Cuppa Geek

This was a nice twist on seasonal chai with the addition of orange and chocolate. It reminded me of eating a Hershey bar while drinking a cup of Constant Comment.

Oversteeped this mug so it was a bit tannic and bitter. I found myself kind of wishing there wasn’t any chocolate in the blend; the mix of sweet bright blueberry and cooling mint was so tasty and refreshing but the chocolate just sort of “muddied” the clarity of the cup up a bit and I felt it detracted from the balance instead of adding to it.

Made this cup of tea after finishing my mug of Night Trap today, and I think I kind of subconsciously picked it as a direct response to feeling disappointed by the lack of balance/general “flat” flavour of Night Trap. Yes, this is kind of a busier tea with a lot of flavours going on but the way the sweet mint/candy cane, blueberry, and milk chocolate flavours steep out in the cup is actually surprisingly pretty cohesive and all three elements feel like they have the room to taste completely distinct. It was a really enjoyable mug!

There’s sort of a lot going on with this tea but I enjoyed it! I sort of felt like some of my advents didn’t feel nearly seasonal enough so there was a stretch where all the ‘extra’ teas I was having in the evening were especially festive in terms of names/flavours to sort of compensate for that. This is a weird but delicious mix of milk chocolate, blueberry jam, and crisp cooling mint notes that probably shouldn’t work together but kind of does is a very interesting way.

But lets be honest… I brewed it up because of the name.

Backlogged Advent Note
Homemade Advent Day 19
from AJRimmer
This one is a nice breakfast tea. There was also quite a bit of sweetness which I assume was from the sprinkles. Unfortunately, I didn’t taste anything specifically that reminded me of birthday cake other than the sweetness from the sprinkles. I enjoyed my cup of this but wanted more in terms of it fitting the concept. It was a nice and sweet breakfast black tea without milk.

Backlogged Advent note
Homemade Advent Day 20
from AJRimmer
I thought it was funny that earlier in the advent I was talking about how excited I was for a lemon lavender tea. If I remember correctly I loved that herbal one but didn’t taste much lavender. Well… here’s another lemon lavender tea it’s like you read my mind that I wanted to try more of them.
This one delivers the lavender and the lemon! I didn’t get the cookie element from this one but it did give me lemon cake vibes. Which is close enough for me since I love cake and lemon loaves. The lavender is quite subtle but the lemon here is the primary flavor. It’s a light and delicious dessert tea. I could see myself picking up more of this one! Cuppa Geek has some great spring/summery flavored blends. Drank this one without any milk or sweetener.

Sipdown (200)

Advent Season 2021 Day 23

Drank this last night and it was a slightly cake-y breakfast tea. Brisk black tea first. Vanilla cake batter second. Good but not my favourite cake blend.

Homemade Advent Day 16
from AJRimmer
These advent teas have been amazing so far and so fun to try!
Read the tasting notes before I prepared this one to help me decide on a steeping temperature. The clove and cardamom are the strongest spices that I taste in this one and are quite strong. I can’t taste the ginger but perhaps it’s just hiding beneath the other two spices. The mint comes through and is a cooling peppermint. I can taste the chocolate faintly as well. The spices do linger on your tongue but initially, I did try this without milk. I added milk halfway through my cup and this one would make a nice cup of chai with a little honey. In terms of a mint chocolate chai, I think the spices are a little heavy compared to the chocolate.
This one actually reminds me a bit of AU’s Combray tea just because of the cardamom and green tea base pairing. I also think that I found Combray a little drying as well. Chai teas are so soothing to drink throughout Winter.

Homemade Advent Day 14
from AJRimmer
After trying this one I can see why there was only a little bit of it left! It’s absolutely delicious and pretty true to concept. I added a little agave to this one and chilled it a bit. The cake aspect of this tea reminds me more of a yellow cake mix than a traditional shortcake biscuit. The strawberry tastes fresh and syrupy at the same time just like in a strawberry shortcake dessert. I would purchase this one as it would make a great spring and summer tea. (steeped this according to the instructions)

Homemade Advent Day 12
from AJRimmer
I prepared this cold since that is what was recommended. This one comes across as an herbal tea since the black tea base is very subtle. It’s fruity and sweet but I’m specifically able to pick out raspberry, orange, and lime. I tried a sip of it hot before chilling it and agree that the cold preparation was a better option. The iced tea method brought out the fruity flavors even more.

Advent Backlog
Homemade Advent Calendar Day 3
from AJ Rimmer
I tried this one three ways and this is my first tea from Cuppa Geek who I’ve been meaning to order from eventually. So that’s exciting!
1) First I tried a hot cup plain and found the spices to be a bit overpowering probably clove specifically. The base tea was a bit bitter as well. I want to say that this reminds me of….. I think it was a pumpkin chai from the spice and tea exchange? I’m not certain though if that is the one it’s reminding me of or not.
It was also quite creamy though which fit’s with the latte part of the name.
2) The cup with milk was better but still not quite what I was hoping for.
3) I think the cold steeped tea in milk turned out the best. Unfortunately, that usually requires quite a bit of tea leaf usually so this one probably isn’t a repurchase for me. It was fun to try though! As far as pumpkin chai goes I think my favorite is still the DavidsTea one.

(AJRimmer left the cutest little notes for me on each advent tea. So this is me responding to her note. I agree pumpkin season should be all year! Also, I really liked the DT Pumpkin Earl Grey hopefully you do too.)

Sad Sipdown.
I finished off this small bag and stared into it wishing I had more. It’s a subtle orange aftertaste over a robust chocolate base. It’s nice and soothing in a Lemon Loaf way, don’t expect too much and steep with lots of leaf to water ratio.

The strongest flavor is the green rooibos, followed by the citrus and some marshmallowiness. The flavors complement each other very naturally. The citrus isn’t sour at all, just fresh tasting. This is a good one to drink cold, and the cold brewed resteep is good too. It’s not quite up there with my favorite green rooibos blends, but it’s nice.

I never go for apple spice teas, but I’m so glad I bought this one. It tastes so natural and good. The apple flavor is very fresh and appley. The spices aren’t spicy, but complement the apple very well. I taste a nice natural cinnamon and ginger. I enjoy this one both hot and cold.

The main flavor here is honeybush, and it’s not a great one. It’s not that fruity, just boring honeybush. This could be improved by mixing in rooibos, adding a creamy element, and having stronger flavorings or added fruit pieces. I was surprised by how not peachy this is.

This is a nice chocolatey tea. It’s a little marshmallowy and quite chocolatey. It all combines well and is great with milk added. It’s one of the better chocolate teas I’ve had in a while. You can taste the black tea in there a bit too.

This is an interesting tea! I like having it cold. The flavor is very marshmallowy and fruity. It’s really bright and refreshing. The black base isn’t very bold, but you can taste it in some sips.

Another great tea from Cuppa Geek. I taste the berry, the honey, and the chai, and they combine super pleasantly. I wouldn’t have thought of combining these ingredients, but it works! I didn’t even need to add milk. It’s not a spicy chai, but definitely enough of a spice presence to make this tea really interesting.

This is pretty pleasant cold. The berry combines well with the chamomile. It’s not the freshest tasting berry, just the pretty typical flavor you get from berry teas. It’s not too tart, and you can taste a little chamomile below. I guess it’s a little basic for me, but not bad.