Kittenna

Drank a cup of this yesterday from a sachet my sister gave me. It was pretty good, but after having had Butiki’s Peppermint Patty a few days prior, I wonder whether I actually preferred the herbal version. I’ll have to give both another shot sometime in the future to see which I prefer. Since caffeine is unnecessary for me, a herbal would do just fine!

I got ahold of a bit of this from the Pearson Airport DT when I was through there a week or so ago – quite a popular blend! The baristas or whatever you call them thought I should pick up 100g… but I went with my usual 10 or so because I just have too much tea.

Personally? A good decision. While this tea is pretty fruity and flavourful, I wasn’t completely taken by it. I couldn’t really pick out mango or pomegranate, just the fruity sweetness from the chunks of candied pineapple. While not bad at all, it just didn’t strike me in a “I need this!” sort of way, which is completely fine! I re-steeped as well, and again it was flavourful and worthwhile, but nothing super special.

Thanks to Lynne-tea for a sample of this one! Your box of stuff totally got lost in my room, and I found it when I moved :) Happy day!

Anyhow, this one seemed promising, but ended up being fairly boring. Woody rooibos with creamy vanilla. I imagine that age and poor storage are to some extent to blame, but I also don’t think I’m a fan of rooibos that’s not heavily flavoured, and vanilla typically isn’t a strong enough flavour for me. It’s reasonable enough to finish, though!

I’m still not quite fully moved in to my new place, so I’m drinking whichever teas I can find… ok, that’s most of them. Haha. At least now I have a shelf to house my teas! Tea stash photo coming soon :P Anyways, I happened across the Lupicia box, which is the reason for these two teas. This one’s in a plastic baggie, so best to drink up if possible.

Anyhow, the aroma is actually rather peachy – I was surprised! I wasn’t expecting too much, to be honest. It also smells a bit floral, which is not surprising given the rose petals. Flavourwise it’s unmistakably a rooibos, though not too bad as they come. If I use a bit of imagination, I can imagine this to be a cup of hot peaches.

However, I think this will be destined for the swap pile. Someone who likes rooibos blends and/or floral blends would probably appreciate it more than me!

Yum, this is decent not in a travel mug as well, although I think it will be shoved into that box to be finished off, as there are others teas I’d prefer to drink hot. I think the tea pretty much fits the description – it’s a slightly fruity, caramelly black. Easy and enjoyable to drink straight, and at a 3 minute infusion, pretty much free from astringency. Definitely don’t regret having received this one in the 2012 Happy Bag!

ETA: Second infusion pretty tasty! Something about this tea really works for me. Bumping the rating a bit.

Ok…. either my sample is too old, or my mouth tastes too much like cardamom, but I cold-brewed a bunch of this last night and I can’t taste anything :( I really liked this one the last time I had it cold, so this sucks. I guess I’ll let my tastebuds sit a while and then see how it goes… (Note: sample has been in a plastic baggie for pretty much an entire year…)

Cold-brewed last night. Honestly? All I’m really tasting here is cardamom, and since I seem to adore cardamom, this is working quite well. I’m not sure that I ever honestly tasted much of anything else, but enjoyed the cardamom so much that I rated this quite highly! Either way, I’m tempted to simply steep some cardamom pods in the fridge and see how it turns out…

Tried a bit of this one last night. Honestly, I drank it pretty quickly so can’t really write the best review, but it was certainly both chocolatey and minty, and I did enjoy it. I can’t believe how many little chocolate chips are in there! Anyhow, I have enough left of my share for at least another few cups, I’m thinking, so will have to properly review it later when I’m less distracted (e.g. not playing guitar/watching Dr. Who).

So I guess when you deprive yourself of tea long enough, it tastes utterly amazing when you get back to it! First cup of milk oolong in a long while, and it was absolutely heavenly. This packet resides at the boyfriend’s house for the time being, which was a great thing to have remembered last night :D

Cold-brewed some of this up today as well; it was just fine to have in place of plain, ice-cold water, and I think that’s how I’ll finish this one, but it’s definitely not a favourite. I just don’t get the berry flavour I’m looking for here, and the white tea comes off a bit play-doughy or chemically.

Put some of this in the fridge to cold-brew earlier this evening (~4tsp in 2 cups water) and I’m rather enjoying it, although I preferred it ice cold as opposed to the closer-to-room-temp it is right now (my room is quite warm!)

I brewed up some of my Black Currant Bai Mu Dan the same way, and definitely prefer this one, although it could easily be in part due to freshness. I don’t get a ton of flavour with either, but there’s more white tea flavour in this blend, and therefore it’s a more enjoyable iced tea. I probably should avoid buying more white tea blends though… don’t appear to be a huge fan of them.

Tried a cup of this at the reception. Blech. I suppose it mostly tasted kind of apple cidery, but I was unimpressed and barely drank any (and then my cup disappeared, aka I went and sat somewhere else). It probably isn’t a terrible tea, really, but it wasn’t what I wanted right then! I’ll refrain from rating, as a result.

Thanks to Stacy at Butiki for a generous sample of this one, that came with my last order :)

This is possibly the best banana tea I think I’ve had. Ok, maybe second best, after Banana Oolong from DavidsTea. The banana flavour in here is so real and perfect (no banana runts here!) and I’m just getting a bit of nuttiness, which is hard to separate from the base, which is great and not astringent at all with the recommended brewing parameters. It reminds me in a way of Apres Ski (DavidsTea), except lacking in astringency in the base, and with more banana flavour and less dry, astringent walnut flavour. (Ok, so it’s not so much the same, but more along the lines of what I expected Apres Ski to taste like). Anyhow, again, this is another tea I probably wouldn’t order a bunch of for myself, but it’s a must-try for any banana lovers out there! (Unless you hate walnut. Or black tea. Although both are done marvellously here, so I’d recommend trying it anyhow.)

I feel like my tasting notes are a bit off tonight.. apologies, it’s the sleepiness and lack of focus :)

Well, this one smells heavenly dry. Brewed it, it tastes a fair bit to me like other caramelly blacks I’ve had previously, except for a big, gaping hole where the astringency usually kicks in. As in, I keep waiting for astringency, and there isn’t any at all. I can taste the characteristic raisiny PTA flavour in there as well… mmmmm. I will admit that I don’t think that this is quite as tasty as I was expecting, but perhaps I brewed it incorrectly or something. I’m quite exhausted (Mexico was far from a relaxing vacation, tbh!) and who knows if I did something wrong. I really just want to fall asleep right now, but I should really paint my nails first… :/

Anyhow! I have half an ounce of this (the rest is Sil’s :P), so I get at least a couple more shots to see how this fares. The aroma is so good, I feel like it has to be user error :P Rating withheld until that time!

Sipdown! Although this hardly counts as it’s a 1-cup sample not even in my cupboard. Also, I only drank 2 sips and gave the rest to my mom :P

I actually rather enjoyed the sips of this that I did have. It’s very floral, but given the name, that’s of course to be quite expected! I definitely caught a large dose of jasmine, along with other floral aromas/flavours, and a bit of green oolong as well (fairly light, though). My mom quite enjoyed it, as I had figured, since she enjoys floral teas, so it may make it into a future Butiki order :) Nothing I’d keep around, but for a floral tea it was pretty palatable IMO!

There were packets of this at the post-rehearsal supper tonight, so I figured I’d try this classic tea! I had no control over water temp (and didn’t worry about steeping time either), and ended up with a rather strong but pleasantly orangey/spicy cup. It reminded me of Christmas – perhaps cloves are part of the spicing? I ended up adding some coffee creamer (powdered stuff – ick!) to mute things a bit, which was pretty successful. I wanted sugar but there was none to be found. Anyhow, I can see why people would like this, as it’s kind of like a bit spicier earl grey. Steeped properly, I’d imagine it’s great without additions. I should have nabbed a second teabag…. sigh!

Having this is a tea latte from the Pearson Airport DT… omg. So delicious! A bit weaker than I would like, but the flavour is fabulous. It was recommended that I have it with soy milk (and I wanted it sweetened as well), and both were clearly great decisions. My only regret is that my Timolino is still icky from the white chocolate mocha I put in it on the way to Cancun (it needs a good scrub…)

Fabulous first cup of tea in nearly a week! Although perhaps I should have gone with a caffeinated one… it has been a loooooooong day…

Cold brew! Used less tea; I may have enjoyed it more? Hrrrrrrm. Anyways, so delicious. I’d bring this along but I feel like it would be even more likely to be confiscated (also, I suspect I don’t have a fridge in my room, even though I’m paying an exorbitant price for it).

Don’t have a clue whether this is a spring or autumn picking anymore…. but it’s tasty.

Anyways, farewell for a while, most likely… life is too busy for this stuff right now! This is all the tea I’ve had in the last two days (oh yeah, a Tropicalia cold brew as well, better log that). If I have internet in Mexico, I’ll snoop around a bit… On that note… anyone know if I should be able to get tea through customs? Teabags, if nothing else? I’m dreading the thought of no tea/cheap Orange Pekoe. Or whatever they give you on Mexican resorts.

Sipdown! Thanks to Sil for this one.

I’m pretty ambivalent about this tea. A 2.5 minute infusion was great for the base, which I’m quite enjoying, but there’s not enough mango flavour for me. On the other hand, what mango I am tasting is much more along the lines of how I’d like it to taste, as opposed to the floral messes some blenders seem to make mango into (there is a difference between yucky floral and fruity floral!! I know mangos are quite sweetly aromatic, but that does not mean that they are flowery!)

Anyhow, with more mango flavour, I think this one could be great. Might be one to try another sample of while visiting Sil for a tea date :D (Unless she sips down that one before I make it there! So much sipping down!)

Sipdown! On the other hand, I brewed this tea up strongly too, and there’s no medicinal flavour. I think it may have lost some flavour sitting around for a while, but I’m actually rather enjoying my cup of it. Sweet and creamy… I kind of wish I had some more to drink right now. I think part of the key here is not to underleaf.

Anyhow, thanks for letting me try this one, Indigobloom :D

Sipdown! Thanks Sil!

Blech. I brewed this one up pretty strong, and that was a mistake; although the strawberry flavour in here is fairly apparent (though rather fake, not that I care about that), I’m getting an overwhelming medicinal taste from the rooibos which is making me gag. Perhaps it would be ok if brewed for a shorter time or with a higher water:leaf ratio, but I can’t undo what I’ve done! (Well, I could add more water. We’ll see.)

Anyways, interesting to try a flavoured rooibos all the way from China! I wish it had been honeybush, sigh.

Sipdown! And dayyyum, this is AMAZING with some maple syrup! So amazing that I’ll probably pick some up in the fall. Wish I’d tried it like that sooner.

Almost gone :( I think there’s maybe a scant travel mug’s worth left of this one now. Luckily, I have a few others to replace it, so I won’t need to pick up any more for a while. This one’s tasty as always, although I think my tastebuds are craving something a bit fruitier right now… I wish I had time to go investigate and find exactly what they want, but I really don’t…