Tippy's Tea

Somewhat earthy with smoke and a bit of mineral. There are also red wine and hints of very dark chocolate notes that linger. Needs ample leaf which makes a tasty, enjoyable cup. Re-steeps weak.

Very excited to arrive home and find my April Fools Day order patiently waiting for me on the dining room table! I couldn’t wait and threw my suitcase on the floor and immediately put the kettle on and tore into the Not So vanilla. First of all, I have to admit that I love the tea labels! Backwards and upsidedown little birdy fish with Googly eyes!! So cute!! Second of all, I love the tea!! This has a nice subtle malty chocolate flavor which blends nicely with the vanilla bean and I got those amazing black specks floating in the top of my teacup that I love so much so you know it’s real vanilla bean! Best of all the price point doesn’t make me feel like I need to hoard this tea for special occasions and pick me ups only! I think I just found my everyday drinking vanilla tea!

At church on Wednesday nights we have various beverages set out. Water, lemonade, coffee and tea. I got the woman in charge of the kitchen hooked on quality loose leaf tea, so now she always makes two pots. This tea was one of the offerings last wednesday.

I forgot how much I enjoy this. I miss Tippy’s Tea! Did they close up shop? As I recall I super enjoyed their Minted Monkey.

It’s cooled down enough for me to enjoy some hot tea. Brewed up a cup of this to help me get through the edits. I really enjoy this one. Still no sense of smell, but I can almost taste the raspberry. Maybe. Anyway, I really like this one.

But I have to whine a little bit. I signed the contract for the last book in this series on April 19. Didn’t hear anything from the publisher until yesterday when I was sent the Author Checklist (think cover art, marketing strategy, etc). Then tonight I get a rather snippy email from the editorial assistant saying she and my editor had been trying to contact me for days. I was like, “Whaaaat?” I checked my spam folder. Nothing. I immediately responded saying I hadn’t received anything but I was ready to begin edits right away. Another snippy email… Anyway, long story short: final edits are due to be turned in by April 23. That is 6 days for two complete rounds of edits. I’ll be drinking a lot of tea and burning the midnight oil this week.

I had this tea last night. Again, it didn’t taste like much, but it didn’t taste like soap either, so I’m happy. I ran into someone online who had a similar surgery to mine about 5 days before me. She is getting little bits of scents again now. So hopefully, by next weekend I’ll be able to smell a bit too. Can’t wait to taste all my delicious teas!

So. I have precisely 27 more minutes to eat or drink before the surgery cutoff. I’m indulging in this tea. I was afraid after reading these reviews that I would find it too astringent or bitter to enjoy. I really try to avoid adding stuff to my tea since A.) I’m allergic to milk products and B) one of the reasons I’m drinking tea is to avoid the calories.

But no worries! I don’t find this tea bitter at all! It has a deeper flavor than some others, but that’s not a bad thing. Maybe smoky? Maybe earthy? I can’t really tell you, since I don’t really taste much. (surgery tomorrow might restore my sense of smell for a short time! Then I’ll be opening up tins and bags and sniffing like an addict!)_

Anyway, I have no complaints about this tea. I like the depth of it. In fact, I have time for another cup!

Sipdown! This was one of the few teas I took with me to the grand city so it was easy to finish off. I won’t buy more but it does remind me that I need to find the perfect chocolate mint tea.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the minty perfection that I was hoping it would be. I can smell some mint in the pouch but it’s not as strong as I would have expected. This, consequently, translates into a weaker cup of minty tea. I’m also not a fan of the base, which is on the earthy side. It won’t take much effort to finish the pouch, but it doesn’t seem like I’m going to be reordering.

D-O-N-E. Out of the three cups I had over the past couple days, the second one was the only one that really had any raspberry in it. The base, with cream, is pretty yummy though. Malty and bold.

I couldn’t wait to write about another one from this company. So, Raspberry Cocoa. I was hoping this would be like Butiki’s Raspberry Truffle but better, but right off the bat, I’m going to say that I prefer that one even though that one was on the disappointing side when I first tried it. Whine whine whine.

There are several layers to this tea. First, the dry leaf smells mostly of raspberry, but it’s unfortunately on the artificial side.

Flavour-wise, this is where the layers come in. The most prominent note is the raspberry flavour (which reminds me of Red Leaf Tea’s raspberry flavouring), followed by the earthy Keemun, followed by cocoa. The maltiness is buried far underneath everything else. Actually, I wouldn’t have even guessed that there was Assam in here because I find the Keemun to be that overpowering.

I think I would have liked this more had it just contained Assam. I also would have preferred dehydrated raspberries in here instead of the flavouring. It tastes better with light cream, which smooths out the astringent, earthy base, at least.

Sipdown! Trying to finish teas off before more come in over the next few weeks. Although, really, I should be finishing off older stuff since this is one of the freshest ones I have. Doing things backwards!

Having a cup with my mom while we’re watching the Habs/Sens game. She was excited to try it because she loves vanilla but can’t even taste it in here. She still thinks it’s a good tea: full-bodied and thick like coffee, as she describes it.

As we’re nearing the bottom of our mugs, she’s swishing the last of the liquid to try to get the sunken flecks of vanilla.

I also just told her about WP’s Golden Orchid (and its exorbitant price) and she asked if we could try it anyway. Ha! So looks like I’ll have to eventually order that one so we can mentally compare it to this one.

This paraphrasal tasting note is brought to you by my mom’s thoughts on Not So Vanilla.

Got my April Fools’ sale teas in! Everything was packaged nicely and dying to be opened. Naturally, I opened this first since it’s vanilla, duh. But I barely see vanilla bean in here. To be fair, I haven’t shaken the pouch, so perhaps the heavier vanilla bean has mostly fallen to the bottom?

Freshly steeped, I don’t get any vanilla from this, only base, but the vanilla comes out a little more as it cools. The base itself is earthier than expected. I seem to be the only one who gets a mildly smoky note. Not at all like a Lapsang, but like an über mild version of a Keemun. Just a pinch. Granted, I seem to be sensitive to earthy notes, so who knows how many would ever experience this.

I’m looking forward to shaking the pouch and experimenting further with this.

Many thanks to CrowKettle for the selection of Tippy’s Teas.

Unfortunately… yep, they’re dirt teas. With milk and the spices, it’s not so bad, but this isn’t my favourite base.

I kinda get how people taste cocoa and sweet potato, but only if the cocoa is unsweetened cocoa powder and the sweet potato is fresh from the dirt.

(Sorry, Tippy’s. It’s not you, it’s definitely me.)

HGTTB

I will not look at other tasting notes before I finish this one. While I’m usually a fan of the smell of Lapsang Souchong, I’m usually not as big on the actual taste. I literally shoved my nose in the bag after I took the last on this tea out. While the smoke is the first thing that I immediately notice, it doesn’t take over. There’s just a hint of sweet, almost fruitiness to it, that I’m attributing to Oolong. Raisin, maybe even a bit of bread? This is a great, flavorful cup. It doesn’t make my mind scream “zomg” Rather, it makes me picture a dewy autumn morning, and a campfire just gone out. It’s not overpowering, but bold enough to keep my attention. Black and smokey, just a touch of wood, followed up by a lingering sweetness. It seems very well blended. The words “young” and “fresh” come to mind. I really need to get some of this for nights spent by a campfire.

Just now getting around to trying this one. It’s a nice, medium body moderately malty tea. Nothing I’ll keep on hand but will certainly finish. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR STEEPSTERITES

Sipdown (159)

Thank you Cavocorax for sharing but the last of this sample has fallen victim to the Florida tea weirdness. I tried using Brita water instead of tapwater but this tea still has a dirty taste to it. So weird and quite disappointing as this was a delicious tea.

I am always quite cautious about teas when they list cinnamon in their flavorings. For me, like cumin, it overpowers all other spices that are present, and leaves subtlety to waste. I was hesitant when choosing this tea for my Tippy’s order, but I saw the star anise and the nutmeg in their photo and I thought it worth the gamble….I’m a sucker for nutmeg.

The dry leaf is extraordinarily fragrant when the packet is opened. From that first sniff it is apparent that this is not your average “chai” blend. When spices are blended with skill, it should be difficult to pick out the individual components of the blend. Such is the case with North Pole Estate.

In the cup, this is a very smooth tea with a satin quality to the sip. The spice blend does not overpower the quality tea ~ it does what it is intended to do by enhancing the richness of the keemun and assam. There are fleeting moments where a single spice in the blend (particularly the star anise and nutmeg) gently takes the lead, but then it recedes into the blend again with grace and deliciousness. The cinnamon is NOT mowing everything down in it’s path. The clove is delicate and supporting of all the flavors in the cup. I have remained intrigued from the first sip to the last sip….. and that, for me, makes a glorious cup of tea. Completely and utterly enjoyed. Thank you Tippy’s.

I have this mental block where I can’t steep green or white tea in cups and diffusers that were used to steep black tea or flavoured blends. This has seriously impacted the amount of green tea I’ve had since the new year.

This is the first cup of green I’ve had in about three months, which may partially account for the honey-like quality (or maybe it’s fruity syrup). Seriously, nectar of the gods. Like drinking sweet creamy clouds, and crisp flowers (my cup got cold). Marry me, you beautiful green tea.

I’ll rate when I’ve finally recovered from my self-inflicted green tea abstinence. Too much tea giddiness.

This is certainly a smooth cup of tea but I am not finding anything that stands out about it. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t an enjoyable tea but there are other teas I already have in large quantity that I would reach for first.

I opened the package to be greeted with the essence of Lapsang Souchong. I am usually not a fan of the overwhelming taste of smoke and charcoal, but I took a chance. While brewing the aroma does resemble wet wood and socks, which wasn’t the best. The brew itself though is very flavorful. I can distinct the taste Lapsang Souchong, but it has calmed out. The dominant smoke flavor has smoothed unto a more soft pine flavor. The oolong adds a slight desert floral hint. The liquor is a bright bronze! Its a very nice blend and simply tasteful.