VariaTEA Send Message

I asked my sister to pick a tea for me and this is what she pulled out. Not sure what drew her to this but I am happy with it. It’s generically fruity with some rose notes. I like that the green tea base hasn’t made much of an appearance in the first couple of sips. It’s a nice enough tea but not one I need a lot of in my life. The last little bit I will either have iced or pass on if I think of someone who needs to try this.

And since its a fandom tea, the other questions is whether it suit its namesake? I feel like no. It has dragonfruit, which is a nice nod to the khaleesi but dragonfruit is such a subtle flavor that its easy to forget its in there. So that aside, nothing else really says Dany. Roses is definitely more the Tyrells and green tea seems too light for such a powerful person. I guess in my mind I would have thought more smoke. Maybe that’s too on the nose. One cool thing I will note is it steeps up an interesting neon-ish, almost green color. It reminded me of the wildfire in the show but even that is not really connected to this character (her dad, yes…not her).

At times I really liked this and at others I didn’t. I think it was better hot. I didn’t pay too much attention though because I drank it while playing Pandemic.

This was significantly better while still hot. As it cools, it’s not great tbh. It’s a spiced tea and while hot the spices were an alright balance, but are becoming more and more muddied as the temperature drops. With that said, this tea may not be the best flavorwise but it’s incredibly pretty both as a dry leaf and steeped. Check out the sparkle here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKZtcTdgnoZ/?igshid=1i1x9we8yk7n3

Latte Sipdown (326)

I won a Tea Sparrow giveaway in December 2019 and this is one of the teas. The thing is I previously had a Tea Sparrow subscription and didn’t really like any of the teas that much. This is a chocolate almond rooibos and all of those can be finicky flavors so the idea of Tea Sparrow taking them all on together did not have me itching to try this. However, it is getting older and I have to give it a chance sooner or later so when I wanted a latte, this stood out to me.

Drinking it now, its not as bad as I expected. It’s not overly good either but its tolerable. I don’t get much chocolate beyond the chocolate drizzle I tossed on top. Instead I get woody rooibos and marzipan. I don’t like either of those much so while I can drink this, I don’t want it again. The last serving got tossed into my bag of teas for Sil since that was more readily accessible than my swap box.

I made this iced last night in a tea press. I drank about a mouthful before doing my mouthwash and then falling asleep. That mouthful was really good – delicious citrus ginger mix. I then woke up and carried this around with me until I finally thought to drink it. It was better last night and more balanced but today was still good. The ginger just overtook the bright orange flavor a bit more the longer it sat.

Matcha Latte Sipdown (326)

I’ve been really slacking at tea drinking in favour of drinking copious amounts of water. However, today I already had 2 litres of water and I just really wanted a matcha latte: the first couple of flavors I picked up (blueberry peach and pina colada) seemed less latte flavors but this one seemed perfect for one.

This one is alright. Less flavourful than I expected it to be. I was nervous because the raspberry flavor they use isn’t the best but this strawberry flavor is better. It is strawberry milkshake so not true to the fruit per se but still distinctive. Just light in flavor until I got to the end of the cup. It seems a lot of the matcha settled so it got a touch chalky and definitely more grassy/traditional matcha. I was excited for this one and while it was good, I did expect more than what it delivered.

Thank you Roswell Strange for sending this my way. It’s one I was definitely interested in trying so now I at least know what to expect if I decide I want more.

Sipdown (327)

This came as a free sample with my Instagram giveaway. The giveaway I won in 2019 and only now received the prize thanks to Tea Drops. Sipsby was the reason for the delay but its arrived and so that’s fun.

I thought I turned the kettle on to boil but apparently I didn’t so this was made with only warm water. I am hoping that mistake is the reason for this to be so messy and for the sprinkles to not be dissolved.

If I get past the chalky/grittiness from the tea not properly dissolving in the warm water, I get a not great flavor. So not great texture and not great flavor. It is cinnamon hibiscus, which is not a combination I particularly enjoy. A flat cinnamon hibiscus as well.