Second Cup

Yum. Had this in lieu of coffee with a friend today, and no regrets at all. Part of me wanted a sinfully delicious coffee drink, but my stomach started hurting at the mere thought, so I went with a matcha latte as I had planned. I don’t really remember how it was, except that I enjoyed it :D

Had this scrumptious tea lat week on friday for breakfast. It woke me up nicely and the taste was sublime.

Enjoyed one of these with Raritea today!! I got to meet another Steepster, which was awesome. Sil and Indigobloom – we were hatching plans for the four of us to meet up for an awesome tea day perhaps in January!

Anyways, this was pretty good, although a touch chalky today in my opinion. And perhaps overly sweet. Ah well, I didn’t have to make it myself :D

I got this at Second Cup in place of a Caramel Rooibos I had tried there earlier (and loved), but which they don’t seem to carry any more. I enjoyed this one as well, and it smelled wonderful! A great tea to have on a fall day. Will definitely try again when I go back to Second Cup.

So second cup didn’t have any Earl Grey today, so I decided to try out their jasmine tea. Its pretty good for a bagged jasmine tea, no complaints here, wasn’t overpowering. I like the smell of the tea, through I wish the scent were just a bit more stronger. The smell of jasmine is so inviting.

Huge bag, great smell, really looked forwards to this.

My god was it awful. Couldn’t finish it. Something harsh overpowered everything, there was no balance whatsoever.

So few hours later and I’m still kind of buzzing.. .loving this drink.

Well, Today I decided to be adventurous and try out a Matcha latte from Second Cup. Not going to lie, I was a bit nervous ordering it, but good thing I did, it is yummy and I know it will give me a much needed energy boost in a little while. I started tasting the foam at the top and the earthy taste was really strong, but once you mix it, it is a delightful taste. The earthiness is still there, but it is subtle and subdued. I am so happy second cup does lactose-free lattes. Yumm.

Its rather a good tea for being out. I really love this tea because I can just leave the bag in and the taste doesn’t get overpowering. I love adding milk into it once in a while, but drinking it black is equally nice. It is really a comforting tea to drink… definitely a keeper on those cold days.

I ordered this in a moment of weakness. Added some milk n sugar. It was pretty good, but not very pumpkin like. There was some flavour but not much. And something fruity, almost apple like. Not sure I’ll get this again. The creaminess is enticing, I’m just not sure about the astringent/apple part.
Rating: 79

So I wasn’t going to write a review for this, being a simple bagged and iced herbal… but it surprised me and did the job I needed it for (hydration and calmness!) aaaaaand it was darn tasty.
Oh and the following story turned rant was requested, kindof. This is the end of my tea review. start rant
See, I was having a terrible day at work, and then I had man troubles (no offense guys! I only wish the one I am referring to would see reason!!)
Then… seeing that my gym session was cancelled(so frustrated over that!), I decided to pop into my friend’s bbq, in the suburbs. Only my man friend was being difficult and I was running late… I had brand new platform heels on (the old ones went kaput) and the screen showing my go train timings was broken! ah! so when the green vested official looking lady asked me where I was going and she told me my train had been moved from it’s usual track to another one, well I believed her. But guess what? after I got on, I realized it was going the wrong direction! so I got off at the next station and (in my new heels) scrambled to catch the opposite train, and missed it by maybe 15 seconds.
Ugh!!! anyhow, I was in a terrible mood at that point so cabbed it back to union and went home, being in no condition to be faced with socializing until after a few hrs sleep. (did I mention that I become a temporary zombie most Friday nights?)
Tomorrow, I have a dentist app and then a date!
So. That was my day. Sorry for the rant folks. I feel better now. and calmer! The End

Backlog from this week. Tuesday I think.
I’ve had a looooong one and somehow this just slipped my mind. Work has been hectic, and then I’ve been dealing with a bunch of supposedly unrelated health issues (five of them! I’m not whining, at all, but it’s a bit overwhelming)
Second Cup is so easy for me, being that there is one housed on the ground level of our building. Expensive, but handy.
So the tea… It doesn’t say on the advertisement that it’s a rooibos, so I was expecting a black tea! but then I saw larger one later on and saw that did so I suppose I should have looked there first. Oh well.
Nonetheless, I was mightily confused when I was sipping… there was SO much astringency going on, and it didn’t quite fit my idea of black astringency. As the cup cooled, I figured out it was rooibos, thankfully.
The Maple aspect was intense. I felt as if I was drinking syrup! and the flavour was spot on. It really needs milk to get there, sadly. I had hoped to go without.
Now, Maple syrup is not my fave sweet. Chocolate is better :P
Still, now I am curious… I need to try Oh Canada from DT again just to see how it compares!
Overall, I’d say this is really well done for a Maple tea. If you like that sort of thing, make sure you try it out :)

Like english breakfast, but less. Less depth and breadth of flavour, even less colour for the same level of steep. The bags are even poorly made: quite thin, and you can tear them quite easily by pulling the string of the tab gently from the inside of the bag.

I don’t think I’ll be purchasing this again.

Much better than expected. Cherry, amaretto-ish flavour in an average black tea base. Best strong, with a splash of cream and a pinch of sugar.

Forgot to log this yesterday, but picked up another one of these. Yum. I think it was a bit sweeter this time (perhaps too sweet), and I really shouldn’t have gotten a large, but it definitely still hit the spot. Yum. I have got to pick up some matcha so I can make lattes for myself instead of dropping $5 or so on one at Second Cup!

No notes yet.

A tasty and non-stomach-upsetting yet still rewarding alternative to a hazelnut latte from Second Cup! I was craving a sweetened drink and had made myself some cold lattes in the past week from some old matcha powder packets I had been gifted, so this just hit the spot. Sweet enough without being sickly, and I could definitely taste the green tea, although noticed a bit of grittiness at the end. But yum yum yum.

Baby, it’s cold outside! This is just what I need to fight off the chill.

I used to work at a Second Cup, so I got rather addicted to certain drinks. This was one of them. However, the way I like to drink it is 1/2 water, 1/2 milk since the mix blends better with boiling water than it does with hot milk.

It’s only rarely that the shops actually sell tins of the mix, so when my local place received a shipment of the latte mix I snatched up a couple tins. Hey, I could either spend $4 on a chai latte in-store or $7 on a tin that gets me multiple lattes at home. There’s no difference between the mix they use in-store and the stuff they sell in the tins, it’s the same with the hot chocolate mixes too.

On to the drink itself… I love it! Sweet, creamy, spicy, it’s so much better than any other chai tea latte! Sure, it’s also loaded with all sorts of things that aren’t the best for you, but you gotta live a little!

I was sure Mint was going to be the one good tea in the Second Cup gift box of tea I received as a gift. Alas, Second Cup has figured out how to ruin mint tea too—by adding chamomile. I hate chamomile, and It actually overpowered the mint flavour. I think I’ll be giving the rest of the Mint tea bags away; they’ll probably just go stale in my tea drawer. :P

Don’t let the “estate tea” claim on the box and the pyramid tea bags fool you. There’s nothing exciting about this tea. It’s just your regular-tasting bagged green. It’s not terrible, but I certainly wouldn’t buy it or choose to drink it if I had alternatives. Alas, I have a few more bags of it to get through; it came as part of a gift box of tea I was given.

Finally tried the new “whole leaf” blend of this and sad to say, have to bump down the rating a bit. It still smells amazing, the cherry and orange just bursting out. But brewed up, it’s just . . . meh. Tried a few different steep times, and the flavour just isn’t there. Boo.

No notes yet.

Another tea that I forget how much I enjoy until I have a cup. Still nursing a box I picked up last Christmas, but I’m interested in trying the new blend they’ve brought out since they redid their teas.