2291 Tasting Notes
I did this one iced, then used the last of my packet to do a cold brew. To see what the difference was, etc.
Iced, I really enjoyed the tea. It is intensely floral and the frankincense is still SO strong, even though this is an older sample (yay I get to open a new bag!). With a little honey in it, it was really thirst quenching and delicious. Which is why I tried a cold brew.
No. No cold brewing. It was spinach and flowers. So much spinach. I tasted it, sniffed it, tasted it again, and dumped it down the sink. :/
Oh well. You win some, you lose some.
Preparation
Yum yum yum. Strong black tea with a little soy nog in it (because I still don’t have plain milky stuff!) instead of a coffee eggnog latte.
Delicious. I really like this tea. And I will miss it.
Now to get into Outside Clothes (instead of old PJs) to go get some groceries and do some meal prep for the week. I have an idea and a plan, so we’ll see what actually happens!
(2 steeps!)
Preparation
Tea rex! Woo! Thanks Sil. :)
This tastes weird. As in, it’s fruity but it’s kind of muddled. And there’s a weird note in it that I can’t identify but isn’t honeybush or rooibos.
So reading the ingredients, it’s apple-raspberry-cherry? Weird! I totally would not have picked that out, but now that I’m thinking about it I guess that’s cherry flavour. And there’s chocolate in it? Wow. Tastebud fail. I do not get chocolate at all.
I guess the result of this one is… thank you for the tea, but I don’t really get it so I’m going to call it a no. I mean, it’s drinkable but I don’t understand why it doesn’t taste like the stuff that’s apparently in it! (And also, it’s going honeybush-sour as it cools, so that’s another point against it.)
Sorry, tea.
(2 bags in 12 oz)
Preparation
hahaha
What a waste of a clever name then!
Heh. I know Cavo likes it, and I was oo-ing over the clever packaging for the tea. :)
I like it but I think the kid likes it more than I do. :) Not sure I’d rec it for adults? (whoops)
Haha! That’s OK, Cavo. It was an experience. :)
Oh, this one is really nice! I do like the base tea, although my tummy’s been upset and the oolong didn’t sit too well with me today.
The tamarind flavour is really neat. I don’t really know how to describe it, just fruity and floral and tamarind-y.
This was a great suggestion on my part! ;) Hopefully the person this was a gift for likes it as much as I do!
Ugh, I hate when my tummy rejects tea. Mine has been a bit unhappy tonight and therefore I haven’t had much, which sucks because I need to empty some infusers so I can have different teas at work tomorrow.
Also, glad you enjoy :D So much better than the original blend IMO.
I totally agree! I like this base a LOT more. I look forward to having it again, and trying it iced. Unfortunately I sometimes have to be careful with oolongs. My first really bad tea drunk (I was so unpleasantly woozy!) was with an oolong!
I can’t wait to try mine. I think it is coming soon. My friend and I are doing an exchange, and this is one she is sending me in exchange for the crapton of teas I recently sent her.
I am a leetle overwhelmed with tea right now (again, always), so I chose this one with the help of my friend =randbetween(2, 225) (I have a couple duplicates I count as one tea).
Good, as always. I added a little more leaf than I usually do, and steeped the usual 3 minutes. I’ll get 1-2 more nice steeps out of the leaves tonight, I think. Definitely a favourite. I’m so glad I have “enough”.
Preparation
Today, this is horrible. It’s probably a combination of upset tummy and new medication along with steeping this in a basket so it has loads and loads of floaties. This tea is one for a mesh strainer or tea bag, for sure.
So it’s going to be dumped. :(
Preparation
Aww yeah. I don’t usually like banana flavoured things, but since the other one I had tried (Hello Sweetie? IDK, brain has left me) was good, I thought I’d try this one.
WOW. It’s not super smoky. The banana is very present but not overwhelming. The maple lends a feeling of sweetness, although I’m drinking this black.
So far I’m really liking this tea. Yum yum yum. I’ll revisit in a few weeks/days and see what I think of it then!
Preparation
I’m with you in not liking banana flavored things.. yuck! I too have tried Hello Sweetie and a tea from 52teas that both surprised me. Somehow in tea it hasn’t repulsed me.. yet. This one sounds good too… I like to make whole wheat banana nut pancakes and this makes me thing of them and a good cup of coffee.
In general I prefer green bananas so having banana flavored things that aren’t too sweet or ‘ripe’ is pretty amazing. :)
I was interested in this one, but I opted not to try it because i am not a fan of smokey teas. But the maple banana was still begging interest since I like both. In the end, I decided against trying it, but maybe I should have if it is not that smokey. Oh well.
Others have wished for less smoke, so I think it’s a matter of what you like/don’t like, and what you’re sensitive to.
Sil and Bear With Me were talking about root beer lattes earlier, so I had to make one with what I have in my fridge!
Root Beer Noel Nog (soy this time) latte. I broke into my last packet of Root Beer Float for this one! So sad. It’s one of my favourite honeybush teas as it doesn’t taste sour to me.
Anyways, you might not think that root beer would go well with eggnog, but adding the nutmeg and rum to the vanilla and cream… this is an amped up hot root beer float. Really really delicious. :D
(12 oz tea, 8 oz nog added in stages, 16 oz mug)
Preparation
Nice!! You should try it with the other root beer float and report back :P
(Or I should go search for any remaining nog locally. Hmm…)
I don’t have any of the other one left! I found it at my Safeway two days ago. They had soy, and some 50% off milk ones.
I meant to make this as an eggnog latte and I keep forgetting. Soon…
Lamesauce on both fronts! Boo to none of the other one left (i have just under half of the 750g I picked up before it went away again…) and boo to safeway (ours are all gone. They’re save on foods now)
That is so weird, Bear With Me! But stuff here is all turning in to Price Smart foods, and even Shoppers carries Presidents Choice, and I can’t remember who but something else got bought out by the same company as IGA. Thrifty’s and something else…
(I got 100g of the other one and enjoyed it, but not enough to get more!)
Thrifty’s is owned by Sobey’s now (and theh actually bought the property my old high school is on, and will be building a grocery store there once the new schools open and the old one is torn down). Superstore I think carries PC as well as no name. But yeah.
Sobeys owns Thrifty’s and Safeway now.
Yeah! That’s it. There are “Compliments” things at Safeway and IGA and Thrifty’s now. Blah. Safeway is even more expensive, and the accessible Thrifty’s is now a Price Smart.
I don’t like it because all the stores are carrying the same things. It’s boring. :)
Weird! If Sobey’s owns Safeway too, then why are the island ones all Save Ons instead of Safeways?
I’m glad our Thrifty’s are still the same awesomenesses, despite being owned by Sobey’s. A few of them are open 24hrs now which has come in handy a few times.
Rumour has it we’re getting a Whole Foods at Uptown soon. Hello expensiveness.
Maybe I have it wrong idk. I thought it said Safeway when I looked up Sobeys. I still miss the thriftys brand salsa. :( Cheap and delicious and in large containers! And surpisingly some things are way cheaper at Whole Paycheque Foods. I know, it doesn’t seem like it because all the new expensive fancy stuff tempts you and somehow finds its way into your shopping basket… but some things are cheaper. :)
I just wish Trader Joe’s would come here. Mmmmm cookie butter
Boo cookie butter. :(:( But yay wine in the grocery store. :D
Sobeys owns safeway and the competition bureau of canada made them sell off certain stores in certain areas re fair competition. Here several safeways became co-op foods. Loblaws owns both superstore and shoppers hense presidents choice appearing in shoppers…..
Sobeys has two “in house” brands – Compliments and Sensations. They’re similar to/the equivalent of “No Name” brand. Not sure why your Safeways are becoming “Save Ons” though (never heard of that company/chain). Personally I don’t mind the compliments brand – I think it’s definitely better than a lot of grocery stores’ private brands/labels. But maybe I’m a touch biased since I work for Sobeys now…
Save On is Overwaitea. Compliments gluten free stuff isn’t super great and is even more expensive than the known good brands. Makes me sad because they’re carrying more of their brands and less of the brands I want to eat. So I buy more at the local independent grocers.
Thanks, Dex. I thought Shoppers was going weird. ;) And they are! More PC stuff and less ‘Life’ stuff.
Sobeys also owns FreshCo, IGA, Foodland, and Price Chopper – and partners with Lawton Drugs for the in store pharmacies in many of those stores.
Whoa, Shoppers merged with PC?! This is blowing my mind! Will I even recognise my home and native land when I move back?!
40% off 250g on david’s website haha…
It’s so weird! And the only one we have is IGa. Idk what price chopper etc are.
Sil, I do not need 250g of it! I’m happy with what I had. :)
I must be weird…getting a huge kick reading about all these chains I’ve never heard of :)
heh
Grocery stores are FUN! When I travel, I like to check out new shops instead of eat at restaurants. :D
A sample I’ve been saving, from Dexter. :) Thank you!
I rinsed it from my regular kettle, then let it sit while my Zojirushi thermos thing came up to temperature.
20s: SMOKE. OMG, the smoke. Wow. It smells super duper strong, but the colour is quite pale. The taste isn’t super smoky, it’s a little astringent and carby and… almost a touch sour.
30s: Still smoke. Still super pale. IDK if I really love it, but it’s really neat. The sour/bitter/astringent (I can’t tell!) flavour makes it interesting and also turns me off a bit.
I lost track of time, about 1 minute?: Still smoke. Still super pale. Starting to get sweet, along with the previous flavours. I breathe smoke still, but I don’t really taste it. It’s weird.
And honestly I’m kinda bored with writing this now. I think I’ll just keep slowly drinking my tea, and I’ll make any astounding updates later. ;)
I drank almost 1/4 of my steaming root beer float eggnog latte while this next cup steeped. Whoops. Still drinkable but green and bitter. A green bitter. Does that make sense? Different from a black tea bitter. Or even a green tea bitter.
I had another way oversteep that I had to dump. :(
The steep I’m currently drinking is sweet and a lot softer. I still smell smoke, but the flavour has changed a lot. It’s fresh and… reminds me of fresh dried alfalfa. :)
Preparation
Interesting – I don’t find this smokey, but I know others do. I LOVE it – sorry you are finding it sour/bitter/astringent. Oh well you got to try it. :))
It’s really neat, and I’m totally drinking it ALL. That is seriously rare for a multi-steeper like a puerh or oolong (shh…). So it’s not that I don’t like it, it’s that I find the flavours really odd. It’s the sour/bitter/astringent flavour of TEA. Like, fresh crushed leaves. A potted plant. Something like that.
i heart this one… and i DO get the smokey notes lol
for me it was like roasted peppers and nectarines
Roasted peppers omg. Yeah. A little sour and a touch bitter from the skins. And smokey and becoming sweet. Hmm.
I think that as this mellows a bit more it’s gonna be amazing. But as I said, I drank it all except that one serious oversteep so I did like it. :)
@OMGsrsly. You just have to “exercise” your palate. soon you will be an expert ;)))
i need to figure out w better way to store my puerh….
I still feel very new to Puerh! The one I really really like is super earthy and mushroomy and wet foresty. This one is sooooo different. :)
Sil, Dr. Seuss is the best.
I FOUND EGGNOG! I got regular AND soy, for varieties sake. :D :D SO HAPPY, omg.
OK. So. This tea as an eggnog latte (about 2/3 cup eggnog, the rest tea). SO GOOD. Creamy. Delicious. Nutmeggy, custardy, loads of vanilla. Yum.
Yum.
In other news, anyone have suggestions for gluten and bean free (ha!) freezer friendly meals I can make ahead, portion out, and freeze for all my meals? I have almond chicken (I don’t really like peanut butter!), veg stew, ground turkey/sweet potato/squash hash, rice, and some cooked pasta in the freezer right now. I’m trying to have enough options I don’t get bored, and I’m freezing everything so I don’t waste stuff if I end up going out or buying something else for dinner! :)
Preparation
OMG, that turkey, sweet potato, and squash hash sounds amazeballs… :D
Super simple too! I just grated the veg and mixed in salt, pepper and olive oil and baked them, stirring regularly till done. The turkey gets “sausage” spice added (http://meatified.com/slow-cooker-breakfast-meatloaf/ I mix the spice and keep some in the cupboard), then stir the turkey into the veg. If you feel like chopping, little squares of veg might look nicer/be less mushy. But I don’t care. It’s good.
“the veg” = onion, sweet potato, and butternut squash. A little crushed garlic.
Any sort of Thai curries are great for this. Super easy if you use curry paste from the store. Shepherd’s pie is also nice. Spaghetti squash baked with tomato-based sauce and lots of cheese. Zongzi are so awesome to have in the freezer, though tricky to make (they’re kind of like perogies in that you make a big batch in one sitting and then eat them for many meals.) Salted duck egg steamed pork with rice is a childhood favourite of mine, though I’m not sure if there are any recipes that don’t include soy sauce (if you’re allergic to beans).
Ooo. Shepherds pie! I always forget about that. I will have to look up zongzi. I am not allergic to beans, but if I have too much it triggers other stuff which is unpleasant. Some tofu or soy milk is ok. Some chick peas. Maybe black beans if they’re well soaked and cooked. Sigh. I love beans.
Ohh, I get mushroom zongzi sometimes at the Asian market. I’ll have to find some recipes. I really don’t care for the salted egg yolk part, but I love the texture of the rice.
Oh god, I can’t imagine experiencing frankincense in anything cold/iced.
The oolong killed the cold brew. The frankincense was actually really nice in the iced version. But I do love this tea, so that probably colours my experience with it. :)