aisling of tea

Guh. I love raspberry, I love grape and I love this tea. Cold brewed this yesterday and it’s just lovely. I don’t think I’ll ever drink another white hot, it’s all cold brewing for me! It’s a touch bitter, but overall it’s delicious. Fruity and grapey and just plain beautiful.

Meh. Just…meh. It’s good enough, but it doesn’t wow me, but I don’t have the same tastes as my wife, De. This is right up her alley, so I’m glad she likes it. But the spices are a bit strong for me, and I don’t care for the cardamom.

Tried this one cold steeped at the Toronto Tea Party of Awesomeness and Sleepovers, and it was…okay. Like Tina said, the fruit notes were lovely, but the tea seemed off. This is a hot tea for me. Cold, I took one sip, made a face, and didn’t touch it again.

Dear Tina, you rock. Thank you so much for showing me the joys of cold brewing. This is beyond delicious and nice and cold and everything lovely. The ginger bite is just enough to keep this from being an overly juicy tea, and the white tea flavor really came through too.

So much love for this tea! Definitely restocking when we return in April.

At second sip (aka mu second cup), I’m not so keen on replacing this. I’d prefer it without the ginger.

I’m trying some of this cold (aka I forgot about half of my cup) and it just pops. The peach flavor I’d been looking for came through just beautifully. Lovely and fruity with just a touch of zing…yum. I am so excited for my first foray to The Tea Haus with some of my favorite girls, the ladies of the Toronto Tea Party! I asked for the day off earlier today, so it should be a go! So excited!

This was lovely hot, but I can’t wait to try it iced. I have some cold steeping right now. But it tasted a bit off. I’m not going to blame the tea though, as I’m feeling under the weather again. Between my mother in law sharing her bronchitis and someone else feeling the need to come to a slumber party with laryngitis, I’m just destined to spend all of my days off curled up in bed, sick.

I would have been happier with more peach flavor, but I’m a peachaholic. I will try this again when I’m feeling better, provided no one else feels the need to share their illness.

I’m begging people, unless you absolutely have to go out to work or such, stay home and get better instead of going out and getting others sick who maybe can’t afford to stay home and nurse an illness. I’m lucky I have three days off because I can’t call in to work right now.

Yum. I wish this had been steeped longer, but it was gorgeous. I think I’m gonna cold steep the rest for a final decision as to how much to restock.

We used up the last of our sample of this to share a pot yesterday morning and I enjoyed it! It was good and refreshing and something I find myself craving occasionally. It’s lemony, but not overly tart. While I don’t feel the need to get a tin and stock up, I wouldn’t mind having some around to dip in to occasionally. This is a restock for me, but only a little one.

Paradise-outta-my-stash, is more like it. I cold steeped what remained of my sample of this and took it to work with me. It smells amazing, but the hibiscus is just plain ridiculous. I couldn’t finish it. Sorry to say, this tea is definitely not for me.

This was good! Not amazing, and I think I prefer my Irish breakfast from Red Leaf Tea, but it will be no great hardship to work my way through this sample! It has a natural hint of sweentness to it, but I found the same issue as with the other black teas from Tea Haus, it was a touch too astringent for my tastes.

I took a travel mug of this to work with me yesterday, brewed at a lower temperature, and YAY it was no longer bitter and horrible! It was odd, though. For the first set of sips, it was delicious, reminding me of Tealish’s Blueberry Lagoon. But as the day wore on, I just didn’t want to drink it. It took me an entire 9 hour shift to drink it all. Part of it was because it was hot, I recognize that, but part was because I was getting sips that weren’t impressive at all. I need to cold steep this one.

Added a few drops of Irish Creme agave to my matcha this morning, mmmm what a treat. I have to stop reaching for this one every morning, or I won’t have any left to blend with the ones I just ordered last night (with a $70 gift certificate for writing three reviews! If you’ve ordered from them, it’s really easy to get the free matcha promotion!)

In other news, I made a cup of this for my wife last night and she didn’t care for it, so there was half a mug sitting on the windowsill. We just caught Pekoe (our kitty) drinking it by dipping her paw into the mix and licking it clean. She did this several times before we could get it away from her, so at least she likes it!

Okay! So I kicked the temperature of the tea down a couple of notches and cautiously let this steep for two minutes….and it is a beautiful, creamy delight! All the delicious, none of the bitter! Perfect. So happy! I love this tea! ^. Bumping the rating waaaaaay up.

I bought this tea (found here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/bee-pollen-matcha.html) because when summer rolls around, I am a little puddle of miserable. Seriously, my allergies attack with everything they’ve got and there are days where I simply cannot go outside. Last summer, I discovered green tea seemed to help with some of the symptoms, as did local honey. So when I spotted Bee Pollen Matcha, I had to try it, if only to keep on hand for when I make smoothies all summer. Mmmm smoothies. A little frozen fruit, a splash of tea, and I am in heaven. This is why I bought a blender!

This is most likely a case of mind over matter, but the first few sips of this tasted like honey to me. I don’t know if it actually does, it’s not overwhelmingly sweet, but it tastes a touch like honey. Kind of like how Honeybee from DavidsTea tastes like…well, how you imagine a bee would taste. All bzzzz and the like. But it is sweet enough and flavorful enough that while I was drinking it at work, I kept reaching for it. I tend to place my travel mug on the corner of the desk and forget it’s there until I lose my voice.

This matcha is also a good addition to my smoothies, since it provides calcium and protein. As someone on a dairy-free diet, the ability to get calcium in my tea is very important to me. A friend of mine says that “drinking tea for the health benefits is like having sex for the exercise,” but after a summer of allergies made manageable by local honey and green tea, I’m a believer. Do I think tea is going to magically make me skinner? No. Damn it. But I do firmly believe that teas like this matcha can help with things like allergies and vitamin deficiencies. If nothing else, this tea keeps me away from carbonated drinks like Coke and Dr. Pepper….mmm, Dr. Pepper. It also helps me cut back on sugary fruit juices and heart attack causing energy drinks. Matcha is all I need to get that rush to help me make it through my day. And this particular matcha is a tasty, tasty option. I love it! A sweet green tea that makes you feel like you’re drinking something that will give you superpowers? That also helps you get your vitamins and bounce around your office like you just had a large can of Red Bull? Sign me up!

I just plain love Red Leaf Tea for their bundling options. 30 grams of this matcha, Goji Berry (found here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/goji-berry-matcha.html), is 15.99. However, if you bump it up to large (60 g), it’s only 8 dollars more (23.99) for twice the matcha! Love. So much love. It makes it really easy to just buy a sample and then get a great deal on the ones you love.

I took this one to work with me today and it just about saved my life. It gave me the much-needed energy to deal with with busiest doctor in our practice. It was light and sweet and painfully refreshing. I had some while it was hot, but by the time I was able to find time for finish my thermos-full, it was cold. Even better! My thermos is vaccum-sealed, so I carefully shook it to mix it up again and downed the rest…oh yes. This will definitely be an amazing addition to my summer smoothies. Never mind that it snowed today. Anyway, the berryness of this was just right, not overly sweet or fake, just amazingly delicious. I’m only familiar with goji berries in tea, but this is the best goji flavored tea I’ve ever had. To be honest, I kept taking sips and being surprised by how good it was. I have the memory span of a goldfish, so it was like I given a gift of amazing tea every time I took a sip. If you’re a berry fan who isn’t really into strong greens, this might be the tea to get you into matcha. It wasn’t overwhelmingly bitter like some matchas can be, it was just a smooth, tasty sip for a long workshift.

I am very impressed with their matcha, I have to say. My wife recently bought me a matcha whisk (so much easier!), but I was making it with a regular whisk in a cereal bowl and I have yet to encounter a clump. Like someone else said about their matchas, it’s not flavoring added to cover an inferior product. I really like, though, that you can choose which grade of matcha you get. I’m a matcha newbie, the cheapest grade is fine with me, but for those with more refined tastes, you can have Imperial grade matcha that tastes like goji berries!

You can also choose the level of flavoring! Gah! It’s like the choose your own adventure book of the matcha world. I see these matchas becoming a very big addiction for me. I’ll just be sitting in the corner with 100 tins of matcha labelled “Delicate Vanilla” “Robust Cinnamon” “’There’s Matcha in This??? Goji”. I would never sleep again because of all the matcha I was drinking, but hey, you gotta make some sacrifices, right?

I prefer this to their Cream tea, it reminds me of, well, french vanilla ice cream or french vanilla frosting. Yum.

…and then the black base steps in. It makes me sad. I’ve tried three of their teas in three different steeping parameters all with the same result. Next I’m going to try adding rice or soy milk, but I hate having to go to that. I just wish I could handle astringency in tea better. This is totally just a matter of personal taste, I like my teas weak.

I had this yesterday and I had the same experience as I had with the blueberry tea. This is really good…until the black base steps in. Sad. It’s really good quality tea, and it is certainly creamy, but it’s just a touch too astringent for me. I’m going to give it another go, but if it doesn’t wow me, it’ll be up for swap.

I’m on the fence about this one. At first, it’s like “OMGYES BLUEBERRY” but then the black tea steps in and it’s a bit bitter for my tastes. Maybe a drop or two of milk will help. I dunno. Sadness.

This is lovely. So lovely. My wife came home raving about it yesterday and since I’m in the mood for a lighter tea, I reached for it. Oh my goodness this is light and lemony and sweet and appley and guh. So much yum. I can’t wait to try it iced! It’s kinda like apple juice without that sickening sweetness. Restock for sure.

Nom. I love this tea, but I’m not going to rate it because I sweetened it with a touch of Irish Creme agave. It’s sweet and creamy and has that touch of toasty caramel I so love. I need to try this one without the agave, though. This might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, though.

Had a cuppa yesterday morning to try and wake up before work and because I was making a cup for Tina, so I may as well indulge.

I love this tea so much. Seriously, if you like matcha, try this one. It’s beyond amazing.

This is my jug o iced tea for the moment. I love this stuff. I made it too weak, next time I’ll add more leaf, but it is still delicious and everything I want in an iced tea. Blue slushie! Yum!

I had a cup of this last night when my wife was finally returned to me! It needed a touch more sugar, but when I added a few drops of raspberry agave nectar, I could really start to taste the berry. I will have to try this one again before I rate, but I did enjoy what I had!

I have got to find a supplier for this tea, I can’t seem to find it or Bigelow French Vanilla anywhere! Maybe I should have my mom have a look in the States for me and just drop some in the next package she sends. I just can’t justify purchasing a bagged tea online XD. But I had this at Panera yesterday (I had a bag in my purse) and it was delicious. Just what I wanted.