Glitter & Gold

I have declared today Sampler Sunday. So I’m only drinking teas from my samples and swaps box! I have WAY too many in there and need to cut down. to make some room for the new Upton samples arriving next week. :)

This was first on the to try list. I got this one from the 12 Days of Christmas swap. DaisyChubb was sweet enough to send it as Day 5 – Five Golden Rings. I find this tea to be a nice wake me up tea. Brisk and bold…with a little shimmer thrown in for good measure! Seriously my cup is sparkling (in a good way)! This is super yummy and the clove is a nice touch and not at all overpowering. Yum!

I admit it – I was entranced by the idea of gold sugar balls and sparkly tea. I couldn’t help myself!

My brewed tea isn’t sparkly but it does taste nice. I think it tastes like maple syrup and only a leeeeetle like a Yankee Candle! I was thinking it was going to taste like Hot Cinnamon Spice but it does not in the least. This is a sweet, completely different treat but one that I will likely not repurchase. That veering toward Yankee Candle territory is troublesome and will make me only drink this every now and again until it is gone.

This tea was a nice start to the day. The little gold sugar balls in the tea leaves are pretty, and they add a shimmery sort of shine to the tea itself. I found the flavor to be a little mild, but overall very nicely of cinnamon and spice. This tea reminds me of having toast with warm butter and cinnamon and sugar. My Mom used to make this for me when I was little, and I still have it for breakfast most days of the week even now. This tea is a nice accompaniment to that! I will drink this tea again, simply for the fact that it shimmers – I love sparkly things! Luckily it does taste pretty good also.

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves and twigs with pieces of orange peel, little gold sugar balls and white sugar crystals.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of cinnamon and sugar. Tea liquor aroma is of faint cinnamon.
-Tea liquor is a shimmery clear medium orange brown color.
-Warm cinnamon clove flavor with a sugary sweet finish.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. Lightly flavored cinnamon and sugar.

Merry Christmas!

Since we ended up picking our own present, I chose DavidsTea Perfect Mug- the giant sized one with the fall tree theme, and 30g of Glitter&Gold. I’ve been looking forward to it! This mug is going to get so much use!!!

I like this tea. Immediately I thought, “Mmmmm. Nice.” The glitter is so pretty, and I like the orange/vanilla combo, although I slightly oversteeped it.

I’ve had this before and not logged it, because it was a quick taste while I was visiting with my dad. I thought he might like it, so I brought it out to my farm to have with him one afternoon.

I was in the mood for black tea, but I wanted something warm and light, not overwhelmingly dessert-y. It came down to this one or Ceylon Star, and tonight, Glitter & Gold won. I actually really enjoy this tea. It’s kind of quiet and understated and delightful.

I’ve seen some people compare it to Della Terra’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, and while I can see where this comparison comes from, I much prefer this.

(Man, trying to write up a tasting note without my glasses on is kind of tough. Letters all look the same, YARGH!)

EDIT: Sadly, it appears that this tea does not re-steep very well. I normally prefer the second infusion, but not this time.

Ok, I’m going to try this lovely sample today from Katgolik-thank you so much! Looking at the tea, it has gold balls in it; also what looks like sugar crystals, which makes me wonder if I need to sweeten it. It smells nice and cinnamon y; nice.

Now this is done brewing, and I’m waiting for it to cool. OH WOW BABY! this tea literally glitters, like they put fake glitter in it. The glitter swirls and looks generally beautiful. I feel like if this tea is anywhere generally decent I have to buy it, simply to put in clear glass mugs and serve to my friends. GORGEOUS. How did they do that?

The tea….is just decent. I’ve had more cinnamon tea, actually. I feel like they should have added more cinnamon, and it would be PERFECT. I will probably still buy a bit of this tea, just for special occasions because of the glitter. GREAT presentation, average taste. It tastes good with soymilk, but some of the sparkle goes away when you add it.

SNOWSTORM SAMPLING DAY

I am going to spend today drinking as many different types of tea as possible. As I am at home with all my tea-making products and a proper kettle I don’t have to make a GIANT batch of one tea in a thermos to bring to work. I got this tea as a sample from Nicole over at the tea traders facebook group.

To me this was okay. I wouldn’t purchase and it was not bad but not spectacular. I think I am just not a cinnamon tea girl. THE DRY LEAF was SO PRETTY! The tea had a pretty shimmery look to it. As an aside, my husband really liked it.

I had forgotten how awesome this is! And it’s so pretty in the cup, all sparkly and holographic. There’s exactly enough cinnamon in it to be super delicious and not at all overpowering (Cinnamon Heart had waayyy too much cinnamon for me!) and the black tea and vanilla mix perfectly. This tea makes me smile, it’s the best to have as the sun goes down. I used to put this in a thermos and bring it to the library with me last winter, but it’s great on a cool summer evening too.

Yummy!
I picked this up as a sample a while ago and haven’t written a note about it yet. I think this would be so delicious iced! But hot.. Delicious! To me it tastes like a tamed red heart candy. Not really spicy, but it somehow has a berry flavouring or deep rich berry taste. Like a swedish berry? I dont know but it is very random. Maybe it’s due to the sugar in the mix. Who knows.
It also reminds me of Christmas a lot. With the clove/orange flavours. It’s beautiful to watch as well.. a fun tea to sip and relax with. I’m enjoying this thoroughly.. a nice change from unflavoured.

thanks Marcel for this one! I have only had a few of David’s Teas blends and I’ve been a bit half and half. This one smells really wonderful and the idea seemed pretty fun. I can’t quite put my finger on what the smell reminds me of though. Maybe vanilla cupcakes? There are some deep chocolate/citrus notes that are reminding me of that orange blossom oolong I had once. The shimmer in this is quite fun!
I think that my water may have been just a bit cooler than 195F, but the resulting tea was still very flavorful and I really enjoyed it! I was surprised that the black tea was not bitter at all after such a long steep. The main flavors that I am getting are a bit like that vanilla and slight citrus cupcake. I even get small hints of chocolate, but that may be the base. I think that to really be good it needed a thicker mouth feel that I seem to be missing here. Overall, I do like it, but I don’t think I’d order it for myself.

5th day of Christmas

Thanks Daisy-Chubb, this is the plain cinnamon black tea I have been looking for.

Nicely cinnamon like, with a nice black base. It’s reminiscent of candy hearts, but not like a melted cup of them (which I have found many teas to be). It’s just to say sweet, not not overly so in any way. Perfectly balanced!!

And oh the pretty glitter, which hits the cup right away <3

my pic
http://instagr.am/p/TY7L6HsGb2/

THEY BROUGHT IT BACK.
IT’S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE.

One of the girls at the David’s tea near my house simply raves about this tea. It was her all time favorite, but at the limited edition holiday tea for 2009, I didn’t think I’d get the chance to ever try it. But! They brought it back!!

This tea actually glitters. The little gold balls in the tea dissolve, and actually make the tea shimmer! It’s the best!

As for taste—it’s a very simple cinnamon black, which I find just perfect for drinking on cold winter day. It warms one up like a cup of hot chocolate! It’s not overpoweringly cinnamon, and there are little silver sugar crystals in it so it doesn’t need to be sweetened at all.

I’m a big fan and plan to stock up before it disappears again!

Well today has just started out fantastic(sarcasm), so I needed something that would cheer me up a bit. The smell of this tea reminds me of warm cotton candy with it’s sugary sweetness. The little gold glitters make me happy. They are pretty. MM :] For some reason this tea just tastes like cotton candy to me. I can get the cinnamon, but it’s mostly sugar and vanilla flavors. I love it and I really want to order more!

As Borat says.. WAWAWEWA!
I went into DT with a 10$ gift card and I was determined to get as much joy out of it as possible. I went in wanting Salted Caramel but after a whiff, I was turned off. I panicked (I only brought the names of the three teas I was planning on getting) and after consulting the menu, I remembered how much I loved the sound of this tea. But I thought it sounded to wintery. But then I said WHO CARES! It smelt amazing in store and at home. Very cinnamony, like any type of cinnamon gum.
And it was so beautiful, I was very distracted by watching the sparkles move. Like a snow globe in there!
Tasted just as it smelt, sweet but not overly. There is nothing I don’t LOVE about this tea.
I’d love to try with milk but worry it would ruin the magic. But was able to get two solid steeps out of it. And I loved it! Will definitely be buying more, especially for the fall. Have some serious guilt about putting it into a thermos though.. need a glass one. So pretty!

I think this tea is adorable. I got a complimentary cup at the new NYC location. I’m usually NEVER a fan of flavored, or gimmicky tea, but this one just struck me the right way. It’s fun, and sparkly. The flavor is mostly cinnamon, with a bit of orange, and I think I detect some vanilla. Definitely not something I’d have around the house, but it would be great for a holiday party. The cinnamon has a nice warming effect, especially on this cloudy NYC day.

i just finished making my third cup today….I absolutely love this tea! I am a huge cinnamon fan, and this tea smells so delightful! It isn’t overpowering the way cinnamon can be, but it makes for a nice smooth taste.

This is probably my favourite tea to look at dry; loaded with little sugar crystals and gold balls. I put a small bit of milk in my first cup, but had the second without and it was better, more flavourful.

My order from DavidsTea arrived last Thursday, and I am slowly but surely working my way through all of my new teas! I think I’ll be filling a tin with this when I go to the store next month.

Pretty! The dry leaf is beautiful – medium-sized black leaves with bold, sparkly gold sugar balls. The aroma of the dry tea is splendid as well – lots of cinnamon and warm cloves.

The steeped tea is a real treat to behold – a gold shimmer is clearly visible across the surface of the liquid. It’s almost too pretty to drink. Almost. The steeped smell is just like the dry aroma, maybe slightly milder, but not much. Very enticing. The cinnamon is most prominent.

Taste: Definitely picking up lots of warm cinnamon, and the black tea base is wonderful. No bitterness or astringency at all. The cloves and spices are mild enough to not overpower the tea leaves, yet they provide a warmth to the cup that makes for a comforting morning drink. Plus, there’s just enough sweetness from the gold sugar pieces to offset any dryness or sharpness that may come from cinnamon. I’m really enjoying this one.

I thought I had reviewed this before! I guess not. I think the time I was going to review it, I decided not to because I was so underwhelmed by it.
Okay, so the thing with this one is that the aroma is SO GOOD. Just fall-ish, spicy, orangey goodness. So delicious smelling!
Plus, it’s SO beautiful! The swirling gold is mesmerizing and just beautiful. It definitely got bonus points on the scale for that.
That said, the tea itself is some of the weakest I’ve tried. To get even a reasonable amount of tea or ANY sort of flavour from this you have to use double the amount of leaf. If you use double the amount of leaf like I’ve been doing lately, it will taste pleasantly like black tea with a hint of that orangey spice flavour. If weaker or less “kick you in the face” teas are your thing, then give this a shot!
I think the tea itself is tasty enough (again, if you use enough leaf) but the aroma compared to the flavour is disappointing.
Overall, not sorry I got it because I’ll enjoy the rest of it, but I probably wouldn’t repurchase unless I’m feeling particularly whimsical and want the glittery tea again.

I got this tea in Christmas present package from my Auntie including a teapot, the Sweet Indulgence sampler set, and of course a few samples…got plenty of tea to review!

Dry Smell: MMmmm smells like Gingerbread. Of Graham Crackers. I don’t think ethier is a part of this tea, but I’m not complaining. I didn’t want to put the top on my cup so I could watch it sparkle….very cool.
1st taste: If liquid gold could be made into a tea, I think it would taste like this. I really like this and am going to be sad when it’s gone bye bye.

Dry Leaf Nose: Enticing aroma. Sweet spice and black tea.

Liquor: Cloudy with an interesting colour. Tinged with gold.

Flavour: Appealing and sweet cup with a good tea background. Reminiscent of sweet spice cake with notes of clove and orange.