Indigobloom

I was out n about yesterday with no access to hot water, so ended up grabbing a cuppa this. Who knew the International Centre would sell non Higgins n Burke tea!
Not bad overall, but very strong. Pretty sure my bag had an extra kick in it because after a 1 min steep it was super pungent. I added a bit of coffee cream, hoping to tone it down a bit.
That seemed to work, but then I needed a packet of sugar to balance things out. I’m not a ginger/anise fan and the sugar made things a bit more candy like.
Overall, I wouldn’t go out and buy this but would order a cup to go if there were no other options.
Oh and they did have an EB but I have exceptionally terrible luck with bagged random EBs!! All the other options were green teas and I try to never get them to go from a fast food place, considering it’d likely be doused in boiling water. shrugs

So I badly need to replace my Brita, the three teas I made today were all compromised in flavour. Ack! but in this one, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Somehow, it brought out a leathery quality I’ve never seen in an Assam before. In fact, I was SO tempted to drink it without my standard of milk and a spot of sugar. I almost did it! (Baby steps right?)
But in the end, I decided that I was really craving a black tea with sugar and it was great that way to. Almost coffee like, with its dark heady flavour.
Looks like I’ll be drinking this until we get a new filter…

backlog from last week!
Wow, the cola flavour was almost entirely absent from the cup. I had to add milk and sugar just to make it interesting enough to drink. Sad.
Rating cut…

Pretty sure this is some kind of Forever Nuts hybrid. It smells very much like amaretto, sweeter even. But the taste is alot lighter than FN, and more tart.
Overall, I wish it was a little more intense and then it’d be perfect, but I tried adding more leaf/steeping longer and it just got tart instead.
This will go great iced in the summer. Looking forward to taking it out and about!

Ack! totally slipped my mind to log this the other day. And now I can’t recall the specifics, other than it was quite tasty and a little too sweet. BUT my cup was quite enjoyable without any additions and I even got a second steep out of it. Also, I’m not a huge red velvet fan as I prefer true chocolate cakes and it seems to be a vanilla/chocolate hybrid so I do enjoy it more than vanilla… however, this tea really managed to capture the “red velvet” experience for me, which I was not expecting at all. It’s not often a tea is so spot on to it’s moniker and those are the ones that tend to hook me for some reason unless I really dislike one or two ingredients(looking at choo carob, invading all the “chocolate” teas.
Ok so this review turned out to be much longer than I anticipated. Ah well, I’ll save my rating for the next cup just to be sure, as I’m wavering around the 82-87 mark.
Darn you Davids Tea!! coming out with another(rare) blend I really enjoy and am now tempted to stock in my cupboard even though I already have far too much…

Still loving this sans sugar or milk, which makes it a serious keeper. But, I gotta drink it down fast as it’s already lost a bit of flavour. Eeeep!

(backlog)
Eeeek, I really don’t know what I’ll do with my packet of this. The chocolate is not exactly my idea of authentic. Quite fake. I don’t think I’d even want it as a base in my food. Some sips are ok as a plain genmaicha, but then others? yikes. It reminds me of the sugar free chocolate my grandfather used to eat, since he was a diabetic. The one candy I would dread getting offered but always accepted out of guilt!
This is my third try and still, no go.

Sipdown!! only this time its SUPER sweet. Like honey. I’m quite enjoying the cup but having had it side by side with Graveyard mist has really put things into perspective. I need to go and bump the rating on ze mist, because this still deserves an 87 :)

Thank you Kittenna for this sample!
I agree, this is an odd blend indeed. I don’t think it’s spicy though. More floral than anything, and not in a pleasing way, sadly. It kinda stuck in the back of my throat. Then again there were alot of rose petals in my spoon so perhaps the rest will be all spicy.
For some reason it calmed me down quite a bit. Not that I was upset… just that all of a sudden I was feeling rather zen!
Either way, I will definitely be making like so many others here and adding it to some Pu!

I really hope there is a reblend of this one. If not, I might just ask for a pound of it to be made. Seriously, I could drink it by the gallon and I never say that about a particular tea.
I mean, most times, when I am getting down to the end of a packet, I’ve outgrown the tea or wouldn’t mind a break. This one? Give me MOAR now please!
Thankfully the gracious Tattooed_tea sent me a bunch so it won’t be an official sipdown when I am done with my packet. Still, it’s only a matter of time!

My original plan of adding this to smoothies seems to be failing. I can’t taste it, everything is so overpowering!
Granted, kale and parsley are relatively strong greens. Bah. I need to repurpose my wheatgrass matcha. Perhaps I’ll have to do it up as just a regular latte. Sad because I love my vegetables etc, but can only handle so much green stuff in one day, so that means my wheatgrass consumption will be cut in half!
On the bright side, I can now start using that awful white matcha tea I have leftover. Any bitterness will be hidden. yay!

SO MUCH GOING ON IN THIS TEA!!!
Err sorry for the caps. I’m just excited. Man I need to order more of this. So good!
Now, as for what I’m tasting… so far it’s leathery, and there is some tobacco, or what I assume is, seeing as I’ve never had any before.
Then… well, at first I thought there was chocolate, like that dark bitter chocolate sensation, the dry mouth kind, only with no real bitterness, just the feel of it. I can understand the comparison to coffee. Very similar in feel!
Anyhow. Then I thought I tasted rice, only I sipped again and it was gone.
Finally… yep, definitely breadiness in there. I haven’t yet decided on what kind of bread but it’s there!
Thank you so much to Stacy at Butiki Teas for the sample.

So this is what violets taste like. Huh.
I don’t think I like it. Well, I want to… like it. And I can almost get there, but nope, it isn’t happening.
Shame, I expected to enjoy this one! After sampling the candied violets at Sloane tea, which this tastes almost identical to, I was positive I’d fall in love! After all, it’s essentially the same flavour profile… sweet floral and what? somehow the liquid vs candied form makes that much of a difference? I am a texture oriented person, so I should have known really. No reason it should take me by surprise but it does nonetheless.
So… if you are a person who loves floral tea, this is the one for you! don’t let my review stop you. It isn’t bitter or astringent at all, and I think it will go nicely in baking!
As for soapiness, I would say that it tastes the way lavender soap smells. Not the way it tastes, at all! I’ve accidentally eaten soap suds before and they are vile terrible things. Likewise, I’ve had tea that tastes like soap suds, which this one does not. So when I say that this tea is slightly soapy, I mean that in the most pleasant way possible. If there is such a thing. (not that I enjoy it, but I can see how someone would. In fact this might be foisted on the Mumster)

Come on Cha, I know you can do better than this!
Maybe it’s just that I’m not a fan of the base, or something in the flavouring, but this just did not do as key lime pie.
Lime is dominant here, along with an odd background note that I think is supposed to be coconut. (only it reminds me more of dirty socks)
With a little milk, it was sour, not as in milk sour but more of a too much lime pucker sour. Oh well, I’m sure their other teas are fantastic!

I’ve really been in the mood for vegetal (non smoky or metallic) greens lately. Colour me suprised!
So when I ordered this at “coffee” with a friend the other day, I found this oddly satisfying. Perhaps it was a better quality batch than the last one I had, as I don’t recall it tasting so fresh or intense.
Either way, this may just turn into my go to caffeinated beverage there, atleast until they bring in some Teavana products.
What a relief, considering I’ve been avoiding their standard black awake tea! Now I haven’t indulged for quite some time now, but I remember disliking it, which is a serious annoyance for me given that black tea with milk is what I crave most… even after all these years of being on Steepster! I mean, I assumed I would outgrow that preference, and yeah I sometimes drift away… and then always end up right back at it again. I suppose that’s partly why I’m always surprised at how much I enjoy a solid green. Well, that, and growing up, all I ever knew of green tea was Jasmine and Sencha, which I can’t stand… so when I discovered the Chinese side… I did a little happy dance.
Long story short? My tastes are evolving, again! Go figure.

Caramel, oh yes there is caramel! and vanilla. Followed by rice.
Hot, I wasn’t really feeling it at all. The rice aspect was overpowering in an odd uncooked way. Now that it’s cooled a bit, the flavours mesh together much better. What I don’t like now though, is the astringency! Hmph. On the other hand, its very smooth, and creamy. Will see what infusion #2 brings.

Edit: 2nd steep reminds me of marshmallow genmaicha from 52teas. If this was the first steep, I’d have given it a much higher rating!! I don’t know if I’d want to buy some for myself… mostly because I’d prefer the Frank version any day :)

Ha!! So I have tried this before. Too funny. This was a to go cup in the store.
I quite enjoyed my it this time, was very lemony and smooth, in a good way. Not sure I’d want some for the house as I’d only ever want a cup every few months or so but it’d certainly be interesting to try iced, as was recommended to me in my last note, and by the girl at the cash.

I met up with Raritea today, and we attended the grand opening of Cha, they had treats and tea cocktails, and of course… free tea! It was alot of fun, I wish it was an annual event :)
So Cha is a monthly subscription where you take a quiz and based on the results you get a monthly tea set. Great for people who are just starting out and have no idea what they like. I’d recommend it. AND they are affiliated with a clean water charity.

Sipdown!!!
Somehow though, watching teas dwindle cup by cup is immensely frustrating. I’m the type that needs to finish things if they are on my plate, asap, for some reason. I’m ocd like that it seems(or rather, in my cupboard) and so when I do actually manage to finish a tea supply, it’s more of a “FINALLY!” than it is an achievement.
So while I really enjoyed this tea, I’m relieved to see it done.
In fact, I’ve been itching to purge my cupboard and just get back to a core tea supply that I can rely on. Is that strange? I really like my variety so it really makes no sense to me. I find it a little contradictory of how I am. Gah!
Anyhow, on my way out the door now, so I’ll finish that thought later

I taste coconut!! and pineapple. The white tea part hovers around the edges. Not bad. Reminds me of pina colada, and now that I’ve read the other reviews… sun tan lotion. ha!
This would likely do well iced, I imagine. Maybe I’ll save it for summer. With a splash of rum or vodka… oh my goodness yes that will be good. I just hope I remember!
Many thanks to Sil for the most generous sample!

No way!! my tea palate is not normally that attuned in black teas. But here, I could actually taste the fruitiness. Like… banana perhaps, or some sort of medley. What a trip. I’ve never had an Assam like this before.
Asides from that, it’s nice and strong with some awesome malty backing. It’s been awhile since I had an intensely malty tea, and this seriously hit the spot.
Really nice for a change, but not something I’d want permanently in my cupboard. Well maybe if it didn’t go stale!
Thank you Nina’s Paris Teas for this sample!

You make everything better. That is all.

I made a veggie smoothie! parsley, cucumber, frozen green beans, chlorella, oj, ice, and hemp seeds. Pretty darn tasty, I gotta say. Only issue is that now I am freezing and need a tea to warm up :)

So I’d never had buttered rum before. But last night… my neighbour made us buttered rum cake! and it was amaaaaaazing. Not at ALL like this tea. In fact, know that I know what it’s supposed to taste like, I need to lower the rating here.

Today I needed something special, and this was it. Went a little longer on the steep time and oh man it tastes just like maple pecan cookies. I’ll be mighty sad when my cup is done!