The Rabbit Hole Organic Tea Bar

And a third for the white tea on rotation mix. Not literally, all in different steeps. I’m almost out of my little bag of this one, so its on the order list! Just sublime, and gets sweeter and more beautiful with every steep.

Backlog:

A very pleasant Lemon Herbal. I like the overall subdued approach to this tea. The ginger is not overdone, nor are the lemony herbs. A lovely, sweet lemony taste that reminds me vaguely of lemon curd. Not a pucker-y citrus note. The ginger has some peppery notes but again … it’s the softer side of ginger.

Comforting when served hot, and refreshing when served iced!

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/02/24/lemon-aid-herbal-tisane-from-the-rabbit-hole/

No notes yet.

Just lovely, as always.

Ok, I’ve finally worked out how to brew this one. No more than 3 mins, and you get just a hint of tart, which is more flavour than anything, then the hit of sweetness. Just beautiful.

The other half and I both had a glass of this today. Iced of course, because who is having hot herbals in 32oC heat? Especially in my house. North facing up the river. Lotsa sun. Anywho, this lovely, naturally sweet, and so refreshing iced. My supply is from my Christmas tea bauble bag.

Azzrian, thanks for a sample of this one! I was worried I was going to burn this one, so I may have let the water cool a bit too much! I steeped for a minute thirty. I thought white teas were not my favorite (meaning: least favorite) but WOW I like this one! It has a very sweet flavor. It’s surprising! The flavor is almost like a less fruity cantaloupe. It has a very full flavor for a white tea and I didn’t even steep it that long. The second steep tastes the same. I should really stop typing that out every time, since it is usually the case for most teas, but I know others don’t steep more than once. Sometimes the second steep is BETTER. This is probably my favorite white tea, even though I might have been avoiding them in the past, so I haven’t had many of them.

Made a cup of this straight and hot to have with dinner. Yummo!

Having this iced. Gave it a good 6 mins so the flavours came through when cold. And they do, so raspberry-ee, so coconutty. And the white tea has this comforting, oddly warming sensation even when iced.

Just stunning. If you’ve never tried this, ORDER NOW! Seriously, international shipping be damned, it’s just sooo good.

The other half just made a glass of this iced, and even though he use 100oC water it still tastes fantastic. Just a wonderful tea.

Ok…so…ICED and with shorter infusion times…this isn’t too bad. It’s still really fruity and tart but the coconut helps and it just seems to make more sense iced.

BUT…now…I’m cold…lol…rating based on ICED attempt.

Thanks Liberteas
Based on her notes I decided to WAY underinfuse this one!

Between that and the coconut it saved it a bit.
I only took a few sips and it’s ok but certainly NOT my fave from them.
I’m going to ice this one instead so stay tuned for those notes soon…then I will rate it.

Simply wonderful! Taste like its name sake yet a lovely light oolong comes through perfectly!
Full review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ soon.

Oh my….

Finished this one off last night. Dear me its tasty. The ultimate dessert tea. If you’ve been thinking of doing an RHTB order, I’d strongly recommend this one. Will definitely re-order.

Have I logged this yet? Can’t remember…

Anywho, I added a little honey to the steeper while this was brewing, just to further bring out the appleness a bit more than my first cup, and HOLEY TEANESS! This is amazing iced with that bit of honey. Will definitely be a re-order for summer. Yummo!!

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea.

Oh my this is good. I think that this might be the first chocolate mint tisane that I’ve seen that is just cacao nibs and peppermint… most of them are rooibos and/or honeybush blends in addition to the chocolate and peppermint. I like that this is just cacao and mint … the flavors taste stronger, purer and just plain better.

Sweet, creamy chocolate + crisp, cool peppermint. Need I say more?

PS: Check out my foodie blog for a great giveaway from Goodies Co.! http://hungryinportland.com/2012/10/17/contest-announcement/

So I went for round two with this this morning at home. A much better result. A lovely soft black with berry tones in the back of my mouth. Quite enjoyable. Going to use the last of my sample to make an iced glass to see how the berries perform cold.

Despite being in the process of narrowing my tea cupboard, I went and ordered more RHTB samples. Damn you RH peeps, your teas are just too tasty, I couldn’t stay away!

I opened this this morning when I was madly finishing making lunch to brew for travel in my Timolino. Holey moley this smells like a berry farm! No, more than that. More like the smell on your hands after spending a day in the sun picking fruit. Intense, lush and authentic. Smells just as amazing when brewing. In fact, after I’d discarded my leaves from the steeper, the other half asked if he could lick out the sink becasue it smells so good. Yes, he’s a bit odd, but THIS TEA SMELLS RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING!!!!!

And now for my morning disappointment – I uncapped my timolino just as a meeting started next to my desk (my desk sits in the middle of my workplace next to a meeting space, there’s no office for it), and someone came in from outside who was wearing strong, floral perfume. Bitchface. Seriously ruining my tea experience. But underneath, the black base is nice and hasn’t gone bitter, and the berries hit the back of my mouth. Just so disappointed my first cup of this got intereferred with. Will rate when I have a more accuracte sample.

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea. I am enjoying it!

This tea tastes best after it’s had a few moments to cool. It gets even better after its completely cooled (as in iced tea!) The berry flavor intensifies as the temperature of the cup drops. When very hot, the berry flavor is really only strongly noticeable in the aftertaste. After cooling a few moments, the berry flavor comes through loud and clear and is indeed a berry BOMB!

But as an iced tea, it really shines. Sweet, berry flavor. I taste each of the flavors – the strawberry, blueberry and raspberry! – and it all tastes amazing. The black tea tastes to me like it is probably a Ceylon, as it is brisk and mellow, not overwhelmingly strong, but strong enough to stand on its own amid the bomb of berries.

Very good. Thanks again, my SororiTea Sister!

The other half made his first thermos full of this to take to work earlier today. Just got a text from him – “Shit – just drank all of my white delight in one go!”.

So it gets a firm thumbs up from him too.

Decided to re-visit this one after buying ‘the History of tea’ by the heiss’ today, doing some short multiple steeps. 80oC steeps. Not overly scientific timings, mostly me counting in my head.

1st step 90 seconds – light, sweet. Getting hints of the nectarine as described above. A very pale green colour. Smells soft and sweet, hints of the vegetal taste I got before, but it comes out sweet instead of grassy.

2nd steep 100 seconds – a light green colour again. Slightly softer smell this time. And it’s a very sweet steep! Definitely getting the fruit sweetness. Lovely!

3rd steep – 120 seconds – a paler green again. A lighter taste than the previous steeps (won’t bother with a 4th), but still light and sweet.

I’ve really enjoyed this method of steeping with this tea, it’s brought out nicer flavours than a standard western steep. Upping my rating accordingly. It’s a lovely white, a real treat.

No notes yet.

So even though I really enjoy white blends, I haven’t had any straight whites. So why not start with RHTB, given their excellent quality?

Scent: surprisingly vegetal. Haven’t smelled that before with whites. Hmm interesting!

Taste: still getting the grassiness in the first taste, but the taste of the back of the mouth is quite sweet. Further sips are intriguing, very tasty! Definitely coming back for more of this.

I hope the white tea/immunity thing is true though, have a little bit of a cough this morning. Hopefully it’s just me warming up after a cool night.