6444 Tasting Notes
Sipdown!! (167)
Confession time!! I do not like eggnog. I only ever had it once because some guy randomly hitting on a friend in a residence cafeteria tried convincing her that eggnog was so amazing she had to go up to his room to try some right away. She did not but obviously we were all very curious as to what this “gift from the gods” tasted like and so we walked over to the grocery store and picked up a carton. We all tried a little and the rest got poured out because we hated it. That was my experience with eggnog and it was not pleasant. Consequently, this tea didn’t really appeal to me (especially since Stacy tends to nail her flavors and I feared it would actually taste like eggnog). With that said, so many reviews compared this to vanilla ice cream and other tasty treats that I (1) started to become interested in this tea and (2) I started to question if the eggnog I tried was not a very good representation of what eggnog is meant to taste like. Luckily, Roswell Strange was kind enough to send me a sample to try and as fast as it arrive, it left. I am pleased to say that I am actually enjoying this cup. It is creamy and sweet and tastes a bit like vanilla bean ice cream with a dash of eggyness. However, the flavor was more subtle than I anticipated and I found myself wanting it to be more dominant and in-your-face, rather than timidly hiding in the cup. All in all, not bad and so I am happy that I was able to try it out. Thank you Roswell Strange!!Preparation
I am not a huge fan of coffee but for some reason I am always drawn to coffee flavored teas. This is definitely a tasty cup. First sip, I just got coffee but as I continued to drink some of the other flavors start to come through and change the taste – the best way I could describe this is a sweet and nutty coffee. Great for anyone who likes coffee and not bad for non-coffee drinkers also. However, due to my personal feelings toward coffee, I do not think this will be a restock. Though I doubt the sample will be very hard to get through.
Preparation
This tea arrived from Roswell Strange just in time to make the trip to Florida with me. Unfortunately, this is yet another tea that got left behind when I went out to shop. It is not bad cold though, there are definitely notes of pear and the sparkles are so pretty. I am glad Roswell Strange was generous enough with this sample as I still have the opportunity to try this one hot. It is a pleasant enough cup now but I will hold off on numbers and a more thorough review for when I try it properly. Nonetheless, thank you Roswell Strange for your generosity.
FYI, this tea is pretty good cold. I did not intend on having it that way but as I brewed a cup, my mom suggest we go shopping to buy a tea thermos of all things so this got left behind on the counter. Now I have a tea thermos so I can take it with me but today it was cold and not bad at all. It is a little more floral this way but still pleasant. Thank you again, JustJames!
i’ve forgotten it on the counter too, lol. it’s good, even then =0)
I was surprised at how the flavors really held up even when the tea had cooled so much.
oooh, what kind of tea thermos did you get?
I went to Teavana and got the contour tumbler in purple. I have the David’s timolino but I forgot it in Toronto when I went to visit my siblings so now I have two which is quite exciting.
Nothing wrong with two tumblers! I use them at home to brew three cups up at a time (so I only fill the kettle once?)
I usually make a cup in the gravity steeper, one in my timolino, and sometimes a third using an infuser. Also, having just used the tumbler for the first time I can say that I do not like it as much as the timolino but it is doing its job just fine so all it well.
Oh, that’s neat. How do you feel it’s worse than the timolino?
I find it’s design a bit strange. For instance, the infuser basket on the timolino attaches onto the lid so when you are done steeping you lift the lid out and just take off the infuser. The teavana tumbler has the infuser snap into the inside of the tumbler so when you are done steeping, you need to reach into the water to grab it out. So in that sense I prefer the timolino. However, at the end of the day it keeps the tea hot and that is what matters so I am not complaining.
Sipdown!! (168)
I just searched for “Vanilla Pudding” when I want to log this tea. That is probably a result of being overtired but to be honest, it is a pretty spot on description of this cup. This has a creamy thickness and sweet but slightly artificial vanilla flavor that I associate with pudding cups. Although, it is like a pudding cup for adults as it is rounded out with some floral notes to class things up :P Anyways, I tend to really like vanilla pudding so this is a hit and it will be missed now that it is gone. However, it is also a tea I really have to want to drink or else it is not as enjoyable (this is probably true of most teas though).
Preparation
Sipdown!! (169)
This week has been kind of crazy for me. It started Sunday which I spent writing a paper that continued on throughout the night and took me until 8 pm Monday to finish. This was my first all-nighter of the week.
Tuesday, I slept in because I woke up early and felt so sick, I doubted anything would get finished. Luckily, I woke up at noon feeling fine and then proceeded to study until 6 am. The plan was to sleep in Wednesday but at 9 am I woke up and could not turn my brain off long enough to fall asleep.
Wednesday meant more studying and at 6 pm I started my last final. Three hours later, good or bad, the semester was over. I returned home to a meal prepared by my roommate and I hung out with her and her family (they are visiting for the holidays). Then at midnight, I started packing for Florida and cleaning my room so when I returned home, all would be nice and organized.
I arrived at the airport at 3 am (after some major issues due to unclear detour routes) and at 6 am I got on my flight. Unfortunately, the plane left an hour late and was so incredibly uncomfortable that I could not sleep a bit so I sat as the minutes slowly ticked on. The end result was getting to see my mom though so that is worth it.
Anyways, since arriving in Florida, I came home to the condo and dropped off my suitcase then went to a farmer’s market to buy produce and Publix to buy everything else. My mom and I brought the groceries back and then had to look up an address for Jenny Craig so I could go get my food. The Jenny Craig was close to The Spice and Tea Exchange so, of course, I had to drop in there. I left empty-handed, not really impressed by any of their teas but ended up in a store called “Sur la Table” because apparently despite leaving Montreal, I am still drawn to the French. There I picked up a Finum Brewing basket and a leaf tea infuser.
After getting home from running all our errands, I promptly started the kettle and put my infusers to work. I threw this tea from Veronica into the leaf infuser and Vanilla Orchid Oolong in the basket. Remembering that I felt this tea was a bit watered down in flavor, I dumped the whole 2 tsps I had left. Unfortunately, that has done very little to enhance the cinnamon for me. Instead it amplified the taste of the black tea which is emphasizing the bread-y notes and almost drowning out the cinnamon flavor. Consequently, I think this tea and I just are not a match and so now that it is gone it will most likely be forgotten. However, thank you Veronica for helping me mark this one off my shopping list.
Preparation
There is a bit of lemon and it is blending with hibiscus. A tart drink but not horrible when cold brewed. However, this is a sipdown so I will be having this no more.
Preparation
While packing my teas, I picked a lot and read each tea name to my roommate one by one. She said yes or no and her decision was final as that was the only way I was going to avoid packing my whole stash. Anyways, when I read this tea allowed, her ears perked up and so I offered to make some for us to try now.
This will definitely be coming with me to Florida because this is great. I wanted to try this for so long that I almost made a cup at 3 am this morning while I studied. Anyways, as my first introduction to Herbal Infusions, this does not disappoint. It is hot chocolate but not the milky treat that people have around a camp fire. This is pure, unadulterated dark chocolate flavor and it is amazing!!
Preparation
Agreed, it is amazing!!!
I am taking this one and strawberry cream cacao with me and I am debating about sneaking in the vanilla and mint ones too but I think I am already bringing 20 diff types of tea ranging from one cup to 40 g and mt dad is sending me 5 of my Black Friday orders while I am there.
LOL How long are you going for? IMHO you need a tea for all occasions/moods – do you really need 4 cacao teas?
Might be a good time to drink more iced tea…
Whatever you choose, enjoy it and have fun.
You don’t know what you’ll want, best bring the whole stash :)
I will be there until January 7. And I am glad you all can understand me and my tea needs. My mom on the other hand might think I am nuts when she opens my suitcase to find mostly shoes and tea :)
2 Suitcases. That’s the only answer.
haha don’t joke – I considered it.
(psssst told you guys this was good..neeener neeeener) lol
Sipdown!! (172) but a very temporary one as there is some of this being shipped to me as we speak.
Thank you Veronica for sending this my way. I actually am really enjoying this blend. It has the awesome combination of brown sugar and cinnamon that is always so tasty in a cookie. It is not over-the-top sweet but rather it is reminiscent of a warm, soft, gooey cookie. Yum!! Now I regret JUST getting 1 oz.
Preparation
So apparently clothes packing is far easier than tea packing. I ended narrowing it down to a box of different teas – some from swaps, some that have only about a cup left, others that are my favourite – all packed and ready to go to Florida.
I leave for the airport in a few hours and since I won’t be getting any sleep I figured caffeine wouldn’t hurt. I ended up grabbing this tea and Oatmeal Raisin Cookie out of the package from Veronica. Both are teas I forgot to remove from my shopping list when I bought them on Black Friday so Veronica was kind enough to include samples in our swap. I am actually glad because the Della Terra teas are somewhere in New York so I wouldn’t have gotten to try Oatmeal Raisin Cookie until I got back in the New Year and this tea is with my Dad in LA until my Butiki order arrives and he can ship all the teas to me at once. So I was happy to get to sample the teas to see if I made a good choice or not.
As far as this tea is concerned, it is not the most amazing I have ever tried but it is tasty enough that I don’t doubt I will be able to get through the 2 oz. It is thick and creamy like a pudding with a hint of banana sweetness. I was a bit disappointed as I was expecting a stronger banana flavor but perhaps next time some sweetner will bring that out. As for now, it was still a tasty cup. Thank you Veronica!!
Apparently Steepster will not listen to my formatting and insists on making this post one giant paragraph instead of several smaller ones.
If it’s the custard you’re not a fan of, you can do a steamed milk (or microwaved!) with a grating of fresh nutmeg, a drop of vanilla, and some sugar. Maybe a dollop of dark rum or other alcohol as well. :)