Tea Desire

Queued Tasting Note.

Apparently I have had this cold brewed before. I couldn’t remember if I had, and I thought I was trying this blend a new way by prepping it this way! Darn.

It was really good though; definitely didn’t have much of a “cream” factor from the chocolate drops/yogurt drops. I mean, that flavour doesn’t always come out to begin with – but this was especially lacking. It made up for it in robust, almost earthy sweet mocha notes though. It even had a tinge of hazelnut in the finish! And I know there’s not a lot of caffeine in this (just the little bit from the coffee beans) but I still felt like I was tricking my body into being more awake/alert at work.

And that’s never a bad thing.

Cold Brew!

This has a tiny amount of caffeine in it because of the coffee beans, but I thought the strong coffee flavour would maybe have a placebo affect and trick my brain into thinking I was having a ton of caffeine. No such luck though; still felt drained after I had it. It was super coffee flavoured though: the cold brew really, really exaggerated that flavour more than it did any of the others.

Hot is still a bit better, though.

Made into tea syrup and drizzled over vanilla ice cream because that seemed like it would work. It was basically very sweet coffee syrup. Just coffee syrup – no chocolate or nuts or anything. That sugar really brought out the java.

And really it was almost too sweet, but since it didn’t quite cross that line it was pretty good overall.

Very dark brew today; intensely chocolate and coffee with a creaminess to it from the yogurt. Also a little nutty? I’m not sure if that’s a flavour note I’ve observed in this one before.

Anime watching Steepsterites, a question: Have any of you watched Hellsing? Was it good/easy to get into? Should I give it a shot? It doesn’t seem like my sorta anime, but it was recommended to me so I want to at least watch a few episodes.

I’m trepidatious, though.

Made a large mug of this to sip at while watching Big Brother with Tre; he made an interesting observation – when my tea mug is either totally full or piping hot still I bring my face down to the mug to sip from it, instead of bringing the mug to my face. Hopefully that’s an apt description; I had never noticed I do this until he mentioned it but it’s definitely totally true.

I actually let most of this one get cold though; like I said earlier it’s SUPER hot here today, and this one is really good iced! It’s just like this rich, robust chocolate/coffee duo, but with tea! I’m very happy I decided to restock this one; it’s an interesting rooibos to keep around, and good for those odd times when I actually am craving a little java.

In the timolino at work, though a good portion was saved for the walk/ride home.

This made for one hell of a delicious, creamy coffee/chocolate drink yesterday and it was the perfect warm little cuppa to hold in my hands as I bused home after closing. It made the dreary day feel less dreary and kept me warm and comforted on the quick little walk from the bus to my house.

The coffee notes outweighed the chocolate in this cup, and there were also light woody notes from the rooibos and almost caramel like notes – though I’m not sure where those ones were coming from. Not that I’m complaining, at all, though.

Just stellar.

Made in my timolino and sipped at all morning while at work. This blend is kind of unique because it’s a rooibos – but a caffeinated one because of the coffee. Because of that, it doesn’t get a TON of drinkage because I usually opt for cold brewed fruit rooibos blends for breakfast (which this is not), or at night time before bed.

I LOVE it when I do have it though; it’s the perfect balance of woody rooibos, kinda earthy coffee, and then sweet, creamy chocolate. Yum!

Today my work shift was short; basically all the new store employees went into the store and did the pricing of our inventory/got to know the store layout/met the other employees. It looks like, myself aside, there are three other Keyholders/Cash Managers; the two I trained with over the last two weeks, and then one other one who trained somewhere else. I got to meet her today, and she seems really cool (I adore her name; it’s Morningstar). However, she admitted she hasn’t really received proper keyholder training so it looks like the other keyholders (Bobbi, Hazel, and I) will be training her.

I didn’t get the meet many of the other employees; but the two I did meet left distinct impressions. The first, Arlene, seems very well put together and professional – I get the problem that we’re NEVER going to have problems with her as far as cashhandling/stock goes – she just went at it and worked super hard.

The second, Karen, I actually know! She worked with me at Calendar Club before they promoted me to manager and transferred me to my own store – and let me just flat out say that I was NOT happy to see her. She’s an older woman (I’m going to guess very late 40s or early 50s) compared to that age of all the other employees (both at Dollarama and Calendar Club) and she has a very extreme and annoying personality type; no matter what she’s doing she HAS to be the center of attention and is a very obnoxious “social butterfly” type. At the same time, she reminds me of that kind of stereotypical “redneck mother” type of thing. I remember at Calendar Club she got incredibly agitated when she couldn’t go for her “smoke break” when SHE wanted to go, and I swear I smelled booze on her breath one morning.

I could tolerate all that if she was at least a strong enough/competent employee – but she was HORRIBLE at any kind of cash handling/paperwork and the source of much grief on my/Jen (CC Manager at the branch that Karen worked at)’s end.

Thank GOD she didn’t recognize me – I don’t want her to “bond” with me in any capacity. This’ll be… Interesting.

Guzzled down while it was hot this time – no chance for it to get cold. I watching a really emotional episode of Bones while drinking this one, and I was very caught up in the episode and wasn’t paying attention to the taste of the tea I was very quickly sipping at for comfort.

I’m sure it probably was as delicious as usual.

“For those times when you want a caffeinated Rooibos blend”

I’ve been craving this for a while, though I’ve put off making it because usually I want rooibos at night time – and this one actually has caffeine in it from the coffee beans (mind you, not a ton).

Today has been a sleepy day though which made me think of rooibos, though since it’s not late in the day I thought caffeinated rooibos would be excellent! Mmmm, I was right!

Very rich, and full taste with only a hint of woody rooibos. Mostly, this was thick, creamy dark chocolate with espresso/mocha goodness! I’m not really a coffee drinker at all and never have been – but occasionally I do crave the chocolate/coffee combo flavour, so this is the perfect thing to satisfy that. I let it get cold, but it was even better that way!

This was the third tea I took with for the roadtrip from Saskatoon to Regina. I barely drank it on the ride up though, because I wanted to save some for my brother to try. He is definitely not a tea drinker; in fact he hates most teas, but I thought this might be something he’d like because he is a coffee drinker and this is a coffee flavoured tea.

The preparation, was 2 tsp. of leaf steeped in boiling water (in one of my 12 oz. timolinos) for six minutes. Steeping, it had a very bold and rich coffee smell with hints of chocolate. Very robust in smell.

Flavour wise, still super flavourful but not nearly as robust and bold. The woodiness of the rooibos comes through consistently and constantly in the background of the sip. The mocha flavour is quite strong and bold, but in a sweet way like the creamy and sweet coffee flavour of an iced cappuccino. There are wisps of darker milk chocolate fluid throughout. Super tasty – and a nice in between of a sweeter coffee and regular tea.

I was never really a coffee drinker, even before I got into tea. I did enjoy the occasional iced cap though, so this is nice to have around. I think it’d make an incredible iced latte or latte slushie! Probably going to be a restock; I don’t really have anything like it.

I did share some with my coffee loving brother, but he thought it was revolting and actually spat it out… Drat. I thought I had found a winner.

I also had my “Christmas” with them, and got some interesting and emotional gifts; a framed picture of my deceased brother which was really emotional to receive, a Spiderman toque, and some jewelry. I also got many gifts totally unrelated to any of my interests and which only exaggerated how well my Dad doesn’t know me; such as an iTunes gift card, a magazine about the anime Evangelion (I’ve never even seen an episode), a bottle of coke (I stopped drinking pop months ago)…

And, I also got the DAVIDsTEA Holiday Collection, despite my expressing direct disinterest in receiving it and having my brother warn them of that. Oh well… It’s the thought that counts.

Sipdown (112)!

This last cold brew was more toffee than anything else, with a strong woody flavour from the rooibos. I can’t help but wonder why it was no where near as nutty as the last cold brew, which was only a few days apart from this one. Anyway; not saying I wont EVER repurchase this one but for the time being I’m pretty sick of it.

I need to explore some new Tea Desire blends; the ones I have currently have been drank so many times I’m growing really sick of having them around.

Currently doing my blind tasting exam; my Dad’s making all of the tea since I can’t see any of the process (the dry leaf, steeping instructions, infused leaf or even the steeped liquor) and in between each cup I’m just writing tasting notes…

I thought I was breezing through it though, then I hit the third cup and now I can’t decide whether it’s a green tea or an oolong. It definitely has very buttery/spinachy notes to it that make me think it’s green tea, but also very creamy. I feel like once I taste the last two cups I’ll know for sure – the first two were DEFINITELY black and pu’erh.

This is a queued tasting note.

I think I’ve cold brewed this one before, but with the bottom of the tin insight I decided that regardless I’d push through and use up the leaf as quickly as possible to sip another tea down that I’ve been hoarding for a while.

This came out really nutty; like a very sweet hazelnut brittle – if hazelnut brittle is even a thing. I don’t think I’ve ever had a brittle other than peanut brittle. And then, the toffee kind of tasted a little more like Dulce de Leche to me. I’ve come over time to acknowledge that the base used for this is definitely a lower quality rooibos base; and it added a lot of woody notes to the brew but I personally do like that flavour. If you don’t dislike rooibos in general then I think that it actually adds to this tea.

One more cold brew and I’ll be done with this blend.

I’m super sweaty and gross right now; I suppose being hungover and drinking a hot latte doesn’t help that at all, though the latte is so tasty I refuse to put it down or wait until it cools…

Inspired by VariaTEA I bought some Cashew Milk from work this week; I’m not big into almond milk at all, but I love cashews so I thought that was something I would definitely be ok with trying out. It also happened to be on sale which was a big bonus! Straight, the cashew milk is different than I thought it’d be. I mean, it tastes great – like cashews but cool and creamy, and not too rich. But the mouthfeel is really thin, like water. A huge part of lattes, for me, is the thick creamy mouthfeel so I anticipate that I’m going to be at least slightly disappointed by the lack of that.

Since I’ve tried this one quite often I thought it’d be a good one to try as my first cashew milk latte ‘cause toffee definitely pairs well with nut flavors, and I know what it should taste like (as a ’control’ if you will). It tastes really good; the cashew is definitely a distinct flavor from the milk but it’s mild enough that it doesn’t mask the flavor of the tea, which can sometimes be an issue with lattes. Because of the toffee there’s a rich creaminess, but I was right about the mouthfeel being really different/thin.

Overall I love the taste so I’m going to continue to play with this for sure – but I think I may just have to get used to the mouthfeel before I get any major satisfaction from these cashew milk latters. Flavor suggestions for what to try out are totally welcomed though! Other than other sweet/dessert teas I’m not 100% sure what to pair with this because the cashew does come through quite clearly.

This.

Uhh, this is a tea that I made in a timolino. I drank it, and it was good?

But seriously; I actually don’t really have anything to write for this one. No new observations, no quirky retorts or stories. I’ve reviewed the hell out of this tea, and now I’m getting a little bored with it.

Just got home from work, and I’m trying to catch up on reading everyone else’s tasting notes from throughout the day – done most of them now. Unfortunately Steepster is being a little problematic for me and, for about half of people’s notes, when I go to “like” them the site crashes. And the ones I can click on, I’m not even sure if the likes are sticking or not.

I’m trying, guys!

Anyway; I made this cold brewed for work because I was following the sort of idea that since DT’s Oh Canada was fairly outstanding this, being similar, likely would be as well. And, it was a good hypothesis proved to be fairly accurate – though I think hot still is a little better. It’s more “gooey” and rich. This was nice though; it was a very sweet treat with deep caramel and butter notes and then a very pronounced hazelnut flavor that sorta ran under that for the whole sip and then lingered a little longer than the caramel in the aftertaste. Layeredis how I’d describe it, I think.

One sorta downside; I usually find the rooibos to be well hidden in the hot cup but it was pretty noticable (in a woody way) in this cold brew. I don’t mind the taste of rooibos, but this would totally be a negative for some people.

Pretty much just straight up, make your mouth water, liquefied creamy, gooey toffee goodness. There’s a bit of a rooibos aftertaste buried under the toffee, and some sweet hazelnut notes pop up now and then too. As far as decadent dessert rooibos goes, this one is definitely a winner.

I’m actually almost done my tin of it and I’m trying to decide whether I want to restock – Tea Desire’s Caramel Pu’Erh has a nearly identical taste just with a different base, which I suppose makes sense given they’re the same company. It almost seems redundant to keep ‘em both on hand. And, I wouldn’t mind devoting the tin space to something else; maybe The Woman which has gone tinless since getting it, or to Cuppa’T’s Apple Strudel Pistachio blend if Tre picks me up more?

Ugh; decisions. I hate decision making.

Meh.

I enjoyed a large mug of this last night while watching Pokemon Black/White on Netflix. How cool is it they added that series and the original series in Kanto!? Very cool is the correct answer. Anything else is unacceptable.

I would have watched the Kanto series first – except I just recently finished a rewatch of it online (along with the Jhoto series) so I picked this instead since I hadn’t seen it before. My strongest opinion? Trip is a dick. Also, Ash’s Oshawott is adorable! She kind of reminds me of his Chikorita from the Jhoto series; the Chikorita was “in love” with him too and was pretty jealous.

The tea was a nice, sweet treat and also offset the food I was eating pretty well too (popcorn with ketchup seasoning). Sweet and savory. Best way to go, right? Right. I’ll need more of this soon, I think…

Last tea of the night, and an extension of the craving for caramel that I had going on. When I prepared it, I couldn’t help but be reminded of MissB’s son declaration that it was/is his tea. No – my tea. ALL MINE.

Not really. I just feel protective of my Tea Desire blends. They’re my precious.

Anyway, I kept the steep time pretty short and the resulting cup was decadent and sweet and like liquid caramel with hints of hazelnut. So freaking delicious! I immediately wanted another cup, except I was already cocooned on the couch old watching old episodes of Bones so I fought my cravings and left it with that one ridiculously yummy mug.

I really enjoyed my first couple mugs of this: it was like super sweet, liquid caramel. Tonight however I’m only getting a little toffee/caramel and the rooibos is being especially woody and I have to admit maybe even just a touch medicinal.

Maybe I just brewed it up poorly? This is the first time I’ve made it in a timolino, so that could possibly have something to do with it? Perhaps? I don’t know – I just want this to be… Well, more than it is at the moment.

I know VariaTEA just her package from me which had some of this in it, so I hope she gets closer to the delicious first few cups I had instead of what I’m drinking now.

EDIT: More Toffee as it cooled!

I think this may be the last tea of the night – but maybe not? I just started a movie that I fully intend to fall asleep to, but if I don’t fall asleep right away I may make something else (maybe try and do a sipdown).

This one smells sickly sweet; delicious caramel and sticky toffee goodness with maybe just a little bit of hazelnut. I have high expectations for this tea – especially since I’ve tried Victoria Mint and know that Tea Desire can pull off caramel teas.

My preparation for this one was a heaping 1/2 tbsp. measurement for 10 oz. of boiling water, steeped for about six minutes. I feel like, if this is anything like Victoria Mint, I could have pushed for an even longer steep time, but instead I backed off a little just in case. The smell is primarily hazelnut brittle with some toffee in the background. It smells mouthwateringly delicious!

Taste… Initial taste is sorta burnt toffee/caramel with strong hazelnut notes and a bit of a brown sugar sort of feel. This transitions smoothly into a deep, rich, creamy toffee taste. The good kind of toffee that’s all sticky and requires some serious gnawing to take a bit of. The kind that makes your teeth sore but you just can’t resist eating a pound of it anyway. And then, the sweet toffee taste lightly lingers on the roof of your mouth a while after you’ve finished your sip. Yum!

(I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I really like the rooibos base Tea Desire uses – it’s not medicinal at all and only sometimes has that characteristic woody taste; and in this blend I don’t get the woody base at all. So those who fear rooibos might want to just give Tea Desire’s blends a chance; they could surprise you)

This is a tea that’s definitely for sweet toffee and caramel lovers!

Sorta Sipdown (193/197)!

I’m jumping down two numbers because the “quest” to find more samples to add to 221Tea’s box of goodies has resulted in my giving her the last of my Asia Cocktail from Tea Desire. It’s not a lot – but I thought I’d share it since I’ve fallen out of love with it and she could possibly really enjoy it. Plus it’s from a company she doesn’t have such easy access to…

This one is also going to her! It’s honestly pretty good – like the fudgey chocolate part of the oreo without the cream (although adding some milk can partly make up for that absence of flavour), I’ve just found that for my tastes it’s a little bit too generic. Besides, it’s easily accessible so if I ever change my mind I can just go and pick more up.

Farewell Oreo Cookie tea! We had a pretty good run and I liked you more than I thought I would…

Last night’s cup of this was kind of a mess and kind of an experimentation. I brewed it up like normal, but then I added milk and also Nesquik Rolo flavoured milk syrup because why the fuck not?

I can tell you right now why not: It makes the cup a muddled, thick, nasty and oily cup of cloying sludge. Don’t do it.

So yeah, not a good cup but pretty much all my fault. We’ll chock this one up to boredom. At least I have a fair bit of this left though.

This had a longer steep than usual, but I actually don’t think it suffered at all. More so, it may have actually benefited the taste/feel of the Oreo cookie (minus the cream filling). Basically, this tasted fudgey like usual but it also had a larger pastry/cookie kind of feeling than normal.

That could perhaps be attributed to the fact there were several large pieces of dates in this measured out left for this cup – more than I’ve had in any cup prior.