Acquired Taste Tea Co.

I seemed to have chosen all their newer ones because so many of them aren’t even on their website. This is a fruit tisane with hibiscus and mango and whatnot. Cold brewed, it’s sweet and tart at the same time because of these two main notes. But! Not nearly as sweet as DAVIDs mango-flavoured blends, so that’s a bonus. I’m already on my third round, so clearly that’s an indication that it’s nice to drink when it’s 30°C outside (and you’ve walked 27km in said heat!) but once it’s gone, it’s gone. I won’t get more since it’s not unique or amazeballs in any way.

Sipdown! I polished off the last two cups this morning, with the very last cup containing that sweet, sweet pumpkin spice-flavoured honey. So good.

I was initially attracted to their Toffee black in the store, based on the tea that was in the sniffing jar, but once I smelled it in the tin, I had to pass because it smelled stale and weird. The sales associate pointed me to this tea instead, which is newer, and hence, lacking in any pertinent information on their site. It smells so roasty and nutty, kind of along the lines of Forever Nuts from DAVIDsTEA (which also smells a little bit like ATR’s Brioche) so I thought I couldn’t go wrong.

Unfortunately, this seriously lacks flavour once steeped. I can just pick up on a hint of nuttiness with each initial sip but the rest is just tea and nothing more. The dry leaf is interesting, like a mix between twisted leaves and CTC pellets, with some nuts and flower petals thrown in to the mix.

But I found something today that kind of saves teas like this. So, there is a localesque business that makes flavoured honeys, and I found their ginger honey at Save-on-Foods the other week. So tasty, like fresh ginger, and/or those Chimes ginger chews. Really great on toast, and I’m sure it would be great to glaze salmon with and whatnot. Anyway, I went to Farmers Market today for the sole purpose of seeking out their booth since they have a ton of other flavours, and came across their Pumpkin Spice honey. Grabbed that off the bat, but it was tough since I was also eyeing their Espresso Vanilla Bean and Chai ones.

Long story short, I added a spoon of it to this tea and it’s glorious. It woke this tea up and breathed some life into it. I’m normally not a fan of honey in tea but I’ll definitely be drinking this tea with these flavoured honeys (I need to grab more flavours too!) from this day forward.

Sip down! Kind of glad it’s out of the way. Tastes almost as fresh as it was on the day I bought it over half a year ago but I was getting a little tired of the favour profile. Never tried Bayswater’s so I wonder how the two compare, or if they come from the same source.

I’ve yet to try the Grapefruit Grey from Bayswater but the dry leaf smells very similar to this, anyway. Ultra grapefruity and tangy, and that grapefruit translates nicely in flavour too. I added some light cream and while it placed a damper on the citrus (seems like bergamot stays stronger than grapefruit when you add cream/milk, at least here), it’s a smooth tea to drink in the morning. I’m curious to see how this would turn out as a cold brew.

Sipdown! I enjoyed this more the last few rounds than initially, so I’d rate it more in the high 70s. The key is to not put as much leaf lest the flavours get a little too muddled and the hibiscus has a panic attack. Maybe I’d buy it again, who knows.

I proudly walked to Acquired Taste the other day when it was sunny out and picked up a variety of their teas that are new to me, plus more of their Winter Dream Sencha because it’s amazing anytime.

This one is apparently newer, and I’ve basically been cold brewing teas and not enjoying anything hot due to the weather. Therefore, this was a must. It’s not as good as I had hoped though? I’m actually writing by memory since I had it a couple days ago. But it was just vaguely berry-ish and sweet. Tastes like a lot of others I’ve had in the past. Nothing unique.

Man, this aint no sencha.
This is clearly a chai blend… but whatever. I am not a fan of chai and green tea trying to mingle with one another in my mouth so I will refrain from finishing this.
(I had no idea what it was, I just brewed it from my sample box)

Bah I haven’t written a note on this one yet but have drank it quite a few times..and today is not the day to write a detailed review since I’m at work lol..but let’s just say this is a great EGC with a bit more bergamot in it than Acquired Taste’s other cream offering I have tried. I think the first time I had this was steeped in a pot at my great aunts, with not much attention paid to the time it steeped for as we were visiting, etc, and it was still excellent! A great one for a large pot or just a cup, however today in my travel mug it is a bit perfumey from the bergamot. Nevertheless, this is one of my favorite earl greys and it can stand up to being brewed a lot of ways it seems! Tasty and warming on this cloudy, cooler morning. Finally got some rain last night :) I am still waiting for the t-storms this summer! Not really any good ones yet. Anyways, back to work now, I will write a more detailed note later!

HGTTB

As soon as I saw and smelled this tea, I knew it would be much like a DAVIDsTEA Forever Nuts type tea. I really enjoyed that when I first had it and then all of a sudden grew adverse to it. However, as I went through my eggnog latte phase, Forever Nuts kept popping up as a tea to have that way. Since I caved on Chocolate Macaron and ended up enjoying it, I thought this might go the same way. Plus it’s been so long since I had this kind of tea I was interested to see if my tastes changed. So, I took the last of this and made a latte with it.

First off, the color looked exactly like pepto bismol, as in it was bubblegum pink. The smell mimicked the nuttiness of the dry leaf except it was about ten times stronger. The taste was also quite nutty but rather than being salty as nuts should be it was over the top sweet and with a hint of something off. Ultimately it seems my tastes haven’t changed with regards to these nutty herbal teas but I am grateful for the chance to try it yet again and learn for sure that this isn’t for me.

HGTTB

This is a really great peach tea. The base is really mild leading all the focus to the juicy peach flavoring. It’s bright and refreshing and tastes more like the fruit than the candy which is really rare for a peach tea. All in all, it made for a pretty tasty cup.

I can has sipdown. Cold brewed the rest, figuring it was going to be weird, but it can’t be that bad, right? And it’s not. Black base with a creamy cocoa flair. I won’t buy more but glad I tried it, and looking forward to trying many other Acquired Taste blends in the future.

There is something dark about this chocolate tea. Dark as in brooding and almost erring on the side of emo. If this tea were a music genre, it would be emo. I didn’t smell it in the store, but now that my pouch is isolated at home, I can smell a bit of smokiness in the base, and it’s there in the flavour too, blending in with the subtle chocolate. Not as much creaminess as I would have liked.

Methinks this would blend fabulously with cacao husks. It would give this a chocolate boost whilst the smokiness would ground them husks.

Sipdown! I wouldn’t get more because the liquorice flavour wasn’t strong enough for my tastes. But it wasn’t terrible either.

With some 2% milk this time around, the licorice is more noticeable. It may have been because I added a little more leaf this time around too. I need to try to drink up a lot over the next month. Chug, chug, chug!

Awe, this smelled so ultra licoricey in the shop’s sniffing jar. I figured licorice would be an excellent flavour to pair with rooibos, and to even cover up the base for the most part.

But the licorice hides away once steeped. It’s ridiculously subtle. At least the base isn’t overly woody. Better with some light cream. Maybe I’ll try to add a little more leaf or steep longer. Or something?

There’s always Sambuca…

Sipdown! But I’m definitely getting more next time I go to Acquired Taste. 100g later, I’m still a fan.

Could this be that I’m getting a cold/flu (too early to tell) for the first time in over 2.5 years? It was only a matter of time, I guess.

I want something hot to warm me up since I’ve been freezing, and desperately trying to warm up in my robe since I got home three hours ago. What gives?

A little of this dry leaf goes a long way. It expands like crazy. 3g is more than enough for a Nordic mug.

Spicy cola to the rescue.

Mmm, this is probably my favourite Acquired Taste tea. Still like liquid cola bottle candies to me. I’m glad that hasn’t changed for me.

My tea is so disorganized, I am utterly embarrassed. When I was packing up my things to head back to Edmonton, in a flurry, I forgot to bring the DAVID’s ones I recently bought, like the matcha, so now I feel stupid to buy more even though I live down the street from one. My Teavivre are also mostly at home. Cupboard full of tins of various stuff was also left behind. And probably more elsewhere. I wish I had a vehicle and license rather than just my learner’s. That would make it a hell of a lot easier to go back and forth from my mom’s rural home and here rather than depending on family to drive us. Sigh. Never has my tea stash been so full of ridiculous fail.

Oh yeah, I sadly sipped this down the other day. Without a doubt, I need more of this in my cupboard. It’s a very forgiving tea, almost never went bitter despite brewing it at various temperature and for various lengths of time.

Tea with vanilla, nuts, and spices which wind up tasting like cola bottle candy will always be welcome in my cupboard.

Oh noes, I’m quickly running out of this one. One or two more cups and it’ll be gone. Still like cola bottles! Especially in the aftertaste. It’s a keeper/repurchase-worthy.

According to Buzzfeed, this is what the art of tea drinking looks like in 22 countries around the world:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chelseypippin/22-cups-of-tea-from-around-the-world?bffb&utm_term=4ldqpgp#.vmReagdkM

Ha! Listening to Alanis for the first time since she became huge in the 90s whilst sipping on this cola candy excellence. I was too impatient to wait for the water to cool, however, so it’s a little bitter this time around. My fault. Sencha sure reminds you of the important value of patience.

Wow, I’m beginning to appreciate her more. Never thought I’d say that!

Oh my, this is wonderful. The dry leaf smells like smooth vanilla spice. Taste-wise, the base is very smooth, no grassiness or bitterness. Just very mellow and allows the other flavours to shine. You know how when you combine some notes, they create an entirely different flavour? It seems like the vanilla and spices are creating a cola scent and flavour. Like cola bottle gummy candy. I’ve noticed this with certain bath products too, like the Body Shop’s gingerbread scrub, whose spices and sweetness morphed into cola. Lush’s Almond buttercream, comprising almond, cinnamon, and vanilla, also smelled like cola. So fascinating.

My mom is also in love with this tea, and agrees on the cola candy similarities.

I sipped this beauty in my new snowflake Nordic mug whilst watching My Neighbour Totoro with my mom, who never saw it until now. What a splendid evening.

Sip down! I didn’t have enough for an entire 2L jug of cold brew so I filled the rest of the tea bag with David’s Apple Custard, and it turned out well! Rhubarb apple custard crumble.