Minted Monkey

First off, I just would like to say, what the hell is an after eight? So, after some Googling I have come to the conclusion that after eight’s are just UK versions of an Andes mint. Huh.

This is not so vanilla, exactly. Creamy, fudge-y fun of the golden monkey and sweet ever so slightly cherry-esque vanilla beans. With each steep, the vanilla comes out and the tea gets sweeter and sweeter. Holy cannoli, Tippy’s. Your golden monkey is SO. GOOD.

I could definitely smell the mint in the dry leaf, but I got disappointed by the first sip. No mint on the palate? whaaat? But, as soon as I inhaled, I got the familiar coolness that I associate with chewing minty gum. Not what I had expected, but I think it’s quite refreshing. (pun intended.)

Dry leaf smells like minty After Eights, the liquor like chocolate vanilla dessert with light mint garnish. The flavour is, um, one of those instances that make me realize how much I swear when attempting to express a strong emotion (it’s good). Mint leaves and vanilla always win in my book, and this tea is doing what my Laoshan Black hasn’t been doing lately in the cocoa/chocolate department.

Also, it’s a tasty tea with milk, which brings out a mild yet equally fantastic vanilla waffle cone, with a chocolate mint drizzle finish.

..and my roommate just got back from class and is giving me crap for the ice cream I bought today. Ugh. I’ve entered an alternate reality where Purdy’s ice cream and Toblerone cake are met with scorn, while the generic frozen Safeway cake, that existed in this apt. before my residency, is thrown onto a pedestal and enforcing proselytism on all unwilling basement inhabitants (me).

I refuse to eat that cake!

I know I just had this tea, but I’m having it again tonight because I need a treat. My littlest kitty, Dixie, has been lethargic and not eating since Friday afternoon. When she had no interest in eating her favorite can food, I got really worried. So I spent the afternoon at the emergency vet clinic while they identified she had eaten a corner of her fleece blanket and it was obstructing her little butthole. Poor little baby. They had to sedate her and manually clean… Well, enough detail. She will be fine they think, but they’re keeping her overnight to recover from anesthesia and for observation. I don’t know what this is going to cost me. I guess my newly paid off credit card will no longer have a zero balance after I pick her up tomorrow. Sigh. Drink more tea.

I took a bunch of teas to a friend’s place and this is the one she wanted to try. :) It’s always fun to explain to people that there’s no actual chocolate flavouring, all the cocoa notes come from the base tea. It was pretty well-balanced for me today – I could taste the cocoa/malt of the base, the vanilla, and the mint.

Omg, this is amazing. Dark chocolate, mint, vanilla, creamy, malty. So delicious. This is more chocolately than a lot of teas with chocolate chips, and no melted chocolate film on the surface of my cup. Very desserty. I must try it as a latte, too.

Thank you to Tippy’s for the sample!