Herbal Infusions

Sipdown!! (186)

Thank you MissB for the sample of this tea. Alas, it seems to be quite finicky so while some cups are really good, others are merely okay. It was fun while it lasted but I think I will be passing along the last couple of cups to my friend to test her luck with it.

I probably should have read my previous tasting note about steeping this for longer or using more leaf as I used the exact same parameters this time around. I am still enjoying this though. It is predominantly apple. There is a slight hint of cinnamon but mostly it is like sipping on warm apple juice. Not bad at all. Thank you MissB for passing along the sample! Luckily HI is pretty generous (as is MissB for sending me the whole thing) with their sample size so I have a few more cups to play with.

I am always just a little disappointed when a company gives absolutely no steeping directions. I would think they would know best about how their teas should be prepared but I suppose it leaves room for everyone to play around and find their sweet spot. For me, this cup was steeped for two minutes just below boiling. I find when I steep for longer the base takes overs.

Anyways, when I opened the sample package, I got a big whiff of fresh, juicy apple. In flavor, the apple is slightly muted in comparison to the scent. It is also covered just a bit by slight cinnamon flavor. I think I will try steeping this for longer to see if that brings out the flavors a bit more. Don’t get me wrong, this cup is still good, but weaker than I would have hoped (though that is probably my error and not a reflection of the tea). Thank you MissB for the chance to try something new. I look forward to experimenting with the sample to find this tea’s sweet spot.

And that’s goodbye to this. (162)

It smells so amazing, like a strawberry milkshake, but the flavouring is just too weak. I steeped for 10 minutes and then added a little bit of I’ll after a few sips, but I still wanted more. Hmmm. I keep feeling like I need to fiddle with it more, but I did get a few cups of it to play with…

Thanks VariaTEA for this! I forgot I had it when I implusively bought a sample of this on the weeknend. Whoops! But since it was in my spreadsheet twice this counts as a sipdown (162!) AND lets me try a tea I was curious about.

I think I should have steeped this longer – it smells amazing! Strawberry and cream and wow! Sadly, the taste is much milder than the scent suggest.

I do get some strawberry and cream. I just wish it was more. I’ll have to remember to try steeping for 7 min when I have the other sample of this!

This sample was given to me by the incredibly lovely Missb! Thank you so much, it really means a lot to me :)

I can honestly say I’ve never had Baileys before. I’m just not an alcohol person. I do know what Irish cream tastes like however and I do seem to be getting it slightly in this tea. Unfortunately the tea falls flat however…I’m not getting any mint at all. I’m not really getting much of anything, actually – just the faint Irish cream taste and a little bit of sweet from the Stevia I added.

Had another cup of this last night and this time, maybe because I was expecting it, the bergamot and citrus brightness was more immediately apparent. It really is a great winter treat tea. Has grown on me and I find myself wanting to make a cup more and more. It resteeps quite decently too (a nice surprise—I almost never bother to with black teas but did on a whim now that resteeping’s not hassle ‘cause the water’s always at the ready).

Another thoughtful awesomely unique pick from Dexter3657—seriously, this swap box is loaded with things that feel picked just for me in the most touching way. Thank you!

My goodness this is a complicated tea. I have a feeling I may have overleafed or oversteeped it slightly, but thankfully I don’t mind a touch of bitterness (in fact, I think I may even prefer it with this one because of how it evokes chocolate—Dexter3657 was kind enough to send enough so I can try it normally too and compare!).

I do think that accidental bitterness might be contributing to the impression of chocolate candy I’m getting, as it combines with the sugary marshmallow component. It’s creamy and sweet, makes me think of those big chocolate-covered marshmallow candies but with fancier/darker, higher cacao-content chocolate. It took me a moment to find the Earl underneath that complicated flavor, and it’s still relatively faint for me but the zestiness lends a brightness that helps even out the fluffy vanilla marshmallow sweetness. The orange comes out more as it cools too, and the combination of chocolate and vanilla and marshmallow candy combined with bright orange ultimately makes it a poster child tea of the holiday season (no wonder it was part of the 12 days of Christmas promo!). This feels like a rich, cocoa-y beverage with added orange peel to me. It’s heavy and intense. Not an everyday pick but a nicer more grown up upgrade option from hot cocoa on a snowy day, I think.

I loved this tea. It has a very smooth vanilla flavour with an undertone of cacao. I shared this tea with two co-workers and they both loved it too.

Sipdown!! (228)

Goodbye mystery tea. I don’t know what is Christmassy about you but you were a tasty tea. Thank you Cavocorax for giving me the opportunity to try this.

I get what OMGsrsly was saying yesterday about this tea being thin. I don’t know if it was my steeping parameters or simply the tea but this is definitely a thin cup.

However, what I am tasting is a whole lot of lemongrass. And some fruitiness – papaya maybe? Honestly, I have no idea what I am drinking. It is not bad though. Not too sweet and no hibiscus (which is rare for a herbal). Definitely interesting. Thank you Cavocorax for sharing this with me!

Thank you to both MissB and Cavocorax who sent this my way. My first cup was amazingly delicious but all subsequent cups have slowly made me lose interest. I still have a fair bit more so hopefully those cups are better.

Tastewise, this is very, VERY heavy on the ginger and just a hint of apple as opposed to my first cup which was all apple with a dash of ginger to warm everything up.

I think this might be my favourite of Herbal Infusion’s holiday teas after Marshmallow Snowflake Earl Grey. Although, that isn’t saying much because aside from Snowflake, I really wasn’t all that impressed. This one is not too bad though. It is very much like a diluted apple cider. Not much ginger, but the apple flavor is nice. This won’t be a restock but I am glad I have a few more cups worth thanks to the awesome MissB and the wonderful Cavocorax. Thanks girls :)

This came to me from both MissB and Cavocorax (although this particular cup is from MissB). I was a little nervous about having so much because I am finding that often I am not a huge fan of Herbal Infusions black base but tbh, I actually really like this one. To me, it tastes like warm apple cider. In fact, the taste is spot on and the astringency is more subtle and almost adds to the flavor.

I actually smiled when drinking this cup because it reminds me of my mother who got drunk for the first time drinking hot apple ciders in Old Montreal. The thought of my tiny, drunk Mom and my very confused grandparents (no one knew the cider had alcohol) just makes me laugh. So thank you MissB (and Cavo) for sending this my way :)

Alright you guys. This tea is awesome, but I want to comment on Herbal Infusions in general in this note. Feel free to skip right over if this doesn’t interest you. :)

My first order with HI a few months ago went over very smoothly. I placed the order, got the email confirmation, and a day or two later, got the shipping notification. The teas arrived within an appropriate amount of time.

I ordered again in late January and after ~2 weeks I still hadn’t received a shipping confirmation nor my teas in the mail. I spoke with a couple people here who mentioned similar problems. I emailed them and was provided with an explanation and the promise the teas would be shipped out the next day. I received my teas yesterday, so they were shipped out quickly after the email. From the date of the order to receiving the teas was near to a month. I weighed out my Cacao and SCC this morning because I found it strange 50g could fit in one bag, whereas before I had received 2 bags of 25g each. When I weighed each bag I found that the tea inside was ~40g rather than 50g. I emailed HI again and they were incredibly quick replying and explained that the tea had been being weighed at their cacao supplier versus with them, and they’ve now fixed it so that they weigh it with their own scale (they provided me with the scale accuracy) and that they would ship me a couple 25g bags of Cacao this afternoon.

I have to say, the order taking an age did bother me, however it was alleviated by the explanation they provided when I emailed about it. I was also slightly irritated this morning as well when I discovered the tea weight was off. However, I have to say I’m happy with all the explanations provided in both instances, and the immediate response about the weight and offer to ship some Cacao off to me to make up for it.

Feel free to take what you want from this! Also, this tea is amazing! I have done an actual tasting note on it a short time ago, if you want to know about the tea itself.

I think I’ll go with the thinking that my stomach was still a tad off when I tried this yesterday morning, because I just resteeped the last of my swap from VariaTEA and it doesn’t have the same fake smell to it I got yesterday. Just strawberry and cacao. Although, I may have also forgot about it steeping on the counter as I drafted a message to VariaTEA as well haha. Oversteeping cacao teas always works out well.

It’s freaking cold! And sitting in my freezing office is not exactly pleasant. Ugh. Well, at least I have this tea from MissB! Get use to seeing her name in tasting notes from me because she sent me a ton of samples.

This definitely smells nice, like an Earl Grey Cream but with an extra sweet punch from the marshmallows. I have to say, with my usual parameters I didn’t get a ton of flavor out of this. I mean, there was some light bergamot and vanilla, but I wanted more. So I threw the leaves back into my 3/4 filled cup, added the last pinch of leaf I hadn’t used before, topped it up with hot water, and steeped it for another two minutes. It sounds crazy, but it actually turned out nice! The bergamot picked up, the vanilla picked up, and the base tea has a bit more heft to it. Still, I don’t quite get marshmallow from the taste (definitely there in the scent), but I bet I would if I sweetened it (which I don’t do unless I can’t drink a tea straight).

I have a sneaking suspicion that Herbal Infusions will be like Della Terra for me. I requested a number of samples of both from MissB (and she graciously obliged me) because I always read the raves and feel like I’m missing something. I tried Della Terra a while ago and liked the teas ok but couldn’t get into them because of a boring base that had no role in the flavor of the tea (a plus for some). I wanted to try again to see if maybe I was just too harsh on them.

So far, this is a nice, drinkable cup of tea but nothing I have to order more of (I’m a little relieved, haha). Thanks MissB!

I cold steeped the rest of my package of this. Thank you, MissB! I’ve actually quite enjoyed this tea!

It’s only been steeping 6 hours or so, so it’s not as strong as it will be either at midnight, or tomorrow morning. It’s a nice, delicate, fruity, sweet iced tea. No hibiscus, at least in my batch.

I’d definitely get this again, provided I knew what the ingredients were prior to purchasing. :)

(PS. It’s bronchitis. I have antibiotics, and no work till Monday. Whee.)

This is a little odd. Smells like strawberries and pineapple, tastes like vanilla-strawberry-rhubarb jam. It’s pretty thin, but I only used 2 tsp in 16 oz, so I probably underleafed it.

The flavour is nice, and if I knew the ingredients (and it was available) I’d probably buy some.

Sipdown!! (225)

The smell of the dry leaf for this reminds me a lot of Santa’s Milk and Cookies. However, steeping this one up, I think it is a tad bit better but not much. Mostly I think I am just not a huge fan of Herbal Infusions black base and in both teas that is the most prominent element. Other than that, there is maybe a touch of creaminess but not much and nothing I would really call eggnog. Oh well. Thanks for the chance to try this Cavocorax. It is always nice to be able to try a limited edition tea, even if it doesn’t turn out to be as delicious as you hoped.

Backlog: I made this in addition to resteeping the Lemon Meringue I had earlier. I got distracted cooking so I could not try it hot but as a warm tea, it is very similar to Santa’s Milk and Cookies. Actually, this was slightly less astringent than Milk & Cookies and may even have more of a cookie quality to it. No eggnog or alcohol though. Again I only drank this after dinner so my taste buds may have been off but luckily Cavocorax was generous enough to send me a very generous sample that I can have another cup in the future.

Another Sipdown!

I tried this twice, and just never cared for it. The lime smelled great but didn’t carry into the flavour enough. And the base was odd – Kept getting that weird salty flavor I’ve found in a few teas now…

Additional notes: Finishing off this sample with the last of the Herbal Infusions Earl mixed in with these leaves as well. Not quite two teaspoons but the last cups of both were kind of weak with only one teaspoon. I love the sweetness of the snowflake, but to me they don’t enough bergamot. Delicious though! I needed some Earl today.