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I’m starting to run low on this, sadly. And I don’t know what I’m going to do when I run out, because Chapters sells the tea, but only teabagged in tins, and I don’t want to start stocking up on Harney and Sons Paris Tea tins. If only Harney and Sons accepted paypal, I would buy a bag of this looseleaf! I already have a tin for it!

I need to go and buy a prepaid Visa or Mastercard giftcard for myself. You’re supposed to be able to use those for internet purchases.

Mmm enjoying this while it lasts, though. It’s just a peculiar, fruity, bergamoty mix.

I was half-tempted to pick out the little caramel blocks and eat them. I was able to resist.

Dry, it has a strong, buttery caramel smell, with a smokey woodsyness underneath. The smell is similar brewed, though slightly sweeter and more woodsy.

It’s a very mild taste. I’m inexperienced with rooibos’, but it’s a mild, pleasant wood-and-caramel mix. It’s got a coffee-like element to it, which might be the caramel. The sort of dark smokeyness that I’m getting, or something.

Oh, delicious maple! How I have missed you.

I bought a nice 100g bag of this this time around, along with a 50g bag of caramel rooibos. She was also selling some Revolution teas (which I have not been able to find ANYWHERE, so I was quite surprised); buy one, get one free. So I finally get to check Lavender Earl Grey off of my shopping list, and also got a box of White Pear free. I also wandered by the used book store and left my name and contact in case they come across a copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel, which I have been pursuing for a while. Also wandered into my favourite comicbook store, but didn’t end up buying anything. I had meant to ask if I could put in an order for some comics not normally sold in this country (copyright complications, you see), but I forgot the information I had written down for them—ISBN and all that. Sad.

All in all, it was a good day.

Of course, I don’t hear the timer go off and thus oversteep it. I don’t know by how long.

Somehow the full Due South theme seems appropriate to listen to while sipping this.

♪ You can walk a hundred-thousand miles and never find a home. You always knew one day you’d have to strike out on your own. You look up to the clouds and you can see which way the wind is blowin’. ♪

Just as I remember it, and I don’t seem to have oversteeped it too badly. Nice, strong, maple flavour on a fantastic base. Delicious. No sugar needed, and it’s got a touch of sweetness on its own.

Due South, that’s the way I’m goin’, due south. ♪

Every time I pass tea-aisles in stores, I look at their maple flavoured teas, but in the end, I’m glad I hold out and try to ignore them because this is always divine. I’ll try not to oversteep it next time.

I tried this iced. Iced chai, you say? I call it Iced Chai Latte! Although I think lattes have steamed milk in them or something—to constitute the “latte”—but heck if I know, and I like the name. It was inspired by Starbucks. Either because I looked at their menu and saw that they had “iced chai lattes”, or because I looked at the menu and thought “why DON’T they have iced chai lattes”.

It looks like Starbucks’ and Tim Hortons’ iced lattes, at any rate. That coffee cream colour with icecubes, that makes it look like an alcoholic drink—a coffee or chocolate liqueur—because no reasonable person would put icecubes in milk. I didn’t double the recipe because I remember this being so spicey on its own, and it does hold up quite well, although maybe I should have 1 + 1/2’d it or something, because the flavour is slightly weaker with the cold. Still very tastey.

Basically followed the usual stovetop recipe, sweetened with honey, then poured over icecubes. Ended up with three glasses, so the other two are in the fridge. I plan to share.

Very refreshing. The tea and spices aren’t so much in the sip as they are in the trailing aftertaste. But still, it hit the spot. Way better than spending four bucks at Starbucks for something similar. Although I’m sure theirs are sweeter. But mine’s homemade! Mmm.

Now that I think about it, condensed milk might have been an interesting alternative. Well, maybe not ALL condensed milk. Halfandhalf. Not that I have any, but it would have made it sweeter. It’s a thought for next time.

Or a dollop of whipped cream on top. With brown sugar and/or cinnamon sprinkled.

I’ve concluded that the prominent taste in this seems to be the rose. Which would explain why it tastes a bit like the earl grey with rose tea I purchased and disliked some time ago.

I find I am not much of a rose fan. Perhaps picking the dried petals out will reduce the flavour… I get hints of bergamot and vanilla in the aftertaste, but no jasmine. The bourbon is in there fairly strongly as well.

Seeing as this is a Cream of Earl Grey, I’d hoped the bergamot and vanilla cream flavours would be the most prominent. Although it is an interesting take. I should try a second steep of this; see if any other flavours take over in it. And next time I have a cup, pick out all the rose petals and see if it makes a difference.

On another note, yesterday while drinking Irish Cream, I figured out the perfect temp/time pairing to overcome the horrible black tea base Tea Desire uses in their flavoured teas. Hurrah!

I went to pick out a tea to sip today and kept getting drawn to an oolong. So I decided to go with this, since I haven’t had it in a lengthy amount of time, and I’ve still got a good few scoops left.

The liquid appears greener than I remember, and the smell is faintly of jasmine. Or at least something a touch floral in with the usual cooked vegetable scent. Steeping this in sets of half a cup of water per steep. About four ounces.

The taste is how I remember it. Very light and green, touches of floral. The greeness is more refreshing, less baked. I think this is a good Book tea. I’d sip it while I read. I’m pretty sure I mentioned that last post. I’d have to go back and reread it.

Second Steep: Seems sharper, I suppose, a little stronger and less floral but still very smooth, almost butter in the back of the throat.

Third Steep: Starting to take the hot water through it, I think. No floral whiffs left at all. Sharper taste, but still very pleasant.

Fourth Steep: Pretty much like the third steep.

I let the leaves sit out and dry overnight.

Fifth Steep: May be because I left the tea to cool as I made toast (I remember Jillian saying something about oolongs becoming sweeter as they cool), but it did taste slightly sweet. And not as sharp. I think the jasmineish floral taste might’ve been making a slight comeback as well.

Sixth Steep: The colour has yet to weaken. Still getting a sweetness, even though I’m drinking this one much hotter. A slightly sharp, vegetal sweetness. Mmm.

Seventh Steep: Holy crap still going strong. Still a sweetness, and the smooth vegetable taste. I’m not getting any more original with my descriptions here.

Eight Steep: It seems the taste is finally starting to wane. Still smells strongly, though. No sweetness this time around.

Dropped the temperature a bit. The smell of the bergamot is stronger, finally holding its own against the other flavours. Now it REALLY smells delicious. Like candy. Sugary and fruity and vanillay.

The tea base is still there, but the lower temperature has made it less bitter and sharp, so it now blends much better with the other flavours. Still, the base could be better. The temperature change only does so much.

It’s recommended that you do the fifteen-second initialrinsingsteep. Which I did! However, I am still holding that initial steep. I figure, it’s there, I might as well try it. The tea leaves will still be in the infuser for the “Real Steep” when I get back.

The smell of the tea is… oriental. Which seems like a weird description, but really, I sniff it and it reminds me of Japanese foods. Sushi and whatnot. Ooh, pleasant. It’s also not as inky-coffee-black as people described. Just a good, dark tea colour.

First sip is fishy and earthy. Not… not in a bad way? Sort of coffeeish. Very earthy. It’s nit bitter, but is sort’ve charcoaly.

Second steep (20 seconds) managed, somehow, to be DARKER than the first. Smells the same though. Taste is similar, but a bit different—slightly more black tea-like, while still retaining the earthyness. Almost bitter, but somehow still smooth.

For a Cream of Earl Grey this one sure goes over the top. They should have just made it a Grey Variant. They ALREADY have one called ‘Charming Grey’, which I was also considering trying. Bergamot, vanilla, jasmine, rose, BOURBON?

It smells delicious, though. Although the smell reminds me mostly of this company’s Irish Cream, and I’m picking up no bergamot.

The taste… Wow. I got a hint of bergamot, a lot of cream vanilla bourbon. No jasmine, I think. Well THIS is a cup of deliciousness. I had feared that it would be using the same base as their collection of flavoured blacks, and thus would get bitter as it cooled. It’s still too hot to tell, but it’s very delicous and sweet and tasty right now. And I think I’m getting jasmine hints in the aftertaste.

Hmmm the bitterness is starting to set in. I had hoped, being a grey, they would treat it differently. Ahwell, it just means the reduced temperature I had to do to the others to get rid of the bitterness. Still quite nice.

Although now as I continue to sip it, I realize I can no longer make out the bergamot and wonder if I imagined it in the first place. This really does just remind me of a milder version of the Irish Cream. Huh. Well, that’s disappointing. I knew I should have just gotten up earlier and picked up some Earl Grey Cream from Tealicious to try instead.

Went back and got a second steep of this, and although the whole thing is very watery and doesn’t resteep well, I think I can taste a touch more bergamot.

Thank you vague description that gives me no clue into the black teas used in this blend! You forced me to guess wildly at the steeping time.

It was marketed as an afternoon blend, but is said to have malty tones, so I couldn’t figure out if it might have some Assam in it—which would have had be reducing the time a bit. Floral notes as well, so.

I find that I prefer plain black teas over flavoured. Mostly tea blends—if they’re all black tea, or some black and green teas. I enjoy them more. Flavoured blacks are a bit more of a novelty. I enjoy them a lot as well, but.

The tea is quite a deep red, and has a distinct Assam black kind of smell to it. However, the taste is very mild. …This may be because I burnt my tongue earlier today, being in a rush. There’s definite notes that do remind me strongly of Assam teas, but lighter, and there is a sort of baky vegetalness that makes me wonder if there isn’t a bit of some oolong tea in here as well. I figure that taste is what they meant by the ‘floral’.

I’d suggest taking what I say with a grain of salt, because really, my tongue is quite burnt and that’s probably scewing my taste considerably. But I don’t know, I rather like it right now.

Actually, tasting this, I think I understand more what it means for something to be ‘malty’ than I ever have drinking just marketedly ‘malty’ Assams. Huh. And this still goes down very smoothly, with just touches of astringency as it cools.