Happy Turtle Tea

Trying this again. I was careful not to overleaf. It smells pumpkin spice like and it has a pumpkin spice taste, but there is something I’m not liking in the scent and flavor. It almost tastes chemical like, but I’m not sure which ingredient is giving me that impression. The clove is really strong in the sip. The strange taste lessens as my cup cools, but there is something that is still off in the finish. I’m not digging this one. :/

Over leafed this today and that may have been a mistake. It has stevia leaf in it. I’m not a fan of stevia, but I think I like the leaf version better than the refined powder version. The sweetness enhances the other flavors in the tea, but is also a little distracting at the same time. I’ve never properly acclimatized to stevia. It smells strongly of cinnamon and other spices. I’m reminded of a cinnamon orange tea that a local restaurant is known for, along with their coffee cake. I think I can taste some pumpkin, but my brain is so hard wired to associate the holy trinity of spice that is pumpkin to equate to pumpkin flavor, that it’s hard not to taste with a bias. As it cools I get the pumpkin spices a bit better and the clove comes out more. It’s leaving my mouth feeling rooibos dry, which is strange. I can’t quite figure out how I feel about this tea. I’ll have to remember not to overleaf the next cup.

Happy 129th birthday, Tolkien!

Night in the Glittering Caves is certainly a glittery tea! It’s fun to look at dry and steeped and shimmers in different ways in both forms. My cup has a very sweet smell to it. The tea has a slight bitter tang to it and there is a powdery almond flavor, but overall it’s nice. The base is light and hard to taste under the aromatic perfumy flavors that linger in the finish. I get the pecan flavors too. It seems to fall a little flat as the cup cools off. Other than the glitter, there isn’t much that makes me think caves or LOTR, but it’s fun to have a tea dedicated to it today anyways.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJmBA4kAVD3/

I went to grab a geeky themed tea for National Science Fiction Day and realized all I have are fantasy themed teas as far as themed teas go. This will have to do! It’s the last one of my Happy Turtle order that I have left to try. I used to watch Once, but after a zillion episodes of some spell or another ruining life in their town and needing to be broken by the power of enemies working together I kinda lost interest. That and Belle saying “heart” in every other sentence got old too. I do like how dynamic they make the characters and tie in multiple stories. The pretty bad boy version of Hook was a good twist. Hook was always such a grotesque unrelatable character in all the other movies and stories, so this was an interesting change. The actor who played this Hook constantly clenched and released his jaw and it got a little distracting for me in some of the scenes wondering if the actor was nervous or anxious or even knew he has that quirk! I notice the little things.

This tea is pretty nice. I expected it to be heavier on the coconut, but I feel like the cranberry comes through more. Maybe the coconut works to round out the cranberry because it doesn’t have that cran bite. The sencha is pretty mellow. The aromatic cran is the star here. It reminds me of a 52teas blend that AJRimmer put in the advent swap for me. I’d have to look up the name. That one was nice too. I’ll have to try this cold steeped sometime and see if the flavors change things up at all.

I seem to have forgotten how to drink liquid! It’s amazing how just the tiniest amount down the wrong pipe will throw you into a coughing fit! At least I got a few sips in before choking so my coughs have an enjoyable maple quality to them. That was good planning on my part. Roommate came in and commented on it smelling like maple too!

This has a nice maple flavor. Reminds me of David’s O Canada. I like that there is honeybush and green rooibos in there too which masks a little of the red rooibos. The dry post sip mouth thing is there, but not horrible. I haven’t been exposed to much Jane Austen stuff, so I’m not sure what the connection is, but it’s an alright tisane. I feel like I’d need a little more going on in this mix to be compelled to make a purchase, but I am enjoying this cup.

Update: As it cools it has a very nice buttery finish.

Got a sample of this with my order! Oh man, the chicory is really something. It adds this bitterness that I’m trying to work my way past. I love the chocolate macadamia combo. There are four sources of chocolate flavoring in this mix! Natural flavoring, chips, nibs and cocoa. I feel like the chicory is less shocking as I sip on, but its more encompassing. I think I can get some of macadamia creaminess in the sip. The suggested steeping time was 4 minutes and I usually do 3 for blacks, but I feel like shorter might have been better. I tried adding some soymilk and it did mute the bitter, but now there is a slight apple juice without the sweetness quality to my cup. I don’t understand what I just did. I feel like this tea might need some tweaking with the steeping parameters to get the best cup out of it, but I like general idea of it.

I’m liking this tea better this go round. The floral almond combo is very welcome today. The crowns are visually interesting in the dry mix, but I don’t know that I like the disintegrated bits in my tea. I might pick them out next time. Right now I’m feeling like this is a tea I would reorder at some point if I were making another order. Funny how my mood is totally different with this tea today than it was the last time I had it.

I really liked this character in GOT. An older sassy lady who didn’t put up with any BS, knew what was up and shocked younger characters with her bluntness. This tea is almost a twin to Teavana’s Amandine Rose. I feel like the rose is a little stronger and the cardamom adds an edge where the AR had more rounding cinnamon, but that difference is really hard to tell. This mix has little candy crowns that I suspect are what added fun little sparkles to my cup. I’m finding I have a similar issue with this tea that I have with other almond/rose combos where the flavors translate to baby powder. I wish my brain didn’t do that! Fun sample to try, but I probably wouldn’t buy it again because I have a couple other teas with similar flavor profiles.

Sipping down! I had a cup of this last night and I’m resteeping those leaves with the half serving left in the bag. This has a really nice rich warm nutty flavor. It’s definitely better hot and seems to loose a lot of the magic when I let the cup cool. I like it enough as a decaf option that I’m considering ordering more so I have something besides herbals to turn to in the evenings.

Mmmmm, I’m liking this one! It’s not quite nutella type chocolate hazelnut, but it’s still pretty good. There is a nice depth to it that keeps bringing me back for more sips. Glad to have something hearty and decaf for an evening cup!

The sprinkles in this tea have a tendency to clump together in twos which makes them look like super cute mini macarons! The illustrations for each tea blend is a nice touch. It has a light scent to the dry tea, but not much. Steeped up I get the heavy flavor of puerh. It’s earthy muddy flavor dominates the sip and doesn’t leave room for anything else. Slowly in the finish some creamy strawberry creeps in and lingers. I’m having a hard time picking out any nuts. I’ve had flavored puerhs before. Lupicia’s strawberry chocolate is a favorite of mine. I feel like to have a flavored puerh you either need a really light and passive puerh or really strong additional flavors that can match and play off of the puerh. This is a strong puerh with weak additional flavors that are asking meekly if they can join the party. I want to see the creamy strawberry hazelnut in this tea at 11. As in loud.

I’m obsessed.with.this.tea.
I’ve been searching for my perfect pineapple tea for awhile and nothing has been quite right.
Th pu’er is earthy, but not fishy. The pineapple tastes like Dole pineapple juice. The combination of earth and fresh juicy pineapple just really works. The pineapple sprinkles are also so cute. Will definitely be getting this in a larger size. juj

This blend is so freaking cute. I love the little crowns, as well as the inspiration for the blend. Another fandom blend I had to try.

This definitely smells and tastes likes almonds. It’s described as being a rose macaroon, with just the right amount of cardamom. I can only taste almond, which is perfectly tasty. Hoping to try steeping with different parameters to try to find some of the cardamom and rose.

I purchased from a few new-to-me brands on Black Friday, with Happy Turtle being one of them. I love fandom/themed tea blends, and Happy Turtle has no shortage of them. They also offer sample sizes, which is a necessity for me at this point in my tea tasting journey. Received my order super quickly, with 3 samples included! The packages of tea also feature art related to the fandom the tea is associated with. Really impressed so far!

This blend intrigued me because of the addition of bourbon infused sugar, which I’ve never seen in a tea blend before.

Brewed up, this smells quite chocolatey and nutty. Like a hazelnut brownie. Tastes absolutely delicious- the bourbon is mild and works well with the hazelnut and almonds.
As it cools, I’m starting to smell more of the almond.

Would absolutely recommend this blend, and this brand!