RiverTea

So apparently this blend never made it into my cupboard, so I’m back up a blend. It’s kind of a disappointing feeling because it negates the only sipdown I managed to get in all day.

Anyway, this sample comes from aisling of tea – I took advantage of the fact she has a whole bunch of RiverTea blends and I requested this one because it’s something I never would have ordered for myself, and Spring Tea because I wanted to do a comparison between it and Tea Desire’s version (which I still have to do).

This is a really interesting blend. Aesthetically speaking, it’s really beautiful – the colours of the very shapely orange swirls, blue cornflower, and the bright raspberry bits all really pop and make this something fun to look at. It’s something I’d be tempted to serve to guests/company purely because of the presentation of it.

I’m still not really that experienced with Pu’Erh blends, so I don’t know how much my word should be taken on this, but I found that the Pu’Erh really stood out – much in the way I experienced DT’s Chocolate Orange. It was really thick, and the word that springs to mind is “oily”. I also felt like there was a kind of earthy musk to it. The fruit flavours were a little lost under all that ‘weighty’ Pu’Erh, but I could still get a feel of the orange (in a sort of rind like way) and the raspberry in a really subtle, nuanced way.

My overall impression is that as a first cup this was really weird but in an intriguing way where I wanted to keep drinking just to experience all the layers of it. I think it’s the kind of blend that would really grow on you the more you have it; an “acquired taste” type of tea.

Sipdown!!

Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing this with me. It is certainly a nice cup and the flavor is distinctively lychee. However, I am also getting a fair bit more of the base than I anticipated. That isn’t such a big deal as it is smooth and a touch malty and yet I am finding it is drowning out the delicate lychee essence. I should mention that the heavy base might be entirely my fault because I ended up overleafing this by at least a 1/2 tsp. Oops. Though, even with my crappy measuring, it is still pretty good.

Another sample from aisling of tea‘s amazing bottomless cupboard! Also, this was oolong #2 on today’s oolong journey.

I followed the steeping instructions provided on my sample: 1 tsp for 8 oz of water, 70°C, for 3-4 minutes. The liquor was a nice pale yellow and it did smell of mint.

However, something about it tasted off. Perhaps I didn’t rinse my metal infuser thoroughly enough to remove all the traces of soap. But there was an undeniable, weird, almost acid-like taste on the edges of my tongue when I drank this. I’m not sure what caused it, but this blend didn’t do much for me. I finished off my cup, and even tried making a second infusion to see if that would change things, but that one tasted equally weird. I ended up pouring the second cup down the drain after a few sips.

There are still a few spoonfuls of the leaf left. Perhaps I will make a big pot of it all so I can finish off the remaining leaf.

Sample sipdown #3 today – I’m on fire!

I got a little impatient waiting for the water to cool, so I steeped it at a temperature higher than recommended on the sample packet (76° instead of 70°). This hasn’t changed the taste much, as it still smells strongly of orange with some smoothness underneath.

To bring out the flavour of the vanilla and almonds, I also added a touch of David’s Tea’s creamed cinnamon honey to the mix – just about 1/2 a teaspoon. However, adding the cinnamon made the orange flavour even stronger, which was the opposite of what I intended.

Anyway, this is still a mellow cup. Not something I plan to restock, but I’m glad I got to try it and satisfy my curiosity surrounding a tea named after where I live. Thanks again to De and aisling of tea for the sample.

EDIT: 100th note, baby! Being at steepster has really upped my game (and affected my wallet) when it comes to drinking tea, but I don’t regret it. :-)

I oversteeped this a bit. D’oh! Otherwise, I tried to follow the steeping instructions on the package: 2 tsp per cup, 2-4 minutes, 70°C.

This tea caught my eye because I, too, live in Toronto. I don’t think this tea quite represents the city (then again, it’s hard to find an ingredient that signifies “City Hall makes me facepalm so hard I have neither a face nor a palm left”, isn’t it?), but it’s still pleasant.

Now, onto the cup itself. The label said it’s a mix of white tea, green tea, cinnamon, orange, lemongrass, rose, and other flavourings. However, in both the scent and taste, the flavour of citrus is the strongest. I can smell some sweetness of almond or vanilla in the background, and can kind of smell the cinnamon underneath the citrus, but the orange and lemongrass together are so strong that they really force the other flavours to second-tier status.

It’s interesting, but once I finish off my sample, I’m not sure if I’ll restock it.

This one is ok. I’m starting to realize I’m not a huge fan of Keyan black teas. There’s just something…. something about them that I’m not keen about. It’s mostly tasty though, and with milk I’m sure it would be lovely, but I’m drinking this purely black…

Thanks Sil for letting me try it out! I think I like Justea’s version a little more, but they’re still ALL odd.
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I cold brewed this one for 11.5 hours. This one is tasty cold brewed. The raspberry comes through crystal clear. A black raspberry iced tea.

I’m back. I honestly would’ve cancelled my return flight in a heartbeat if I was done my degree. I had the last of this awesome sample from Cavo this morning.

On a happier note, I’m on the RiverTea website right now choosing teas for my cart. Suggestions are welcome. Thus far I have this one and Happy Banana. This one is so delightful. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had a cup of tea since last week, or because I’m sad to be away from the beach, but the raspberry deliciousness that is this tea seemed even tastier this morning.

Thanks again Cavovorax :)

Normally I would reach for Laoshan Black or Cream Irish Breakfast for the morning, but this morning this was speaking to me.

I can’t get over how delightful this tea is. The raspberry creaminess is great. The scent is so bold and tart. And it’s a black tea! The more I sip away, the more this reminds me of a hot raspberry lemonade. Is there lemon here? I think it’s the raspberry tartness tricking me. Regardless, I love it. Thanks so much for sharing Cavovorax!

It is truly delightful when raspberries in tea are done so well. This one is awesome! The scent wafting from the cup seemed very tart, but it turned out to be quite tasty. The coconut seems to be coming through in creaminess, and apparently what I thought were white chocolate chips were actually meringue hats.

Thanks Cavovorax!

Another one from Cavocorax it’s pretty much her, terri, variatea, shmiracles and missb for the next little while with all my tasting notes. I have a bunch to get through! I really liked this one. I should probably stop drinking tea now…or at least switch to herbals but i just can’t help myself. Finally nailed down vacation for April so it’s just a matter of working, saving money and getting through the next little while.
This won’t be my favourite tea from RiverTea, but i am a fan of the raspberry flavour in this. It makes me want to try a few more of their raspberry teas, without chocolate in it! Not that i mind the chocolate but i am not a an of white chocolate and i’m not sure it adds much. On the whole though, this is a creamy raspberry tasting cup that i enjoy…though i’m not sure if it would be a purchase for me.

So yesterday I was packaging up some care packages to send out, and one of my swap buddies had this on their wish list. Knew I had it so went rummaging for it and realized it was raspberry oolong. I have raspberry oolong in the house? You know you have too many teas when…
This smelled just amazing so had to try a cup. WOW this is really RASPBERRY – not much oolong, it pretty much could have been on any base that’s how strong the raspberry was. Normally I prefer to get a little of the base and to have that base compliment the flavors involved. This time, I don’t care – LOVE the raspberry. I would definitely order more of this.

nope. not even sort of. thanks cavocorax, but i’m pretty sure i dislike the “chocolate” that RiverTea uses. thankfully that crosses off a bunch of teas of theirs for me that i now don’t need to try. this is just.. not a happy place for me. it’s not even artificially cherry..it’s just. wrong. i’d rather drink perfect carlos, and that was a pretty averagely adagio blend.

thanks for sending this my way Cavocorax I’m not sure that this is what ngihts in toronto should taste like but it’s a fun enough tea. Sadly, it’s the orange in this that makes me like it less. i love the almond flavouring and the way it blends in with the base, but when the orange hits my tongue it’s jarring..and seems largely out of place in the smoothness of the rest of the cup. Still, it’s not bad but the orange just doesn’t fit for me

Backlog and sipdown

I finally finished this off the other day – I looked at what was in the tin and decided to overleaf my teapot to get rid of the remainder. It’s long past its prime. I’m sad, but I’m sure that there are equivalent blends out there. Besides, this was one of the oldest teas in my cupboard.

This tea has definitely lost a lot of flavour. I’ve had it for over 1.5 years by now. But I’ll have to finish this off soon before it gets even worse.

Backlog from this morning.

I’ll be sad when I finish this tea off, as it’s a nice blend that isn’t overpowering on the mint has a nice bit of citrus.

Very mild-tasting. Another reason why I’m sad that RiverTea is gone.

I forget when I had this, but I know it was a few days ago during Steepster’s Week of Server Doom.

This is one of my favourite RiverTea blends – it’s smooth, not very astringent, minty, and has a gentle (very gentle) note of citrus.

Nice. Ahh. Not much to worry about.

Backlog from this morning.

I added a few more chunks of orange into the leaf than I’ve done in the past, and it did have a nice citrusy bite to it. The mint is good – flavourful, but not too zingy. Just a nice, unfussy mint tea, although I could do with a Moroccan blend in my cupboard.

Haven’t had any mint teas in a bit, so I was really craving it this morning. Overleafed it a bit, as usual, and it was nice. However, I noticed it was a tad astringent this morning, which is odd.

Another good tea to drink in the morning. And I have confirmed – this is definitely a tea that benefits from overleafing, since it’s so fluffy. I had a pot today and it was nice and minty and otherwise not very confrontational.

Also, I oversteeped this thing a whole lot (6 mins instead of 3) and it still tasted good. No astringency. So take note.

Tea #4 of my RiverTea order!

This tea was the reason I placed the order in the first place – De and aisling of tea gave me a sample of this to try, and I thought it was quite nice.

However, sipping it now reminds me that it’s best if you overleaf this slightly because the leaf is VERY fluffy – otherwise, it’s kind of blah. I really wanted the mint to come out to the front, but it needs a stronger base, too.

Sample sipdown!

Thanks again to aisling of tea and De for providing me with a sample of this. This was a pretty nice blend! Large, fluffy leaves, hints of orange and mint – quite refreshing. The orange and mint were much more noticeable in this cup, and were much more blended together. I’m not sure if I’ll keep restock this, but it’s certainly satisfying.

I’ve been eyeing this tea for a while after De and aisling of tea gave me a sample, and I decided to try it this morning.

The leaves were quite fluffy so I don’t know how many teaspoons I used, but I think it had to be at least 4. The first sip when the tea was hot was a pretty neutral flavour – I could taste the green and some of the white. But as the tea cools down, the mint really comes out to play.

This isn’t an intensely minty tea, but it does have a nice sharpness to it that is accentuated by the citrus. The citrus itself is extremely light (I think I only found one piece of orange peel in my leaves), but everything plays together like good little children. I don’t know if I’ll have time to resteep this before I head out though.