3061 Tasting Notes
Finally catching up on my reviews!
This is a nice herbal that I wish I had more of. It is rooibos-heavy, but the blueberry/vanilla/elderberry combo is really nice. The rooibos gives it a woody mineral sweet honey flavour that pairs well with the fruity parts. The blueberry isn’t fresh blueberry – I’d say it is more like dried blueberries/dried fruit. Brewed strong is makes a nice latte or iced tea (especially sweetened slightly with some lemon)
Flavors: Berry, Blueberry, Dried Fruit, Fruity, Honey, Kalamata Olive, Sweet
Preparation
As much as I enjoy decaf teas, this one seems a bit muted and it isn’t my favourite green base. I prefer no bitterness some a good depth of flavour. This one had a fairly typical green flavour but was bitter and reminded me of green beans and citrus with a tiny bit of sweetness and savoury notes. The brew was very light yellow. The second steep was better and it brewed a darker amber and had floral notes with light citrus.
Flavors: Bitter, Citrus, Green, Lime, Vegetal
Preparation
I had this hot instead of iced, but it came in a large teabag packet (like 9 × 9 cm or so) and inside was a silkish sachet.
This is an ok green. There is some vegetal bitterness and some citrus peel flavour. I don’t get a lot of ginkgo but I can taste things other than just the green tea. It has that herb cupboard dried citron peel (not fresh zest) vibe to it (almost dusty pomelo ish). I enjoyed trying it but would not drink it again.
Flavors: Bitter, Citrus Zest, Grapefruit, Green, Vegetal
Preparation
2025 Steepster TTB Tea
This has a high quality base, and it fairly malty and smooth. I get grainy notes. No sweetness at all from the tea. There are some cinnamon and vague pumpkin spice notes, but no pumpkin or buttery/cakey ones, which is what I was looking for. Even some vanilla would have been nice. Now, I did use just under a tsp of leaf for my cup (300 mL) since it is a small cup and I want to leave enough tea for the next person who receives the box. Maybe with more leaf it would have been a bit more well rounded. I tried brewing for quite a while (6 or 7 minutes) to compensate. I’m drinking this was a dash of unsweetened soy milk and wishing I had some agave or maple syrup to sweeten it with.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Grain, Malty, Pumpkin Spice, Tannin
Preparation
This is one blend I’m keeping out of the TTB because I love it so much and it doesn’t appear to be popular with others.
I normally dislike hibiscus, but I actually like this one hot and cold over ice. I’ve had it hot several times. Although it is acidic and tart, there is also a lovely flavour in the green rooibos/green tea base. It’s quite fruity with melon and citrus notes. I’m finding it quite unique and an enjoyable summer cup.
Flavors: Fruity, Hibiscus, Melon, Pear, Tart
Preparation
I really like prickly pear cactus apples (yes, the Opuntia species) and enjoy the sweet red juice and pulpy chew. So it was disappointing to see, after initial excitement, that this tea contains none of that, but instead rooibos and hibiscus, with pear bits. Still interesting, assuming I canget past the rooibos!
I think I was mostly just disappointed that this tasted like melon and not prickly pear ha ha. So lazy.
Opuntia are one of my favourite genera of all time (I’ve got a bunch, it’s too hard to pick just one!) I like products made with opuntia fruits, but I’ve never really enjoyed the fruit outright. It would have been nice to at least get some dried prickly pear chips in there (they sell it as a snack in markets sometimes here, so it must be available in the US too). I know for a fact PP products can be found in Arizona and Nevada because I’ve bought some cactus goods there before like jams.
After double checking the CITES list, it looks like Opuntia humifusa (the species often used in food production) is under CITES Appx. II protection in Canada and is listed as vulnerable in a few US states. I suspect they avoided prickly pear fruit because of the hassle of shipping products over the border containing the plant. They still should have used flavouring from prickly pears since syrups, jams, and flavourings not containing seeds is not regulated.
Call me a cynic, but I would guess it’s for cost reasons.
Yeah that sounds about right
This blend is good, but it has this weird sweet flavour at the end that throws me off. It’s the same fake sweet in blackberry leaves or stevia. I drank this with some vanilla soy milk and 1/2 tsp sugar. It has a creamy cardamom flavour and a dark coffee bean note. Lightly roasty. White tea is a very odd choice for this blend because you can’t taste any of the tea over the flavouring. A black tea maybe…but a white tea is just too delicate. It’s delicious but not a tea I plan to re-buy. The fake sweetness makes this blend much worse than it could have been.
Flavors: Artificial, Cardamom, Coffee, Sweet
