The Spice & Tea Exchange

Superanna gave this to me as a gift from her recent trip to Disney. She bought it because it was recommended for iced tea.

I can confirm that while it was a perfectly fine tea for drinking hot with breakfast, it really did shine as an iced tea. I made about a liter of it and it was gone in a flash. I don’t like for ginger to be too hot and was tempted to pick out any bits before brewing but decided to try it as is. The ginger was not too strong for me. I found it barely noticeable, actually, and feel it is adding just a bit of sparkle to enhance the taste and no unwanted (for me) heat.

Sipdown

I have been trying to read everyone’s notes, comment, etc., but most of the time can not even sign in, but hallelujah today I was able to catch up! Now let’s see if this note posts.
Steepster, please behave! I have missed you!

It has actually been a while since I first had this so I am working from memory. I was pleasantly surprised at the balance between the mint and the chocolate flavor, because I would prefer for it to be chocolate forward rather than mint forward. It was a decent black tea, but sadly I had to drink this alone because it has the chocolate flavoring that Ashman doesn’t like. He says it smells like mildew, and I totally get it. Lots of chocolate teas do. I recently noticed that chocolate Pirouette cookies smell disgusting to me. Good thing I bought the vanilla, too.

Sipdown

January Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea you prefer plain

I drink virtually all of my tea plain but I chose this one because chai usually has milk and sugar added.

It is a nice blend with the spices and flavors I like. I don’t love chai with turmeric and lots of black pepper. This is much better for me.

December Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea with cinnamon, clove, or chai spices

This one has neither cinnamon nor (thank goodness) clove. I don’t mind a little clove but clove heavy does not appeal and I usually pick out all the clove I can find in a blend that it.

This is a chai that is based on the spices that would have been available and widely used in the Victorian era. It is slightly spicy, mostly just having that little kick of warmth like ginger gives, but it isn’t too spicy for me and is great without milk or sugar.

Not sure from whence this came, but I didn’t buy it for myself since everybody at work gives me their lapsang leavings after their first cup. In this case, I’m not sure the original purchaser got past the first sniff, considering the pouch is practically full.

I steeped my first cup wimpy (little leaf, lotsa water), which is my preferred lapsang strength. Very drinkable. The proprietors mention some pine/fir notes in their particular blend, and I caught them (mildly) in the first two or three hot sips. Less so now that it has cooled. I think I’ll be able to double up on the leaf next cup, although their 1 full tablespoon to 8 ounces of water recommendation seems to be a little overkill.

Well, hello there! Due to our month full of mild illness, storm-induced power outages, stinkin’ hot weather, Steepster hiccups, and VBS (aka high-intensity aerobics with fourth graders), I realized today it’s been weeks since I steeped myself a cup of anything but bagged tea…and then throwing it on ice immediately.

But fractious office air conditioning made a warm cup comfortable today. People have been reviewing this coconut oolong here for more than a decade, so that speaks well of its staying power on the Spice and Tea Exchange lineup. It definitely leads with sweet, milky coconut flavor, with a fruity little uptick at the end.

There was enough to put the back half of the cup on ice, and it was equally tasty. So no matter how the AC decides to behave this week, we’re golden!

One sniff and this one had us at our Spice & Tea Exchange pop-in last week. It is a lovely, liquid, creamy, semisweet, coconut haystack. Straight off the steep, it led with the coconut and cream notes, but I am noticing the floral hints from the Bao Zhong base as it cools.

It’s sunny, crisp and nippy outside; something more autumnal would’ve fit the weather better after spending some time starting to put the container garden to bed, but seasonal inappropriateness aside, this is one I’m going to enjoy as a pick-me-up all winter.

Souvenir from our belated and much-needed 40th anniversary stay-cation run to northwest Arkansas yesterday.

The pu-erh base as good and strong, but not as minerally as I expected. In the sniffy jar at the store, the orange peel and vanilla scents were pretty mild, but at home and steeped properly, they make themselves known nicely. Rather than tasting like a creamscicle, this reminds me of a beefier version of Harney & Sons Tower of London.

My only snark is that Spice & Tea Exchange is pricey, and they recommend a crazy amount of leaf per 8 ounces. I can get a nice cuppa with about half their recommended amount and a good long steep time.

Passed on to me by a church friend whose evaluation was, “It tastes like it smells.” I wasn’t able to sniff at the time, as I was supervising The Fifth and Sixth Grade World Speed Checkers Relay Championship. (You really need to hang out with us on Sundays…it’s a hoot!)

However, once I was home and could consider it properly, I decided that her loss was my gain. I prefer my EG’s to have a little something else to balance out the bergamot, and the sweet cream flavoring does so in a very classy way. Want to try the next cup with milk to make it a Earl Grey creme deluxe.

Sipdown

I assume this is a Sipdown because I looked for it today and can’t find it anywhere. I drink it with Superanna and Melissa so I am guessing we finished it last time Melissa came. It is a nice white tea with medium body and lovely vanilla flavor.

Reddit TTB tea! This was decently tasty! There was a good mix of fruit and spice. It was best cold. It has the right amount of tartness, and the spices were warming and fresh. I love the big cinnamon sticks in the blend. My only complaint is that there was sometimes some emptiness, probably because it’s an herbal tea with just fruit, no base to back up the flavors.

Favorite tea of all time (so far).

TTB sample! I really taste the hazelnut! I think this tea is pretty accurately named. I get the desserty, cookie-ish vibe for sure! Nice with sugar and milk.

TTB tea! This tastes pretty fruity, though not special. It’s refreshing cold, but not amazing.

Cold Brew!

From this past weekend! I timed out the cold brew so that it was ready to be strained in the evening so that I could enjoy something cold and refreshing while winding down for the evening with a nice anime. I’ve been really getting into SpyxFamily – it’s just light enough to make for a nice before bed show.

This was very good. Super pure play orange flavour without much nuance to it, but that deep saturated blood orange flavour was nice and juicy and the simple profile was actually preferable for a late night Netflix binge.

Cold Brew!

I don’t know that I got smoothie from this, but the pure play densely sweet yet bright orange note was spot on and oh so refreshing as a cold brew! I think this is probably my favourite tea from Spice & Tea Exchange. It’s simple, but it delivers.

Another sipdown! This was a souvenir brought back by a friend from a trip to Florida. I’ve had a handful of Spice & Tea Exchange blends. So far they’re hit-or-miss for me, though their straight ginger root is really good. I liked this blend more than I expected to. It’s definitely a winter drink for me because of the combo of a thick, syrupy mouthfeel, cooked plum flavor, and the cinnamon. That plum note is definitely held up by the hibiscus, so this is not for the hibiscus-averse, but I think it worked well. Once I pulled it out to start working on the sipdown, I finished it off pretty quickly.

Sipdown!

I can’t believe there are no notes from anyone on this tea, but especially none from me,even though I am finishing it today. Perhaps my notes were eaten in one of the great Steepster shutdowns.

This is a great tea, leaning toward the darker side of oolong. Color in the pot is ruby red and in the cup a nice black tea shade of medium amber. Definitely has raspy cacao mouthfeel, awesome with food because it clears the palate and nice even after the bagel is but a memory because it is so strong as to make it unpalatable. There is a little nuttiness, toasted. It leaves a slightly smokey aftertaste as well. But even with all that, I don’t perceive it as a super strong oolong and it doesn’t need any smoothing.

As a tea-related aside – I was reading a novel set in London and it mentioned The Rare Tea Company. I emailed and asked if it was really specifying them and they wrote back and said, “Yes, and here is an article to enjoy!” So I will share it with you, too! I guess I need to go order some Lost Malawi tea now…

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/31/tea-drink-alexander-mccall-smith

Sipdown

Ashman enjoys oolongs so this has been his morning breakfast tea for the past few weeks. It is roasty and nutty has good body, and has enough flavor to go well with whatever he chooses for breakfast. It has that bit of heft flavor-wise that makes it awesome at breakfast to me, or for whenever I just need a boost from my cuppa.

The TTB has arrived! So big, so many teas… no chance to try them all!
Tea #37

I took this tea from the TTB; checked it visually and I put it back. Then I saw note from ashmanra, realised I saw it somewhere… and took it from the TTB again.

To try out.

I was also pretty sure I have seen it insome other note; maybe a little note about it in other tea note. I don’t remember such things. But decided to try it.

It is indeed a yummy tea. Wonderful aroma, even better taste. Warm notes of cinnamon, smooth creamy vanilla, it was like eating a vanilla pudding (custard) sprinkled with the cinnamon. Apparently bread pudding is something slighlty different.
Very cozy and highly enjoyable tea. A bit sweet.

February Sipdown Prompt – a tea bought in-store

Sipdown

I didn’t realize this was so close to a sipdown. Most of it has been breakfast tea for Ashman on work days. It is similar to the Gingerbread Festival that we have on hand from Harney and Sons and I tried to decide how they differed. I realized that they differ exactly as the two foods do. Warm bread pudding is rich and sweet and you are really aware of the lemon and vanilla flavors. It seems like a sweet dessert by light in comparison to the Gingerbread Festival, which is full of rich, dark molasses notes. Both are great.

And full disclosure, this wasn’t bought in-store by me, but rather was a special request I made to Supperanna when she was going to be shopping at The Spice and Tea Exchange near Disney. I don’t think there is a tea in the house that I bought in the actual tea shop that sells it, so my choice would have needed to be more of a grocery store blend.

After gmathis raved about this one, I sent a message to Superanna to look for it next time she goes to Spice and Tea. Since I was disappointed with the profile of our breakfast tea (a good tea, just not the profile I wanted for brekkie today) I was excited to make this one for lunch in celebration of our first really cool day. Even though it has warmed up to 69F there is still a little chill on the breeze and it is cool in the shade.

The aroma of this tea is fabulous. I see chunks of what looks like German amber beet sugar in the blend. Not enough to make it oversweet, though. The spices are just right. I hate it when there is a lot of clove or ginger, or way too much molasses flavor.

This smells lemony and yet rich but the sip is less lemony and more rain and warm but not hot spices.

Delicious, and a great tea to have on hand for fall and winter!

Sipdown

Strong baked goods vibe, like the browned edges of cookies that are nearly overdone. Resteeps pretty well if you are combining steeps.