Kittenna

Ok! Another sample from LiberTEAS! I’m doing this review “blind”, meaning that I have no idea what the flavouring is supposed to be here, if the tea is flavoured beyond the smattering of sprinkles that are obvious. I think it’s kind of fun to try and figure things out before looking at what it’s actually supposed to be.

The aroma of this tea reminds me a great deal of DavidsTea’s Birthday Cake, although that one is a rooibos and this is a black. It’s an almost sickly sweet sort of aroma (which I find appealing, haha), and I can just barely catch a hint of the black base. I don’t know whether it’s the sprinkles that give the tea the sweet aroma, or flavouring.

Even at only three minutes of steeping (ok, 3:07, but who’s counting!), I’m getting a bitter flavour at the end of the sip. I can taste some sweetness, but it’s quite mild, and a bit overshadowed by this strange bitterness. Blech. This tea definitely has nothing on DT’s cake teas. They’re not even in the same league. I might add some milk and sugar here just to make it palatable, but this definitely is one flavoured black I don’t feel the need to have again.

Ok, cheating now and reading some notes… of course I would read that LiberTEAS found it to be verging on bitter with a 2.5 minute infusion! Haha. Maybe next time I try it it will be better. I am definitely getting vanilla-y and possible maple-y notes; as I said, it is reminiscent of Birthday Cake, which has those same flavours, but the change in base tea alters the flavours a bit, which are then further overshadowed by bitterness. Ah well. Not bad, but not a tea I’d choose for myself :)

Inspired by TeaEqualsBliss, I decided it was time to randomly choose some more teas from my box from LiberTeas! So this is the first of three teas… which I’m drinking while sitting through a series of wicked thunderstorms. (While I was on the bus home, there was a simultaneous crack of thunder/flash of lightning so loud that I thought perhaps we had been hit. It wasn’t us, but must have been extremely close. Scary. As I write this, downpour #3 is occurring. #1 had pea-sized hail; hoping that was all we’ll see of that…)

The only dragonwell I really remember having is Verdant’s, and I’m sure I’ve been spoiled by it, so I have to say that by contrast, the leaves of this tea look a little dull and broken. Luckily, as soon as they were in the water, I was getting a delicious fresh green, rock sugary scent that did make me think of the teas from Verdant, so all hope is not lost!

The flavour appears to be much the same as well, although perhaps not quite as strong. I’m pleased about this similarity in flavour, because that means that I Like Dragonwell. And now I want to run upstairs and grab any dragonwell samples I can find and see if they taste similar! I did just get one from Teavivre….

Anyways, to specifically describe the flavour, it is a little bit vegetal, with some rock sugar sweetness poking through. The sort of vegetal here (and in Verdant’s dragonwells) is almost a sort of crisp-cooked veggie, where some of the raw flavour has been cooked away, but it’s still crunchy. Snow peas or asparagus come to mind here, but it’s probably more the former as there isn’t a sulfury flavour or aroma. There’s only the barest hint of astringency here, and I’m only noticing it as I’m finishing the cup, so perhaps it’s because some little leafy pieces snuck through my brewing basket(?)

Mmmm, either way this is a good cup. I prefer Verdant’s version probably because it’s a little greener and sweeter, but this one is likely a good bit cheaper. Doesn’t matter for a while anyhow, because I have quite a bit from various sources to drink up before I even contemplate another purchase!

ETA: Second infusion (I have no idea of the parameters, whoops) was only consumed once cold, so it’s unfair to judge it (it wasn’t great). The leaves seemed pretty aromaless and spent afterward, so that’s as far as I went. I suspect the second infusion, drank in a more timely manner, would have been just fine, so I’d take this tea to two again next time.

So the last 1.5 tsp of this one from Azzrian got the cold-brewing treatment today, since I happened to encounter it while poking around for teas to brew up and wasn’t the biggest fan of it hot. This one got the same treatment as Strawberry Pancake; 30 seconds in 82C water followed by dilution with cold water and being stuck in the fridge for about 7 hours. Half the water, though.

This one’s actually better than I expected! A nice refreshing, fruity green. I’m primarily picking up on mango flavours and maybe a bit of citrus (apparently neither flavour is in this blend… I could be convinced that I’m tasting peach, but have difficulty believing there’s watermelon or kiwi here). One plus is that the flavouring doesn’t taste so artificial as it does in some blends. Similar to Strawberry Pancake, there’s a bit of astringency here, but it’s not quite as bothersome. I wonder if the fact that it got 30s at 180F instead of the recommended 167F influenced that. The green tea here is coming off slightly seaweedy as well, but it’s pretty mild.

Anyhow, not too sad to see this one go, and I think cold-brewing it made it a bit tastier than I remember it being hot.

So today was another disgustingly hot day (although not as hot in Guelph as Toronto, lucky me!), and the brief time I spent outside spurred me to attempt seven…. yes, seven cold-brewing experiments today! Clearly I’m not going to drink them all now (especially since most are in two-cup volumes), but I’m thirsty and felt like getting started.

First up is this one (all but one are 52teas… I was just in that kinda mood, and if I drink them down, I can buy more!! Right?)

Hot-brewed 1 slightly heaped tbsp of this in about 1/2 cup of ~82C water for 30 seconds, then topped up two cups with cold water and stuck it in the fridge for about 7(?) hours. I’m getting the lovely aroma even from the cold brew, so am pretty excited!

Ok, the flavour is not bad, but I don’t think my brewing method was great. I’m picking up on more astringency/bitterness than I’d really like (it’s not horrible, just tastes oversteeped), alongside the delicious strawberry flavour (which is more in the aftertaste, and definitely screams ‘added flavouring’ to me, not that I really care). The green tea is kind of masked by the astringency, but is somewhat seaweedy and nutty. Overall, it’s quite drinkable, but not a “success” in my books. No worries though, because this is one I enjoy hot anyhow! I just opted to cold-brew every 52teas packet I’d purchased that I thought appropriate (e.g. not Malted ChocoMate or Mayan Chocolate Chai), and so this one got it’s turn too. I’ll probably try this one again either with a straight cold brew or by cooling off a hot-brewed cup.

Couldn’t play the guessing game for this one since the name kind of gives it away…. I think this is the last of my six Harney & Sons samples from Alphakitty – thanks!

Anyways, I brewed this one up prior to realize quite how much my cold was affecting me. I could smell a delicious chocolatey flavour in the brewed tea though, so hopefully I can at least taste a bit of it so it’s not a waste!

A further sniffing of my cup is giving me a strong association to Bounty bars! Yum! And by some sort of miracle, I can actually taste this flavour, too! This is fabulous! Seriously…. this is probably the first chocolate coconut tea I’ve had, and this is way better than I could have imagined! It’s like drinking a Bounty bar without the huge overdose of sugar! And I’m so thrilled that for whatever reason, I can actually taste it!!

Off-topic – I just received my second sample pack from Teavivre!!! It is absolutely jammed full! Crossing my fingers to get better soon more than ever (although I might cave and try something anyhow).

Back to the tea… with a four minute infusion, the black base here is not producing any astringency or bitterness, so I’d be tempted to increase the infusion time a touch to see if I can intensify the flavours at all, although this is pretty darn good as is. I’ll have to try a second infusion with the leaves – based on the success I had with the other three H&S flavoured blacks I’ve tried, I’m expecting at least one good additional infusion.

Soooo based on the success I’ve been having with H&S blends, I think my next swap(s) are going to be aimed at trying more of them! Out of the six I’ve tried, all were good, and I would probably purchase four of them… and that’s saying something! Thanks so much for passing along so many, Alphakitty! Next up are the rest of the samples you and everyone else has sent (and the new ones from Teavivre! Woooo!!)

I’ve had this sitting around for ages, so figured the “morning” would be a good time to try it. Still sick though, so this is probably not the best time to be drinking new teas…. oh well. Although my friend/office-mate raves about this tea and tells me that she absolutely loves to mix it with otherwise non-caffeinated herbals, I’ve been wary to try it as citrus flavoured blends and unroasted mates have not been appealing to me lately.

Anyhow! I got a nice refreshing lemony citrus aroma when removing the infuser basket from my mug, which smelled better than I was expecting.

Unfortunately, this cold is obviously influencing my ability to taste things right now. I can kind of taste the lemony flavour if I try, and I can tell that the mate has a flavour, but I can’t quite taste it, although I can perceive that the tea is pretty strong. This clearly isn’t a case of poor flavouring, but a case of stuffy nose. Sigh.

Oh well, a dud of a tasting note. I think I can see how this would work well with herbals though. Interested to try it when I can actually taste properly again!

Read too many notes about chocolatey black teas tonight, so indulged with my second last cup of this. I’m hoping I can hold off on another Verdant order until I’ve finished a few more things…

Anyways, I used the same parameters as last time and it’s a delicious cup. A bit on the weak side because I think I used a bit too much water (or possibly a side effect of my current cold-like illness), but it’s still pretty tasty. Same deal with the second infusion, for 3 min. It looks like I may yet be a black tea convert!

Another winner in the cold-brewing experiments! As with Tokyo, I somewhat followed ScottTeaMan ’s suggestions and brewed 1 heaping tbsp in hot water for 30 seconds (I used 175F water) then poured that into a larger cup filled with cold/cool water, and it ended up brewing in the fridge for probably 36 or so hours.

The result was a creamy, lemongrassy brew with much less green tea flavour than Tokyo. Initially, I definitely preferred it as there was much more flavour, and the creaminess was quite delicious, however something I found interesting was that as the two teas warmed up, Tokyo became more delicious, and Bangkok started tasting a little funky. I’m not sure what it was. Not an off-flavour, more like a warmed-up-tea strangeness. So this is definitely one to finish off while it’s still cold, as I did really enjoy it that way, and Tokyo can be allowed to sit a bit longer if need be.

(It’s funny, I only even managed to discover this because I forced myself not to drink all the tea on the way to my destination and to save some for the way back… it was so good I wanted to drink it all right away!)

So this is another tea to add to the future purchase pile, and another ratings increase here as well.

I almost forgot to log this today!! Whoops.

So I have to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has been talking about icing/cold-steeping Tokyo and Bangkok, because I tried both today and they were absolutely wonderful, probably the best cold-steeped teas I’ve had yet!

I somewhat followed ScottTeaMan ’s suggestions and brewed 1 heaping tbsp in hot water for 30 seconds (I used 175F water) then poured that into a larger cup filled with cold/cool water, and it ended up brewing in the fridge for probably 36 or so hours.

The resulting brew was so delicious. Initially, the primary flavour I was getting was a seaweedy green tea, which I liked well enough, especially as it was followed by a lovely caramelly aftertaste. As the tea started to warm up a bit (I brought it on my 3 hour drive to get the Absolute Last Batch of Asparagus today), the sesame appeared and the caramel flavour intensified a bit. Truly, it was lovely, and there were no off-flavours.

I may need to acquire some more of this in the near future. I definitely need to raise the rating; this was so much better cold-brewed than it was hot, although it wasn’t bad hot either. Yay for a cold-brewing success!

The smell reminds me of pu’erh, not that I’m terribly experienced with them however! I think it’s mostly an earthiness that I’m getting, along with a bit of fruitiness.

The flavour unfortunately just isn’t doing it for me. All I’m getting is an earthy sort of taste with a touch of sweetness and maybe a suggestion of fruit, which I’m not finding terribly appealing. Ok… a few more sips in and the sweet fruity flavour has intensified a bit and I’m finding it more pleasant, and less earthy. I should temper all this with the fact that I do have a cold and although I can still taste things, it’s entirely possibly that things are a little wonky.

Anyways, I think I have one more guayasa in my stash to try (also from Butiki), but it may just be that guayasa is not for me. Perhaps a bit mixed into a different herbal tea would work better for me if this actually gives me a caffeine kick (kiiind of hoping not, since it’s 10:30pm), but I’ll try that later. I think I might prefer the flavouring in this one to the only other guayasa I’ve tried, DavidsTea’s Jungle Ju Ju, but neither is something I’m likely ever to crave.

ETA: I removed my rating from this, because it’s probably not fair to judge this tea since I appear to not be fond of guayasa itself. Personally, I’d give it a rating of 63, but for people who do enjoy guayasa I imagine that this is a fabulously flavoured version of it more deserving of a rating in the 80s.

Not sure what sort of tea mood I was in tonight, because this one didn’t quite fit either. Also learned that 3 minutes makes for too strong of a bergamot flavour; I preferred it to be lighter and more subtle, allowing the white tea to shine a bit more.

Had some of this tonight but it didn’t quite hit the spot. I think it as a bit oversteeped, so we’ll see what the re-steeps are like tomorrow.

Bugger, Steepster just ate my note about this tea. Basically, same method as Coconut Cream Pie, it smells lovely like sweet buttery rum (although it’s muted since it’s cold), but unfortunately has a plasticky taste, which is not likely due to being steeped in a plastic cup as it’s the first time I’ve tasted it. Basically, I concluded that icing teas may not be for me, although I do tend to like teas warm or at room temperature. I’m so annoyed right now; all day I’ve been typing up notes in Word, and I decide not to, and get the darn kettle when I try to post my note. Argh.

Oh yes, and I added a bit of agave which improved the flavour, but that plasticky taste is still there and it bothers me.

Experimenting with some things today… semi-cold-brewed this one, and by that I mean used about 1tbsp and a bit of leaf, poured 190F water over it and let it sit for 30s, then poured that whole concoction into a larger glass filled with cool/cold water, then put it in the fridge for probably about 8-9 hours. Time to see how it turned out…!

A pretty light-coloured liquid (especially compared to Buttered Rum from DavidsTea, which I treated the same way). Hmm… there’s a bit of a weird taste initially, but after it warms up in my mouth, it’s more sweet and creamy. I think the black tea is having a tough time coming out here; this might be a better candidate for a chilled hot brew rather than a cold brew. I swear I’m tasting banana; it’s a flavour I associate with 52teas blends for whatever reason (I really have no idea.) It’s also what I’m calling that “weird” flavour.

Oh well! Fun experiment regardless. No ratings change.

So Alphakitty sent me a bunch of H&S teas during our recent swap, which was awesome since I’m seeing everyone on here raving about them, and I had yet to try any! Also, I’m so taken by the city names… as if I needed convincing to want to try the whole line of such-named teas! Today I have brewed up Tokyo, Bangkok, Florence, Paris, and Boston. I have a SoHo blend too… uhhhh…. yeah, that’s it. Should have brewed that one up too!

I decided to make a game of this and guess the tea flavouring by scent/taste. I’m not actually terribly familiar with what each of these blends is, so this should be fun!!

Florence definitely smells quite like a fruity dark chocolate. The type of fruitiness in particular escapes me, although I could be led to believe it’s cherry, as the aroma reminds me a bit of chocolate covered cherries. I’m fairly certain it is not cherry, though.

The first sip tastes much like the aroma. I’m surprised to find that it’s a bit weak given my 4 minutes of steeping, 1.5tsp tea and 8oz. water, but perhaps it needed that additional minute that was written on the bag. It is definitely chocolatey though, with just a hint of fruity. I can’t taste the black tea base as much as I would like, and there’s definitely no astringency or bitterness, so an additional minute likely only would have helped. Still good though. Not a tea I’d purchase as it’s a familiar flavour, so I think it’s much like one of the teas from DavidsTea (Love Tea #7??), which is much more easily obtainable if I’m in the mood.

And the verdict? I think I came the closest on this one, yay! Definite chocolate, and I can see the cherry/hazelnut confusion (even if the rest of you can’t! Hmph!) One more sip and I’m more inclined to believe that there’s hazelnut in the blend than before, but I swear it’s still a bit like cherries, too :D

Thanks Alphakitty!

Round two of guess the flavouring, courtesy of Alphakitty!

By scent, I’d guess this is a strawberry-flavoured black. However….. the first sip makes me question whether it’s strawberry or perhaps raspberry?? Yum! I like this one! I’m going to go with raspberry, I think. This cup, unlike Florence, does have some astringency, but it’s quite manageable. I think 5 minutes would have been overdoing it here, so glad I stuck with 4. I want to say that there’s a touch of chocolate in here too, but I could be wrong. It’s certainly not as prominent as in Florence, if it’s there. I quite like the flavouring here. Again, I’m not always huge on the flavoured blacks, so I probably wouldn’t pick it up myself, but it was lovely to try! I bet it’s amazing with milk and sugar, but I just had three bowls of hand-picked strawberries covered in Greek yogurt and brown sugar, so I really don’t think I deserve any additional calories right now. I have enough for a second round though, so perhaps then!

Ok…. so I was way off. I do remember thinking that one of the teas smelled like an earl grey when I was steeping them, but forgot entirely by this time. It still reads as a fruity black to me, and less like an earl grey, but that’s ok! Hee… if I’m this terrible at flavours all the time, I wonder what they must think of me on the cheese panel….

Last of the three tonight from Alphakitty! (Ok, I lie, I brought down a couple others, but in this series it’s the last of the three :D)

Ok… now this one smells like chocolate raspberry too! My nose is so confused! Doesn’t help that I seem to have developed a bad case of the hiccups in the last few minutes. Bugger. Does not make it easy to concentrate on flavours.

Well, whatever this one is, it’s definitely my favourite! It’s smooth and without astringency, with a tasty fruity flavour. I want to again say there’s chocolate, but it could easily just be the black tea. Ok…. time to look!

Huh, cranberry and almond. I wouldn’t have guessed it, but the cranberry definitely fits – I was getting a tart sort of fruit, which is why I went with raspberry. Not really getting the almond, but that could be coming out as a nice creaminess. Given that there isn’t chocolate in this blend, I have to say that there’s a great base tea here! And this is definitely my favourite of the three, probably the one I’d most likely seek out again as the flavour is distinct and blends wonderfully with the tea. Thanks again Alphakitty!

I feel like I may have steeped this one too long, and am dreading the hibiscus…

Anyhow, the tea smells pretty floral, cinnamony, and strong. Reminds me quite a lot of potpourri, really. And for whatever reason, that smell is not appetizing me right now. Really not a floral tea fan, and mixed with hibiscus?! Yikes. Alphakitty, I hope I sent some of this to you (too lazy to check).

Oh man. Uhhh… yuck. The hibiscus isn’t bad (actually it’s not really an issue at all), but SO MUCH rose and the cinnamon flavour are just screaming BATH PRODUCT to me, not tea. Which gives me a soap association (not a soapy flavour though). I’m going to go water it down some though, because I think I was a little heavy on the tea compared to the water, and I’ve had that issue with floral teas before (by floral I mean rose. I really like the orchid floralness of oolongs, entirely different beast altogether. A gentle, happy beast, not like this one.)

Ok. Watered down it isn’t making me gag nearly so much. But again, it’s too much like a bath product for me. This one’s going down the drain; I would MUCH rather get started on the Harney & Sons flavoured blacks from Alphakitty awaiting me on the counter……

Lynne-tea, Mercuryhime, CHAroma, any of you guys interested in about a cups’ worth of this one? Zero chance I’ll be drinking it again. (Or anyone else for that matter…)

ETA: I just want to mention that I don’t think oversteeping is my problem with this one, it’s just not a combination of flavours that I find appealing.

And now for the very brief attempt at drinking down all my samples (hahaha), it’s time for one of the last teas I haven’t tried out of my first box from Azzrian! Yep, I know what was sent when, it’s all on my spreadsheet :D Although straight teas were clearly calling to me tonight, I was in the mood for a sweet rooibos, and luckily remembered that I hadn’t tried this one yet! Here’s hoping it’s tasty.

I can’t recall exactly what the dry rooibos smelled like, but steeped, there’s a distinct but not unpleasant rooibos smell along with a familiar, tantalizing sweetness.

Definitely interesting! I’m getting a sweet and creamy perhaps white chocolatey flavour with a definite mintiness – there’s a cool sensation lingering in my mouth post-swallow. Not what I expected, but it’s tasty! No medicinal flavour, although my throat is feeling a bit scratchy after a few sips (but I am in cold limbo, as in the place where I’ve had the aches and sore throat and perma-headache, but haven’t yet quite left those behind and fully progressed to the all-day sneezing and constantly runny nose). So basically what I"m saying is that my throat was already sore, so it’s hard to blame the rooibos for anything.

Anyhow, this is a pretty nice dessert rooibos; I’m impressed! I feel like minty is not a flavour I was supposed to be getting, but it’s unmistakeable. It’s also not really a peppermint tea sort of flavour, just a mintiness like most chewing gums have, so it’s not bothersome to me. Thanks for the sample, Azzrian!

Was absolutely craving a sweet vegetal green tonight on top of my delicious milk oolong, so chose this one (at least I think I chose this one. It was a Verdant dragonwell, anyhow). Infusions at ~175F for 1:00, 1:15, 1:45. All smooth, vegetal, and amazing. I definitely prefer the infusions in order, i.e. the first is best, probably because the rock sugar note is most prominent in earlier infusions. But, they are all delicious. :D

Whew, finally enough time to brew up some tea. I should be sleeping, but I wanted tea, since I don’t think I’ve had anything but three iced ones in about a week. Not good news for my stash (although it also didn’t grow this week, so that’s good too, right? Even though DavidsTea dropped another 5 or so teas, which I will probably acquire next week?)

Anyways. As usual, this one’s exactly what I wanted. Such a delicious tea.

Still impressed with the real ginger zing. Very refreshing and tasty; I’ll be sad when this tea’s gone forever.

Delicious and refreshing cold brew.

Cold/warm brewed this (as in, put in cold water from the Brita pitcher but left the cup on the counter for about 24h because my fridge is stuffed full of research asparagus) and it’s pretty tasty. Am feeling somewhat dehydrated after trying to sleep off my cold for fourteen hours, and it’s hitting the spot. I miraculously can still taste things right now (I usually lose my sense of smell completely for a while while sick), and I feel like my cold/warm brew method may have worked better than standard cold-brewing; I just feel like the tea’s a bit more flavourful than I expected. But maybe I used more tea than I realized (I think it was about a tbsp for 2 cups, which is about what one would use for hot brewing). I feel like I’m rambling…

Anyhow, going to pop this into a waterbottle now and drive off to pick up the Last Batch of Asparagus (finally…….)