1403 Tasting Notes
Nope. I am not tasting chocolate. Or marshmallow. Or spices, though I see them.
It tastes like the tea base. That’s pretty much it.
I am not having a good tea day.
This cup is from the BF order which I asked to have postponed because I was to be away, which means that the teas spent more time marinating together in a sealed up box. So far, I have been disappointed with three of the teas from that particular order: lack of flavour beyond that of the tea base. Though I haven’t tried all of the rest of the teas yet as I just recently got back home. I have another packet of this tea which I haven’t tried yet from a couple of weeks earlier, from a separate order. I will sample the other packet to compare.
So I sit here pouting. I had such high hopes for this one.
Preparation
I love the sound of this. Truly, truly. And this morning, it was just the thing my heart desired to try for the first time.
If memory serves, this was one of the Chocolate Collection I purchased around Black Friday. The ribbon sticker is sparkly, so it is definitely from my most recent purchase.
The smell of the dry leaf was chocolatey nice. Steeped it up, not too long, not too short. And now, I am disappoint. The scent of the chocolate has completely disappeared. Ok, maybe a vague vague whiff.
I am not getting any smokiness: where oh where are you, Lapsang Souchong? I am not getting any chocolatiness. I am not getting any spice. I am not getting any thick custard puddling-like cream. Or any cream, really.
Pretty much straight black tea. A nice straight black tea, but that’s all it is.
Preparation
Aww, that’s too bad. I find QTT’s chocolate notes to be rather faint.
I haven’t concluded that yet. I am more concerned that my most recent order had my teas sealed up in a box for longer than is good for them. I had asked Lauren to delay shipping after my purchase as I was going away. So that time plus the shipping time may have been fatal, to at least some of them. So far, from that order, I have tried only three others. Two were fine and flavourful, but Spumoni, which had received such rave reviews, tasted like nothing but green tea. I thought that I would try again, steeping parameters and such, though I usually steep briefly and follow guidelines for tea types. I haven’t reviewed any of those from the most recent batch. Anyway, arrrrrrgh. I am really really hoping that this has to do with the blend rather than what I’ve noted above.
Did you try it with milk? I used dairy but I imagine other types would do well
This is the second one of the Herbal Infusions Twelve Days of Christmas kit that I’ve tried.
By chance, I came across the collection online on Black Friday, the only day that it is listed for sale.
I liked the sound of the teas, and I liked the idea of supporting a tea company in my own city.
So I made the purchase, and suddenly, I am made aware that I am being charged in American dollars. Yeah, really.
I am being charged in US funds AND I am being charged rather high shipping fees, considering that the tea is being mailed within the same city and comparing shipping charges of other tea companies in my city. Ok then.
Furthermore, nowhere on the site before checkout confirmation did it mention that the cost of tea is in American currency. Nowhere on the site am I seeing shipping rates listed.
Not a good first impression.
All this to me seems a colossal failure of communication. And more than a bit of an ethics issue.
I did contact the company about my concerns. No change.
A couple of days after ordering the collection of teas, I returned to the site to review the teas I would be receiving. Gone. No trace of the Christmas teas listed. The collection is only sold on BF, and only listed then apparently. Yeah, whatever. I am not a big fan of gimmicks, but perhaps working on creating a buzz works for some people.
When I did receive the teas a week or two later, there were no ingredients cited on the packages or on a separate itemized list in the box. Fortunately, I do not have any allergies or firm dislikes. Not a huge issue for me. However, still.
Anyway, on to the tea. The first tea that I tried out of the box was just fab. I will write about it later.
I had to look up a Pavlova recipe because though the dessert was vaguely familiar, I had to refresh my memory of the flavours involved: meringue, fruit—mainly berries, and cream.
Promising, promising.
And of course, there are no ingredients listed on the packet. Nor any steeping parameters.
The scent of the rooibos was raspberry cream. There were a couple of cream-coloured chips, which I assume are meringue bits.
I steeped with water resting a few minutes past boiling.
The flavour is raspberry and a bit of cream. The smell is a bit of cough syrup. Occasionally, the cough syrup taste creeps into the tail end of the sip as well.
The second steep was more of the same. I poured it out.
Maybe more meringue and more cream? Maybe some raspberry bits?
Raspberry vanilla seems like a nice change from other rooibos flavours. The idea has potential. The execution could use some work.
Flavors: Cream, Raspberry
Preparation
Sigh, oh boy. Not at all surprised by any of this. There have been a ton of problems with this company, especially over the past year. I’m so sorry you got dragged into it. I’m actually surprised they even sent you your order.
Thank you. Actually, to be fair, my order shipped 17 days after I made the online order. Which is fine. All items shipped together. I have no issues with that part of it. It’s all the other stuff.
After I made the order, I was made aware of the many many previous customer service issues that Steepsterites have had with this company. So unnecessary. Really, so unnecessary.
I do look forward to trying the rest of the teas though. The quality of the first one was very good. And I have heard good things about their teas. So, let’s see.
That said, something truly exceptional on the planet would have to happen for me to order from them again.
haaaate haate haaate…. i wish something in this universe would happen to make Dan realise that shitty customer service needs to go. Stop effing around with 100 projects and focus on one or two and do them really really well. the man is all over the map.
:( :(
I’m wondering if they only bother trying to send newcomers their orders to reel them in, and then don’t bother if you’re a repeated customer, or maybe that’s just a coincidence. Who knows. I’m glad you at least like the tea itself thus far. It’s just astonishing that he is even still in business.
There are a couple of teas on their site that I’d like to try. However, unless they open a physical store that I can walk into and shop in, in Canadian dollars, I won’t be making further purchases. Apparently, sometimes they show up at markets that I frequent, so that is another possibility.
I can totally understand pop-up stores and such. Even then, I expect some form of reliability and trust established with the public.
Oh wait, I just remembered that I’ve tried another one from the series as well and really enjoyed it. So that’s two out of three which have been winners so far. I will review them at some point, hopefully soon.
they had a physical store…and then it randomly closed after never being open during their stated open hours… which also pissed me off.
Yes, iIrc, it was on Adelaide in the business section. I was unaware of it at the time it was open, so I missed it. But I see a pattern. There’s a lot of randomness associated with this particular business.
This. is. divine.
The smokiness of the leaf and the mild coffee and chocolate aroma. The depth of the dark cherry. Intoxicating.
There’s nothing much that I can say about this tea that hasn’t been said already.
In addition to all of its sensual charms, I like very much that the caffeine level is more reasonable than black tea, making this an excellent late afternoon tea for the caffeine-sensitive.
The only thing that I have not liked about QTT has been the packaging as it allowed the flavours to seep out and around and contaminate the other teas. Thankfully, Mad Hatter is in the process of changing this up. So much excellent.
Win, win. I am pretty much addicted.
Flavors: Almond, Cherry, Coffee, Smoke
Preparation
On my second steeping, I added half a teaspoon of Zen’s Strawberry Cream tea to get the slightest bit of strawberry zing. A good call that was. Just the thing. It added a touch of strawberriness at the very front of the sip followed up by coconut. The tea bases worked well together too: a bit less depth than the fresh steeping, but then, that’s to be expected.
Since I am on a strawberry tea thing now apparently.
Now that my tea stash is getting way out of control, I’ve started gathering my smaller bits of tea together by category with the hope that I might be able to actually finish a packet or two and reduce the amount of space my obsession is all beginning to take up.
I need more caramel tea. Smooth creamy caramel tea: burnt, caramelized, dulce de leched, flanned, custarded, all the caramel teas.
I seem to have caramel and toffee, but it is all spiced and chaied. And that’s just not the thing.
This train of thought is not taking me to the reduce-my-tea-stash place. Anyway.
Anyway, so I was going through my small bits of black tea this morning and found myself again searching for a fruit-flavoured choice, as opposed to a spicy or nutty or toffee one.
The last times I have had this particular tea, I seem to recall that the strawberry aspect of it popped more. Or perhaps that was me and my wishful thinking.
I shook and shook and shook my sample bag and still no strawberries appeared. Or maybe they were in little bits in my leaf.
Nonetheless, this is a very satisfying tea. Probably especially so as I have had far too many Ceylon experiences lately and have been craving a tea with substance beyond the flavours. Liberteas has made such a brilliant choice in this black tea base. Every time I have it, I send a silent thank you and blessing into the tea cosmos.
Plenty of coconut, which comes through in both scent and flavour. Layered onto the coconut, there’s a bit of cream going on. A wee ephemeral strawberry hint at the very end of the sip.
Yes, a very satisfying cup. If there were just a bit more strawberry, lovely lovely strawberries….
Flavors: Coconut, Cream, Strawberry
Preparation
I can sure use more caramel tea in my life too. Good call on that.
At least you’re sorting through your stash and have some sort of method in place, lest your cupboard would get even more out of hand.
The some sort of method is not in place. Yet. However, the idea has landed in my brain and small steps towards making this happen have begun, so yay! My tea fever just started in earnest February 2015, so now is the time to organize teas to use the older ones before disaster strikes. Hopefully, disaster has not struck yet.
Sweet Caramel O’Mine is the tea of the week this week – just sayin’
Those baby steps are better than nothing! It’s great that you’re grabbing the harness now rather than later.
Grabbing the harness. I like that. The truer thing is that I am fondling the harness, though I hope that I will be developing a firmer grip in the coming days. For me, first, I have to plant the idea.
And yes, I have Sweet Caramel O’ Mine here on standby for the right moment. I have been a bit fixated on strawberry and if not strawberry, then at least red for the moment. My second fixation is on giving a once over to things that are already open, and preferably those which are already nearing their end either in age or in quantity.
The right moment is coming. I am never far from Caramel for long.
It’s ok, the last couple months have been the best times to make purchases between all the awesome BF and Boxing Week sales. It’s not like you’re buying this much tea all year round.
Thank you. The not-buying-tea-savings-plan begins at midnight. or earlier if my cc rebells. :)
First thing is that I was really craving either a red fruit or citrus black this morning, but with having begun shuffling things around, I was unable to find my stash of either. And the boiling water was already cooling.
So. I don’t know how I made the grand leap to this choice, but here we are.
It seems unfair to give this a rating under these conditions, but if I were to today, I would rate it at a 75.
It’s fine, though in a perfect world, I’d like a richer flavour here, of the oolong, of the flavourings.
Hazelnutty. A bit of cream. A bit of that slightly bitter nutskin thing going on. But there’s something metallic at the end of the sip that I don’t find pleasing.Slightly past boiling on first infusion. Boiling as per instructions on the second.
I will come back to this on a different day. A day on which I am not already slightly biased.
Flavors: Cream, Hazelnut, Metallic
Preparation
This is one very delicious strawberry tea. I do love a good strawberry tea. I have some favourites already, but I think this one will be added to them once I figure out the steeping parameters to take me to strawberry tea bliss.
I think I overstepped by a minute or so. The three minute steep brings out astringency in the black tea base that I think would disappear with a shorter steep at two minutes and/or two and a half minutes at a slightly lower temperature. I am going to try those and report back.
The strawberry flavour works for me. Not quite natural, but pleasant and lovely. No weird aftertaste. Sweet enough but not overly.
I am becoming a big fan of Zen Tea . Delicious. Canadian. Reasonable. And they haven’t steered me wrong yet.
Flavors: Strawberry, Vanilla
Preparation
I ordered this tea during the Black Friday 2015 sales based on reviews. Then rumour has it that this current batch, the new one that I am assuming I received, is inferior to the original.
Now, I haven’t tried the original EGC from Zen, but what is in my cup right now is pretty fantastic. It is not particularly creamy, perhaps that is the problem. However, it works for me. I have tried DT’s EGC and found it to be a disaster for me.
This vanilla is deep and grounded, with several levels of flavour, none of that false perfumey vanilla flavour or scent. The bergamot is there, also grounded, but with lovely floral and citrus lilts that surprise your sips from time to time. The tea base is a pleasant Ceylon mix, as opposed to the thin tinny nonsense that often finds its way into flavoured teas.
Word is that the original tea will be back in stock in two weeks or so. Can it get better than this?
Flavors: Bergamot, Vanilla
Preparation
I haven’t ordered this in a year but it’s too bad to hear that the newer one isn’t quite up to snuff. But glad you still enjoy it. I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say yes, yes it can get better than that.
I am going to have to conjure up an excuse to make another order then. I am really thinking that I got a bag from the original batch though. Who knows.
dope. i have some coming in my order, so here’s hoping it’s more delicious
I adore QTT. I suspect the quality of (some?) of my teas may have been compromised if/because they spent all that time together in the box in less than airtight packaging if that is what had happened. Which is my doing in that I had requested a delay in shipping. I am just now beginning to sample teas from that order as I have been all over the place AND I had placed a previous order in November. Yikes, I am rambling. Anyway, the point here is that very likely yours is going to be divinely delicious.
Oh, and I also placed the teeniest QTT order yesterday before my cc reminded me to stop the insanity. And before the not-buying-tea-savings-plan began. Teeny tiny.
hahahaha it was 2015! go you! what did you get?
Caramel Apple Oolong
Gingerbread Pancakes Yunnan
Chestnut Caramel Cream Keemun
Vanilla Pears Cardamon Butter Black
My cart was far fuller before I began whittling things down.
Mmmm I almost picked up more of the caramel apple one, but I have a few Apple teas to work on first.
Because the Vanilla Apple Cider Panna Cotta Oolong blew me away, truly, truly, I thought this may be a good bet. However, in that one, the apple was nominal, or so it seemed to me. I’ve only had it that once so far, but the memory of it is luxurious. And this one, of course, who knows. Anyway, we’ll see. I think this one comes in a teeny tiny amount.
That is to say that if the apple part of the caramel apple one is comparable to the apple part of the panna cotta one, I wouldn’t count it as an apple tea. If you were looking forward to apple, you’d be disappointed.
i’ve had the apple caramel one before – was going to pick up a bit more. The apple is subdued, but it’s still an apple tea and was decent. if i can get through more of my other apple teas, i may pick up more eventually heh
Good news then for me and my upcoming teeny tiny order. Good thing I managed to sneak it in before the not-buying-tea-unless-it-is-40%-off-Canadian-and-no-shipping-savings-plan began.