whatshesaid

Mmmmmm. So creamy and limey and vanillariffic.
Rooibos is not overly noticeable and that’s just how I like it!

It brewed up a nice rich brown. Very flavorful. awesome.

Totally worth owning all three.

I’m going to bump my rating up from 71 as this was good for 3 steeps and it really is buttery and yummy.

I had this at work the other day, my last sample from Bluebird Tea Co (boohooo).

I wish I would have thought to bring some of my Davidstea’s Earl’s Garden, because I really like that one, and the two blends are definitely similar.

Unfortunately, (but not really) I did get distracted when drinking this when a coworker who had to leave work a month or two ago due to a cancer diagnosis came in for a visit, I hadn’t seen him since he left work abruptly and it was awesome to see him again.

By the time i got back to my tea I had to finish it cold…. I really did enjoy it though! I would order a small amount to try it again and compare the two. I would have to figure out if they’re different enough to justify having them both. The ingredients are slightly different.

I regret not being able to really pay attention when drinking this one, but…. Not really, given the circumstances :)

Thank you again, Bluebird Tea Co!

Hm.

Well, now that I’m 100% on what a regular genmaicha tastes like I feel a bit more qualified to comment on this.

So, first off I am definitely getting a bit of a weird chemical taste to this, it seems to leave some kind of bitterness in my mouth after the fact.

I can taste a hint of sweetness from the marshmallow, and from what I recall of the Marshmallow Treat there is a noticeable (but not dramatic) chocolatey-ness to this one. I’ve never had a lapsang souchong before but I feel like if I try really really hard I can grab some kind of faint smokiness.

Ultimately, I wanted so badly to truly enjoy this but the weird aftertaste is killing my tea buzz.

Thank you for sending some my way though, Kittenna, I had really wanted to try this!

I’m left wondering if the icky chemical flavour has to do with the possible wonky batch of this tea? Who knows. I didn’t hate it but it was distracting.

Had a sample of this from Kittenna, merci!

It was good, but not as good as the Taiwanese Mountain Black (I know they are two totally different types of tea but my repertoire of straight teas is limited), as I found the flavor wasn’t quite as strong. It was roasty but not super roasty, there are some unique flavors within that I (of course) can’t really identify (told you i will never be able to pick food notes out of an unflavoured tea!) but I did enjoy it!

Just a bit too weak for me, I think I would have to use more leaves or steep it longer in order to get the desired flavor. I suppose that’s why it works well as the base for the Maple Pecan Oolong (which I love), it lets the delicious flavor shine through.

I probably wouldn’t order this one, though I wouldn’t mind trying it again! It may have been just a tad too delicate for me. So happy to have had some though!

Made some at work and took to my desk, can hear people walking by on the other side of my cubicle “wall” commenting and wondering what the delicious smell is.

My fave: “oh my god, ca sent right bon!!”

Good ol bilingual NB :)

For the record, it’s still yummy!!

I’m not even sure if I can adequately describe how much I love this stuff.
It’s delicious in so many ways. First of all, the caramel flavour is like ‘BAM!’ The perfect balance between that and the matcha. Not too sweet, just right.

Every morning when I make some at work, there’s always someone near by who goes “OH MY GOD what is that smell?? What are you making? It smells so good!”

Cue my advertising spiel – “It’s caramel matchaccino, you can get it online from Redleadtea.com” (but usually preceded by a layman’s explanation of what matcha is, period)

I love making it as a hot latte with my little battery operated ebay purchased milk frother and a combo of warm milk and not quite hot water, but I’ve tried mixing it with cold milk in my Magic Bullet blender and it creates this creamy, frothy, thick and delicious smoothie that is probably the best way to start any day. Honestly. Man.

I had tried this during the testing stages and fell in love. So when it was finally released and on sale I bought some right away, the largest size because I just knew I’d want to have it around for as long as possible.

Apparently you can even make this by putting it in a bottle with milk and giving it a good shake, how easy is that? And inexpensive… wayyyy cheaper than going to Starbucks. I’d rather support the ‘Little Guy’ anyday, anyway!

For this, Red Leaf, I salute you.

Get on that!!
http://www.redleaftea.com/matchaccino/caramel-matchaccino.html

This is my third matcha from Red Leaf. I had a huge internal struggle trying to decide which to order (previously I’ve bought French Vanilla and Caramel, both at the ‘Delicate’ level of flavoring) and I wanted a third flavor along with my Caramel Matchacchino order (that stuff is also awesome!).

Anyhow, I decided on this, ultimately, because I love maple everything. Also I had tried a sample before and enjoyed it. I believe the flavor level was ‘Distinctive’ though.

It is tasty, and I can tell that there is a sweetness within which takes the edge off the matcha and adds some creaminess to it, however I find it disappointingly short on mapley goodness.

I guess I personally wish that there was more flavoring within the matcha for the ‘Delicate’ option, because honestly I barely taste anything aside from a mild sweetness. Based on other reviews I know this is one of the more popular offerings from Red Leaf, and I can see most people have ordered the ‘Distinctive’ or ‘Robust’ level of flavor. I found the French Vanilla lacking in flavor also, at the ‘Delicate’ level. The Caramel, however, was good; perhaps the caramel flavor used is just stronger to start with compared to the others.

I think it’s unfortunate to have to pay $6 extra to taste the maple; it should be noticeable in the ‘Delicate’ level and if you want it to blow your mind and completely hide the matcha taste, THEN pay extra to go up a level or two. I’d rather the price of the ‘Delicate’ option go up a couple bucks and have more flavor added to that to ensure it is noticeable, rather than have to pay so much more to bump up to the next level. I understand the need to have different levels available to please customers, but I definitely think it’s a problem for the base level to have such a weak taste to it.

As a disclaimer, I am a person who likes to be smacked in the face with flavor, but unfortunately it’s not in my budget to pay the asking price for Robust and even Distinctive, in size large, which I prefer to buy to make it last since shipping is so pricey to Canada. (Canadians love to drink maple syrup, didn’t you know??)

I made this as a latte, and I enjoyed it, as I said I am just a bit let down by the lack of discernible maple taste. I do plan to put in another order before the end of the month for Cheesecake and another flavor to be determined, I will have to pay for the ‘Distinctive’ just in case, as I don’t want to have another large bag of matcha where the flavoring is weaker than I’d like.

I love these products, I think Red Leaf has tapped into a unique market and there’s certainly no flavoured matchas available in my city. I plan to always have some in stock, I love to have a latte in the morning and I am looking forward to trying many more flavours as my finances allow.

Will I drink all of this with pleasure?? Of COURSE! I just find it kind of crazy that the ‘Delicate’ option for one flavor (Caramel) could be so much tastier than another flavor. Kind of inconsistent, though I realize this would likely be the flavoring used more so than anything, but I wish more flavor would be added accordingly to compensate. The ‘Delicate’ option should taste like its namesake for all of the matcha flavours, and I don’t feel this one does.

Luckily, being the proud Canadian that I am I always have a bottle of pure maple syrup in the house so I can easily jazz this up to my tastes.

Get yours here: (I’d just recommend Distinctive level at least)
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/maple-syrup-matcha.html

Yes yes yes. Be back soon!!

ETA
Ok, here I am. So, Kittenna sent me a sample of this and I loved it. I drank two steeps this afternoon at work. I am not going to sit here and pretend like I can discern all of the unique flavors within this tea, just know that I am not really a fan of straight teas, generically speaking, but I am going to order this next time I hit up Butiki.

My list just keeps growing. It was flavorful and roasty and golden and not at all boring or overly strong to drink. It was just what I needed at the end of my work day and I’m sure I will “need” it again.

Eta again…
I got 2 flavourful steeps out of 1 tsp of tea in a normal sized coffee mug, went for a third but it didn’t have enough flavour for this lady.

Merci Kittenna!! :)

This is going to be a rubbishy first entry for this tea, I’m sorry!!

I chose this as one of my samples from Bluebird Tea Co because I have a big heart on for Earl Greys, and my all time favorite EG is Davidstea’s Cream of Earl Grey, which is very creamy and yummy. I have yet to meet a bergamot tea that I haven’t truly enjoyed. If I go out somewhere and need tea quick, I always go for an EG teabag when possible, as it’s pretty hard to mess up, hard for me to find one I don’t enjoy.

I did enjoy this one as well, though I think I oversteeped it. My boss got to chatting with me and it went on for more than 4 minutes for sure, as a result this ended up very strong and not overly creamy. I did drink it, but I had to go to the kitchen to get some milk to dilute it a bit.

I will try a second steep with my leaves, but it may be too weak after having steeped for so long the first time. I wasn’t getting much cream flavor out of this but I definitely blame that on my oversteep. Well on my supervisor, really. Haha.

Soooo I have nothing more to really say, I feel like it could have been good, but I screwed it up. I had really wanted to try another EG Cream since I like the DT one so much.

I will reserve a rating for now and if the second steep turns out I will update accordingly, but if not I will just chalk this up to a crappy steep, way to go, me!

Thanks again for the sample though, Bluebird Tea Co!

ETA Hullo, I’m baaaack. Just wanted to add that I did make a second cup of this using the same leaves, and it retained an impressive amount of flavor. I think had I not oversteeped it the first time I’d have a better idea of it, but the creaminess came out when it wasn’t accidentally left too long. I will withhold my rating and let you do it properly to judge for yourself :)

Josie Jade (thanks!) sent me this because she hated it and I really enjoyed it, from what I recalled the one time a girl at work brought some in and let me try.

Drinking it now, I find it really weird tasting, not necessarily BAD, but artificially sweet, and definitely oily, and it’s leaving a weird fake taste in the back of my mouth.

Here’s what’s good…. The smell of the dry blend. Period.

Ughhh it’s soooo fake sweet, what IS that???

I don’t know what’s happening in my mouth right now but I don’t think I like it.

Sad face.

It’s easier to write this with a British accent right now as I’m currently watching Doctor Who.
You should definitely read this with that accent. I need to tell you that I am going to sprinkle British slang all throughout this tea note and you’re going to like it!

First of all, I like the name of this tea, it’s rather charming. (haha English people probably don’t even talk like that in real life but my knowledge comes from Downton Abbey, let’s be honest)

I was chuffed to bits to try this tea, I was hoping it would be ace.

Basically I try anything with the word “cake” in it.

Honestly this blend is quite brilliant, though I didn’t really get a cake taste out of it. There’s lots of raspberries, and some creamy coconut, but sadly, no cake. I steeped it for about 3-4 minutes and I am actually noticing a wee bit of bitterness, likely the tartness of the raspberries. I will add some sweetener on my resteep to see what happens,

I would have liked more of a cakiness to it, but I still right enjoyed it, it was jolly good but I wouldn’t quite call it the dog’s bollocks (wouldn’t want to call anything that, as a matter of fact!!) I’d rate this higher if it didn’t have the word cake in the name. But it was still delightful!

This review was brought to you on behalf of the British Stereotyping Society of Canada.
Right awful, it were! (the stereotyping, not the tea)

Ummm, thanks for the sample, Bluebird Tea Co :)

Another sample from Bluebird Tea Co, possibly the cutest tea co in existence.

Wow, great job with this tea!
I really didn’t know what to expect. Not counting Davidstea’s Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait (which I love, it’s the rhubarb tea next to which all other rhubarb teas must be judged), I’d only ever tried one other straight rhubarb tea before, (Rhubarb Cream, by Tin Roof Teas)it was black, and if you hadn’t told me the flavour I never would have guessed rhubarb.

Not so with this tea! It’s definitely rhubarby.
I’m fussy with rooibos because I don’t love tasting it, but this blend is definitely manageable, it all seems to work together nicely. I’m getting a hint of sweetness which is likely a combo of the rooibos and whatever flavouring was used for the “custard” aspect.

I would definitely recommend this to a rhubarb fan! It’s not as delicious as the aforementioned Davidstea one, but it could be close with the addition of strawberry!

A pleasant surprise :)
Not bitter, feels thick bodied and satisfying.

(Is it weird that I write these reviews using a British accent in my head?? Haha <3 just trying to get a little closer to my history. I am 1/4 English after all!)

Thanks again, Bluebird Tea Co!

Having the last bit of this. It’s slightly bitter, makes my teeth ache with dryness and the flavour is a mere whisper of what the smell suggests. I hate being hard on a tea, especially a dessert tea, but you must pay the price for disappointing me so badly. If the dry leaves didn’t smell so delectable my review wouldn’t be so harsh. Gotta lower my rating accordingly.

Grateful for this sample from Kittenna because I’d be pissed if I wasted my tea money on some of these.

Thanks to Kittenna for another S&V sample!

Again, hard not to have high hopes for this one given the heavenly scent wafting from the little baggie. But also yet again, the taste did not compare to the smell.

I tried it twice to be sure (using fresh leaves, not a resteep) and sadly, it’s just MEH. That’s the word I’d use if I had to sum this tea up in one word. Or “Disappointing”. Because it’s very watery, thin, not at all full bodied. The smell is misleading. There’s a faint hint of what it could have been. Untapped tea potential.

So this one is not on my wish list.

I’ve been spoiled by Della Terra’s dessert teas because the smell actually often matches the taste, and they’re usually pretty full bodied.

This one is drying out my teeth. That means it’s astringent, right? I still don’t really get that.

Glad I got to try it though because I would have assumed all S&V teas were as tasty as the Almond Sugar Cookie!

Another tasty sample from Kittenna! Thanks!

I definitely oversteeped this one so I will try it at work tomorrow before judging it. I wanted to do 3 min but got distracted and it was definitely more than 5 minutes…. It was a cinnamon tea with a hint of chocolate. And it was not very full bodied at all, pretty weak aside from the cinnamon.

I am reserving my rating until after my second try, but so far I’m disappointed because it doesn’t taste nearly as delicious as it smells.

Stay tuned!

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, hold on a second here.

Did they liquefy some cookies and make a tea blend out of it or what?! Why is this so good??

Thanks so much Kittenna for this sample…. Pretty sure it might be the best cookie/baked goods tea I’ve ever tried. I will probably have to buy some soon.

I made it to bring along in my Contigo travel mug for a 2.5 hour car ride, and those mugs keep the liquid ridiculously hot for a silly amount of time so I was patiently waiting to not melt the inside of my mouth…. I was so pleased when I could finally take a sip! It’s really good. I am impressed.

Curses. It’s both exciting and disappointing to find an awesome tea to add to your wish list :)
Especially not knowing the shipping cost situation for that company. But I will look into it soon enough! Now I’m pumped to try my other S&V samples from Kittenna. You guys might be creating a monster over here……

ETA Hey! 100 Tasting notes! :)

Kittenna sent me a sample of this, much appreciated!!

I made some tonight after work and I thought it was pretty good. I’m not quite getting creme brûlée out of it but to me the flavours mesh together to make a totally inoffensive caramel tea.

Not my holy grail caramel tea or anything, it’s not SUPER flavourful, but I’m not getting the cardboard taste others have mentioned and it’s not the burnt type of caramel (despite being creme brûlée flavoured), so all in all I’d call this a perfectly ok cuppa!

Made this Friday night, another sample from one of the cutest tea companies out there, Bluebird Tea Co. Thanks guys!

I love the smell of lavender. I probably have an 85 yr old lady living inside me telling me to buy everything lavender scented. Hand cream, lip balm, perfume…last summer I planted my very first garden which included two lavender plants. Exciting, but I still haven’t figured out what to do with them, haha. This year I might try them in my dehydrator and play around.

Anyway, I love earl grey teas, and given my obsession with lavender I thought it was worth a try.
You know how some things smell better than they taste? Lavender smells like heaven but not surprisingly I’m pretty sure it kind of tastes like a plant, haha. I didn’t like it enough to have two steeps, but I am glad I tried it. I had it at night so maybe it helped to relax me. Who knows.

Received this with some other samples from Bluebird Tea Co. First can we please discuss their adorable presentation and packaging??? Their tea photos with the little ‘cut here’ graphic, the samples came in these little glassine type packets SEWN closed with baby blue thread, their website and graphics and logo and everything is just so freakin cute. Goes with the name. I notice stuff like that. And love it. So good job guys!!! I always appreciate an artistic/creative display.

The only thing I couldn’t find were steeping instructions?? Perhaps those could be added to the teas on Steepster also.

Now for the tea, I was interested in this one based on the description, sounded different.
Hmmm. This was different! I did two steeps, first time around was boiling water for 2-3 minutes. I’m at work, no timer so I wasn’t too picky since it is black tea.

The tea was very roasty. I did not get any banana taste though, possibly a very mild hint which served to soften the tea a bit. There was nothing fake about it which was nice. I imagine if the tea was more banana-y it would also taste more fake. I bet it’s hard to achieve that balance when making a tea.

I was thinking this would make a nice breakfast tea because there was a satisfying coffee feel to it. I think teas that taste like coffee are gross (ever use water from a Keurig machine to make a cup of tea?? Ew. Don’t.), but this was more the feeling of satisfaction you get from a good cup of coffee duplicated in tea form. Serious coffee fans know what I mean, there’s just something substantial about it. I drank it black but milk would probably have been nice.

It was relatively dark yet mild, and subtly sweet on its own. Probably thanks to the banana.

So that being said, steep two (5 min or so) had not much flavour, zero banana, just kind of like a black tea. I didn’t finish it because I decided to make something more satisfying instead, that’s how I roll.

Based on steep 1 I will rate the tea pretty well, points off for no substantial banananess, but the lack of fakeness was appreciated. Happy to try my other samples soon!

Thank you for the sample, Bluebird Tea Co!

Decent, maybe a bit too fruity in a slightly artificial way… Not bad, just not for me I guess.
Kind of tastes like strawberry candy, I don’t want that in my tea!!

Glad I just ordered this as part of the Custom Sampler Pack from DTT (don’t even get me started on how awesome it is that that exists!!! <3 Della Terra)

Eta lowering the rating a bit because… Well just because.

Hiii.

Ordered the Della Terra custom sampler pack and this one made the cut. What a great way to try tea! I wish more companies offered this. It is greatly appreciated.

I am always looking for an awesome caramel tea. I tried Kusmi’s and found it not quite caramelly enough, though as my tastes develop it is definitely growing on me. I tried Davidstea’s rooibos Creme Caramel (I think that’s the name, I’m too lazy to verify), which I found distracting because of the extreme rooibos taste, and their Salted Caramel which had too strong of a burnt taste for me, and I have the Green Caramel from the Persimmon Tree Tea Company (very tasty considering you might question the green tea aspect!), and i had a sample of Nina’s Paris Je T’aime, which I did enjoy and was similar to this one, but slightly preferred. Those are all the predominantly caramel teas I’ve tried so far.

Here’s the thing. I have a sweet tooth the size of the moon. I also really like butter. My friend makes this homemade caramel sauce/spread every Christmas and I get a jar, and it’s made from brown sugar, Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk, and butter. It is so delicious. It’s just creamy and sweet. There’s no burnt taste to it. I know it’s asking an awful lot but I just want a tea that tastes the same.

I get that there’s nothing natural about caramel tea anyway, but for me, the single most important aspect missing from all these teas is the buttery creaminess. Perhaps that would serve to tone down the slightly burnt taste some of them have. Even creme brûlée is only burned on the top, you guys!

Back to this tea, it’s not as burnt toffee tasting as Salted Caramel, but it’s also not creamy enough to warrant having that word in its name.

I’m a huge pig and I just want tea that tastes like butter and sugar and milk. Creamy and sweet, no burnt taste.

Was this good? Yeah! Reminded me of the Nina’s Paris one.

It’s just that my search must go on. I wonder if there’s such a thing as a buttery caramel oolong or pouchong tea? That would be creamy from the get go because of the base….. Anyone??

Thank you Josie Jade for another awesome sample!!

I made this one at work this morning, got distracted while it was steeping and had a very strong cuppa 10 minutes later, haha.

I ended up adding milk to tone it down a bit, which was fine because I’d been thinking I felt like having a plain black tea with milk!

I have enough left to make another cup properly later, as it was I liked that the black base wasn’t weak, (i know, nothing is weak after steeping for 10 min!!) but I could still taste the blueberries. This time around I didn’t get any maple but I suspect that was more due to my screwup than the actual tea :)

I used boiling water as I had no directions but figured that would work for black.

Looking forward to round 2! Withholding my rating for now.

See my review of Mandarin Silk to read my little Persimmon Tree Tea Company story.

This was one of three teas I recently ordered from this company, I was not disappointed!

I had this after eating a chocolate and I still was able to notice the refreshing sweetness, AND taste the green tea in the most pleasant of ways!

I drank some while working on Season 4 of Doctor Who, I don’t have much left. I don’t know when the doctor switch up happens but I’m already sad about losing #10.

Tangent!

I’m pleased with this tea, I got the smallest tin but could see me reordering for sure. It’s fun to figure out what your staple teas should be by trying lots of new ones. :)

Brewed at 175 degrees for about 2 ish minutes.