Incendiare

Tea Sparrow was sampling this out at the Victoria Tea Festival. I was a little skeptical at first since pu-erh and I don’t exactly get along, but I was ultimately sold on the cardamom.

Wow, cardamom pairs really well with the earthy pu-erh. By the way, when I say cardamom, I mean, crazy cardamom on steroids. I barely tasted the tea base. I actually felt very cleansed drinking this tea. But at the same time, it made me just think, gee, I could just steep a bunch of green cardamom pods with a regular tea at home and get similar results.

I’m such a tool. When I bought my Timolino the other day, the sales associate said I could choose any tea to try in it for free. I completely forgot I tried this a couple months ago, and requested this. Figured hey, might as well go for an oolong!

As some may know, the Timolino can keep water intensely hot, and especially since the freshly boiled water was poured directly into it, and the leaves were left in there, it wound up being a complete mess. So scorched and bitter.

I was so excited that Amoda was going to offer this at the Victoria Tea Festival. Actually, I think it might have been the first thing I tried.

If you’re looking for a delicate, cozy, creamy pistachio tea, look no further.

I’m happy to say that many around me were commenting on this one. “Wow, pistachio ice cream!” Actually, Amoda had the most interesting selection there.

Tried this one at the Victoria Tea Festival too. The packages of this were flying off the shelf. There were two left, and once the exhibitor announced that, people snatched them up. Must be some psychological trick. Granted, it does smell great dry. Very tart. While I could smell the pineapple, the cherimoya was most likely the amped up note. I never smelled cherimoya before, but it’s supposed to be like a mixture of tropical fruit.

But all of that exciting pineapple, cherry, pear, papaya, etc nuances vanish when you take a sip. Bolder than expected, and barely any fruit flavour. Oh well.

Sampled this at the Victoria Tea Festival. One of the exhibitors was saying that this is their best-selling tea. While I can see that, since most of the others smelled very underwhelming, the taste was a little too artificial to me. Yes, it was in-your-face pear. You couldn’t have mistaken it at all. Seeing that this is a Finnish tea, it makes sense why this may be one of their strongest since pear is a ridiculously popular flavour in Scandinavia.

I almost bought some just because I wanted a sencha. But ultimately passed. I had to ask myself, “Wait a minute, do you even like pear tea?” Not really.

No notes yet.

I tried this at the Victoria Tea Festival. Better than I expected since the hibiscus worried me. But it’s like drinking a fruit basket! One second I tasted berry, the next the bright citrus was there.

Stopped by at DT for the first time in ever and picked up some more of this lovely stuff. I’ve been aching for that velvety mint chocolate!

Late night sip down. I try not to add stuff to my tea, but I enjoyed this with milk and brown sugar.

This term is full of so much fun. Two papers down, nine to go!

Tasty alert! Also, extinction alert! I’m down to one more teaspoon after this cup. Oh, the horror.

If Frank reblended this and Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha, I’d be one incredibly happy woman.

Mad sip down as an effort to get caffeine in my body in order to face the hours of article-reading and paper-writing going on tonight. This is a comforting one. Wasn’t it discontinued? Either way, I am happy to have had it in my cupboard.

My huge canister was glaring at me when I opened my cupboard earlier, so it’s time I drink it again. I swear it’s getting more sickly sweet the more I drink it. I want to start blending it with a regular black tea to cut down on it. Yikes.

Lowering the rating. It smells alright but the taste makes me feel like I’m poisoning myself with artificial sweetener.

Followup from the original mishap regarding this tea. Robert was so incredibly generous and resent me two packets of this so I could see if I still get the heavy chemical scent and taste from it, both in the regular and royal base. Both are also the same level of flavouring that I had originally ordered.

The good news is it isn’t as heavy on the chemicals as the original one I received, like maybe 20% less chemical, so maybe it’s just me. But since they’re better, I’m definitely going to be drinking them up!

By the way, this is my first time trying the royal grade and I can’t get over the difference! It’s so much silkier and the colour is even more vibrant. I think paying the extra $4 would be worth it.

While I really appreciate Red Leaf’s effort of trying to create a Macadamia blend, this is just not for me (not re-purchasable in my opinion). But hey, it’s no loss. The library of flavours is insane. Just keep exploring and one will find more gems out there (such as French Vanilla and Caramel).

Sorry in advance for the negative review. I know it won’t be popular and I don’t even know what to make of this. I ordered this the other month as basic grade and robust flavour. As soon as I opened the packet, it smelled extremely strongly of bitter chemicals. Nothing even remotely close to macadamia nuts, or food for that matter. So I thought maybe it needed to just settle for a bit.

I’ve had it on and off and have practically forced myself to drink it. No matter how I prepare it, it tastes like a combination of indescribable chemicals, and the very little food-like taste I get is like rotten nuts. I’m not sure if it’s just me, the flavouring is better as distinctive, or I got a bad batch?

Either way, I think I’m about 1/3 through my small packet of it. Oh well.

When my mom came here for the holidays, she brought a whole load of tea, some that was mine, some hers that she can no longer drink for health reasons (sounds ironic), so here I am drinking the last of this three-year-old tea.

Not a rooibos fan so of course this smells and tastes too much like wood. The aroma is very mildly berryish but not in an obvious way. As for the flavour, I can detect a hint of strawberry but it’s a little artificial.

Glad this is out of the way.

Sip down! Was an easy one to finish off since I had that ornament from this year. Speaking of which, what to do with the empty ornament besides stashing more tea in there?

This is good but I prefer Read My Lips.

Ugh, this is a sad sip down. One of my favourite 52teas blends. No surprise since I’m a genmaicha whore. This is great if you want genmaicha with a hint of fluffy sweetness.

Yet another reblend someday, pretty please?

Wow, I still haven’t reviewed this, and I’m just finishing it off. I think because I wasn’t sure what to think of it. I ordered it in basic grade and robust. It’s on the generically sweet side. Slightly creamy, like how a white hot chocolate is, but not an actual obvious white chocolate, if that makes sense.

Taste-wise, again, generically creamy and sweet. It basically helps cut the vegetal quality of the matcha itself. I prefer blending this with soy milk and strawberries, as it makes a lovely strawberries and cream refreshment.

I also just used the last of it to make white chocolate matcha shortbread. They were fantastically flavourful fresh out of the oven. The matcha made the shortbread even richer, and the matcha powder itself gave the confection a bit of a kick, but I’m finding as the days go by, the matcha is a little more bitter in the cookies now. Either that or the white chocolate flavouring isn’t doing much.

It’s good but if I wanted a more universal, flavoured matcha that I could use in different types of drinks and baking, I’d much rather go with the French Vanilla.

It’s still worth checking out if you’re a huge fan of white chocolate-flavoured drinks. This may be your new best friend:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/white-chocolate-matcha.html

Quit my job and it feels grrrrreat! Need to prioritize and focus on school, plus my mom isn’t well and it would be nice to spend time with her over the holidays as opposed to working. Speaking of which, happy holidays!

I’ve had this maybe eight times by now and never knew what to really say about it. The taste reminds me more of apple cider vinegar than actual apple cider. Very tangy and kind of surprises you with every little sip. The cinnamon is more pronounced in here too.

The guayusa itself works, let me tell you. I drank two strong cups of this near supper time and probably didn’t fall asleep until 4am that night.

Another sip down for 52 teas. Second pouch too! I usually enjoy this cold steeped but finished it off hot. This made some of the best iced tea ever.

Wow, sip down. Cold-steeped as usual. I’ll kind of miss this one. It was a nice iced tea to fall back on when I wasn’t craving anything in particular.

Time to finally use try my sample of this. Dry, this is heavy on the cinnamon, like whiffing a bag of cinnamon bark. I also detect the clove and a bit of the ginger but no cardamom?

By the way, I am SUPER picky about chai. There’s a chai bar back at home that makes the best chai ever. They make their blends with 30+ spices imported from India so it’s mighty hard to beat.

This is one of the better chais that I have tasted considering. The cinnamon is the prominent note, followed by a hint of ginger. The cloves are faint, and the cardamom is practically non-existant. No pepper.

With vanilla soy and brown sugar it’s smooth. I would definitely consider buying this whenever I’m craving chai at home, especially since I can’t go to my beloved chai bar.

Time to tackle this sample. The dry leaf kind of reminds me of 52 teas Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha! Probably get the similar roasted nuances from the sesame seeds, and the caramel is stepping in as the gooey factor. But it’s not nearly as sweet as 52 teas.

Steeped, the sweetness mellows out even more. When it comes to the flavour, there is a slight vegetal note in there but it’s not overbearing. The caramel is very subtle but just enough for me. And it doesn’t taste as roasted as I had hoped. But it’s still pretty good!

Was kind of hoping for this to taste more like sesame snaps but it’s a very subtle, beautiful version of it. Wouldn’t purchase a tin but wouldn’t mind having it again either.

Officially finished with the semester! I finished my sample pouch over two sittings and honestly, I think I’m missing out on something. The dry leaf smelled very bland. Faint bergamot with a smattering of black currant.

Steeped, I could only taste the base, followed by, again, faint citrus and black currant flavours. No vanilla, no caramel. And I’m not sick or anything so it’s not like my taste buds are failing at life right now.

The sample was a good way to go. Glad I’m not stuck with a tin or anything. These guys offer much better ones, in my humble opinion.