Les Jardins de Gaia

It’s a sweet, cosy tea thanks to vanilla. Maybe we don’t taste enough the white tea taste itself..But it’s quite enjoyable at tea time.

Sipdown! 119/365!

I don’t remember what this tea is supposed to be, but I’m getting cherries, a hint of raisin, and a bunch of malt. It’s strong but not astringent. Rather yummy.

Another share from MissB – thank you!!

Daaaang, this was good! I had no clue what it was supposed to be, but I actually really enjoyed it. My best guess was rhubarb or sour cherry, which apparently is wildly off (although I swept through a couple tasting notes, and VariaTEA picked up black cherry, and Roswell Strange got stone fruits, so… maybe I’m not so crazy).

Anyways, regardless of what this was, it was good, and I’d like more, thanks. I have one generous cupful left; hopefully it’s as good as the first!

Theoretically I should love the grenadine, raspberry, coconut blend but I suspect rooibos prevents this from being achieved. Or it could be the coconut, which is not an ingredient that likes to sit around in my cupboard for a year. Anyways, it’s not bad; I don’t get much raspberry but definitely taste the grenadine and coconut.

Oh well. Mom doesn’t seem to mind hers with milk.

This nurtures a strong craving for POG Juice. Oddly enough, spiced carrot cake may be in the cards as well. It’s strange but very tasty.

Thanks, MissB!

I love the balance of flavours in this brew and that the tea base is quite good and able to come through. I can taste a mild coconutty flavour.

Thanks to MissB for making up a sample of this one for me to try

Sipdown (167)

So I am genuinely confused but I cold brewed this for quite some time and the end result is black cherry. What? Where is that element even coming from? So very strange but still quite tasty. This tea is truly unique and I am grateful to MissB for the opportunity to try it.

Caramel and orange? Not the usual combination but having tried this tea, I can confirm it’s a good one. Burnt sugar is the lasting flavor but I am also getting hints of orange peel throughout the sip. If I really concentrate, the green tea base comes through as slightly vegetal but in this case I think it is helping add to the orange element. Also, the tea at first has quite the nutty taste to it, like that of a walnut or perhaps a pecan, which then evolves into the caramel orange flavor. All in all, this is a lovely tea and one that is unlike many other teas I have tried before. Thank you MissB for sharing and Sil for being the facilitator and passing it along. You guys are awesome.

What else is awesome and a rather unique combo? Beer and ice cream apparently. Ben and Jerry’s has a Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale ice cream and it’s delicious. Who knew?

Thanks MissB! Wow, this tea is interesting. Very tropical-fruit-y, but in a way that I haven’t previously tasted. There’s an interesting depth to the flavour, and I can’t pick out the exact fruits. Looking at the description, it makes sense – definitely tasting guava, though not really picking up lime, and the cacao must be the depth in the background. Surprisingly, I kind of like this tea. I’m not sure I’d want it more than a couple times, but it’s really interesting. And completely not related to Christmas. At all. Glad to have tried this though, simply because of its uniqueness!

I am getting lime and guava. It’s actually quite nice but every now and again the cacao creeps up and makes for a very strange cup. It adds an earthiness that takes away from the brightness of the exotic fruit flavors. Also, the base can be rather vegetal at times which leads to even more competition for the fruity goodness. It’s nice though not something I would stock up on. Still, thank you MissB for sharing and Sil for passing some along.

Oh, also, I laughed when I read one of the ingredients was “a piece of carrot”. Just one piece? That seems very specific.

Sipdown (125)!

Thank you MissB for the sample!

I finished it off a few days ago as a cold brew. I tried it blindly, meaning without any prior knowledge about the ingredients or what the tea was supposed to taste like. Having now read the ingredients I think I was a little off, though some of my conclusions aren’t exactly leaps either.

The first thing I noticed was mild cocoa notes; they were a touch powdery like I’ve been observing lately with chocolate notes in French teas. The most interesting part of the tea to me was this note than took up most of the body of the sip; I really wanted to call it walnut but it had a bit of extra sweetness to it that wasn’t maple, like is usually paired up with walnut. I guess that’d be the caramel.

It finished with a fruitier note; I was tempted to say stonefruit ‘cause it certainly wasn’t anything berry like or tropical. Citrus definitely didn’t come to mind either, but I guess that would’ve been the accurate classification given it was apparently orange. I couldn’t figure out what the base was; I suppose that’s because it’s a cross of two different tea types.

Meh, a fairly solid tea but relatively average. MissB definitely sent several far more interesting blends my way, that’s for sure. But this wasn’t the worst!

Sipdown (128)!

The ‘original’ tea I started drinking today; and if we’re getting really technical I actually started it yesterday – though I only had a sip from my timolino after getting home from work before popping it back in the fridge.

This one comes from MissB though, and because it smelled really fun and fruity I cold brewed it! It definitely smell quite lime-y. I’ve got to admit that I was kind of naive in that when I saw “Cacao” in the description I just assumed, like, chocolate without even realizing that cacao is an actual fruit with a flavour separate from chocolate. It wasn’t until I actually tried it today and didn’t taste chocolate that I took the time to do a bit of research.

Taste is pretty good; it’s super lime-y with a little bit of bitterness and pith; but not enough to make it unpleasant or affect the mouthfeel in any way. I also taste other tropical fruit flavours like guava or a really punch-like orange? And, my first impression was slightly tart raspberries – though the more I drink the less raspberry like this tastes. I don’t actually know what the cacao fruit is supposed to taste like though? Anyone who does know want to fill me in, because I feel like I’m missing out on a pretty integral part of what this tea should taste like…

But overall it’s good, if not a little perplexing. I don’t really taste the base at all which I know would be a negative for some though for me it’s almost a positive. I don’t understand why this is “Christmas” themed though. NOTHING about it makes me think of Christmas; it’s actually a borderline piss off. You can’t just go “This is my Blueberry Muffin flavoured tea – I’ve named it Halloween Scare” and not an explanation to back it up. Just ‘cause it might ’go well’ with holiday food doesn’t seem good enough to me. I think apple juice is tasty with stuffing – I don’t call AJ a Thanksgiving beverage…

I think this will be one that a bunch of the crew enjoys. Another from MissB that will be making the rounds later. this is an interesting tea because it’s a green/black cacao blend. Caramel and chocolate…. really neat and tasty. Thanks again/still for the shares MissB!

Another tea from MissB I couldn’t get past this one today. Something about the blend of “exotic fruits” and cacao that just didn’t work for me.

another from MissB and i’m going to side with her on this one. For me this was a giant cup of rooibos without a lot of flavour. it wasn’t woodsy rooibos but it was unmistably rooibos…with a little side of sweet and not a lot of anything else. boooo. However, on the plus side this brings my cupboard down to 155 even with my addition to the cupboard today as i was able to swing by David’s tea and pick up some key lime before it’s gone for good. heh.

Final Count: 155

Strange tea. Smells powerfully of lime, faintly of something like papaya or guava. The cacao throws me off because I can smell it too. It rounds things out a bit, makes it smoother, creamier, and at times its the strongest note drinking it. Can’t quite be sure what to make of this one.

Billed as a grenadine, raspberry, coconut blend… I’m getting little of any. The rooibos base is actually decent, but I’m just not loving the tea. I’m not getting any of the flavorings, even close to how I perceive them. Sure, a decent tea, but not one as advertised.

Wowza. Now this is some amazing tea! It’s like drinking a rich thick tea caramel with a hint of chocolate. It’s nuanced, and beyond divine.

I’m appreciating it for a long time !