Capital Teas

This a straightforward black with a hint of floral and orange notes. I purposely underleafed this, only because I’ve found floral orange pekoes to be outside my tastes, usually. 1 tsp in 12 oz.

Thank you to Kelci for sharing this in the 12 Days of Christmas swap!

I’m sad to see this tea go. The flavor reminded me of a Chinese green plum tea that I got from Ten Ren, but more balanced and less sweet. I like the funky punch of the kombucha which is mellowed out by the green tea. Definitely one of the better Capital Teas.

This came with my last Capital Teas order and I’m finally getting around to trying it. Yes there are HUGE pieces of dried fruit in the mix & this is one of those things you don’t know whether to eat or drink.

This tisane is odd. It smells like banana taffy but there is so much fruit going on in the mix. You get banana, orange and pineapple along with rooibos. I love banana flavored things so I wish they had played that up instead of the other fruit elements. You can’t taste much rooibos here.

I have a few other CT blends which I love but this is kind of a dud. I might need to try this iced as it really reminds me of juice more than taffy or anything else. Should be renamed as “Tropical Fruit Rooibos”

TTB #9

This is… pretty bitter! I think I steeped it right but ‘right’ might not always mean ‘according to my tastes’. I am not sure about a summer cherry fig part, even if there are some fruity notes, they are burried deep under the kind of bitter of unsweetened cocoa powder (minus the chocolate part of it) – if that makes any sense.

However, as it cools down, the cherry comes out more, and then it is slightly reminiscent of Lupicia’s Sakurambo – but I don’t think nearly as good. It is an okay tea, probably a little bit less steeping would do it good, but it is not something I would jump at buying.

TTB #7

My husband and I had a friend over this evening so instead of a couple of greens and whites from the Traveling Box that I planned to have, I had a bunch of craft beer. Oh well!

Now I am having this Yoga Tea, which is probably the only herbal in the entire TT Box :D That’s what I needed though.

It’s very soothing, pleasantly tasting herbal. I detect ginger and licorice… It also smells like fresh leather sandals. I don’t mean it in a bad way (I think). Herbal blends (non-rooibos ones), however, have a tendency to taste the same… It’s always good to have one of these in your cupboard. But it could be ANY one.

It doesn’t make me want to do yoga either. Definitely not right now.

Sipdown!! (205)

Thank you Josie Jade but this was far too much orange and not enough banana for me. Try as I may, I could not drink this down. I am sorry but this just isn’t for me.

After some really ill-advised anniversary dining that my tummy is apparently too old to handle well anymore… I’m still paying for it 3 days later (habanero ranch bacon cheeseburger, fries with buffalo sauce, half a pound of Skittles and 2 chocolate Drumstick ice cream cones. Doesn’t help that dinner the night before was a burger with hot sauce and Cajun fries…). I’ve been mostly avoiding tannic things, hot things, spicy things, carbonation, grease, sugars… basically everything I eat or drink! :) Hoping this calms things down again. It’s been getting better but I want to drink tea all day tomorrow again! :) 2 reviews I posted tonight were jotted down much earlier, and I just found the notes again today, so I actually only had 2 cups of tea all day long before this one. :(

I was originally looking for more of a straight mint tea but I think I have too much tea in not a very good order because I know I have some but I couldn’t find it… Tonight I’m getting much more chocolate from this, both in scent and in taste and not as much mint as previously. Wonder if my tastebuds are off because of tummy has an unhappy? This is still very good and it’s a nice take-the-place-of-dessert tea.

First off, it’s a lovely tea. :)

This is pretty good. Just smelling the steam wafting from the steeping cup made my sinuses feel more clear. :) It is very strongly peppermint, which I like. So many mint teas also have spearmint, and I can’t stand spearmint usually so I’m glad this one has just peppermint. The vanilla mellows out the bite from the mint without completely subduing it and the black tea base seems to be well matched. I could do without the white “chocolate” but I can see where it is maybe needed to make the peppermint “bark” part of it work. I honestly don’t know if I taste it. That white confectionery stuff usually just tastes sweet to me, not even really vanilla-y and this tea doesn’t lead me to think “sweet.” There is a dryness to the sip that isn’t objectionable, just worth noting. It isn’t a quenching drink but it’s certainly peppermint!

From the Great Canadian Travelling tea box.
This is another one I am pulling out of the box. The smell of it wasn’t very good, actually borderline offensive, it kind of reminds me of the smell of a very old building, but for some reason I still wanted to try it. I’m glad I did because it was so tasty. I find with most teas, I only get a hint of what the flavour is supposed to be or I just get one element of the flavour, but this tastes just like a gumball. I am going on a diet after this weekend and can’t have any sugar, so I’m glad to have found a tea that doesn’t need any.

Back from my job interview and I thought it went well, but I’m happy to be back at home in my yoga clothes typing notes on Steepster. :))

I didn’t realize I had bought a puerh tea until I added this concoction to the database just now. It is about 1/2 puerh and 1/2 other things like fruit and flavoring. I didn’t think I would like this but it’s actually pretty tasty. There’s a strong apple and elderberry flavor along with the pistachio and cinnamon. The puerh gives it a nice earthy flavor which is very grounding.

I did try adding a bit of soymilk to see what would happen, but I think this is one tea I prefer plain, the soymilk curdles. Never had an apple flavored puerh before and I like this a lot. It doesn’t taste a lot like toffee, but that’s ok. I also picked the fruit bits out to eat as a snack, he he. This is a good blend.

This is a brisk jasmine green, and there has certainly been a time in my life when that would have hit the spot. Now I find myself craving a warmer, friendlier jasmine but can imagine this might be perfect during my periodic caffeine step downs when I’m missing the wake up call of bolder teas. I bet it’ll be nice iced too, which is exactly what I plan to do with the rest.

I don’t know about ‘wildly exotic’ – since I pretty much just taste hibiscus – but it’s a solid choice and claiming the hibiscus spot in my stash. It’s got a strong taste and color and will make a terrifically refreshing iced tea.

I forgot about this until recently, it isn’t that memorable so maybe that’s why…. :-P

To me it still tastes mostly like plain rooibos with no caramel or candy. Just because of this I can’t give it a high rating but it’s alright if you have low expectations. Nothing I do seems to make it come to life. This is one tea I actually like with a wee bit of stevia added, however.

I’ve had this a few times now and to me it tastes more like plain rooibos than anything else, I’m not getting much caramel or anything that can be described as candy. Yesterday I inspected the wet leaf and the caramel bits were not quite melted so maybe that’s why the flavor didn’t come through? I know I will drink this quickly but I was disappointed in the flavor. It was better with some stevia, however.

The story behind Great Grandfather’s Tea is so compelling, I just had to purchase it just to “brew a cup of history”! This tea is finely milled, so I don’t recommend steeping it for more than 3 minutes. Much like an older relative or that nosy retired neighbor with life experience, this brews a cup that isn’t afraid to speak its mind: it’s bold, sassy, and full of character. I’ve infused it with organic rose petals and the teapot just channels Dowager Violet Crawley from “Downton Abbey”. Great for the mornings, every day. Even the so-called “weekends”.

I steeped this in my mug at school today; my classmates were telling me “IZZY THAT LOOKS SO SKETCHY OMG WHAT ARE YOU DOING.” Calm down you lunatics, it’s just tea. Thanks to Kelci for this tea from the 12 Days Swap. I actually just finished the sample, as I’d had a cup closer to when I got it.

Anywho, this was pretty good. It was slightly astringent for me, but that may have been my awkward in-school steeping method. Otherwise, I liked it. It was very light in color, and rather light in taste as well, but not in a bad way; it was fairly bright, and full. I let my friend Aliza have a sip, and she said that it was very naturally sweet, which I think is true. While I don’t know whether I would buy this for myself or not, I did enjoy the cup!

Hibiscus is the base flavor here for all this wonderful fruitiness, but it doesn’t overwhelm. In fact, my first impression was that the tea was simply too light despite a generous brewing, but after most of a pot of it, I’ve decided that’s what’s growing on me – it’s one you can sip all day. I like to keep one hibiscus tea around for the health benefits, and this just might be the winner.

I’ve had this tea for what seems like forever. I must admit, these strong flavored holiday teas are really more appropriate for winter time so that’s probably why I haven’t had so much of this since last year. This is good with the soy creamer. I think I have a trend here, the soy creamer is good in almost everything black tea or rooibos based.

I added a tiny touch of fennel to this and it’s good! I like the mix here of the orange and the chai like spices. I also see a few peppercorns in here, so this is a nice warming drink. Hopefully I will finish it off before spring arrives :)

I am trying to enjoy my morning and was thinking about going back to sleep but that seems like it’s impossible. My neighborhood has been noisy and I have anxiety about my physical therapy appointment today which should be about as much fun as a root canal.

I picked this out of my stash today, it’s been a while since I’ve had this. It still seems like a spicy orange chai to me, I don’t know how they are getting “cookie” out of this but it’s fairly tasty no matter what you call it. This is definitely better with sugar though.

This will have to be my last caffeinated tea for the day or I might have problems sleeping tonight. :-/

This smells great in the bag and also brewed. It can best be described as a fruity chai. There are spicy elements like cardamom, pepper and clove and the orange element here is VERY strong. This might be a tad bit too much spice for me personally, doesn’t really remind me of a cookie but more of an orange spice chai. Definitely improved somewhat upon adding milk and sugar. It’s good but kind of overpowering for a dessert tea. For example I have an aftertaste of pepper which isn’t something I’d associate with a cookie whether it’s Christmas or not, he he. Still I am sure I will finish this off happily.

This is my afternoon tea, on my second mug of it and then I decided to cold brew the rest, so this will be a sipdown for me after tomorrow.

It’s a pleasant green tea with berry flavor, but nothing too exciting. I probably wouldn’t get this one again. I really seem to prefer flavored senchas over flavored Chinese green teas. I need to look for a goji sencha… yum!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone, here is my green tea of the afternoon.

This is a mild sencha, definitely not too vegetal. I think I did overleaf slightly today but I’m still not getting as much goji/fruit flavor out of this as I would like. I should try cold brewing this some day. I need to remember to drink 1-3 cups of green tea a day for the anti-inflammatory effects. See previous notes if interested.

It’s been a busy weekend but I’m glad I have the afternoon to do some things around the house and drink more tea ;)

This is the 3rd from the Capital Teas Wellness Collection. I’ve come to the conclusion recently that my tap water is not the best and needs to be filtered, it really bugged me recently when I saw that my hot water was some strange pink color. So this water has been run through the Brita filter anyway. I’m finding this to be a nice & light green tea but the fruit flavor is a bit more subtle than I had hoped for. Perhaps I will try a bit more leaf next time I make this. It’s light and refreshing and I think I need to try cold brewing this and as an iced tea too. Overall very refreshing… I just wish I was picking up more goji.

This is great! I really like this tea. I’m not a fan of all fruity green teas, but this one had a perfect balance (and the cinnamon is an excellent addition). This may be one to buy again.

(Sample from silentrequiem. Thanks!)