Lynne-tea

Chai Spice (Verdant) + Big Red Robe (Teavivre)

Delicious.
I can taste the mineral rock quality of the BRR, intermixed with the lovely chai spice blend of Verdants… really really lovely

Red Velvet Cake by Davids tea plus Harney Guayusa….
WAKE ME UP!
I’ve decided to mix the two in hopes that I get a deliciously sweet cake-like tea with a punch of caffeine.
The flavour is there, lets see if the caffeine kicks in soon!
Wish me luck…I need it =|

Yummmmmehhhh
I’m getting low on this, but currently I enjoy mixing with almond milk and corella powder to increase my iron (and other minerals) intake. I tend to add a splash of coconut syrup with some unsulphured molasses to kick the flavours up a notch (corella powder can be rather bitter..)
Shaken in a martini shaker with ice…
YUM!

I decided that I would use up this sample today. Still as delicious as ever… though the intense chamomile is still getting to me. I do really enjoy the mouthfeel I get from the WBRR… I have been crushing on WBRR since I found Teavivre. Nice maltiness too from the Laoshan Black.

I do enjoy where this tea was going, but I find the chamomile masks some of the great flavour layers this tea can have.

I have been coveting this tea for a long time ever since I received it as a generous sample. Today is the day I finally get to know this enchanting tea as I have come into some more through the tea of the month club. Oh the JOY!

The leaves are beautifully golden and fuzzy.. with a smell reminiscent of mushrooms and sweet black tea from the south.
208˚F, 5sec sweet and luscious, reminiscent of warm vanilla pudding that has been sprinkled with brown sugar. Final lingering notes remind me of a baked sweet potato.. again with brown sugar. Heavenly
208˚F, 8sec Again a lovely sweet edge to this tea – honey and raw sugar. Silky smooth which makes me think of malt, but it’s not malt. There is some allspice and nutmeg notes that peak out occasionally. Slight drying in the back of my mouth the end of the sip – a nice contrast to the silk.
208˚F, 11sec A repeat of steep two, though this time it began to take on a little more of a savoury edge. I drank it too fast while writing a grad application that I forgot to take notes! Dang.

What a gorgeous black tea. I am so thankful I got to try it!… I will keep appreciating the remaining 10+ steeps that I will be drinking tonight. I missed you tea and Steepster!

Oh my heavens.. I have not even began to log any of my H&S teas yet!
I brewed this up as I couldn’t put down the container after taking a sniff – it smelled like delicious caramel green tea with sesame notes. I’m in!
soo…3 minutes later with ~85˚C water and what do I get?
Mochi… sesame caramel mochi. I think the bancha is contributing a nice supportive flavour.. I don’t want to say vegetal, because it’s not really vegetal. Maybe a nice mineral note. Hmm..
Either way. The more I drink this and let my tongue rest in between sips.. the greater the sweetness builds with caramel notes. Delightful. Just what I was looking for =)

Oh my. How have I not rated this yet?!
So delightful. I wanted something light and playful after a big pho dinner and Dragonwell screamed my name. So so good.
Sweet vegetal greens – almost close to sweet sweet soy milk as well. I only did 5 seconds, and shared the second steeping with the boy so I’m not sure how that was. Though from previous sessions I know it was good!
So much love for Verdant.

Edit: Posted in the wrong tea area… Still shocked I had not written a note for it though..

So so delicious.
I’m having a cuppa this at Starbucks while I work on my big research presentation. My school was canceled today due to strike action, and so I had a free day for homework.. Which turned into a free day for doing nothing until 4 pm. Sometimes you need some relaxation ya know?

Well this tea is the ultimate comfort tea for me. Delicious and sweet blueberry preserves in a cup. Anyone who knows me knows I have a large addiction to jam. Any jam. Just give me jam!
I can taste lovely malty black tea under the really nice blueberry. The blueberry aspect just keeps reminding me of a blueberry topping that would be on top of a danish…. Definitely one of my favourites from DT.

Thank you Teavivre for this sample.
I had a long day in the lab yesterday (and today.. and tomorrow..) working on my research project.. and came home to find a parcel notification.
This was followed by an immediate email from Angel telling me to check my mailbox and go pick up my parcel. Some people do have lives… and sometimes the post office closes after you finally get home from a long days work. I do not appreciate this urgency. Especially when I paid for tea from them only a day or two after accepting their offer for samples, only to have it not even trackable in Canada yet (‘sent’ one month ago to date). Perhaps they should be more concerned about that instead?

Anyways. Onto this tea.

2 minutes, 100˚C Sweet non-identifiable flavour in the mid-end sip. I take this to be the ginseng. Almost a black licorice flavour actually.. anise/fennel.. when breathing in after a sip. It takes a few sips to understand the flavour, but I enjoy it a lot. It’s almost tongue-coating.. The oolong definitely tastes oxidized, with a sweet and nutty flavour to it. Really lovely.

3 minutes, 100˚C Sweet.. very similar to the first steep in all honesty. No wavering in the intensity of the licorice/toasted sweet nutty flavour. The oolong is very similar to their monkey picked oolong, but I enjoy this much much more. The tongue-coating flavour of the ginseng is really nice and balances out the toasted qualities of the oolong.

Overall – this is a really lovely, enjoyable tea.

Sweet and delightful as a morning tea.
Storing this at my boyfriends in order to have something other than red rose (buuuh – I still cannot stand to drink red rose without milk in it)
This tea is especially good at mid-temperatures. The sweet malty honey notes really stand out. The muscatel is not as strong as I remember, but it will do!

I dug into this sample a few days ago, but steeped up a 4th steep today and it is still delicious.
I remember it being definitely chocolate/cacao sweetness in the beginning of the steeps, and now that I am on my 4th it has turned into a very sweet chamomile peppermint brew with a little rounding out by the lovely lovely WBRR and Laoshan Black.
Really delightful. I can’t wait to steep up the rest of my sample to fully decide if it is an absolute must have or if I should stick with the pure teas =)
Withholding rating until that point in time.
If I absolutely had to rate it right now, I would say low 80s (due to the overwhelming flavour of the chamomile)

So I’m sick and just got back from a funeral from one of the most incredible people I have been fortunate enough to have in my life.
Bailin Gongfu Black is my warm snuggly tea that wraps me up and holds me tight when I need it most.
Really everyone – life is so short and unexpected at times. Live your life and make sure you are happy with all aspects of it. If you’re not – change it!
Make sure you stop sometimes to smell the flowers and really appreciate the people in your life as you never know when the time will come that you, or they, will no longer be here.

Thank you so much to Kittenna for this lovely sample!
I’ve been so busy with school that I have neglected my notes here! Ah well! I have a life time to make notes and only a year to finish school ;)
The smell of this tea is crazy delicious – coconut supreme!
The tea has a lovely black tea base with hints of coconut and possibly a creamy aspect.. though I am not really picking up on the pie part. I am getting a little stuffed up right now so perhaps that has something to do with it?
Either way..I think this is a lovely coconut tea, but not quite coconut cream pie. Love that I got to try it though! Thanks again Kittenna!

Harney & Sons Guayusa + DavidsTea Mulberry Magic = YUMMO!

Too busy lately to log, but I’ve been enjoying my H&S order and Verdant tea. November will be less crazy so I can really get to know the teas!

I had to document this though. Mulberry magic adds some nice sweetness and combined with the guayusa, its makes it a milky sweet flavour. Super delicious and very energizing! Just what I need! Drank with my mason jar and bombilla set up, 1 perfect teaspoon of each
Rating: 90

Now trying H&S guayusa + DT Blueberry jam:

Makes for a refreshing, less sweet version of Blueberry jam. Really nice, as sometimes I find the blueberry jam to be a bit sweet

Oh my heavens this is so good
Made in my mason jar with a bombilla straw.
Filled with just-under boiling water, and topped up again when it gets to about 1/3 full.
Extremely sweet pine nectar with a marshmallowy flavour/texture. Purely devine.
Edit: The pine/marshmallow flavour lasts for such a long time. Any time I move my tongue in my mouth, the sugary sweet flavour with a slight cooling tingle builds on my tongue and the roof of my mouth. I’m thinking I may just have to ask for this for Christmas :I
I could drink this any day!
Edit #2: For some reason Steepster cut off half of my note. Weird. Hopefully I’ve fixed it.

I got this for an extremely good price at Winners oddly enough.. Time to log it now.
Sorry, but I’m going to rant:
Today has been a weird day. I’m also kind of bummed out that I missed my parcel delivery from Canada Post today from Verdant Tea I suspect (..it’s been over 2.5 weeks since it was sent..so hopefully?). I called to confirm that I could pick up the parcel tonight, and the woman was extremely rude and told me no and to pick it up in the AM. It makes me sad to think all those lovely teas sitting and waiting for me to pick them up tomorrow, when I very well could have been enjoying them tonight if the silly postal worker had left the parcel like they normally do! HMPH

END RANT.

So what’s this tea taste like? Malty scrumptiousness with some muscatel notes for sure. Very bright and flavourful. I really like!
Thank heavens I gave this another shot – I’m running low on black teas until my orders come in and this will fill in just perfectly!

I am pretty sure this is the same tea… Mine is labeled “An Xi Tie Guan Yin Oolong Traditional Green Roast”
Shrugs
I’m using the entire sample packet, which I believe is 7g? All good – my cup is about 7 oz!
1st, 200F, 7s: Yumm.. the wet leaves smell of apricots and peach candies. Very light sunshine brew..Yes! It reminds me of a complex veggie broth. With sweet spinach.
2nd, 10s: Leaf smells of sweet apricot reduction with almonds overtop steamed asparagus. Another cup of sunshine too (which is great because we’re supposed to get 150mm of rain tonight…hello fall. I get it. You’re officially here!) This definitely has a TGY smell, but the taste is slightly different. It’s a sweeter version. The veggie flavours have disappeared and were replaced by complex floral notes with lilac highlights. These floral notes are balanced by what reminds me of a challah… sweet delicious bread, slightly buttered.
3rd, 15s: Leaves still smell like an apricot immersed in TGY =) mmmm this steep is like buttercream frosting. It’s even thick and rich on the tongue. Slight vanilla leaf notes.. caramelly too. Scrumptious!
4th, 25s: Smells really buttery, and the taste is silky. And sweet like thick vanilla honey. Yummy
I did enjoy this tea, but I have had been more astounded with other TGY’s

I had this last night while I was powering through my research proposal.
Delicious.. it has a sweet pine note almost which reminds me of my Silver Buds (I LOVE THEM). There was also honey notes which reminded me of being in a field of clover. Clover honey mmmm.
Nicely malty of course and some cocoa notes, but mostly a creamy clover honey pine. Delicious. I am so happy I got this tea.

Edit: to note, this was steeped using the grandpa method. Previous entry was based on a gongfu method… which is interesting based on the differences in the tastes that developed.

… I drink this every single day.
Every day it is different.
I Love Matcha <3

I’m in for a treat! I am shooting for 18 steeps again tonight. Lets see how I do! Thank you Teavivre for this again =)
1st, 212F, 5sec, 5oz, 5g: Salt! It’s salty! But like a salted caramel. Touches of butteriness. Oh I’m in heaven! mmmmmmm It’s silly how good this is. I can’t believe the lovely salt tastes. So clean and crisp.. It’s so delicious.
2nd, 10sec: It smells sweet and chestnutty..The taste is lovely. Slightly salty still, almost verging on umami and soy, but than a butteriness comes in and it also tastes like chestnuts. Such a treat! I adore this tea!
3nd, 13sec: Smells of sweet puffed wheat. Or toasted chestnuts. Tastes woodsy. And like puffed wheat.. slightly glazed puffed wheat (think sugar crisp.. except not loaded with 10lbs of sugar).
4th, 20sec: I felt it needed a few seconds extra. It smells like warm roasted apples and sugar.
.. okay, break for now, but dannnng this is good!
So thankful for tea <3

I made this for myself tonight and offered a sip to my mom. Upon smelling the tea and taking a sip, she widened her eyes and a smile spread across her face.
“Mmmmm what is that one?”
“Milk oolong, isn’t it delicious?”
“I want some of that one!”
….brews up another cuppa.
Tea has such a powerful pull over people (when it’s good tea :I )
She’s converted for sure <3
mission accomplished

I made a cuppa for my mom and I this afternoon. She really enjoyed it and has become really curious about tea since the last time I’ve seen her. So exciting!
She wants me to text her the name of this tea so she can get some for herself!
Converted
VICTORY!!

What the heck, Steepster keeps eating half of my review when I post it. :s
 I forgot how good this tea is iced. Just delicious cherry that commands some immediate attention, then a buttery edge that smooths everything out. Delicious. It’s back on my shopping list.
My first ever sipdown without immediate replacement..I’m sad about that.

Side note: I mixed this cold steeped with matcha and a little almond milk, touch of agave, pinch of salt and it was delightful! Cherry almond matcha. Yummm!

Holy Yum.
It really really really reminds me of DavidsTea vanilla oolong.
This tastes like delicious vanilla pudding. It’s creamy, sweet, and oh-so-vanilla!
Lovely orchard notes lingering about at the end of the sip as well. Really well rounded tea. Comforting for sure!
Thank you very much The Tea Merchant for this sample!