often. However, this cup had none of the meringue pieces in the mix so I wonder if that will heighten the flavors or change the cup.

Sipdown (187/189)!

Very short “blip” of backlog, seeing as I had this last night but fell asleep before logging it. Literally, I fell asleep with the page for this open, and my laptop on my lap. Tre says he moved my laptop so I didn’t knock it off the couch or anything stupid. And now he’s making fun of me because he left for school at 9AM and got home at 3PM and I was dead asleep at both points in time – meaning I slept for a straight twelve hours…

But this was nice; I had the last of it from Dexter3657 (I’m always going to second guess whether those numbers are in the right order) coldbrewing yesterday afternoon and I was just waiting super impatiently all day for it to be finished so I could enjoy it. After twelve hours, and at 10 PM I declared it “good enough!”. It was perfect timing; despite hanging out all evening in a tank top and boxer shorts, I felt like I was perpetually burning up – and a cold, refreshing tea to sip on all evening was perfect. Maybe I’m getting sick? That would explain all the sleeping, right? I better not be getting sick! I sure as hell don’t have time for getting sick…

This is so perfect though! It’s totally a spring/summer tea – but I would drink it year round regardless. It captures the lush, juicy taste of Dragonfruit perfectly and I was in love the moment I tried it! I would not hesitate to stock either this one or Cuppa’T Specialty Tea’s Dragonfruit Cranberry blend, which tastes eerily similar! And definitely at least 100g worth! Mmm! So good!

My first Cornelia Bean experience!

Dexter3657 (I really hope I’m getting those numbers in the right order) was very thoughtful when sending her package to me, and went through my wishlist – sending teas I had on there and teas that were similar to what I had on there, like this one which is pretty similar to the Dragonfruit blend from Cuppa’T that I have included there.

Since the Cuppa’T blend is on the list as something I enjoyed thoroughly/wish to acquire again for cold brewing, that’s how I decided to prepare this one! In total this steeped overnight and briefly this morning for somewhere around 15 hours. Now that it’s strained and I’m drinking it, I think it’s absolutely delicious!

Mostly, I just taste the dragonfruit and it reminds me of pink dragonfruit vitamin water in the same way that Cuppa’T Specialty Teas’ Dragon Fruit Cranberry blend did. Which is a good thing. A really good thing. However, if I really pick this apart I can separate some of the flavours and in doing so am able to notice the dragon fruit, kiwi, chokeberries, cranberries, and to some extent the pineapple individually. However, I think I would much rather prefer to not focus on that and instead experience the tea all together as a whole.

Overall, I think I like Cuppa’T’s take better – but only slightly. I would be more than content to have either that blend or this blend stocked in quantity! Mmm! So thank you a bundle Dexter3657 for the incredibly thoughtful add in! This was a fantastic first introduction to Cornelia Bean, and I’m very excited to have enough of this left for a second cold brew. Mmm!

Recently OMGsrsly and I split a Cornelia Bean order. This tea is one of her purchases as I had no interest in a lime sage tea. However, when the package arrived and I smelled this, it smelled soooo amazing that I asked if I could try a bit. I am glad I did because this is a good tea!

It has a nice lime flavor that is not too citrusy because it is mellowed by a hint of sage and a touch of the rooibos base. I am enjoying this cup however I don’t think it will be a tea I reach for often and thus I am happy with just a taste. Thank you OMGsrsly for letting me indulge my curiosity!

Chocolate and strawberry are both present in this cup but it is not sweet or creamy like a Chocolate Strawberry Truffle should be. The rooibos is contributing a hint of woodsiness that I am not loving. It is not bad but not something I think I will be getting again. However, I have about 50 g to play with and hopefully change my mind.

Sipdown!! (144)

Of all the nougat teas I tried (Sweet Seduction, Divine Temptation, and this), this is my least favourite. I think the rooibos is too muted to tame the sweetness of the nougat so it can be a bit overpowering at times. Nonetheless, it is still very tasty and made for some delicious caffeine-free desserts.