A Quarter to Tea

I did it again! I walked away from a cup of this tea and didn’t return until it was cool. It seems to loose a lot of it’s flavoring when cool and I mostly taste just the tea with a hint of pineapple. Where did pineapple come from?! Reheating and adding sugar… I’m still getting mostly pineapple. I can taste a little creaminess from the cashew that comes out more in the aftertaste. It’s not speaking to me.

Today is a rough day and the start of a rough new reality. I steeped a cup of this tea, took a sip, was intrigued and then got side tracked with some manual labor in my yard that included hauling bags of cement. Now I’m all sweat, gross and dusty while trying to focus on experiencing this cup instead of turning to my liquor cupboard. Yay me! LOL!
I absent mindedly chugged some of this before reheating. I’m noticing more coconut when it is warm and more of the tea flavors coming out when it is cool. I think I can pick up a bit of the butteriness from the cashew and maybe a hint of carrot. Adding cream isn’t doing much. The creaminess is heightened, but I’m not tasting any other flavor changes. Maybe a little more carrot at the end of the sip? I’ll have to revisit this tea when I’m in a better headspace.

I over leafed this cup so I wouldn’t have half a serving left. Added cream and sugar right away. I’m not liking this cup as much as the first time I had this. It is nice enough, but doesn’t stand out for me.

It took a few sips before the flavors started to balance out and the bite to calm. I usually take my breakfast teas with cream, sometimes sugar, but I have gone through half this cup without so far. It has a slight sweetness on the sip along with a slightly astringent tobacco flavor that fades into a malty aftertaste. Adding cream is really changing this! My first sip tasted sweet and was reminiscent of cookies. A slight hint of banana at the beginning of the sip than lingers into the aftertaste… unexpected, but I like it. I’m not getting heavy malt like I’m used to with breakfast teas, but it is a very enjoyable cup.

Sipdown (213)

…and its a forever sipdown in light of the indefinite hiatus.

This last cup is particularly creamy. With the typical honey flavor from AQ2T that works really well in this cuppa. A good way to say good bye but a sad sipdown indeed.

Made this as an eggnog latte and it actually tastes like an eggnog cheesecake. So good!

In other news, I forgot how much daily long walks in the cold messes up your hands. When I was in Montreal, I walked to and from school and it was about a 20 min walk each way. The walk was nice enough but I found my hands dried out and my fingers all start cracking. When I was in Toronto, I had a car so that wasn’t an issue. It’s back now though since I walk home for a 1/2 hour daily from class. Cracked fingers and cracked lips are my new normal which means I am typing now with my hands awkwardly in moisture gloves as I try to repair the damage of the cold. Have to be more on top of moisturizing and hydrating…

Finishing off one package of this tea. I still have two more so it’s all good. Just wanted a bit of the cheesecake deliciousness among my barrage of new teas and attempted sipdowns.

Sometimes I get excited and buy teas in bulk and then think to myself “why? why did I do this?” but not this one. One sip of its cheesecake deliciousness and I am reminded of why I liked it and why I needed MOAR!

Cheesecake tea, I love thee.

This is becoming a fast favorite of mine…now I just need MOAR! http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/02/02/on-wisconsin-from-a-quarter-to-tea-a-cheesecake-tea-with-cow-sprinkles/

This is one of the first times I am told I will be getting cheesecake and the tea actually delivers. Creamy and sweet but also with a touch of tang. The base is also a little bit floral but in a way that improves this as opposed to taking away from the blend. It’s like my beloved Vanilla Orchid but better and more high end in a way. Plus COW SPRINKLES!

I’m really liking this tea. Started sipping my cup hot and was getting a nice comforting burn down my throat. Now that it has cooled, I get cinnamon and a hint of clove on top of the spice which is on top of muted strawberry. There is a slight flatness that appears as it cools, but it isn’t too distracting.

I can smell strawberry and something earthier behind it, maybe alkaline when sniffing at my cup of tea. There is a quick hint of strawberry at the beginning of the sip that quickly gives way to the alkaline taste, which passes into the earthy spice by the end of the sip. The lingering flavor is a spice heating up my mouth slightly. I’m a little surprised that the strawberry isn’t more prominent in flavor. I have had several strawberry teas that are quite intense with the flavor of the fruit. Adding a bit of sweetener (agave in this case) really cranked up the fruit flavor. I can taste the strawberry on the sip and also in the lingering heat. I’m liking these spicy teas! I have a couple strawberry teas I need to get through, maybe adding a splash of hot sauce will have a similar effect as this tea and make me more excited about them. I’m also now dreaming of strawberry preserves with jalapeno on a toasted bagel with egg! Digging the sweet and spicy on this one!

This would be a great tea for when you have a cold with the spice to cut through stuffy sinuses!

Thank you for the sample!
I was doing a bit of tidying up yesterday and found this little sample packet tucked behind a whole bunch of stuff on my dresser (because I was hiding yet another tea package from the husband….;p). It must have fallen out of the bag and I wasn’t aware. So I had this for a month or so and didn’t even know!
This tea is really lovely. The base is not astringent and really juicy. The peach notes are natural and very juicy, I was picturing that sweet juice running down my chin after I took the first bite of a fresh peach.
Secondary notes are buttery pastry. There is just a hint of spiciness right at the end but doesn’t linger. I can’t pinpoint what spice it is, but it is good.
The resteep held up really well in flavour.

I took a few sips thinking that I’d add some cream, but really enjoyed the smokey flavors I was getting. I’m now on my second steeping. It’s still a bit smokey and spicy, a nice combo. I think I get a little chocolate in the background, maybe rounding out the smoke flavor. I’m liking it!

Ooooo, I think I can smell the chipotle! I don’t understand why spellcheck keeps getting caught up on chipotle. It’s not that weird of a word.
I can smell a little bit of chocolate under the chipotle. First sip was a little flavorless with slight heat at the back of my throat. As I sip on the flavor grows slightly, I can taste chipotle, not just feel the heat (which is also growing). I’m not getting much in the way of chocolate and there is a flatness at the start of the sip. Going to try adding sugar to see if it brings it out. I hesitate to add creamer because I don’t want to dampen the heat from the spice that is pleasantly lingering in my mouth. The sugar really does brighten this! All the flavors are more prominent and I can pick out a chocolate pudding hiding behind the chipotle. A hint of an ashy flavor mid sip that turns into a roasted pepper taste later on. The spice is picking up a little and warming me on this overcast day. This has the perfect level of spice for me, a good amount of kick that keeps my attention without being overwhelming, but the chocolate pudding part could use a little amping up to compete with the chipotle.

Turtle dove?! What the hell is a turtle dove? Is that some candy bar or confection reference? I feel some googling is in order.
When steeped this tea smells familiar. It reminds me a little of TWG’s NY Breakfast and American breakfast, of Marriage Freres’s Wedding Imperial, of nutty chocolate teas. When I sip, I get a slightly malty chocolate nut tea. It, like many others I have tried that were similar to it, are a little flat in taste. I get high notes and base notes… maybe the middle is missing? Many of these teas (like Wedding Imperial) required a bit of adjustment and cream to get the perfect cup. I’m guessing the same may be true for this tea. Adding cream and sugar… and yes! Much better! The cream fills things in a bit. It takes over the sip a bit, but then heightens the chocolate and nuts which take turns and sometimes merge in the aftertaste. There is a slight dryness in my mouth after each sip. I would have to think long and hard about if I like this better than NY Breakfast and if it should become a cupboard staple.

This is my last cup of this… ever. I’m not sure how long it’s been sitting in my cupboard, over a year at the very least, and it still delivers a delicious cup. If anything has faded or gone stale I can’t tell. I get a nice blueberry lemon flavor. The lemon has more of a baked flavor than the blueberry and I swear there is a poppy seed note in here. Maybe that’s some of the breadiness being conveyed. I wish every cup of tea could be as fulfilling as this or several other Q2Ts. It’s a tranquil pleasant thing to return to this morning in the midst of trying to referee dueling elementary school zoom meetings, making sure that other zoom meetings are attended, figuring out where in a plethora of learning platforms the actual missing lessons are, where on the internet the proficiency testing is, filtering through 7-12 school related emails and apps pining me each day and trying to be productive and run a small business while being swallowed by overwhelming paralysis. Forget showering. I’d MUCH rather hide in a satisfying cup of tea. Go away 2020!

Enjoying a second steeping of this today. It’s really nice and a little dessert like. I’m getting close to a sip down on this and it is one I’m sure I’ll miss.

I’m enjoying this cup. I get lemon of the lemongrass variety, which means smooth instead of sharp lemon. It dominates the sip. The blueberry is in there somewhere in the sip, but in the finish when the lemon fades, the blueberry comes out. I’m getting a slight pastry note at the end of the sip, but instead of muffin I’m getting more of a cookie flavor. The Alternative Baking Company has a lemon poppyseed cookie that comes to mind when I’m sipping this cup. I do like this tea, but it seems like it’s missing base notes or flavors that would round it out into a heartier tea, which I favor. As it is, it seems more of a lighter tea and I bet it would be great cold steeped and iced!

I enjoyed another cup of this yesterday, but was too busy to write about it. Today I’m resteeping the last of the leaves, trying to drink a cup, write about it and not burn pancakes at the same time. It is quite the feat on this slightly hung over morning.

My cup still smells fantastic with the blueberry and crisp baked lemon scent. The green tea taste comes out a little on this second steep. The blueberry and lemon are both present in the sip and aftertaste, but are a little lighter in flavor than the first steep. I’m not really getting anything that makes me think muffin, but it is still a good cup. This tea is intriguing enough that I would think about ordering it again.

The rooibos seems to filter to the bottom of the bag making it difficult to get what seems like an even mix between rooibos and tea. Smells fantastic in the bag.
Wow! Again with the bright lemon notes! I get lemongrass notes dominating the sip. The blueberry is laying low and comes out in the aftertaste. The whole thing is well balanced, which I love in a tea. The scent is exactly like the name, I smell lemons, blueberries and a pastry behind them. If I wait long enough after the sip, I get the same in the aftertaste. As it cools and I sip faster, the flavors merge sooner. Adding cream really kills the flavors and ruins the cup. Bad move tea drinker, bad move.

Visually, this tea is stunning! It looks like little balls of two toned silken yarn with little brown sprinkle stars, the occasional silver bead and tan mini chips dispersed with chips of cinnamon bark breaking the mix up into sections. I hope it’s as delicious as it looks! The scent of cinnamon dominates this mix, as it does a few other AQ2T samples that I have. After it is steeped, the leaves unfurl, the sprinkles melt away and it looks like a mass of brown leaves in my steeper. There are little bits of the silver sprinkles drifting in my tea like glitter. It is starting to smell less like cinnamon and more like gingerbread. The first few sips compete with bites of my snack. I’m noticing how well rounded this tea is. Smooth without any bite and a mellow cooked ginger dominating the flavor. I’m not really getting honey or pancake, so I’m adding a little sugar to see if it brings them out. So far the sugar seems to bring the cinnamon back out. There is a sweetness in the aftertaste that is more prominent now too. I think I can pick out honey notes, but the pancake part (like most pastry notes in teas) is still eluding me. This is a really well done tea that I’d like to have again sometime. I really missed trying new teas!