Janet's Special Teas

Quick sip down. I wouldn’t buy it again but I enjoyed the spearmint in this. Actually, it only makes me crave Butiki’s Killer’s Vanilla. Come to think of it, this is like a more rugged version of that one.

A pretty simple blend of spearmint, lavender, and rose petals. I ended up steeping this for about four minutes and it’s mostly spearmint. A touch of lavender but no rose. Next time, I’ll steep it a little less to see if the spearmint will calm down and bring forth the rose.

2:30 pm breakfast. Somehow I feel a sense of accomplishment when I stretch out breakfast time this long.

Second Nordic mug of this in two days so I could use up the sample and not have it kicking around. I’ll admit that the dry leaf smelled a little underwhelming in the store, as there is a severe lack of bergamot and just a vague creaminess. Both cups turned out to be the same: vaguely creamy with almost no citrus. I dressed it up with brown sugar, vanilla extract, and half and half but it has a distinct scent and underlying flavour that reminds me of many Simpson and Vail teas, for which I don’t particularly care.

No repurchase but it’s always fun to try various EGC renditions.

Sippity-doo-down. I can feel an impending headache from all this black tea and no breakfast/food. Again with half and half and no maple. Oh well, now we all know.

Having this for breakfast along with what I’ve dubbed Vanilla Chai Cream of Wheat: said hot cereal with vanilla extract, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and coconut milk. Ohhh, so good. Talk about a great way to get some iron in your diet when you’re iron deficient.

I wasn’t expecting too much from this tea, to be honest, but I thought I’d pick up a sample anyway since it’s an incredibly good deal. The dry leaf doesn’t smell like maple but rather more like burnt sugar. The taste is also pretty much along the lines of caramel too. No creaminess, but it’s nice with half and half. Inoffensive black base that isn’t too astringent. No repurchase but it’s nice to try some maple teas.

Thought I would like this one more, but it is just ok for me. I wish I could articulate what it is that is not making it wow for me. I only have a small sample, so I am sure I will finish it, but I don’t think I would get this one again. Unless a later steeping changes my opinion of this tea.

Backlog…had this recently with milk and sugar. It’s a nice one. I needed comfort the day I had it, and I got it. Maybe not as comforting as Creme Brûlée or Divine Temptation from Bayswater, but still pretty comparable.

Had this tea recently, and it was really nice and comforting. In some ways it was light and creamy and sweet, and in other ways it was just heavy enough to be like a hug, or that blanket on your bed you snuggle with. Was the right tea at the time. :) I had mine with organic cane sugar and milk.

Sipdown…it’s decently tasty, but I don’t know if I would get this again. It’s not too bitter or strong of a base, and there is some nice maple, but not enough, though adding maple syrup overdoes it.

Got this yesterday, with a few other samples. It was raining and grey out this morning, so I thought it was a good tea to have. It smells warm and maple-y. I opted to make it a latte with maple syrup, but I used too much maple syrup, so it tasted off. Next time I will just use brown cane sugar and milk and see how it is. I think I went overboard on the maple this time.

So, I’ve been having this tea a bit more, but just have not been recording any tasting notes. So…tonight I had the last of the sample that Bear With Me gave me, though I have since gotten more….I just didn’t want to mix the two, and since I didn’t have much of my original sample left.

What I think I notice most in this tea is the strawberry and amaretto, though I can detect a little of the raspberry from a juicy aftertaste. I think that I still prefer the Plum over the Rainbow, but I have upped my rating on this one.

I did add some milk to this one tonight, and I think this tea really holds up well to it. I’ve seen others add eggnog, so maybe I’ll try that. I’m not a huge fan of eggnog, but hubby is, so if he gets more, maybe I’ll eggnog latte this one. :)

This is a rooibos tea I got as a sample. I am not a fan of rooibos, but I was told that Janet’s rooibos blands were much better than David’s blends, and I only like a few of David’s rooibos (and I have to be in the mood to have). This one is supposed to be amaretto, strawberry, and raspberry, and I knew this was the one I wanted to try first.

It smells a bit of the amaretto in the bag, with a little strawberry. Taste-wise, it is still a rooibos taste for me, but I think I could get used to this one more regularly. It was not the worst rooibos I have had. It was a pretty good one, actually. For a rooibos.

Thanks to Shayne (I forget his new name…Java’s Dad maybe?) for letting me try it.

I took Amariel down to Janet’s today so she could pick up samples of some of the teas she’d been eyeing up (and I set her up with some healthy sized samples of the rooiboses I already had in stock, in hopes of helping her find a rooibos or two that she actually likes). Of course I was more than happy to take her down there, because really, I can ALWAYS use an excuse to go see Janet ;)

Last time I was in, I’d mentioned the Grapefruit Earl Grey I have from Bayswater, and she was VERY excited that such a tea exists because she LOVES grapefruit, but her suppliers haven’t been able to source grapefruit :( So today I took her a little bag with a few cups’ worth and she was SUPER excited about it!!!!! I’m thinking of getting either my sister or one of my mainland friends to pick up more for me (250g, I think), and giving Janet a full 50g of the grapefruit goodness! She’s always so kind to me, it’s the least I could do!

So, of course, I couldn’t leave empty handed, and as my Visa cried I ended up with more pumpkin pie rooibos (because between me and the lovely people I’ve been sharing it with, I was almost out already), more boysenberry black (because I can see myself drinking a LOT of it in the near future with the way the weather has turned), lemon rooibos, cranberry rooibos, a lovely oolong, and this red goodness.

I’m honestly not a rooibos fan, but Janet does flavoured rooibos right! It tastes like yummy things, not just sticks!!!

A friend of mine picked this one up last time we were in, gave me a bit, and I was instantly addicted. Sweet cherries, a pop of goji berry, and a slight tang from the hibiscus, this is a really refreshing cuppa hot or iced!

I LOVE cherries and cherry flavoured things. I’ve struggled to find a tasty cherry tea since Teaopia went away and took Wild Cherry (a cherry fruit tisane) with it, but this is actually even better! It’s sweet, but the hibiscus cuts the sweetness enough that it doesn’t just coat your mouth like cherry syrup. I almost want to make some double-strength and add soda water and vodka and make my own version of Mike’s Hard Cherry (a vodka cooler available in local liquor stores, and one of my favourite coolers)…

Holy crap, today has been go, go, GO! Finally have a moment to settle down, add a few of my most recent Janet’s finds to the database (and my cupboard), and make a cuppa!

I LOVE Janet, she is a total hoot and I always come out of her shop with way too much tea even if I didn’t actually spend that much money. Seriously, almost 500g total for under $40? Hard to beat that!

So last time I was in, I was curious about two flavoured blacks – boysenberry, and elderberry. She immediately said that elderberry is “shit” (god I love her crass sense of humour) and that boysenberry is infinitely better. Took a sniff of each and she was right! Elderberry had some weird sour/bitter smell to it, and it just wasn’t appealing. But boysenberry? It was like smelling fresh homemade jam! Sweet, fruity, with a nice rich black base. I went home with a 50g bag and I’m already planning to pick up more.

I feel like the base is a Ceylon. It has that richness I love in a good Ceylon, and the liquor is not that dark. The berry just shines through and makes me feel like I’m sipping jam on toast!

I’ve also made this one iced and it’s perfect cold too! I’m contemplating making some popsicles out of it once there’s room in the deep freeze again. It’s currently full of fresh farm raised chickens we got off a friend of mine, haha!

Yep, really like this one, even more than her Blueberry black I had a cup of while shopping!

I succumbed and bought regular cream today.

And now I’m drinking this tea with a dollop of cream. So good. Like plum pastries.

Om nom nom.

(I have 2 kilos of pork roast in the fridge and no idea what to do with it, because somehow through my horrible file messes and breaking computers, I’ve lost some of my favourite recipes! (They might be on my computer at work…) Any crockpot style suggestions? :) )

NOM. OM NOM NOM.

So. Good. Fruity and delicious. A tiny bit floral. When you add milk it’s like pear tarts (Uhh what? PLUM tarts.) or something.

Janet can really pick good rooibos. Wow.

Another tea with… EGGNOG! This evening it’s regular eggnog. But I might have 2 packages of soynog in the fridge as well. Still no almond at the local stores!

Anyways, this is delicious. The plum rooibos is so good anyways, and the added spices from the eggnog just make it so amazing.

It really is plum, too. Baked plum, I think. Reminds me of my mom’s plum cake with the Italian prunes from the tree in the back yard. We’d use plain yeast dough, lay the plums out on the dough, then sprinkle with a small amount of sugar when it came out of the oven. So good. I wish I could do a decent gluten free yeast dough, but I haven’t mastered that yet.

Oh. Mah. Goodness.

Another one from Bear With Me. Thank you!

It’s so good. Extremely fruity, not too rooibos-y, and divine with milk just like I was told! It’s like nicely ripe plums, how when you smell them they are a little tart and a little floral and a little almost-alcoholic. Kinda like that.

I’m super happy this ended up being the “weird and non caffeinated” choice. :) Thanks!

Works surprisingly well as an eggnog latte. This eggnog I picked up today is way sweeter, though. Boo.

8-10 oz tea, 4-6 oz eggnog. Ish. It’s a 16 oz cup and it’s not super full. :)

MmmOmnomnomnom…

So good.

Delicate spices, squash flavour, some rooibos but not overpowering. I’m so glad I got more of this. Even though Janet totally overfilled my bag, the sneak.

Yes.

And made in my Halloween mug again. You know, I think I’m starting to understand why people like the 12 oz perfect mugs so much. They really area a great size, aren’t they? I can drink many many mugs this size, or a couple big ones… Hmm… I’m going to have to check out the Christmas mugs again and see if any catch my fancy. Or maybe I’ll have to get the soda shop one. Not sure yet.

Anyways, I’m having the last of this tea. It’s delicious. Pumpkin, vanilla, rooibos, spice. All together they make a yummy beverage.

:D

I couldn’t resist. Having it again!

The sweet aftertaste is less lemony today, but there’s definitely something in here with a sweet flavour. It’s been confirmed it’s not stevia, but I was too busy at work to phone and check.

Really nice rooibos. Really nice.

gasp! I had to add this tea myself! Hey, Bear With Me, do you have any additional info on it? :)

This is actually really nice. It’s a rooibos without being too twiggy. I think there might be stevia or something in here though (Maybe blackberry leaves? Or strawberry leaves? IDK, it’s weird.) because I’m getting that weird sweet lemony aftertaste. Haha. Kind of weird with pumpkin pie.

Oh, and the flavours! I can actually taste pumpkin and it’s not completely overwhelmed by spices. It’s blowing my mind.

It’d be better without that weird lemony aftertaste, but I am enjoying it and will happily finish the bag. And heck, as a pumpkin tea that tastes more like pumpkin than the spices, I’d probably even repurchase this!

I had this plain today in a travel mug, and sadly half of it ended up soaking my bag. Guess I didnt get the lid on quite right. :/

The half I did get to drink was really tasty though. Almost better than my morning coffee. ;)