RiverTea

First Review; no pressure right?

I’m honestly not sure why I was so drawn to this one. I think that for whatever reason a large part of it had to do with the picture on the site? I guess that’s proof that good pictures of your blends are sometimes enough to sell someone on a blend they might otherwise be unsure of. Anyway, the price was right for me to take a gamble.

Dry this smells very interesting in a pretty good way; likes sweet and sorta tangy applesauce (and yes, applesauce is slightly different than straight up apples), hibiscus, and creamy coconut. Steeped up this is a hibby pink; that’s a bit of a foreboding sign for me. Taste wise; you do totally notice the hibiscus more so in this than you do in Magic Summer which was the other RiverTea blend I had this evening. The apple is also present and combined with the hibiscus it reminded me a little bit of overly sweetened apple juice. The coconut adds a creamy element to it that’s weird with the hibiscus (just like in MTC’s Pina Colada Carmen Miranda fruit blend) but not in a terribly off putting way. Just weird.

I wonder if with a shorter steep time this would be less tart and more creamy? And I wonder what the presence of milk would do to this? Normally I don’t think I’d even think to add milk to something with hibiscus – but I think it’d exaggerate the creamy liqueur aspect of this. Anyway I definitely have enough to play around with this one (I got 50g) and still pass some on to VariaTEA so I can try it with a shorter steep time, milk, and cold brewed. There’s potential here – but right now it’s just kind of acceptably ok.

Sipdown (152/158)!

Not a true sipdown; there’s still a cup worth but I’ve set it aside to share with my tea twin VariaTEA. I’d really love to drink it myself; but I also really want to share it with her because it was so good and it was her suggestion for me to get a sample of it in the first place!

Firstly, this smells amazing dry! There is a familiar hibby sour smell but the melon does a very good job competing with it which I find impressive because hibby is such a dominating flavour. Steeped up; the first taste is like a sour peaches/light hibiscus tartness but not in an over the top way where all you’re getting is the hibiscus. There’s a nice balance here; though I can see how the hibiscus might get to be too much if you oversteeped. This fades into a very spectacular and strong melon flavour.

But man this melon flavour; I’m really impressed because to me it tastes distinctly like sweet green honeydew melon with sugar sprinkled on top! There aren’t a lot of Honeydew blends that really deliver a strong juicy honeydew flavour because it’s such a subtle flavour, but this one manages to do it an a way that can compete with hibiscus of all things.

So this is already back on my shopping list! It’s probably going to be a while since I do another RiverTea order because I literally just got this one today but I imagine this’ll find a place in that order whenever it happens. Definitely going to be a long while down the road though. I look forward to having this again, though! It really impressed me and I very much hope that VariaTEA finds something special in it too!

VariaTEA, I’m just going to compile samples of things for you until my most recent Butiki order gets here and then I’ll add the Tamarind Pop into whatever else I’d gathered and send it off! So it’ll likely be several weeks but I’ll make sure you get the RiverTea blends we decided on, and probably samples of each 52Teas blend I got in my most recent order…

First sipdown of the month, an offering from Sil in the BBBB. Thanks sister!
This is a lightly smokey one, with a rich maltiness, & a real contrast to the LB I drank earlier.
388!

Thank you Sil for including this tea in the BBBBox!
This is a tasty tea, with a richness to it that I really enjoyed while putting together breakfast.
1 T + 8oz X 3/5min.
Both the steep & the resteep were very satisfying, & have that Yunnan mouth thickness, & I can drink them on an empty stomach without getting sick. Yay!

Yum yum.

Cold brewed this about 24 hours for my walk this afternoon.

I may have made it a bit strong, because the hibiscus came to the forefront a bit much for my liking. Next time I will consider sweetening it to take away some of the tartness.

Either way I enjoyed it enough to buy some in my RiverTea order, thanks for the sample, Courtney! :)

Another sample from, Cavocorax!

This one was very rushed, because I’d forgotten she sent it, and I decided to brew it up to taste at the last minute just before I put in a River Tea order, thought it would be good to try it first.

Put it this way, I ordered some!
It was flavorful yet also delicate and delicious, reminded me a bit of Butiki’s Cantelope and Cream tea probably just the daintiness and subtlety of the flavoring.

It was rushed but yummy, thanks Cavo!

Good Morning and Hello!

Life got a little in the way, but I’m always around and back to writing tasting notes.

This morning’s cup comes courtesy of Dexter – thank you for sharing! It’s also a sipdown. The first cup of this I had reminded strongly of sweet straw/hay and farms. The descriptions talks of tobacco but I didn’t pick up any of that, but I did enjoy what I got. The second (sipdown) cup I used more leaf only because I what I had left over wouldn’t have made a decent cup so I just used up the lot. The second cup brewed to a beautiful deep reddish-brown colour. It was malty, delicious, and yes, this time I found those tobacco notes.

It’s a beautiful day, and I’ll tackling the weeds that are taking over my yard :(

Backlog from last night. Thanks Sil!
I threw this in the fridge last night to cold steep it and this is good, although I think I’m less fond of rooibos. But the vanilla and fruit are nice. I’m happy to have tried this.

Thank you Roswell Strange for sending me yet another sample of this tea to try since I stupidly decided to hot brew the last sample I got. This is certainly better cold. There is a lot of creamy vanilla and quite a bit of currant flavor. Raspberry also comes through in a taste that is true to the fruit. At the back of each sip, there is definitely hibby tartness though it is not offensive and I am sure it could be muted with a shorter steep time. It is a good tea and I am glad I got a second chance to try it but it is not something that I urgently need restocked. I would consider adding it to an order though if I were placing one. 160.

Sipdown!! (175)

When this first touched my lips, I immediately got a delicious dose of vanilla. Next, raspberry seeped in and then…HIBISCUS!! Tart, tart hibiscus. Should have cold brewed this one because there is potential there for this to be amazing. Alas, hot, the hibby it just too much. Nonetheless, thank you Roswell Strange for sending some my way.

Sipdown…made sure I had cooler water, timed a 3 min steep, and it was still bitter. Guess this just isn’t my tea, but thanks again to Dexter for letting me try this.

This would be much better if I hadn’t oversteeped it. I can tell it has a yummy sweet nougat, that I’m really looking forward to trying when I am not sipping a somewhat bitter brew.

I’m going to pay more attention next time so I can give this tea the proper attention it deserves. Thanks for sending this one Dexter!

Sipdown!! (153)

Thank you Roswell Strange for sending this my way to aid in my adventure to try all the genmaichas. This one is good but not particularly a blend that stands out. There is nothing unique about it. It is fairly balanced between the vegetal base and the toasty rice, though at times the grass notes are more prominent. Nothing special but still very pleasant so thanks again, Roswell Strange :)

TheTeaFairy sent me a sample of this one and I have to say I was quite skeptical. Giant pieces of Cinammon sticks in there, and then I read about chamomile which I most definitely do not enjoy. But made it anyway because there’s talk of mango and vanilla and there is dry fruit throughout the leaf.

Hot it was a little strong. Not astringent so much as just strong base. Just as I finished making the tea the people here wanted to go for a walk (I’m at the cottage) and I left the mason jar on the table. Had it upon my return, cooled off, and it is much more fruity than when piping hot. I cannot really distinguish the different fruit but it was ok. I probably wouldn’t buy it but it was enjoyable. I have 1 tsp left that I considered cold brewing but I am not sure I want to bother for just 250 ml. Thanks, TheTeaFairy , thanks very much. My first RiverTea

Tea #8 from the Traveling Tea Box C Round 2
I actually had this last night, but I got caught up with playing Diablo so I didn’t remember to put up a tasting note. Honestly I shouldn’t’ve had any tea last night since it was really late (past midnight), but I really wanted a cup of tea. Lol!
This one smelled pretty good in the package and didn’t seem like one I would have to think on the flavors too much, so I figured it was a good one to just sip while distracted.
And it was. I was really surprised. It did have a cake-y sort of feel to it, lightly spiced and pretty good. Good enough that I’m considering ordering some from the company for myself. Lol. I did have to add quite a bit of sugar to it, though to be fair I was using brown rock sugar and I find that I always have to add more to that than my normal truvia. Without the sugar it was kinda just a hot, cinnamon tasting beverage. Lol. Sugar made it seem more like a cake-y tea.
But definitely a tea that I could consider drinking now and then.

I’m not sure if this is the RiverTea this tea is from! I just had to add it to the system.
’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #16
I love the gorgeous dark green leaves of this one with the magenta colored raspberry pieces. It reminds me of the dark green/pink begonia I’m planning on buying soon.

Steep #1 // 30 minutes after boiling // 3 min
I used 1 1/2 teaspoons! The parameters on the pouch say 190 degrees but I was busy doing things and accidentally waited too long. The flavor is very nice: RASPBERRY. Juicy ripe raspberries! More realistic, but sometimes candyish. I’m not sure why I can’t tell the difference, as I’ve been eating raspberries lately. The oolong peeks through once in a while. The color of the cup is a bright yellow.

Steep #2 // 15 min after boiling // 3 min
Another wonderful cup with just as much raspberry somehow. Delicious! I don’t typically see a dark green oolong, so I would have liked to try this one without the raspberry, but at least the flavor wasn’t disastrous. I’m trying to find this tea company but I don’t see a website anywhere… if it’s the same company on Steepster, they look like they have interesting blends but some of them have odd names like “Sparkling Lunch”.

I had this tea yesterday morning with breakfast (actually I think this was my breakfast), and felt so uninspired that I couldn’t really think of anything to write. As with all vanilla teas, I was hoping for more vanilla, and although the vanilla in this tea didn’t smell of alcohol or anything overly cloying or chemical, it just wasn’t strong enough. The good news is that this tea is still tasty and easy enough to drink; it just isn’t a strongly flavoured vanilla black. The vanilla is gentle, and the base…I can’t remember much about it. You can tell it’s well-blended, and between sharing with people and drinking a few more cups, I’ll have no problem finishing this off.

A good tea, just not awesome.

Had this for breakfast this morning, and now we’re talking. Strongly fragrant and flavourful, there’s no mistaking that this is a thick and creamy raspberry tea. Again, I didn’t find any coconut, but I’m ok with that. I would not compare this with Fantasy island by DAVIDs tea because that tea is coconut heavy with not even a trace hint of raspberry, whereas this is raspberry heavy and I can’t for the life of me find coconut. That’s ok, though—I am tea polygamous so it all works out.
Oh my gosh this tea was perfect on what felt like such an ideal spring morning.

I fantasized about trying this tea this morning, and after a wonderfully restful night, I did just that. And holy hell delicious raspberry tea! I can’t really taste coconut, but I honestly don’t care. This is probably the most authentic raspberry tea I’ve ever had (my expertise in this area is quite distinct, as this is I think the second raspberry tea I’ve had) and even still, I don’t care because it’s juicy and creamy and you can still taste the base but the raspberries taste as though they’re exploding in your mouth in a most exploding fashion. I had it with my breakfast of bacon and eggs, and it actually paired surprisingly well. This was my first River tea tea, and it was a great note to start on! Add me to the club, guys!

Another tea from Cavo to Sil to me! I’m not sure who Magic Will is, maybe part of Magic Mike’s Male Stripper Review? ;)
I wasn’t really expecting much, to be honest, but this turned out to be a decent little Shu. I brewed it long & proud, lol, & ended up with a very satisfying cup of earthiness, with no objectionable qualities whatsoever. As it cooled, it took on a creamy cocoa quality, which I really enjoyed. I was sipping & practicing my harp for a wedding I’m playing tomorrow at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It’s suppose to be a beautiful day, & this wedding is in my favorite part of the garden, the Chinese Friendship garden. It’s enclosed by a wall, there is a little stream winding through the center, a couple of little bridges, a pagoda, several weeping willows, & if I had time to go hang out at the garden more, that would be my place. Here’s a link:
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/our-garden/gardens-conservatories/international-gardens/chinese-garden.aspx

Special requested pieces for this wedding:
Tangled Up in You
Enchanted
Mine would be you
If I didn’t have you

This is a sipdown, of course! Thanks for the sample, girls!
347

Again reached in the box from TheTeaFairy . This smells deliciously nutty, reminds me a lot of Almond Biscotti, my favourite Della Terra green and one my favourite greens of all time. I read the notes from others on this and it seems like everyone is reminded of something different. Sil thinks of Caramel Green from the persimmon co. and someone else is reminded of something called Divine Seduction, company not mentioned. For me, this is almond biscotti to a T.

I brewed it in the glass gaiwan because my plastic steeper, convenient as it is, it absorbs odours as most plastic does. I am of course not helping matters by leaving tea leaves in there over night or for hours even during the day. Lazy. I’m just too excited to drink the tea rather than sit there and do “dishes”.

Anyway, since it’s in the glass gaiwan I see it brews a cloudy deep yellow. The taste is good as is, I added nothing. brewed at 175F for fear of burning. 2.5 minutes. It’s good, nutty, and creamy. I wish this was a black tea so I can put sugar and non-dairy creamer. Sigh. I’m an addict. Thanks, TheTeaFairy !

I have this from TheTeaFairy — it will be all Tea Fairy for the next little while because every tea in this box sounds delicious and I doubt I will be forcing myself to drink other things. I also am allowing myself to order some tea so these samples hopefully will help me narrow stuff down. I will have to try really hard not to binge. Usually the longer I go without buying the crazier I can get.

This tea is delicious raspberry. I’m not getting much of anything else in the way of flavour but that’s totally fine. I wanted raspberry. I added a tsp of sugar to 600 ml of tea just to lift it a little. I used the entire sample to make the pot because my partner wanted tea. I almost didn’t want to share! I reluctantly used up the entire sample pack. Mmmm…

Thanks Fairy!

Thank you to River Tea for this sample.

The raw tea smells a little fruity but it’s subtle but definitely berry like. Using my personalitea teapot for this to share with my husband whose home after a stressful day at work.

Flavour wise this is a mild black base with gentle lychee flavour and a smoky finish. It also has rich malt tones which come through after a few sips. It has some natural sweetness but it’s light compared to the base and next time I will have to try it with a little sugar, see if that makes the lychee pop.

It’s a nice tea but average, tasted lots of teas like this one and I don’t think this will be on my purchase list.