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I had this tea again as soon as I came home. This time, I used slightly less water and slightly more leaf. No cream, and a few pieces of rock sugar, and it was perfect. definitely a more delicate tea, both in the base tea as well as the floral notes. This will not boll you over with intensity or anything like that. And as with CaC, there’s enough creaminess for the tea to hold its own; even creamy tea drinkers like me don’t have to worry about adding any milk or cream (well, I know only very few people add it to white tea to begin with, but I’m inclined to add it to everything haha). It definitely has a very satisfying full, thick mouth feel all on its own though.

And with that, I’m off for a shower. I can’t articulate the extent of my relief at tomorrow being Friday, and not even because of anything to do with work. I’m just looking forward to sleeping in, having quiet time to recharge, linger over long, lazy breakfasts with my fiance, and very importantly, try new tea and fall in love with long-standing favourites all over again.

Oh oh oh! and a friend of mine is going to the UK and is going to bring me back a few teas to try from Mariage freres, so I’m pretty excited about that. I don’t even know if they do sample sizes—their site isn’t the most screen-reader friendly one in town, but I just told her to get me whatever size was their smallest while still allowing for at least four or five cups (I hope that was specific enough hahaa). Now, here’s to hoping she’ll remember and that I won’t feel compelled to send her all sorts of other e-mails with the underlying purpose of reminding her! haha.

You know, I never thought that this tea would be so perfect in my timolino, but it actually is. perhaps it’s because it has fewer additions than my regular (black) tea choices, but whatever it is is wonderful. I’ve waxed poetic enough about this tea, and although I could go on forever, I don’t think you guys particularly want to hear me carrying on forever about CaC.
But I have two more oz of it now, so I’m a happy girl. I’ll be happier tomorrow afternoon when the work week is over, though! I’ve been so tired lately, and really think I need to catch up on sleep.

Wow, I can’t believe i’m the first steepster to review this tea! pressure pressure! LOL
No big deal. You know, just the first and everything. Haha.

I had actually intended on sampling a few other teas that had come in, but all of those intentions came to a grinding halt when I found that my Butiki order had arrived in my mailbox yesterday. I could smell the florals through the box! it was unbelievable.

So last night, I decided I’d have this in the morning. I know this’ll sound a wee nutty, but I actually had a hard time falling asleep because i was so excited to try this.
But as with all things, the morning came soon enough, and I brewed up a cup of this.
In the bag, the tea smelled exactly how it’s described: the rose scent is delicate and very true to an actual rose scent, but there’s an…I don’t want to say saltiness, but there’s something that sort of tempers the sweetness, and I can only assume that’s the champagne. It really does smell like a delicate pale pink rose has been tinged with fresh, bubbling champagne.
The smell as its brewing remains, although it certainly isn’t overpowering by any means. By that I mean that this tea would probably appeal to people who are floral lovers and also those who aren’t.
It’s similar to the cantaloupe and cream in its delicate, exquisite composition and I’m fairly sure I could detect the base tea, which was absolutely delicious. The tea isn’t as “glamourous” as the rose violet calendula, but I suspect it wasn’t intended to be so—instead, it has a quiet, subdued beauty that nevertheless commands your appreciation in a very breathtaking way. I could absolutely taste the rose and cream, and again, the champagne note only tempered it and prevented it from tipping into a full on rose, if that makes sense. That’s why I think many people will enjoy this tea, whether you’ve had luck with florals or not. I was actually worried by the champagne note when I first heard of this tea, because I’m typically not a fan of the stuff, but I should never have under-estimated Stacy’s ability to marry the best of all scents/tastes into one amazing composition.
Bottom line: I can’t wait to have more of this, and intend on having a cup as soon as I go home today! Stacy, this isn’t a limited edition, right? right? right?
Oh god, it’s happening again. I’m craving it and I just finished a huge mug of it. It’s ok. Eight hours and it’s all mine again!
Woooooooo!!

I just drained the last bit of this out of my timolino, and am pleased to say that round two with this tea was markedly better than round one, probably because I didn’t add in half a carton of cream this time.
The predominant note i’m getting is the cinnamon here, and I have to admit that I couldn’t detect much apple. I swear there’s some ginger bonkin around in there, although I can’t quite remember if there’s any actually listed in the ingredients. It’s definitely a warming cup of tea that tastes better as it cools, and although I’ll happily finish up my sample, I don’t know that i’ll be purchasing any more. Besides, this afternoon I think I’m going to try the vanilla citrus spice, which I’ve read so much about. Although I sometimes wish I fell in love with all the tea I drank, I’m also a bit relieved when I don’t—it means I can probably afford to keep paying rent, ya know?
So, good, warm, comforting tea that will absolutely do in a pinch. Now, please just let the next three and half hours fly by so i can go home haha.

I actually purchased my timolino several weeks ago, (ok fine, I have two of them—white and purple!)but wanted to use it for a while before rating it. So far, it’s the best travel mug I’ve owned, and here’s why.
when they say it won’t leak, they really mean it. This has been upside-down and jostled quite a bit in my bag on my way to work and has not leaked a drop.
WARNING: If you remove the silicone tea storage compartment from the inside of the lid, the timolino will absolutely leak-not too too much, but definitely several drops. I learned this by accident yesterday, when I realized that my fiance had washed my timolino and had removed the silicone underside of the lid without putting it back. Not a problem, though—as soon as it was back in place, the lid twisted on nice and tight once again.
-both the lids screw on with a few satisfying turns, each one ensuring an even tighter seal, which you can feel. That goes a long way in satisfying me that it’s truly leak-proof.
-I love love love the fact that when I twist off the top lid, I can instantly inhale my tea, even before sipping. I’ll admit that in my chilly office, I’ll sometimes just let my freezing cold nose warm up just by leaning over and inhaling the steam from my tea! but honestly, being able to smell my tea as I drink it really completes the experience for me.
-It absolutely keeps your tea hot for hours. Despite adding cream to most of my tea, it’s often too hot for me to even sip for at least an hour. The good news, however, is that when you do start sipping it, it holds the temperature really well so that your sipping doesn’t automatically turn to chugging in five minutes.
Things I don’t like as much:
-I don’t use the brewing basket. I find it rather short, and would honestly prefer it to have perforations in the bottom, which it doesn’t (only the sides do). I worry that the basket won’t necessarily “reach” the water, but I’m fine with either brewing my tea elsewhere (like in the perfectea teamaker) or just using one of David’s tea’s disposable tea filters.
-The mouth of the mug is a bit narrow,, and despite having narrow wrists and slim hands, I can’t actually get in all the way to really be satisfied that I’ve reached the bottom of the mug to clean it. Having said that, the sponge/whatever I’m using to wash dishes will always reach the bottom, and I haven’t had any problem with lingering tastes from previous types of tea at all.

I’m just waiting to get the bonavida gooseneck one liter kettle, and then I think I’ll be bringing both my timolinos to work. I’m so excited at all the different possibilities for timolino use—waiting for the bus in the freezing cold winter months, relaxing on the couch in front of the TV or with a good book, bringing it with me to appointments I’d rather not keep as a way to motivate myself to go, etc.! I’m honestly tempted to like, get these in every colour because I love mine so much.

I woke up freezing this morning, and dreaded getting out of bed because I knew I would only feel colder still. I finally hauled myself up and braved the walk into the kitchen. I didn’t want to think too hard about which tea I wanted this morning, so I just defaulted to this one. I actually really enjoyed it. I steeped it for about five minutes, added in a teaspoon of rock sugar and made sure not to add too much cream. It resulted in a perfectly balanced cup, that was creamy, smooth, and reminded me of apples next to a wooded forest. I don’t even know why the term “appley” comes to mind; the tea does not taste at all of apples. But it somehow has the smooth, hard texture one might associate with a firm, juicy apple, or resting one’s cheek against the smooth, polished surface of a new wooden dresser.
If art of tea’s shipping prices weren’t so prohibitive, I think I’d actually go ahead and place an order for a larger size, but as it stands, that might have to wait. My sample is nearly empty now, which is increasingly unfortunate.

Anyway, hump day today, and I can’t wait to head home this evening. It’ll mean that the upcoming weekend is closer to you than the weekend you just finished, and that feeling is utter bliss.

Backlog from earlier today.

So I said that today started out on a needlessly miserable note. The good news is that it got better. The even better news is that’s largely due to the fact that I took this to work in my timolino this morning, and spent the entire morning sipping it and inhaling the delicately gorgeous scent of this tea. I don’t think I could ever switch to a travel mug that didn’t allow me to really inhale my tea as I drink it, because that’s such an integral part of the experience.
Actually, I should probably write a review about the timolino, come to think of it.
But as for now, I’m going to finish getting dressed (I showered—heads out of the gutter! LOL) and head to bed. My dellaterra order came in (funny story about that—involving dex, actually, which I’ll save for my first dellaterra note).
Goodnight!

It’s one of those mornings where I’m feeling really sad for no apparent reason. I hate mornings like that, because there’s not really much I can change about my circumstances, and the circumstances aren’t even the problem, anyway. Uggh.

That being said, my verdant order arrived yesterday. excitedly, I shook the box and heard the familiar sound of tea leaves being shaken inside. I tore it open, and then came the delightful part of trying to figure out which tea was which. Orchard spice and vanilla citrus spice.
“Does this smell like vanilla to you?” I asked my fiancé, waving one of the opened packages in his general direction.
“Maybe. Although didn’t you say the other one was orchard something? I’m sort of smelling, like, greenness, maybe some orchard smells, you know?”
“Well I’ve never been in an orchard. Ok but you think that’s orchard spice? How about this one then, vanilla?”
“Oh no, that’s definitely orchard. Way more orchardy than the other one.”
Disgruntled but still thrilled at receiving my order, I facetimed my sister and had her confirm which one was which, and then of course they smelled as they ought to because my brain had already made the association.

So I had the orchard spice this morning. In the bag, it does smell rather spicy, and definitely as though you’re in the presence of greenery and shrubs and all that sort of thing. The leaves themselves actually feel really cute—they almost have a down quality to them, and are sort of fuzzy. I’d never felt tea leaves like that before.
The steeping instructions call for “1 T” (tablespoon perhaps?) of tea for eight ounces of water, and a steep time of two minutes. well, I don’t think I’ve ever steeped anything for two minutes in my life (save for my brief foray with a genmaicha), and so I ignored it and steeped it for four, adding in my usual cream and sugar.
Here’s the thing. The tea tastes a lot more like a typical chai than anything else. Like, if someone had told me this was verdant’s chai, I’d believe them in a heartbeat and even suggest it was decently done. But I was expecting to feel as though I was guzzling an orchard and instead felt as though I was drinking a straight-forward chai. Perhaps towards the end of the sip some of the orchard-esque spices stand out a bit more, but certainly not enough to tip it full on into orchardism, and that’s just a fact.

So, the bottom line is that I’ll definitely finish up the sample, because it’s a fairly decent chai, but I’ll play around with steeping and sugar and such and see if I can’t coax out any more orchardness.

Backlog from this morning.
I brewed a travel mug of this to take to work, and I just used a tea filter—it actually keeps the tea nice and hot. I’ve found that steeping it elsewhere and then transferring it just make sit lose heat, and I mean even too much heat for me.
Anyway, it had the hint of deliciousness I remember, although I think I didn’t add nearly enough cream for my tastes because I found it to be a bit watery in my travel mug. Ah well, better next time, right? I’m glad I have another two oz of it coming in the mail, because when I brew this in a regular mug at home it’s perfect.
Sorry my tasting notes have been rather lackluster as of late; I had a busy but good weekend at home, and was actually swamped at work today. I should have more quality time to write tasting notes soon though, hopefully.

I’m backlogging a bit, as I was visiting family in Toronto this weekend and actually didn’t go on the internet since leaving work on Thursday.
I had this as my morning cup, and as usual was not disappointed. I can always rely on this cup to be exactly what I need when I’m in the market for some good ol’ comfort, which is exactly what I was after this morning. I’m glad i’ve ordered more, and it’ll definitely be in my regular rotation (I should have ordered even more than I did, come to think of it, but man how it all adds up!).