Featured & New Tasting Notes
In an attempt to see if I can get my tastebuds back, I’m having more of this. Not the best tasting tea, however it’s medicinal, and I kinda enjoy that sorta thing, especially when in this weird place of fighting something when I feel dandy. Other than my sleep… that’s been off kilter for a while now.
Anyway. Eucalpytus is in here, however it’s faint. It more clears the sinuses than anything, and has little flavor. There’s a mint in here, some dandelion perhaps, fennel… a real mélange of herbs.
Preparation
Large Pinch of dried lemongrass
4-5 slices fresh ginger
Dried coconut
It smells wonderful, a bit like lemon pound cake.
It tastes quite tart. I was going to add some licorice root, but I misplaced it. I suppose I could add sugar but its drinkable as it is. The coconut and ginger create a blend of cream and warmth under the lemony note. The lemongrass is both the first and last note when drinking this tisane but the ginger lingers.
Can I just start by saying I smiled way more than I should have when I saw MissB had marked this “for VariaTEA”. I like to think that when she tries teas she thinks of me and that is why this one was specifically sent. I know that is probably not the case but let me dream :)
Anyways, as for the tea itself, I don’t get ginger or pumpkin or cheesecake. What I do get is a very pleasantly sweet honeybush with a hint of spice (perhaps very faintly akin to candied ginger?). It is pretty tasty but definitely falls short when it comes to living up to its name. That won’t stop me from enjoying my sample. So thank you MissB for sharing! I certainly would have been disappointed had I bought this (as it is not ginger pumpkin cheesecake) but trying it I am very pleased with the taste (though I don’t think I would order this as there are other honeybush blends by Frank that I prefer much more).
Preparation
That IS why it’s written on there! :)
Isn’t it sucha great feeling when you know another steepsterite is thinking of you? :)
It is!:)
Haha YAY MissB! I definitely feel loved :)
i have boxes…with names..and tea gets put into the boxes with the names..then when they’re full…out the door they go!
Haha. You are so generous. I wanted so badly to thank you for the matcha you sent me but it took me hours to figure out teas that you may not have tried before.
haha so the easy way around that? send anything you like. Even if i’ve tried it before, i always like new things :) that’s much easier than sorting through my tasting ratings haha
I looked at every single tea you rated :P. I was devoted to the cause.
I love my *Sil*boxes!!
OMG.
So.
Good.
Thanks, Sil!
Rich dark honey. Carby. Spicy. Mmm…
Preparation
YAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!
you make this sound delicious!
Omg. I’m so jealous…
It is so delicious!!!
Oh man… I really wish I had some of that. :(
I wonder if it’s still available? So tempting to use some of my Christmas money instead of saving it.
WAIT. What am I thinking? I shouldn’t be buying tea…
Sil, I’m confused. This tea is this one, right?
http://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/product/red-jade-black-tea/
Just a new lot? “Just”. I know.
Man, I could get 2 teas, hit their free shipping threshold, and be golden. And also off-hiatus. Hmm.
I still have some of this one…so worse case we can trade! Always happy to swap with friends
Oh, I would love a trade – would you trade with me? I could send you soemthing nice.
I can tell this is an assam now that it’s been sitting (I’m almost done my 16 oz mug! This is unheard of!), and it’s still SO GOOD.
I think I will go off hiatus. But next week, because I just paid for a yoga class with the money on my card. :D
OMG…best way to shop from TTC is load up your cart with samples sizes… then you just have to get to 25$ for free shipping
oh and yes… they cycle through lots.
That’s like.. 4-5 samples! Not much at all. :) Any “type” recommendations, even if they’re a new lot?
sun moon lake assam; red jade black; yuchi wild mountain; and if you like stacy’s Mi xian, they have one that’s nice…
we haven’t tried the golden dragon kind yet..
also TB and Terri liked the oolongs quite a bit…to me though, they were oolongs. :) The one green tea of theirs i tried was pretty good too…if you like that sort of thing :)
Oh man. :( You’re really tempting me to break my hiatus.
But. They’re not on sale right now right? So there’s no reason to do it now?
Their greens are sold out. I was gonna get the sun moon lakes, just because of the name! :D Yep, I have a cart prepared. :)
cavo. exactly. they will still be there (different lots) when you have money/return to buying tea
I still got the $25 free shipping when I had some larger items in your cart. So if you love this tea, you’re probably OK ordering a larger size as long as this is your first order and your order has some samples.
Good to know! Mmm, tea. I might wait as well. Then go all-out for my birthday.
they have a 50$ threshold and a 75 as well, depending on what’s in your cart. sooooo many tea wares that i want. sigh
I just bought some of the Sun Moon Lake as well as some teaware. Vintage Yixing!
jealous starfevre!
That’s awesome, Starfevre!
Oooh. will you post teaware pics when it comes in?
I will try to remember to do that. Currently I am populating a cabinet.
Montreal is freezing! As in I-got-brain-freeze-and-my-legs-went-numb-in-the-20-minutes-it-took-to-walk-home freezing. So, when I got home at 5:50 from class, I had to make the decision to turn around and be responsible and go to Body Pump or to walk in, start my weekend early, and drink copious amounts of tea. I chose the latter. I dumped the cold mug of Cinnamon Chocolate Brownie into a glass and started the kettle to brew two fresh cups.
While I waited, I remembered I haven’t had any milk today which meant MATCHA. Specifically this one which I have been thinking about all day! Cavocorax, I honestly don’t know how I can thank you for sharing this with me because it is truly amazing!!! I taste caramel more in this than I did in the plain caramel matcha. And the popcorn just adds a layer of butteriness and flavor that just makes this sooooooooo goooood. I am in love! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Oh and a side note. My sweats are all in the laundry so I put on the next warmest thing I own…a batman onesie. Complete with cape and cowl. So that sort of elevates this a tad as well :P
OMG THE BATMAN ONESIE IS AMAZING.
Batman onesie?! YES!
haha. It is pretty awesome. It is one of three onsies I own. One of the onesies, a sock monkey onesie, I actually got for $1 because the Target employee screwed and scanned it through as chocolate. My mom and I didn’t realize until we got home a few hours later.
Ick, Batman. I’m totally a Marvel girl (Spiderman ForEVAH). I have Spiderman Bedsheets/blankets/pillows/toques/hoodies/t-shirts/jewelry. My Onesie is sock monkeys though…
Roswell Strange, I would say our friendship is over but I too love me some Marvel. I have an Avengers sweater lying on my bed next to me and a Spiderman tee-shirt which is in the laundry. However, I grew up as the younger sister of a Batman loving brother. In fact, we call his car the batmobile because I decked it out in all things batman a few years back (as in seat covers, steering wheel covers, break light stickers so when he breaks it is the batman symbol) and we have home video of him saying he is batman at only 2 years old. I grew up with it :)
You made two, no three great decisions. 1) eff body pump when it’s cold; 2) Onesys are where it’s at; and 3) you had tea. You win.
Though I also grew up with X-men (last year I got my brother this huge Wolverine pez dispenser for his birthday :P), Spiderman, Deadpool, etc. Basically there was a lot of comic books and superheros around (the perks of an older brother).
And thank you keychange, it definitely feels like right decisions were made :)
I’ll admit to having one favourite DC “Hero” (not really an apt character description) whom I was reminded of thanks to your Monk’s blend tasting note, additionally. When I try to explain him to people, they always think I’m lying! I grew up with X-Men too; they’re right up there with Spiderman, though personally I don’t really love Wolverine all too much.
I actually wasn’t into Wolverine much either. I liked Storm and Rogue but that may have more to do with their gender than their actual powers. Though their powers are pretty cool.
Also, they actually filmed the most recent X-men movie in Montreal. I had a couple of friends stalk the set in hopes of finding Jennifer Lawrence, Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, and James McAvoy.
Nevermind my large stack of Hawkeye comics sitting next to my desk.
Now this is funny because I didn’t know until today that they MADE onesies for adults. I thought of them only as the things you put babies in! Of course, living where I do now (my son wore shorts to school today… I know, I’m sorry) there is not much need for this sort of bodily envelopment except a few nights a year, but I love the idea!
I adored Rogue, Iceman, Storm, Nightcrawler, Mystique, and Azazel! No one I knew was able to understand how excited I was at the inclusion of Azazel in First Class. They just totally set it up to kind of delve into Mystique/Azazel’s plotlines with Nightcrawler – though I doubt they actually will go that route…
I felt so bad for Azazel and Riptide. They were kinda just left as background characters the whole time. Actually, I mostly felt bad for Riptide given they didn’t even mention who he was. Like if you had never read the comics, he was sorta just a bonus mutant who was there.
Never really liked Riptide ;P
Neither did I but I still felt bad that they sorta just tossed him in as filler. He really did not need to be in the movie other than Shaw needed more people on his team.
Batman onesie?! So awesome. :D
Sipdown! So i have to say, I tried this a while back and liked it a lot but then forgot about it because it’s a green tea and i don’t drink those often. VariaTEA sent a sample to me, which i opened up today in an effort to get ahead with my sipdowns since now i might not have the weekend at all for tea drinking!
…We’re driving to Detroit on Friday night, Chicago on Saturday, and then all the way back to Toronto on Sunday. Because we can. lol…
I love this even more than the first time. Something about the vanilla and caramel REALLY makes me happy. it’s deliciously creamy and wonderful and now i want more. So maaaaybe i can convince my friend to trek up to Miami in February heh :) Thanks variatea!
I love the road trip, because you can. This tea is AMAZING. I must have more. I emailed them and they mentioned you…
ME? lol
Haha yeah, Sil, they told both of us to talk to you about a group order to save on shipping :P. I am glad you liked it by the way. I think I recalled reading your tasting note so I tossed in a bit more so you could have it again.
Haha yes. If only Steepster could support pictures. I also was chatting with VariaTEA for this. They mentioned you might place an order and to see if we could get some sort of group order going to help with shipping costs because they think it’ll be quite expensive.
Oh man, VariaTEA I would send you anything for more haha!
So….i’m likely going to be trying to visit their store in Miami at the end of February. If i do, i’m fine to bring things back and send them to you guys or something like that…
Ahh yes. That’s not quite what came across in the email haha. I definitely wouldn’t want to take up room in your suitcase, although I appreciate the offer. :)
….you realise, when i travel to florida i take 2 suitcases right? one for the clothes and one for tea? hahahaha
(don’t get me wrong, i’m all for a joint order as well, but if i’m going there, we save on the shipping to us and just need to split shipping from here to us when i get back)
Hahaha the two suitcases. Okay, I don’t feel so badly anymore. :P
i guess technically we pay the 25$ for flying BUT the second one i can totally turn into a carry on and not pay for it bwahahaha
Haha. I was actually saying to Courtney I will be in Florida in March and plan to do the same thing as you Sil. Plus, last time I came back from Florida I also had a second suitcase to bring back my teas. By the way, where do you buy tea when you are there? Aside from Nina’s, I couldn’t really find where to go.
Soooo funny story…i order from retailers, ship it to my friend’s places and pick up that plus anything else i’ve ordered. I am a fan of ordering my camera bags while i’m down there: www.kellymoorebag.com to save on duty/taxes etc..
It’s okay. I order from retailers and send it to my Dad in LA to save on shipping. If he knows I will be in Florida he sends the stuff there to avoid customs and then I just bring it home. Yay for tea mules!!
Pssssst. I would be interested in a group order.
Right Cavo? Group order for the win!
Haha. I feel like the group order would be a whole bunch of samples and a shitton of Nina’s Japon :P
Oh man. Sil! I need to get on this group order. :D
I like how Sil has been appointed the leader of the group order by the people at Nina’s themselves.
Hahaha. Yea, that’s pretty hilarious. And tey should probably give Sil and VariaTEA some free teas for a) getting us all excited about an order and b) ‘volunteering’ to make it happen!
I am ALL for that… totally plotting how to get to Miami with ease…
If you are there around valentine’s day, they are having a tea, wine, and chocolate tasting event.
sadly it would be the last week in February..if i can convince folks to make the drive. We’re usually only in the orlando area when we o.
I won’t be there until March so I am missing it too. I tried convincing my mom to go but she is not into teas enough to drive the hour into Miami.
Dry leaf aroma initially reminds me of raisins, but once brewed becomes incredibly deep and floral.
Taste is just slightly malty with a wonderful, rich floral sweetness that fully remains even on the second steep. This is so lovely, and it’s like the tea has been softly scented with red rose petals; very smooth, fragrant and sweet.
Absolutely delicious!
Preparation
Eee Teavivre!
Did you order this one?
Yep, a sample size. Pretty much all their blacks tea, with the exception of anything smoky, I ordered haha.
haha, that’s good! I got one of the sampler packs that came with two samples of this. I’ll have to order a full pouch next time. : )
Oh excellent. I love hearing that about teas that are en route. Although my wallet doesn’t enjoy it quite so much.
nice to see a few more reviews on this one :)
They’ve got a number of really, really nice black teas. I just got a pouch of Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea myself that’s waiting for me in mail jail. I’ll be picking it up in about an hr and I can’t wait!! (Got one of the sample packs too and I think one of this as well, it sounds excellent.)
And it sounds like there will be even more reviews coming!! ; )
Those samplers are great, and so is the dragon pearl – I’m sure you’ll enjoy them Kirlika!
This is my first experience with puerh of any sort.
After rinsing, the aroma is reminiscent of seaweed, which unfortunately is not pleasant to me in a culinary sense, and the brewed color is surprisingly dark. Tastes also of seaweed or perhaps more of moss, with a somewhat lingering clean juiciness. Tried a second cup after more rinses (amazing how dark this is), and could not get past the earthiness of this even when not breathing in the aroma.
Interesting, and glad to have tried it, but don’t think it is for me.
Sorry to hear you didn’t like it :( But every tea is a learning experience all the same :)
How short your steeps were? I’m quite successful with shortest steeps possible like 5 sec.
This particular shu I found too clean and too mild for my taste. Don’t dismiss it. Try some other time;)
Yes, it was a learning experience and I enjoyed trying it for sure!
boychik, I played around a bit with steeping times…probably a bit longer than 5 seconds, and as well tried longer times – still pretty earthy.
I would try it again some other time.
If any one told me 4 months ago that I would be so into puerh I wouldn’t believe. I started with shu( had a free sample) that was very bad quality, completely black fishy. But I had a feeling that it was a bad sample. It didn’t stop me;). I’m addicted.
Do you drink coffee? I find shu is similar to black coffee. I do drink 1 cup everyday no milk or sugar. If you like green tea then maybe sheng is the answer.
Yeah I think puerh takes a little time to get aquanted with you. My first was a disaster.
haha, yes I will have to try again another time. I really don’t know much about puerh at all.
And I do drink coffee but didn’t find this similar, except in color perhaps. ;-)
If you have only had this a short period of time let it “air” out. I usually put any new puerh in the pumidor for at least 2 weeks before I get into them. Just let it get some air and moisture and it will probably wake up a little. I get things from China that have been vacuumed sealed with no airflow or moisture and they are usually in transit a month or so sometimes. I just pull them out and hope they come “alive” again. I think this will change given a month or so.
Thank you, mrmopar. It was in a sealed bag – I will the rest of it get some air for awhile and try again. And, I never knew there were pumidors!
That should read, “I will let the rest of it get some air..”
Mopar, how big is your pumidor anyway? :)
Backlog: I got this as a sample a few months back when it was still a mystery tea in search of a name. It has been a few months but I remember it tasting pretty good. I recall thinking it was very reminiscient of a York Peppermint Patty. Today I saw it was released for sale as “Mint To Be”. Had I not forgot my wallet at home, I think I would have ended up heading to DAVIDs to pick some up as I recall enjoying it and would be interested to see if my impressions remain the same now that it has been a few months and a few hundred teas since I had it.
So jealous you have a sample! I think this calls for another trip to Davids!
I had this cup months ago but figured I would write the tasting note now that I knew what to call it.
I love the new name!
I just got a sample from Davids. It’s pretty nice. I actually just got the name… awkward…
I’m so jealous ! Plus the name is awesome :)
I can’t wait to try this one eventually!
I’m so jealous too! I think I might head to dT to try this very very soon! can you taste the coconut? I love coconut!
How do you think this compares to santa’s secret?
Honestly it has been a while since I had this but I do recall really liking it. Unfortunately I don’t remember the specifics though.
Well, that finishes up the cold brew of this one! Delicious!
Also, I just got the day’s mail, which included a very mustachioed swap package from VariaTEA! It’s huuugeeee and I can’t wait to dig into it!
Haha I do apologize for the ridiculous (although pretty hilarious) tape. It was all I had but I am happy the teas arrived safely and hopefully you find some tasty treats inside.
Also, officially over 200 now for the first time ever… 211, to be precise.
haha Yes!!
It was a tad bit of a goal to push you over the 200 mark. You know have more teas than I do :P
It would have been 213, but two were blends I already had ;P
I think I realized that after sealing the envelope but just got lazy to take stuff out. Hopefully you like them. Also I am sure my number will go up as soon as yours or any of the other swaps I am waiting for arrives.
Mine had 19 blends it ;P And I know you have lots on the way as well. Personally, I think I maybe had something from Keychange (Her Eight Candles sample that made her sick?) and then my RiverTea order – but nothing else on the way! Except maybe Day 4 of the 12 Days exchange which never showed up :(
I don’t even recall how many teas I ended up sending because I just kept adding.
34… 32 of which I didn’t already have in my cupboard (and not counting the ones already in my cupboard, I’d only tried two others previously; Red Velvet Cake and Lime Gelato).
Wait I sent your Red Velvet Cake? As in the DAVIDs one?
Oh nvm. You mean the Stash one. I was wondering why I would send a tea you hated.
Definitely the Stash one – which is so much better than DT’s awful version :P
I am the reverse. I actually really liked the DAVIDs
Ok, confession time! I’ve always enjoyed this tea, but it’s never been a knock me off my socks sorta tea. You know what I mean, right? But I wanted to really like it because I like Sil and ButikiTeas.
Anywyas,this has gone from a 78 to an 88. I figured out what I needed – a longer steep time. Maybe 5 minutes? I want MORE flavour and this is just great now. Lovely rhubarb, slightly tart, slightly sweet and a bit of graham in there to weigh it down. YES. FINALLY I GET IT NOW.
Preparation
I’ve heard so much about this tea – wish I could try it!
Yay!
If you ever place an order with Butiki, she will throw in a few samples and you can request which ones. Her teas rarely disappoint.
That’s so funny-a longer steep time pretty much ruined this tea for me yesterday! Although I’m guessing it was steeping for more than five minutes, but still. Funny what works.
It’s been awhile since I drank this one. I picked up an oz with my last butiki order, just for fun. :)
haha a 78 is a perfectly reasonable score for a tea :)
:) Well 78 means I like it, but not that it’s completely irreplacable. :P Anything over 85 means I need to buy at least 2oz of it when I order.
Keychange – yeah there’s probably a very narrow margin where oversteeping makes the flavours better before it makes it infinitely worse. I didn’t mean to steep it so long but my cat wanted some attention before I left the house.
Oh yeah, cats can do that to your tea anyday!
and they do it on purpose!
NIce, maybe that was the “problem” I had with this tea too. I was afraid of steeping it too long because I thought the base would only get stronger and cover up the other flavours even more.
sipdown! mwahahah because the other half of my sample is going to go in to Terri’s box so that she can try this one as well. I have to say, these leaves are pretty darn big once they expand through brewing :) this is on the sweeter side of things, without being as distinctively sweet as some of the teas from TTC that I’ve had. it still comes across as a bit of a malty sort of tea but not to the extent of say, Tiger Assam. I am really enjoying this because it’s just a bit different than similar teas that i’ve had.
Norbu (greg) included this one for me because i was trying to find a similar tea to the one i fell in love with from Norbu that they have since stopped purchasing because of the lack of demand in the US. SHAME ON YOU US! :) While this IS a tasty tea, it doesn’t hold the same power over me as the other one. Still though, i enjoy this one a bunch.
Norbu has some excellent customer service for anyone interested, and until the end of January they’re having a 25% off sale :)
Preparation
Shhhhh….you’ll wake up little terri, & she doesn’t need to know about that sale right now. She’ll start bragging about her birthday & all the presents (tea) she thinks she should get…
Rock-a-bye Terri, go back to sleep
You’ve already got too many to steep…
(cheesy sheepish grin)
It’s true!
hahaha love it!
I have been sipping on this throughout the day between cups of hot tea. It is really a good cup. I am sure when the weather warms up, I will be throwing this back very, very quickly. It is creamy, smooth, and has awesome Neapolitan flavor. This is definitely a win.
i do love this one.
It is pretty tasty. I have a few more SBTs to try and then I will place an order to restock the ones I like and to try some of the new flavors (for some reason the insane sound pumpkin pie crepe with chocolate and vanilla ice cream is calling to me haha). However it takes me so long to get through a picture because when the weather is -25 degrees, I want something hot.
Which others did you enjoy?
There were comments yesterday (?) about how wonderful swaps are because you get to try teas that you normally wouldn’t choose for yourself. Sometimes you find these amazing teas, because someone else chose it. This is one of those teas.
I don’t drink wine – I’ve had a couple of other “wine” teas and didn’t really care for them. I would never have bought this, asked for a sample of this, I was actually a little hesitant to try it.
WOW this is FANTASTIC. To me it’s not really wine, but it’s sweet and a little grape esque – maybe a little cherry – hint of vanilla – strange, but in a good way. I really really like this. I would order more of this if I had the opportunity – it’s going on the shopping list.
Thank you so much ifjuly for pushing me outside my comfort zone, into an amazing tea.
I thought I would try this again and steep for 7 minutes, but that only improved the flavour slightly. I guess I just want more peanut butter in it. But I have my matcha, so I’m happy!
Also, this is an easy sipdown! (152/201-with all incoming incl)
Haha, so much for this one. Hopefully the others were better. At least I didn’t send an excessive amount though.
I was hopeful, but not terribly disappointed! You sent me a lot that I’m really excited about! I just realized half of it was decaf so I’ll have so many evening options now! :D thanks again!
I’ve had this twice before but still don’t know what to make of it. I wholeheartedly agree with keychange that this kind of smells like the Caramel Vanilla Assam. To make that even stranger, CVA (and David’s Buttered Rum) had a powdered cheese kind of smell, so in a way, it makes sense that this smells like that. Maybe it’s the creamy/vanilla notes used in these types of blends which do that to my nose.
I made sure I let the water cool down before steeping, as the tea was a little astringent the last couple times. Cooled down water (probably around 90°C) and no more than three minutes… aaaand it’s still on the astringent side. Quite bold. Nothing wrong with that but I was hoping for some Irish cream and/or cheesecake, and I don’t get either, unfortunately.
Different city, different water too, and the results are the same. Perhaps my taste buds are more sensitive to the base? I’ll keep trying, but for now, I’ll add some biscotti-flavoured Bailey’s and guiltily not do any work.
I find this one finicky, but when I get it right, I love it. :)
You’re all making me want to pull this one out again with this crazy cheesecake talk… But when I had it last I didn’t taste cheesecake at all :(
What do you find works the best?
I’ve only gotten it right twice so far, so I’m not so sure I’m the best to ask. The water here is hard, but I let the kettle cool for maybe 1-1.5 minutes then pour. I set my timer for 2.55, my logic being that 5 seconds could be me running from another room to remove the infuser, and I think the real key is to drink it while it’s still hot. Once it’s cooled, the astringency really comes out I find.
I’m going to try this one again too, but I’m scared of that astringency as well. I don’t like chugging my tea when it’s piping hot, because I don’t really get to enjoy it as much that way. Ah well, you can’t love ’em all, I guess. Shorter steep next time maybe?
It sounds like I basically did what Courtney did except let the water cool just a bit more. Hmm. But a shorter steep, may help, for sure. I’ve found it quite astringent when it’s piping hot too.
But ultimately, exactly, you can’t love ’em all.
picked a random flavoured tea from my butiki cupboard and this was it. I have a tendency to hoard them and then need to place giant orders with Stacy, so i’m trying to get better at drinking them so that i can place multiple smaller orders and not miss anything i might love. This one appears to be a tea that will grow on me as i drink it. I love the hoppy sort of rhubarby taste to this. mmmmm
I think I’ve found that I don’t love rhubarb flavor. I liked the ruby pie, but the rhubarb kept me from loving it. Same goes for this tea.
I really thought I would hate this one, LOL, but it wasn’t bad at all! Probably not something I’d order, but fun to try.
I love that you, me, & others have a ‘butiki cupboard’, hahaha
:)
Why don’t you pull up a chair (unless you’re already on one in which case you can skip this step) and I’ll tell you a little story.
Once upon a time I joined steepster, after being introduced to David’s tea and falling in love with not only the tea, but with everything it implied: a sense of peace, the act of preparing it, the almost spiritual experience of tasting it, the anticipation, everything. And then I read reviews and saw that people were swapping and I wanted to be a part of the craze!
Not to worry, said dexter3657, I’m your girl! So she very kindly packages up a million teas to send to me. In the meantime, I placed an order with Dellaterra, and sat back and waited for my teas to start rolling in.
Got a package in the mail, and instantly messaged dex.
Me: Omg! thanks! Just got the tea! I’m on my office floor, in fact, surrounded by all this lovely tea!
Dex: …?
Me: yeah! best feeling ever!
Dex: Um, keychange? your package is saying it’s still in Manitoba. It isn’t supposed to reach you for like another few days at least.
Me: Horse hockey! It’s right here in my office! It’s in…lots of little zipped bags…that are sealed.
Dex: nope
Me: …?
Dex: My packages are different sizes and all that sort of thing. Are you sure it isn’t something else?
And then it dawned on me. Of course this was my sampler from Dellaterra! whoops!
So there’s a good little blind story for you guys.
So five thousand years later, I got around to having a friend help me make labels for all my samples, and this was the first one I wanted to try. I’d read some really good reviews for it by other black tea lovers, so I had this with breakfast this morning. Dex was very generous with the sample, so I can enjoy a few more cups of this also!
The dry leaf smells a lot like black tea. I couldn’t glean too much more than that, because you know how it is with swaps and such—although I don’t think I was picking up on any other smells, it wasn’t the same as sticking my nose into a tin or anything like that. But I also love the smell of black tea so that wasn’t a problem. I brewed it up and let it steep for four minutes.
And wouldn’t you believe—it’s almost a dead ringer (in my opinion) for Queen Catherine! If I concentrate really hard, I think this blend has a touch more astringency, and a slightly (very very slightly) drier mouth feel, but that could all just be in my imagination. I’m getting the slight smoke from what I’m assuming is keemun, and I wonder if there’s some assam in here to explain the slight malt/dryness. Either way, I gulped this right down because anything that tastes like the queen is mighty fine by me. I’m delighted to have more of this to sip at, but thankfully won’t have to make the A and D purchase (which I hear has insane shipping to Canada), because I don’t need two queens: only one LOL.
Thank you so much, dex, for sharing this with me. You were the first person on steepster to so generously send a bunch of tea my way, and I’m sorry it took me so long to get around to sampling them! You’re awesome.
That is so great!
Awesome story!
Thanks guys! all thanks to dex haha.
This is a great story! Can’t wait to join a Traveling Tea Box one day!
Abby, I imagine you’ll really enjoy it.
:)) No worries, tea packages go out with no expectations, no strings attached. Once it’s left my house it’s YOUR tea. Drink it, hoard it, pass it on to others (play with it on the office floor.. ;) ) As long as you are happy, I’m happy. :))
And happy I am! I’d love my office floor a lot more often if there were piles of tea all over it anyday!! :)
lmao!! Awesome story keychange!!
LOL glad you liked it!
Ok so I tried this last night hot steep but I found it to be rather strong in terms of black tea base. It was nice but I just wanted a little push from it, something extra. So I saved a lot from the same batch and put it into a flask to try it iced.
The black tea is no longer the strongest factor in this tea once it’s iced. Instead the cinnamon, ginger style spiciness is significantly increased and is much more like carrot cake now than it was last night. Again the vanilla is subtle and only in the after taste but it really is more carrot cake like now so it’s more forgiveable.
I still have a decent amount of this tea left so I will probably use it as an iced tea from now on.
Preparation
I really need to start getting into icing my teas – it’s just been so cold outside lately, I haven’t been wanting to!
mmmmm thanks for the review! i may need to try this now heh
@Yvonne Icing tea is not common practice in UK as it’s rather cold here most of the time anyway. But I really enjoy a cold drink in the day and since I stopped drinking pop it leaves my options limited. Iced tea is super great for curing that. Plus I have a new teapot that steeps up to 1.5 litres of tea and it leaves me with enough tea to fill my iced tea flask for later. :)
And @Sil if you do go ahead and try this then I really do recommend icing it.
I never did get to try this one, but I bet it would be good cold!
terri – you will try this eventually. remember? i bought an extra 2oz of it to share with you…and uh there was someone else…
LOL
Woah!!! I put off trying this cause the smell was bit intense for me, but I love it. The cinnamon and the rice are soooooo good together. Really happy with this tea. Like cinnamon rice crispy treats. And plenty sweet on its own. Staple for sure.
Love everything with campfire in its name :-)
This sounds awesome!
I need to order this and give it a go. :)
i loved this one :)
Sounds yummy! Cinnamon is a go to for me :)
Haven’t tried anything Verdant yet… might have to put it on my shopping list.
I guess I should have included this in my verdant order, just to give it a try.
Yum! Sore throats and sinus aches are so crappy, but this tea makes it more bearable! :D
Looks like I wasn’t able to avoid this cold after all but I don’t mind so long as the little bear doesn’t get sick! Also, I wouldn’t want to call in sick in my first month of working because she’s sick, but I’ll have to do it because you can’t send the kiddo in to daycare sick. :| So, fingers crossed! I’ll make her some of this tomorrow!
Wishing you immunity to little bear germs! (They’re whoppers!)
Nooooo, I hope you’ll feel better soon, Cavo.
Hope your feeling better in the morning!
Thanks guys! Definitely actually sick, but I’ll live. :)
Feel better soon, Cavo, not fun…
There’s no scientific studies proving this, but the more I read about sick Steepster members, the more I’m starting to think we share our germs in some ways, lol, maybe through swaps??? haha!
Get well soon! ♥
We’re going to pretend that the next words off my finger tips are not words typed by me. I.Love.This. Green. tea. yeah that’s right. this is a sipdown and i’m a little sad. The teafairy sent this one my way and i have to say i made it today and started sipping on it, not expecting to really enjoy this. And then suddenly, i was at the bottom of my cup and re-steeping a second cup. Yeah. That’s right. I found a green i really like. It doesn’t have that usual “green, vegetal” taste to it. I can believe it when they say this is a rare tea because the flavour was uniquely interesting. The sad part? It was so delicious i just kind of gulped my way through this and didn’t take very good notes on it, beyond loving it. So it’ll go on to my shopping list for a future tealux order with their black tea that i love…and we’ll give them another shot :) thank you teafairy!
Preparation
love tencha too, yum!
if you liked this green, I need to consider it ! as you I am not a very green person
WOW!!! That is awesome that you found a green that you like. Best thing about swapping and letting others choose tea for you. They might pick something that you wouldn’t have chosen for yourself that turns out to be a winner.
Ysaurella – if i order some in the future, i’ll pass some along to you. saves you having to order it heh
Dexter – agreed! and that’s why i love swaps. teafairy also sent along a bunch of oolongs for me to try so it should be a fun time :)
ah Oolongs are wonderful, you’ll have fun for sure as TheTeaFairy’s tastes are really very good !
I need to try some of this also!!
I’m gonna have to try this one too. :)
haha ok but if you guys don’t love it…don’t blame me! :)
OMG, triple, quadruple YAY!!!!! Isn’t it pretty and usual to look at also? Such a nice deep green…so happy I have included it :-)
Guys, I would gladly send some to you if I had enough left, but the rest goes to another swap I have going on.
Ysaurella, I have other stuff I want to share with you, will be contacting you soon when time is right if you’re interested :-)
it DOES have a great colour to it as well :)
If I don’t like it, I can just make ochazuke with it!
Another Sipdown!
I tried this twice, and just never cared for it. The lime smelled great but didn’t carry into the flavour enough. And the base was odd – Kept getting that weird salty flavor I’ve found in a few teas now…
Ugh, too bad about the base. Hope I won’t get the same flavour from it.
Probably not? I think I’m the only one who gets it – caused partly by my combo of my water and steeper maybe too?
I was going to say, speaking of the earlier comment about water and location, I wonder if that may be part of the problem. I’ll watch for a salty flavour when I get mine in.
This one sounds really interesting!
This never worked for me either, Cavo. I tried the whole sample and was disappointed each time :(
Hmmm. I’m happy it’s not just me because I ordered some other teas from Herbal Infusions and I don’t want them all to be the same. I wonder if they use the same base for all their black teas? It’d make it easier for me to figure out what it is about certain teas that makes it “salty” and others not. I’ll have to add notes to my tea spreadsheet and track this: FOR SCIENCE.
haha FOR SCIENCE! Also, I think their base is the same for most of the ones I tried. I know I picked up on the same base flavor in Moose Tracks, Key Lime Coconut, and Santa’s Milk & Cookies. I haven’t tried many of their teas though so I might not be the expert on that topic.
(am I the only one that doesn’t have a tea spread sheet… ? )
dexter….possibly haha
dexter, no tea spread sheet here either!
I think they use the same base for pretty much all their black teas, and sadly I don’t like the base at all.
OMGsrsly – I was afraid of that, but I did like Moose Tracks, so I grabbed 50g of that and the Snowflake EG. There’s a few samplers so I’ll see how those go.
(Haha, Dexter, I don’t have one but sounds like a great idea!)
I haven’t even tried all my samples yet. I have this one, but I’m a little scared.
Yes! Spreadsheets are an excellent way to summarize all your tea thoughts, as well as notes on if you should repurchase it, how you prefer to drink it etc. I love excel bc it’s so easy to search for one specific tea out of hundreds.
sipdown! (168) I pulled this one out tonight so that i could try another tea Gschwen34u0234uweiroweri tea before i am back in CHicago. Yeah that’s right…stupid letters i never put in the right order. the Tea G! ;) While i don’t love this nearly as much as my friends to the west, it IS a lovely tea. I like the body of the tea base that doesn’t get lost that flavours. I may need to look at picking up a bit more of this to play with it some more. Thanks again MissB!
LOL re tea Gschwenasdaposdinfoasdfklna. I feel that way about the name too. ;-)
:)
Have fun in Chicago…again…
going to be so peeved if i don’t get to go to St Louis because of other ppl’s ineptitude!
So that’s still undecided?
It’s so good with a shot of whisk(e)y and some honey… :D
I’m keeping my schedule open, just in case.
I am trying to get it settled as quickly as possible. :(
Sil, did I miss something and Canadians can sign up for steepster select now?
I noticed she was a sneaky Select member! I’m guessing she’s getting it shipped to her tea mule…
haha well, it’s a weird “i’m not sure what’s going on” sort of thing. I tried to take advantage of Jason’s offer on the free box for my tea mule so she could try out some new teas. As a thank you for all that she does. The code and everything didnt’ work, it was all wonky… long story short..uh i’m now the proud owner of a hideous orange growth, but only for a month or so unless my tea mule wants to continue with the box. I will wait until canada i an option.
Hope it helps you :)
Yeah, not being able to taste/smell things really sucks.
Also, feel honoured: you’re stuck at the top of my dash! :-)
Ditto
Mine too.. :)
Ha, mine also!