Incendiare

My friend drove us down to a nearby DavidsTea after class, and after I picked up a couple of their new ones, we headed down to Silk Road. I picked out a couple, and when I introduced him to the Lapsang Souchong, he sprang for a mini tin of that, plus some Japanese Sour Cherry. Yay!

This was actually my first Silk Road purchase. Loving all things vanilla, I wanted to try this first. My friend commented on the overwhelmingly sweet aroma wafting from the huge canister. And he’s right, I wasn’t expecting that. But it’s sweet in a good way.

Ever smell something one moment and revisit the scent not too long after, only for it to smell completely different? That’s what’s going on now. The dry leaf in my tin smells nothing like it did in the store, where it was an obvious vanilla bean. Now it smells like stewed tomatoes. That’s right. Stewed. Tomatoes.

Once steeped, the stewed tomatoes confusion disappears and it’s back to vanilla bean.

The vanilla is lovely, really. Velvety, almost like vanilla whipped cream. The base is a little too brisk for my liking. Detracts from the smoothness of the vanilla. It makes me want 52teas French Vanilla Assam. I’ve hereby decided that Assam is a better choice than Ceylon when we’re dealing with vanilla.

But if that’s what you are looking for, a Ceylon-based vanilla, this one is very well blended and it’s worth trying.

Finished off the rest of my 10g this morning. Wow, I loved sipping on this in class! I think it tasted even better than the couple cups before. The bergamot was brighter somehow.

I just may need to buy more someday.

Ha! I like how as I was brewing up the last of this, out of nowhere, “Leggy Blonde” by Flight of the Conchords started playing in my head. I mean, this tea is good, but not good enough to justify triggering Flight of the Conchords song and dance.

http://youtu.be/FCub8r1T5Rs

I won’t get more but it was still a fun ride while it lasted.

My first order just arrived! I decided to go with this because I was oh so curious about this cake note everyone keeps talking about.

The dry leaf smells like… DT’s Red Velvet Cake. If you haven’t smelled that before, it is basically extra sweet, warm sugary cake with a a vat of frosting dumped on it. But almost to the point that it just smells like a sugary toothache. So, not a good thing after all.

This also tastes very similar. There is no pineapple to be had, unfortunately. I can at least taste the base in this blend more, and Pineapple Upside Down Cake lacks the oily film that DT’s has. It has a tiny bit of a film on top, but not nearly as much, most likely because there aren’t any sprinkles or white chocolate chips in here.

The aroma of the steeped tea is very tantalizing, though. The gooey sweetness has filled my entire bedroom. As a matter of fact, a while ago, I was trying to read an academic article for a paper while this was cooling, and I couldn’t for the life of me concentrate because it smelled so freakishly good. I had to drop what I was doing, come on Steepster, and talk about this.

PS: While I was brewing this up, my roommate asked me how/why the kitchen smelled like pancakes.

Dry, the scent is sweet and nutty, a little creamy. Why haven’t I tried this sooner?

Totally forgot this one had coconut in it. Great pairing with everything else in here. As this was steeping, the aroma was warm and golden. It reminded me of Banana Nut Bread minus the banana, which works for me.

Taste-wise, the flavour combination is a success. It’s not trail mix-y at all, but you get the warm toastiness of the coconut and Brazil nuts, and a hint of natural sweetness from the golden raisins. The base ties everything together perfectly too.

Most definitely not a “I need five thousand pounds of this, stat” kind of tea, but it hits the spot if you’re looking for a nutty, not overwhelmingly sweet black tea.

Cold brew sip down. Not only does this smell like a Nutri Grain bar, but it now tastes like one using this method. It’s better this way than hot, in my opinion, but it’s still a little too sugary for my liking.

After all this time, I picked this up, as I’m on the search for that perfect EGC.

Previous reports of the bergamot being ultra potent led me to believe I wouldn’t care for this, but this is quite smooth in comparison to some others that I’ve tried. A gentle waft of cream is coming from the dry leaf, and thus far, I’d say the flavours are balanced.

The first steep is a little on the brisk side, but I’d say that this has a very desirable amount of bergamot in here. Not as creamy nor vanilla-y as I had hoped, but no bitterness, at least. The cream is present in every sip but it doesn’t hang around for as long as I would like.

The second steep still bursts with flavour, the liquor almost as amber-y as the first steep, and the creaminess is a little more pronounced now.

Not my favourite EGC, but if I’m ever EGC-less and need a fast fix, I’d most definitely skip down to the nearby DT and grab more of this.

Mmm, this is quite possibly my favourite cold brew. Like liquid green marshmallows but better. I should try to make actual jello with this. At a tea festival I recently attended, a chef showed us how to make green tea jello with plain gelatin and honey (and he threw raspberries in his too. Heaven). So much healthier for you than the prepackaged stuff.

First Verdant order. Awwwww.

My first experience with this was a little bumpy. The first steep was awesome. I really got the dark chocolate many are talking about. The aftertaste really tricks you and makes you think you just had a couple squares of dark chocolate. Sneaky! It is a little on the mineral side too, like hot rocks.

The second steep was super weird. I put the leaves in the fridge overnight, excited to take the second round to my three-hour morning class in my Timolino, hoping it would keep things interesting. I woke up with a so-called stomach flu, so not sure if it was the nausea and what not that turned me off, or the Timolino made this taste weird, but that mineral note was amped up to the roof. I only tasted a twangy, almost metallic note that made me hate life there for a second.

Now that I’m basically over the illness, I’m giving this a second chance. Again, the first steep was the same, super dark chocolate and malty.

The second steep now is much better. Yes, the mineral undertone is there but it is very subdued, but wheeee, the chocolate is still there, and the maltiness, and something else? Coffee! It’s coffee and cake in a cup.

I like. Would I repurchase? No, but while it hasn’t swept me off my feet, I will gladly finish off the rest.

Been getting over a so-called “stomach flu” over the past couple days, which meant no tea (nooooooo!), pain, no sleep, etc. But I figured that since it’s day 3, a herbal tisane with peppermint shouldn’t literally hurt.

At first I was a little skeptical of the combination. Peppermint and coconut? Eh. Sounds weird. But the dry leaf smells pleasantly creamy. 10g is it.

As I was waiting for the tisane to do its brewing thang, the wafting aroma instantly reminded me of the tin of Cargo & James Candy Cane tea a family friend gifted me many moons ago, I think in my last year of high school. That was my first loose leaf ever! So this brings back good memories.

The taste is a muted peppermint with a hint of apple. The creaminess hasn’t held up past the brewing stage, unfortunately. Was hoping for some coconut but you can’t have everything in life.

I prefer the second steep. Creamy peppermint sans apple. Still not my ideal creamy peppermint tea. I’d prefer a prominent vanilla note and no fruity undertones.

This SO smells like a Kellogg’s Nutri Grain bar, it’s not even funny.

Steeped, the strawberry is tarter, and unsurprisingly, the liquor is murky due to the brittle overkill. And brittle overkill, is right. Much too sweet for my tastes.

When this is hot, the strawberry is so tart that it mimics hibiscus. But once this cools off, the hibiscus wannabe dies off and you’re left with a clear strawberry again.

The base is very weak. Granted I steeped this for not quite four minutes. Perhaps this would make a better cold brew? I should save the rest to try that out sometime.

Instead of brittle, this should have a cakey note. I demand strawberry shortcake, not strawberry brittle!

Finally remembered to pick this one up. I’ve been craving the nutty teas as of late.

The dry leaf smells like a bakery. Actually, it reminds me of Red Leaf’s flavoured matcha, like the caramel-esque, chocolatey ones.

First steep is pleasantly coconutty with a hint of walnut. It’s even a little creamy. Great flavours to match up with a green. The base is a little vegetal but not overwhelmingly so.

Second steep was still creamy, slightly nutty, and the vegetal undertones aren’t there.

Third steep got kind of wonky. Slight bitterness paired with a bizarre chlorine/bleach nuance. Where did THAT come from?

Overall, still good stuff.

Mmm, rainbow sherbet. I have a few bags so I thought it was time to treat myself to one of them. I’ve yet to try it with milk to see what it would do to the flavour.

Butter chicken and chai. Because I can!

I just picked this up a couple hours ago so it’s fresh out of the canister. The chocolate aroma immediately made me think of Read My Lips, so I figured I’d love this. At first I was kind of regretting getting only 10g.

That regret quickly diminished once I steeped this chai. Again, it smells like a mintless Read My Lips, which is nice and all, but where’s the spice? Even the peppercorns? I got maybe one or two in my packet. How can you even classify this as a chai (in the Masala chai sense)?

I get no heat from this whatever. If it were actually, simply RMP minus the mint I wouldn’t mind as much, as I enjoy the chocolate flavour in that, but it has that underlying artificial sweetness that a lot of other DT teas have.

Without additives, it’s a thin, faint chocolate black with that signature (I might as well use that term at this point) artificial sweetness.

With milk and brown sugar, it’s better. The soy milk lends the chocolate a hand, and at least the brown sugar covers up some of that artificial sweetness from the tea itself. Go figure.

You know, this really isn’t THAT bad. I get mostly sweet spearmint with a squeeze of lemon. The lemongrass is sort of there, trying to make up its mind whether or not to stay, and as long as you steep this in the right parameters, the base behaves. Maybe it’s because my bags are a little older, but the base has been turning bitter for me very easily.

Would I buy it again? No, but finishing off my last few bags won’t be an issue either.

That moment when you realize that you have three other major papers/assignments due before the one that you’ve been working on over the past few days.

I figured it was a good time to bring this out. My brain feels numb due to the caffeine overload, methinks.

I still get a caramel-like tone from this, like a chocolate with a caramel creme centre.

For a TH tea, this is actually pretty good. Oh, and for a rooibos too. I think the licorice in this covers up the rooibos flavour.

It’s Roll Up the Rim so maybe I should go down there sometime and get a steeped tea double double. I can has free stuff?

Trying to use up my DT Red Velvet Cake. Waaaay too sweet on its own, so this morning, I thought I’d go with half Red Velvet Cake, half H&S Soho. Definitely improved the situation! Because Soho isn’t as sweet, it cut the overwhelming sweetness, plus added a hint of coconut. Coconut Red Velvet cake! I think I officially found a solution to my problem.

One of the most relieving sip downs in the history of ever. Glad to get rid of that powdered cheese aroma. I even asked my roommate what she smelled and she said it reminded her of buttered popcorn, and agreed with the powdered cheese. Weird, eh?

No notes yet.

Sipping on this golden tea while I wait for dry garlic ribs in the oven. First off, the leaves are beautiful. Like a light, caramel honey brown. The dry leaf smells lighter, yet roastier than the others I’ve tried. Like when brioche has that perfectly golden brown crust.

This is much thinner for an Assam. I’m used to that thick, full mouthfeel and deep malty richness. It’s even lighter in taste. Not as brisk as their organic Assam either. Slightly sweeter than the other Assams I have tried.

It’s quite enjoyable. A daintier, prettier Assam, but whenever I’m in the mood for Assam, I like that ultra maltiness.

Instead of reading an article and writing a paper on it, I’ve been gawking at tea sites, listening to music, and now, finishing off my last piece of Chocolate Bourbon Walnut pie. What am I doing with my life?!

This is quite mellow this time around, maybe because I gave it a really good rinsing.

Kind of happy about this sip down. Just wasn’t for me, I guess.

But that just means more for everyone who loves this one.

Time for another matcha review. Seeing that my Caramel matcha kicked the bucket, I thought it would be appropriate to start this one. As a side note, I’ve never actually tried English toffee before but the smell of this alone makes me want to go out and hunt down the real thing.

I ordered this in basic grade and “There’s Matcha in There?!” level of flavouring. I’ve been going all out on the flavour.

Dry, this reminds me of Caramel matcha but it’s much creamier. Maybe there is a hint of chocolate but I can’t pick up any nuts. But honestly, that doesn’t matter to me since overall, it smells quite tantalizing.

Prepared, this definitely tastes creamier too with a hint of chocolate mixed in. Not as gooey as the Caramel but in a way, it still faintly reminds me of it.

Like the other flavoured matchas, I prefer drinking this as a cold latte. This time around I whisked it with a little hot water, added about a cup of 1& milk, and was extra bad and added a splash of Pinnacle whipped cream vodka.

I can see this one being really good with steel-cut oats and a bit of brown sugar.

Sipping on a class/cup/mug of this is a million times better than downing a sugar-laden cup of English Toffee cappuccino at a café. A by far healthier option and tastes better too.

English Toffee matcha is available here with other tea bases and levels of flavouring:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/english-toffee-matcha.html