Checkmate

So I’ve been writing all my tasting notes as I’ve been drinking my teas because I’m simply no good at remembering specifics once I’m done. And I drank this one while my fiance tinkered around fixing the broken furnace and completely forgot to add a tasting note.

So, from what I remember – definitely yum. This was another of my samples I picked up while at DavidsTea today. I love when coconut works out in my teas! I LOVE coconut – the smell, the taste, everything! However when it’s too much it’s just blech. This tea was great for it yay! And I liked the mix of black and white tea – neat. I’ll have to have another cup and decide from there if this gets the upgrade to my collection.

this tea is ….. zzzzzzzz…. oh wait, …… where was i… ?

The scent of this is not to be believed. It’s complex and has a sugary sweetness about it. I was apprehensive about the coconut element, since I have a complicated relationship with coconut. Not being a huge fan of it’s flavoring, I do like subtle hints of it in things, but only when it’s really coconut, and not an artificial taste.

The coconut in this complemented the tea perfectly. It added a warm element to it, which balanced out the sweeter aspects. Surprisingly potent for its ingredients, it is a real treat. I had considered getting this the last time I was at David’s, but had reconsidered after smelling it. But I had it with my sister this evening, and I know it’s only a matter of time before I’ll be running back to David’s to buy it for myself!

For some reason the vanilla notes remind me of The Royal Wedding Tea by Harney & Sons.

First off, do you know what’s awesome about david’s tea? I ordered this friday night (along with some of the new tea filters), it shipped monday, and it arrived today. I live in the USA. That’s good stuff, is all I’m saying. Also, they answer all my annoying emails.

On to the tea! Smells delicious. Reminds me a tad bit of buttered rum. There’s no one assertive flavor. It’s silky smooth…definitely a good afternoon tea.

Lovely. This is my second try from my small advent calendar sample. Enjoyed it the first time and really enjoyed it this time too. Definite hints of coconut towards the end, but very creamy throughout. Someone noted reminded them of buttered rum, and I’d have to agree, except I may like this one even better. Still not as much as I love Stormy Night, but defintely getting this next time I’m at Davids.

So this was monday’s tea … Day 17 of the advent calendar. I meant to have Sunday’s first, but mixed up the tins and didn’t realise till I started drinking the tea. This tea is a mixture of black and white tea, with some chamomile. So it makes sense that it was very soothing to drink it. I found the flavour light and enjoyable.

This is simply a smelling note, as yet, since I’ll have to abandon my too-hot-to-drink tea to get back to the lab… but my goodness does this ever smell delicious!! I’m not sure cocoa is quite how I’d describe it, but the scent is amazingly rich and complex. I should note that the dry tea, although it smells good, does not live up to the actual flavour of the tea.

I wasn’t even planning to try this tea as it contains chamomile (YUCK), but the DavidsTea girl assured me that she hates chamomile too but still likes this tea, so I figured it was worth the $3 or so to give it a shot. Excited!

(Ok, just tried a small sip of the very hot tea and I am VERY excited as it is creamy and dark and rich and yummy. But need to leave now sooooooo…)

So back to it, and trying the cold tea… and WOW. Just wow. This is everything I could have wanted for an afternoon treat without the calories. I taste no chamomile whatsoever (or it’s blending beautifully with the other flavours), it is simply all rich, dark, chocolatey/coffee goodness. I am genuinely impressed. I’m also hoping that the giant piece of coconut that this cup got is not the sole creator of this yumminess, otherwise I will be sorely disappointed for future cups when they have about 1/5 or less of the coconut. Assuming that this is not the case, it looks like I may have just found my afternoon-in-the-lab treat tea :D

Still sipping, but so far liking!

EDIT: Ok, so I gulped a bit, as I need to have a shower and wash my hair and it is 10:15 already! I don’t think I will have the time before bed, sadly.

I had this with a big spoon of brown sugar and some milk, and honestly, most teas are quite fine for me that way. I got a very subtle taste, and the note I picked up most, I think, was the coconut. I find the blend to be a bit subtle…not sure I pick up the chocolate notes, but I’ve always been a bit rubbish at identifying subtle flavours in wine, coffee or tea. I just sorta like it or I don’t. Ha ha ha!

So I do like this blend, and I think that I will be ok with it and get more while it is here, but it isn’t Buttercream. I may have to have further tastings to see if I change my mind.

This was the TOTD on the day I started at DT. I tried it, straight, liked it and then just never came back to it. Now I finally got around to the tin from my 24 days of tea. DELICIOUS. I’l going to be having this in store a lot more!

The smell of the dry leaves is amazing!!! So sweet and coconut-y! And once the tea is brewed ohhh smells so good. I find that when drinking the tea, I taste more tea than flavour, which I do not mind. The after taste is very flavourful though. I do not taste or smell any chocolate, which I dont mind because chocolate teas are okay but not my absolute favourite. Overall this is a gooood tea, I am almost out of it and I am not sure if I should buy more or not…

I bought this along with a few Chai teas from Davids today and got some to go, there is a very light chocolate taste which pairs very nice with the vanilla and coconut. I find its a very smooth, sweet tea which was a nice change from the Hot Lips tea (spicy) I had this morning while in class. I’m savouring it and very glad I bought enough to have a few cups. I’m not sure if it will be a permanent fixture in my cupboard just yet but it will definitely be one I buy more of!

Wow…I regret not trying this one earlier, its delicious!!! Im happy I finally decided to try it.

Day 30 of my 101 days of tea challenge… complete with mood music! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6_wLhUaJWw — the clip is also a perfect length of time for which to let the tea steep! Tee hee!)

2.5-3 tsp in my two cupper. This tea gets a higher rating than I would have given it on my own for one reason: my sister, a non-tea drinker, would actually drink it. If that is not high praise, I don’t know what is. (I was only going to give it a rating of a few percentages lower, but still.)

I did not find that it lived up to its claim of tasting like chocolate. I felt a little hint of it, more in the scent than anything, but not to the extent that the packaging seemed to suggest. A bit of milk adds the creaminess, adding to the illusion and making it taste very vaguely of a white hot chocolate.

Claims aside, this was a subtle but delicious tea. I would prefer something with a slightly stronger personally, but the taste was very pleasant. The coconut is the strongest taste, and apparently I enjoy it much more in tea than I do eating it. The Roman chamomile is beautiful to look at (I wish I had a clear teapot to watch them bloom and dance in the water!). Resteeped, it was even more subtle, though the flavours were still quite there and beautiful.

The gentle, subtle flavour of this tea is best drank on its own rather than with anything, I think, but is certainly worth getting, in my humble opinion.

I really like the addition of white tea to the black to add a little bit of a lighter taste to this. This tea tastes a little less than chocolate than I was expecting according to the description but that is ok because it is still nice in a different smooth way. I like the mingling of flavours in the tea.
I tried to re-steep but didn’t like those results though.

Mmm. I love this tea every time I drink it. Just a really enjoyable, not overly-flavoured cup of black tea. The chocolately flavour comes through without being too sweet or too bitter. The only way this tea could be better is if it were called Let This Be Our Last Battletea.

So I bought this tea as an impulse buy. I love chocolate and I want to try more chocolate teas. This one smelt so much like chocolate (probably the coconut and almonds working together there), but had none in it. Plus the fact that it’s a white/black tea blend is pretty cool. So I’m home, I brew up a cup, annnnnnd……disappointment :c It doesn’t taste bad, no….but there is no trace of the chocolate that it claims to have. NOTHING like hot chocolate, not even close (of course I’m a hot chocolate addict, so I know my shit when it comes to it). Instead I taste a nice smooth blend. The camomile helps bring the white and black together. So for me this is a fail on what it claims to be…..but I still like it for what I taste. I did only buy a 50g pouch and I’m glad I did. It was fun to try out, but I definitely won’t get it again.

Also, it is categorized as a white tea, but the temperature it says to steep it at is that of a black tea. I feel that scorches the white tea leaves and I’m left with a nasty bitter tea. I prefer to steep it at a lower white tea suited temperature.

Even with all the hype that this tastes so much like chocolate, I was surprised when it actually did. The white tea base was slightly surprising, but it’s actually pretty wonderful. I think the most prominent flavour element was the richness of the coconut, and then the chocolatey taste. Only steeped this one once, and really enjoyed it with some almond milk. I’m planning on steeping it a few different ways to find out what works the best for me.

Um… just realized have been in DT every day since Saturday. Mostly by accident, normally we aren’t downtown that often but it just happened. And it also happens that the same 2 boys have been working as well… ah the shame. But they love it haha ;)

Tonight my cup is full of Checkmate. Lovely, absolutely lovely. It’s one of those teas that I’m not always in the mood for, but right now the coconutty black tea flavour is just htiting the right spot. It doesn’t quite taste like chocolate like the description would have you believe, but the chamomile flowers just lend a certain… tenderness to the flavour. I say again, lovely. Probably would be delicious as a latte.

This was a reccomendation made to me by one of the employees last time I visited. When I first smelled it a while back, I really wasnt a fan of the smell however, the last time I smelled it, I did like the smell. This tea is really creamy which I ennjoyed and surprisingly (especially for a white tea) it did give a re-steep which was up to the standards of the first. I would have this again for sure.

I threw this on a pot before my night was slated to start and while waiting I casually inhaled the aroma of the bag. It smelled promising and it would be my first introduction to white tea so I kept my hopes up. What it ended up being was something subpar to my tastebuds.

I noticed immediately a bitter aftertaste. That usually does not bode well for me. After that it tasted so forgettable that I added a dreaded cube of sugar. That turned it into an even less impressive cup. After being disappointed I set it aside. A coworker expressed interest in it so I was happy to possibly swap it but overall I would not rebuy it. I won’t judge other white teas on it but I wish it was more exciting to me. The name was lovely!