New Tasting Notes

I received a very generous sample of this from my Secret Pumpkin! I’m trying to get rid of a cold at home and hoping that adding extra spice will clear out some of the ickiness I’m dealing with. Della Terra doesn’t seem to sell this anymore but I think it was available last fall?

I used 2.5 teaspoons in my 16oz steeping mug and steeped for the recommended 2-3 minutes (well 3 actually). I added a touch of sweetener though the blend contains pop rocks.

I’m not a huge fan of cinnamon, but as a child when my mom let me, I absolutely loved Big Red gum and this is pretty darn close. I might be losing a bit of the flavor due to said cold but I can definitely feel a bit of burn on the roof of my mouth!

Thank you Scheherazade for this sample.

This blend smells sweet and minty with subtle cocoa and herbal notes.

It tastes minty, sweet, smoky, chocolatey and rich. A delicious balance of chocolate and mint which is highlighted by a thick but sweet smoky element which lingers in the after taste. The overall strength is medium and as far as blends go this is very refreshing and tasty.

Such a treat to share a pot of this tea with my husband on my favourite holiday.

My first straight black! I bought 10g of this along with 10g each of their Nepal Black, Shikubo Sencha, and Gyokuro…. And I’m trying this one first! Making an attempt to get into straight teas c;

First thing I notice is that its ridiculously sweet! I kind of can’t believe it. Its like an earthy, caramel-honey flavour with a hint of earthy grass – no bitterness at all. Sort of simple flavour profile. Hot damn.

Edit: Getting a bit of this weird cocoa and coffee nib aftertaste now, hmm

How have I not logged this one before? I have a tiny bit of this one left after a 50g bag! Anyways…

I don’t care for this one either. This is one that I was trying to drink up last week ‘cause I didn’t want to waste it, but i haven’t quite finished it yet. I’ve tried it hot, I’ve tried it cold, but something about the tea seems to just not sit right for me? Maybe it’s the hibiscus. I know how much I don’t like that stuff, and that might be what’s doing it for me. Too bad… I wish I had liked it more.

Anyways, this one is basically a sipdown, so I’ll declare it! Sipdown!

Tea of the mid-morning here (okay, it’s almost noon!)

I’ve had this since last fall and wasn’t totally impressed with it then. I figured today would be a good day to fish it out since it’s Halloween.

I can’t quite put my finger on what bothers me about this, seems a bit thin and artificial somehow and I’m not getting as much pumpkin flavor as I want. It’s ok but not something I would bother to keep around.

Sipdown!
I really wanted to like this one. I love black tea, I’m really starting to like green tea, I LOVE green rooibos, and pomegranates are cool, but all of that mixed together for me equals just too much!

I don’t know what it was about this tea that I didn’t like, but I didn’t like it. I’m wondering if it was the combo of just everything and nothing seemed to make sense in my head. Well, either that or, maybe I just don’t like pomegranates in my teas? I think I had one before that was pomegranate and I don’t believe I liked it…

Oh well… this one is gone now too, so I’m kind of happy.

Sipdown!
Had the last bit of this one this morning… sorta. I don’t care for it. Given though, I definitely made it much too strong. I shouldn’t have had as many tea leaves in it. When it was finished steeping it was so dark it almost looked black. Milk and sugar both added didn’t redeem my blunder.

I had enough for one or two more cups, but I decided to toss it (For shame! I know. But I haven’t been drinking this one and I really don’t think I could have handled another cup of this one again). I guess lemon in black teas isn’t my thing!

Took a try of this tea at the store, and oh my goodness I had to have some, so I bought 25 grams. Its a lot like Glitter and Gold, except with a slightly sweeter, less ‘mature’ flavour? I can’t tell which I like more. Super cozy, comforting kind of tea!

I grabbed this one yesterday on my first foray to Teavana. The smell was absolutely perfect, and I adore amaretto, so I knew I had to take it home with me. Between this and the caramel amaretto, this one seemed much more interesting.

Turns out, as much as I love amaretto, I do not like current and hibiscus in my tea. Much too tart for me, overpowering the amaretto and leaving me like that one time when I was young and ate a bunch of sour currants. I thought I was going to die. The smell was perfect, but the taste of tangy fruits and berries was way too strong and I lost the warm, rich flavour I’d been expecting.

I imagine it’d make a nice cold tea, so I think I’ll hang on to it and try a few more times to make it work, but at this point I wouldn’t buy it again.

I only had one student today, at 11:00, & she really likes green tea.
I make a point of serving her a different one every week, which is fun. Previously she had only ever had bagged greens, so it’s always interesting to see how she likes the various greens I share. This was her first Genmaicha, & she loved it!

Merry Samhain! This is really part of the Harvest Collection, but I saved until Halloween. It’s pumpkin, so it counts.

I so love the smell of pumpkin spice in the morning. Tastes like a sweeter version of the chocolate pumpkin pie. Might have been a little better as just caramel and the pumpkin bits.
Still, it fits the mood for today and my cravings for fall flavours.

When you don’t see your friends for a long time, you grow in different directions, as we all know, & although I’ve always been into tea, the extent of my tea collection/obsession kind of blew my friend away a little bit. She started talking about making Kombucha & bringing over a mother for me, & was very interested in trying different teas to make Kombucha from. We had a nice long discussion about how teas are processed. The recipe she uses for her Kombucha uses a bagged oolong. Next thing you know, I was doing a show & tell on all my Oolongs, & then we shared several steepings of this one. I love the roasty incense & fruit qualities of Wuyi Oolongs, & this is one of my favorites.

I went in to the city on my day off yesterday to go to David’s Tea. I was hoping they’d have their fall stuff on in the 2 for $5 bags, but not yet. Apparently that’s today. Cue kicking myself in the butt. But I picked up 100g of Mom’s Apple Pie and Cocoberry each, as they were the only two of the fall collection I was really eager to hold on to. Picked up a few others to try while there and wound up not spending as much as usual. Forty bucks, maybe? I was amazed and so pleased with myself.

And then I found Teavana at the other end of the mall.

I will always be a David’s Tea fan and going in to Tavana solidified that in me. Teavana was a really neat shop and their workers were really knowledgable, but I felt kind of intimidated by it all. Teavana felt a little bit elite-y. Like if you don’t have two hundred dollars to spend on a tiny cast iron teapot right there you’re not welcome. I fell in love with David’s because I could walk in in pajamas and a paint-stained t-shirt and the girls were perfectly happy to chat with me for an hour and weird stuff. I spent about $60 at Teavana and I don’t really feel like I got that much tea out of the deal, but I’m probably just being a fussy baby about it.

To soothe my crying baby-ness and to keep me going after getting up early to do my Halloween makeup, I brought some My Morning Mate in to steep at work. I tried one other last night that I wasn’t so impressed with, but that’s an issue for another review.

My Morning Mate is an interesting tea, and I knew I was going to love it when I bought it. It’s chocolatey(and anything chocolate is a plus in my books) and nutty and I don’t find myself getting bored of the taste. Taking it in and sifting it around a bit, I definitely get some very rich, deep notes that remind me of those chocolate covered espresso beans; sweet and warm with a little kick to get you into gear. It tastes as good as it smells and if nothing else takes me back to Teavana, this will be one I’ll go back for.

I ran into a friend at the Farmer’s Market a few weeks ago. I’ve known her for 27 years, our kids knew each other growing up, but we rarely find time to hang out, so she came over for breakfast today. Almond flour pancakes, berries, homemade sausage patties, & Tiger Assam!! Bold & beautiful! :)
It was nice to have a little time to relax with a friend, even if I had to get up a little earlier than usual to do so (she was here at 9am!)

This has a really unique flavour. Really fruity. I never got much of the rose, but really got the pistachios and apple. I quite enjoyed it!

This was always my perfect, any day, any time, year round type of tea. I bought it for my roommate for her birthday and we shared it. It’s so light, floral and sweet. I absolutely love roses so this was one of my favourites! I wish it wasn’t discontinued.

A review of Green Tea Organic by Carrington Tea, LLC

Company: Carrington Tea, LLC
Tea Name: Green Tea Original
Tea Type/Varietal: green
Region: Asia
Steeping Vessel/Amt Leaf: cup/ tea bag
Liquor Color: light brown
Leaf Characteristic:

1st Steeping:
Water Temp: 170 Fahrenheit
Time: 2-3 minutes

I put one tea bag in my cup and poured in the freshly boiled water and leave it to steep for several minutes. The tea’s aroma is fresh and clean; with a light brown in coloring. It is more like honey in coloring. I sip of the tea slowly since it is very hot, (it is habitual with me to have tea very hot) there is a slight astringent in the cup and the more I sip of tea it seems to lessen.
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Overall tasting notes: this is a good cup of tea for the money; it is green tea in your cup and no doubt of this.

Cup’s characteristic: fresh and mildly astringent

Liquor color: light brown, honey-like in coloring

Taste: astringent, medicinal in flavoring with a stronger brewing.

**A review of Lemon Zinger Herbal Tea by Celestial Seasonings, Inc.

Company: Celestial Seasonings, Inc.
Tea Name: Lemon Zinger
Tea Type/Varietal: herbal
Region:
Steeping Vessel/Amt Leaf: cup/ tea bag
Liquor Color: soft red that darken when steep for longer or using more than one tea bag.
Leaf Characteristic: fruity tea

1st Steeping:
Water Temp: 190 Fahrenheit
Time: 4-6 minutes

I take one tea bag from my Celestial Sampler pack for this tea, and I put it in my cup and adding fresh water, I put this in the microwave for several minutes. Once it is done, I take it out of the microwave and leave it to settle; all the while noticing the rich aroma that is filling the air and my tantalizing my nostrils. It is a fruity mixture (hibiscus seems to be the top note; and there is that roastedness in the cup with scents of lemongrass, and lemon peels.) The tea’s aroma is fruity and citrusy; with a brightly red in coloring.

I sip and sip of the tea slowly because it is very hot and once I am used to the heat and not burning of my tongue, I can begin to enjoy this delightful cup of herbal tea. It is sweet and rich with hibiscus and lemon zest.

Overall tasting notes: great aroma of fruits, like a citrusy wine spritzer or those wine spirits made of fruits and lemon. This is a lovely tea to be enjoyed hot or iced.

Cup’s characteristic: fruity and lemony

Liquor color: light to bright red

Taste: fruity and lemony

Black Lotus, I love you. I really think you might be my very favorite anytime,-don’t-think-about-it tea. I stayed up late last night reading Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination and working on our hastily thought through costumes, and woke this morning to perma-drizzle that’s going to make me glad I bought battery operated tea candles for our jack o’lanterns. Sipping this just always makes me feel better. It has the pep of a breakfast blend but as much delicious complexity as any of the premium straight black teas I’ve tried from Teavivre and maybe even Verdant. First it wakes me up, then it makes me glad I’ve returned to the world of the living, a world with so many good things to smell and taste and be reminded of.

Wow, this really reminds me of those sugary sweet canned pears they served in the cafeteria in elementary school. It wasn’t really what I was looking for in a tea, I really wanted a more realistic flavor. I just so happen to be a bit of a pear snob, they’re one of my favorite fruits. I picked up a batch from the apple orchard earlier in the week and they were absolutely delicious!

Anyway…

I didn’t really care for this one hot, it was much better once it had cooled to room temperature so I’ll likely try to cold steep the last of my sample. We are having a heatwave after all, it’s 64°F, but that is perfect trick-or-treating weather.

Hmm… it just dawned on me that I don’t have a costume for tonight, I’d better go put something together. I’m such a procrastinator.

Candy corn tea!
This is the perfect cup for Halloween, with actual candy corn in it!
But it brews up to be a honeyed cup of candy corn goodness. Perfection. Why isnt everyday Halloween?

I had this tea as a sample in the store, and fell in love. The flavor is so SUMMER AND BRIGHT!!! I had a warm in the store, and I knew it was destined to be amazing iced, and it is! The black tea base is so robust and thick on the tongue. On the packaging, it says it’s South Indian black tea. I really love the creamy taste of it, too. I think I like this better than their green coconut! I see myself buying this over and over!!!