momo

Had this last night, but didn’t know what to say about it at the time, haha.

Rooibos is a great base for a coconut cream pie inspired tea. I think it can lend itself well to a baked crust flavor, as it does here after it cools just a bit.

I think I may have to try it with sugar even though it’s already naturally very sweet. The coconut just didn’t pop for me as a flavor. However, it lends itself to such a creamy tea, which works so well with the rooibos base. And it was so good just like that, I wanted to continue drinking it straight. Next cup though, let’s see how it turns out sweetened just a bit!

I went to a different Whole Foods for a blogger event (I was one of two people to come, sadly) and I noticed this one had a ton of different stuff compared to the one closer to me.

This is a kombucha from a company based in Asheville, so it’s a slight bit more expensive than the one I had before but ohhhh it’s better.

It’s VERY tart though, which I’m going to blame on not just it being kombucha, but because it also has apple and blackberry juices. And it has coconut water! Since all I drank earlier was Italian soda, which is far more sugar than I want, this tastes extra refreshing, even if it’s pinching the back of my throat with tartness.

I am amused that on their website they say it mixes well with vodka and rum. I feel like that ruins the purpose of drinking this, lol. I guess it’s better than Coke and maybe you get less of a hangover? I’m not finding out right now.

So it also has elderberry, schizandra berry, and watermelon juice. Pretty much all their kombuchas have to do with elements. It was between this one and Air, which I will try next time.

It is so good though, and I think I am already in love with this company after just browsing their website. I really need to get to Asheville sometime…

Finally the aftertaste of medicine has subsided enough that I can drink this, though I imagine that since the aftertaste was sorbitol and sucralose, and this tea is recommended with sugar, it would have been a benefit, hahaha.

In the bag this tea smells just like melons, a bit like cantaloupe and cream but with the addition of honeydew.

I followed steeping instructions, and added agave.

Wow. If only everyone could flavor white teas like this. It’s amazingly watermelon, but it still comes off as a very delicate, light white tea. It is absolutely bursting with flavor despite this. Very summery, and very easy to just relax and sip.

Needing a bit more relaxation thanks to certain people and things, plus being unable to just let this tea go with one steep, I resteeped for 6 minutes. Which is also the perfect amount of time to triple check and retouch nail polish (one of the previously mentioned things).

This cup still has a watermelon scent to it, although it is fainter than before.

It’s hardly lost any watermelon flavor, seriously! This may have to keep going. This cup tastes like it actually intertwines more with the silver needle.

Good thing part of that more relaxation because of people thing may result in being up until it’s 9 or 10am in Germany, yeah? Bring on more steepings!

Blah I made the mistake of using a nasal spray before drinking this, so of course all its nasty artificial sweeteners are stuck in my throat and this will probably taste funny.

But that won’t be a problem because walnuts are apparently right up there with almonds in the bad flavoring department for me. While the sweetness I’m now trapped with actually makes it good, the walnut aftertaste is just awful. And even if I just keep the tea on my tongue, I can’t stand how it tastes, which is purely of walnuts. It tastes like nothing but walnut until I do actually drink it, then maybe I guess I get banana.

But ugh, nuts in tea, why can’t I get along with more of you? Eating you is no problem but the minute you’re infused in a beverage we’re not friends.

I’ll try it again, and I’ll steep it for less time too. Maybe that will help, but I can definitely tell it’s the nut flavor imparting a bitterness rather than the tea itself.

Thanks, Will Work For Tea!

Oh apparently this is really old so I have no idea why I still have it. It actually doesn’t taste that bad despite the less than optimal storing conditions, but I think after this glass it will join the ranks of the used leaves set aside for my plants.

I don’t know what it is about this one, but I really like it. It is definitely one inexpensive tea, but it feels like it’s triggering some kind of memory with the flavor, or its scent reminds me of something from when I was a kid.

It’s not champagne at all, the strawberry champagne one from earlier has more wine-like qualities to it than this. This is floral and kind of just has a flat berry taste.

This is actually the first time I’m having it iced, out of curiosity. I think it works better hot, though its pretty good iced. But it doesn’t taste like it used to.

I have no idea why I wanted this so badly. I was afraid to try it at first because ROSE ROSE ROSE the smell is so pungent!

But apparently I am on a rose kick. I think it has to do with the amount of Doctor Who I’ve been watching lately.

Is it really a rose kick if it’s only been since 4pm and this is all the rose you have?

I steeped it for 3 1/2 minutes because I never trust DT’s black base with 4+ minutes. So far, so good. I took a sip of it without any additions, and it was surprisingly okay. This is really my first rose tea but I love them and have come to appreciate most floral flavors.

I added agave and milk anyway just to be on the safe side and I do like it a lot better this way. I think it helped bring the white chocolate out too. It really just reminds me of candied rose petals.

Now I want more rose teas, bad Amanda.

Only thing that’s really offputting is that it still smells like perfume when you hold the mug to your face, and the oil slick on the surface combined with that makes you want to think twice about drinking it, it could just be perfume.

Thankfully, it’s tasty.

So I carried this around with my steep and go, and when I was eating lunch this girl sat at my table with me while waiting for her order, and she was intrigued by the stuff obviously floating in my water bottle. Then I wouldn’t shut up about tea. She was nice though.

I refilled it before my second class, and drank it all the way until I showed up at the mall for training…that only lasted for roughly an hour. And was really just me reading someone else’s training manual because…they are out of them. So at least I was paid to sit in traffic…25 minutes to go 3 miles. Pathetic. I hate Atlanta.

This is an intriguing one to cold steep. I think I might like it better this way. It tastes super rich, and the banana definitely comes out more than the cinnamon this way. And even better, it tastes like real bananas! I still have half the bottle filled with water, so since it didn’t have to sit in the car too long, I threw it into the fridge so I can have the rest later.

If you thought this one was too cinnamon flavored hot, cold brew it!

So I went to make tea to make myself less upset (bad assignment, let’s just leave it at I have seen a concentration camp so analyzing what nazis wrote does not strike a positive chord with me, I don’t care what the lesson in rhetoric and ETHICS for gods sake is), and just making the tea made me feel better. This smells like caramel while it steeps, so good.

It smells a lot like Pancake Breakfast, but it tastes like caramel! And it’s pretty creamy, not really cheesecake, but that’s okay. Because caramel.

I’m too upset still to say anything else but this is yummy. It’s so good that being mad someone would ever assign a reading like this doesn’t ruin it.

Getting back to the samples from Nature’s Tea Leaf, this was the top bag so I am drinking it. There aren’t any ingredients listed on the bag so I was surprised to see lavender. The rosebuds are so pretty in here though, but I am not a big fan of lavender.

And I can’t say I’m a big fan of this tea either. I can do rose, I can do jasmine, but I draw the line at lavender. I only steeped this for about 2 min, 20 seconds to try to avoid the strong qualities of puerh I don’t like, but even worse for me is puerh combined with lavender.

I guess maybe I’ll give it one more shot as a cold brew since that worked with another puerh blend but LAVENDER. Always just tastes like soap to me. At least it’s a more palatable soap than cilantro.

This is one of those where I have no idea why I picked it out other than I could go for some more bubblegum flavored stuff in my life. My jaw does not get along with bubblegum so I’ll take the flavor when I can get it!

I’m drinking this before I get to studying for an international finance test tomorrow. It is SO good. I’m surprised more people haven’t picked this one up yet. When I opened the bag, it just smelled like bubblegum.

Bubblegum screams cold drink to me, so I whisked it up in some room temperature water, added just a little bit of milk, ice, a couple drops of agave, and filled the glass with water. This is hard one not to polish off ASAP! I think next time I’ll use a bit more matcha, in fact, I may make another because I’m supposed to be studying and doing a horrible job of it.

I may have to try it unsweetened, because it seems like it might be sweet enough on its own. But I thought about 52teas’ SBT bags and how the bubblegum really popped with just a little agave and had to just go with it!

It tastes just like bubblegum, and the matcha isn’t too strong. I am pretty sure I only got this with the lowest level of flavoring too.

This one is a lot of fun!

I made a second cup and didn’t add anything extra to it. It definitely works this way too, but a little sweetener brings out the bubblegum even more!

There was a box of this on clearance at Target, so instead of buying what I actually needed, I bought it. I steeped two bags in a glass of water for about 2 hours, and I’ve got a pretty potent little drink.

This is the first time though I’ve ever been able to actually taste paper from the sachets in a tea. Thankfully the cherry flavor is pretty strong and covers it rather quickly. It’s definitely a lot like koolaid, but hey, there’s nothing wrong with a natural, not filled with cups of sugar koolaid now is there?

The cherry isn’t medicinal, though it’s a bit tart, which I think we can easily blame on the first ingredient, hibiscus.

Not bad, but definitely something I’ll only be drinking iced like this.

I’ve been sipping away at this without even thinking! My first day of training got cancelled, nooooo, but I go tomorrow. I went to the mall anyway to confirm my suspicions that I have no idea how the mall works. I ended up in Sur La Table before I ever found a dress, so I called my mom to tell her I found a bear cookie cutter. She was like, where, and I told her, she had no idea what I said so I said it again as “on the table in French.” So then she figured it out, I was so amused. I had to stop myself from buying a tin of Dammann Freres tea in there.

I did find a dress but I was really worried I was only going to find a bear cookie cutter.

So finally home, it is tea time. I am glad I picked this one, though I am not very happy with how these little tins are covered in fannings. They are getting all over me.

I steeped this one for 3 1/2 minutes and used boiling water. No problems, surprisingly, given the ideal water temperature listed is far lower. I love how smooth these Kusmi black teas are. I’ve never enjoyed the flavor of bergamot so much.

This one is citrusy but not just from the bergamot. I can taste lemon and orange too, which gives it more of a sweetness than just bergamot. I like that the bergamot isn’t extremely heavy, which for me always leads to it reminding me of kitchen cleaner.

I love these teas so much. This one I think is my favorite so far, but out of the Russian sampler 5, I only have two left and I think Anastasia may stay …Grand Duchess of these teas.

I would have said queen but it only feels right to go with the proper title.

Yaaaaay my teas showed up. I wanted to try this one the most so I had to make an entire pot of it first!

[Sidenote: Does anyone want to do a quick check of a couple informal reports for me? I ended up with a partner who was too good to actually do a peer review for me considering she only uploaded one of her reports instead of two. They’re both just over a page long so if you’re someone who has to regularly write memos, esp. trouble/investigative reports, you would be REALLY helpful unlike this girl.]

So yeah I made a pot of tea expecting to have two things to edit and I only had one. I’m trying really hard to give her the benefit of the doubt but in class she’s like, oh I’ll have it there in a couple hours! And nope.

I love this one! I’m not really picking up on caramel at all, but the berry flavors are nice, along with the slightly floral flavor. Maybe that’s supposed to be the bergamot? It’s really not coming off as citrus for me.

I took the water off the stove before it boiled so maybe I will let it actually boil and see if that coaxes out a bit more, maybe steep it a bit longer. I like how it is right now though. It’s like a smooth berry Earl Grey.

Oh my, oh my, if you don’t like this because you’re not a big puerh person, give it a cold brew. I think mine steeped for 14-16 hours, somewhere in there, and it is glorious. I wish I had done a whole pitcher instead of just a cup!

It’s still not very chocolate tasting, but the coconut comes through well, and matches the earthiness of the tea. The puerh is not too strong with this method so it’s definitely the way to enjoy this tea.

I have had it with shipping companies. I should have had my Kusmi order on Thursday. Don’t ever, ever pick pick up at a Fedex store from Fedex if you ever want to see what you ordered, ugh. It’s gone back and forth between two cities and is on a truck for delivery…two days ago.

I put this in my steep and go, and it’s so tasty cold. It doesn’t have the same sort of mysterious fog vibe to it when it’s cold though. It reminds me more of a creamy Moroccan mint that’s made with spearmint instead, which is definitely a nice change of pace for a minty green.

I love teas like this that can take on different qualities depending on how you steep them. This one so definitely is a re-purchase if it’s reblended.

I was hoping for something tasty but all I could really taste was cinnamon. I am also really tired of writing after writing two made up informal reports (my trucking company had an unfortunate tire blowout where $200 in Cabbage Patch dolls were lost) so I have nothing else to say, other than needs more chocolate.

I forget I still have all these Teavivre samples, I don’t think I have ever actually finished a package and I still have some new ones from months ago that I have yet to try, because I completely misplaced them.

They are found now so I will definitely need to get drinking them.

I just made a bowl of “Singapore curry” because this morning’s F1 race was in Singapore, but I was not much a fan of it, since it was made with shrimp and meh. So I went through the drawer of samples to find a savory tea I could have instead.

This time around I get less of a fruitiness and more of the broth-like tastes that I noted other reviews mentioned. It’s still sweet, but mostly vegetal and savory. It’s not too heavy, which is just what I want because I didn’t get to eat lunch until 4 (who goes to play racquetball for 2 1/2 hours at 1pm without even waking me up beforehand to say hey maybe we should eat lunch first since we were up at 7:30? my boyfriend!). I’ll probably go grab one of the teas I’ve yet to try instead of resteeping this one just because I really feel bad now that I haven’t had them yet!

All the samples I’ve gotten lately that I haven’t chosen are things I likely would never choose of my own accord.

I don’t care for savory herbs or spices in a tea especially not one I’m going to drink cold. But this actually works for me. I think the steeping time might be a bit too long because there’s a little bit of bitterness. I went with 5 minutes and the package says 5-7. At the same time I don’t think it gives the herbal side of this tea enough time to come out.

Mostly it tastes like white peony though, with a touch of lemon and a vague herby taste. That is totally fine by me, herbs like rosemary are hard for me to handle dried let alone in tea, so I’m glad it’s not super apparent.

This probably isn’t something I would ever buy myself for the time being, but I can see it being somewhat helpful with allergies in warmer months because it’s definitely good iced. I got flowers again at Trader Joe’s yesterday and set myself off sneezing, so I had to leave them at my boyfriend’s until tomorrow and hope I’ll be fine then.

Thank you Zen Tea for the samples! I decided to go with this one first because I want iced tea, and I assume I picked this one out for that reason. I actually completely forgot about picking out these samples so it was a nice surprise to get them.

I was surprised by the water temperature called for, but went with it, and there is definitely no bitterness to be had! Yay!

The Chinese sencha is the predominant flavor on first sip before it gets super fruity. I added a bit of agave and it made the fruit flavors pop more. Beforehand, it just seemed like I couldn’t even pinpoint that there was cranberry and mango. Now, it’s very apparent that it’s mango, although I think it probably lost a bit of the tartness from the cranberry.

It’s nice and refreshing to drink this one. I love the combination of these two fruit flavors. It makes them taste more exotic than they really are!

This should be great even hot, which I’ll try next. And I definitely need to cold steep it too.

Thank you so much to QueenOfTarts for this tea!

I am starting to think maybe two months from now I need to order the teas I want from Dammann Frerés because I am in love with this tea, just based on the dry leaf smell alone. It is very reminiscent of a macaron.

The violet is definitely not as strong as the black currant. I get floral notes upon first sip but then it becomes all berry. I thought maybe there’d be a weird almond taste given the macaron flavor, but it’s more of an added sweetness to the tea.

As it cools the violet comes out a bit more, I think this would even be good as an iced tea. Definitely a more spring/summery flavor to this tea, but that won’t stop me from enjoying this in the coming months. So good!

I’m just not a fan of this one despite repeated attempts. Hot, cold, in a popsicle, sweetened, it just doesn’t taste good to me. It’s kind of strange because I quite enjoy green rooibos, even by itself its great, but this tastes actually too much like the red variety, which I have a hard time drinking iced.

I love the color of it though, but what fun is it to have murky green tea if you hate how it tastes!

I need more caffeine if I’m going to make it until ten, though I think at this point I have already surrendered to not caring and going back to sleep before then, depending on how it goes. Mate time!

Steeped up in a 50/50 combination of milk and water on the stove for 5 minutes, this one seems spicier than the black tea variety.

This one doesn’t work as well with this preparation because it is much more subtle. Though if you’re not a fan of the taste of mate or you’re like me and need something to make the spices more subtle, this still works. The coconut is a bit more subtle too, not becoming super creamy like the toasted coconut chai.

Still tasty though. I’m usually not much of a ginger fan, but it’s very good in this.

I am so angry right now, I thought F1 qualifying was at 8 and it turns out it’s at 9, and nobody seems to want to answer me as to WHY it is at 9 and it makes me extremely angry to have to be awake when I don’t have to be awake. And I have this tea now so I can’t nap for 45 minutes, not that it would work well anyway.

Except this tea makes it too hard to be angry, it’s sooooo good. I think it’s time I rescind my pumpkin beverage hater card. It smells like pumpkin pie, and definitely tastes creamy as well as like pureed pumpkin mixed with spices. And best of all it’s not like a nasty canned puree taste, just like fresh pumpkin but verrrrrry smooth. I can’t believe how real it tastes, it means I never have to go through the trouble of cutting up a pumpkin especially because I don’t want to!

I think in the meantime of waiting I will have to try another of my new Butiki teas too.

omg I should not have tried out two different matchas while lunch was cooking and this was steeping. WHEE.

I don’t even know how much tea I used to make this glass of iced tea. Four teaspoons? Sounds good. Tastes better. Summer does not want to let go here…though it will on Sunday night! So that’s why I went for this one. I’m not so sure about the honeydew aspect of this tea. Maybe it’s the carrot, but it just has a weird taste to it. It goes from being slightly tart and sweet into this weird aftertaste that just doesn’t seem to match to me.

Actually it also reminds me of a melon aqua fresca.

I have a bit more of this left and then I probably won’t get it again because it just takes too much to get it to be super melon flavored.

And now I am starting to get real annoyed with FedEx because they tried to deliver my Kusmi order when I was even home yesterday (1pm wtf is that) AND tried to deliver the package I was supposed to wait for at my boyfriend’s before I was even awake. I had mine sent to the local store over a day ago so it’d be real nice if I could get it already…