Incendiare

The scent of the dry leaf transports me back to my (unfortunately shortened) life in Sweden where cardamom is a favoured spice in desserts. Every once in a while I’d treat myself to a cardamom bun, as it’s a favourite spice of mine too.

The cardamom remains at the forefront once steeped too, both in taste and aroma. Steeped, it vaguely smells like a baked item with cardamom. Like, it’s almost bready, and definitely cardamom, but it doesn’t scream cardamom buns or kheer or whatever.

The cardamom remains the star of the show from the first sip to the last. As it cools, the vanilla makes this a little creamier and sweeter.

It leaves a predominately white tea aftertaste in the mouth, along with a whisper of almond, and speckles of cardamom.

It’s one of those teas that while you enjoy it, it’s not restock-worthy. The sample pouch is the perfect amount.

Raspberries are my favourite berry so I was automatically sold on this tea. My Grandma has always had her own raspberry patch, so back when I was living near home, summertime meant raspberry everything. Raspberry jam, raspberries and cream, and after all these years, I never got sick of them. So very appealing, this tea is.

The scent of the dry leaf is incredible. It smells like a bar of high quality dark chocolate with pieces of dried raspberries dispersed throughout. And I really mean dark chocolate here.

I find that as soon as I steep this, the raspberry goes away a bit, at least in aroma.

Milk makes a huge difference with this tea. With milk and a touch of vanilla agave nectar (that I’m trying for the first time), Raspberry Truffle turns into a smooth milk chocolate tea with hints of raspberry woven throughout the whole experience. What I really appreciate about this tea is that it’s real raspberry here, not that fake juice crystal raspberry that you sometimes run into now and then.

Without any additives, it’s like a whole different ballgame. The sharpness from the dark chocolate is so sharp that it sightly mimics coffee. I also don’t taste any raspberry, so ultimately, I think this is a tea that I’d personally prefer to drink with additives. If I went back in time and told myself that someday you will be drinking tea with additives, I’d fall over in disbelief.

Awesome job, Stacy! You’ve captured the sophistication of a fine raspberry truffle.

Swoooooooon. I’ve been dreaming about trying this ever since I knew of its existence. I had an über good feeling about it and I was right.

I’ve gone from having no genmaicha in the house to over a pound. Restocked on the Uji genmaicha and now this. PLUS I had a bento box for the first time in months and had some genmaicha at the restaurant. So genmaicha galore!

Anyway, the dry leaf smells a lot like tapioca pudding to me. Creamy vanilla tapioca all the way.

As soon as you start steeping it, the toasted rice comes out and it smells a lot closer to regular genmaicha, but actually, it’s starting to smell more like puffed wheat squares than rice krispie squares, which I prefer anyway!

The taste is fantabulous. Like a vanilla marshmallow that has melted into my favourite staple tea. I was a little worried that it might be too sweet but I don’t think so.

Another sip. Yeah, I’m actually getting some of that homemade tapioca pudding.

Thank you so much for reblending this, Frank! I would love to buy some more in the future. If this and Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish may not get reblended in the next while, I just may need to put in an order for a pound of both.

First of all, I’d like to thank Stacy for this marvelous tea. My very first order just reached my doorstop this afternoon, and perfect timing I must say, as I got completely drenched walking home without an umbrella, so bringing in the box and whipping up a a cup of this tea was muchly needed.

Also, I made pumpkin pecan pie for the first time ever last night, and this tea reminds me of the fresh, decadent pecans I generously added on top.

The second I opened the pouch, the wonderful aroma of candied pecans wafted throughout the air. The oolong is a perfect match with these two flavours because it’s buttery and not astringent at all. Perfect pairing with nutty flavours.

Steeped, I’m truly getting the comforting scent of both maple and pecan from the mug. It’s toasty, sweet, and smooth.

The flavour is exactly what I wanted this to be: comforting, distinct, but not heavy, addition of maple topped off with a cloud of toasty pecans. I’m drinking this plain, it’s so good.

This is what I’ve been looking for in a flavoured tea. Something with obvious additional flavours yet not too overwhelmingly sweet.

I’m sitting down to a breakfast consisting of this tea and, wait for it, pumpkin pancakes! Made from fresh pumpkin and loaded with spices. So tasty.

This is a bold cup. It’s quite brisk, but not too much. Perhaps I’m just ultra sensitive today, but having just drunk a cup of this has made me feel ultra wired. The maltiness is oh so inviting though.

Overall, this is a well-balanced Assam if you’re looking for one on the bolder side. Not too astringent at all and very smooth considering how assertive it is.

Noooo, I just spilled a cup’s worth from the pouch. This is the fourth time drinking this though so I already know that I’ll need to purchase more in the future, anyway.

Cranberry, you say. The dry leaf smells more like raspberry to my nose. Like a chocolate raspberry cordial.

Simply put, it tastes like it too. I haven’t tried it with additives yet but only because I’m enjoying it so much black. As this cools down, the almond comes out a little more. A perfect autumn cup on a cool, rainy day.

One thing I especially appreciate about H&S teas so far is that they’re not overly sweet. Many of my flavoured teas have simply been too sweet for me lately, and I’ve been craving unflavoured teas, especially my holy grail genmaicha, but I don’t have any in the house, nor have I found any in this city yet. Boston at least is more balanced in the world of sweetness.

Today has been such a rollercoaster. On the upside, my H&S order came in, so I have a ton of exploring to do! On the downside, I’m not having a very good time in one of my courses. Paradoxical expectational kind of stuff. Yay.

But this tea is a pleasant surprise. I’m on the same “Whaaaaat, decaf?!” boat as everyone else. The dry leaf smells incredibly sweet. A little on the artificial side, but it’s a similar vanilla I’ve smelled in other vanilla teas. Sugared vanilla.

Very strong sugary vanilla aroma too. It makes you get it straight, that hey, you’re about to drink some serious vanilla tea here.

The taste, like those cubes of vanilla caramel wrapped in plastic. SO that to the tenth power, yo. It’s nice but glad I only got a sample pouch. A bit too cloying for my tastes.

Tonight’s a Pink Floyd kind of night.

I keep putting off reviewing this. I’m so stuffed from a randomly put together Thanksgiving meal, but nonetheless, I need to report to the world about this tea!

I’ve had it twice already. The dry leaf smells a lot heavier on the cinnamon than I was expecting. It’s like dry ground cinnamon. The other notes are quite weak. I was hoping to get more coconut, especially since the shreds are so delicate.

Once steeped, it also smells like ground cinnamon. Kind of like Super Chocolate but with a different tea base. The taste is also like that. But! Luckily, the soy creamer brings out the vanilla and coconut in this. Makes it taste more like a baked treat.

I’m a little disappointed in it. Was expecting a better balance of flavours. It’s a cozy tea for sure, but out of the new ones this fall, I still prefer Toasted Marshmallow.

Seriously, how good is this rooibos? I still can’t believe I even like a red rooibos.

I’ve been going through a bunch of my teas and trying them with this soy creamer I bought the other week, and this one tastes so unbelievably amazing with it. Like a coconut spice cake. It makes me want to come up with a cake equivalent recipe, peppercorns and all.

Le sip down. It’s one of those that you quite enjoy but aren’t really going to miss it. I liked the green rooibos. They add a nice touch (and there should be more green rooibos teas out there). Although I’m a fan of cinnamon, and spices in general, the cinnamon here was a little too two-dimensional. If you like getting kicked in the face with cinnamon, this is your thing, but otherwise, it may be a little too boring. Still a good option if you want a flavoured green!

Hat trick sip down! But who am I kidding. I love this one so I know I’ll be getting more sometime soon anyway. So really, finishing this one up isn’t getting me ahead in any way and definitely won’t let me justify making more orders to other places!

I added some french vanilla soy creamer this time around and it tasted like creamy mint milk chocolate. It makes me want a bar of Cadbury mint chocolate.

A special one, it is.

Yet another sip down earlier today! I’m on fire. I’m really glad to get this out of the way. Sounds mean, but it was too sweet. I love banana chips but banana-flavoured tea kind of grosses me out. I know, I’m so whiny and picky.

Seeing that the fall air has set in, it’s a new month, and I’ve gone through pretty much all of the tea I told myself to get through before getting more, I think I will reward myself by making my first Butiki order. :D

Another sip down. I’m sure ripping through these! I let this last cup steep a little longer than the times before and the rose has come out a lot more. Now, it really does taste like Turkish Delight. I found that before, if you only let it steep for a couple minutes, it was heavy on the apple and very light on the rose. Tack on an extra minute or two and it’s the exact opposite.

This is a nice one, but I won’t be buying more.

An oh so drool-inducing sipdown. It’s a coconut caramel cloud. This is a sad moment here! I’d buy more but it’s quite expensive so maybe I’ll reward myself later, like when I finish the semester or something.

I’m also trying to shrink my stash a bit here. I have a DT bag filled with pouches that I told myself to finish before I make an order, most likely to Butiki teas (yay!). I started at a dozen and now I’m at half a dozen.

We shall meet again, Gold Rush.

So, one of the stores here still has this. Weird, eh? I snatched some up to see what all the commotion was about.

I can see why it was named Buttercream. The aroma of the dry leaf is reminiscent of buttercream: sweet, creamy, and smooth. But my nose can’t help but get past the mango in here. So to me it’s more like ultra creamy sticky mango.

The taste reminds me a little bit of Check Mate, probably due to the chamomile. This is a lot smoother though since I’m not detecting any astringency (which I sometimes get from Check Mate). The buttercream flavour is there but it’s really mild. Again, the mango is the main note here.

I don’t think it was supposed to be a literal translation of buttercream, but more the texture and overall sensation one experiences when enjoying a piece of cake slathered in buttercream icing.

I just finished a pitcher of this cold steeped. While the coconut in this works awesomely as an iced tea, I’m not sure if I like how the spices are translating. They seem misplaced and a little too pungent for an iced tea.

Definitely better hot but trying this method was still worth it.

Wow, this makes a wonderful iced tea, you know? I cold steeped this for nearly a day and I’m left with a tasty cherry apple treat. Heavy on the cherry, but that’s how I like it. The tea base is really mild. Mind you, there aren’t that many white tea leaves in the first place, and I can’t detect any hibiscus.

It’s like a much healthier and tastier Kool-Aid. Up that rating, yo.

Last SBT I have to try. As usual, I cold steeped this, and this tea is oh so thirst-quenching. Heavier on the tea base, but the base is exquisite. Ultra smooth, a lots of depth. The raspberry, on the other hand, is on the weaker side, but I’m actually happy because it is a little on the artificial. It lends a nice touch of sweetness to the tea, and while it’s not in-your-face raspberry, you get the picture when you drink it. It’s sweetened raspberries if you think about it.

It’s quite good. Not my favourite SBT, but better than, say, Neapolitan Ice Cream, in my opinion.

Since this tea wasn’t the best hot, I thought I’d try this cold brewed since I still have a bunch left. An Earl Grey Cream cold brew? Doesn’t sound like the greatest idea but I thought I’d try. This tastes just as weird as it does hot. That caramel flavour is even more burnt and a slight bitterness is creeping out too.

Sorry, lowering the rating.

Whew, another sip down. Glad this one is out of the way. I cold brewed it overnight. But I cheated and added a bit of Tea Desire Champagne Cassis since I didn’t have enough of this left to make a decent amount of iced tea. The Bamboozled is still in the forefront. The peach is a little more prominent now, but I’m still getting that semi-root cellar undertone, presumably from the bamboo. Sadly, the only saving grace here is the Champagne Cassis, which adds more flavour and depth to this. I can already tell that this even falls flat as a cold brew.

Trying to get through a bunch of teas to justify making orders from other places!

Sip-down central. The dry leaf smelled more caramel-y than before, I swear. But it wasn’t as toasted coconutty as before either. Hmm. It’s a good one but I may have to retract my statement about buying more in the future. Maaaaybe. It’s not a priority.

The graduate advisor emailed me a while ago, asking that I give her my CV in less than two days so she can send it off so I could be considered for some fellowship. Seeing that I haven’t had the particular outlay of CV the committee would like, and I just moved here so my stuff still isn’t organized, I started ripping through my suitcases to find transcripts and what not, and in the process, came across this teabag I got from a hotel. Sweet! Something to drink while I try to come up with a relatively decent CV.

I added milk to this, because actually, I had this while I was staying at the hotel, and I remember it tasted really burnt. It tastes a little better this time. The bergamot isn’t overwhelming but it’s distinctly bergamot. It’s not as burnt as before too. It’s not all that well-rounded though. A little astringent but it’s full-bodied. Eh, I’ve had better Earl Greys, but I’ve had worse too.

I’m trying this hot now. Still too Oikos lime yogurty for me. It just may not be my cup of tea.

If I would have wanted to drink my yogurt, I would have bought Yop!

Whoops! Looks like someone caved and got the special edition tin. I don’t even care for chocolate/Red Velvet cake, but there’s something about Red Velvet-flavoured or -scented stuff that draws me into its trap.

The dry leaf smells a lot like Birthday Cake, which right there is a mega win because I really like Birthday Cake, but wished the tea base was different. Voilà!

The liquor isn’t as red as I had expected, but at least there’s no trace of beets. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of beets, but the thought of a chocolate Borscht tea doesn’t seem right.

The flavour is very similar to Birthday Cake, except of course, we’re dealing with a black tea base instead, which is luckily not astringent at all, and that maple-y flavour that is palpable in Birthday Cake is toned down here. This smells and tastes a little more like cake. When adding milk, it even smells a bit like cake batter.

It’s quite sweet. Not as sweet as Ice Cream Cake (whew, good), but it’s sweeter than Birthday Cake. I would advise against adding additional sweeteners. I wish the black tea base came out a little more, and that it weren’t as sweet, but I’ll happily finish my tin.