CaesarsTea

Given my need to try all the genmaichas, I grabbed some of this the last time I was at CaesarsTea. This is not one I will be getting again. The base is not as vegetal as most of the other green teas but there is still something off about this that I just can’t put my finger on. Perhaps Roswell Strange will figure it out as I may have tossed a couple cups worth in a swap since she too wants to try all the genmaichas.

So I had a feeling this would be nice iced and today I know for sure. It is juicy and sweet and has a great fruity flavor from the strawberry and mango. However, at the end if the day, despite enjoying this tea, I just don’t reach for it often given it’s a white tea so I will add it to the GCTTB as an iced tea and hopefully others will enjoy it too. So long Sunset! It’s been nice :)

This is definitely a juice tea but it is more like a child’s juicebox than a nice glass of fresh juice. It is sweet and fruity but there is nothing particularly distinctive about it beyond that. Good, not great but would probably be enjoyable enough iced on a hot day.

So I have come to the conclusion that CaesarsTea does white teas quite nicely. This is smooth and fresh and very juicy. It has a nice mango flavor combined with a generic fruitiness. Definitely a pleasant cup to sip on as I finish up some work and stress about packing.

Sipdown! (161)

Thanks VariaTEA for sending this! It was a nice strawberry rooibos, but it didn’t blow my mind. That’s ok though, bc I DID enjoy a lot of the other samples from this company. They’re allowed to strike out once in a while.

Sipdown #1, woohoo!! Just had to mark the occasion. See other tasting note for how I feel about this tea. ;-)

I steeped this tea with almost boiling water. I have been tasting the tea before I add any sweetener or milk. The tea is a dark brown color once stepped. It has a caramel flavor without any sweetener, but it was pretty subtle. For my taste, it definitely needed something to sweeten it up. Once I added the sweetener, it really brought out the caramel flavor and then I added some cream. That did it for me, I really liked it once it was all doctored up. I basically treated like I would a Chai tea and I love Chai. If you are a purest, this tea will probably not do much for you. But if you are willing to doctor it up yourself, it has a great flavor.

I decided to cold steep this sample from VariaTEA for some reason. Big mistake.

Something about it was just way too floral and soapy. It sort of smelled orangey but not really. It was also somewhat sour because of the rosehips.

Sadly I don’t have any left to try hot, but reading the reviews, I’m not sure I’m missing a whole lot.

Well, I’m glad I tried it. Thank you. :)

(250)

I like the maple flavor in this but more and more I realize that I really don’t like CaesarsTea’s green base. It is too vegetal for my liking. It is like drinking maple grass.

What a sad way to break in my new mug :(

Sip down (228).

I’ve actually had a lot of teas today, as well as a venti unsweetened hot chocolate with maple drizzle from sbux. I just don’t feel like logging them.

I’m really overwhelmed with work right now. Blah blah whine whine whine. It’s stuff I need to address with my boss and write up fresh protocols for, so I’m not doing all the grunt work. It’ll get done, but as one more thing added to my plate I’m not impressed.

This tea needs more orange. And ginger. But it’s nice and hot and will hopefully help my tummy out. Hot chocolate is delicious until you’ve had too much dairy and your tummy rebellls!

Oh the dry leaves smell so good! Orange orange orange, ginger, tea.

Like Sil, I want more. More orange, more ginger. It is pretty good, and I’ll save the lease for more steeps tomorrow.

I cold brewed this and it is unlike anything I have had before. There is an underlying note of apple but the most prominent flavor is the spices. It is a very unique spice profile though. It is both sweet and savory. I wish I were able to pinpoint exactly what spices I was tasting but as it is, this is rather indescribable. An interesting flavor experience for sure but I just don’t know if it is one I am enjoying.

On a slightly related note, how long can a cold brew tea stay in the fridge before going bad/stale/moldy? Does anyone know?

Hm. I wonder who sent me this cute package from CaesarsTea to try? Of course, it’s VariaTEA. Thank you! :)

This was a delicious cup that I drank way too fast earlier this evening. There’s vanilla, there’s cream, yes, there’s even a custard-like finish to it. I missed the actual crust/pie part, however it’s still delicious as-is.

Have been drinking this for a couple of hours now. I didn’t really get much out of the first cup – not much pecan, not much “dessert”. Someone was talking this morning (MissB? – I’m blanking on who it was) about lower water temp shorter steep times to lessen rooibos flavor. I tried that with the second cup – it does lessen the rooibos, but didn’t really bring out anything else. I don’t get this – was expecting caramel, pecan, ooooy gooy goodness. This is pretty much just sweet rooibos.
Thank you VariaTEA for sending me this sample.

As I walked by Caesars sipping on my nearly empty cup of Countess of Seville I remembered the coupon for a free cup of tea in my pocket. I decided the smart thing was to finish up my DAVIDs cup and follow it up with a nice hot cup of this.

Unfortunately this is not nearly as delicious as other blueberry teas I have had. It lacks the strong blueberry presence I have come to love in other teas and it is a touch astringent. On the other hand, it is free and satisfying my need for tea so I am not too upset.

This one is thanks to VariaTEA!

I’m quite enjoying it. I think it’d be better with some milk (but I’m too lazy to go get some), as the base is a little strong. I added a small amount of honey which helped bring out the coconut.

For a coconut chai, I prefer Zhena’s Gypsy Chai because it’s sweeter, with more coconut and less base, but this one is pretty decent.

Wow. Well, this is definitely pomegranate! I’m actually a bit surprised at how juicy it is, especially as it’s cooled since I first steeped it.

Thank you VariaTEA for sharing this with me.. even more so because it’s a local-to-you tea shoppe, which is one of the favorite parts of swapping, for me.

Sipdown! Look out Cavo…i told you i was on a roll! 162! Only 12 more in uh…8 days! Though I suspect I won’t be drinking much tea Sat/Sun. So 6 days! Of course then it will be February and the tea festival will be there and if i’m in chicago then i may end up picking up some there.. sigh but hey.. progress is good!

This one reminds me of another tea i had a long while back. This isn’t my favourite sort of rooibos. This is that woodsy sort of rooibos that tries it’s best to overwhelm the flavours. It doesn’t succedd entirely with this one but it’s enough that i still want it to go away a little. I’m still searching for a replacement to my “Walter bishop” it seems. Maybe Stacy can make one for me someday…

this sample fell off my table, so it wasn’t added to my cupboard, but now it’s all finished! I have to say that the caramel toffee puerh from majesteas here in toronto is more up my alley. This one is decent enough, but lacking the deep, rich creamy taste that i love blending with my puerh. Still good to compare though, so thanks a bunch Variatea!

awe yeah! sipdown mania! haha thanks VariaTEA for making it easy for me to try a bunch of new teas but also get my numbers down quick :) I quite like this one, though i wish there was a little more ginger and a little more orange. it’s a reasonably nice puerh with hints of ginger. I just want MOOOAAAAAAAAR! i am a fan of that spicy ginger,and hoped that this would have just a splash of orange to bring it all together. Not quite. but almost. still a good cup though!

Yikes. So… I left this to steep accidentally for more than an hour. Argh. So sorry, VariaTEA I should have paid more attention to this swapped sample from you.

It’s surprisingly flavorful however with zero bitterness or even a hint of the base, yet within a minute of my sipping it, I’ve got a stomachache again. Ah yes, this is an oolong. Why, oh why do I have such issues with oolongs? Argh.

I’ve rated it for flavor, and for the fact that it held up amazingly well to my grossly over steeping it.

Sipdown (207)!

One of the side effects from the pain meds. I’m on for my mouth is sleepiness/drowsiness – and I think I’m probably experiencing that right now because I slept a sound, uninterrupted 12 hours last night and now keep drifting in and out of sleep for weird 10 minute periods of time.

I think this is one time I can say “Thank God I don’t have a job” because can you imagine that at work? Probably not the best thing ever…

Anyway, I had a hell of a hard time getting this to come up in the search bar today…

Stubborn tea is stubborn, I guess.

Taste wise, this was a pleasant taste surprise with an unpleasant textual experience. Despite there being only one white chocolate drop in the leaf I used (as opposed to the three in the last cup I made), I actually got a very rich 50/50 rooibos and white chocolate taste! It was great! The downside was that the mouthfeel of this was incredibly waxy and gross…

Anyway, thanks for the same VariaTEA – it was an experience, that’s for sure.

EDIT: Just noticing now that this is supposed to have mint in it? That’s the last thing I would have guessed as an ingredient…

I received my sample of this what seems like a very long time ago from my frequent swapping pal VariaTEA and am only just now trying it (sorry). The idea of a white chocolate rooibos really appealed to me, but everyone’s tasting reviews kept saying that it just tasted like straight rooibos so I kept putting it off. It’s been sitting in my “Immediate Try Me!” sample drawer for weeks though, so time to finally give it a go!

Parameters were 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf to 8 oz. of boiling water, steeped for about five minutes. In the dry leaf I used, I saw at least three white chocolate drops/chips, so if there’s no white chocolate taste I admit I’m going to be pretty disappointed. Steeped up, mostly I just smell the rooibos and sort of a generic sweetness.

Taste wise, I get a super strong wood-chippy rooibos, although I personally don’t mind that taste. As far as the white chocolate goes, there is an initial generic sweetness to the tea but it’s not heavily white chocolate by any means. Near the end of the sip it’s a lot more creamy, and I do start to get the faintest hints of white chocolate. After swallowing, the white chocolate notes are at their strongest. It’s like there’s a very thin coating of white chocolate on the roof of my mouth.

Concluding thoughts? Well, it’s not awful by any stretch but it is a little disappointing overall. Not something I’ll want to acquire again but I’m going to be able to finish off the last cup worth without difficulty and I’d likely not turn down any additional leaf if offered, as long as it was in small quantity.

Trying to review, comment, post and reply to messages tonight has proved too much for me. Or perhaps Steepster has decided to give me the cold shoulder tonight. Again. ;) Regardless, I’m around, just unable to do much of anything at the moment. I will reply/like/comment as I’m able!

Tried this one tonight thanks to VariaTEA who sent this out in a swap about a month ago now. I’ve been raving about Tea Desire’s caramel pu-erh so she graciously reminded me I had this one waiting to try out, too.

This is definitely a stronger tasting pu-erh, although that may just be because of the steeping parameters (1.5 tsp per 8 ounce cup). Initially, the caramel tasted… granular. I do mean taste instead of feel, and I’m finding it a bit challenging to explain. About half way through the cup now, I’m getting more of a cloying caramel note, with a darker, deeper, dryer pu-erh note in the background. I want to love this… I mean, I devour Tea Desire’s version almost daily now, so anything comparable is welcome. I think, in part, the tea feels a bit thin (odd for a pu-erh), and then the caramel used (perhaps flavoring, perhaps the tiny pieces in the brew) seems artificial.