The Tea Brewery

Edit Company

Recent Tasting Notes

70

A decent, generic breakfast tea. I like it better than bagged blends, but I guess I was sort of expecting more from it? Maybe I’ve become a bit of a tea snob over the past couple of years!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80

I’m not usually a fan of drinking blueberry teas first thing in the morning, but this one has enough of a breakfast blend base (at least to me) that I actually don’t mind doing just that. And I enjoy the fact that this is from a smaller company than what I usually buy from. This is my last bag of tea from here, so the next time I’m in Nova Scotia, I’ll clearly have to get a refill.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

76

Sipdown (126)!

One of the oldest samples in my cupboard (if not the oldest?), so it’s probably good to be finishing it off. I’m so sorry but I can’t remember who gave it to me! It was so long ago, and I didn’t mark it when I got it because I was really new to swapping.

Really there are two reasons I waited so long to have this one though; I basically have no information about it at all (the packaging is super nondescript; just the tea name, company and that it comes from Nova Scotia) and it’s not a resealable package. For those reasons I kinda just went “Fuck it” and cold brewed the whole thing.

It actually turned out better and tastier than I was expecting though! It was sweet and have very fruity notes that I’d maybe call strawberry or, like, candy Grape flavour? You know, big fake purple grapes. That sort of grape. And then, there was the sweet vanilla note dancing around in the background and lingering in the aftertaste. That, with the strawberry, definitely made me think a bit of grenadine. So it was good!

I should really look up Lady Londonderry blends because it looks like that’s a thing given how many there were on Steepster (just not this one, which I had to add). Maybe this is something I’ll want to try more of if they all follow the same kind of flavours…

Flavors: Floral, Grapes, Grenadine, Strawberry, Vanilla

Daddyselephant

As I understand it, Lady Londonberry is supposed to be a lemon-strawberry blend, but who knows, I’ve been wrong before. Once.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Another sample from my friend, I accidentally ruined it.

I’m always disappointed by maple teas, I expect too much mapley deliciousness from them apparently. Reality never lines up with my hopes.

So I kind of assumed this would be no different. And then I got the genius idea to add some cream to it, I figure it would make it extra desserty and the creaminess would make up for the lack of maple flavour that I was anticipating.

Anywaaaaay, I went to add the cream and forgot how full it was, so a bunch came out and made my tea pretty much white.

I took a few sips but it wasn’t anything but watery, creamy, tea flavoured liquid.

Sorry, tea!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

85

Wow. I didn’t expect much from this for whatever reason, but it ended up surprising me as being one of the most delicious and realistic tasting blueberry black teas I’ve ever tried.

The fact that it’s from a Nova Scotian tea company is a major plus because though I’ve been in NB for 19 years now, I spent 8 important years of my childhood in NS and still have relatives there, so it will always feel like home to me.

My friend sent me this sample but I’d consider buying some one day!

Kaylee

I love the name of this tea

ohfancythat

Yeah, it’s nice :)

mj

That’s where my grandparents met!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Ewwwww.

Another sample from my friend.

I made this at night thinking it would be low in caffeine, but I didn’t examine the leaves whatsoever, clearly, and I didn’t clue in that the “blush” they referred to meant ROOIBOS.

My arch nemesis.

It tasted very medicinal to me. I wouldn’t have bothered making it had I known.

I won’t rate this one, because it would be a low number, considering I dumped it out.

I. HATE. ROOIBOS.

mj

ME TOO

SarsyPie

Never hold back. Tell us how you really feel! :p

I’ve noticed that every tea drinker seems to have a tea ingredient nemesis. It’s rooibos an awful lot, but hibiscus seems pretty well-hated also.

ohfancythat

Haha never hold back! ;)

TheTeaFairy

rooibos and Hibiscus intolerant here too !! Too bad cause they are super healthy.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

My friend gave me a sample of this with no brewing directions, all I could smell was peppermint so I just made the cup last night with boiling water.

HOWEVER, I forgot about it while steeping, and it was a good five minutes if not more…. so when I tasted it all i got was EXTREME peppermint.

I see that the ingredients also contain licorice, i didn’t pay enough attention to the two mouthfuls I had before dumping it, but I don’t enjoy anything licorice flavored so that probably contributed to my ICK.

I’m really not THAT big on straight up peppermint tea, and it was wayyyy too ‘in my face’ because of the oversteepage.

So yeah, i dumped it.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Nova Scotia Blue by The Tea Brewery
437 tasting notes

In mid summer, while I worked in the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve tracking Black Bears, we would reach a point where half the bears would dissapear from their home ranges as they left in search of food. That population is basically dependant on the success of the blueberry crop for survival. Once they started to leave their home ranges we would spend part of the day tracking/searching for our wandering bears, and part of the day sampling blueberry plots among other duties. After which we had tons of berries to freeze, eat and turn into many baked goods. At the study site we had two species of blueberries; Vaccinium angustafolium, which had smaller tarter berries and smooth leaved shorter plants, and V. Myrtilloides which had furry leaved taller plants and big sweet berries that tasted a little like blueberry bubble gum. This tea reminds me of the latter, with a rich sweet syrupy scent and flavour that reminds me a little of a blueberry pancake breakfast drank with a hearty rich tea.

This tea does a really nice job of balancing the flavours between the base tea and the flavouring. The scent and the taste are of those large bubble gun tinged blueberries I picked in the field up near Chapleau, with a nice sweet slightly syrupy notes, all over a malty and slightly biscuit noted base that has a slightly tart fruit reference. The sweetness of the flavouring is tempered by both the tannins in the tea and the blackberry leaf. The base tea is only slightly astringent, but has enough texture and tannins to give it a nice density in the mouth. Despite the flavouring and scent being quite distinct they do not overpower the base and the tea does not require sweetners for the flavouring to pop. Well done Tea Brewery At the moment this is my favourite blueberry tea in my cupboard.

mj

You have a cool job. Bears are awesome!

Veronica

So was that job as awesome as it sounds? ’Cause it sounds pretty great (as does the tea!).

TheTeaFairy

Such a cute story, I can understand why this tea triggered such memories :-)

yyz

It was a very cool job! We lived at a field camp on the lake with a population between 4 and 20. The study’s focus was population survivorship and fecundity. In the spring we spent the morning checking our lines of live traps for bears, whom we would weigh measure, take fat pinches and blood samples if they were a recapture. New bears would be tagged and more in depth measurements and samples were taken. Females were always coloured, males not so often, as they tended to through the collars. We had early GPS collars that were huge as well as normal radio collars. We tracked the bears in the afternoon and sometimes well into the evening until there was a change of government that changed my bosses good will for ‘extras’. We also did botanical monitoring and staging. In our free time we went rock climbing of fire tower climbing, hiking, biking and canoeing and occasionally wolf howling. It was a fascinating job bears are fascinating to observe behaviorally,have an interesting social organisation and a really interesting physiology. It is definitely among my favourite job experiences. Ironically I think I experienced greater culture shock coming back from that job than from some of my overseas experiences.

TheTeaFairy

Just wow…

mj

What TheTeaFairy said!

Christina / BooksandTea

That sounds like the coolest job ever.

ashmanra

Woooooooooooooooooooow.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

66

My Nova Scotian friend gave me a sample of this, drinking it now and will report back!

edit

Ok here I am.

This is a perfectly good breakfast tea that tastes like a breakfast tea.

The description on their website says this:

“One of our popular NOVA SCOTIA BLENDS!
A hearty breakfast blend of three uniquely flavourful estate teas from India.
Ingredients: Black tea.”

And that’s what it tastes like…black tea.
I put milk in it. It’s hearty.

Nothing unique about the flavor…..honestly I don’t find too much difference between this and the old Atlantic Canada Tetley Tea standby….is that bad? I mean, Tetley will always have a place in my heart but what’s the point of drinking tea that tastes like it came from Sobeys the grocery store?

It’s decent….generic but decent. Is that taste an India tea thing? Why do some black teas have layers of amazing tastes to them and some just taste like Tetley?

I’m here, world, and I’m ready to learn!!

Courtney

I have a love for any tea with “Maritime” or “Nova Scotia”. The things that happen when you move away from home haha.

TheTeaFairy

Coutney, you’re from NS? I visited once and fell in love with it and its people! I plan on going back eventually cause there’s just too much I haven’t seen!

Courtney

Yep :) I can’t wait to move back home.

Tealizzy

That’s a great question! I hope someone here answers it!

ohfancythat

I lived in NS from age 4 to 12, and my parents’ families are all from there. Even though I’ve been in NB now for close to 20 years, I will always consider NS to be home in my heart :)

Courtney

Yes! NS love.

ohfancythat

If the opportunity ever presents itself to move back, I totally would all my greatest childhood memories are from then!!

Courtney

Where in NS did you live? I have been wanting to go back from about the second day I got to AB. It’s funny how in the same country, things can be so different haha! Nothing wrong with AB, but it’s not for me. At least you’re close by in NB. :)

ohfancythat

I grew up in Dartmouth :)
Probably not the area I’d move back to if ever given the chance, though! Whereabouts are you from?

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

90

hum, when did blueberry become my default comfort tea? it wasn’t a conscious decision, but the day has been long, the sleep has been little and i am grateful to yyz and her swap package for this tasty sample!

by the by… what contractor builds walls without a vapour barrier? by the by part II: if you get a text from a tenant about a ‘little’ mold in a closet… break out the blueberry tea. the long day is going to segue into several more.

this tea is not candy or jam. it is soft, fresh blueberries with beautiful sky swirled flowers falling in my cup. the tea itself has a warm element, almost woody and somewhere in there i detect a note of green… as though the odd stem or leaf had been left with the blueberries. the green makes me smile further.

i think is my favourite part of swaps…. trying teas i never would have otherwise, being sent things that my friends think i may enjoy that i really, really do. i wonder if swapping teas counts as a hobby.

i dislike contractors…. at least the ones that cut corners.

thank you for my lovely cup of calm, yyz….

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
yyz

I’m glad it helped improve your day! As to the contactor issue you’d be surprised! I remember watching too separate contractors build a group of Townhomes within a block of each other and the difference in the quality between the construction and materials was night and day. Sad, because neither were exactly budget homes. Hope that the issue is localised and not rediculously expensive to deal with!

Dexter

I count swapping tea as a hobby – but that’s just me….

JustJames

i think i really need to count it as a hobby… i find it far too much fun not to. and it makes me happy….. i wonder if i could somehow incorporate tea into a tattoo? hmmmm.

Dexter

I’ve been looking at tea tattoos as well – most of the pics online are too “girly” flowery teapots for me – thinking about gaiwan with Chinese art or something like that (I’m just not sure anyone else would understand what it is). Placement is part of my problem – feel like I’m running out of skin….

Dexter

Swapping tea makes me happy as well – tons of fun :))

JustJames

far as i’m concerned i don’t care if other people understand what i put on my skin… the people that know me will get it. the girlie is tricky, i agree. there are things that are beautiful, but if i wear them i might seem odd… then again i never said i wasn’t odd!

i think the blooming teas are beautiful as they expand, as they carry/are carried by the tiny air bubbles…

you make another good point… where oh where would i put it? lol.

Dexter

I like the last one too, but I’m not sure how it would translate into a tattoo – the pic looks good because of the dark background. Depending on your skin tone, but I’m not sure it would stand out as well. I like the green dragon 2nd one-
Things to ponder – but now that I’m not buying tea, I could use that money for a new tattoo….

JustJames

i’m part smurph i’m so pale, lol. the only colour i avoid is yellow because it makes me look jaundiced. a good tattoo artist takes any idea you bring them and caters it to fit your shape and space though….

dexter… you did NOT just turn this into a tattoo enable forum did you? because i’m not buying tea for awhile either. i cannot believe you just went there, lol.

Dexter

http://www.tattooinspiration.com/tattoo-of-the-day-4151.html
I like this but I think it would be more appropriate for Awkward Soul

Dexter

LOL – Oh I’ve been thinking about tattoo rather than tea for a month now…. LOL I’m not telling YOU what to do, was just thinking out loud…
I haven’t gotten any new ink in almost 2 years…I’m suffering from withdrawal big time….

JustJames

very nice! i have 2000 years of cybernetic history in a 7 inch cuff around my ankle and up my leg that i want things always to link somewhat to (theoretical bypass to repair my nervous system)… sortof a theme for me =0). cybernetics, wires, gears, patches and screws.

JustJames

oh no… i have another tattoo that says ‘you can’t make me’ (long story)…. but you can suggest with great efficacy!! it’s been awhile for me too.

sigh. great things start with ‘t’. lol.
i’ve been itchy for the buzzing pen.

Dexter

I agree that they are personal and should somehow represent something about you. I like your idea of cybernetic re nervous system. That’s awesome. I also agree that others don’t have to like/understand your tattoos – as long as you like them then it’s all good.

Dexter

I thought you had stopped buying tea re tuition, groceries, etc….
Ummmmm LOL you can’t eat a new tattoo…. I shouldn’t be encouraging this – but I don’t get to talk tattoos very often. :))

JustJames

i have imposed a moratorium. i have a ton of tea. truly. and i have a student loan and i am applying for a scholarship this next week.

similar to my taste in tea, my taste in tattoos is expensive (also expansive). i love to talk about them… the next one will probably coincide with a major mile marker (ie a degree).

http://modeletatuaje.ucoz.ro/_ph/19/839921587.jpg this one would fit right in. what do you think…. 3000$? lol.

Dexter

As much as I can appreciate how awesome that is, it’s not something I would get. I don’t think the tattoo would be 3000.00 but the travel expense to find an artist who could pull that off might be. LOL
Expensive – yep expansive yep – go big or go home. That’s my running out of big chunks of skin problem….
Good luck with the scholarship – hope that comes through for you. :))

JustJames

all i can do is try…. as far as i know i have the grades. i have demographics going my way too. disabled permanently, check. mature student, check. straight A’s, check.

it won’t be happening for awhile, lol. but i can dream and/or live vicariously through you! http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g5DdWGS28vU/Tr5cP5ibSpI/AAAAAAAAXgs/RMjV8EfzVys/s1600/cyborg-tattoos14.jpg

for me machinery fixes it all. my nervous system is so corrupt that basic things can be exhaustive! if i were partially mechanical the problem would be diminished. or so i have reasoned in my brain =0). and seeing as that is a rather remote conclusion, i am happy to have it represented artistically.

Dexter

I love that tattoo. Most bio-mechanical pieces that I’ve seen are straight black and grey. I love the added color – looks like real circuit boards – love how the torn skin has some redness around it. That is a fabulous piece…..

Dexter

OK that’s it, you’ve convinced me. I’m going to pick/commit a piece of skin and start searching for an artist who can/will pull off my Roman/Philosophy vision.

JustJames

do i get to see photos? i want to see photos! lol. my cuff is very 3 dimensional with lots of colour. the artist spent 5-6 hours replicating an actual sized circuit board. ha! i even have an on/off button…. i think my wife wished there were a ‘mute’? ;0)

Dexter

It’s still in my head – I can’t draw, at the mercy of an artist to capture my vision. I want to do something representing Ancient Rome and the contradiction of the different sides of that society. They were way ahead of their time as far as status of women, social services, democracy etc and yet they were brutal, cruel, slave owners and warriors.
Picture Roman soldier sitting in the “Thinkers” pose with a Roman senator reading to him from a tablet – garden setting olive trees, grape vines etc. That’s my vision…..

Dexter

LOL doesn’t the “off” button also work as “mute” – or does she want you to function but in “mute” mode… ;))

Terri HarpLady

Ok…I love you guys!
It’s been 2 years since my last tat, & if I didn’t spend so much money on tea (or sold more CDs) , I’d be getting a new one for my birthday in a few weeks.
I loved the green dragon. Tony has his entire right chest, shoulder, upper arm, & upper back as a Tibetan dragon, in shades of black & gray & I love the detail of it. The other shoulder etc is a hummingbird surrounded by tropical flowers…kind of like a Hawaiian shirt, very colorful. Mine are smaller, but symbolic of the place my head was at when I received them:
- a fairy that sits on my left shoulder to whisper in my ear & remind me of who I really am once in awhile. Got that one 20 years ago.
- a personal symbol I once drew during meditation, that ended up on the inside of my left arm, that serves to remind me that all answers to my questions lie within. That was about 15 years ago.
- a butterfly on the back of my right hand by my thumb & pointer finger. Freedom of self expression, letting go of inhibitions, especially in the area of playing Jazz. That was my birthday tat a few years ago.
I love tats & dream about them, drawing them on myself to try them out. I have a special affinity for spiders (& they like me too…the ultimate creators), but I have yet to find the spider tats I want. I think a spider stalking a butterfly or becoming one, would be the ultimate symbol for creative freedom, which has been my musical quest. I also have had several visions for back pieces, but never the funds. Ok….I’ve rambled enough.

TeaExplorer

A spider becoming a butterfly … wow, that is both intriguing and unique. If I saw someone with that I would have to stop and talk about it. What a cool idea :D

Shmiracles

this is a great thread! so inspiring! beautiful ideas. i thought of getting a new tattoo too, and tea is a big possibility.

JustJames

so we all love tea and many of us have tattoos… many of us are artists, many of us are students…. so many connections. what a brilliant thing.

oh and dexter… yes, i think ‘functional’ but ‘muted’ is precisely what she would have wanted, lol! i’m not a terribly quiet individual. i’m guessing that comes across and doesn’t surprise anyone on steepster. =0)

Sil

i love tattoos…on other ppl lol

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

I finished up the last bit of this today. The samples don’t come in resealable bags so I’ve tried to make a point of finishing this up. Also, the tea storm that is about to embark on my house from the Black Friday sales is slightly embarrassing and there needs to be room for it. Anyway, sipdown!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Changed up the steeping for this one. Instead of 3 minutes, I did 2 and it made a huge difference. There was a lot more maple in this cup and it had almost a creaminess to it. I’m still glad I only bought the 10gram sampler and I think I have maybe a serving or two left. It kind of reminds me of maple brown sugar prepackaged oatmeal.

2tsp + sweetener in my 16oz steeping mug

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

When we were in Halifax, there was a market set up near the dock and I of course had to check out the lone tea company inside.

Instead of buying 75 gram portions, I opted for their sampler which included 6 10g bags of some of their more popular blends.

Maybe a didn’t use enough leaf (or steep long enough), but this has a much lighter flavor than I was expecting. It’s not bad but I was expecting more oomph. Good thing my husband suggested the sampler (even if it was biased to reduce the amount of tea I was bringing home)!

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

79
drank Earl Grey by The Tea Brewery
652 tasting notes

My Nova Scotian friend received some of this as a gift and passed on the rest to me, with a warning that it’s “strong”.

I thought it was a decent cuppa Earl Grey, a bit strong but not too bad. I like EG teas to start with so it was a perfectly enjoyable way to start my day, with a bit of milk :)

I’m a bit depressed because I haven’t been able to drink as much tea lately, so I’m being choosy and drinking ones I love, make it worthwhile. I miss writing reviews. I’m still reading everyone else’s though!!

Shmiracles

cutting down on caffeine? i really need to cut down on MY caffeine intake that’s for sure. i’m always thinking, “i’ll cut down on caffeine … next week. i swear.” but that has yet to be seen. i do know what you mean though. doing things that are hard are, well, hard! but they tend to pay off in the end don’t they? don’t they? :)

ohfancythat

yeah, stupid caffeine! suckily for me my fave tea is black. boo.

Nitoo6of6

Have you tried any CO2 decaf black teas? It at least is better than chemical decaf process so I’m told.

Shmiracles

i have a Darjeeling CO2 decaf at home but haven’t tried it yet. i got it with the idea that i could add it to some of my rooibos teas to give them more OOMph. i am sooooo very tired of rooibos.

Sil

rooibos cold brewed + alcohol sometimes makes things more fun lol

ohfancythat

I’m going to have to google this CO2 thing!!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

92

This is a wonderful desert tea. The almond flavor is very strong. It tastes wonderful plain, but is enhanced with a little bit of sugar. This is definitely a tea to try if you love almonds!

Preparation
4 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

67

This is another very old sample that I had purchased from The Tea Brewery about a year ago. Finishing it off and finally writing a tasting note. I didn’t really pay attention to the look of the tea before I steeped it, but afterward it is clear that this one has hibiscus in it. It is very red, and probably a bit over-steeped as I didn’t notice there was hibiscus.

The taste of this is berry, but not specificly apple. There isn’t much sweetness, but nor is there much tart from the hibiscus. I’m guessing there was only a touch of hibiscus for colour more than anything else, but it seems incongruous to have hibiscus in a “sweet” apple orchard blend. This was another disappointment, but I could chalk that up to age. I really need to kee cleaning out some of the older samples in my tea stash. It still amazes me how quickly time flies!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

62
drank Turkish Apple by The Tea Brewery
709 tasting notes

This tea is an older sample that I purchased from the Tea Brewery’s stall at the Market, and I am finishing it up today. Apparently I have not made a tasting note for it before and I honestly don’t remember anything about it, so it’s just like starting over! I steeped this about five minutes in boiling water. The liquor is fairly yellow and very mild in aroma, as was the loose “leaf”. The smell and taste are not very present, possibly because it’s age. I get a hint of something appley, and this is enhanced when I have a few almonds as a snack to pair with it. The beau finds this quite pleasant but I see it as a disappointment. It was too bland to be interesting and not really worth absent-mindedly sipping. If nothing else, at least another sample bit the dust! :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

87

Tea of the afternoon…..

And day 15 of 24…. This one is from Uniquity, and I have to say this one is so worth the try if anyone gets the chance! Thank you so much for sharing this with me. I love that I have had the opportunity to try teas from all over.

I definitely get a wine taste with this one. It is lovely (I am usually a dry red drinker if I partake). I also get hints of pear and berry, but they are fairly seamlessly blended with the wine flavor so that there is not a great distinction that they are there. The black tea base is good, and there are no hints of bitterness or astringency. I did a slightly shorter steep than usual, and it works…. Yum!

Usual mug method for 3 minutes.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
Uniquity

Wahoo! I love that the Tea Brewery is getting some love!

Ellyn

This SOUNDS AWESOME!

KeenTeaThyme

I think I just drooled a little…this sounds amazing! :)

teataku

You’ve certainly got my attention! I love a good red now and again. :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

83

Tea of the afternoon…..

And Day #13 of 24….. This one comes to me from Uniquity. Thank you! (I do really like this one!)

Blueberry black tea goodness. The tea base is pleasant, and the taste of warm blueberries is bringing back the memories of this blueberry crisp I made over the summer after taking my kids to a U-pick blueberry place. It was heavenly!

Usual mug method.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

87

Smelled this at the market today and fell madly in love. The wine smell is so authentic that when I gave it to the beau (without telling him what it was) his first guess was wine. I don’t know that I get pear or berries, but I do get a deliciously sweet fruity wine scent. I’ve unfortunately not yet had an ice wine so I can’t speak to it’s authenticity on that front, but it definitely smells like a wine.

The Tea Brewery (unfrotunately) doesn’t list any information about their teas or steeping parameters on their website or the packaging. Accordingly, I made it up. It looks and acts like a black tea, so we boiled the water. I gave mine about 3 minutes of steeping, and the beau kept his closer to five. The liquor is rich and dark, a deep wine red in the pot and a reddish amber in my mug. The smell is similar to that of the dry leaves: fruit, wine. Delicious!

First sips match the smell wonderfully. No bitterness, no tea taste at all, in fact. It’s like drinking wine, only without the alcohol tinge. This really captures some of my favourite aspects of sweeter wines…Unsurprisingly, I love wine. I have no real taste for it though, and happily drink the $10 bottles from the NSLC. For times when I oughtn’t “drink” (aka during the work day!), this tea will be a lovely source of comfort…Wonder if I could succesfully drink it from a wine glass?

As the cup cools I start to get shadows of the tea taste, but that is not a problem. It is a wonderful merging of wine and tea…a real treat on this rainy evening.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

90

Okay, preparing some of this on the stove tonight. I threw in some milk, some water, some random loose tetley I got in the grocery store for 50% off over a year ago that is definitely not the greatest, and of course some highland chai mix. Couldn’t say the proportions I used, it was all a fun experiment. Of course, I realized afterward that a tea ball might have been a better aproach than throwing it all in loose, but too late!

The loose tetley is really throwing me for a loop. The tea is all broken up like in the teabags and really looks like coffee grounds. Why did they make this? Why did I buy this? Will I ever use all of it???? Anyway, everything is steaming away on the stove. I’ve not a clue what I am doing, so it will be interesting.

In the pot, it has an exceedingly revolting look, but the smell is nice. Getting that warm gingerbread smell I get from The Tea Brewery’s chai latte. God, I hope it tastes like that! Okay, tea finally made and strained. Looks quite like the tea latte they make…it’s surprisingly thick, though that’s likely because of the milk. Smells really good, but also like I should have added more chai spice.

First sips are thick and creamy. I am not a fan of milk, but I do like this. I know the milk is there, but the chai spices are rocking it out. I think definitely a titch more chai next time, or maybe a better distribution of the components, but this is a definite win. <3!! (Also, it DOES remind me of their latte in taste. YAYAY!)

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 6 min, 0 sec
Tea

I love the mad scientist approach. It’s always so fun when things work out!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

79
drank Mango Mayhem by The Tea Brewery
709 tasting notes

I’ve figured out what it reminds me of: Ruby Red from Joy’s Teaspoon. Which I love and have 6 ounces of. This isn’t quite as strong in flavour as the Ruby Red (though I suspect that has to do with the dried fruit, which I have learned to carefuly spread out) but is still fairly potent and very sweetly flavoured. I enjoy this, but when it is all gone I won’t be getting any more. There is almost a pseudo smoke note in the middle of the sip, but I suspect that is the rooibos. I have had this small amount for quite some time, and look forward to finishing it off and de-cupboarding it after one more cuppa. I’ve become quite fond of the idea of de-cupboarding lately, although I never seem to finish any teas. I should get to work! : )

ashika

de cupboarding! i just give away my tea’s at work : )

Uniquity

Oh trust me, I’ve given away more than a few. Sometimes I like to just finish them on my own though. : )

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

79
drank Mango Mayhem by The Tea Brewery
709 tasting notes

Really nice! Definitely smell and taste the rooibos, and the mango came through pretty strong. It reminded me of something else but I can’t place what. Lovely!

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

53
drank Country Spice by The Tea Brewery
709 tasting notes

Here’s another that smells sort of unpleasant (too strong, really) while dry but actually is nicely flavoured when steeped. I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought a tin of this, but I did. The dry smell is over-whelmingly cinnamon, which is something I have grown to have very little tolerance (and even less appreciation) for. Luckily, when steeped the cinnamon is much less present. I get a hint of slightly bitter black tea and then some muted cinnamon on top of that. Though there are other components floating in the tea, they are not coming through in taste. As it cools, the tea is becoming more bitter and making me wish I had some honey.

I think it will be a bit of a struggle to finish this tin, but at least I have definitely learned to better know my tea tastes over the past few months. I have gotten much better at resisting the urge to buy tea just because there is some in front of me (though I still have my moments). As much as I want to support my local tea shops, I have been finding the quality lacking, of late. Verdant Tea has spoiled me!

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.