RiverTea

Meh. It’s not my favourite RiverTea tea, but I like enough of them that it doesn’t matter. I’m happy I tried it, but their fruiter blends are better. MOAR FRUIT.

Thanks Sil!
(sipdown 245)

Nougat and spice and everything nice. No vegetal base to be found in this eggnog latte. Alas no more River Tea to be found in my cupboard either :(

This tea has a best before date of September 14, 2015 and though it has faded overtime, it’s holding up pretty well. The base has actually disappeared to the background leaving a soft nougat flavor in its place. Sweet, creamy, a little caramel, and just a hint of smoke. Really tasty actually. I really do miss RiverTea.

Brewed this up as an eggnog latte and it did not disappoint. The green base remained hidden and let the sweet nougat mix beautifully with the flavors of the eggnog. It was really and truly great and I am so grateful to Christina for sending so much of this my way, especially in light of the RiverTea closure. Thank you Christina!

Sipdown!! (204)…and I already miss it.

This is delicious!! Thank you Roswell Strange so much for sparing a cup for me to try. For some reason I have had an influx of nougat teas in the past little while and this is by far my favourite of the bunch. The green base provides a buttery smooth on which the sweet and nutty nougatty flavor shines. There is even a hint of grassiness that is somehow only enhancing the flavor. This will definitely be apart of my RiverTea order (you know, the one I keep talking about but have never actually placed :P)

I finally got my order after a month of waiting!!

I purchased this because of all the reviews of having it taste like Gold’s Rush. Not too bad it smells amazing caramelly but fruity all in one. My first sip was more fruity more than anything, like papaya ish with apples, it was somewhat overwhelmingly fruity. It was interesting because I kept smelling the caramel notes to it yet the taste was fruity. Idk I can’t compare it to Gold’s Rush. I’m still content with it though, idk if I’d order more because I purchased 100g lol.

Another (and still a few to go!) tea from the euro travelling box, this just seemed a perfect tea to celebrate spring equinox.

It is a lovely, very pale (I must have underleafed, will try again) green oolong. Small leaves, a sweet wild flower flavour, just as expected. Maybe a hint of a cinnamon like woodyness as well? A nice tea, must experiment with the rest of the sample

Sipdown!! (200)

Thank you Sil for sharing this with me. I have noticed that you have slowly continued to drop your rating of this tea and luckily that has not been the case for me. I continue to enjoy the mellow rooibos with the tropical (albeit generically tropical) flavor. If I were being honest, if this was a caffeinated cup I would not keep it around because there are so many caffeinated teas I prefer, but it is not bad for a caffeine-free alternative and thus I think I will probably be getting more in the future.

This cold brewed for like 16 hours and as I sip on it, I can’t help but feel that this is much better prepared hot and then allowed to cool. When cold brewed, the flavors are not as prominent as they are in the hot/iced cups. Though they are still present, the rooibos does come off slightly stronger and consequently mellows the other components.

So the downside of heat-activated color changing whales? I am super aware of it when my tea has cooled. Luckily, this tea is delicious at any temperature – tropical but no where near lotiony as the flavors can get. I have some of this coldbrewing in the fridge for tomorrow so we will see how that goes. Thank you Sil!

I really like this! Thank you Sil for sharing as this is one I overlooked each time I checked RiverTea’s site (which is often). I imagined it would be more Pina Coladaesque I suppose, or maybe I feared the coconut might get a bit lotiony like it tends to do in rooibos teas but this is just a nice, juicy, tropical tea. Very, very good.

Sipdown! (252)

So I think this is not as great as some of the other RiverTeas I’ve had, but I’m ok with that seeing as I’ve enjoyed so many of their teas.

Thanks Sil for sharing this with me!

ETA: It does taste better as it cools. Maybe this would be better if I just had it iced?

I ended up leaving work early because no one was at the shop and I didn’t feel like I was being useful AND I had a lot of tea work to do at home, updating my cupboard etc.

This was the first one I made when I walked in the door. It came in the paper container that takes up room so it was an obvious choice for a first sipdown.

Except that it’s herbal. Whoops.

It’s really amazingly tasty though. The banana is perfect. Like Sil said, this is like drinking liquid banana bread, and believe or not, that is a VERY good thing.

I’m so thrilled I was able to try this. I think I’m going to drink the other half later, after it chills in the fridge to see how that tastes!

:D

ETA: It’s good iced as well. I had a few sips, then poured the rest into my daughter’s sip cup.

Thank you Sil!

I mean, I think. My cupboard started at 186 and now it’s up at/around 258.

OMG. O.M.G.

Some of that, maybe 15 of it, was tea that I ordered and split with Sil, but the rest was her just being crazy and super generous and I am blown away. So, thank you. :D

Now I chose this one because it was only one cup. It’s a nice black tea, with that tannic something or whatever that I notice in Kenyan teas. It’s enjoyable though. I think there’s a little bit of golden honey in each sip, and I’m enjoying that. It’s comparable to JusTea’s Kenyan black, but not quite so strong.

This gets bitter quickly as it cools.

Sipdown! This time around this tea is completely different, and I think I must have gotten almost all the cherry pieces in the last cup. This pot is all about the jasmine, with the papaya just enhancing the floral flavors. I would have liked for this tea to be more balanced, because the cherry and jasmine flavors are good by themselves and I’m sure they would have been great together, but I never really got them in one cup.

I got this as a free sample in my RiverTea order and I’m not sure how I feel about it exactly. The fruit is very strong—it tastes exactly like dried cherries—and overpowers the other flavors a little. I can taste the green tea but not the jasmine. It’s not bad, and as a cherry tea I like it, but I love jasmine and was hoping for more of a balance.

Sipdown!! (197)

So I was pretty worried about this because my swap partner, Roswell Strange, did not seem to be a fan. Luckily she sent me some to try though because I actually am enjoying this. It is chocolatey until the sip is almost over, at which point a little chili kick comes through. I don’t know if I would want 50 g of it but I would not turn down another cup. Thank you Roswell Strange for sending me a sample to try.

Sipdown!! (211)

Thank you Roswell Strange for the sample of this tea. It is certainly a pleasant cup, one I would not turn down, however I don’t know if I would want to commit to 50 g of it as there are other teas I would reach for first.

Nonetheless, sipping on it now, I am enjoying the flavor of red fruits. I don’t know if I would say “cherry” per se but it is definitely in the ball park. Plus, I am pretty impressed that a cherry rooibos manages to completely avoid tasting like cough syrup or medicine – a feat not easily achieved it seems.

Thank you Roswell Strange for yet another RiverTea blend to try. This is a flavorful rooibos but most of the flavor is coming from hibiscus which is making me sad. There is also a hint of cherry hanging in the background but it is being completely upstaged by the tart attention-hog that is hibby.

Sipdown!! (196)

Thank you Roswell Strange for the sample of this. I finally figured out what it reminds me of and that is Queen of Tarts so it all makes sense as to why you did not like this at all and I did not mind it. With that said, I still have a fair amount of Queen of Tarts and I never touch it so once that is finished I think hibiscus heavy teas will be kept out of my cupboard.

Thank you Roswell Strange for sending me a sample. It is nice to get to try RiverTeas prior to placing an order however this is not for me. I am getting hibiscus and not much else. Surprisingly, I don’t mind the hibiscus in this blend as much as I minded it in others, but I think that is because I was expecting it to be tart. Nonetheless, after I get through the sample I was sent, I doubt I would want it again.

Sipdown!! (198)

Thank you Roswell Strange (and also aisling of tea) for the opportunity to try this tea. This sort of reminds me of Vicki’s Sponge Cake which I really enjoyed. It is deliciously creamy thanks to the meringure while maintaining an amazing sweet-but-tart raspberry flavor. This would definitely be included in my RiverTea order if/when I place one.

I am back to behaving dietwise which means I am back to two milk servings a day so my heart sunk just a little when I heard the mailman delivering my package from Roswell Strange just after I finished prepping my two matcha milks for the day. That means I don’t get to try some of the matcha until tomorrow…oh well. What I do get to try though is this tea which I have been hearing such positive things about so thank you Roswell Strange for such a generous package!!

The whole sample got tossed into my cup and as I sip on it now, I am just not sure how I feel. It is like a slightly sour pear jelly belly combined with a hint of chocolate. Good or weird? I just don’t know. I can see this being a tasty cold brew though. I think I will let some of this cup cool down so I can see how this tastes cold because as I drink it hot I am just totally at a loss. More to come…

ETA: This cup has now cooled and drinking it now, I am enjoying it more. The pear and chocolate flavors mesh together better cold versus competing for my attention in the hot cup. With that said, I don’t think this is going to be an addition to my order (except as maybe a sample) since both hot and cold, something is simply off for my tastes. I had such high hopes for this one but I think I will stick to the Prickly Pear that I have so much of in my cupboard.

(Sample from tbd)