Tea Squared
Edit CompanyPopular Teas from Tea Squared
See All 23 TeasRecent Tasting Notes
Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing but I just don’t know how I feel about this. It sort of tastes like rosey butter. Seriously. It’s weird and I don’t think I’m a fan, at least as a hot brew. The rest of my sample is cold brewing now so hopefully I have more luck with it prepped that way.
Last cup of the night from yesterday!
I had a lot of white tea over the course of yesterday, and I just wanted to enjoy something more fruity and bright to finish the day out. I was looking for a different tea in my stash initially, but when I saw this one I totally changed my plans.
I realized that I don’t know if there’s anywhere local in Montreal where I can restock on this tea because I actually used to buy it back home in SK at Sobeys – but the QC equivalent grocery chains don’t seem to carry this brand. That’s sort of sad; I’ll miss this when I run out! It’s pretty sweet, but equally balanced by a crisp tartness. The best of both worlds in terms of juicy red apple and acidic, puckering cranberry notes. I do usually prefer it cold, but even yesterday’s hot cup was really perfect.
Cold Brew!
Tart/Acidic and crisp top notes when I’m taking each sip, but overall a very sweet and bright cranberry/red apple type of flavour – not unlike what I’ve experienced with this tea in the past, but it’s been so long since I last had this one as a cold brew that when I drank this cold brew it was just really deeply hitting me. So tasty!
It also made me realize that I used to buy this tea for a grocery chain in SK, and I don’t think I can get it the same way here in Montreal – I’m sure ordering it online directly from the tea company would be mighty expensive; so I wonder if this is one of those teas that, when I run out, I might just have to let go!? That’s sort of a sad thought…
Cranberry themed Christmas Eve continues!
This might be the last cranberry tea of the night though; I’ve been off and on nauseous all day and that feeling is only getting worse. Unfortunately, pretty well every cranberry tea that I own is really, really rich and tart/acidic and I don’t think that profile is doing anything to help in terms of that shaky/queasy upset stomach feeling.
This cup was good though – I cold brewed it and then whisked in a couple of spoonfuls of chia for a nice, chilled cranberry chia beverage that in a lot of ways reminded me pretty heavily of cranberry jelly. It had that thicker, more viscous mouthfeel from the chia and the flavor was sweet like a cranberry jelly, with a hint of apple to it. Not overly tart either, though I do think I underleafed a little bit which definitely meant less acidity that normal for this blend.
It was great though – and kind of fun for Christmas Eve in a less overly thematically driven way…
I had a whole tasting note written out for this, and then Steepster ate it. So to summarize: Was craving something tart and fruity, this fit the bill…
It had notes of cranberry, hibiscus, tart/sour apple, and fruit punch. None of those things are unusual for this tea, but the fruit punch notes got me thinking. Both of DT’s ‘Punch’ like blends (Caribbean Crush and ME to WE) have cranberry as a main ingredient, which is possibly why the cranberry in this tea reminds me of fruit punch? It’s one of those chicken and egg kind of questions though:
Did cranberry start getting added to blends because it’s fruit punch like in flavour? Or do I find it fruit punch like because it’s used in punch themed teas?
Cranberry Purifier and vanilla/cinnamon infused brown sugar simple syrup drizzled over some fresh sliced Asian Pear! Check it out:
- Used my Flavour Bible to come up with pairings for this one
- Treated the Asian Pear like a Gala Apple for this pairing
- AKA sweet but more mellow compared to other apples
- Apple + Cinnamon + Cranberry = Flavour trio
- It’s a combo of the sweet, tart, and spice: well balanced
- Plus apple and brown sugar/vanilla are ALSO pairings
- Worked very well; super tasty! Just a hint tart, mostly sweet with warming cinnamon
Plus if nothing else, it just looks REALLY pretty.
Drank this one hot a few nights ago, but a little underleafed because I didn’t want it to be overly tart. Well, I underleafed a little too much, because it just tasted really watered down and almost more apple-y than cranberry. I’ll take the tartness over a brew that weak.
Tea Pop!
Man, I’m only just started with tea pops – that’s such a huge plus to living at home and I plan to milk it so much. This one was really good too; I drank it while enjoying a nice baked brie with red pepper topping on my favourite cranberry/hazelnut crackers and I have to say that drinking something cranberry while also having it in the crackers really pulled everything together quite nicely.
Plus, the tea pop itself was also just really tasty. Think cranberry spritzer/sparking cranberry water but a bit more robust and tart in flavour with some apple undertones. I’ve always said this tea had an effervescence to it, and now that I’ve literally carbonated it I don’t think I’ll ever be able to shake that aspect of it. Yummy!
This is one of my favourite blends from Tea Squared and I really like having it around because it’s a pretty killer cranberry focused blend, but it never seems to be in stock at the one grocery store in town that I know carries it…
However, a few days ago when I was shopping I found one bag hiding way in the back of the shelf, shoved behind some other less awesome teas! Guess what, you’re mine now bitch! So I greedily grabbed it, and now it’s back in my cupboard to be enjoyed!
First cup was hot; I got to test out the brand new mug warmer I got from VariaTEA for Christmas! Honestly, I’d never even really thought of a mug warmer as I thing I might want or need, but I’ve used it maybe a half dozen times now and I fucking love it. The biggest dilemma thus far has been deciding whether or not I want to keep it in the kitchen near my kettle/tea set up to keep things all warm and toasty when I’m cooking or packing lunch for work or that fun stuff or if I want it in my room for when I’m hiding under the covers, drinking tea and watching Netflix. Decisions…
The tea was grand though! Very effervescent and intensely fruity with bright cranberry notes which are not only sweet and juicy but also coquettishly tart and tangy. Also, apple notes! Yummy ones with inklings of both sweet red apples and more tart green ones. Really, I’m just thrilled to have this one back in my cupboard…
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rJcEB-xpmM
Yay? (1) I am so glad it arrived since Amazon was being a bit of a pain about it and (2) I am so glad you like it!!! People all over my office have them and everyone says how amazing they are so when I was trying to think of something to get someone who has almost every piece of teaware imaginable and a crapton of tea, this came to mind.
*Yay!!
Cold Brew Sipdown (116)!
To be honest, I really really wanted to hoard this tisane but finishing it off now around Christmas felt right. Cranberry, to me, is such a poignantly Christmas flavour so if there’s anything I find myself reaching for in my stash to get in the Christmas mood it’s one of several cranberry blends I’ve got. And the flavour is quite nice too; sweet and tart cranberry, apple, hibiscus, sort of like a cinnamon note, and an effervescence that reminds me of the kind of fruit punch that comes in juice boxes. Yummy!
Tonight, we celebrate my mom’s birthday! It’s not actually tonight (it’s on Christmas Eve) but she’s going to be in Vancouver for a couple days visiting a ‘friend’ I’m still describing it as an expensive holiday bootycall so we had the option of doing it now or after it had passed. My brother and I made Gnocchi and then picked up a cake which we thoughtfully had “Happy 50th” written on it. She’s turning 44, so her face when she saw it was priceless.
I wish I’d gotten a picture.
Also, I likely wont do it immediately but I definitely have plans to restock this one.
Crap! I had a really nice tea note written out for this, and then I went and accidentally closed out of the tab and then lost the whole note…
Anyway; I’m finally trying this one hot after drinking almost all of my 50g cold brewed. I broke out my adorable, whimsical little Christmas “tea for one” pot which is this pretty cream colour with fun, brightly coloured red and green stockings ‘hung’ from the pot and a bright red spout and handle. This tea brews up a super brilliant, deep and rich ruby red colour that looks so absolutely cheery and festive in the little cup! Cranberry is totally a seasonal flavour and considering it’s finally starting to feel like winter now that there’s actually snow on the ground I’m all on board with the festively themed tisanes!
Normally the intensity of this red liquor would have me nervous about potential tartness but it’s really not too bad. The natural sourness of both the cranberry and the apple does come through a fair bit but not enough to force my face into a pucker, and the natural sweetness that that those two fruits also have break through on the finish and save the sip from being more tart than anything else. I’ll admit though, I don’t sweeten my teas but I can see how that wouldn’t be a bad idea if you’re drinking this tisane hot over cold brewed/iced. Also, there’s a fruit punch sort of taste too and a warming almost cinnamon flavour. Both of those aspects are fascinating since nothing in the blend should be contributing those flavours.
Overall, definitely a better hot cuppa than I would’ve expected it to be and I’m enjoying drinking this small pot worth of it! However, I think the cold brew is just slightly better. Who knows how I’ll finish my tin of it though, with the weather changing my focus is shifting back to hot tea over cold brewed tea.
Cold brew companion from last night!
I went to the mall downtown and distributed resumes, and I brought a timolino filled with this cold brew along with me; nothing motivates you to nail on the spot interviews like a reliable cold brew to sip in between stores. Gotta love the juicy, sweet and tart notes of the cranberry with the ripe apple backdrop and almost like a hint of cinnamon?
One of the places I applied was DAVIDsTEA because, well, why the hell not!? Turns out the person at that location in charge of hiring is someone I went to high school with and was actually decently good friends with. Regardless of future job prospects, it was just really cool reconnecting with her again! Fingers crossed for me, though!
This cold brew was really distinctly cranberry flavoured. I mean, there were some apple notes too, and almost a bit of a light cinnamon taste that reminded me loosely of cider but mostly it was a very juice-like sweet full throttle cranberry taste. It didn’t taste all that tart at first, but by the end of the brew I was starting to get a bit of a lip-puckering feeling. I still enjoyed it a lot though!
This is a queued tasting note.
While I love my early morning/afternoon cold brews on the walk to work, I got to thinking last week that it’d probably be really easy to do the prep work for tea soda (the syrup, basically) in the evening when I get home and then make the soda itself in the morning right before I leave. So, I field tested the idea with this one!
It actually was super easy to get everything set up to do the tea soda; with both evening and early preparation combined I think it took the same amount, or if not very close to it, to make the soda as it would to set up the cold brew and then later strain it in the morning. Here, the syrup was the more involved part (the at night part), but with cold brewing straining it definitely takes longer (‘cause you’re washing the strainer and mason jar in between). Morning with the soda was as easy as cracking open a can of club soda. So tea soda for the walk to work is definitely something I’ll be doing again!
As for the flavour of the tea/tisane – it was weird and I’m not 100% sure if it was in a good way. I definitely liked the plain cold brew I did of this one a while back – and I remember remarking that this would probably work as soda.
It definitely did for at least the first half of the soda; the cranberry was freshy and fruity with a fun apple quality, and almost a raspberry like top note. The carbonation suited the cranberry as well; it was a little like cranberry spritzer or Cranberry Sprite! The second half? Eh…
As I was walking (it’s a 40 minute walk) the soda started to go a bit flat – that I didn’t really mind, but it sort of welcomed a much more noticeably intense cranberry flavor that, without the carbonation, started reminding me of canned cranberry jelly, like you’d eat around Thanksgiving. On top of that, the hibiscus really started to build and the tartness was a bit too much as well. At this point I was fairly turned off. I actually don’t tend to like the flavour of cranberry outside of tea and this was too much of it.
I imagine if I continue with tea soda on the walk to work than I’m going to deal with carbonation loss – and I don’t think that’s going to be an issue with all tea soda; it’s just that the way this one was prepared didn’t work with it. I’m not going to call this a fail because the start was awesome; maybe neutral overall?
Queued tasting note.
Bought this one from the Sobeys I work at; it’s one of the two Tea Squared blends that originally caught my interest – the other one being Honey Fig Tree. I know, both the ones that appealed to me were tisanes; but I think their herbals are far more original/creative than their other flavoured blends and both feature fruits I’m crazy about.
Since the Honey Fig Tree I started with really grew on me and was really well done I decided to give this one a chance and I picked some up when it was on sale for the week; $7.00 for 80g instead of the usual $10.00.
Dry this has a really powerful, aromatic smell! It’s definitely, definitely super sweet, almost candied cranberries but then this really intoxicating smell that reminded me of Fruit Punch or the red Fruit Roll Ups from Betty Crocker – which I think are meant to be strawberry though. But very bright, juicy and over the top overall.
And obviously I started off by cold brewing it; for many of the usual reasons (their’s hibiscus in the blend, cranberry is really good cold brewed, the convenience). I think it was definitely the way to go; this came out a crimson red colour and my immediate thought was “probably would’ve been rather harsh hot”. I’m sure I will eventually try it that way though.
And, it is a little bit tart but only in the way that cranberries naturally are – I really didn’t think the hibiscus was adding anything that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Very juicy and robust, with the same almost but not quite fruit punch (like Red Kool-Aid fruit punch)/Fruit Roll Up flavouring. Maybe a little bit of sweet red apple from the apple in this that’s obviously acting, primarily, as a filler? There’s an effervscent, sparkly quality that leads me to believe this would be to die for as a tea soda; so I’m definitely going to try it that way too.
It tastes like childhood summers; hyped up on snack foods and running around in my bathing suit through the Spray Park.
This is definitely another success for me; though I’m not quite sure how much of it is really me absolutely loving it and how much is just excitement/nostalgia so I’m gonna be a little conservative with my initial rating. If my second impression is as good as this one, I’ll likely be increasing my rating though.
And, just finished my phone call with Amoda – I’m really happy I could help them out. Everything they asked was really easy to answer and it wasn’t invasive at all so if you haven’t seen their post on the discussion boards or have but haven’t volunteered to do it you should really consider; it took like twelve minutes overall, and they were super nice!
Flavors: Cranberry, Fruit Punch, Red Apple
COld Brew!
It’s been so long since I last had this tea, but drinking it now it’s like a warm greeting from a friend you haven’t seen in a long time – a feeling I think many of us will be reacquainted with whenever this pandemic comes to a close…
Definitely a sweet blend though with both honey and this rich caramelized sugar/caramel note that compliment a jammy fig and apple kind of fruity profile. It’s got elements that taste fresh and ones that are a bit more baked/cooked fruit, but overall it’s just a great harmony and pretty unique/distinct. Also just a hint of rose, which I personally love and feel like adds an heir of sophistication.
So I realized literally a few minutes ago that I hadn’t announced this yet on Steepster so I figure I might as well do that, since it’s been consuming most of my life/free time right now…
I’m moving to Montreal!!!
That’s right; I was recently promoted to our store support center at work – so I’ll be hauling my ass and all my many, many tea collection things across the country to go work there. I’ll be working as a data assistant within our tea lab; which puts me a lot closer to where I’d like to be – surrounded by tea, and using more of my sommelier background. Plus, no more retail! So, I’m very excited for the move.
The problem I’m facing is that I have to be in Montreal for December 1st and I’m having a total bitch of a time finding a place to live. So, in between working at the store (because I’m going to work right up until the three days before I leave) and training my replacement there and apartment hunting for an apartment/studio several provinces over I’ve been a little bit stressed…
So really this is just one of many teas that has been by my side while browsing apartment listings/contacting landlords – still to no avail. I know I still have a month until I move, but I’m going into that frenzy mode I often slip into when I feel like I have lack of control over something.
It’s… bleck.
Flavors: Fig, Fruit Punch, Honey, Rose, Tangy, Tart
Had a pot of this one before bed a few nights ago.
Normally I’m really into this one, but maybe I just over did the steep or something ’cause this time around I found it almost sickly sweet and borderline generically fruity. I mean, a whole lot of apple and some pineapple notes but mostly just like a really sweet fruit syrup. Almost like the cocktail syrup in canned fruit cocktail? It was just a little too much right before bed.
Iced!
I’ve had this one cold brewed quite often, but never iced before and I have to say that there are some subtle differences between the two styles. Firstly, this iced cup seems a lot sweeter and brighter to me; perhaps because the caramel melts down more when it’s brewing versus a cold brew? It’s got that strong caramel/honey sweetness though and then a LOT of very floral fig/rose. The finish is more in line with apple and pineapple though.
I’m very into how lively this cup is tasting though, and I appreciate the brightness of all the fruits in it. I also shared it with a couple coworkers; usually they enjoy the tea I bring to work but the REAL sign they’re into something is when they go in for a second, or even third, sip – and both coworkers I shared this with did just that!
This is so nice to have on hand for summer.
Hot mug of tea with some creamed honey added!
I think I overdid it on the honey a little bit because this tasted so very sweet! In fact, I’d say that the primary flavour of the cup was 100% honey. In fact, it reminded me super strongly of a honey drizzled honey cruller donut, with undertones of rose and figs. I mean, it was still tasty but also A LOT to take in.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUOQG4qM8uU&feature=youtu.be
Cold Brew!
I had to go and pick more of this one up because I just blow through it so quickly. I was hoping that the Sobeys I buy it from would have some Cranberry Purifier too ‘cause I really like that one and it’d be nice for the season but like they’ve been the last four times I’ve been to that Sobeys it was sold out. Argh.
This was so sweet and juice like though; I actually didn’t get much in the way of fig for once. Usually that flavour is definitely distinct if not as powerful as the other notes in the blend. Mostly, this was really and mildly tangy pineapple with apple undertones. I enjoyed it a lot – but missed the fig. I think I just got a bad distribution of ingredients in the leaf I measured out though. Or at least that’s the theory.
I feel like this one grows on you; though I don’t think it ever read as buttery to me.
The hot cup was like movie theatre popcorn butter and roses