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Continuing with the chocolate theme today is this one. I decided to try it with some milk this time, which I haven’t done before. I was worried it might cover up some of the heat, but it actually brings it out more! There’s also more of the fruitiness of the pepper this way, and the chocolate gets extremely creamy. This is such a rich cup and it almost tastes like I’m drinking hot chocolate. I may never drink it without milk again!
Flavors: Bell Pepper, Chocolate, Red Fruits, Spicy
Today is ridiculously cold, gray, and rainy, which always makes me want hot drinks. I’ll probably end up overcaffeinated by the end of the day, but it’s a small price to pay for being warm. I seem to be gravitating toward chocolate; I had hot chocolate with lunch, and now I’m having this after coming back from running errands. Spicy things always do the trick when I’m chilled.
This tea is so strange but so good. No matter how I brew it it has a watery quality, and yet it still manages to be delicious.The chocolate is surprisingly rich and the chili is warm—not really hot—and fruity. Just what I need right now.
Flavors: Chocolate, Fruity, Spicy
I got this from MirandaGou in our recent swap: thank you! Chocolate sounds good today for some reason, and my feet are cold, so I went for this first. It smells very chocolatey. There is some spice to the scent but it’s mostly chocolate.
The chocolate taste is excellent (probably because I got about ten mini chocolate chips in this teaspoon!). It’s definitely a dark chocolate flavor, and it also has a creamy mouthfeel that just makes it better. I was a little afraid of this one because of the chilis, but I’m only getting the slightest tingle from it. The spices give the chocolate a great flavor, too. Right now I actually want the chili flavor, so maybe next time I should overleaf? Still really good and I’m glad to have it in my cabinet now.
ETA: As I get through the cup there’s more of an afterburn, but it’s not too much for me. This is coming from someone who can’t handle “medium” salsa, so I think most people would find the chili heat just right (unless you like really spicy things!).
Soon. This will all be gone soon. I have the rest of the tea cold brewing for tomorrow and since there was only 1 tsp left, I figured I would use that in a hot cup. I think that if you are going to have this tea, this is the best prep method for it. It’s the first time in a long time that I am getting more caramel and less rooibos. Still not worth restocking but at least I can enjoy this mug.
This is one of the three iced teas I made last night mostly because it was still on the counter from the last time I had it and I want to use it up so I figured, why not. I think I prefer this to the last one I had as an iced latte but still I am just not loving this tea. The base is more subdued now but the creme brulee flavor is coming through as a sweetness that is just off. Luckily, I am almost done this though so it wont be long now when I finally get to say good bye to this tea.
I am trying to work my way through some of the older teas, especially those that I am not loving anymore so when I decided to make an iced latte, this seemed like it could be a good choice. The milk might help coax out the creme brulee flavor and the latte format uses a lot of leaf.
Well, leaf got used but my other hope was a bust. No creme brulee flavor here. It seemed so on point when I had it the first couple of times but now each cup seems to get worse. There is notes of caramel at times but there is a metallic bit to the rooibos base that seems to get more prominent with age. The whole thing just seems very artificial and just not great. Luckily, there isn’t too much more leaf yet so I should get through it soon enough.
I found it inconsistent at first and since then it just seems to have declined. That’s why I want to just finish it up and be done with it.
I had the frothed milk from my attempt at a Birthday Cake iced latte but no birthday cake tea to mix it with. So, I wanted to come up with a tea that was older and I wanted to sip down (iced lattes use a lot of leaf after all) but one that would also blend nicely with milk. I debated cinnaberry but that has hibiscus so I went with this instead.
The result is okay. Definitely not as good as the cotton candy latte I had last night (I may just make one of those for a while until I finish my excessive amount of leaf) but nice. The iced latte brings out the caramel and adds sweetness while not being too much. However, I find that this tea can have a weird taste at times and this prep method didn’t really tame that. Though, at the end of the day that’s why I want to finish this up and this helped use up leaf so mission accomplished.
I use 4 perfect teaspoons (from DAVIDs) and fill the water to just under the DAVIDs logo on the steeper. Then I brew it for as long as suggested and pour it over a 16 oz glass, 2/3 of the way full with ice. Then I top it off with about 8 oz of cold milk (I have a breville frother so I run it on the cold stir mode to get froth but you can just pour plain milk on top).
So I fell asleep prior to writing this last night but this is the eggnog latte “my mother” ordered aka this is the latte I instructed her to order so I could drink two simultaneously without being judged by the DAVIDs employees. Honestly, this was really nice, though I did prefer the Cranberry Pear. Nonetheless, the eggy quality of eggnog suited this tea beautifully as it really brought out the custardy notes while still allowing the sweet sugar to shine as well.
For some reason I had it in my head that green rooibos would not be as rooibosy as red. This cup is proving that not to be the case. Though it is not immediately recognizable as rooibos it is definitely there. And there is a tint of caramel but it is not sweet like I anticipated it would have been. Honestly, I am not sure what I am tasting. It is like really weirdly artificial. Mostly it just tastes like something is missing. This won’t be a restock and I think I will send the last 1-2 tsps to Roswell Strange so she can try it out.
Preparation
I hardly do unless it’s a bit of honey when my throat is sore. In any case I was thinking of picking this up but maybe I won’t now because I can’t be bothered adding things.
Haha. I think I wanted more sweetness so it would definitely be an easy remedy for someone willing to sweeten their teas. But if you don’t want to add anything, I don’t recommend it.
I was not a huge fan of that either (in fact I am selling mine now because I stupidly bought 50 g) but I think that is more because I am not a huge lover of chocolate and mint.
I actually kind of like this one! The odd person out. :) It’s good with a bit of coconut cream. Mmm.
Green rooibos is awesome, but it kind of defeats the purpose if they’re going to mix it with the red variety.
Sipdown!! (213)
The bamboo flavor in this is very nice and refreshing. Unfortunately, there is an underlying sweetness in this that verges on the side of cloying. I don’t think this will be a restock but it has been fine trying it out.
Preparation
There is not much flavor to this cup which is most likely because I only has 1/2 the recommended amount of leaf needed to make this cup. However, what I am tasting is juicy and refreshing. This is not at all the grassy/vegetal cup I thought it would be. We will see how the cold brew turns out tomorrow but I might need to pick up a bit more of this in order to try it properly.
Preparation
Attempting at a sip down. Attempting being the key word here. This as a cold brew fooled the pants off of me.
When I went to take the first sip, I initially thought that this worked way better as a cold brew. The questionable underlying floral note is virtually invisible, and I get mostly cherry. But give it just a few seconds.
Then the aftertaste hit me. COUGH SYRUP. I took a bit of a break and just poured my second glass—because I’m a masochist and all—and it’s now cough syrup through and through. I feel guilty for being wasteful, but I think I’m just going to dump the rest of the 1.5 litres I have left. Why force myself to drink that when I have 2984205845 others to try.
Lowered the rating, too.
Cherry seems to be so hard to capture properly, it turns out icky easily I find…I’m still on the hunt to find the perfect one cause I love cherries so much…
Cough syrup usually doesn’t bother me if it is sweet enough but I’m not sure how I’d like it as tea in large quantities. Cherry flavour is really difficult apparently.
That’s just it. I actually don’t mind cough syrup either, but to drink two litres of tea that tastes like it? No thanks.
Theoretically, you would think if blends had actual dried cherries in it, the tea would have really good cherry flavour…
My wife had some of her cold brew of this today, we added a touch of vanilla agave and she seems to like it! I’ll poke her into posting a tasting note.
A work friend gave me a bag of “Cherry Blossom Tea” from a visit to Washington DC; it was repackaged/relabeled from Eastern Shore Tea Co. Wasn’t entirely natural, but it wasn’t cough syrupy either. I can’t find my own review here on Steepster—I’m sure I did, but K S posted on his blog: http://theeverdayteablog.blogspot.com/2013/10/eastern-shore-tea-company-cherry-blossom.html Still isn’t the cherry nirvana I’m looking for.
That’s it, I want cherry nirvana, don’t we deserve that? And so true Fjellrev, why aren’t there cherries in most cherry blends? All I seem to find is rose petals!!!
Glad your wife likes it, aisling of tea!
A friend of mine swears by a sencha-based sour cherry tea a local store here blends. I haven’t tried it yet since I keep spending my money on e-tailers, but it too only has cherry flavouring. When I get around to it, I’ll let everyone know the verdict, and if it’s good, I can send some to the Steepsterites on the hunt for that perfect cherry tea. :)
What kind of cherry tea are you guys looking for? Cherry Tisane? Cherry green? Chocolate Cherry Black?
I’m personally open to any of the above options with cherry, but particularly a chocolate cherry black sounds good. I know of the Tea Spot’s Chocolate Cherry Bomb but shipping is ridiculous.
I’ve heard mixed reviews about RLT’s cherry matchas but Black Cherry does sound tempting.
I love both, sweet black cherries and sour. I too love to pair black cherries with chocolate, but it’s never really done right. Rivertea is not bad though I must say, but not overly cherry the way I’d want it to be.
The sour cherry teas/tisanes I’ve had always end up being overwhelmed by evil hibiscus. I love tart , but somehow hibiscus takes over everything else. But that’s just me :-)
Chocolate cherry bomb??? Don’t I wish, that’s what I’m looking for, but in a non deceptive way…
My favorite Cherry Tisane is Cherry Goddess from Tealux – I think it’s really tart – but I like that. The other one that’s really good is Pondi Cherry from NMTC – it has hibisus too but it’s not quite as in your face as the Tealux one. I add cherry tisane – which ever one I happen to have in the house to all kinds of things – straight black, green, white teas – I’ve added it too cherry chocolate teas – Cherry Cordial from Culinary Teas wasn’t cherry enough for me, but it was a decent cherry chocolate – then I added a bit more cherry and was pretty good….
I totally forgot this tea was released in the past, but never bothered getting it until now. The scent is very heavy on the cherry.
Hot, I get artificial cherry with a weird undertone of floral. It doesn’t taste like rose to me, though. I would probably like it more if it did. No coconut either.
Eh, maybe this will be better as a cold brew. I’ll try it out in a couple days.
If this didn’t have rosebuds in them, I might try, though I think Bamboozled has them and it’s fine?? Going to check…hmm it does…so maybe I’ll be ok with this?
Yeah, who knows. I guess it depends on the species of rose? Because I’ve noticed that although you normally can’t stand rose, some blends have worked for you. I’m pretty sure I remembered you even saying that Tea Desire’s White Angel was good despite the fact that it has rosebuds in it, yet Bayswater’s Xmas Kiss didn’t. So maybe some species give off a lot of flavour while others don’t.
I’m going to see if the rose comes out more when it’s cold brewed. I doubt it, but yeah, the floral note in this is really vague.
My wife will be very relieved to hear that the floral note is minimal She’s not a floral fan, but she loves cherry. As she told the girl at Davids, “most cherry tea ends up tasting like shampoo”.
Funny you say that! Because the second I smelled the dry leaf, I’m afraid to say that it reminded me of a bath product. So I hope she wouldn’t pick up on the floral too much? With this one, it’s hard to tell.
Mmmm… this is yummy. It’s a brand new arrival to my cupboard and I’m glad I got it. Having not tried this before, I was taking a chance ordering 50 grams… but sometimes you just have to trust your gut, right?
Dry tea smells like mango and vanilla. Lovely aroma.
Once steeped I detect chamomile, mango and vanilla notes. Mango is the predominant flavour just like the name would suggest. I love mangos.
Overall, this is delish. :) Now I have pineapple tisane, mango tisane and if I only could find me something with pear in it… hmmm
I finished my eggnog today and who knows if my brother-in-law will be able to find more post-Christmas. So this may be my last eggnog latte of the season and it seems rather fitting that I both started and ended with Cranberry Pear eggnog lattes this year.
I first tried eggnog as an eggnog latte at DAVIDsTEA. And Cranberry Pear was the first tea I truly loved as an eggnog latte. Then it retired and I finished my stash and I was sad. Until magic happened and by magic I mean Roswell Strange and Cranberry Pear came back. So I am a happy, happy person and this eggnog latte is just as good as the ones made in store! Yum!!
Eggnog Latte Sipdown (248)
This is back on DAVIDsTEA’s website. That meant I was totally ok with using the last of this sample from Roswell Strange (thank you!) for a delicious eggnog latte. First of the season. Plus we decorated today a little bit so it’s feeling festive and cozy here.
This latte is so good. It’s fruity and sweet and creamy and delicious and Christmas in a cup without being the in-your-face Christmas flavour profile.
Thanks Roswell Strange for replenishing my stash of this one. It’s so wonderful. The pear is strong today and I’m loving it.
I took this with me when I went on an outing. Since March, I really haven’t gone out much. I did some drive thru exhibits where you never leave the car. I went to the office twice – once to pick up a laptop and once to drop it off again. Twice I went to my apartment in London – the first to bring my textbooks home when it became clear the semester was going to be fully remote and then to pack it up when I realized my final year was fully remote too so I no longer needed the apartment. I went to a restaurant once and was super uncomfortable. Once to a chocolate shop. Twice to Toys R Us with my sister. Twice to the dentist. Once to the eye doctor. And two socially-distanced visits in my friend’s backyard where we sat like 12 ft apart. That actually isn’t a lot when you consider we’ve been in lockdown since March and I think avoiding the world coupled with my agoraphobia is making me a little paranoid. That’s because when I do go out, I’m very cautious and so anxious that I literally don’t feel well physically. I also panic when someone walks somewhat close to me, even if we’re both wearing masks. It’s the same panic I would get in crowds.
With that in mind, when my sister told me she got tickets to a limited entry after hours event at Indigo, I decided to go with her. It seemed like a low stress situation to put myself in that was outside my literal comfort zone – the house. Plus, I love Indigo. So, it was a bit stressful for me since a couple people got closer than I’d like but overall it was nice to get out and there were very few people in a large store. And we were successful since we bought a whole lot of new books for Grayson. I also picked up Born a Crime by Trevor Noah for me? Has anyone read it? I don’t read for fun much while in school since there is already so much I should be reading for class. However, I did read the first chapter and already I’ve learned so much.
I completely understand your anxiety when somebody is close by. It happens to me way often than I want to admit, but I feel so weird → they should be keeping the distance, why they can’t understand it at all?!
For me, I got really thrown off in a store when there were arrows indicating which way people should walk through the aisle. My sister and I were going the right way but a woman and her two kids turned into the aisle from the wrong direction and the kids were running around and then a store employee walked up behind my sister and I and was standing right behind us trying to put things away and I just felt a bit trapped. The employee and the other woman clearly didn’t see an issue.
That’s awful. We don’t have arrows, just a “spots” where you should stand if you are waiting for the checkout. And people don’t respect them, especially elders have troubels with it. When I asked, if he could stand on his spot, he yelled on me that I am cheeky and I should not lose my temper. The same is near the bakery, adn when picking bread(stuff). Almost nobdy 50+ waits, till I bick everything I want to. Again, when asked… I am the cheeky one and losing temper.
I don’t know if they are so passive-aggresive, or just they need to yell on someone… but it grinds my gears.
I get this, VariaTEA. It’s like this pandemic is a bit too justifying for agoraphobics. Not fun. And Martin – good for you for speaking up about distancing. Maybe speaking up will finally make some people understand that they should be distancing.. I’m sure it’s hard to keep in mind for some people.
I kept sending my stash of this to Roswell Strange because even though I love it, she loves it more so I was always happy to share. However, I think she knew I missed it because she shared some back. Thank you!
It was nice to have this around because even though I probably could have had another glitter chai eggnog latte and been happy with it, I decided against that and went for this instead. This was my favourite tea to have as an eggnog latte when I first discovered eggnog lattes and this doesn’t disappoint. So creamy and fruity and amazing. It’s good to have this back in my stash.
I still have some of that. I am hoarding it, which is silly. But I love this tea not just for the flavor but for the good memories that go with it.
It’s basically the best DT tea that’s ever excited, and you’ll be hard pressed to convince me otherwise :P
I decided I wanted a latte this morning and though originally I was going for Candy Cane Crush or a different mint tea, this caught my eye. For one thing I wanted to package some up to send to Roswell Strange but also this just makes a tasty latte. I will say it seems as though the flavors have faded since this is mostly creamy pear and the black base with little cranberry to be found. Hopefully RS has better luck.
This sounds amazing!