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TheTeaFairy who gave me this sample wrote “delicious cold brewed”. So I took her word for it and dumped the entire sample in a 500 ml mason jar the day before yesterday. I strained it this morning, maybe 36 hrs have passed, and took it with me to this Mother’s Day lunch where I was invited as guest (it was my brother in law’s house) but ended up practically cooking the entire thing except for the steak. Nobody told me when I became a chef that it would be the end of my days as a dinner guest. Now people either don’t invite me or of they do invite me, I end up prepping/cooking. Like “oh good, you’re here, can you do the potato salad?” And “I was planning to caramelize onions, can you do that?” And I’m handed a bag of onions. Umm… No, I’m the guest?!? I just got in the freaking door, thanks, maybe offer me a drink first? Anyway, that’s my beef. (Pun intended)

So I took this cold brew with me because I knew there was nothing but wine or water there as drink choices. So so so good. Peach Snapple has nothing on this puppy! This is full on peach juice you guys. I should have sweetened it more for full pop but I didn’t have time to make simple syrup. I have to buy this somehow, it would be a huge tease to just have this sample. Thanks for introducing me to Teajo, TheTeaFairy and with such a tasty one to boot! Shipping to Canada is $10 flat. Hmmm…

Given the success I had with Tealux’s Cream Irish Breakfast yesterday evening I decided to follow it up with Irish Morning today. I definitely prefer the other. This one is a little more weak, more watery if you will. I did follow steeping instructions and I even overleafed a bit because I had about 3 tsps and I only used 16 oz water. I did combine two steeps though, which is something I didn’t do last night. However, as much as I love coconut flavouring, the shreds of coconut in tea tend to go off quickly and even when they are not off there’s something about the smell and taste I do not like. As soon as I smelled the tea I knew there was coconut in there because it had a faint smell of something acrid. like milk gone sour or something. I don’t know how to explain. Like rancid. But it was barely there and only huffing the ziploc bag a few times I picked it up so most people would likely not notice it. If only my palate was as good as my nose.

I have a thing for smelling things. All the time. I smell all food stuffs all the time. I don’t mean to say that I go around my fridge just sniffing things. But before use, everything gets sniffed. I open a leg of lamb, I smell it. I open bread, I smell it. Not to check if it’s off because everything is fresh at chateau nxtdoor but I am used to smelling things so it’s become a habit I can’t break. I’m pretty OCD about it. It’s gotten to the point that I probably couldn’t eat or drink something without smelling it. I sit at the restaurant, the salad comes, I smell it. The wine comes, I smell it. You get the picture. You do this for YEARS and I assure you, you will have a fantastic scent memory.

So yeah, I am not enjoying the aftertaste of the acrid coconut in here. I will certainly finish the pot that I made, but unlike Irish Cream Breakfast, for me this will be one I stay away from. No rating.

Much thanks to TheTeaFairy for the chance.

I like this tea a lot even though I rarely go for “morning” teas or teas that would imply a kick. Because kick to me is bitter/astringent/strong — same way I would describe a coffee with a kick. I would have never picked this for myself. In fact, I looked at it before placing my Tealux order and decided against it.

Tonight, I need this. I wake up at 3.46 am each day so I can be at work for 4.15 am. By 7 pm I’m starting to fade usually but it’s Friday night and I’m fighting it. Fighting it with this. (Ok, we went to a nearby Italian bakery so I also fought it with an Americano + Baileys). And canoli. Leave the gun, take the canoli. :)

Thanks to TheTeaFairy for this treat. So so good. Slightly bitter, slightly. 1 tsp for 8 oz, 90C. I added sugar and dairy free Irish cream creamer. Sorry, redundant, I know, but it’s what it is called!

This tea is good. Buy it on your next Tealux order. :) I will.

Again reached in the box from TheTeaFairy . This smells deliciously nutty, reminds me a lot of Almond Biscotti, my favourite Della Terra green and one my favourite greens of all time. I read the notes from others on this and it seems like everyone is reminded of something different. Sil thinks of Caramel Green from the persimmon co. and someone else is reminded of something called Divine Seduction, company not mentioned. For me, this is almond biscotti to a T.

I brewed it in the glass gaiwan because my plastic steeper, convenient as it is, it absorbs odours as most plastic does. I am of course not helping matters by leaving tea leaves in there over night or for hours even during the day. Lazy. I’m just too excited to drink the tea rather than sit there and do “dishes”.

Anyway, since it’s in the glass gaiwan I see it brews a cloudy deep yellow. The taste is good as is, I added nothing. brewed at 175F for fear of burning. 2.5 minutes. It’s good, nutty, and creamy. I wish this was a black tea so I can put sugar and non-dairy creamer. Sigh. I’m an addict. Thanks, TheTeaFairy !

Thank you, TheTeaFairy. This had such potential but it’s a little bitter for me. I used boiling water as instructed. It might have been a little too hot because I burned them. I mean, there’s boiling and then there’s boiling.

I added a little sugar and creamer to remedy and as I said, the flavour is good but I screwed it up. Luckily, this is a larger sample so I can give it another go. I don’t really get bergamot even though it’s an Earl Grey and I was worried. It’s chocolate and something else, like fruit.

Now if these Habs would just score so I can go to bed!

I have this from TheTeaFairy — it will be all Tea Fairy for the next little while because every tea in this box sounds delicious and I doubt I will be forcing myself to drink other things. I also am allowing myself to order some tea so these samples hopefully will help me narrow stuff down. I will have to try really hard not to binge. Usually the longer I go without buying the crazier I can get.

This tea is delicious raspberry. I’m not getting much of anything else in the way of flavour but that’s totally fine. I wanted raspberry. I added a tsp of sugar to 600 ml of tea just to lift it a little. I used the entire sample to make the pot because my partner wanted tea. I almost didn’t want to share! I reluctantly used up the entire sample pack. Mmmm…

Thanks Fairy!

This is my second Lupicia tea ever. The first was a pyramid package from Sil, I think it might have been called Paradise Green. While it was good I didn’t feel overly compelled to jump and place an order.

This here, along with a few others deliciously named (including the famous melon oolong that everyone is raving about) came by way of my very own tea fairy. Yes, TheTeaFairy. And I am sure she won’t mind if I call her my own. Things have been a little rough here for the past 6 weeks, the kind of rough that makes you wonder who you pissed off up there, and my loving fairy sent me a deliciously smelling box of tea goodies. “Sunshine when life is pouring on you” she says. I think I must have starved myself tea-wise because I fell upon these like a wild animal.

I love the smell of this both dry leaf and the brewed tea. It smells sugary and chocolate. Tastes more like banana than chocolate but yum! This is dangerous. Thank you, thank you, thank you, TheTeaFairy !

PS. I probably shouldn’t sit here at this table where they all are, enticing me. Has anyone drank an entire swap box in one day? Not all the quantity of course but tried each and every one? Just curious.

Cold brewed, this is like blueberry juice. It is so freaking delicious. Hot steeping this is a waste of tea as far as I’m concerned. Why I only made 500 ml of this is a mystery. I need to make an entire pitcher. Litres and litres. Because now it’s gone and I’m sad. I must get this back in my cupboard for a summer drink. (Something’s happened to my favourite goji pop. This last batch I bought tastes funny. Chemical in a way. So I need a replacement “juice” tea. Might be this one)

I used to like this! The first time I bought it iced to go while in store I thought it was delicious and promptly bought 102 grams. Subsequent attempts were not as successful. Today I made it and it tasted kind of wrong, probably the stevia, not sure. So I fixed it by mixing in a splash of orange juice. It’s really good like that. I have enough for a couple more cups but I’m definitely not repurchasing.

A tea friend at work is expecting and can no longer drink this because “something in it induces labour”, she says. Maybe the licorice root, I am too lazy and too uninterested to actually search this out. It’s her body and her baby and totally her call. Because she has quite a bit left and cannot drink it she offered it to me. I took 2-cups worth of leaf and gave her back the rest because soon the baby will be here and she will no doubt regret parting with what she says is a favourite.

I can’t see why this would be anyone’s favourite though. I have never tried this before but I looked it up and saw gojiberries and orange as featured ingredients on DAVIDs site. The sample is full of almonds. Dry leaf smells like almonds, ditto for the steeped tea. But it’s weak at 1.24 tsp / 8oz, 195F for 4 min and I would have no clue there’s citrus in here were it not for the website. Not satisfying at all.