Featured & New Tasting Notes

Yep, its a tea bag. The however is there is 2.25g/bag. For reference Twinings has 2g. Stash generally has 1.7g and the last Republic of Tea I tried was a piddly 1.33g. This makes a nice milk chocolaty mug. I can’t single out the other ingredients except the chilis. I love hot and spicy but this really isn’t. After you sip chocolate the end sip has a warm glow. Definitely not melt your face. Just a little warmth. I left the bag in the mug and it never became bitter or overly strong. Is it the best tea ever? Of course not, but I did enjoy it. If you like a little heat. this is a good everyday bagged tea.

This tea is disgusting and undrinkable. It tastes very artificially sweetened and fake, and this is coming from a girl who’s just fine sweetening her tea all on her own. It’s so sad, because it’s such, such a far cry from the delectable smell of the dry leaf, which smells like a fresh apple candle that you’d set out in your living room to make your place not smell like people really live in it. Actually, I do have the candle for this tea as well, but it’s because I spent an obscene amount of money there the other day and got it for free. I’ll enjoy the candle a lot more than the tea, that’s for sure.

Loved the jays game yesterday, although their loss was devastating. and then mr. keychange and I had such a hard time getting home. It was such a long and drawn out adventure that unfolded slowly and terribly, complete with greyhound being predictably unreliable and uber drivers refusing to take our guide dogs. We were supposed to get home around 8:00 but ended up spending over a hundred dollars on an uber ride and got home after 11:00. It is what it is, but man I do not know how any blind person lives in Toronto and doesn’t want to kill themselves/other people on a regular basis.

This tea sucks. I can’t wait until I get my 52 teas order in the mail.

Feeling gross today. Happens every time I eat well cooked eggs for breakfast, and maybe even with sunny side up if I don’t have much besides that. Today, they were scrambled. Delish, but holy queasy :/
I’m the only one I’ve ever known with this issue. Anyone else out there?

So I didn’t really care about which tea I had. Figured anything would be good, I guess I was in that kinda mood. So when I made this, I didn’t expect it to be fab. Last time, I found it somewhat weak. But today? It was great! All semi sweet yet slightly tart and creamy strawberries with a lovely green base. Wonders never cease.

You know you have too much tea when you find a Sun Moon Lake sample at the bottom of the stack boxes. I can understand losing a lesser tea but few teas hit all my buttons like Taiwan Sun Moon Lake black tea. Dry it smells of cocoa, honey, kind sweet potato, with a Darjeeling like muscatel. The whole mix has a baked quality to the scent. Mmmmm.

Tasting is similar to the scent. It is an easy sip that builds to what I am going to call a presence. It isn’t a hefty bite. Its more refined than the raw bite of some teas.

The second cup had me mentally thinking cinnamon candy. It is so sweet and feels syrupy on the lips. The cinnamon image is welcome but weird, in that there is not so much a cinnamon taste, and certainly no cinnamon burn, but the image remained after several sips. I love when a tea does that kind of magic trick. Even in the second cup I still catch grape notes under the cinnamon, honey, sweet potato.

Complex and delicious.

mmm a small bit of this from variaTEA was a nice opportunity to revisit this one. I still prefer it as a latte, but it’s a nice cup of tea on this dreary sort of morning. …er afternoon haha. So glad that it’s a long weekend AND my other half has at least 2 of the 3 days off! woot woot! Maybe we’ll get a bike ride in this weekend.

Ah… What a wonderfully scented tea. My sense of smell kicked in early this morning so I went through my teas, inhaling to find the one I wanted this morning. This one won. I swear, there is a hot pancake inside the pouch, drenched in butter and maple syrup. An excellent tea.

It has been a long time since I have written a tasting note, but that is mostly because I was on vacation in Scotland! What a beautiful place it is, the rugged highlands, epic oceans, sandy beaches, cliffs, hills, munroes..everything was great! And the weather was gorgeous to boot! I can’t wait to go back someday, it was a good 10 days there but I will definitely return to see the eastern parts (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, we saved the whole eastern coast with its castles for another trip) and I would love to go back to the Isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides again, they were stunning! Great time, wish I was still there!

Anyways, so while on holiday I did drink a fair amount of tea, every morning in fact, although it was mostly basic bagged black teas by Twinings or Tetley, but I took those with milk and sugar so they were quite good with the delicious Scottish breakfasts. A few places had peppermint, and I had that one or two mornings to help with digesting the heavy food near the end of the trip. I also had loose tea once, in Glasgow, at a little cafe near the University I got an EG to go and it looked like it was loose tossed in a tea bag, it was also pretty good. So overall a lot of tea drinking, also, every B&B and hotel we stayed at provided a kettle, tea, sugar and milk in the room! I wish they did that here in Canada!!

Overall, a tasty week of teas and a great holiday. Now I am back to my stash, and will hopefully log some notes as the weather here is turning cooler so I should be drinking more chai, puerh and spicy pumpkin and apple things haha.

Totally agreed with Kittenna on this, no cherry but lots of cakiness! Noms. and yeah the sparkles dazzle. I did add a touch of sugar to see if any fruit notes would emerge but instead was rewarded with cake! I was really looking forward to cherry, as I loooooove cherries. But cake works too.
Thank you Keychange for sharing!

So there has been talk circulating around the idea of a smoky vanilla tea. So I tried my hand at making my own this morning using Tippy’s Lumberjack and Townsend Tea’s Mt. Hood Vanilla I think my ratio was 3 parts vanilla tea to 1 part smoky tea. I would have liked to have seen more vanilla flavor and less LS smokiness, but I think the blend was really quite good. It will have to do for now, I am keeping my eyes peeled for the real thing soon.

Don’t let me down, Steepster!

This is a high quality cake made with material from ancient trees in Lincang. The beautiful whole leaves are “picked” off the cake very easily. Gold colored liquor with a pleasant aroma. The taste is smooth and sweet and full in the mouth; balanced with pleasant bitterness in later infusions making the cup more complex. Decent longevity – I’ve taken if for 8 rounds. This is a very solid production for which the price has risen steadily over the past two years. At this point, it might have risen a bit too high.

Around 2 months ago I reviewed this tea and gave it top marks, essentially it had everything I look for in a black breakfast tea. Though I have continued to drink this I thought I would review it again to make sure the top mark rating is just.

Taking 1.5 teaspoons of blend and steeping with boiling water for around 3 minutes.

The resulting liquid is thick and malty with some sourness and a hint of smoke in the after taste. Despite being full on in terms of flavour this is not astringent and does not require milk nor sugar to drink it. The sourness adds a charm to the blend and works well with the malt notes. There is also a touch of sweetness to it which becomes noticeable after a few mouthfuls.

I still do really like this tea, it’s perfect for me in the morning. I don’t like using milk or sweetener when I can help it and this blend means I don’t have to, but it doesn’t compromise on flavour and I’m not pulling grimaces between sips because it tastes too rough (which sometimes happens with other breakfast teas). Either way I will need to get some more of this when I run out because it would truly be missed.

In short, this blend is still a winner.

Rosali Tea is just launching a monthly subscription service. I received this and a milk oolong for review. When I opened the box and saw hibiscus on the label, I went eeuuuwww, hibiscus. When I opened the bag to sniff, I expected a tart blast. Instead I got this incredible vanilla orange scent. I poured out a spoon of leaf and immediately saw rooibos. That is often another red flag as it can be throat scratchy rough. I could not smell it until after I steeped. Even then it is light and its sweetness fills in around the orange and vanilla. I see hibiscus. I do not taste hibiscus. I added a little sweetener for science. Holy Wow! This is unquestionably the best blend I have ever tried with either hibiscus or rooibos. So very good.

This is totally peppermint tea speckled with sugar, akin to a candy cane. I don’t taste the base but regardless, this is soothing, tasty, and refreshing.

Thanks, MissB! I don’t have anything else to say about this tea but hey, sometimes less is more.

Ok so I bet you never thought that this tea would go amazingly unbelievably swimmingly well with a tuna sandwich, but it’s one of the best ways to enjoy it. I don’t even know why. Something about washing the sharp tang of tuna with dill and lemon down with a warm blast of cinnamon is just so cozy and perfect. I made this in my curve mug, used 2 tsp of leaf for 12 oz. of water and drank it straight. Cinnamon teas seem to do exceptionally well in travel mugs, or at least they do for me. Definitely a winter staple.

In other news, it’s been a bad week for sleep. I have slept poorly for the last few nights, and that is almost always a recipe for the quick unravelling of my stability in pretty much every imaginable way. Hopefully that rights itself soon, and if not, the upcoming long weekend should at least help me recover somewhat.

This was my tea of the morning today. This is one of my all time favorite teas. Not so much because of the flavor (which is good and enjoyable, but not honestly, outstanding) but because it makes me remember good times with friends. My friends Robyn and Jocelyn keep me supplied with this tea, and I always think of them when I have it, and that makes me smile. Sometimes that’s what makes a tea superb.

Managed to forget I owned this one and bought it again. Luckily it is pretty good. There is a strong note of malt. And a lesser note of chocolate or cocoa. There is very little bitterness to this and not much astringency.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 min. I think it would benefit from a shorter steep time.

Holy cinnamon Batman. Cinnamon is all I taste, but I kind of like it. Why? Because it’s not just any kind of cinnamon. It’s almost exactly like the cinnamon-flavoured ribbon candy you can find around the holidays. Maybe a little bit like cinnamon hearts but definitely more like the ribbon candy than anything else.

I don’t even know what else is supposed to be in here but perhaps it doesn’t matter. For a bagged tea, this is crazily strong. I haven’t added any milk or sugar to this, but drinking this straight makes me wonder if this is basically the kind of blend, ratio-wise, that most restaurants/cafes serve as “chai” (whether it being a Starbucks or an Indian restaurant) because the majority of them turn out to taste like cinnamon milk. I’m sure the same would happen with this.

As it cools, it tastes more like ground cinnamon. And now it’s all gone. Would I have it again? Actually, I would. I wouldn’t buy it, but it’s not bad. Not bad at all. Thanks, MissB!

Took this to work in my new curve mug, which I am still worshipping btw.

I made it too sweet, and that made it a bit disappointing to finish. I don’t think sweet teas do well in travel mugs, because something about the flavours being “trapped” does something to the sweetness that in other contexts would be lovely, but kept in a travel mug can be quite cloying. That’s ok though: trial and error, right? It’s so frustrating, being the obsessive perfectionist that i am, to not “get it right” when I’m taking tea to go, because it’s not like i can make up for it. Oh well, I suppose we’ve all got bigger fish to fry. Anyway, I’m wondering if this isn’t the best travel mug tea, but would not ever change my opinion of this tea. I’m somehow nearly finished my 50 g and will track down some more once I’m done.

In other news, I’m going to the bluejay’s second playoff game on Friday! My husband is a huge, huge fan and gets seasons tickets each year, and so got first dibs on playoff tickets. So he’s going to all the games, and I get to go to one with him. Yaaaahhhh!!

Having now sampled somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 unflavored matcha ranging from $20/lb to $48/oz, this one remains my favorite. Best part is, this is one of the least expensive. I can actually enjoy this straight without additives. It really shines as a cold milk latte. Today I added just a splash of vanilla and caramel syrup along with a packet of Splenda. It was out of this world good. I used my handy dandy battery operated frother which easily whipped this into a thick and creamy consistency. It was so thick the tumbler straw stood up straight. The taste is floral and kind of a green oolong with orchid notes. Maybe it was the syrups that brought this out or maybe I had just forgotten but this had a nutmeg flavor to it this morning. I am glad I have a pound of this in my freezer. So good.

Sipping this down like a boss. It’s been showing its age for a while now so it’s for the best. While it’s sad that one cannot get this anymore, maybe someday when I stop being so lazy I can grab a good black tea and throw in some walnuts, banana chips, and even vanilla for good measure (because why not?) and see how that would compare.

This is very nice. The dry scent is typical of silver needle yet the taste is a little different. It is clean and crisp. It is sweet. Not at all bitter. Instead of a hay and cucumber profile, this one leans a little more towards green. It has floral/fruity notes. I also catch fast and light hints of minty. I steeped for the recommended 4 minutes at 175F. Had I gone short steeps at slightly higher temp, it would almost certainly turn out differently. As prepared the flavor is bold for a white tea and has plenty of depth. I feel refreshed and relaxed after sipping. Teasenz sells some pretty good tea.

Sipdown…
I did not sleep that well last night and have a raging headache so I think this will be a long day. I am finally finishing off a tin of this. This is one of the teas Peet’s has discontinued with their shift to the Mighty Leaf line. It isn’t a really great yunnan so that’s not a big loss. Still it has been growing on me, lol. Good breakfast tea with milk and sugar.

Made this in my curve travel mug, which I am currently loving but will review later, because I don’t want the ‘honeymoon stage’ to colour my perception.

I’m sad that river tea went out of business so soon after starting up, as I really did enjoy many of their blends. This one in particular got rave reviews, and so I pretty much filled my steeping basket with the trail mix and let it steep endlessly. I’m drinking it a few hours later, and it’s really like people are describing: liquified banana bread. I suspect that waiting for two years to drink it has not been kind to this tea, but I know it could be a lot worse. It’s begging for a bit of milk though, but even just like this, you can taste a ton of banana followed by the way your mouth feels after you’ve eaten dates, without the actual taste of date if that makes sense. Maybe a honeyed sensation more than anything else. It’s lovely to sip on and it’s helping to warm me up in my frigid office. And tasting better as it cools!

Again, I have the Double Ginger version of this. Only I forgot to strain it. So that was exciting, dumping it out of one mug and into another through a strainer… thankfully my counter remained mostly dry.

My tummy hurts, and so ginger is good. I supposed I could grate fresh ginger and add sugar or honey and cook it, but that feels like so much effort when you’re not feeling great.

And thankfully this tea is helping (more than the big spoonful of peanut butter, haha) and so soon I should be able to head back out in search of loonies for laundry.