Happy Turtle Tea
Edit CompanyPopular Teas from Happy Turtle Tea
See All 74 TeasRecent Tasting Notes
Sipdown 147-2021
I love a spooky themed tea. Particularly a spooky themed tea with marshmallows and sprinkles.
This is nice, but not something I would particularly need to purchase again. Very much a berry cereal flavor. It actually tastes quite a bit like Brutalitea’s Assam A Go Go, but the puerh here is a bit more intense.
Salted Caramel/Gingerbread Sweet Cream Latte (193)
M is for…Most Ardently
This made for a yummy latte with salted caramel/gingerbread sweet cream. Granted, it was slightly oily (from the chocolate I’m guessing), but I just kept a spoon in my cup and stirred it so I couldn’t see the oil. It also was mostly just a generically sweet which made for a good platform for the sweet cream but probably wouldn’t make for a very interesting plain tea.
Sipdown (1407)!
Something about this last cup reminded me a little bit of “Runtz” candies – I think it was that sweet candied banana and strawberry flavour combination!? I enjoyed it, and even thought it still complimented the walnut flavours in the blend as well. Nothing was too much in terms of sweetness or competitiveness with the other flavours.
I would definitely order this one again!
Thank you VariaTEA for the share!
I pulled this one out on the weekend to sip while watching some late night streams and the smell really spoke to me even though I couldn’t entirely figure out what it was supposed to be. Steeped up I was a bit weirded out because it had that “banana candy” style banana flavour along with some other fruitiness to the undertones while also tasting pleasantly of walnuts. That seems like such a strange combination of flavours to me that, even though I liked it a lot, I was worried that my palate was completely off and misinterpreting whatever was actually in the blend. I take a lot of pride in my ability to name flavours blindly – and this mix was leaving me confused.
However, I just looked up the ingredients before writing my tasting note and… I kind of nailed it!? So now I’m just feeling proud of myself for putting together all of those flavours despite the fact they felt so discombobulated when I was tasting.
I look forward to the last cup of this soon – if it’s good too then I’ll definitely be adding this to my growing list of blends from Happy Turtle that I need to order larger amounts of.
Sipdown (1405)!
This is a melancholic sipdown – it’s delicious and flavourful but it also sucks to have now finished it off. Those syrupy soda-type strawberry notes reminded me a lot of Dammann Frere’s Carcadet Fraise Pistache with this last cup. Very, very similar sticky sweet strawberry that feels a little more dessert-y than fruity. I got some chocolate, but it was also more of a sweet and sticky chocolate – clearly from a flavouring and not “actual” chocolate. The whole candy style of the flavour really feels appropriate for something Wonka inspired though, and I enjoyed the flavour interactions so much.
I want to finish trying the other Happy Turtle samples I own to see if there are any other that really jump out to me as worthy of ordering in a bigger quantity – but I have a few on my list so far, and I’m adding this one as well.
This was really different from what I expected, but I enjoyed it a lot!
I felt like it was going to be very chocolate forward with hints of berry but instead it was super sweet with syrupy notes of candied strawberries and grenadine. Felt like a cocktail syrup in tea form! I didn’t really get much chocolate at all, so I’m a bit confused by the name!? However, I loved the tea and now that I know what to expect from it I’m really looking forward to finishing off the sample.
Thanks VariaTEA for gifting the subscription that this super fun Wonka inspired blend came from!
This one tasted a bit watery hot, but I’m enjoying it much more now that it’s cooled. I’m having it with milk, and I get plenty of lavender. The black base is pretty unremarkable. Basically, it tastes like a mild black tea with lavender, but I like it. It wasn’t strong enough for a second steep.
Sipdown (2079)!
A little sad I never ended up getting a photo of this tea’s dry leaf because that was by far the best part of it – the pineapple sprinkles in the blend may be some of the cutest sprinkles I’ve ever seen in, like, any tea. Plus, if you’ve watch Psych (the fandom this is inspired by) before you understand just how fucking perfect of an addition they are.
Tea itself is a bit underwhelming. Taste a little dull and the fruit notes read more generic and apple-y than pineapple-like or anything else more clearly defined. Plus, pineapple and pu’erh is… a bit odd. As much as I love an unexpected base pairing.
It’s a tea I’m comfortable with finishing off, that’s for sure.
Had this one in the morning – it’s been a long time since I last watched Psych but I remember it being a very fun show and the reoccurring pineapple gag was such a fun part so I was stoked when I saw this in the sub box this month!
The dry leaf smell is really nice – sweet and syrupy pineapple to the extreme! I’m a bit let down by the taste, but it’s not really from the pineapple itself as much as it’s from the tea base. I think it’s really cool and interesting that Happy Turtle has so many teas on a pu’erh base, but the really earthy and dank taste of the shou does not mesh well with this super sweet and tropical candied pineapple note. It’s just a super bad disconnect, which is a shame because either flavour isolated would probably be really damn good!
Yeah – not sure what to do about that. It’s a bummer.
Sipdown (1408)!
This was delicious! I have a longtime affinity for “forest berry” inspired teas and this is just such a great execution of that profile – it’s got that initial herbaceous punch from the eucalyptus and all of those woodsy pine notes from the pine nuts to convery the feeling of being in a forest, but then it’s balanced with sweetness from this jumble of assorted wild berries – blueberry, raspberry, and even more. It honestly doesn’t matter that you can’t taste the berries as distinct flavours because the way they come together into one “super berry” with this jammy and sweet kind of ‘vaguely purple’ taste is still really dead on for the wide assortment of forest appropriate berries.
Like, it doesn’t matter that I don’t really know the fandom this is inspired by – it’s just a damn tasty tea!
Sipdown (1420)!
I still didn’t get any vanilla/cream in taste from this cup although when I opened up the little sample packet I caught a surprising whiff of vanilla in the nose – that almost made the absence in taste even more disappointing though. Despite that, it’s still a pleasant raspberry matcha. Sweet but not cloying. Smooth, bright, and distinctly raspberry versus general red fruit or general berry. It bugs me a bit that I couldn’t get it to froth up at all but ultimately the froth isn’t a taste factor so much as it’s an aesthetic one so not a deal breaker for me.
Thank you VariaTEA for the subscription – this month’s box arrived on Tuesday so I’ve been slowly digging into some of the new teas! This one was a surprise because I didn’t even realize that Happy Turtle Tea carried matcha – as such, it’s the one I started with.
It’s nice smelling – sweet but fresh raspberries. The powder looks very granular, with visable cane sugar throughout – I’m not opposed to sweetened matcha but I do prefer having the control over the level of sweetness. This looks pretty on par with the sugar level in DT’s cane sugar matchas, though! It whisked well, though didn’t froth up much at all – but the colour was good!
The taste is definitely sweet – but not anything really different from the other sweetened matcha out there on the market. I like how bright the raspberry comes out – it’s somewhere between just underripe raspberries with a bit of that sharpness to them and sweet raspberry candies like Starbursts!? I definitely taste zero vanilla or creaminess at all so I would have for sure though this was just raspberry matcha without aid from the packaging. However, it’s pretty good overall!
Cold Brew Sipdown (1424)!
This was actually a bit of an upsetting sipdown. Even though this tea tastes nothing at all like what I thought it would the first time I saw it, it’s a really simple and delicious blend of soft creamy lemon, sweet and cooling spearmint, and rich decadent coconut. Basically exactly the same as the hot cup I had not too long ago, but much more refreshing and cooling feeling as a cold brew. I really, really like this combination of flavours and I think I would wholeheartedly buy this again in a larger amount. It’s soooo good!
When I smelled the dry leaf for this tea, I knew I was going to like it! It reminds me a little but of the long retired DT blend “Coconut Mint Cream” but a little smoother and more seamlessly intigrated in terms of flavour.
The main ones are this rich and silky coconut and a sweet and fresh speamint that coats the palate. It feels a little bit boozy, like some kind of fun liqueur based shot – but definitely not that cloying and sweet. The lemon is very in that “Lemon Chiffon” sweet lemon pastry style – anyone familiar with the Della Terra blend will know what I mean. The honeyed rooibos notes that provide some flavour foundation lean into that comparison, too. It’s unique, and I like the balance of flavours and how it’s sweet yet not sugary. Pretty impressed, right out of the gate!
All that said, I am very confused how a mix of spearmint, creamy coconut, and lemon make a “punch”. I suppose you could probably make an argument for how coconut is a punch type of flavour, but this was very much a “coconut cream” and not that style of tropical coconut I would think you’d see in punch…
I’ve had this hot a couple of times and don’t recall being taken by it. It seemed okay, but not super exciting. I decided to sip this down by way of cold steeping, so I dumped the rest of the bag into my pitcher and let it steep in the fridge overnight. At first it tasted bitter, maybe the walnuts were the culprit. I put some soy milk in with it and it was much more enjoyable. I get a hint of banana with some nuttiness to it. Like faint banana bread. It’s not incredible, but it is drinkable and between me and the other people in the house it’s getting drunk down. Would not buy again, however.
Sipdown (1409)!
Thank you VariaTEA for sharing this one – it’s probably something I would have picked up for myself so I’m glad I got the chance to sample before purchasing. Always a win!
I feel… very conflicted about whether I like this tea or not. There’s elements that are good; it’s sweet with a sort of caramel marshmallow-y quality and a pleasant enough nutty pistachio note. VariaTEA called this Happy Turtle’s “Forever Nuts” and I can kind of sweet the comparison, though different style of nut profile IMO. I’m not really sure that I can say I expected something so nutty for what is, essentially, waffles in tea form. It definitely threw me off. As did, in all honestly, the fact there’s a super “doughy” kind of taste to this – like Play Doh but without all the salt. Part of me feel like it’s appropriate because what is a waffle if not a sweet baked dough. The other part of me? Well, that part doesn’t like drinking dough in a mug.
Yeah… I’m kind of right down the middle on this one I think.
Sipdown (1389)!
This was really tasty so I’m glad I got to try it, but it’s super similar to DT’s Chocolate Macaroon as well so I’m also glad I only had a single cup’s worth of it. Very sweet, and more of a boozier chocolate liqueur flavour mixed with the shredded coconut. Was just missing some of the nuttiness of Chocolate Macaroon and then it would practically be a dead wringer for that profile.
Also – fun fact – did you know the beloved Alan Tudyk was the voice of Hei Hei!? I did, and as I was drinking this mug it was very, very hard to think of anything other than this brilliant clip of him doing the voice acting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaGYXjMwS60&ab_channel=WaltDisneyAnimationStudios
Have you seen Resident Alien? Alan does such a good job in it!
Yes!! I read the comics so I was soooo excited when the show was announced, and then I just lost my shit when he was cast. He’s stellar!
He does voice work in Amazon’s version of The Tick as well — as a sentient “Knight Rider” style boat, Dangerboat, that has a crush on the Tick’s sidekick, Arthur.
He’s actually done several small voice parts in Disney movies, the most recent one being Tuk-Tuk in Raya!
Cold Brew Sipdown (1390)!
This sample came to me by way of the subscription that VariaTEA gifted me for my birthday! I’m not familiar with that fandom it was inspired by, Charmed, outside of just a very baseline knowledge of what the show is about – but I did enjoy the tea!
It’s got glitted/luster dust in it so it does have a nice shimmer to it – but maybe a little on the lighter side compared to some of the other shimmery teas I’ve seen lately from Indie brands. That’s fine by me – the glitter is a cool bonus but not the selling point of the tea for me. Taste wise, this falls squarely in the realm of flavour profiles I really like though: berries and cream!! Even though most basic interpretation of a berries and cream blend is usually still pretty enjoyable to me – so no exception here. I found this more blueberry than anything else, but a more tart blueberry with some of those tangy sweet notes of the hibiscus. The black tea base added body and was a little present in the mid sip, and then the finish was creamier and more mellow.
Very refreshing as a cold brew! Good for the summer, too.
Cold Brew Sipdown (200)
The other day Roswell Strange mentioned enjoying this as a cold brew so that’s what I did with the last of the leaf. It’s still glittery, which is delightful. I also do think it’s better as a cold brew than a hot tea. It has a much truer berry flavor.
Sipdown (1386)!
I feel like I had a very different experience with this tea than VariaTEA did – I fully expected there to be a very weird disconnect between the jasmine and creme brulee but I actually didn’t up tasting any jasmine at all! Instead, I was just impressed at how well Happy Turtle Tea had managed to perfectly convey the taste of burnt sugar while also tasting delightfully of honeyed rooibos/nuts. I found the cup rich, complex and all together very pleasant.
