Tea Desire

Made in my timolino this morning and sipped on all day long. I didn’t realize how much I missed this one until making it today and falling in love all over again. It’s like drinking a mug of hot fruit loops, which I realise maybe doesn’t sound appetizing but it actually is really, really good.

This was the second tea that I brought with for work. Last time I had it was cold brewed, and I really thoroughly enjoyed it that way (one of the best tisanes I’ve ever had as a cold brew). The only other time I’ve had it hot was in store, so I wanted to see if I could recreate the delicious fruit loop sort of taste that made me fall in love with this blend in the first place.

So for preparation, I used about a tablespoon steeped in my timolino (boiling water) for 10 minutes. At the same time, I was making Cherry Cola & Cake from Della Terra and the two smells were not meshing well, so I was getting a poor idea of how this tea would taste. I’m drinking it now though, and it’s delicious!

It tastes exactly like that first yummy cup I tried in store, and I’m so happy about that. I love when it’s so easy to recreate the flavour of something you’ve had made for you in store because not every location steeps their blends as per the recommendations they use on their packaging. The more I drink this, the more I love it: it’s super refreshing and I’m getting to be able to identify the individual fruits in the blend that come together to make this wonderful Fruit Loops taste: Strawberry, Pineapple, and sweet Red Currants (Tea Desire does currant blends so well).

Also, I’ve been brainstorming for what tea to pick for the 12 Days of Christmas swap here on Steepster – and I think I have ideas for each day except Six Geese-a-laying and Seven Swans-a-swimming. I’ve also been skimming the internet for “home remedies” for sore gums (stupid cut) and one thing I keep seeing it to hold a teabag straight to the sore area (green tea is the suggested tea) – so I’m thinking maybe I’ve finally found a use for all the awful, nasty Lipton green tea bags I have lying around. When I get home I’ll have to test that out!

I recently bought 50g of this because I had it hot in store and it was AMAZING. Since buying it, this is the first time I’ve had it – and to prepare this I cold steeped about 3 tbsp. of it in a pitcher of water.

This cold steeped in my fridge for somewhere around 12 hours, I think? I strained the leaf out of it early this morning before work, but waited until now to pour myself a glass of it. I usually try to do 10-12 hour cold steeps when I’m steeping a full pitcher. I got some of the giant flowers into the dry leaf and some of the huge candied strawberry chunks too (Tea Desire sure does love blends with big chunks of stuff in them). I don’t think there were many of the red currants, though.

The liquor is a very near clear yellow. Seriously, it’s just the slightest touch yellow. For a second I didn’t think 12 hours had been long enough – because when I had it hot the liquor was a more more medium toned yellow. However, after trying a few sips just now it’s fairly flavourful and I think it did steep for a pretty good amount of time.

I actually am trying this cold brewed as per the recommendation of one of the Tea Desire sales ladies who said this is how she likes this blend best. As I’m sipping now, there’s a bit more of a vegetal taste to the drink that when I had it hot (from the bamboo, I’m thinking) and a more present floral note in the aftertaste. As odd as it sounds, it tastes kind of like how sunflowers smell. Yeah – that’s a weird description I know. The strawberry is really present, and the currant (something I think really sweetened my first cup) less so. Overall, I still very much like this as a cold brew: it’s still quite sweet and super refreshing. Like last time, I’m getting “Fruit Loops” – just a little less concentrated.

I need to try hot steeping it with my own tools to see if I can recreate the taste I drank when Tea Desire made it for me, but if that taste can be replicated consistently as a hot brew than it’s safe to say that I actually prefer this one better hot (but only because of the stronger taste of fruit loops). I wanted to try this carbonated, but I was expecting the taste to be a bit bolder, and now I’m thinking it wouldn’t be the best idea to do this one carbonated at this concentration level: I think the sweetness and fruit loopiness of it would get too watered down and wouldn’t be flavourful.

I still have lots of carbonated water left, so time to think about what else might be good carbonated…

Sometimes it saddens me that so few of Tea Desire’s blends are listed here on Steepster, and that I have to add them myself (like this blend) because they often have some REALLY good blends, and it’s a shame more people haven’t tried their tea.

I had this as a Tea To Go today, for work (I was really thirsty, and two thermoses of tea just didn’t seem like enough). Like usual, they asked if I wanted a favourite (I love being a regular) or if I wanted something new – and I decided to get something new. My stipulations were not a black blend (I’ve really not been impressed with the ones at Tea Desire, despite being impressed by most of their other teas), and not something spicy (since I had DAVIDsTEA’s Gingerbread to drink with me as well).

This is the one I was suggested, and after smelling it I decided to go with it. Usually, Shelby (one of the ladies who works there) is very good at recommending teas for me. All I was told, is that this was a herbal blend with lots of bamboo in it and red currants (they know I like currants, since I adore Champagne Cassis). I’ve never had a bamboo based tea, so along with the very appetizing and sweet smell that had me really interested.

Steeped, the liquor was a pale peachy yellow colour and the aroma was shockingly strong and a dead on ringer for the smell of Fruit Loops. Holy did it smell good. Very, VERY sweet and fruity: NOT the light, vegetal taste with subtle fruit notes I was expecting to get from a bamboo tea. But like I said, I’ve never had a bamboo tea before so I guess I was making assumptions on what it would taste like.

The taste was very much the same: pure Fruit Loops without the starchiness of the actual cereal. It was interesting only having a limited idea of the ingredients in the blend (I’ve since looked up what they were) – typically I research the hell out of a tea before I buy it. If I hadn’t been told there were red currants in the blend I can’t say for sure I would have guessed that. I might have guessed peach or a very sweet raspberry, but neither of those are in the ingredients either. I guess what I was tasting must have been strawberry, pineapple (odd I couldn’t identify pineapple – it’s a favourite flavour of mine), and the lemongrass primarily.

Damn. Curse Tea Desire for getting me interested in buying another tea!

Well, I guess this is a sipdown, because I dumped the rest on the floor. If this was a beloved tea, I may have swept it up and used it.. as gross as that sounds! This however? I’m good with it going to the compost bin.

All I’m getting out of this is licorice smoothness and a hint of something spicy. It’s okay, I like it, however it’s far from the loveliness I had when I first drank this. Reducing the rating and kinda glad now that it’s a sipdown.

Why did I rate this so highly before? It’s a strongly flavored anise/licorice chai, with little chocolate in it. I still quite enjoy it, however it’s no longer as spectacular as I thought it was. Reducing rating.

I left a cup of this to cool at my desk while I was out tonight, with zero sugar added. I can taste more of the pepper now, as well as the cardamom and ginger. Chocolate had completely disappeared however, yet ginger still lingered, co-mingling with the pepper kernels. I think I like it better warm and with a touch of Truvia, however I did gulp this two cup sized mug in less than ten minutes.

Oh, wow. This is a complete surprise.

Out of the bag, this definitely smells like a chocolatey chai. Steeped, there’s more ginger than a chai smell, although I can smell the cardamom as well. Drinking it… wow. Really, wow.

The first few (too hot) sips were bold and strong, with a definite chocolate start. Now that it’s cooled a touch to be comfortably devoured, it’s amazing. Hint of chocolate first, followed by ginger and cardamom, and finishing with some sweetness and licorice. I can, and will, drink this contentedly for the rest of the day. I remember the website saying this isn’t a punch-in-the-face chocolate, and they’re right… it’s still lovely and adds depth.

EDIT: This took 2tsp of tea per cup. I bought 50g of it, and this will only net a total of 6 cups of tea. I’ve put the last two cups -worth in my tea swap box, just because I think it needs sharing (and I’ll definitely order more, soon). Works out to be $1.25/cup, which is just fine with me.

Yep, me again. What can I say, I brewed a lot of this! :)

Now that it’s almost completely cooled and sweetened, it has a completely different flavor again. Faint chocolate comes first, then unmistakably black tea for a second, then a stronger chocolate flavor followed by… hard to describe. A creamy, cake-like feel that lingers, along with a lot more of the dates coming through. It sits on my palate for a long time. I’m upgrading it a bit because I like it more now, for the complexity and challenge in even describing what it is I’m tasting.

Cooled yet still warm, I’m getting just black tea from this. Added some Truvia, and it’s now merely sweetened black tea, with a hint of astringency and vanilla-y notes. A few seconds after the sip, I’m getting a lingering feel of dry sweetness from the dates, and a touch of cookie/cake. Much better hot. See previous notes for how I felt when this was just finished steeping.

It’s the name of the tea that got me buying this one, and I had high hopes when it arrived that it would become a new staple in my house.

I should note that this, my first order from Tea Desire, arrived a DAY after I ordered it, along with free shipping. Also had a handwritten note inside thanking me for my business, along with my name spelled properly. Always a plus!

Dry, this actually does smell vaguely of an oreo cookie. Sweet, cakey. Steeped, it just smells like black tea. I was a bit surprised by that, and really stuck my nose in there to see if I was missing something. Nope, just tea.

I’m sipping right now as it cools, and while a bit hot for me to get a good feel for it, I’m surprised at how much this does taste like an oreo cookie further into the sip. Initially it’s definitely a black tea, which then dissolves into a creamy feel, along with notes of chocolate, cake and a deep, rich yet faint sweetness, likely from the dates. All that’s missing is a hint of vanilla, although with this sore throat maybe it’s there and I’m just missing it.

Going to wait for it to cool down a bit and try some more.

Sipdown (192/194)!

Finally, all gone! Out of cupboard, out of mind! So…

No more milk oolong for a while – they’re just NOT my thing.

Found this in my closet when I was looking for sample to bring back to the kitchen. I had completely forgotten I even had this one stocked! So since there wasn’t a lot left (one more cup other than this one) I brought it with to finish off.

Hot, this tasted SO very bland and unappealing; like stale hot water. Ick.

So, I left it and let it get cold and when I came back to it and took more sips I was happy to find it was a fair bit more flavourful; kinda like watered down condensed milk. Like, creamy caramel rich but also really watery. Kinda “meh”, at best, overall.

I’m just happy that the people I shared this with for the 12 Days of Christmas swap have, at least so far based on tasting notes, all had much more success with this one than I have. Milk oolong just isn’t my thing.

On the Eighth Day of Christmas Steepster gave to me eight maids-a-milking…

So, I was supposed to have left for Regina by now for my ‘vacation’ but the road conditions are absolutely terrible and my Dad decided to wait until tomorrow to come get me. That just means another day of tea drink and laziness I guess – which I’m not really complaining about…

This was my pick for the 12 Days tea swap! I think the reasoning behind it should be obvious enough. Or, at least I would hope so. Originally I was going to go with Della Terra’s “Minty Cow” but I didn’t have enough left to split between 12 people so I went with this one instead! Tea Desire is a company that I think many people are still unfamiliar with – especially those in the States so I thought maybe this would be a neat way for them to become acquainted.

I gave everyone enough for at least two cups because this one can be relatively temperamental – I’ve had some truly great cups of it and others that were weak or seemed flavourless. I’m hoping everyone else experiences a good cup. Today, my cup is actually really good! I went with 1 tsp. steeped at about 75 degrees celsius for three minutes and it’s nice and caramel kind of sweet. Sort of like the sweetness of condensed milk.

Hmmm…

Something definitely went wrong when I made this in the morning. I have no clue what though…

For preparation, I used 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf steeped in 75 degrees Celsius water in my timolino for about 3 minutes. I’ve had a couple cups of this before (this is my third try) and each time I’ve been trying to switch up the brewing method a little bit so I can find the sweet spot on this one (like I did was Raspberry, also from Tea Desire). Today I certainly didn’t find the sweet spot.

I’m drinking this right now and it sort of just tastes like tepid water, with some very light oolong present in the aftertaste. However, light is the most important word used there. How strange. I saved the leaves, so I guess I’ll resteep when I get home and see if I can coax out a bit more flavour.

I’ve been trying to decide whether to restock this or not – but right now I’m definitely leaning towards no.

Made this again for work today, but only a mug worth (not enough to fill my whole 20 oz. water bottle). First time having it was on the comic con trip hot, but today I drank it cold. I’m not sure if I necessarily liked it better or worse, but it was really different that’s for sure. Maybe that’s because I was more prudent in steeping it this time around, or maybe the temperature just brought out different flavours.

Drinking at work, there was a light floral quality to the tea, and the light creamy ALMOST caramel taste I experienced hot was amplified at a cold tea: this was very creamy caramel with buttery notes. It was yummy right down to the last few sips – and it sure didn’t last a whole lot of time.

Still not sure if I’d repurchase – but this is an interesting one for sure. I think I need to drink it a few more times hot and cold before making my mind up. However, I need to show some love to my new teas as well as some other teas which haven’t been drank in a while, and I’d like to finish off a couple samples before my swap from VariaTEA arrives.

Woot! Got back from Central Canada Comic Con a few hours ago and managed to get everything all unpacked pretty quickly. And as soon as I was unpacked what was the first thing I did? Went to the DAVIDsTEA website to check out the new blends and then opened up a tab for Steepster to see how the reviews were looking so far. I have to say, it seems like the reviews for the teas I initially was interested in (Gingerbread Rooibos, White Chocolate Frost, and Spiced Fig) are not really making me want to try them: however the things sort of being complained about/disliked in regard to Choconut Oolong DO make me a bit more interested in it (I love licorice root).

I actually ended up with money left over from what I had budgeted, so I think that will go towards funding my next David’s purchase tomorrow after work. I’m not sure what new teas I’ll walk out with yet, but I will also be restocking on Main Squeeze and buying a replacement lid/steeped for my Timolino.

Best part of Comic Con was TOTALLY meeting James Marsters! I wish I hadn’t gotten really shy and nervous, because he was super friendly and nice (I got the shake his fucking hand!!!). We talked about Sarah Michelle Gellar’s breasts…

But anyway, I’m about to post tasting notes on all of the teas I had on my trip. I actually wound up having some really great brewing conditions where I was staying, so I probably could have brought some more finicky teas with me, but oh well – at least I had tea at all! My Dad has apparently started calling me his “tea connoisseur” and when we were staying at my Step Aunt’s house she seemed like she was trying to impress me with her “tea knowledge” (she was boasting about how interesting she is because she’s tried chocolate teas and knows there’s a difference between black and green tea). I had to try really hard to not “show off” or be rude, because she’s 60+ and meant well – but when I pulled out my bag of measured out samples and started answering her questions about what things were she seemed kind of overwhelmed and got really quiet…

So, for this one I steeped 1 1/2 tsp. for 12 oz. in 85 degree water in my Timolino for three minutes. I think next time I’m going to use a bit cooler water, and steep for probably a little less time.

Dry the smell was lightly milky and creamy with a very strong oolong smell and steeped, the smell was condensed milk (sweet milk smell) and quite creamy. I could still smell the Oolong base, though not as strongly as it came through for me in the dry leaf. I should mention now that this is my first “milk oolong” (although, I understand that it’s not a traditional milk oolong either), so I have nothing as a base for comparison.

The taste was creamy, and lightly reminded me of condensed milk or something else sweet and sugary: MAYBE a very, very light caramel flavour. I think I’d need to drink it again to be sure. It was slightly artificial tasting, and slightly astringent and i think the latter could probably be avoided with better steeping temperature or steep time. The oolong base came through very strongly but taste quite good.

I got an interesting phone call today…

It was the district/general manager for the calendar chain I work at. He was asking me if I would be interested in being the manager for a new branch they’re opening up at a mall here in the city. It was totally unexpected, and not something I had applied for or anything (I’ve only been working there just over a month now) – but I said yes because A) More hours means more money, B) I’d get a pay raise (which is awesome because I’m currently a minimum wage monkey), and C) It’s at a location even closer to my house! Only negative is it looks like I’d have to push back my trip up to Regina for Christmas by maybe a week or so (And I was already leaving to go after Christmas by more than a few days, so it’ll be a very late Christmas for me…). However, I am now in the running for this position and will likely hear back by Friday evening. Wish me luck?

Anyway – I made this for my morning tea as part of my initiative to drink up some of the blends I have excess of which I don’t plan on restocking or am unsure about restocking. This one falls into the unsure category. For preparation, I steeped a slightly heaping tsp. for 2 minutes in about 6 -8 oz. of water (the mug holds 8 oz. but I didn’t fill it completely – so maybe it’s closer to 6 oz.). The water was roughly 90 degrees celsius, so I’m hoping it wasn’t too hot but not really anticipating the best. I was being really impatient as I made this.

On a whim, I also poured about 1 1/2 tsp. of the peach syrup type stuff from the can of halved peaches I’m also eating.

Smell, is green tea with sort of a bubble-gum(y) bordeaux cherry aroma – which is like how it was last time. I think it’d smell good if not for the very vegetal scent of the green tea. It’s also a little medicinal cherry smelling – and that too is a turn off. The taste is very green tea, with the bubble gum bordeaux cherry mildly flavouring it. The aftertaste is a medicinal and leaves a funny taste in my mouth. I can’t taste how the peach syrup is tying into the flavour.

I guess I’d describe this tea as adequate. Maybe it’d be more to the taste of someone who actually likes green tea.

EDIT: After I’d finished my peaches, I poured off another tsp. or two of the peach juice into the tea, and this time I was able to pick up the peach alongside the cherry and it was actually much better. It really helped drown out the vegetal green tea, but I guess didn’t do a whole lot to fix the aftertaste. Now I want peach/cherry Bubblegum tea (which I STRONG Hubba Bubba type bubble gum flavour – or like, those little pink Double Bubble gums), maybe with a nice, light white tea base. Ooh! Or Double Bubble Mate tea would be good.

Last tea I’ll be having at home until probably Monday, maybe Tuesday. I leave for my comic con trip in just a few hours, and since I hadn’t tied this yet I figured I’d make some up and give it a proper review.

Dry leaf smells like black cherry ice cream and bubble gum: it’s very creamy and rich smelling with only a little bit of the green tea base’s scent coming through. My initial thought was that maybe this would be one of the few teas I find actually really truly benefits from added milk (to enhance the ice cream flavour I’ve thinking this might have). Out of the three teas I bought from Tea Desire, this is the one that my coworker Briana thought smelled the best: however she’s also REALLY into green tea, so maybe that had something to do with it.

I steeped about 1 1/2 tsp. of this for my 10 oz. mug for three minutes. The smell is a much lighter cherry with a more strong and intense green tea smell: not really a plus for me. It still mildly reminds me of bubblegum. I’m thinking maybe I steeped too long or the water was a bit too hot, because this has a sort of bitter taste to it, and is kind of astringent. The cherry taste is coming through, but less so in a sweet way and a bit more in a slightly medicinal way. I’m still getting notes of sweet bubble gum though, and that’s helping to save/redeem the cherry flavour. It’s a bit like bitter, astringent seaweed with a sweet, sugary cherry and bubble gum candy coating. I’m going to have to try this again with lower temperature water to be really sure about the taste.

Overall, right now, it’s kinda just… meh.

EDIT: Added some milk to the last half of the cup. It neither added to nor worsened the tea.

I almost forgot that I’d tried this in store today since it was their tea of the day! …Actually, it probably says a lot about what I thought of the tea that I forgot I’d even had it.

The liquor was a sort of medium orange colour with yellow hues and, when I tried it I had no information about what was in it other than the sales lady told me it was a flavoured green tea. I can’t say the name of the tea really did anything to educate me about what flavours I might experience.

Upon drinking, I was hit with a really vegetal taste next to something overwhelmingly fruity. So, basically high vegetal taste and high fruit taste (but the flavour wasn’t distinct enough to tip me off on which fruits I was tasting). There was also some unpleasant astringency. I wasn’t really a fan, and I think the sales lady could tell because she really didn’t suggest any green teas for me after that (even though I did end up buying a green tea it was one I had inquired about, not one she suggested).

I just looked up the tea on Tea Desire’s website, and I guess the fruit I was tasting was strawberry and raspberry. I’m not really a fan of green tea in general, but I’m learning to love flavoured green teas (or at least tolerate them). I’ve had strawberry green teas I’ve been much more happy with, though. There’s also sunflower blossoms in the mix, and thinking back now I guess I can see that. Still, not really my cup.

Sipdown (115)!

Finished this one off a few nights ago as a cold brew. It came out as more of the floral, ‘fresh from the garden’ raspberry type flavour I’ve experienced with this one with some very light peachy undertones as opposed to the more sweet, creamy and confectionery raspberry that this one often demonstrates. Not that that was a problem; I still adored the flavour and this tea will be missed. And I have to say, I hate that since I’m not in Saskatoon anymore I can’t just go down to the mall and easily grab myself another 50g to restock because if I could do it that easily I totally would. But next time I’m there I’ll aim to stop in to Tea Desire to restock anything I might want to.

Unrelated; but I am definitely getting sick. I’ve got the most stuffy nose right now and definitely look more ‘puffy’ than normal. GREAT. That’s totally what I wanted for Christmas, Santa! How’d you know?

:/

So, my brother bought some miracle berries a while back and I’d yet to try one so the other night we had some fun with flavour tripping. We tried an array of sour things like Salt & Vinegar Chips, Lemon Juice, sour candies…

All of which were DEFINITELY improved by the miracle berries. But you know what was really, really good with miracle berries? This tea. The raspberry flavour was just surreal with how tasty it was. I was hard core salivating and slurping it up like no one’s business. It’s just the best I’ve ever tasted it. Which honestly kind of pisses me off though ‘cause I definitely can’t afford to buy miracle berries just so I can flavour trip every time I want to drink this.

Damn; so good though.

Sweet creamy, buttery raspberry strudels…

But Gong Fu so there were many, many cups to be enjoyed by myself and Zak and Wheezie!

Can’t go wrong there.

Made this as tea soda while having a fun, lowkey games type night with my family. We played a couple rounds of Sushi Go! which I picked up months ago (after seeing it on Tabletop) but haven’t had anyone to play with yet. It was super fun and easy to pick up – I’d love to play more to try and work on the strategy side of it.

This tea soda was really nice; I was saying to someone in the Steepster chat the other day that I hadn’t found an oolong yet that I really like as a soda which is why I chose to make this one tonight. It wasn’t very strong/powerful and actually had more of a subtly flavoured “Carbonated Spring Water”/spritzer kind of vibe but I think that was actually a good thing because it meant I could taste some of the delicate aspects of the tea like the floral and peachier notes of the oolong. And of course the raspberry.

Also, I already wrote today about doing the written part of my test but I also did the presentation portion too. This module’s presentation was a comparison of two similar but different teas highlighting what makes them different and even though I prepped to talk about oolongs on a whim I switched to talking about Chinese and Japanese green teas. I think I did well; wish me luck! I probably wont know how I did overall for another couple of days, though.