Jessie's Tea

Another sipdown! I’m down to 106 now – not too shabby! This was nice. I’m always a bit nervous about lavender because I associate it with grandmothers and soap, but this was really good.

I just packed up 19 teas for my sister as a Loose-Leaf starter kit (with instructions, perfect spoon and perfect mug). I’m so excited and I hope she likes it. I tried to mix the traditional teas like Earl Grey and Assams, with all the fun flavoured ones that a lot of people start with. I hope it’s not too much. :| I will probably wait until Sil’s package arrives because I know she sent me some DavidsTea samples and some of those might be nice to pass on as well.

106 is nice, but I’m worried I’ll be up to 150 soon (which would be a record). I’m expecting samples from Jessiwrites, JackieT, Sil, TerryHarpLady, and Kittena, and I’ve got orders now from Verdant, Butiki, Steappe Shoppe, and Harney & Sons. And 52 Teas. Yikes. That sounds like a lot when you type it all out. I spaced it out though – that’s probably ALL I ordered this month.

This tin of rooibos is one of the “originals” from my initial first purchase at David’s Tea. Age has not weakened its resolve to invade entire rooms with its “stench” whenever I prepare it- it may even have made it stronger!

Despite owning this for over year I still have yet to figure out if I love it or merely tolerate it. Coconut and monstrous lavender carry both the scent and flavour profile. Sometimes that comes off as yummy creamy, floral, and mint-like, other-times it simply makes me nauseous in a soap and perfume guzzling way. I wonder what would happen if I bathed in this olfactory titan.

Although I have mixed feelings on the taste, it never fails to make me nostalgic of my first days of loose leaf purchasing. Back then I bought 100g tins of everything and was on a mission to obtain every tea and tisane that even mentioned coconut. If it weren’t for my obsession with coconut, the whispers of a delicious coconut tea at Murchies, and the continuous “sold out” status of said tea, I would never have begun exploring in the first place. My love of coconut and tea are deeply connected to each other.

Today, I find myself enjoying this rooibos blend. When it’s like this I always wonder why I don’t drink it all the time. I’ve yet to try other lavender blends but this one has always made me curious to try more.

Still unsure about this tea but it would feel so wrong not to have it around after our long history together. It’s odour would always be noticeably absent. :(

I popped into Davids Tea this past weekend while Christmas shopping with my hubby. I wouldn’t have selected this tea on my own, but I got talking with one of the sales associates and she was raving about this tea, so I decided to buy a small sample despite my indifference to lavender. Actually, I should clarify that my lavender indifference pertains more to soaps, candles, bath products, linen and room sprays. I’ve never had lavender in tea, but I was skeptical that I was going to like this tea not only because my indifferent to lavender, but I’m also picky with coconut in some teas, and a good number of red rooibos tisanes. I cringed as I took my first sip, preparing to mentally booo the selection. The lavender was fairly strong, I would almost describe this tea as spicy, kind of akin to rosemary I suppose? It’s difficult to describe. It’s unlike any tea I’ve tried before. I can see this tea being an either “love it or leave it” type of tea, it’s neat to try, but I don’t think it will be loved by everyone with its strong and unique flavors.

I don’t have a lot of experience with lavender as a flavoring component so I was going into this one blind.

The fragrance is strong of coconut and very subtly minty. Since mint isn’t listed as an ingredient, I’m guessing that’s how I was interpreting the lavender.

When prepared, there was a faint slick at the top of the cup which I’m guessing was coconut oil. There was a creaminess to this and the coconut flavor was very strong. I picked up a very faint wintergreen or peppermint note and a tart-floral finish. There’s a lingering coconut aftertaste.

I received a sample of this with my recent order. It definitely isn’t something I would have selected on my own but I was pleasantly surprised by how good this turned out.

My coworker RAVES about this tea, so I decided to give it a try as a cup to go. I enjoy rooibos, quite a bit. I’ve found recently I also enjoy coconut. Apparently not that much though. This is an experience that I liken to drinking a cup full of the worst bad breath you have ever smelled. Not for me, that for sure.

made my breakfast and lunches for the week! feels good and healthy.

TRYING to decide on a book to read – Ninety Days, Devil in the Details, How Should a Person Be?, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Gone Girl, and Songs and Stories of the Ghouls.
i’m really good at reading the first few pages of each and then not deciding on one. and i’m freakin pissing myself off.
don’t worry, it’s my own burden and i do it to myself.

this tea is not very lavender i don’t think. i say that because i don’t really like lavender. but i loooove myself some coconut.

(i will say that i always have a hard time picking this tea because i made the mistake of listening to the songwriter and song the tea description mentions and the thought of it makes me hate people)

So this is pretty great. The rooibos taste is strong enough that I know it’s a rooibos but slight enough that I can taste the coconut. I don’t notice much lavendar, maybe because I wasn’t looking for it. I made it hot a little while ago and it was soothing, now I’m picking up the remainder of what’s left (cold) and it is AMAZING cold!! I guess when I really pay attention to the details, the lavendar is there, but to me it’s much more of a simple soothing flavored rooibos, which I can seeing loving at bedtime or post meals (especially BIG meals). I would order this for sure, and with my tea club card that came with my steeper, I think I will once bills are straighened out!

This smells EXACTLY like the last bottle of sunscreen I bought! I’m guessing it’s the coconut. Though this really sounds weird, it’s not a bad thing in itself; while sunscreen is far from appetizing, the smell itself is pretty nice, and brings back good memories.

Steeped, the coconut I got from the smell is still there, but the lavender comes out a lot more! The combination of the two works nicely, and it’s a relief to see the balancing done right. I remember the now defunct Lavender Zen tea from DT, which was way overpowered by bitter lavender, and it wasn’t too pleasant. Here, the balance is good, and the mint adds just what was needed for- wait, there’s no mint? Well, go wonder! It feels like there’s some, and it feels good! The tea also seems very creamy, probably thanks to the coconut. I like!

not a tasting note so much as a…. bath note? i threw two tea sacs of this into a steaming hot bath this afternoon and emerged soft, smelling amazing and waaaay more relaxed than any bubble bath ever. also, because it’s just rooibos, lavender and coconut i was able to hang out with my bird while i was in the tub without worrying about him coming into contact with harmful chemicals

I received this in a swap a while back, not entirely sure from who, and finally got around to a pot if it. I needed tea & can only drink herbals at this hour. it’s been raining all day, I’m super blah, tired & irritated, thus I need tea.

I really expected to hate this tea. I don’t hate it, but I also don’t love it. considering this has lavender I really enjoy it way more than I expected. I get mostly lavender with a touch of creamy coconut. this would be a really nice bedtime tea.

I’ll finish what i have, but probably wouldn’t buy it. as a side note, my daughter really seemed to enjoy it.

I was craving a coconut tea today, maybe because it’s been colder here, and I just feel like being wrapped in a warm, cozy, coconut bliss. Haha, anyways, I finally got this tea to test it out. Have had my eye on it for a month or so actually!

The dry smell is intensely coconut, quite desert smelling, I want coconut pudding now! The wet smell initially was coconut, but then suddenly seemed to change to more lavender with a hint of woodiness from the rooibos. Interesting! Pretty abrupt change if you ask me.

Now for the taste – I steeped for 5 mins, as I do for mostly all rooibos – and this is quite the cup! It’s smooth, and a nice lavender flavor right at the start, but the creamy coconut comes through fully in the aftertaste. Actually, afterwards pretty much all I taste is coconut! Also at the start, there’s a deep sort of mintiness, I think that might be the lavender and rooibos mixing. Regardless, this is a very unique cuppa, and seems super comforting, exactly what I was looking for today (upset tummy blah).

Overall, a very unique flavor. I think I like it, it’s so different from what I’ve been drinking lately though. I think it needs to grow on me a little bit, just a lot sweeter and richer than what I’m used to :)

Hummm. I had high hopes for this, I mean, I like Rooibos, I like Coconut and I’m guessing the lavender was a wild card. It wasn’t very earthy like most rooibos’ i’m used to, and it had a hint of mint, almost a cooling feeling as you drank it. It was just an odd combination. It was really coconutty, which is really fine for me, but the lavender did something odd to the end result.

This herbal concoction is quite unique with its quirky addition of lavender. Coconut and lavender: definitely a different combination for me. Delicate, floral, spicy and sweet were adjectives that came to mind. True story: I woke up with a very bad headache, the kind that just settles in at the base of your skull and makes you dizzy and borderline queasy. I had this herbal infusion and voila, my headache receded and went away completely. Voila: the healing properties of lavender! The end.

Had this in store this morning and liked it a lot! The iced flavor reminded me of something, but my mind was a million miles away while I drank it, so I’m not quite sure what. Hrm. But it was very coconutty and rich and creamy and mmmmm. I might have to make some here at home.

In other news I had an interview today for a job I really want and I feel like it went really, really well, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

Mmmmm, soapy. :/ Another tea that I’m going to give another go before rating, since I was a bit distracted by ALL THE DISHES EVER and oversteeped a bit. So, we’ll see. Because it smells AMAZING and I definitely want to try it again, but… yuck.

Weird ETA Uhhhhh this is growing on me as it cools? IDEK.

In one of my last posts, I referred to the chocolate store that I worked for, and I’m gonna mention it again. The store decided to release flower inspired chocolates. One of them was a lavender chocolate. I had to try it and it wasn’t good. Well, at least to me it wasn’t.

So, when thinking about trying this tea, I couldn’t help but think of that chocolate, even tho realistically, tea and chocolate are two different things. This came as a free sample and this poor little bag as been waiting for me to try it for months.

The coconut/lavender blend is quite nice! It’s soft and smooth. It’s a calming tea that is very nice. I’d definitely get this one again.

The smell of this tea is intoxicating, the lavender and coconut is so relaxing. After being steeped, there appears to be a film of coconut oil. At first the taste is lavender and rooibos. It then turns into coconut for the after taste. The coconut is so nice and strong, and lingers for quite some time. After a while, the coconut after taste turns into vanilla? I find this tea to be satisfying and relaxing.

Defintely the best of the sampler packs I’ve had so far. I love the smell right out of the package. The taste is great and makes me think back to Mexico when I was the beach. Highly recommended.

Wow, I’ve never logged a note about this tea!

This was actually the first DT tea I ever tried. And my first rooibos. I added it to my first-ever order and I’d like to think it was because the ingredients sounded interesting rather than self-absorption re: the name, but that’s debatable.

Anyway, I don’t like lavender. But I’ve come to realize I pretty much like coconut in tea any time, any place. This tea is floral, but the coconut smooths it out really nicely and the combination is really calming. So last night when I wanted a good bedtime tea I went for this. It was late but I didn’t feel ready to sleep yet I didn’t want more Mother’s Little Helper. This, I find, is the perfect evening tea. Very relaxing, I’m guessing thanks to the lavender. This one is tasty and great at night but I don’t really feel compelled to re-stock often. My tin is almost empty now. I’ll likely get a bit more to keep on hand, though, because it fills a certain niche really well.

I’d like to start off by saying I hate Lavender, I tend to receive lavender scented things a lot and they just collect dust in my bathroom cupboard, but when i smelled this in the store all I got was Coconut! I love coconut, so to find the smell i hate the most along with coconut one of my favorites was confusing lol. I decided to give this a try and bought a 25g bag to try it out.

Now that it’s steeped the Lavender is coming through full force with a hint of coconut, hmm starting to think this may have been a mistake. OK i’ll try it, waste not want not right?

The taste is definitely more coconut! I like it! it’s got a sweet after taste and pleasant feeling on the tongue smooth almost creamy. The smell is definitely Lavender though, I’m surrounded by it, for those of you who like lavender this is a good choice, I like the coconut flavor of this tea that i may be able to overlook the scent in the air in favor of the taste in my mouth, may buy this again, not sure though.