Candy Cane Organic Rooibos

This will be the last mug for the evening. I’ve had an incredibly busy shift and should’ve had the day off, but that’s past now. I haven’t been sleeping as well as I’d like due to changes in my work schedule and upcoming changes within the homestead. I feel like I’ve been scrambling around at home and at work (at least the home scrambling is ideal; work is work).

Anyway, I noticed that this had stevia on the list of ingredients, which threw me off a little. Stevia is hit or miss, especially if the other components of a blend are lacking and/or there’s too much stevia. The peppermint hit my nose with such intensity that I nearly sneezed myself silly. My nose was running, and my eyes were watering a bit. That’s when I knew I was in for a treat. I love a peppermint tea that delivers the menthol.

Initially, I hadn’t enjoyed the mug. There was TOO much stevia in the cup…however, as I kept reading Steepster reviews and adding tidbits of my own here and there, I began to feel the presence of the tea. I’d’ve sworn there were bits of eucalyptus in this blend! The inside of my throat and chest were warming and cooling at the same time (like having Vick’s vapor rub on your chest/throat, but on the inside instead of out). I find that this blend will be swell in the Winter! The “Christmas in July” sale has a few more days to go, if I don’t get to take advantage of the sale before the end of the month, I’ll make sure to have more of this around during the holidays! It could be a household favorite or at least a favorite for board game nights. Or both. : )

The TTB arrived today, to my delight! Of course it came the one day I was actually in the office, so by the time I got home and rummaged through the box, it was too late for anything caffeinated. I opted for this (seasonally inappropriate) rooibos after dinner because my stomach was a bit upset and something minty sounded appealing.

Unfortunately, the stevia was just too overpowering! Part of the reason I dislike stevia is because I feel like it leaves a weird coating on my tongue, and that was happening big-time with this blend.

On the other hand… I was drinking it so slowly that it had gotten cold by the time I finished the mug, and the stevia was much less overwhelming. I got a fairly pleasant, full-bodied mintiness in the cold tea. Still sweeter than I’d prefer, but much more palatable.

This tea was just as delicious as I had hoped it would be. So sweet and minty and authentic. The flavor truly is like a candy cane. You get some nice tingling from the mint, and the flavor lingers for a long time. Really super great.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – November 2023 Tea #2 – Nov 4 – National Candy Day

I just happened to have a Crunch bar with this tea while waiting for my laptop to start up to post this note!  It’s also a candy cane tea, so I get double points for this prompt.  Still a solid peppermint, no caff blend.    The stevia is acceptable here!  (A sentence I never thought I would write.)

Old Sample from Tea Sipper. Thank You!

Another potentially interesting blend ruined by stevia. Sigh. Not quite as terrible as some stevia teas, meaning I took a few sips before dumping it rather than just one.

SIPDOWN! (101)

This tea was given to me by TeaBrat. She added it to a swap just out of the kindness of her heart. :) Overall, I find it pretty good, and caffeine-free options are always nice in the evening. I did a shorter steep this time around so the peppermint flavor would be a bit less intense. My only issue with this blend is the stevia – it adds a weird faux sugar aftertaste that I don’t like. I wish they would leave that out and allow people to sweeten it themselves if they choose to. I think a little bit of vanilla would be helpful too, just to give it that sweetness that candy canes obviously have.

I’m happy that I got the chance to try this blend, but it’s not something I would restock. But I’m not the biggest mint fan either, especially peppermint. :P

Edit: I hope I’m not annoying anyone with all of these sipdown notes… I realize they don’t have much substance! Don’t worry, I’ll go back to writing meaningful tasting notes soon.

SSTTB: Pick #6

I think prior to this I’ve only had two Simpson & Veil teas; the rootbeer one and then a strawberry cupcake sorta one. You can tell neither really left an impression. I really wanted to keep exploring the company though, so I took advantage of the large bag of this one to make a cold brew of it!

Dry I didn’t smell a lot, but I do really enjoy green rooibos so I figured that if all else failed I’d just have a nice cold brew of green rooibos to sip on at work and it’d be another blend tried. But this definitely packed a powerful punch of flavour! It tasted exactly like a candy cane: not just mint but also a creaminess to it and a weighty vanilla flavour. There also seemed to be a smooth white chocolate vibe to this.

It was insanely refreshing and smooth to drink and I absolutely enjoyed chugging drinking it on break today. It was the perfect pick me up from a long, drawn out work day. Seriously, it feels like this week has been dragging on forever (but maybe that’s just because I’m super excited for Barcraft and seeing Tyrell again).

I feel this one has left a really positive impression with me and I think it was a needed push to not give up on Simpson & Veil just yet. Totally not ready to make an order with them or anything, but I’m feeling encouraged to look out for samples in swaps and such. And if I ever do feel like I have enough to justify an order I’m sure this’ll probably be included.

Thank you, MissB for sharing some of this treasure with me (227). It really is liquid candy cane.
It really is delcious. It really is the perfect cup before bed…

Thanks so much for this one, MissB! Sweetness, peppermint… dead on for a candy cane! I still haven’t decided whether I like this one or Tiesta’s Minty Winter Wonderland better. They’re similar enough that I don’t feel the need to regularly stock both, but one of them definitely needs to be on hand.