Østerlandsk Thehus

Huge thanks to Courtney for sending me a sample of this! I absolutely love it. This blend reminds me, favorably, of Alice’s Tea Cup Alice’s Tea. That blend is black tea, green tea, vanilla, and rose petals, and one of my all-time favorites. The differentiator here is the bergamot. While I’m not generally a big fan of Earl Grey, I don’t mind the bergamot here because it’s noticeable but not a prima donna. Rather, it’s a team player that shares the stage with the vanilla and rose, for an overall well-balanced cup. Halfway through I added about half a teaspoon of sugar just to really give the flavors some extra oomph, but this is a very solid cuppa without sweetener too. I believe this is my first tea from Østerlandsk and it’s a favorable first impression!

2023 sipdown no. 57

I really came to love this tea once I figured out the best steeping parameters. The orange had a bite to it – a slight bitterness, which I expected with the orange peel pieces in the blend. However, the orange flavour itself was really lovely and truly orange. The orange slightly edged out the bergamot, but the bergamot was still present. The base tea was smooth with a lower temperature and shorter steep. I would definitely add this one to my cupboard again.

2023 sipdown no. 55

This one was tasty, but I found the almond almost too much. In fairness, it is an almond tea, so bang-on for that. I prefer the A.C. Perch Almond tea with the bitter almond addition for a bit more complexity.

Ugh. Rookie mistake. Too much leaf. It was either too much or too little, I’d rather have a stronger cup. The dry leaf was very sweet smelling. Kinda fruity. Red berries and currants. Same with the wet leaf. Also a small hint of those candy wafers. The tea is not nearly as strong as it should be for the amount of leaf I used. I left it to steep while I took the kids to school in the tepid water. Slight woody notes along with some tart fruits. A decent blend but not one I’d buy.

Sipdown! (10 | 83)

This smelled nice and tart-fruity in the packet, so it was chosen to be tried next.

I didn’t look at the description before trying it, and was confused by the somewhat strong toasted nori aroma with the tart fruit. It turns out, it actually is supposed to be seaweed-like, which makes me feel better. I’m not familiar enough with gooseberry or sea buckthorn to be able to comment on those, but the fruitiness here is tart and bright, and it comes off a bit green apple candyish? Not quite, but that’s the closest thing I can think of. Somewhere between pineapple, green grape, and green apple?

It’s pleasant and I’m enjoying it! The seaweed isn’t actually very strong in the taste, so it’s mostly the fruity element. Yummy!

Sipdown! (7 | 80)

Another one from Courtney (and VariaTEA)!

Black, green, and white tea? Really…?

Anyway, the first time I tried this one it mostly tasted like a generic peach green tea to me. Inoffensive but nothing special. Odd, because there’s no peach here.

This time, though, I’m getting more of a grapefruit and quince situation, which I like much better. I’m also getting more of the hay notes from the white base. There are some nice honeyed notes too, and perhaps a bit of rhubarb?

Anyway, it’s tasty! Not something I would order because of the weird base situation and the inconsistency, but I enjoyed the second cup.

Sipdown! (66)

I haven’t been getting any tea done lately! Yesterday I just wasn’t in the mood for some reason, and I ended up only having two teas and a London Fog… (shrugs)

So today I tried a lower temperature for this tea, to see if I could bring out the green tea a bit. Perhaps there’s a bit of grassiness here? I didn’t see much green tea in the dry leaf anyway, but I think it’s a very grassy Chinese sencha so I can still taste it a little bit.

I’m getting peach, though I know it’s supposed to be mango. There’s a hint of pear-like quince with a slightly honeyed note. I’m also happy to report that today I’m getting a hint of rhubarb! Mostly at the end of the sip, there’s a lovely rhubarb-y tartness.

Overall though, it’s just not a great tea in my opinion. The flavors are all a bit muddled in together, the base teas included. The black base is quite flat. And the peach/mango dominates too much, when I’d like more quince, rhubarb, or strawberry. It’s fine, but not great!

Thanks Courtney and (indirectly) VariaTEA for the share!

2021 sipdown no. 42

A lovely tea from VariaTEA!

I quite enjoyed this one. The fruitiness is slightly generic, but there is definitely a sea buckthorn tartness that I really like. The green tea blends into the background and accents nicely.

A sample from VariaTEA :)

This one is meant to have flavours of sea buckthorn, gooseberry, and seaweed. There is a tartness here that’s reminiscent of sea buckthorn and gooseberry, but no seaweed (which I’m grateful for tbh)!

This is a nice fruity-esque green that’s perfectly enjoyable. Thanks VariaTEA!

So I’ve been cold brewing 1-2 teas daily to get through some green teas and others in my cupboard and figured I would try this one cold brewed. Well…it tasted just like sunscreen. Remarkably so, in fact. Alas, it was dumped XD.

Also, life update: three weeks to thesis submission as of today!

2021 sipdown no. 73

Sad sipdown of this one from VariaTEA. I really enjoyed this one because for whatever reason the blend of ingredients created a great balance with the bergamot and it just tasted wonderful to me.

I’ve contacted the company a couple times and have yet to find a way to order from them sadly, but still working on it, so hopefully I can one day order this one.

I can’t get over how taken I am with this tea. It’s like an earl grey cream, but not overly vanilla-y, yet the bergamot is so mellowed and this cuppa is just perfect. There was even a full rosebud in the leaves today. :)

I have been emailing back and forth with this tea company because I need to have more of this in my life, but they online cart seems to have a glitch and won’t let me check out. I now have one cup remaining from VariaTEA and I am trying to remain calm about it!

I treated myself to this cuppa to power through this paper. I am trying to have it written by tomorrow, then spend Christmas Eve editing and hopefully submitting prior to Christmas!

Thanks for introducing me to this tea that I can’t stop thinking about VariaTEA!

I’m having kind of a sad day, but it’s my 8 year anniversary on Steepster so I thought I should at least smile about that!

I really had a craving for this tea from VariaTEA and I think I might almost be ready to say I enjoy earl grey cream teas? What! This tea is so tasty, I can’t get over it. It’s just perfectly comforting today and I want to drink every last bit that was sent my way!

The teas from VariaTEA arrived today!

Wow, I really enjoyed the scent of this one dried! Lex didn’t and she’s the one who has traditionally enjoyed bergamot.

Also, loving the flavours here. The bergamot is here, but there’s a nice vanilla over it, mellowing it out and just making this a delicious cuppa.

Super helpful for re-focusing on my exam studying as well. Yay!

Thanks VariaTEA! So thrilled you popped this tea in the parcel! :)

another “Meh” for me in terms of teas. I don’t think i have good luck with this blend BUT in alll fairness this is a blergamot tea.

It’s not strong with it’s blergi-ness which is nice…but the black/green blend annoys me to no end AND there’s nothing else going on with this blend to make it worth anyone’s time. lol at least in my opinion haha

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!

honestly while i appreciate the sample share from VariaTEA this feels just like a generic green fruity tea. yawn

Realised it’s almost december and I still have samples from VariaTEA that i haven’t had time to get to. I try to have samples when i can actually pay attention to what i’m drinking. I don’t love tea blends when they mix green, black, white or whatever. I never feel like the brewing makes sense. This one wasn’t bad but i’m not sure that the flavours really came to life. It’s sort of generically fruity blend for me today.

Oh well, love trying new teas – never know when you’ll find a hit!

this one tasted like nothing to me the other day. Not sure what it was but honestly it didn’t really taste like i was drinking a flavoured tea. Sample from variaTEA. I love getting to try new teas but this one confused me :)

I saw that Cameron and VariaTEA have been drinking this and it inspired me to make a cup.

Now that we snagged the variable temperature kettle from Lexa’s mom, I feel invincible! I brewed this one and it was just perfect. There’s a sweet rhubarb scent and while not much of the sweetness comes through in the flavour, the rhubarb does and it’s lovely. There’s also some generic fruitiness, but I enjoy it.

This is a good one for enjoying, but not thinking too hard on. Thanks VariaTEA for sharing so much!

Another sample from VariaTEA! Thanks!

This one is another fruity tea that while, tasty, the fruits are somewhat difficult to distinguish. I would say there’s a rhubarb quality and I think I’m getting a hint of strawberry. It’s definitely tasty though, and I like the black and green base.

I started steeping this when my grandmother called and accidentally steeped for waaaay over time, and it’s a-okay. That’s definitely a point in its favour!

Lex could smell is from the other end of the couch and swooped in to have half my cup XD. Lex says she’s tasting a lot more mango with strawberry.

I always gravitate towards this one due to the dry scent over Copenhagen, but I really do prefer the flavour of Copenhagen.

This one has that sweet scent that doesn’t translate to as sweet in the flavour, which is nice. But it has more of a peach flavour here mixed with hints of tartness that could be raspberry, but peach is not my favourite in tea. It’s still a tasty cuppa, but between the two Copenhagen rhubarb will always win out!

I’m enjoying having these teas in my cupboard, courtesy of VariaTEA. I wish the company would get back to me about how to order beyond their website glitch.

Sipdown! Lex loved this one and Copenhagen Blend so much that she requested I look at an order from this wee company!

Thanks for sharing VariaTEA!

A sample from VariaTEA :)

This one smells quite fruity but tastes less so. I’m finding it difficult to distinguish which fruits exactly, but I am enjoying the scent and the cup overall. As the tea cools, I’m getting a hint of grapefruit, which is fun. I also enjoy the mixed tea base of black, green, and white.

Thanks for sharing VariaTEA!