Hale Tea Company

Cold Brew Sipdown (593)!

Feels good to have finished this tea off – I feel like I really worked for this sipdown! Unfortunately, this tea and I never really completely “clicked”. I just find it too tart and sour for any type of “cream” profile (other than sour cream, of course – but that doesn’t seem to have been what the intent was). It’s also not really plum-y. However, if you ignore everything about what the tea should have tasted like, it’s actually a pretty nice cold brew for something fruity on a rooibos base.

Travel mug of tea made during work a few days ago – I was just craving plum really badly. I think I might have to finish off the rest of this sample as a travel mug tea because the profile came out quite different when prepared in a Lock Top, and in a way I thought was improved. I mean, it’s still DEFINITELY not a “creamy” flavour at all but it least it shied quite a bit away from being that really unpleasant sour plum flavour that I hate so much.

Cold Brew!

So, I haven’t had much tea today – in fact this cold brew is the only tea I’ve had. It’s been a really busy day because tomorrow morning I catch a plane and head to Las Vegas for a week long vacation; and since I’m super bad at procrastinating I’ve left all of my packing (including laundry) to the last minute. Oops.

I’ve got as message done now as I can until my next load of laundry drys, so time to power through a couple tasting notes before I don’t have consistent internet access anymore…

This one was just fine as a cold brew; I always sort of forget how sour the plum flavour is when I take my first few sips. Today, however, it’s not just a tangy/tart plum taste but also a little bit woody tasting from the base. Definitely the strongest that those rooibos tea flavours have come through all of the stonefruit/plum. I like it just fine – but as I’ve said before it does always through me that there’s “cream” in the name of this tea and it doesn’t taste creamy at all.

Cold Brew!

I still don’t think this one tastes ANYTHING like “Cream” at all – but it does make for a pretty scrumptious sweet and tangy cold brew/iced tea profile that just feels fitting for the summer. Like a sour plum/peach candy kind of thing. Actually, I know the perfect comparison!! I tastes like what I imagine a plum flavoured Sour Patch Kid would taste like, if that flavour was a thing…

This was a lot different than I expected it to be.

Just based on the description, I kind of anticipated a softer and more supple mixed stonefruit and cream flavour – and that sounded delicious. In practice, this had a really defined sourness to it and a taste that leaned much more heavily towards plums. Like, I’ve definitely never had one of these, but the taste was like what I imagine Umeboshi Plums taste like, minus the saltiness. No real ‘cream’ to be found in this one.

All of that said, I actually STRONGLY enjoyed the flavour even if it was nothing like what I was anticipating. It was just so bright and lively, and very rich in its own unique way. It stood out to me as unique; and it’s been a long time since a rooibos blend has really done that for me. So thank you Starfevre for passing this one along to me!

I love smoky drinks… I am a big fan of rauchbier and smokey wines. This tea taste like a bonfire. Certainly not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ but definitely mine!

Opened this tea with a friend at college and decided I was going to throw it out… but she convinced me to brew it because of curiosity. I don’t even know what we were tasting… according to the ingredients it has plum and vanilla in it but this tasted like a berry that is created in a fire. Surprisingly it was a decent hot rooibos, but again it tasted like a fruit that is created in a fire and I wish I could explain it better than that.

First Sip Thought: “Did I steep it enough?”

Smell: A lovely, powerful scent. The first thing that I notice is the vanilla bean hints, following the white chocolate. Also, the tea leaves were stunning. I was very happy to see that they were fuller than the usual sample packs I get.

Taste: To explain my first sip thought, this blend is creamy and smooth but light. Yet the flavour still lingered on my tongue. After it steeped, the bright yellow colour in my teacup was incredible. I would say this tea has the perfect balance of vanilla bean and white chocolate. It goes really well together. Its scent is much stronger than the actual taste but it still left me wanting to make another cup and that I did!

www.theteacupoflife.blogspot.ca

Backlog:

My third tea in my September Amoda Tea box. I liked this one alright, as far as rooibos blends go. Rooibos have never been a favorite, but I like them alright, I suppose. Lately, I’ve found more rooibos blends that I like versus those that I don’t.

I like that this is a green rooibos base as opposed to the oxidized rooibos. The light, fruity notes of the green rooibos complement the flavor of the mirabelle fruit and the sweet creamy notes.

A really enjoyable, caffeine free alternative.

Backlog:

Not a bad tea. I was a little nervous because I thought that maybe the jasmine was an added flavor rather than a scented essence. If it is, it is fortunate then that the vanilla is the dominate flavor because I don’t get any perfume-y notes. I’m not sure if that’s because the vanilla cancels that out or because the jasmine was properly administered.

Either way, this tea works. A nice vanilla flavor, the jasmine is soft and exotic, the green tea softens the flavor of the black tea just a tad, but I like the way they meld.

Enjoyable.

Backlog:

I love the changes that were implemented with the September Amoda boxes. I love the smaller size of the samples (not to mention the smaller price.)

I really like this tea. I liked it before I even tasted it because of the Cacao in the name. Chocolate makes me happy. What can I say? I’m a chocoholic, and there’s even something about the word that makes me all giddy.

This is a very yummy blend … lots of chocolate and vanilla flavor. Sweet and creamy. Decadent! I like the blend of green and white teas for this, because it provides a slightly lighter base, but it is still a creamy base that accentuates the creaminess of both the chocolate and the vanilla flavors. I can taste the tea, I can taste the chocolate. I’m a happy chocoholic with this tea.

The second steeping is more intensely chocolate than the first, too!!!

Wow, this is definitely a mint tea! And that’s pretty much it. The mint obliterates any flavor of green tea.

It’s not that this is a bad tea per say. It’s kind of like Lipton black tea. It’s great when you think that’s all there is. But once you taste some high quality loose leaf teas, there’s just no going back.

What is this? A full 60-90 seconds after the sip, I get a faint, vegetal, green tea aftertaste. So strange.

If you were dying for tea, this might tide you over. But it’s not something I’d stock up on.

EDIT: I drank the bagged version by the way. It was a sample from an awesome co-worker! :)