Featured & New Tasting Notes
Ok, confession time! I’ve always enjoyed this tea, but it’s never been a knock me off my socks sorta tea. You know what I mean, right? But I wanted to really like it because I like Sil and ButikiTeas.
Anywyas,this has gone from a 78 to an 88. I figured out what I needed – a longer steep time. Maybe 5 minutes? I want MORE flavour and this is just great now. Lovely rhubarb, slightly tart, slightly sweet and a bit of graham in there to weigh it down. YES. FINALLY I GET IT NOW.
Preparation
sipdown! mwahahah because the other half of my sample is going to go in to Terri’s box so that she can try this one as well. I have to say, these leaves are pretty darn big once they expand through brewing :) this is on the sweeter side of things, without being as distinctively sweet as some of the teas from TTC that I’ve had. it still comes across as a bit of a malty sort of tea but not to the extent of say, Tiger Assam. I am really enjoying this because it’s just a bit different than similar teas that i’ve had.
Norbu (greg) included this one for me because i was trying to find a similar tea to the one i fell in love with from Norbu that they have since stopped purchasing because of the lack of demand in the US. SHAME ON YOU US! :) While this IS a tasty tea, it doesn’t hold the same power over me as the other one. Still though, i enjoy this one a bunch.
Norbu has some excellent customer service for anyone interested, and until the end of January they’re having a 25% off sale :)
Preparation
Shhhhh….you’ll wake up little terri, & she doesn’t need to know about that sale right now. She’ll start bragging about her birthday & all the presents (tea) she thinks she should get…
Rock-a-bye Terri, go back to sleep
You’ve already got too many to steep…
(cheesy sheepish grin)
It’s true!
hahaha love it!
I have been sipping on this throughout the day between cups of hot tea. It is really a good cup. I am sure when the weather warms up, I will be throwing this back very, very quickly. It is creamy, smooth, and has awesome Neapolitan flavor. This is definitely a win.
i do love this one.
It is pretty tasty. I have a few more SBTs to try and then I will place an order to restock the ones I like and to try some of the new flavors (for some reason the insane sound pumpkin pie crepe with chocolate and vanilla ice cream is calling to me haha). However it takes me so long to get through a picture because when the weather is -25 degrees, I want something hot.
Which others did you enjoy?
There were comments yesterday (?) about how wonderful swaps are because you get to try teas that you normally wouldn’t choose for yourself. Sometimes you find these amazing teas, because someone else chose it. This is one of those teas.
I don’t drink wine – I’ve had a couple of other “wine” teas and didn’t really care for them. I would never have bought this, asked for a sample of this, I was actually a little hesitant to try it.
WOW this is FANTASTIC. To me it’s not really wine, but it’s sweet and a little grape esque – maybe a little cherry – hint of vanilla – strange, but in a good way. I really really like this. I would order more of this if I had the opportunity – it’s going on the shopping list.
Thank you so much ifjuly for pushing me outside my comfort zone, into an amazing tea.
I thought I would try this again and steep for 7 minutes, but that only improved the flavour slightly. I guess I just want more peanut butter in it. But I have my matcha, so I’m happy!
Also, this is an easy sipdown! (152/201-with all incoming incl)
Haha, so much for this one. Hopefully the others were better. At least I didn’t send an excessive amount though.
I was hopeful, but not terribly disappointed! You sent me a lot that I’m really excited about! I just realized half of it was decaf so I’ll have so many evening options now! :D thanks again!
I’ve had this twice before but still don’t know what to make of it. I wholeheartedly agree with keychange that this kind of smells like the Caramel Vanilla Assam. To make that even stranger, CVA (and David’s Buttered Rum) had a powdered cheese kind of smell, so in a way, it makes sense that this smells like that. Maybe it’s the creamy/vanilla notes used in these types of blends which do that to my nose.
I made sure I let the water cool down before steeping, as the tea was a little astringent the last couple times. Cooled down water (probably around 90°C) and no more than three minutes… aaaand it’s still on the astringent side. Quite bold. Nothing wrong with that but I was hoping for some Irish cream and/or cheesecake, and I don’t get either, unfortunately.
Different city, different water too, and the results are the same. Perhaps my taste buds are more sensitive to the base? I’ll keep trying, but for now, I’ll add some biscotti-flavoured Bailey’s and guiltily not do any work.
I find this one finicky, but when I get it right, I love it. :)
You’re all making me want to pull this one out again with this crazy cheesecake talk… But when I had it last I didn’t taste cheesecake at all :(
What do you find works the best?
I’ve only gotten it right twice so far, so I’m not so sure I’m the best to ask. The water here is hard, but I let the kettle cool for maybe 1-1.5 minutes then pour. I set my timer for 2.55, my logic being that 5 seconds could be me running from another room to remove the infuser, and I think the real key is to drink it while it’s still hot. Once it’s cooled, the astringency really comes out I find.
I’m going to try this one again too, but I’m scared of that astringency as well. I don’t like chugging my tea when it’s piping hot, because I don’t really get to enjoy it as much that way. Ah well, you can’t love ’em all, I guess. Shorter steep next time maybe?
It sounds like I basically did what Courtney did except let the water cool just a bit more. Hmm. But a shorter steep, may help, for sure. I’ve found it quite astringent when it’s piping hot too.
But ultimately, exactly, you can’t love ’em all.
picked a random flavoured tea from my butiki cupboard and this was it. I have a tendency to hoard them and then need to place giant orders with Stacy, so i’m trying to get better at drinking them so that i can place multiple smaller orders and not miss anything i might love. This one appears to be a tea that will grow on me as i drink it. I love the hoppy sort of rhubarby taste to this. mmmmm
I think I’ve found that I don’t love rhubarb flavor. I liked the ruby pie, but the rhubarb kept me from loving it. Same goes for this tea.
I really thought I would hate this one, LOL, but it wasn’t bad at all! Probably not something I’d order, but fun to try.
I love that you, me, & others have a ‘butiki cupboard’, hahaha
:)
Why don’t you pull up a chair (unless you’re already on one in which case you can skip this step) and I’ll tell you a little story.
Once upon a time I joined steepster, after being introduced to David’s tea and falling in love with not only the tea, but with everything it implied: a sense of peace, the act of preparing it, the almost spiritual experience of tasting it, the anticipation, everything. And then I read reviews and saw that people were swapping and I wanted to be a part of the craze!
Not to worry, said dexter3657, I’m your girl! So she very kindly packages up a million teas to send to me. In the meantime, I placed an order with Dellaterra, and sat back and waited for my teas to start rolling in.
Got a package in the mail, and instantly messaged dex.
Me: Omg! thanks! Just got the tea! I’m on my office floor, in fact, surrounded by all this lovely tea!
Dex: …?
Me: yeah! best feeling ever!
Dex: Um, keychange? your package is saying it’s still in Manitoba. It isn’t supposed to reach you for like another few days at least.
Me: Horse hockey! It’s right here in my office! It’s in…lots of little zipped bags…that are sealed.
Dex: nope
Me: …?
Dex: My packages are different sizes and all that sort of thing. Are you sure it isn’t something else?
And then it dawned on me. Of course this was my sampler from Dellaterra! whoops!
So there’s a good little blind story for you guys.
So five thousand years later, I got around to having a friend help me make labels for all my samples, and this was the first one I wanted to try. I’d read some really good reviews for it by other black tea lovers, so I had this with breakfast this morning. Dex was very generous with the sample, so I can enjoy a few more cups of this also!
The dry leaf smells a lot like black tea. I couldn’t glean too much more than that, because you know how it is with swaps and such—although I don’t think I was picking up on any other smells, it wasn’t the same as sticking my nose into a tin or anything like that. But I also love the smell of black tea so that wasn’t a problem. I brewed it up and let it steep for four minutes.
And wouldn’t you believe—it’s almost a dead ringer (in my opinion) for Queen Catherine! If I concentrate really hard, I think this blend has a touch more astringency, and a slightly (very very slightly) drier mouth feel, but that could all just be in my imagination. I’m getting the slight smoke from what I’m assuming is keemun, and I wonder if there’s some assam in here to explain the slight malt/dryness. Either way, I gulped this right down because anything that tastes like the queen is mighty fine by me. I’m delighted to have more of this to sip at, but thankfully won’t have to make the A and D purchase (which I hear has insane shipping to Canada), because I don’t need two queens: only one LOL.
Thank you so much, dex, for sharing this with me. You were the first person on steepster to so generously send a bunch of tea my way, and I’m sorry it took me so long to get around to sampling them! You’re awesome.
That is so great!
Awesome story!
Thanks guys! all thanks to dex haha.
This is a great story! Can’t wait to join a Traveling Tea Box one day!
Abby, I imagine you’ll really enjoy it.
:)) No worries, tea packages go out with no expectations, no strings attached. Once it’s left my house it’s YOUR tea. Drink it, hoard it, pass it on to others (play with it on the office floor.. ;) ) As long as you are happy, I’m happy. :))
And happy I am! I’d love my office floor a lot more often if there were piles of tea all over it anyday!! :)
lmao!! Awesome story keychange!!
LOL glad you liked it!
Ok so I tried this last night hot steep but I found it to be rather strong in terms of black tea base. It was nice but I just wanted a little push from it, something extra. So I saved a lot from the same batch and put it into a flask to try it iced.
The black tea is no longer the strongest factor in this tea once it’s iced. Instead the cinnamon, ginger style spiciness is significantly increased and is much more like carrot cake now than it was last night. Again the vanilla is subtle and only in the after taste but it really is more carrot cake like now so it’s more forgiveable.
I still have a decent amount of this tea left so I will probably use it as an iced tea from now on.
Preparation
I really need to start getting into icing my teas – it’s just been so cold outside lately, I haven’t been wanting to!
mmmmm thanks for the review! i may need to try this now heh
@Yvonne Icing tea is not common practice in UK as it’s rather cold here most of the time anyway. But I really enjoy a cold drink in the day and since I stopped drinking pop it leaves my options limited. Iced tea is super great for curing that. Plus I have a new teapot that steeps up to 1.5 litres of tea and it leaves me with enough tea to fill my iced tea flask for later. :)
And @Sil if you do go ahead and try this then I really do recommend icing it.
I never did get to try this one, but I bet it would be good cold!
terri – you will try this eventually. remember? i bought an extra 2oz of it to share with you…and uh there was someone else…
LOL
Woah!!! I put off trying this cause the smell was bit intense for me, but I love it. The cinnamon and the rice are soooooo good together. Really happy with this tea. Like cinnamon rice crispy treats. And plenty sweet on its own. Staple for sure.
Love everything with campfire in its name :-)
This sounds awesome!
I need to order this and give it a go. :)
i loved this one :)
Sounds yummy! Cinnamon is a go to for me :)
Haven’t tried anything Verdant yet… might have to put it on my shopping list.
I guess I should have included this in my verdant order, just to give it a try.
Yum! Sore throats and sinus aches are so crappy, but this tea makes it more bearable! :D
Looks like I wasn’t able to avoid this cold after all but I don’t mind so long as the little bear doesn’t get sick! Also, I wouldn’t want to call in sick in my first month of working because she’s sick, but I’ll have to do it because you can’t send the kiddo in to daycare sick. :| So, fingers crossed! I’ll make her some of this tomorrow!
Wishing you immunity to little bear germs! (They’re whoppers!)
Nooooo, I hope you’ll feel better soon, Cavo.
Hope your feeling better in the morning!
Thanks guys! Definitely actually sick, but I’ll live. :)
Feel better soon, Cavo, not fun…
There’s no scientific studies proving this, but the more I read about sick Steepster members, the more I’m starting to think we share our germs in some ways, lol, maybe through swaps??? haha!
Get well soon! ♥
We’re going to pretend that the next words off my finger tips are not words typed by me. I.Love.This. Green. tea. yeah that’s right. this is a sipdown and i’m a little sad. The teafairy sent this one my way and i have to say i made it today and started sipping on it, not expecting to really enjoy this. And then suddenly, i was at the bottom of my cup and re-steeping a second cup. Yeah. That’s right. I found a green i really like. It doesn’t have that usual “green, vegetal” taste to it. I can believe it when they say this is a rare tea because the flavour was uniquely interesting. The sad part? It was so delicious i just kind of gulped my way through this and didn’t take very good notes on it, beyond loving it. So it’ll go on to my shopping list for a future tealux order with their black tea that i love…and we’ll give them another shot :) thank you teafairy!
Preparation
love tencha too, yum!
if you liked this green, I need to consider it ! as you I am not a very green person
WOW!!! That is awesome that you found a green that you like. Best thing about swapping and letting others choose tea for you. They might pick something that you wouldn’t have chosen for yourself that turns out to be a winner.
Ysaurella – if i order some in the future, i’ll pass some along to you. saves you having to order it heh
Dexter – agreed! and that’s why i love swaps. teafairy also sent along a bunch of oolongs for me to try so it should be a fun time :)
ah Oolongs are wonderful, you’ll have fun for sure as TheTeaFairy’s tastes are really very good !
I need to try some of this also!!
I’m gonna have to try this one too. :)
haha ok but if you guys don’t love it…don’t blame me! :)
OMG, triple, quadruple YAY!!!!! Isn’t it pretty and usual to look at also? Such a nice deep green…so happy I have included it :-)
Guys, I would gladly send some to you if I had enough left, but the rest goes to another swap I have going on.
Ysaurella, I have other stuff I want to share with you, will be contacting you soon when time is right if you’re interested :-)
it DOES have a great colour to it as well :)
If I don’t like it, I can just make ochazuke with it!
Another Sipdown!
I tried this twice, and just never cared for it. The lime smelled great but didn’t carry into the flavour enough. And the base was odd – Kept getting that weird salty flavor I’ve found in a few teas now…
Ugh, too bad about the base. Hope I won’t get the same flavour from it.
Probably not? I think I’m the only one who gets it – caused partly by my combo of my water and steeper maybe too?
I was going to say, speaking of the earlier comment about water and location, I wonder if that may be part of the problem. I’ll watch for a salty flavour when I get mine in.
This one sounds really interesting!
This never worked for me either, Cavo. I tried the whole sample and was disappointed each time :(
Hmmm. I’m happy it’s not just me because I ordered some other teas from Herbal Infusions and I don’t want them all to be the same. I wonder if they use the same base for all their black teas? It’d make it easier for me to figure out what it is about certain teas that makes it “salty” and others not. I’ll have to add notes to my tea spreadsheet and track this: FOR SCIENCE.
haha FOR SCIENCE! Also, I think their base is the same for most of the ones I tried. I know I picked up on the same base flavor in Moose Tracks, Key Lime Coconut, and Santa’s Milk & Cookies. I haven’t tried many of their teas though so I might not be the expert on that topic.
(am I the only one that doesn’t have a tea spread sheet… ? )
dexter….possibly haha
dexter, no tea spread sheet here either!
I think they use the same base for pretty much all their black teas, and sadly I don’t like the base at all.
OMGsrsly – I was afraid of that, but I did like Moose Tracks, so I grabbed 50g of that and the Snowflake EG. There’s a few samplers so I’ll see how those go.
(Haha, Dexter, I don’t have one but sounds like a great idea!)
I haven’t even tried all my samples yet. I have this one, but I’m a little scared.
Yes! Spreadsheets are an excellent way to summarize all your tea thoughts, as well as notes on if you should repurchase it, how you prefer to drink it etc. I love excel bc it’s so easy to search for one specific tea out of hundreds.
sipdown! (168) I pulled this one out tonight so that i could try another tea Gschwen34u0234uweiroweri tea before i am back in CHicago. Yeah that’s right…stupid letters i never put in the right order. the Tea G! ;) While i don’t love this nearly as much as my friends to the west, it IS a lovely tea. I like the body of the tea base that doesn’t get lost that flavours. I may need to look at picking up a bit more of this to play with it some more. Thanks again MissB!
LOL re tea Gschwenasdaposdinfoasdfklna. I feel that way about the name too. ;-)
:)
Have fun in Chicago…again…
going to be so peeved if i don’t get to go to St Louis because of other ppl’s ineptitude!
So that’s still undecided?
It’s so good with a shot of whisk(e)y and some honey… :D
I’m keeping my schedule open, just in case.
I am trying to get it settled as quickly as possible. :(
Sil, did I miss something and Canadians can sign up for steepster select now?
I noticed she was a sneaky Select member! I’m guessing she’s getting it shipped to her tea mule…
haha well, it’s a weird “i’m not sure what’s going on” sort of thing. I tried to take advantage of Jason’s offer on the free box for my tea mule so she could try out some new teas. As a thank you for all that she does. The code and everything didnt’ work, it was all wonky… long story short..uh i’m now the proud owner of a hideous orange growth, but only for a month or so unless my tea mule wants to continue with the box. I will wait until canada i an option.
All the RiverTea hype going on right now has made me pull out my two remaining small sample packages of this blend and Pret a Portea. Internally, I’m a hyena right now laughing loudly and egotistically at you all because I get to drink my RiverTea blends and you do not.
Mwahahaha.
But honestly, I’m so happy that RiverTea is receiving such a warm welcoming and so many people are placing orders because I’ve been nothing but impressed with the blends and the company itself. I hope everyone enjoys what they ordered as much as I’ve enjoyed the teas I received. I have my cart all built and samples picked out, but sadly I’ve yet to pick up a prepaid card to actually place my order.
So anyway, parameters for this mug were 1 tsp. of leaf in a 10 oz. mug steeped in boiling water for three minutes.
I still love the taste of this one – it’s a lychee black that really does taste exactly like a lychee. Not artificial or overly sweet, just perfect. Alongside the lychee, I also get floral notes of rose but that’s not uncommon for lychee since it’s often compared to roses, grapes, some wines, and perfumes.
For me, the sweet spot with this tea is after you’ve allowed it to cool down a little. If you try to drink it piping hot, it’s ok but cooled for 5-10 minutes and it’s just mind blowingly delicious. The black base for this one is also quite nice to boot.
For me, I only ever pull out my lychee teas (whether that’s Butiki, Tea Desire or now RiverTea) when I feel I really have time to sit down and appreciate them. I’m very excited to be getting a larger amount of this one!
haha, you cheeky lady with your special introduction to RiverTea. You feel pretty special, don’t you?
Well, you can feel special too – you have Boatsman and Mulberry White headed your way (sent everything out yesterday), and they damn well better make it to you before all the recent RiverTea orders are delivered.
By which I mean, if the damn parcel takes two(+) weeks to arrive then I’ll be pissed, since usually we get things for one another in less than a week. But yes, I feel very special.
Har! You’re cracking me up. I will continue to feel unspecial and enjoy being a fly on the wall of the River Tea discussion while I sip my way through lockdown.
What did you get? :D
You really want to know? There’s about 13!!!
I got some darjeeling, assam, puerh, cherry kiss, spring fest cherry jasmine, peach, banana, nougat almonds, crazy mint, raspberry meringue, gentle rose, and yes Boatsman!!!
13 isn’t so bad :P I’m looking at six/seven right now, but I already have two at home… Boatsman is probably my favourite just because it’s fun to say, although it tastes great too. Cherry Kiss was good too (it was a sad sample sipdown), but I have similar already stocked so I’m passing on getting it.
Oh noooo! Don’t tell me I found another tea enabler???? Lol, 13 is waaay too much when you have over 250 in the cup-hoard!! Thanks for the heads up :-)
(Cup-hoard – that’s funny – I might have to steal that from you.)
Dexter, you can have it, it suits you pretty darn well I’d say…
@Roswell Strange – I do feel special :) I am excited to try them out now. And I hope the packages don’t take too long. Weirdly enough your package was already in transit last night where as Cavo’s is still just accepted at post office. And her’s is supposed to be express post.
I have a tracking number for yours, but I stuffed the slip into one of my many jackets and I don’t remember which one now, but I’m confidant I didn’t toss it.
Woah! That’s a great list. I had such a hard timenarrowing it down.
Maybe I should have got Boatsman? Hmm.. Maybe next order! :D
So I finished off last night with 465 tasting notes. This is tasting note number 490. That means I have drank 25 cups of tea today. That can’t be good :S. Apparently when I compete, I compete to win. Go hard or go home. Alas, my worthy competitor, Roswell Strange, has fallen behind due to a bad tooth ache and winning is just not fun when it comes at the cost of someone else. So I hope you feel better soon and I am definitely happy to put off this competition for when we are both up to it. If nothing else, it definitely helped me explore my tea collection and make a dent in my stash.
Anyways, on to the tea…
Majority of this was sent to Pandeme but before weighing it out to send her way, I decided to grab just a few teaspoons for myself. I had a lot of this and don’t drink it nearly as often as I would need to to get through the amount I had so sending it away was a good plan. However, I am glad to have just a couple more servings for when the mood strikes because this is actually not a bad cup of tea. I definitely taste blueberry more than anything else but the Pineapple Kona Pop adds a nice apple sweetness and a hint of floral to the blend. All in all pleasant every now and again but not anything I plan on restocking once it is gone.
Preparation
Wow! I hope they were SUPER SMALL cups.
8-10 oz mugs. It was probably not the best choice.
That’s insane. I feel waterlogged enough once I reach 12 cups. And let’s not start talking about the trips back and forth to the washroom haha.
Oh the bathroom might as well have had a revolving door on it because I was frequently running in and out.
That is a crazy amount of tea! I’m not going to lie, I’m a bit bit jealous of your tea drinking skills.
Also, I’m super excited for this! :D
I really hope you like it. And I don’t know what is up with Canada Post but I just checked your tracking # and for some reason it is still just listed as “accepted at the post office”. Meanwhile, a package I dropped off today is already in transit. GET YO SHIT TOGETHER, CANADA POST!!
Hahaha, oh the joys of Canada Post :P I know what you mean though, I mailed a birthday present to a friend of mine in Tofino two weeks ago and it is still listed as “sorting”…whatever that means.
That is almost better than USPS – I just checked an order number on a package from Red Leaf Tea and apparently it was delivered on the 13th. Unfortunately, I don’t have that package so I am a little frightened of who it was delivered to.
Ack! That is definitely the last thing you want to see when you don’t actually have the package.
25 cups! That’s reaching Sil-levels! :) Good luck with your Red Leaf package.
hey!
LOL. You drink huge cups of tea, Sil. Don’t front. :) (I’m eyeing the Davids Latte Mugs. 24 oz!)
moi? i fake innocence! or is that claim grin today is a good drinking day…i hope it continues over the weekend!
Ahhh I want one really badly. I was actually debating about putting all my teas that are in bags into the tins I have left. Then I figured I would have an excuse to place a Davids order and once I was ordering I could toss one into the order.
I’ve been wanting to try these savory teas for near forever now. Our normal grocery store doesn’t carry them, so I didn’t have much hope, but the store near Fiance’s parents’ house did. So here we are!
I got the sampler with all six flavors and this once sounded the least weird, so it’s where I started. But it was still weird. Good weird. But weird.
On the front of of the sip is a salt and delicate pepper flavor, mingling with a brothy tomato with a little bit of lemon brightness. Then the mint hits somewhere in the middle and is pleasingly balanced with the other flavors. The tail of the sip is more straight on pepper and just a little bit of lemon.
This is so much like drinking soup, but it’s not nearly thick enough to even feel like a broth. I really enjoyed it, but I cannot emphasize enough how weird this is.
Preparation
If this is the least weird I can’t wait it hear about the others!
Remind me to bring over my lemon basil oolong next time I see you. I think that one is my introduction to savory tea :)
From Fava? I actually have some here!
Yes from Fava, I should have assumed you did XD
Honestly, someone needs to create a drug and call it “waking up just isn’t so bad when you’re doing it on a Friday morning” because it’s the truth. I slept soundly last night for the first night in a while, and had a delicious bagel and cream cheese breakfast with Mr. keychange this morning. I was actually debating between this and dt’s blueberry jam, but Mr. keychange rightly pointed out that blueberry tea probably wouldn’t accompany an herb and garlic cream cheese bagel all that well. I bet the jury’s still out on that one, but I chose this one anyway. The more I drink it, the more I get a general sense of creaminess, instead of a specific vanilla taste. I’m mostly ok with that, although I think I was hoping for more of an authentic vanilla flavour. That being said, this is probably the only EGC I can handle, as I find many of them to be a bit too heavy on the bergamot.
Despite the original high I felt this morning, I’m crashing, and wish I’d had a second cup of tea before leaving the house this morning. Oh well: up next, Rose Scented!
Oh you’ve inspired me, I think I’m going to have a rose tea today as well! If it makes you feel better, I’m feeling the same way this morning. Getting out of bed was not what I wanted to do this morning, I wanted to be snuggled under the covers until at LEAST 9 am
I know. getting out of bed takes unbelievable effort for some reason, but some people seem to just spring up and go! LOL. And yes, enjoy a good rose tea today—I’m loving my rose scented at the moment!
Usually I am that annoying spring out of bed person… today though not so much :)
My husband is the “spring up and go” kind of person… He springs up out of bed every morning at 5 am, even on the weekends. Sometimes earlier. Me on the other hand… I’m not an early morning person. Getting up before sunrise takes effort… huge effort.
Oh yeah. I mean, I’m known to set my alarm a good half hour before I actually need to be up, because I need to get up slowly and languish.
I have two alarms and if I’m feeling up to it I’ll lay in bed and play with social media on my phone before actually getting up. The only way this would be better is if I had tea to accompany this, but I’d have to invest in a Breville. Or a Butler, I guess.
Ah, boo. I underleafed this one; used only 1 tsp for a 8 ounce cup. I LOVE Della Terra’s samples (I think I maxed out on their sample offerings my first order, and am still working through them). I just wish they had steeping instructions on them.
Having said that, this is DELICIOUS. I seem to strongly favor DT’s chocolate blends and a few herbals OMGsrsly shared with me, and kinda feel meh about pretty much everything else that has that ‘pancake syrup trying to be maple syrup’ flavor to it.
Really though, try this. The salted caramel is bang on, and kinda sorta blew my mind. Reminded me of the gelato I get when I’m on Salt Spring, when I mix their dark chocolate with salted caramel, and get only awesomesauce explosions of sweetness and salt in my mouth.
Preparation
this is a very cool tea! strawberry jam in the tea, and cupcake in the smell… they achieve strawberry cupcake by clever layering… i really have no idea how they do that!
cake without being sticky or heavy, strawberry including an essence of seeds!
very nice…. i’ll buy again.
Preparation
Oh, yay!! Was wondering how this one would work out.
Onto the shopping list this goes…
Nvm. Apparently it was already on there.
lol. weeeeeeeeeeeeeell…. i kindof have a bag. as long as a letter envelope doesn’t offend i could ship a bit off as a teaser? =0)
That is very kind of you. And I would hope letter envelopes are inoffensive as I use them to :O
Perhaps there is something I can send in return? Let me know! I will be going to the post office tomorrow so if anything tempts you I can have it sent out in no time.
I HAVE ENOUGH TEA FOR A WHOLE SEMESTER! lol. but, i’ll ask a favour? can you review the mityana tea for me if i include it? honestly. they need whatever feedback you honestly have. =0)
Of course. I review all the teas I drink :) And are you sure there is nothing at all I can send? I see Transsiberian Chai on your shopping list and I have about 40 g of it upstairs :P
I feel a need to play cheerleader again. Do it, VariaTEA! Send James the tea! :D
hahaha OMGsrsly, it might already be in the envelope…shhh
lol, geez. i can’t think of a chai i didn’t want to try. that would be lovely. thank you! OMGsrsly… now i see you with tea bag pom poms :0P
this sounds SO good.
That’s an idea, James! Maybe for Halloween!
i want a picture!!
Aimee Popovacki… you’re back! it’s a great tea. my favourite simpson and vail so far.
lol ya finally, but i’m behind in reviews haha… i dont even remember like half of what i’ve drank…. i definitely want to try more simpson and vail.. i’ve heard good things : )
And another sipdown! :O
This was so good. I’m totally relaxed for bed. :)
Good night, Steepsterites! Good night!
i have a sample of this….. hmmm. thinking, thinking….
Would you like some more Cavo? I haven’t quite sealed up your package. I think I counted 23 teas though and 24 is such a nicer number :P
*24 is a much nicer number.
Do it, VariaTEA, do it! :D
It has been done!
It’s a decaf, and really finicky about being oversteeped. Try it, JustJames! VariaTEA, do it… ;)
I am learning from you MissB! I just keep adding and adding. I think I opened and resealed the swap package to Roswell Strange like 4 times. I have to say though, it is very satisfying to both reign in my own cupboard and share with others.
Omg. :O
I’m laughing at this on the bus and I don’t care! I feel spoiled.
I love our community!!
The leaves of this tea are beautiful. Rolled and all golden and black, amazing to look at.
I’m not educated enough to understand what is going on in this one. It has the right mouth feel of a rich, thick black – but it also is lighter in flavor than I normally prefer. It’s smooth and gentle – zero astringency, but has a bit of the “dry mouth” thing that I’m not fond of. I’m not sure how to classify this. There is no doubt that this is a high end tea, but I don’t think it fits my favorite black notes.
Thank you so much ifjuly for sending me some of this. I feel like I don’t deserve to be “wasting” this beautiful tea.
Just enjoy! :-)
:)
yeah, what caile said. (:
What caile and ifjuly and stephanie said: :)
Hmm… I have to try mine still. I feel like I’m saving them for a treat once I drink some of these samples!
I LOVE Mandala Tea, and as much as I think this is a special tea – it’s not really to my tastes. I think others would appreciate it more than I do – this tea deserves to be loved, and I don’t love it.
OMGsrsly – I have lots that I’m saving for the right day…
I don’t think you wasted it. Trust me it will “grow” on you.
I got an ounce with MissB. :) So excited. I got some of the cones as well! Once my sample box doesn’t spill onto the floor when I look at it, I will indulge.
When I sent majority of this package off to Veronica, I decided to save a few tsps just to make sure my initial dislike was not just a fluke. So this afternoon I grabbed out my packet and brewed up a cup. This time around I get the faintest bit of what could be called cotton candy if I stretch my imagination and concentrate but realistically it is just a sweet black tea and not much else. I am glad it went to a home where it has been given far more love than I ever could. As for the last tsp, I am opening up the swap to Roswell Strange (yet again as I may have added stuff last night at 3 am when I couldn’t sleep :O) so that she can give it a try.
Preparation
Oh Gosh, I get the feeling this swap is gonna be huge!
It fits in a bubble envelop still, I have not reached the point where I need to put it in a box. However, it is definitely the biggest swap yet. And I think recently I have had a tad bit of a panic over the surplus of teas I own so I am sending some of that your way :P
Your’s is in a bubble envelope right now too, but I think it’s the biggest bubble envelope I’ve sent (anyone) yet…
I am quite fearful of my cupboard exploding. I keep thinking about the packages on the way and between my few orders, this swap, and a package from MissB (who is ever so sneaky with adding tea), I worry what that number might be.
**Yours(?) Oh gosh, I’ve been out of school too long – I can’t remember my grammar anymore… I’m trying to do some sipdowns today: I’d rather not get over 200.
haha I am very conflicted over what I should drink. I don’t know if I should be diving into my samples box, drinking teas from swaps, going for sipdowns, or drinking older teas (not that any of them are THAT old since I only got into teas in August but still). I keep leaning towards sipdowns just because I keep trying to control my stash haha.
Right now I’ve got samples that are close to sipdown size, some of my oldest teas (mostly DAVIDsTEA blends), and the 2 Butiki teas from my BF order I’ve yet to try out of my closet – and I’m kind of rotating between those things. I was hoping I could make Orange Matcha a sipdown today, but I still have a little left. I was tempted to add it to your package, but I’ve already sealed the bubble envelope up since the little strip was coming off :(
haha I decided to recycle an envelop I got in an old swap (mostly because I didn’t have one large enough at home and it is always so frustrating to have to package everything up at the post office. People look at you funny when you have a giant pile of teas :P. Anyways, in order to seal it up, I used a whole bunch of duct tape and then I keep reopening it and resealing it with another strip of tape to ensure it stays closed when it travels. So I will apologize in advance for the surplus of tape. However, speaking from experience, it is actually quite easy to peel away and open when you want to.
I have a small(ish) stack or regular envelopes and then a second of various sized bubble envelopes so I can package everything here at home instead of doing the awkward at the post office thing. The one I used for this swap was the biggest size I had.
Alternate! 1 sipdown, 1 older tea, 1 tea you like. :) Keeping everything in rotation is a good idea. I’m focusing on samples right now though because stuff keeps falling out of the box onto the floor.
hahaha mine is quickly getting to be that full too. Although my bag of swaps is also exploding. I guess just reaching for whatever appeals to me at the time is a good way to go about it.
All my tins or bags of tea which are large enough to stand upright are kept in our living closet sorted by tea types (grouped, basically) with the exception of the 20 or so teas I have in the kitchen on rotation. I then have a drawer with is filled with samples I immediately or quickly want to get to. All Matcha is kept in the freezer. Everything else (samples, small bags of tea, etc.) are kept in huge ziploc bags labelled by tea type (Black, White, Herbal, etc.). I then have a spreadsheet on my laptop which organizes things by company and then, within company, tea type. Next to that information is something like: “Tin”, “No Tin”, “Sample”. If it’s in a tin, I know it’s in the closet, same with “No Tin”. If it says sample, I know the look for it in the immediate sample drawer or one of the labelled tea type bags. With this system, I’ve never ‘lost’ a tea :)
Oh, and all my Tea Bags are kept in a special chest from my Grandmother (it has about 10 perfectly tea bag shaped compartments) in the kitchen…
haha Roswell Strange, you are so organized. I have all my teas on the floor surrounding my staircase. Some are in a large box which is my sample box, some are in a bag which is the swap box, ones from swaps are kept in the original package they came in and all those packages are sitting in a huge teavana back on top of my tins of teavana teas. There are some teas stored in tins on my kitchen counter (those are mine and my roommates favourites). I also have a spreadsheet where the teas are sorted by company and highlighted in different colors based on type. Also I list where (who) each tea comes from, who I sent the teas to, and if I would buy the tea again. On that spread sheet, I also include tasting notes so I can quickly see why I would/would not restock them. Also, last night I made a separate list of all my caffeine free teas so I can quickly decide what I want to have in the evenings/at night.
Yeah, the tea types in my spreadsheet are done by colour too (I use DAVIDsTEA colour system because all my tins are DAVIDsTEA tins that match tea based on the colour). I also have a system in the spreadsheet to know whether I’d restock: N/A (Haven’t tried yet), No Restock, Restock, and Unsure. I should mark who teas came from in swaps, but I don’t. Usually I can remember…
How much to do you guys charge for setting up and data entering onto one of those fancy spread sheets?
Dex, I would happily make a spreadsheet for you. Granted I can’t fill in the origins of your teas or tasting notes or stuff like that but I can use your cupboard as a guide and organize them by company and color code by type :)
I was just about to offer to do the same thing! Honestly, it doesn’t take long to do so I wouldn’t at all mind helping :)
LOL Thanks guys, really I was kidding. I would never be disciplined enough to keep it updated. I was just in awe that both of you actually keep that kind of data.
My mom used to be a bookkeeper and so I kinda grew up with spreadsheets. I think it is more habit than anything :P
Similarly, my Mom was a secretary for years before she quit to return to school and get her Masters so as soon as I started having to use Microsoft Word or Excel for school she taught me how to do everything properly according to MLA Style Guides and things like that – though tea is the first time I’ve ever used a spreadsheet practically outside of school :P
I work accounting, I look at spread sheets all day. I can appreciate how awesome it would be to keep my tea organized, but it would end up being too much like work. Respect you guys for keeping yours up to date.
I feel as though i try to come up with different and interesting ways to describe my fondness of a tea each time I review it, because I don’t want you guys to all be like “wow, keychange is awfully repetitive, let’s all have a tea crawl and not invite her!” haha (I’m kidding). But seriously, I think this tea travels extremely well, and tastes good both in a cup and in my timolino, which came as a very pleasant surprise because i’m always afraid that the stainless steel will somehow tarnish creamy, somewhat delicate notes—but that isn’t the case at all. This tea only gets better as it cools, and is also a hit with Mr. Keychange. I get a lot of coconut, and just a hint of sweet, slightly tart raspberry at the tail end of the sip, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
In other news, I’m reading the second book in the divergent series in order to kill some time, and although it’s an action-packed series full of twists and turns, something about the entire series is a bit obnoxious and induces many a proverbial eye roll (I’m not sure if I can actually roll my eyes; as a blind person, I’m not even sure which muscles are involved-like I can move my eyes up and then down, but like, is that the same as rolling them? anyway, I’m rolling my eyes on the inside, so let that count for something LOL). Ok, back to this book. The Hunger Games trilogy was way better, in my opinion, but I also think the whole dystopian genre is headed to hell in a handbasket. Where’s the current day Orwell at, guy?
We would never tea crawl without you, keychange! And I agree with your take on the dystopian genre although I guess that’s why Orwell’s book has persisted to be popular overtime and most of the modern series are just fleeting fads (except Harry Potter…Harry Potter will be popular forever!)
I love your descriptions!!! Keep it up :) And I just did an eye roll. Best way I can describe it is moving it like a clock hand ticks along, except with your eyes. Sorry if that sounds ignorant or offensive, you made me think about it and so I sat and thought about it! :)
Haha variaTea, I’m glad I’d be included. And let HP live on forever!
Tuscan, the description makes sense, although I can’t seem to, like, do a circular movement. Maybe the next time I’m with a sighted friend, we’ll practice me rolling my eyes and then die of laughter ha! (I’ve tried for a long time to master the pissed off look, but the consensus was that I just looked constipated!) LOL
There’s nothing wrong with not being able to look pissed off!!! That’s a good quality because then no one assumes you have bitchy resting face (the people who just being normal no expression, look extremely pissed off.) I have a friend who is like that and when I first met her, I thought: Whoa! This girl needs to smile once in a while. She’s a very happy person, just doesn’t convey it when she’s relaxed and not emoting.
You might be right-besides, I’d like to keep my emotional reactions to things private sometimes, so that’s one way to look at it. And I’ve heard of the people who seem to constantly wear a sour expression—I’m glad I don’t have that particular problem.
And eyerolls dont come natural to us either. I had to practice, actually. It takes work. Uusally, when I see someone do it, they just look up with suggestive eyebrow wiggling, and that does the trick.
Ha! I just tried it, but the combination of both eyes and eyebrows just felt very ridiculous to me. People move their faces around a lot eh? I’ve asked people if I have an expressive face, and most don’t think it’s unusually blank or anything.
keychange, it feels ridiculous to me too. Yet I still do it to convey things. Mostly to this one teenager who really doesn’t like to talk much. :)
That’s great. I’m going to start moving parts of my face around all over the place and have fun at peoples’ reactions.
I’ve heard so much about this tea – wish I could try it!
Yay!
If you ever place an order with Butiki, she will throw in a few samples and you can request which ones. Her teas rarely disappoint.
That’s so funny-a longer steep time pretty much ruined this tea for me yesterday! Although I’m guessing it was steeping for more than five minutes, but still. Funny what works.
It’s been awhile since I drank this one. I picked up an oz with my last butiki order, just for fun. :)
haha a 78 is a perfectly reasonable score for a tea :)
:) Well 78 means I like it, but not that it’s completely irreplacable. :P Anything over 85 means I need to buy at least 2oz of it when I order.
Keychange – yeah there’s probably a very narrow margin where oversteeping makes the flavours better before it makes it infinitely worse. I didn’t mean to steep it so long but my cat wanted some attention before I left the house.
Oh yeah, cats can do that to your tea anyday!
and they do it on purpose!
NIce, maybe that was the “problem” I had with this tea too. I was afraid of steeping it too long because I thought the base would only get stronger and cover up the other flavours even more.