6444 Tasting Notes
I’d like to say I was witty and made stormy night tea because there is a bit of a storm going on in Montreal tonight but realistically I was in search of Gingerbread and just gave up when I found a different festive tea to make into a latte. Similarly to Red Velvet Cake, I actually prefer this one straight. I find the milk doesn’t enhance this cup in any way like it does with some of the other lattes I have had. It’s not bad though!
Preparation
Now that my frother is up and running you might find I become a wee bit obsessed with lattes in the future. If you have any suggestions as to teas that make great lattes I am all ears!!
Anyways, after my failed attempt at making a latte (see my tasting note for Red Velvet Cake) I decided I wanted to try again. I originally thought Gingerbread Latte only to notice Birthday Cake sitting amongst my stash of favourites.
This was my go to rooibos before steepster opened my eyes to new and far more amazing flavors (Hello Jessie’s Tea and Della Terra’s Carrot Cake and Lime Chiffon!). I always thought it smelled great but was secretly disappointed with the lack of flavor. Turns out all it needed was a bit of milk. As a latte this is creamy and sweet and much closer to Birthday Cake than when drunk (drank? drunken?) straight. My new latte love may have saved this tea from being chucked out of my favourites bag.
Preparation
When I went to search for this tea I actually typed in “lovelylotus” because she is the one who sent it to me. I guess my sleep deprived brain planned on writing a tasting note about lovelylotus and thanking cookie dough for this sample?? Well, moving on.
Thank you to Lovelylotus for my awesome swap package! I am so glad you sent me so much of this because I haven’t even tried it yet but it smells AMAZING! It smells like fresh baked cookies from the oven and I can’t wait to try it out (just waiting for it to cool a bit – luckily my freezing apartment will take care of that in no time!). I actually thought about this tea all through class today so I was super excited to come home and try it.
SUCCESS! This tea tastes as good as it smells (that is always something I worry about with DAVIDs). I am so glad I have so much of this because I love it!! Thank you so much lovelylotus. I hope you like your teas as much as I have liked mine so far!!
Preparation
Okay so I am going to start this tasting note by saying that I have not slept in over 30 hours so if you are reading this and it makes no sense at all it can be attributed to that. I really must say paper writing all night until noon and then going to a conference and class for 1 is really not a fun day. However, I just need to get through a quiz tomorrow morning and I am free to spend the weekend with my sister and some friends who are coming from Toronto to visit me for the weekend!!
Anyways, on to the tea! I finally picked up AAA batteries (as opposed to the AA I bought out of excitement last week that obviously did not fit into my milk frother) which meant I got to brew my first at home latte ever. I have only had two before (Cocoa Canela and White Chocolate Frost – both amazing!!) and they were both to go drinks from DAVIDs so I decided I could make this myself. However, I did not think this through fully so my tea was understeeped and overfrothed (seriously i think the tea was 3/4 froth!). Well you live and you learn! Once I drank away most of the froth I was able to add the rest of the tea to the cup and make a nice latte. Sweet, creamy, caffeinated, and delicious! Just what I needed after my VERY long day. Although to be honest I think I prefer this tea straight as opposed to in latte form.
Preparation
Sipdown! I would be more excited if it weren’t for the fact that I just discovered this tea last night and it is already gone. However, I really needed something I knew I would enjoy after being disgusted by the teas in my Teavana order and this was the only tea I thought about reaching for. I guess I will be placing that Della Terra order earlier than expected so I can stock up on this. Thanks Dexter3657, I think you helped me find my new favourite tea!!
Well after the disaster that has been Teavana’s holiday favorites pack I decided I was done testing out Teavana teas for a while. However I wasn’t quite ready to give up trying new things all together so I turned to my trusty swap package from Dexter3657 that has yet to steer me wrong. Luckily, this tea is no exception. It is a little bit tart from the rhubarb and slightly creamy to incorporate the custard taste. One thing it is not is oily and thank God for that! Thanks Dexter3657 for yet another enjoyable cup of tea.
Preparation
So this is the fourth Teavana tea I am trying from my order and it is the third that I am highly unimpressed with. I mean for a tea called SPICED apple cider you would expect some spice but there is an overpowering sweetness from the cinnamon that is just so unpleasant. Maybe next time less steeping would correct that issue but for now I am seriously debating about pouring out the cup.
Preparation
Oh no! That doesn’t sound like the greatest order. I hope it starts looking up :)
Yeah Teavana is really not doing it for me tonight. The three teas I have not liked are the ones I was most excited about. I am just finding them way to sweet and incredibly oily. And for the cost of Teavana’s teas I was really expecting more from them.
Luckily I also have swaps that I can try and they all seem to be much more delightful teas.
Well yay for swaps at least :) That is really too bad. I have a Teavana store handy but the minimum 50g has always turned me off and I’ve only really tried swaps of their teas.
well if you want to try some of these teas despite my horrendous reviews I can add some to your package which I unfortunately have not sent out yet due to a paper I have due tomorrow.
I may pass. You can slip in a cup if you’re desperate to get rid of them :P I understand the paper, I’m in six classes this term and three labs, so no worries there :)
Ouch, that certainly seems like a handful. And I would slip some in had I not just discovered we are running dangerously low on ziplocs…ooops! Well I will just add that to things to do tomorrow once the paper is submitted.
This smells minty with a hint of white chocolate but when brewed it looked exactly like pumpkin spice brulee – orange, murky, and with a layer of oil on top. Luckily, this isn’t quite as bad an oil slick since you can taste the tea without oil coating your mouth. With that said, you can still taste the oil and there is an overpowering sweetness that is just not very pleasant. Ultimately, I was hoping this would be a suitable alternative to the White Chocolate Frost I tried at David’s but I am starting to think that is not the case. At least I tried though.
Preparation
So I put some of this in a mug and went to shower only to find it cold when I returned. However, that turned out to not be such a bad thing because it is delicious when cold – I mean I would think that is not such a huge surprise from a tea called Watermelon Mint CHILLER. The mint is fresh and sweetened perfectly by the addition of the melons. This is definitely a much cleaner (that’s a weird way to describe it but hopefully you get what I mean) tea than the cup of oil Teavana calls Pumpkin Spice Brulee.
Hot this tastes different than cold as I find the melon more prominent and the mint comes towards the end. Still delicious though. I haven’t really found a teavana tea that I thought was amazing but this tea might have changed that (or maybe it is so fresh compared to my last cup that I am tricked into thinking it is better than it is?).
