Tippy's Tea

Yet another sample form the Tippy Teas Sampler Pack! Boy, am I glad that I got all of them!

I like a lot of punch in my Smokey teas. This is a really nicely blended tea. I think I may like this one more than their Early Bird. I definitely get a bigger “POW!” factor in this tea. While the head notes are of that smoke and almost meaty bacon quality, I was able to appreciate the subtlety of the earthy and woody aromas of the Assam. I did get the fruity and lightly floral tail notes that is probably from the Darjeeling. There was also a light sweet note that played out quite nicely with all the others in this blend. I did order more of this, and it may become a staple slap-ya-awake tea.

This is a tea that was made more for an experience rather than taste. The mint is a subtle, very subtle cooling of the mouth, and that juxtaposed with the hot tea is very interesting. The mint builds and builds the more you sip on this tea. The green tea base is a Hunan yun wu, otherwise known as a cloud and mist green tea. On its own this tea has a slight mint flavour and is a wonderful green tea in and of itself.

I brewed this tea gong-fu style, without a rinse, first steep was 10 s, 15 s, 30 s. I have yet to do subsequent steeps, but the leaf has yet to fully hydrate and unfurl so she has more life in her yet. The smell of the mint in the dried leaf is strong enough that you know that it is present, but when brewed the resultant liquor only has a small hint of mint. There is a slight bitterness to this tea that I like. The same bitterness is also present in the base tea so it is not a result of the additional flavouring.

This follows in the footsteps of our other teas. Subtle flavouring, where we focus on the tea rather than the adulterants. Though starting with base ingredients such as this green tea, it is difficult to mess things up.

Breakfast time! And what better way for a non-morning person, I know it’s 8:44am, to attempt to greet the day than to have some Early Bird tea. This blend was created because we found a lot of breakfast teas contained tea that was low quality. This gave the drinker the illusion of a strong brew because of the level of turbidity within the liquor. Turbidity is just the measure of how cloudy a liquid is. In tea this is caused by dust and other suspended contaminants. Good black tea should never be turbid! The other issue I had was the generic taste these teas had, so we wanted to try to create something a little different, but still recognizable as a breakfast tea.

This tea is a blend of a whole bunch of different teas, in varying ratios. A lot of testing went into getting this right. In this tea we have keemun, lapsang, FBOP1 ceylon, a second flush darjeeling and an assam. Whilst most breakfast teas I’ve drunk have been ceylon/assam blends, ours is mostly keemun and darjeeling with half that again of assam and ceylon. There is a little tiny bit of lapsang there just to give the tea some balls.

The brewed tea is a nice clear, red liquid. There is a slight smoky scent. There are some hints of the floral darjeeling and berries. The taste is robust. There is a good mix of the pine from the lapsang and maltiness from the keemun blended with the summer berry taste from the assam. The ceylon gives this tea an astringent characteristic, which should, in my opinion, be present in all breakfast teas. There is also a slight bitterness.

I like this tea a lot. It’s my go-to breakfast tea now, unless I’m in the mood for something lighter.

I probably shouldn’t have had another cup of black tea, but I couldn’t resist trying my last sample from Cameron B.!

So, based on other reviews, I knew it wasn’t going to taste exactly like the name suggests. I tried really hard to get apple, and I could maybe see how this was apple flavoring turned something else. That something else being honeydew! As a honeydew tea, it’s good! I’m not sure about a honeydew tea with a black base, but it turned out to be very silky in texture. Again, an indication of a good base tea.

Another sample from Cameron B! :)

Like they say on their site, this is a good everyday tea. I think you can pretty much taste each of the teas blended in, which makes it a nice complex black tea. I got notes of cocoa, citrus, and it was kind of bread-y. Very nice. Makes me want to try their other tea blends.

Today was the first day I felt like autumn was finally here…so cool! I pulled out my autumn leaves mug and steeped up some of this tea. I was at work, so didn’t have milk, but I decided it didn’t need it. The base tea has a nice smoothness to it that mimics the creaminess of milk. I even oversteeped it on accident and it was still great! It tastes mostly of nutmeg to me, but it’s cozy, and it was perfect for today.

Good morning, Steepster! I woke up early thinking about the Tippy’s teas I would have today! Ha!

This sample was actually a bonus sample from the generous Cameron B! I asked for three Tippy’s teas and she sent me all five that she had!

I like pumpkin, but most of the time pumpkin teas are a miss. The funny thing is certain ones tend to grow on you over time (I’m looking at you, DT pumpkin chai and Butiki Pumpkin Creme Brulee!). This tea is different than the rest in that I tasted more of a nutmeg creaminess and maybe a teensy bit of pumpkin. I didn’t really get cinnamon, which was nice for a change. I’ve noticed that Tippy’s lightly flavors their teas and this is a good thing in my mind, but just don’t expect it to hit you In the face. Overall, I don’t think I’ve fallen head over heels for it, but it’s a unique, cozy cup. :)

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!

Resteeped my leaves from Sunday, because they were still sitting around in the steeping basket. 4tsp, 8oz, around 1min. Still delicious and nuanced. Cocoa, malt, sweet potato. Glad I got one more steep out of them.

I had a tea loving friend over today for hanging out and catching up, and made a pot of this for us to share.

It was excellent, lots of cocoa and malt this time around, and she really enjoyed it. I sent her home with samples of the blends that use this as a base, as well as some others, because I am a terrible enabler :)

Oh, deliciouness! Lots of malt and dark chocolate. I’ve really been enjoying blends with this as the base, and it’s nice to have it straight for comparison.

Not quite as rich tasting as when blended with vanilla beans, but still very desserty. What an excellent straight tea.

Apparently I’m on a Tippy’s Tea roll here. :) The dry tea has a lovely “pumpkin spice” smell. I’m excited to see that the base tea is their Golden Money – the same as in the Not So Vanilla. Brewed, you can really smell the chocolate notes of the base tea, along with the pumpkin pie spiciness. The taste is smooth, with a hint of acidity and a lovely subtle spiciness on the finish. It does remind me of pumpkin pie, but lacks the creamy and biscuit-y notes that would really round out the pie experience. Hang on, I need to try this with a bit of milk and sugar.

Mmmm, ok yeah, this is even better with just a bit of sugar and a splash of milk. It’s not necessary to make the tea enjoyable (David’s Pumpkin Chai, I’m thinking of you) but it just smooths everything out and makes it all a bit more dessert-y. Yum!

Sipping down the last of this sample only to have gotten another sample of it in the mail yesterday :P Pretty happy that I have a little bit more to play around with :D

One of my biggest NOPES in tea is chocolate. In my personal tastes, the worst thing that could happen to tea is to have chocolate chips dumped in. I have been and always will be a picky chocolate consumer. However, when the tea itself has a naturally chocolate essence about it, I am far more accepting of it’s nuances. I think I saved this tea for last, only because of the name.
Upon opening the package, I got a healthy whiff of tart, juicy raspberries. The chocolate was there, but it was so subtle. Brewing the tea, the aroma of the Keemun stood out to me more. The earthy, grounded smell of a good Chinese black tea. Ahh. The flavors of the chocolate and the raspberry are softer now than on the dry nose. On the first sip, I notice the raspberry first, then the dark chocolate. When I say dark chocolate, I don’t mean Hershey’s ‘Special Dark,’ I am talking about Godiva’s 86% Twilight Delight dark. It was in the background, while the tartness of the raspberry was front in center along with the bold, malty, and earthy black blend. I am so glad that this was not too fruity either! Funny how my two least favorite flavor profiles in tea (Chocolate and fruity blacks) could come together and make me really enjoy waking up to this tea!

Interesting! I agree with other reviewers – the primary scent I get from this tea is actually honeydew melon, not apple. I kind of wish I hadn’t read any previous reviews so I’d know if I were being unduly influenced by them, but I’m pretty sure I would have come to this conclusion on my own. :) There is a subtle spiciness, but not as much as I would expect from something called “Spiced Apple”. The keemun base is interesting, I don’t think I find it to be particularly chocolatey, more malty with a bit of acidity/sourness that gives more of an apple impression than the actual flavouring does. I’m trying to decide if I get any smokiness from it… maybe on the aftertaste. Overall it’s a nice tea – smooth, pleasant to drink, with a long and interesting finish. It’s just a bit odd as well. :)

Edited to add:
Well I guess it was interesting enough to merit a 2nd steep, even though I have SO much tea to try right now. :) Steeped again, this time for 5min, and added sugar. It’s really nice sweetened as well, seems to bring out the spiced apple (or spiced honeydew!) flavour.

Another sample from Cameron B. Thank you! :)

The dry leaf smelled amazingly like those dark chocolate raspberry sticks from Trader Joe’s. Those of you who have had them know how amazing they are! They have raspberry jelly inside. So delicious! I guess you can also get them on Amazon (How weird!): http://www.amazon.com/Trader-Joes-Chocolate-Raspberry-Sticks/dp/B004MJDKZC

The steeped tea is also very good. The black base might be a little more nearing some astringency than the base for Not So Vanilla, but still smooth at a 3 minute steep. I think it’s because the base is assam. I can taste both the raspberry and the cocoa. Very nice! The flavor is light, but still distinct, and I can’t decide whether I want more of a punch or not. Ha! This tea also reminds me of Nina’s Paris’ Grand Amour, which I love. Hmm, could be another winner, but I think I need another cup to decide!

As you can see from my previous note, I LOVE this tea! The vanilla bean flavor is amazing! The base tea is also amazing! I drank the rest of the sample from Cameron B today. I got more chocolate notes and it’s so silky smooth. Yum! I’m so glad I have 50g on its way. I have a feeling it won’t last long. ;)

This sample comes from a swap with Cameron B. Thanks, Cameron!

Like many of you, I have a hard time finding the perfect vanilla tea. It’s like a never ending quest. Vanilla flavor can come in so many forms: vanilla bean, just creamy, just sweet, like extract, and it seems to be a very personal thing, like maybe based on something you remember from childhood. I think my favorite vanilla is a vanilla bean flavor, like some of those really good French vanilla bean ice creams. And guess what? That’s exactly how this tea tastes! Woo!

I’ve had quite a few vanilla teas, even ones that are named with the bean in mind, and yet they don’t quite do it for me. I’ve had other vanilla teas that taste rum-like…maybe because they are more vanilla extract flavored. Before this tea, there was one vanilla tea that I really liked, but I tend to not like anything else from that particular tea company, so after it was gone I never bought it again.

This tea has a very nice smooth base tea. I like how the leaf isn’t too chopped up. The vanilla is definitely vanilla bean in flavor and it comes through in the aroma and the flavor…more at the back end of the sip. I would definitely consider picking up some of this tea, especially if I end up liking other Tippy’s teas. Seems like a “go to” tea for me when I want something lightly flavored and sweet. Very delicious! :)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97273956@N03/16059833968/

Mmm, another very nice flavoured tea from Tippy’s. :) I don’t have much to add to what other people have already said. The raspberry flavour is strong and natural-tasting. The cocoa flavour is milder – I can’t tell if the base teas have chocolatey notes, or if it’s just a good chocolate flavouring (or both). The combination is definitely reminiscent of a raspberry-flavoured dark chocolate bar. The base teas are solid and smooth, with a boldness that contributes to the dark-chocolate character of the overall experience. Second steep was less rich, but still very nice.

Ok, decided to try this again. I have two 25g bags, so made a cup of each to drink side to side. Both bags have an obvious vanilla smell. Sitting here with one in each hand and going back and forth, sometimes I think I can detect a difference in intensity, and sometimes I can’t. For both, I’m definitely finding it to be vanilla, not chocolate. Steeped 3g (approx 2 tsp – it’s light tea) in 10oz water (just off boiling) for 3min. I could definitely taste a difference between the two cups – one definitely had more vanilla. For both, I was again missing the chocolatey flavour I remembered from my previous batch. Both cups had a little bit of vanilla dust in the bottom. I tried resteeping for 5min, and both cups were kind of bland/watery in the resteep. Ugh, I wish I still had that sample to compare with! Also, I need someone to come over and taste with me, in case the problem here is just in my taste buds/brain. So confused. :p

Weird! I ordered some of this during that sale because I was so in love with the sample I had previously, and now it’s… not as good. Like, it’s not bad tea by any stretch, but it’s significantly less chocolatey and vanilla-y than when I tried it before. I thought last night that maybe I was just losing my mind, but then I tried it again this morning with even more leaf (4g instead of 3g) and it’s still just not the same. And yes, I turned the bag upside down and shook it around for a bit, in an attempt to redistribute any vanilla bits that might have sunk to the bottom. Is it normal for consistency from one batch to the next to be an issue for these vanilla bean teas?

OH! Oh. This is the tea I’ve been needing all day. It has been a bit of a crappy, stressful day, and I grumped my way through it and now I’m home. I’ve had dinner (hunger definitely exacerbates the grumps!) and I’m sitting with a cup of this tea, just starting to feel like maybe life is ok after all. :)

So I opened the package, smelled the tea, and said “Oh my GOD” (out loud, to myself… I’m just cool like that). This smells amazing! If you’ve had a good vanilla black tea (made with real vanilla beans!) you know what I’m talking about here. There is a strong chocolatey-ness to this tea as it steeps, which translates nicely to the flavour of the tea as well. The base tea is smooth and rich, with chocolate notes that are enhanced by the creamy vanilla. Mmmmm. Lovely.

Out of curiosity I decided to try this in the gaiwan today and… it wasn’t bad, but I think I prefer it steeped western style. I never quite got the balance of smoky, creamy, vegetal that I was looking for. Early steepings were heavy on the lapsang, later steepings were heavy on the oolong, it was interesting, but I don’t prefer it this way. One thing I remember was that I was getting a really clear sequence of flavours in one sip: first smoky, then creamy/vegetal (not as floral for me today), then a deeper almost tobacco-y note as the black tea asserted itself, then more smoke on the aftertaste. Neat. :)

Resteeped yesterday’s leaves, and I wasn’t as impressed as with the first steeping. Not sure if that’s because it was a 2nd steep, or because I left the leaves out overnight. Looking forward to experimenting more with this. :)