Cookie

Thanks Azzrian for a sample of this one, which I have apparently yet to try!

The dry leaf smells quite interesting – very rich, malty and sweet. It looked to me like this could be a CTC tea/blend, so I was very cautious with the steep time, although didn’t drop down my measurement of leaf. Brewed up, the tea smells much the same. It’s one of those intriguing ones where I’m definitely wondering why on earth I didn’t try this sooner!

Onto the tea! Well, there’s a bit of astringency/bitterness, so I am glad I was super cautious with the infusion! Behind that, however, is a familiar, delicious malty flavour that I’m having trouble placing. It does not taste like cookie; I see that Dylan mentions something about hazelnut, and I can definitely agree with that. There’s also some other flavour in there (like coconutty? But not.) that again is familiar yet unplaceable.

I have a feeling that this tea would be spectacular brewed stronger with a bit of milk and sugar… and luckily I have a couple cups’ worth left to try just this!

Overall, an intriguing and tasty tea that clearly requires a bit of caution with regards to infusion parameters, but I think it’s one I’d consider picking up when I eventually make a full-scale Lupicia order (a very distant eventually, says all the tea on my floor…)

Collaspes on your Steepster dashboard.

As you can see from my lack of notes I have been part of an assassination plot known as an 8 page paper + test one day followed by a 38 question take home final, homework, and another test the next day. I have lived, I am not sure if my grades did. (Who am I kidding they’re probably all on life support anyway but at this point I just strive to meet the grades that make the class count.)

BUT I am now done with 1/2 my semester and I don’t think I even have to go to school tomorrow and I have one class entirely left and then a week to study for micro. And then after that test I get a week off before I’m taking environmental econ. I hope I don’t need to repeat any classes but I might have to repeat one. Which sucks but ugh this semester.

So now I can finally log my teas from the past couple of days starting with Cookie, which helped me write my paper. I got this from Azzrian forever ago and I was messing w/my teas last week and realized how many things I’ve gotten from people and held onto for ages and haven’t tried, so I’m attempting to do that over new things. I’m gonna try not to open packages now and get through these old ones.

I was pretty sure I was going to have to go grab milk and sugar to make this tasty, since it’s CTC and old. But it turned out just fine and was tasty. The flavor was more like a tea biscuit rather than a cookie, but better than your average biscuit…this has caramel.

I have enough left to give it a shot a bit stronger, I’d be curious to try it that way with milk and sugar. Just didn’t want to this particular day.

My tea notes will not be that exciting this week because I brought some teabags and a few samples with me to try only.

This is a good choice for morning time, yes it does taste kind of like a cookie. Very caramel and vanilla with some rich and smooth black tea. It is providing me with an eye opening cup this morning.

It is pretty tasty but I don’t know if I would go to any trouble to stock this on a regular basis.

Thanks to QueenOfTarts for this yummy sample. At first I wasn’t overly impressed, but as it cooled the buttery cookieness emerged and I really enjoyed this tea. I’m already craving more! I also like that it’s a strong tea first and then a cookie. I love Pineapple upside down cake, but it’s more of a (delicious) liquified cake. Perfect for when I want something sweet and don’t need much caffeine. Cookie tea is a strong morning tea for when I don’t want anything too sweet yet and want a strong cup of black tea.

Another sample from Azzrian by way of Sandy.

This tea tastes amazing. It has a mildly sweet flavor, which tastes a little like cookies and remarkably like hazelnut to me. Not sure if that’s part of the ingredients or not, but it doesn’t look like Lupicia is telling! There is a little bit of caramel note at the end, with a smooth (but fairly light) tea base.

Sandy mentioned that she thought it tasted like watered down coffee. I don’t agree (though, I do like coffee). However, it does very, very much remind me of the hazelnut non-dairy creamer that my sister puts in her coffee. I wonder if Sandy has just been tricked with hazelnut coffee ;)

Num nums. Very tasty. Price is a little unappetizing, but oh well. If I work up to ordering from Lupicia, this is definitely on the list.

Thanks again, gals!

10PM. It’s bedtime, isn’t it? Good thing I never really followed the rules on sleep… Either way, thank you, Dustin, for this not-quite-bedtime treat!

Lupicia makes a fair attempt with this tea profile, definitely in the baked snacks neighborhood, but it’s not quite a cookie (nor a biscuit). This tastes like an almost-cookie, as if the ingredients in the batter were all there, but weren’t quite mixed or measured out correctly. This is slightly sweet, but not sweet enough; nicely buttery, though a touch too much; and nutty, headed off-course towards granola. The caramel undertone is smooth and tasty, but it seems out of place here. There’s also a mild bitterness that’s not quite cacao enough to be desserty. The grainy texture of the liquor is an interesting choice, strange, but fitting. A fuller, thicker body would have been better here, though. It comes off a little too thin.

Not that this isn’t a good tea – it’s really tasty, and it has great layering and complexity. It’s just not ‘Cookie’ enough, is what it is! To be fair, I will try to add sugar and/or milk to it later, and pair it with food to see if it does any better there – Dustin sent such a generous amount that I have more than enough to experiment with (which makes me very happy), so I’m still looking forward to fiddling with this to explore its potential.

On the topic of fiddling, note that this seems to benefit from a light steep. A previous attempt with a 3min first infusion yielded a clearly overdone (though still pleasant) brew, but a 2min first infusion and a 3min second infusion worked much better.

*Edit: A third, final infusion needs 6+min, but this is actually my favorite out of all the infusions! It’s the closest to the cookie profile, with minimal bitterness but a thicker feel and sweeter, very understated and very, very good.

For anyone who thinks a tea named Cookie would be sweet, even cloyingly sweet – think again! This is for all of you tea lovers who do not really go for the sweet teas but would love to try a cookie tea anyway! This is a wonderful black tea with no astringency or bitterness that has a butter cookie flavor yet is NOT sweet – that is unless you add your own sugar!
Really good and unusual!

Another old sample from a box from way back. Improperly stored, possibly smell contaminated. I really regret being lazy about my samples now! The dry smell is pretty nice. I get some sweetness and a hint of cinnamon.

Steeped, this smells weird. It smells like freshly buttered corn, or prhaps popcorn. I steeped it only 2 minutes as the smell really started to intimidate me – as food it would be really appetizing but as tea it’s just weird. And nothing at all like a cookie!

The leaf is not something I’m used to, there were little nubs that looked like the Kenyan Tinderet from DavidsTea. I’m thinking this has Indian and/or African tea in it, neither of which are my forte. I see that Lupicia recommends it with milk. Sadly, I don’t like to add things to my tea, and I can rarely be persuaded to imbibe milk in any form. I’m not familiar with Lupicia as they don’t ship to Canada, but I really don’t like that they don’t seem to list their ingredients, or at least the base tea. Inquiring minds want to know!

Despite my apprehension about the smell I’ve decided to at least try it. First sips echo the aroma. I get BOLD black tea, almost as roasty and bitter as coffee. I definitely do not care for the base here and I can’t seem to get past it. I don’t get any caramel or anything else, though that could be because of it’s age. I even steeped it in a TSac to minimize bitterness, but this one just isn’t palatable to me. I’ll offer it up to the beau’s coworkers, perhaps someone there will take to it. :)

Backlogged… I had to make this twice because I knew I had to have done something wrong. The first time it turned out too strong and nothing like a cookie. So today I was more cautious about my measuring and steep time and it turned out great. I feel like this tastes more like what I imagined a cookie would taste like while it was baking in the oven. I think this is a great fall and winter tea. It is warm, cozy, toasty, rich, and bakery fresh if that’s possible. I am glad I bought it.

A very interesting and lovable tea! It smells really like butter/almond cookies – very sweet, buttery and caramely – but there’s no cookie flavour in the liquor at all. Taste-wise it’s a sweet and intensely aromatic black tea. It’s like you are having tea with some freshly baked cookies even though all you are having is just a cup of this! I mean, how can Lupicia manage to do this??? It’s simply amazing, if not magical! A must-have for people with a sweet tooth but are currently on diet ;)

Tea of the morning…..

This was not part of my 2012 Lucky bag, but I have been eyeing this tea ever since I heard of Lupicia. It is a rich black tea base with cookie flavor that is lightly almond and lightly caramel. What I do like about it, is that the flavor is subtle without being too overly sweet. It just makes the rich tea base more fun. In comparison with the flavored teas from Harney that I usually drink, this one actually has something bready flavored going on. I am sure it is a completely different tea base for a flavored tea than what I have previously tried. I am very pleased with this! It is strong enough for a morning tea.

Usual mug method….

Okay, I decided that it’s just not realistic enough for me to refrain from tasting my new teas while trying to drink up my older teas. I’ve been trying diligently for a couple months now to use up my opened teas but it’s getting so boring!

So today, I couldn’t take it anymore, I just had to open up this tin! I was dying to try it!

And it is yummy!! Kind of like liquified Twix! Very caramelly with a burnt cookie edge.

Love it!

It smells very sweet—do they actually put sugar in this? But the taste is more bake-y than sugary. I think this would be super with milk. This could even be a tea equivalent of Starbuck’s Caramel Machiatto!

Very satisfying if you’re craving something sweet and warm. :)

This tastes wonderful. It is like taking a bite of a caramel, sugar cookie! It is so smooth and there is a hint of nutty taste to it. Absolutely delicious! This is even better with milk and sugar! WOW! Dessert in a cup!

This is a sample from Sandy and indirectly Azzrian. Thanks to both!

Wow! Love this stuff. It reminds me of shortbread cookies with caramel. There is a roasted quality to the baked goodie flavor that is just awesome. The base is smooth and malty. Lovely tea!

How do they make this?
It’s yummy. Caramel and cookie taste :)

Another delightful tea courtesy of the quiet life!
Wow, they picked the correct name for this tea. It smells just like a caramel cookie – so of course I’m having this with milk and a touch of sugar (who can have cookies without milk?)

This tea is smooth, rich, and includes a hint of a crust-cookie-like taste that adds a bit of balance to all the sweet flavors present in this tea. Even though this tea appears to be mostly CTC, it does resteep decently (as long as you keep the first infusion to around 3 minutes). I can only have one rating of 100 for the dessert tea category, and Marco Polo will perhaps have that distinction forever, but this tea is a close second!

Yum! Definitely sweet, definitely bakey, but melded nicely with a smooth black base. I didn’t add milk, though I think it would definitely be an excellent addition. This is the kind of tea I always want in the morning. I always reach for dessert teas first thing out of bed.

Yum yum yum! This tea has such a beautiful caramel-y taste to it. Sweet and delicious – but also a robust tea – strong and sturdy! I like this one a lot!

Perfect with biscotti – this one is a favorite: http://biscottibari.foodzie.com/authentic-almond-biscotti.html

Okay this tea is AMAZING!!!! It smells like absolute heaven. It is this wonderful mix of vanilla, caramel, biscotti, and a little bit of coffee. It smells just like this coffee and gift store my mom used to take me in when I was little. This was one of those teas that I just couldn’t wait for it to finish steeping because it smelled so delectable!

It also tastes delicious. It tastes like an almond biscotti cookie, combined with a caramel latte. I can’t wait to drink every bit of this tea!

This tea genuinely smells like a cookie! Imagine what a caramel-flavored shortbread cookie might smell like, and that’s what this tea smells like. Yum!

Brewed, it smells bakey and slightly sweet. The scent kiiiind of reminds me of hazelnut coffee, actually. The nuttiness probably comes from the almond that’s in it. But overall, it smells much like the dry leaf.

This is smooth with a side of bakey and sweet. However, it doesn’t taste quite as much like a cookie as it smells. This doesn’t mean it’s not yummy. It’s REALLY yummy. :)

You know what? To me, it tastes kind of like a sweeter Thomas Sampson. Mmmmm.