Herbal Infusions

Uhh, sipdown, and pour out.

So extremely astringent with a side of bitter. I even steeped at 185F.

Too bad because it smelled SO GOOD dry.

Now to find another tea to drink!

Whoops. Unlike last time, (oh gods, this note entry font is awful (I went back to web page fonts because I couldn’t see what was bold and what wasn’t in my work email)) I steeped at 3 minutes. And it’s all HELLO!BASE.

2 minutes is definitely better.

Had to add honey to drown out some of the base flavour.

Have I mentioned I don’t care for the base tea? Interestingly, the Marshmallow Snowflake is fine. None of the others have been. Hmm…

(2.5 tsp, 14 oz, 3 min)

Yeah. Overleafed, 185F for just over 2 minutes. Not too bitter, although I still don’t like the base tea.

Nice apple flavour. I need more apple teas without loads of cinnamon, please and thanks!

Yum! Apple cider tea!

So good with a bit of honey. It’s nice that it’s not loaded down with cinnamon, but I want more ginger. :) (I love ginger, though, so most teas that are “ginger” need more!)

It was so insanely cold today that I made this to help me keep warm.
It didn’t really taste that good in my timolino.

Damn.

Also, bringing teas for the office doesn’t help anything if you don’t bring anything to STEEP YOUR TEA. >:| The boss brought me a double double from Timmies so that was acceptable.

And here’s my 10th Herbal Infusion tea! Woooooo.

So yes. THIS is the Chai. Not this (http://steepster.com/cavocorax/posts/210728). It smells spicy like you would expect and I think maybe that there’s sandalwood or something in there to make it stand out? There’s something woodsy in here and I like it.

Now on to the first sip: O.M.G. what was that? There is something seriously spicy in there. Not spicy enough for my bf who took a sip of it and called me a wimp, but spicier than I expected in my tea. Interesting! I’m sure milk and sugar would tone it down but I like this.

This is definitely an interesting interpretation of Pumpkin Pie. This lacks the usual spices one would associate with a pumpkin pie tea. Instead this is fruity. The rooibos is present but there are other flavors such as dates maybe or figs perhaps. I really don’t know what is going on in this cup. It is not bad but I would never have guessed pumpkin pie.

Yep, another earl grey this morning.

When it’s not straight EG, I’m finding them quite delightful right now. Wisps of memories, rather than POW :)

So yeah. I enjoyed this tea this morning. Not something I’ll be sad to sipdown, but enjoyable enough.

~ahem. BANDERSNATCH BUMBLEYSOCKS! It’s *&^%$%& snowing! And I have to go to work to rescue some bacteria. I was supposed to do a whole lot of science, but I won’t be able to spend 3-4 hours there without getting stuck.

ARGH.

Anyways. This tea is delightful. Not too much ‘blergamot’ as Sil says. It’s nice and sweet with that marshmallow flavour. This is definitely an earl grey I can get behind!

I actually forgot how much I like this one, especially compared to other teas of theirs where the ickiness of the base really shows through. (Sorry guys. I really don’t like your base tea!)

Ahh! There are snowflakes in my tea!

I went out today to have brunch, open presents, and watch the Hobbit with some friends. It was all great, but I kind of dreaded coming home. I have a furry barnacle who is either at my side or looking for his buddy. Last night he kept on pushing me off my pillow, and I’d wake up and it felt like it took forever to figure out why I was so uncomfortable!

Now that I’m home, it’s time to sit down with a book, drink ALL the tea, and cuddle with the cat.

This is what I started with, because I saw a couple reviews in my feed. It’s a decent Earl Grey! They’re still not my favourite, but I’m glad I have a couple very different ones to choose from. This one has a lingering sweetness, even though the single snowflake sprinkle didn’t manage to fully dissolve. I’m drinking it with milk (my dad would be horrified), and thoroughly enjoying it. I don’t think I’ll be sad when it’s gone, but I will happily drink it all up. Soon, I hope. I have to get through some of these teas!

And here’s this one again. Is this a sencha?

I don’t even know if I’ve had a sencha so I’m not sure where I’m getting this idea from, but it makes me think of sencha and cherry. And it’s sweet but also just a little salt. I sear I’m picking that up. It’s intersting, but not my favourite blend.

Just looking at reviews earlier and I’m reminded I will need MOAR moose tracks!

I’m on 8/12! Well maybe I have hope for getting through all of these.

(Probably not!)

The cherry in this is interesting. It’s like the cherries using in baking – very strong and sweet. I think I may have used too hot of water for the green tea as it’s almost… salty? But when I rescue my variable kettle from tea jail tomorrow or the next day I can do it again properly!

Still my favorite of the cacao teas, and even more so when it’s slightly sweetened and steeped ridiculously long. Had a cup last night that I fully enjoyed, and am now re-steeping another cup for later. Yum!

When I want a Mexican Hot Chocolate, this is what I drink instead now. So delicious, knowing that’s exactly what this is (or, originated from), although the label – while authentic and correct, technically – is misleading. Had a lovely cup last night, and the smell alone lifted my spirits.

Again, this tea needs renaming, and I’m putting it forward to the gent over at Herbal Infusions with my suggestion. For those wanting “vanilla”, you’ll fail to find it. If however you’re looking for a true cacao like you’d get in Mexico, replete with history (look at my last tasting note for those details), this is definitely a go-to. More mild spice cacao than anything, and still utterly delicious.

Mexican hot chocolate (I’ve mentally changed your name now), you rock my world.

This is very unusual, and yet, I love it — although I should note this is very little vanilla, to me. If I was going by just the name, I’d be very upset. I actually had zero idea what this was when I first sipped it (yep, that kinda holiday here!) and I immediately thought, “WOW. What do I have in my house that would taste exactly like the best xocolatl I’ve ever tasted?”

Then I realized I’d cracked this open, and that answered my question.

I’m going to strongly suggest to Herbal Infusions to change the name of this tea to xocolatl, or something along those lines. This is decadent, yummy tea, and yet it’s bang on for the spices that I’ve dreamt about for years (and have had trouble re-creating): touch of heat, cinnamon, nutmeg, creamy chocolate. I actually enjoyed this more with zero sweetener.

So, poorly named, and still an excellent, satisfying, unusual tea.

EDIT: Had to look up Rosita as an ingredient, which was a bit tricky. When I found it, I laughed – this is why I’m getting xocolatl. In Spanish, this ingredient is literally called, “Flower of Cacao”, even though it has zero relation to the actual cacao plant. Even more fascinating, for me, is that it’s related to the baobab plant (something I studied for ridiculous amounts of time in Grade 3 with a teacher who loved Le Petit Prince), and is only really grown in the same part of the world that brought us Salvia and psilocybe mushrooms.

EDIT again: One more interesting tidbit! This tea has a strong similarity to the drink Montezuma drank as an aphrodisiac (and had up to 50 cups a day of it!) Another reason to rename this tea, I’d say!

The apple-ginger is an interesting mix. It’s very much apple cider with a little bit of a kick. I feel like I’m going to fall asleep right now on the computer – too much dinner and cookies? Probably. Not a bad day though! Our little bear got a lot of great toys and we had a good time visiting people.

7/12

OK, I am actually getting a bit of eggnog this time, now that I made it properly! This is still a delicately flavored blend, but it’s still good when I’m in the mood, and I do like the creamy eggnogish mouthfeel!

Ok – this is more like it. Smooth black base and eggnog spices. I wish I had real eggnog to mix this with!

Ok, I drank this one and I enjoyed it, but I can’t really remember what it was like because I was in the middle of OMG-get-dinner-ready-hows-the-turkey-make-the-gravy-lets-eat. I remember that it smelled amazing.

I’ll have to do a real review once I can sit down and pay attention to the cup, but I can tell you guys that I totally nailed dinner! :P (And that’s with instant stuffing and instant gravy and pre-made salad)

6/12

Sipdown!! (207)

I dropped the brewing time down to 2 minutes in hopes of bringing out the coconut. No such luck. This is all lime peel and now it is gone. I am glad I got to try it but it won’t be missed. Now I know this was not for me.

One more cup of this left after this and I think the coconut will forever be lost. The lime flavor is impressively natural and distinct but it competes with black base which can be slightly astringent. If anyone has suggestions about how to brew this to bring out the coconutty sweetness, I would love to hear them!