Magic Hour

I felt like a vanilla tea today, and this was the one I had yet to try, thanks to Cameron B passing it along. Very thrilled to try this! It’s quite a unique blend, with black tea and puerh, black currants and vanilla. I do notice many black currants in the blend, but I don’t really taste those or the pom flavoring. The dry leaf DID look super shiny from whatever flavoring was added. I do taste a lot of vanilla flavor. It’s a very smooth base tea. It’s always vanilla teas that seem a little TOO smooth. But I enjoy the vanilla flavor here enough for what it is, that I will accept the black tea base. I don’t notice puerh at all. Both steeps fit my craving for vanilla! But I will bet this blend is pricey enough that they could have included REAL vanilla pieces in the blend…
Steep #1 // 21 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep

SIPDOWN! I’ve had this one for over a year. I had high hopes, but the cinnamon and other spices dry this tea out. Preparation on their website usually turns this into a latte, but I like it better with honey and no other additives. It gets more of a cidery or spiced mead vibe with honey and is much more enjoyable. The ginger is also much more prominent. I personally recommend the White Marzipan and the Cake Batter Pumpkin Spice teas from this collection personally.

I was really excited about the currants for this one, but it clashed a little with the spices despite liking it. Overall, it was a disappointment, but really approachable with honey. Magic Hour has other better blends imo. I honestly prefer the Capricorn if you want maple/fall vibes.

This chai is standard, but really not bad for an herbal chai! There’s some sweetness from the licorice. The spices are warming and pleasant without being spicy. Good garage sale find! It’s definitely best warm though. The flavors become muted cold, so my final cup of this was unfortunately quite meh.

Garage sale tea! This isn’t my favorite. I taste some tartness and below that, mostly emptiness. There’s a hint of a nice flavor, but it lacks anything beneath, so it ends up thin and disappointing. Not bad cold, but it required a lot of sugar.

I’ve had this one for over a year, and I tried it on it’s own, not as good. Too much cinnamon. Better as a latte, but needs a longer steeping time to get the spices more balanced.

I finally did this Chai Wallah stlye today on the last day before I go back to school. Boiled the pot, put leaves in, shifted back to rolling boil, cooled down, added sugar, rolling boil, lowered heat, added evaporated coconut milk, went to rolling boil, and finally cooled off for 3 minutes then served. I know, complicated, but I’ve found that doing chai this way is better. I added a little bit too much sugar since I made it for my girlfriend, yet still so much better with slightly caramelized sugar from the boil.

I officially like making masalas and spiced chais this way. I was able to get a much better balance of the pumpkin spices and cinnamon without taking away from the cardamom and other spices this blend has. I’m so relieved. This blend is usually to heavy on cinnamon for me personally, so this sipdown was a vast improvement.

I made this in the evening earlier this week after coming home. I was sort of looking for something relaxing, but that wouldn’t really make me feel sleepy and a lavender black tea was a pretty awesome solution to that conundrum. There was something so familiar about this profile while drinking it – and, like, past just being a combination of flavours I’ve had in many other teas. It sort of was like sipping on a warm, floral and sweet and gooey lavender marshmallow. Still some briskness and body from the black tea, but honestly really creamy and decadent. Took me most of the mug, but I think maybe what it was sort of reminding me of was Starbuck’s Lavender Frapp from this past Spring? Maybe. Still not totally sure.

Cold Brew!

This was my cold brew this afternoon and it was fine but not really my thing. It did brew a very beautiful, rich blue colour that I know would appeal to some – but I just felt it was a smidge gimmicky. I was more investested in the coconut notes, which are smooth and a bit buttery/creamy but lacking a depth and sweetness or richness to feel… I don’t know… complete!? It’s just kinda thin, and the mouthfeel a bit oily from all the coconut fat. Thin and oily isn’t exactly winning me over.

There’s something else happening flavourwise here too that I find interesting. It’s a bit like there’s a butterscotch or maybe buttered rum sort of undertone/finish? It’s sweet and a little bit boozy, but again not quite rich enough or well fleshed out to feel satisfying. It is interesting combined with the coconut, and something about the two are vaguely ticking a memory deep, deep in the back of my head of DT’s long discontinued Gold Rush tea.

I just want more.

Latte!

Made this today as just a hot latte using oat milk. I’ve definitely had a lot of iced lattes lately, and hot matcha lattes but I think it’s been a moment since I made a hot latte using loose leaf tea. I’ve just been on just a large iced beverage streak…

I adore the dry leaf smell of this. It’s very, very anise forward in that sweet but heavy/dense molasses and black licorice sort of way. On top of that there’s a nice hint of clove, but otherwise in aroma I’d call this a bit of a licorice bomb.

Steeped with the added oat milk the colour is actually pretty close to the more intense orange/brown of a traditional “Thai Tea” (like, the bubble tea) but just a more natural hue. Like the smell, it’s a black licorice/anise forward profile but with a whole lot of body and maltiness from the base tea, as well as a more earthy spice undertone. I’d wager this is probably pretty darn polarizing given how mixed opinions on anise and clove can be, but I quite enjoyed it as a latte today. In fact, it was probably the best tea I had all day. I feel like it does a nice job nodding to its inspiration while still being its own distinct thing!

Cold Brew!

As a Christmas present for myself I bought a bunch of new storage towers, so last night I did a giant overhaul of my tea storage. It took so long, but I feel like my drawers are significantly less over crowded now – and this is what I drank while working on that.

This was more lychee than it was dragonfruit, and more grassy green tea than it was lychee. However, the mix of gentle tropical fruits with the floral undertones and fresh green tea was pretty pleasant. Not going so far as the call this a smash hot or anything because even though I enjoyed the lychee flavours a lot I did somewhat struggle with just how oceanic and present that green tea was. It verged on lawn clipping territory.

I got this one because Roswell liked it, and I wanted to try it anyway since I’ve really liked all of the Pu-Erh blends from Magic Hour. I decided to make it hot western twice, and it’s super creamy. It borders a little bit of artificial elements to it, almost tasting like a boozy drink, but it’s otherwise very balanced between the vanilla, lemon and pu-erh. I rebrewed it a few times and was smooth and desserty throughout. I’m going to have to make it cold once. So far, I do like it though, and actually liked it a little bit more than the coconut white iced tea.

Cool idea to model it after Ojai as a home town. Basically orange sangria vibes overall. IF you read the ingredients list, you know what you’ve going to taste. It’s a fruity orange hibiscus tea with elderberry and immunity fruit while giving vacation warm weather vibes. It brews up an intense pink red. Some spice, but there’s sooooo much orange. It’s not bad to have, and I like having more variety right now that isn’t just camellia sinensis based. I definitely liked Turkish Delight more. A bit expensive for a fruit tea, but one I can see newer drinkers liking very easily. I’d almost call this tea O’nge delight….there’s so much orange.

October’s Wanderlust blend. Definitely not quite what I expected, but I’m into it. Heavy in the fruit and rose department. I see Turkish delight tea very often on here that use black teas. It was nice to get a herbal, and I am basic. It reminds of turkish delight that I’ve had in Egypt, and it’s sweet on its own. Good with honey. You can add cream, but I bring out the rose personally more than the fruit. The cream can otherwise overwhelm it. It does rebrew really well for a rooibos tea too. It’s got a mouthfeel too, and I feel like the fruits play really well together. It’s also not a super complex tea, and I can see it be more of a summer option or a latenight book reading kind of tea. I’ve gone through it quickly. Every once in a while it’s a little too fruity, but I like herbal teas to be a good balance of fruity, so I’m not complaining too much. It borders on artificial, yet comes close to some of the Lupicia style fruit herbals I’ve had. The Tulsi accents this one with just enough fresh herb qualities parallel to mint and basil. Well, if you know what tulsi is and tastes like, then if you know ,you know.

I hope I’m not praising this too much. I really like and dig the idea. The expense does hold me back, but I think it’s better than a lot of other herbals. Definitely ranks as a better turkish delight tea overall since it knows how to balance the fruity rosy and sweet in a more juicy texture. Turkish Delight is inherently gummy and sweet, so I like this one is a little bit more the fruit juice level.

I thought I reviewed this one-maybe in a post with all 5 samples? Anyway, I’m not adding anything new here. It’s muddled and two dimensional compared to some of the other blends. The cinnamon overpowers everything, and I get some cocoa and herbs. It’s otherwise kind of flat and drying. There are other blends that I’d recommend over this one like Tulum. Most of the herbal blends I’ve had from Magic Hour are better than most I’ve had, but this one has a hard time breaking through. I’m so glad I just did the samples. Cream and sugar improves it a little, but its needs reinforcement on its own as a straight tea.

Pretty much feel spot on with Cameron’s assessment of this blend. It’s not really quite enough chocolate for a chocolate truffle profile, and the spices are way too similar to Fireside Chai. Mostly, it’s just a sort of thin and generic tasting chocolate cinnamon blend. Very forgettable – especially when Magic Hour has so many more interesting teas to pick from. For both pumpkin spice and chocolate.

Another weekend cuppa that was just delightful! I feel like pistachio is having a BIG moment right now and I’m all about it. That smooth, sweet and nutty flavour is the star of this blend and with the white pearls it comes off in such a gentle and airy way that it almost makes me think of pistachio cotton candy!? The hint of floral rose is also delicious, and of course rose and pistachio are fabulously complimentary together. Very Middle Eastern kind of vibes, like Iranian or Pakistani sweets? Yummy!

Grabbed this because the pistachio rose combo was really interesting to me and it was one of the zodiac blends I could actually have (many have mushrooms), but I’d totally forgotten that it was a white pearl base so that was a wild rediscovery when I opened up the little sample bag.

As is the case for most flavoured/pearl based blends this was hard to figure out the dosing for when making a mug – how many pearls do you go far? How much “other stuff” do you include aside from the pearls? The other stuff in this blend is also quite chunky, so it’s not as homogeneous as the standard blend. I think my cup ended up being a little light handed – even for a white tea I felt this was a little thin. However, the pistachio really came through and was a perfect balance of sweet and nutty and that more creamy side of pistachio that makes me think of the Jello brand pudding. Very nostalgic. I liked the rose and thought it complimented well, but it was very light. Probably my steeping.

Seems like there’s something promising here though – an interesting medley of decadent and sweet nutty flavours with aromatic florals.

Sipdown! (41 | 402)

Last one from Magic Hour! I chose one gemstone tea to try, and this just sounded so good with the descriptors of plum and spice.

I will say though, I don’t get a lot of either of those things. There’s definitely a quite subtle plum note, that becomes a bit more prominent in the finish. I’m not sure I get spice at all, maybe a teeny hint of cinnamon. Mostly it actually tastes like oats to me, which I assume is from the silver needle. Almost like a very light oat crumble or cookie, with just a touch of butteriness. There’s a hint of a musty or chalky note, and that’s probably down to the butterfly pea flower. Also I do get a light, crisp apple note.

Overall, it’s pleasant but I don’t think I would repurchase it, as I was hoping for more of the fruity notes. Also I feel like the color in the photo is super misleading, mine always looked like some kind of murky mouthwash ha ha.

Sipdown! (33 | 394)

Sad to say, another one from Magic Hour that sounded good but I didn’t end up loving…

Mostly I think it’s the orange oil – it’s quite sharp and has that “essential oil” taste to it. That plus the pomegranate reads a bit medicinal to me. It’s worth nothing though, I often have trouble with berry flavorings tasting a bit chalky to me, and I’m getting that with the pomegranate here. The cinnamon is sweet and pleasant, I’m surprised that I don’t taste much vanilla given there were large pieces of vanilla bean in the mix. It is a tiny bit spice cakey, which makes sense given the fruitcake description. Caramel though? I’m not tasting it.

So yeah, not a winner for me unfortunately. That orange essential oil just takes over and it makes me feel a bit like I’m drinking either medicine or a cleaning product. Sigh, Magic Hour and I don’t seem to be a good match so far.

Don’t ask me why I ordered this one, I don’t even like chocolate teas…

I feel like I was drawn in by the guayusa base, as I love all of those holly-based “teas”. Sadly, I feel like I can’t even tell this is guayusa. I guess there’s a hint of earthiness in the finish? Mostly it tastes like a chocolate and strawberry flavored herbal tisane. I don’t get anything from the elderberry or blueberry, I think I’m mostly just tasting the flavoring here. Also, I’m confused why they would add green rooibos to a guayusa tea that they’re calling “energizing”. A bit odd since cutting it with more caffeine-free ingredients would make it less energizing…? There’s also monk fruit in here, but thankfully I can barely taste it. I must not have noticed that ingredient when I made my order.

Anyway, this is going to the rehoming box. Tastes like a somewhat generic chocolate-covered strawberry tea to me. Hopefully someone else will like it more.

Just finished a mug of this and it was… just fine.

I mean, fully transparency that this type of Chai is never really my kind of tea in the first place so I was always skeptical I’d love this tea and knew it was going to be one of the least interesting (to me personally) from Magic Hour’s Pumpkin Spice collection. So, in that regard, it met my expectations.

Quality of the spices is a-okay, and they’re pretty well balanced. A little allspice heavy, perhaps. I guess that’s part of what makes it more of a pumpkin spice chai instead of just a regular rooibos chai. Really not much more for me to say on it. It does exactly what it needs to in order to convey that cozy, Autumnal sort of mood.

Cold Brew!

I thought, since this is marketed as an iced tea, this might be better cold brewed but I found the infusion really underwhelming. Mostly a very, very oolong forward infusion and though I did appreciate those smooth floral notes I found myself missing in the indulgence promised by a name/concept like blueberry cheesecake. It was a bit creamy in the finish and I got a touch of blueberry as well but it was so very mild despite the fact I’d used frankly a ton of tea leaf.

So, I was super excited for this tea because the idea of a blueberry cheesecake on an oolong sounded so appealing to me! If it was a greener ball rolled style oolong I could picture the natural floral notes leaning into the blueberry, and if it was something more oxidized I could have seen that almost emulating some of the nuttier, toasty notes of a thick cheesecake crust…

So, all that to say I was shocked and a bit disappointed to open up the bag and see that this was mostly a green tea base with some sparse rolled green oolong throughout.

Honestly, it was fine though. The blueberry note is really nice. Kind of smooth and jammy but with just a bit of a floral undertone. Not too strong, either. It’s also creamy with a soft sort of “tang” to it, which does emulate the cheesecake component pretty well. I think it’s a pretty solid recreation of its namesake even if I didn’t love the grassier undertones from the green tea. There’s a lot of butterfly pea flower in the blend too, but it doesn’t steep out blue – more like a swampy green colour. It feels unnecessary and gimmicky.

But I don’t think I’ll have issues finishing this one off.

Sadly this tea was a bit of a miss for me, but I don’t know if that was exactly the tea teas’ fault. I’ve been slowly seeing chocolate and passion fruit paired together more commonly – especially with more “avant garde” or experimental companies that kind of lead/push that trend curve. I remember one of the first instances was when we were in LA and visited a company who were selling a passionfruit and dark chocolate ice cream. With one exception (a cheesecake), it’s just never been a combination I’ve personally enjoyed. I was hopeful I would in this application, but I just don’t find these two flavours click together harmoniously. It’s a bit cacophonous. Add to that the extra element of floral rose, and this was just a little too busy for me.

I do think, of all the flavours, passionfruit was the strongest – so at least something was “leading the pack” so to speak. I just didn’t really love this particular passionfruit flavouring either though, so that added to the whole “not my jam” of it all.