Janet's Special Teas

another tea from bear with me thanks again for the rooibos samples! this is the sort of rooibos that does NOT have that woodsy sort of taste, so yay for that! this doesn’t really taste like your usual pumpkin spice tea. instead its more like a creamy tea. I’m not really getting pumpkin pie from this, but it is a tasty tea heh.

oh bear with me you know how i’ll try anything lol. fancy this…a tea with two of my arch nemeses….the dreaded blergamot AND his nefarious evil twin – jasmine. I of course didn’t know it until the water hit the leaves…. and then they popped up! Admittedly though, it “almost” works in this tea. The blergamot is subdued a little by the jasmine and neither one is overpowering. I just don’t like the flavour combination that it has. thanks for letting me try this though BWM! wasn’t as bad as i would have thought it would be haha

mmmm i’ve had this one twice now – once regularly brewed and once as a latte and both times were delicious! I’m not sure if i like this one better or the other berry tea that omgsrsly also sent me from silk road i think it was? Overall this is just a great berry tea, that feels juicy, slightly sweet and really tasty! thanks for the share omg!

I actually had this one before I left for ottawa to try and compare it to the rooibos version of this tea. Sadly now that I’ve been away from it for a while, I can’t recall much Beyond the fact that I did enjoy it! Lol this was another from bear with me :)

Since im in ottawa for a few days my notes have been abysmal. Rest assured I AM drinking lots of tea though. This was one of teh teas that I brought with me so that I could try a few things while I was away from my cupboard in the hopes of beings able to still reach my sipdown goal. bearwithme sent this one me way and it’s one that I’ve been looking forward to trying out since I love a good orange tea. While this isn’t my favourite orange tea, I can certainly see the appeal. This is orange and vanilla and is super tasty as a black tea. What I did find though, was its a little finicky, and if you’re not a bit careful, there’s a bitterness in the orange that can come out. I also wished I had my vanilla sugar here so that I could add a bit extra to the cup. over all though, a really tasty tea. I’ll have to let a few others try the remainder of this one :) thanks bear with me!

omgsrsly sent this one my way and i am a fan! this is quite a tasty vanilla black. the base is smooth, present without overpowering the tea and the vanilla doesn’t have that strange artificial taste that you sometimes get with vanilla blacks. YUM!

I can’t recall if this one was from bear with me or omgsrsly but i think it was BWM. This one wasn’t bad, but was a little light for me. It was a decent green tea, but the lime was sort of muted…i wanted it to be more like a lime slushy or something in my head….likely my fault, not the tea haha!!

sorry omgsrsly not a fan of this one. It was like a clovey earl grey or something. The cardamom was hiding and it really did remind me of some sort of weird clovey blergamot concoction lol

Another from omgsrsly expect that to be a trend lately while i get through the samples from her, Kittenna and bear with me! I feel like i’ve had a tea from this estate before but who knows how i’d be able to check without sorting lol This one feels like it needs milk. I don’t have a large nuber of teas in my cupboard that require any sort of addition (milk, honey, maple syrup etc….) because i like the no fuss of things.

tea from omgsrsly today is surprisingly busy at work, all things considered, so not sure how many sipdowns i’ll get through unless i bust out the herbals tonight. This is an interesting one for me. It’s a juicy, slightly malty (but more juicy) assam. It’s not super bold, but there’s enough character here for it to not be a wimpy cup of tea. I had this one first thing today to kick off the day! thanks lady!

haha omgsrsly sent this one to me (sipdown!) I actually don’t mind it…but i think i’d like it better without the apple. It adds a weird sort of fruity taste to it whereas the rest of the ingredients work a little better together. Still though, will be interesting to compare this one to the black tea base version :) thanks lady!

Final Count: 112 (9.5 sipdowns a day for the rest of the days i’m home would get me back to my goal for the end of the year….totally doable. maybe. )

thank you FJELLREV! This was on my wishlist to try after a review by my darling swedish chef and so she sent a little my way. I made this tonight for me and my other half. This is delicious! it’s pineapple and papaya and sweet and delicious and yum! It’s everything i want david’s teas to be… just yum…without stupid sweetner!

Final Count: 81

D-O-N-E! But I will most definitely get more in the future. West Coast hydration to the max.

Ohh, I quite like this one. It’s a safe cold brew, meaning that it doesn’t go wonky on you, the hibiscus isn’t too crazily tart, yet it’s not special or particularly unique since this is a berry profile I’ve experienced in the past from other companies such as Bayswater and maybe even Tea Desire. I get primarily strawberry, rose hip, and a hint of hibiscus.

Such a thirst quencher. I’m thirsty and anxiously waiting for my brown basmati rice to cook. Two cups already gone.

Bammo, sip down! I’m on a roll with these morning cold brews. 2L jugs disappear before you know it.

Cold-brew-that-tastes-like-Rockets this fine morning, once again. My mom is flying over tomorrow to spend some time here, so I have xyz to do before she comes. It’s a stupid goal of mine, but I told myself to sip down a certain amount of teas before she arrives. Maybe because having less in my cupboard while she’s here would make me feel slightly better? So I’ve been trying to finish off this one plus a few others. But looks like I won’t since I have one more 2L jug of this after this one. Oh well, no biggie!

Now for some cold brew to wash down some of that lingering pu-erh flavour.

In a nutshell, this basically tastes like Rockets (or Smarties as they’re called in ‘Murca). To non-North Americans, it’s basically like powdery fruity candy. The apple is one of the strongest notes, followed by berry (this has blackberry in it but it doesn’t distinctly taste like blackberry), and the hibiscus is on the light side. Not crazily tart at all. It’s one of those teas that while you’ll enjoy drinking it, its not a repurchase.

Still anxiously awaiting an email from Bare Minerals, especially since the parcel is already back in their city. I’m worried that by the time they get to my email, it may be too late and they would have already dismantled the parcel or something. Makes me want to just call them but that would be very expensive.

Noooo, sip down. This one didn’t last long, not only because it is so delicious but because it’s a heavy tea so you can’t make that many jugs of cold brew from it. Now I know to pick up more next time.

Am I crazy for waiting in my apartment’s lobby for Fedex? My Bare Minerals parcel is FINALLY on the Island and out for delivery and my buzzer doesn’t work, yet I’m bound and determined to get it without going to their depot. Crazy or not, I have a beautiful glass Contigo of this by my side as I wait. Could be minutes, could be hours.

Such a fool, I am. When I flew over to Alberta to spend time with my mom for a couple months, I brought all of my fruit blends from Janet’s thinking I’d cold brew them all while I’m there. My mom doesn’t have a jug in her new apartment, and we ended up not spending any time at the house (which was the original plan, to pack and organize stuff to eventually sell it) so I ended up bringing back every single gram of these fruit blends to the Island. Only now am I getting to them. I always shake my head whenever I pack something and end up not using it.

So this tea is absolutely beautiful. Golden hues, delicate wispy calendula with generous chunks of tropical fruits. It’s like nothing I’ve seen before. And no hibiscus (which while I don’t mind, can get a little boring after a while)!

It’s awfully yummy, too. I detect mostly pineapple with a hint of papaya. One thing I love about this is that it’s not overly sweet. This is what I wanted David’s Tropicalia to be, which to me, was like drinking pure sugar. There is no weird sweetener going on in this, either. For an extra special treat, I’d imagine Malibu would be amazing in this.

I’ll definitely be purchasing more of this in the future.

Onwards with the sip downs. This cup was better than the last. I didn’t steep it for as long so that must have done the trick. Now the rose is stronger whilst the base isn’t as loud and astringent. It’s winning more at life this way.

If I were ever craving rose tea and didn’t have a better one around, I could definitely see myself making a trip up to Janet’s and grabbing some more of this.

Oh yes, the bin of rose tea which smelled like freshly cut roses in a flower boutique. How can I forget? It smells like BPAL’s Rose Red. Rose absolute infusion.

The rose isn’t as strong in flavour as I would have liked, however. The base is rather bold and astringent, like a strong Ceylon. It goes well with the rose but the balance isn’t quite there.

Working through another sample from Janet. The packet didn’t contain any notes or ingredients but there are clearly tons of cinnamon pieces in here, and it’s pretty much all I can taste mixed in with the green base. Maybe a hint of ginger or clove, especially the former since I’m detecting a bit of spicy heat in my mouth. It’s nice but I wouldn’t buy more.

Now that I am back home I can continue trying out these teas I picked up from Janet back in September. I love chai so this was an obvious choice. I taste mostly cinnamon and cardamom although I swear there is also a ginger note even though it isn’t listed in the ingredients. I had some with a little light cream and while the spices are coming through nicely, I cannot seem to pick up much coconut or chocolate from this. Maybe a touch of cacao, but nothing too obvious. Would I buy more? Probably not, however, I appreciate that I was able to try a sample and not have to commit to a whole pouch of this.

Chestnuts are currently baking in the oven! I’m rather excited because I actually haven’t tried them before. Now to pick out another tea to drink which would complement the warm roasted chestnuts.

I’ve had this twice now, and I really like it. I picked it up in the bin of samples Janet had in a container on the counter in her shop. The name didn’t give any info, though the back was simple…black tea, cocoa nib, caramel pieces. SOLD!

I find the base to be pretty smooth, and my first impression of this tea is like a fraternal twin to Butiki’s Caramel Vanilla Assam. Only the vanilla here is replaced with the cocoa…and the cocoa blends in nicely with the black base that the caramel stands out more, with the smooth cocoa-ish backdrop.

I’d definitely consider getting more of this on a later visit. It is a nice morning tea.