The Cozy Tea Cart, LLC

Perfect cold-day tea! Rooibos for joint pain, nuts for a thicker, brothier mouthfeel, sweet cinnamon for flavor. This is a very woodsy-tasting blend, evoking flannel blankets in front of a roaring fireplace in a log cabin in the mountains somewhere.

This is so lovely. The dry leaf has enormous chunks of walnut, slivers of almond, and small cubes of candied fruit. It smells strongly of peanuts, wood, and flour.
Steeps a reddish color. It has a pleasingly oily, thick, satisfying mouthfeel. I definitely taste peanut, almond, and the papaya, as far as detecting the literal ingredients goes. It’s nutty and woodsy, with a tiny bit of sweetness and notes of cinnamon and apple in the aftertaste. It reminds me of apple crisp, actually. It’s a very well-executed blend— delivers exactly what it promises for flavor and feels indulgent.

There was too much lavender in this one for my taste. The EG itself was very delicate and beautiful and didn’t need the lavender at all, in my opinion. It was OK, but it wound up being a little on the soapy side, which is regrettable because I do love a solid classic EG with that delicate bergamot flavor. Glad I was only given a single serving of this to try by my friend and didn’t commit to a whole pouch of it.

Luscious is the perfect word for this one. It’s somehow summery and Christmassy at the same time. Strawberry, kiwi, and mistletoe in the same blend? It would never work with any base other than rooibos and honeybush! The liquor is a cheery pink color and very aromatic, almost like potpourri or mulled wine. I tasted the apple most distinctly, but there was a definite fruit punch-y note to it as well. The mouthfeel is very juicy. This WOULD be good iced, but I must admit that I enjoyed it as a hot cuppa as well. Not anything I would purchase large quantities of, but glad I got to try it nonetheless.

Had them prepare this for me. I drank it black, even though traditionally it’s supposed to be made with condensed milk and sugar. As promised in the description, the flavor was indeed well-balanced and complex. The vanilla and the non-astringent Irish breakfast black tea base provided a smooth, lemony, earthy foundation, and I enjoyed both the bitterness of the orange peel rounded out by the gentle sweetness of the cardamom and the spicy-sweet edge that the cinnamon and anise provided. Just super tasty and masterfully blended.

I love genmaicha. Like, really, REALLY love it. This one is everything I could have hoped for and wanted in a genmaicha. The toasted-rice-to-sencha ratio is on point. Some of the rice is puffed, which makes the dry leaf exciting to look at. The hearty nuttiness and high quality of the sencha provides the perfect vehicle for the robust roasted/ burnt notes from the toasted rice. Comforting and wholesome. If a tea could be a hand-knitted sweater, this would be that tea.

The dry leaf has aesthetically pleasing large chunks of cinnamon bark, entire cardamom pods, and cacao pieces. It smells sweet and roasted, with cinnamon and cardamom notes dominating.
The liquor steeps up a dark brown with a tinge of red from the rooibos. The ginger and chocolate dominate on the sip, with the cinnamon and black pepper adding a nice kick in the aftertaste. The woodsy-earthiness of the rooibos complements the spice notes beautifully.
This is a great wintertime dessert tea!

This sampler from the TCTC shop fits nicely as an after dinner dessert drink or when one is need of something sweet and chocolatey.

The headiness in the chocolate is through and through while the cinnamon lingers sweetly on. It is not a cup of chocolate drink but close enough for a rooibos mixture.

This TCTC Spice tea is a vibrant cup of tea adding pleasant notes to the senses. The aromas depicted in the cup are: clove, cinnamon, ginger and orange peels. The heady scent in the cinnamon and ginger makes it sweeter in the tasting of this tea.

The orange peels makes it fresh and zesty. There is a licorice like fragrance rising from the cup after brewing. The smells in the spices do awaken all of the senses, making it a morning tea or mid-day to refresh and revitalize.

This tea sampler is definitely a cup of energy with spicy notes throughout. A bit too spicy for my taste but nice just the same.

This first flush is amber in coloring; very light for a black tea. The scent is very nice kind of make me think of jasmine tea and not really a black tea.

I had this in the morning to start my day and now very late in the day and no jitters as I tend to get with caffeinated teas. I am assuming there is more caffeine in this sampler as opposed to a green tea.

It is not a smoky tea at all, or full bodied as in roasted. So it is a black tea tasting like mildly green tea, very soft to the palette and sweet to the senses.

A review of Choco Mint by The Cozy Tea Cart

I have had to clean my tea cupboard since it is getting to be that time of removing the empty containers and to hopefully make room for new teas when money is allotted for it. Anyhow, I came across some old sampler packs from a teashop I had visited in New Hampshire last year.
This is an herbal tea; instruction is to bring water to full boil, approx. 212 Fahrenheit. Measure one level tsp of loose tea into the infuser for each cup. Pour prepared water over tea and steep for 5-7 minutes.

What I have in remainder of the samples given to me; is a partly full bag of Choco Mint; and less then a teaspoon of Chocolate Cinnamon Rooibos and some of their TCTC Spice Tea. And I have taken the like, adding them all to my infuser and placing this in the cup and adding the boiling water. I leave it to steep for a good five minutes.

I remember when I had this Choco Mint last year that I found to be to weak and that it would have been nicer with more Choco for that home cup of Chocolate.

The tea’s aroma after the steep for five minutes is lovely as it mixes in the air, the scents of chocolate, mint, and that sweet cinnamon; as well as some of the other spices present and all of this intermingles to making a lovely cup of tea. It is very mild tea since there is perhaps more water than there is tea. So the flavorings are all very light since the net weight of water is more.

I wanted to give these samples another try and there is the potential for an exceptional cup of Choco Mint tea if only there could be more of the Chocolate (Swizz premium, or Nestle, or pure Cacao.) What is needed is more Chocolate and less water possibly, but we don’t want mud in the cup but an even distribution.

The Cozy Tea Cart, LLC opened another tea shop in June. I have not been fortunate to visit with them; I think one visit was enough for the owners. I am not to their liking or seeming so. I would attract the wrong element to their establishment. I get this quite a bit. Anyhow, if in Brookline, NH do give the Cozy Tea Cart, LLC a visit.

I decided to try this tea first thing in the morning, I am not sure why however.

In bringing the water to full boil as I tend to do, I placed some of the tea in a strainer over my mug and poured the water directly over the strainer letting it dissolved and blend into the cup. The scent was wonderful, very chocolatey with the mint lingering in the air.

I find sipping this tea to be most enjoyable and would have been better as an after dinner drink, like an after dinner mint. It was enjoyable and I must insist that it would work best in the evening. I would have liked the tea to be more chocolate in taste and less of the mint.

So am I saying that I like chocolate tea as opposed to choco-Mint tea? Perhaps.

The scent is definitely that of an after dinner mint, like those thin mints one has after a meal sealing in the flavors in the dinner just consumed.

This sampler I obtained while attending a farmer’s market event. The Cozy Tea Cart was there and they were kind enough to provide me with some samples. I planned my morning today for drinking of this tea.

Highland Green Tea is lighter in coloring, the leaves become a rich green after several brewing. Flavoring is very light, a milky dewiness about it. Makes me think of Honey Dew melon in describing the milkiness in the cup. There is a hint of rose fragrance as well.

I am so appreciative for returning to green tea when away from it. No matter how much I enjoy other teas, I find Green tea to always be a welcome and this one was most satisfying.

The milkiness I crave in not drinking milk is found in the flavoring of this Ceylon Highland Green.

I hope to try this again to make sure the experience is real.