1598 Tasting Notes
So I’ve been putting off this last Bayswater tea for a few months now. The sandalwood is an interesting ingredient, but not one that yells, “Pick me! Pick me!” as I peruse my herbal tea tin. I felt sorry for it today, and gave it some love.
This is a decent tea. A bit of orange. A bit of wood. Sandwood of course too. It’s mild, but at 1:30 AM, I think mild is ok.
Yep. This is ok.
(Steeped for 10 min as directed. Also, I made another herbal the same time as this as I didn’t want to wait 10+ min for tea!)
Preparation
And, goodbye Wild Orange Blossom! (83)
I steeped it for 5 minutes or so this time around and that was a HUGE mistake. It just intensified the hibiscus so much that it was nearly undrinkable. What a shame. It was nicely balanced at 3 minutes though, so if a sale blows my way I may scoop it up another day.
Preparation
This was my free sample with my first Teavana order. It was funny looking at my orders – 2 oz doesn’t really get you too much with how heavy these blends are. Good thing they were 30% off.
Anyway, this sample is just insane. I think it’s the equivalent of 4 perfect teaspoons to make a 16 oz cup. Guys, that’s A LOT to make 16 oz. This tea must be super expensive to buy. No wonder they want to hook us with the free sample.
The tea does taste REALLY GOOD though. The first few sips were sorta shocking due to the rock sugar overhwelming the entire thing with sweetness, but once my tastebuds kicked over to “pretend it’s pop/Starbucks/etc” mode, I was fine with it. I just would never sweeten my tea that much. After I recovered though, I really enjoyed the cinnamon, cloves and everything else they’ve thrown in here. #drools
Now, would I ever buy this again? Maybe? If I could get it WITHOUT the rock sugar, then I could consider paying $18.96 for 4 oz. If it was on sale that’d be more likely.
Except, if 4 oz only made me 4 16 oz cups. Then it wouldn’t be worth it.
Preparation
I have the same issue with this tea. Okay, I only drink one side of it because there’s strawberries in the other. Still. I’ve decided that unless it’s on a big sale, I just get it when I’m walking by the store as a tea/latte/iced.
Yeah, I re-steeped it and am enjoying the second cup, but this tea is just too expensive. It makes me wonder what Butiki’s chai is like. I bet it’s just as flavourful, if not more so.
Wait, their samples come with extra rock sugar in them?
This one did. It was a special promo sample during the friends & family event. It was labelled on the package that it had rock sugar, so it wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was that the entire package was meant to be used for 16 oz. :|
Wow. I found the Maharaja chai to be super sweet anyways. I couldn’t imagine it with a “Teavana” amount of rock sugar added.
Backlog from earlier:
I was considering if I should just toss this or offer for a swap because I wasn’t drinking it, and was apprehensive about it. I decided not to though bc I’ve got so many swaps going at the moment, I wasn’t ready to do another. And I’d feel bad dumping it.
Turns out it’s not as bad as I remember, but it’s still not mind-blowing. A touch of milk mellows it out and makes the licorice not quite so overpowering. I’ve probably got 1oz of this left, but that shouldn’t take too long to drink up as I over-leaf it and under-steep it a bit – for best result?
Wow. Amsterdam Licorice? So, salty licorice, aka Double Zout? Holy moly. I’m…. now wanting to try this.
Have you tried So Long and Thanks for all the Licorice yet, MissB? I can see it being good with a little salt if you’re looking for that flavour.
First I’ve heard of it. Off to find it…
Butiki. :D SO GOOD. Absolute favourite. A bit chai-like due to other spices, but mostly licorice.
Miss B – i think i have some of stacys so long that i can send you…
And so the swap begins. I’d love that, Sil. Thank you!
MissB – if you really think you’d be interested in this one, I could send it to you some time. It just might take me a few weeks to get it out as I’ve been busy with swaps lately.
Definitely interested! Zero rush. I’m also swamped with swaps and Black Friday.
Great! I made a note in my spreadsheet that I was going to send some to you eventually. We can arrange something in a bit!
SIPDOWN!
I had to yell that because I’m now at 80 teas, but with what I’m expecting from Black Friday purchases, tea swaps, and whatever Sil has, I’m looking at 40-50 new teas for my cupboard. So, with that in mind I figured it best to drink this last sad little bag of Vanilla Comoro.
I went through a period where I didn’t care for this tea as much – it fell flat – but I realized it was because I was under-leafing by using one bag for a 16 oz mug. Yeah, no wonder. Now I’m using more like 10 oz, and just a tiny little bit of milk and this is just wonderful. Creamy vanilla that just soothes and relaxes you.
I will restock this eventually, but the earliest would be in the spring.
Congrats on 80!! I think after all my Black Friday teas arrive and the swaps that I am waiting on get here I will need to stop getting more tea because I am definitely going to be over 200 :O. This is what steepster has done to me. Prior to joining I had maybe 40 teas and in a month that has skyrocketed. I am not complaining thought because I have gotten to try so many amazing teas I would have never found if not for this site.
VariaTEA, I think we all go through cycles. It will go up, it will go down, you will swap out things you don’t love, etc. :) It’s an adventure and so much fun.
Yeah – don’t panic. :P That is the Steepster Effect!
I imagine most of your teas are smaller samples (like what I sent you?) so you’d be able to sip them down quickly if you wanted to!
ILU Jane Austen Mafia.
I’m almost halfway done my bag because this tea is from Adagio, which means it’s rare to spot up here in the Great Wild North. It’s silly that the idea of ordering from Adagio is in the same category as ordering from Fauchon or Mariage Freres because of crazy shipping fees.
So I will enjoy this cup… I could maybe go for reading an Austen book right now too. I love P&P and S&S (and S&S&Sea Monsters) so much that I haven’t branched out enough to her other books.
Oh, I’m rambling. If I haven’t said it already, Happy Turkey Day to those of you in the South! :D
Sighhhh… Fauchon doesn’t even ship to Canada. And I just had shipping shock the other day doing a mock order for both MF, The O Dor and Fauchon and then figured with all these shipping charges… I could fly there for cheaper. le sigh
I agree about the crazy shipping from Adagio! It feels like it’s almost the equivalent of agreeing to give up your first born, which is frustrating because there’s ONE blend from Adagio I’ve been dying to try since getting into loose leaf. However, I’m not going to pay $30 shipping for one blend :(
Tuscanteal – yeah. It’s frustrating. At least there are more places carrying it? Did you check your local Winners? They had some for a bit at least.
Roswel Strange – it’s absolutely ridiculous. I tweeted them to ask why they couldn’t send it USPS and they said it WAS USPS. I don’t understand why it’s so much. If they made an effort to lower their prices they would get SO MUCH BUSINESS.
Maybe you can find someone on Steepster to grab that one blend for you? That’s how I got this one and my beloved TARDIS tea. :P (I won’t give out my contact though in case that person doesn’t want to do it for everyone, but there are tons of nice people here who probably wouldn’t mind splitting and re-shipping an order for you)
I’m a tea mule for a few companies right now, including Adagio – actually making an order tonight with them! If anyone wants something added, send me a note. We’re getting it shipped to Blaine, WA to a company that specializes in this sort of stuff, and then I’ll pick it up and parse it out shortly after arrival. Lots of options.
Ooh, MissB. I will message you.
I didn’t realize that MissB! That’s great! :D
(I sometimes have access to a mule up here but more options are better)
Cavo, my dad lives in California so I ship orders to him. When I move back to Thornhill I can just add stuff to orders for you and then drop them off at your house.
MissB – definitely shot you a message!
MissB – a tea mule, that’s so funny! I could probably do the same for a lot of things, I have Nexus.
Oh, VariaTEA – I nearly missed your response! Thanks for the offer. I will likely take you up on it. :P (And we can meet at the DAVIDsTEA at Promenade!)
Ooh, Nexus. I’ve debated getting one. I always get questioned at the border if they ask me what I do for a living (will you be writing – anything – while you’re in the US? is my favorite question).
Worth It hands down!!!!
MissB: “My signature. On the credit card receipts.” Although sometimes they don’t have a sense of humour.
haha Hopefully one of us will get hired at that DAVIDs and then we can have discounts on their tea.
I’m about to order this one and am SO excited!
I hope you enjoy it!
OMGsrsly: Ha! Yes, I’ve learned to keep it serious at the border. Two hour cavity searches are someone else’s idea of a fun afternoon. ;)
So after drinking rooibos this morning, I’m working my way to this oolong. At this rate, I’ll never be awake. But that’s ok. TK is fighting a cold so she’s just tired and dopey and so I’ve decided today’s a pj day, and we’ll both have a nap this afternoon. I think I’m fighting off a bug too. So, loading up on caffeine isn’t the best idea.
Oh, and if I have my afternoon nap I’ll definitely be alert at midnight for Black Friday shopping!
This oolong is ok. I’m considering picking up oolong at Teavivre with my $10 coupon – maybe the Big Red Robe? I drank a lot of oolong over the past month or so and I think that was the one I liked the most. It’s probably a good one to have around.
This pineapple one is ok. I could probably just do this myself with dried pineapple and tie guan yin.
Also, my kid has fallen in love with the original Winnie the Pooh movie (well the one I grew up with?) so my day is filled with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLnADKgurvc
Oh. My. I’ve never seen the Winnie the Pooh movie – we had audiobooks on records when I was a kid.
Oh, I vaguely remember that. My dad always had records on. I didn’t realize the original Pooh animation was done in the 60’s. That explains the somewhat psychedelic nature of the clip I posted.
It reminds me of Fantasia.
Yeah, Fantasia is pretty great. :) I’m waiting for TK to fall for it too. She likes to dance to everything even if by dance, she means spins in circles and giggle. :P
