17579 Tasting Notes
Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads…
Happy Back To The Future Day tea drinkers! For anyone who didn’t know, today (October 21st) was the day that Marty McFly went to the future! In honor of the day, I watched the first two movies of the series. Sorry; I just couldn’t do the third – I’m not a fan. I also really loved seeing all the fun articles all over social media! It’s crazy to think that as of tomorrow that series will completely take part in the past. I don’t know; it all feels kind of meta? And it’s hilarious and amazing looking at the predictions and seeing what we achieved, are close to achieving, and what was COMPLETELY off base.
No real comments on the tea: it’s just what I was drinking when I watched the movies. I enjoyed it, but my experience was no different than it has been in the past.
I’m curious though: I’d love to see everyone make a prediction for 2030, which is fifteen years from now. My own prediction? I think we’re going to have so many medical advancements including a cure for both aids and cancer as well as Alzheimer’s!
Sipdown (120)!
So for anyone who doesn’t know already; I’m currently getting my Tea Sommelier certification which I’ve been paying for primarily through an education fund my grandparents set up for me. Since I didn’t go to University/College after graduation and have no immediate plants to they were ok with me tapping into this fund for the Tea Sommelier certification courses. I’m done about three/eight now, and I decided that at this point I was interested in purchasing some more traditional teaware – and my Grandma OKed me taking some money from that fund to do so! That’s the long story version of my saying, “Recently I made an order with Camellia Sinensis for some teaware and they included several free teas such as this one”.
Personally, I’ve never really sought to purchase an EG blend from Camellia Sinensis; I do enjoy Earl Grey but not enough to need more than one good kind on hand (and currently I’m loving the Liquid Proust’s Peach vs. Bergamot twist on the traditional Earl Grey) and when I’m ordering from Camellia Sinensis, which I frequently do, it’s more for the interesting and often unique straight/pure teas they carry or for the teaware.
That said, I’m grateful for the inclusion: I love the fact this Earl Grey is both organic and fair trade as those as aspects of tea I look to support as often as possible. This sample was a sachet style tea bag, and I ended up making it early in the morning before work. I have to say, I thought the dry leaf smelled fairly mild and quite floral and even as it was steeping up I was noticing more floral traits than anything overwhelmingly bergamot-heavy. However, the taste wasn’t bad! I enjoyed how smooth and clean the overall flavour was in addition to the light floral notes and medium concentration of bergamot flavour. There was also a very natural sweetness which I was fond of. That said, I wouldn’t have minded if the bergamot was a little stronger. For people who really LOVE Earl Grey and drink it on a more daily basis this could be perceived as a little light handed.
Overall, not a ‘stand out’ Earl Grey but a solid choice if you’re already placing a Camellia Sinensis order and want to do all your shopping in one place. And like I pointed out, the fact it’s Organic and Fair Trade (and still reasonably priced) makes it a tea easy to get behind.
I just attended a talk given by Kevin!! He was amazing. So much knowledge in that head of his
I’m super jealous! I almost wish I lived closer to Quebec specifically for Camellia Sinensis (and all the other French tea shops with branches there). Me and my Camellia Sinensis tattoo would fit in quite well, I think.
Picked up a free 50g of this using my DAVIDsTEA reward points! Honestly, had I not had a free 50g I probably wouldn’t have because the weight to cost ratio is more than I’d like to be paying…
So I made a mug of this on Saturday; my little sister is REALLY into Buzzfeed right now (like, of all things…) and they recently did some videos/articles on Halloween themed food/candy so she orchestrated an entire Halloween themed meal for us. We had a ton of goodies including:
- Pumpkin Shaped quesadillas
- Banana “Ghosts” (Frozen bananas dipped in vanilla yogurt with chocolate chip faces)
- Hardboiled eggs dyed with a spiderweb pattern in a dark purple
- Mandarin Orange “Pumpkins”
- Apple “Mouths” (Two apple wedges with peanut butter and yogurt dipped raisin teeth)
So, this was my tea accompaniment since I found it appropriate for the evening’s food! Of course, it DID taste very accurate to a Peanut Butter Cup while it was hot however once it had cooled I found it tasted quite a bit more apple-y. Overall, I am quite happy I did manage to find a way to pick more leaf up that I was comfortable with.
Sipdown (121)!
Thank you for the sample TeaNTees! I honestly thought I’d tried this one at some point which is why I’ve never felt compelled to ask for it in a swap or order it because in my mind it just ’hadn’t made an impression’. Then you sent it along, and I added it to my cupboard and realized that, in fact, I had not ever tried this tea! No wonder it hadn’t made an impact…
I cold brewed my sample because I smelled the dry leaf and thought that based on how sweet and almond-y it smelled it would probably made a solid dessert tea cold brew. And I was right; while I’m sure this is lovely hot I also really enjoyed the cold brew! It was very sweet and decadent with lovely, balanced notes of vanilla, almond/marzipan, poppy, and kind of a ‘pastry butter’ type note? All in all, it REALLY reminded me of Poppy Seed Danishes. And while I’m honestly not a huge fan of the danishes themselves the flavour works well as a tea!
This is a queued tasting note.
Made a hot pot of this to split with my mom and sister. I’d forgotten just how sour this can be when it’s brewed hot despite yogurt bits in the leaf! While it certainly gave off an aroma distinctly strawberry/rhubarb we all agreed it tasted a lot more like the liquefied version of Sweet Tarts!
This is a queued tasting note.
Made a large mug of this the other day; I was a little disappointed to be perfectly honest. It tasted a little weak/bland and watered down despite I used just as much leaf as I normally do for a mug of this size (16 oz.). As well, this came out a little buttery and with the banana tasting more prominent than the pineapple it was a little like drinking a hot buttered banana? But not in the tasty banana bread and butter way; more like a still greenish, under ripe banana rolled in melted butter like you would a corncob…
Sipdown (122)…
I’m really upset by this sipdown, because this was absolutely 100% one of my favourites teas and seeing it go in any capacity would be disappointing. However, the fact that the leaf has obviously turned and this was a horrible sipdown makes it even worse.
I had cold brewed about a tbsp. of this, and it just came out the most harsh, almost chemically tasting perfume-y floral tea ever. I don’t blame the leaf itself; it’s simply just really old and well past its prime. I’m just sad because I didn’t get to finish this off with a positive memory. And, I actually had more leaf left but I just tossed it because I can’t do two more cups worth of this tea when it makes me this sad that it’s lost so much flavor. Even though it was only about two cups worth of leaf it still hurt a lot, though…
Now the change becomes getting the smell out of the tin.
Sipdown (123)!
Finished this one off yesterday in my new DAVIDsTEA Milk Bottle. Sad news though; I poured a cold brewed batch of this tea and some ice cubes into the milk bottle, and noticed almost immediately that as the ice cubes fell into the glass the bottom was cracking! I definitely don’t think that’s supposed to happen…
So, I’ve emailed DAVIDsTEA and hopefully they’ll be able to replace it for me. They’re generally pretty good about that kind of thing; my only concern is that I wont be able to get into the store to do it in person for at least a week or so, and I bought the milk bottle on sale and I know some places have very strict no return/exchange policies on sale items. I mean, it only cost me $7 but I thought it was SO CUTE and I was excited to have another ‘water bottle’ type container I could bring into work with me.
As for the tea itself? Well, I did a sort of sketchy thing. Like I said, the glass was cracking so I poured the tea out into a cup and quickly drank it before leaving for work but I probably should have just tossed it incase there was any tiny glass fragments in the liquor. It’s just, this was my last cup worth of this tea and I didn’t want to just toss it and waste it. It was really good too! Subtle lemon notes, a maltiness, and a creamy buttery taste. Mmm!
Now that I’ve officially sipped down my sample of Zomba Pearls from DAVIDsTEA I’m excited to dig into my Zomba Pearls from What-Cha! I imagine they’ll probably be a step up in quality; but it was awesome having the DT version as a “gateway” version. Hah.
My mother in law had a similar problem with the glass carafe a year or two ago. She made a whole pitcher of iced tea and I’m not sure if it was ice or a utensil, but she was holding up the iced tea and something hit the bottom of the carafe (not even that hard) and the whole thing totally smashed. It was a mess, and a huge disappointment since those things are like $30.
That’s why I went and bought the non-BPA plastic Takei iced tea pitchers, even though I loved the look of the glass.
I’m not making an entry specifically for a food/snack, especially since it’s not even tea infused but I wanted to record my thoughts on DAVIDsTEA’s Apple Wafers anyway. I picked them up a few days ago on a whim, and I have to say they’re pretty decent though maybe just slightly overcharged for the amount/quality? The apple taste is really defined and clear though and there’s also a light cinnamon note to them that rounds them out a little and makes them seem a lot more season appropriate. On their own, they’re a little dry but they’re AWESOME for dunking in your tea.
Flavors: Apple, Apple Skins, Butter, Cinnamon
It’s been quite a while, but I revisited this tea a few days ago when I went shopping with my mom and sister. I grabbed it hot, ‘To Go’ as a Soy Milk latte. I’m honestly not sure why I went with soy milk since I normally don’t drink it but I just felt like I needed to try it a different way than I used to drink it.
This didn’t quite live up to my mental image of it though: maybe that’s because of the soy milk (because when I shared a sip with Mom/Brenna both said the soy milk was gross) but maybe it’s just because my taste preferences have evolved so much over time. I definitely tasted the coconut in the blend, and hints of butterscotchy goodness but overall there was just a weird taste that kind of killed this a little bit. It was still drinkable, though.
There are already cures for cancer. My prediction for 2030 is that there’s a revolution and the medical industry stops supressing cures for conditions like cancer instead of supressing them for the enormous profit they create. ;-)