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So, I risked revisiting this tea today as a cold brew. I say “risked” because the last time I cold brewed this tea it wasn’t a pleasant experience; but I cut the infusion time dramatically which I think probably helped a lot. I really wanted something dark, sweet, and indulgent to kind of capture the “piles and piles of candy” side of Halloween…

And you know what? This cold brew definitely redeemed the last one! Not only did it deliver on the dark, deep, and rich earthy flavour but the caramel was also really strong and sweet. It almost had a Dulce de Leche flavour to it, actually! I don’t think I could have asked for a better cold brewed incarnation of this blend.

Perfect for a Halloween evening!

So, I promised my sister I’d take her out trick or treating however long she wanted to go. I expected to be out getting candy for at least a few hours, but after four blocks and twenty minutes she was ready to go home…

Since we were back by 6:30PM I get to drink more tea! Last time I drank this one I was really sick and couldn’t quite taste it – I’ve been wanting to revisit it ever since so that’s what I’m doing this evening! I’m four infusions deep now and I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t really taste the honeysuckle at all. Instead, I’m getting really rich notes of hazelnuts and peanuts! Quite tasty; not as complex as other yellow teas I’ve tried but very enjoyable!

Happy I revisited this one!

Sipdown (125)!

I’m so pissed at myself. Today, I carried up my tea tray, some cups, and a gaiwan along with the last bloom from my room in the basement. I made it perfectly fine up the flight of stairs into the kitchen. I set the tray, with the teaware on it, down on an island and then as I turned around what did I do!? I knocked the gaiwan off the tray/counter. It could have been a lot worse; I could have shattered the entire fishy gaiwan. Instead I only chipped the lid of my gaiwan. But, a chip is still a chip – and this is a pretty large one. I’m so mad that such a small careless action chipped my shiny new gaiwan! Now I’m torn whether or not I want to try and replace the lid of the gaiwan or just accept it and continue to use it with the chip. Ugh!!!

But anyway, once I kind of got over the damage to the Gaiwan and switched it out for a different one I got back to drinking the tea I’d originally picked out in the first place. And, mmm! This tea is truly wonderful; and the smooth malt, cocoa, and apricot notes made it quite easy to forget about my teaware troubles at least for the time being.

I’d totally consider getting this tea again!

Sipdown (126)!

Another Butiki finished off! This one’s not a bad blow though because I still have the Latkes version. Since the day, apart from Trick or Treating with my sister, just consisted of watching Halloween specials/movies I’ve been enjoying multiple Gong Fu sessions today with different teas. This one was lovely; string bean and other vegetal notes, just a whisp smokey, some light buttery notes, and above all the comforting taste of cinnamon, nutmeg, and potato pancakes!!!

So far we’ve watched…

Several Treehouse of Horror Episodes
The Halloween themed Buffy The Vampire episodes
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Cabin in The Woods

…And now we’re watching the Halloween Supernatural episodes! It’s been a fun night!

From OMGsrsly!!!

My package from OMGsrsly arrived last night, so I broke out a few of the teas right away including this one. I just drank DT’s Mulberry Magic blend a few nights ago so I wanted to try the straight mulberry leaf right away so I could kind of mentally compare.

My biggest fear was that this would taste nothing like Mulberry Magic and whole way I think Mulberry Leaves taste would be called into question but there were definitely similarities. While this isn’t as sweet and “cookie” like at DT’s blend the more earthy, vegetal, and grassy notes all hold up. In fact, the grassyness in particular is quite a strong flavour making me think that the added ingredients in DT’s blend are masking a whole lot more than I initially thought. If I had to pick between the straight mulberry leaf and DT’s blend I’d still probably pick DT’s blend but I also really liked drinking this one straight and will happily finish the rest of the generous sample that OMGsrsly sent me.

Also, I did make a whole pot of it and shared a few cups with my mom and sister. Brenna, my sister, hated it and said it reminded her too much of green tea (which she hates just like me) but my mom liked it enough to have two cups. Her big ‘observation’ was that it’d probably taste good with milk, which I don’t totally disagree with.

Happy Halloween Steepster!

I drank this tea… two nights ago?

It was delicious as per usual. Interestingly, though, I received some straight Mulberry Leaf from OMGsrsly last night and I got to try that too. Even though it wasn’t a direct comparison I think the time frame in which I tried both was close enough that I can recollect the differences pretty well. The big one, obviously, is that this has added nuts and flavouring so it’s sweeter and has a more varied flavour.

What I didn’t realize, is just how much of a grassy taste mulberry leaf has. Like, I knew it was grassy and vegetal but tasting the plain mulberry leaf it was really obvious to me that the added flavouring and nuts in this blend really cover/mask a lot of what would normally be coming through. So I have a whole new appreciation for this herbal tea!

This is a queued tasting note.

Mmmm!

I cold brewed this one like a week ago, and I just have to say that this really, really holds up to that first batch I received from Liquid Proust (this is my second batch). I had fears it wouldn’t, but the peach flavouring is just so good and I really love the formosa base. It has notes of sweet, juicy peaches and cocktail cherries but not in a cloying way and it counterbalanced by a reasonable level of bergamot. That peach flavour!

Drool…

For anyone interested in trying one of Liquid Proust’s blends this is probably the one I’d recommend starting with (if he still has any left). It’s, personally, my favourite. Definitely upping my rating now that I’m more assured in its consistency.

Sipdown (127)!

From Scheherazade!

I drank this ages ago, and last night when I was adding teas from OMGsrsly into my cupboard I noticed this was still in my cupboard and I hadn’t written a note for it so I guess I just didn’t log this when I drank it. Definitely need to correct that!

From what I recall, this was drank in a travel mug on my way to work on a particularly miserable morning. Gross weather, and all that jazz. It was pretty much exactly what the name says: a coconut flavoured hot chocolate. Except, the coconut while being quite present wasn’t actually incredibly strong. It’s weird how you can have a flavour that just really stands out without, you know, slapping you in the face.

Hmm… Other ingredients…

Uhh, I do think there was an extra “toastyness” from the barley. And to me, barley has a kind of chocolate-y note to it too so I’m sure that also added to the richness of the chocolate notes. I didn’t really notice the dates or other ingredients at all. Ultimately, I enjoyed this tea more than I thought I would and it was perfect for the dreary day but in the long run once was probably enough of a taste for me.

Sipdown (121)!

Well, finished this off cold brewed again. Very piney/orange flavour. I’m confidant this will make a reappearance in my cupboard again. If I had to guess, it’d be next time I’m sick again…

Not much else to say.

Stole some of this from my mom’s stash to revisit it…

I regret doing so. This cold brew was horrid; it was nothing more than cheap tasting “Tang” juice crystal type mix and medicinal “lozenge” type apricot/peach notes. If you’ve never tasted a medicinal apricot kind of flavour you should be hoping you never do because it’s SO GROSS.

This remains my least favourite tea from the Spring Collection, and I’m actually going to lower my rating…