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After the recent string of tasting notes on this and a mediocre/weird tea day I decided that it just felt right to brew up a mug of this.

I steeped using Butiki instructions, but 10 oz. mug instead of 8 oz. I also added a large splash of milk because I figured that might make it creamier, and it appears there’s milk to use up in the house.

I was right about the creaminess: this was a super amazing cup and extra yummy and creamy with the addition of the milk. I really enjoyed slowly sipping it while packing up swaps (it’s so fun picking out the extra goodies).

Sipdown (183)!

This was the third and final roadtrip tea. My parameters were the rest of the sample sent from VariaTEA in a 12 oz. timolino steeped with boiling water for three minutes.

My first cup of this was pretty much average, but a good average. However, this cup was super gross! I’m not sure why this was so different when I’m pretty sure the steeping parameters were quite similar to last time – but this was like drinking highly tart and kind of “turned” (rancid?) orange juice.

I can’t really describe it…

But it was just bad – and NOT the good cup I had earlier on my vacation. I don’t think I can solely blame this on funny taste buds either. How disappointing. Anyway, I didn’t finish the timolino full, and dumped the rest when I got home.

Lowering my rating…

And, right now, not really so disappointed that this is a sipdown.

Another roadtrip tea! Needed something sweet and minty…

So, 2 tsp. of leaf in a 12 oz. timolino steeped with boiling water for three minutes. Taste wise, started off as well balanced perfection. There must be something off with my tastebuds today though, because once I got to the last few slurps in the thermos I started to taste something oddly fruity in addition to the regular notes.

Like, fruit rollup fruity…

Made this in the morning as one of three teas to travel with me on the ride back home to Saskatoon. This was my first time having this blend, and I chose to drink it could because raspberry tends to be a flavour well suited to cold or iced teas.

My steeping parameters were about 2 1/2 tsp. of leaf in an 8 oz. mug of approx. 80 degree Celsius water, steeped for about 3 minutes.

Dry, this smells like very fresh raspberries: like, straight picked from the garden fresh. Sweet, and just a little tart – very juicy. Steeped, this was much the same but with a little more of a presence of peach, and with a strong sense of the white base tea.

When I tried it – it was mostly really good. The raspberry was very natural and sweet, with a slight tartness which really only enhanced the ‘realness’ of the fruit. The peach was also much stronger than one would initially expect based on the dry smell, though it still didn’t match the strength of the raspberry. I have no idea what a wool flower is supposed to taste like – but as I was drinking this I also got a really powerful taste of coffee in the end sip and aftertaste, and something tells me that wool flowers are not supposed to taste like coffee.

Can anyone confirm or deny this?

I had to go back and think about what the last tea I had in my red waterbottle was, to make sure there was no contamination – but it definitely wasn’t a coffee tea. In fact, I think it was DAVIDsTEA’s Tropicalia. Hmmm…

Strange indeed.

The other thing about this blend was that it left my mouth feeling very dry after each sip, and that was relatively unpleasant. However, overall this was quite nice even if it had such weird flavour notes.

I’ll have to try it again in a different thermos or mug and see if the coffee notes are replicated.

Went to Boston Pizza with my mom after getting back into the city, and since they were out of chocolate milk I opted for some of this instead. Initially when asking what teas they had, she responded with “Green and Black”, but after a little prompting she was able to list this specifically.

Apparently I’ve had this before, and relatively enjoyed it – however today I was very disappointed in it: the water it was served with was definitely not boiling, however so that could be why.

Anyway I found it to be rather astringent and unpleasant despite a short steep time (2 minutes) in a large quantity (like 12 oz.) of water. I never ended up finishing the first glass I poured.

Lowering my rating.

This tea needs a cooler name. Mulberry White is just so completely boring…

Anyway, I made this as my (very early) morning cuppa while I was preparing my three travel teas for the ride back to Saskatoon. I’m leaving in about an hour, and I definitely need some tea to take along for the ride. I’m also stupidly sleepy…

I’m getting better and better and brewing this one up, though. Today, the mulberry is especially rich and wonderful, and I’m getting stronger notes of papaya/apple as well. I always struggle to get any significant jasmine notes though. Anyway, it’s a nice cuppa.

I left a couple cups worth with my Mom to try – I think she’ll like it as much as I do.

Also made this in the morning (well, technically early afternoon) in a timolino, and then left it until I was at the movies and it had cooled down in the timolino to the perfect drinking temperature.

Parameters were about 2 tsp. (just a little more) steeped in boiling water for just shy of four minutes. When I took the brew basket out and had a trial spoonful when it was still stupidly hot, mostly everything just smelled and tasted really bitter – so I was quite worried I’d screwed up and oversteeped the whole timolino worth. When I started drinking at the theatre, however, that seemed to thankfully not quite be the case.

This still smells quite bitter and unappetizing, but taste wise it’s much better than before. The black tea taste is really rich and strong, and is something I would normally be tempted to soften with just a splash of milk. Surprisingly I also taste a lot of vegetal and unwelcome green tea taste. I had to double check the ingredients list and turns out that yes there is green tea in this blend which disappoints me because it’s quite present and this was advertised at The Vintage Tea Room (where I purchased it) as a purely black tea blend with black currant notes – and that is what I wanted; not black/green tea with currant. Boo.

Anyway, speaking of the currant – I can taste it. Initial and mid sip it just sort of comes out as a slightly masked generic fruitiness, but towards the end of the sip and in the aftertaste as the green and black tea mellows out I do get distinct notes of currant that thankfully don’t lean towards a medicinal quality. That sort of redeems this one.

Overall feelings? I’m not sure. I should have been more diligent in looking at the ingredients list because the green tea in this is definitely a let down and, in my opinion, takes away from the taste. Furthermore, it’s not what was advertised. However, despite being a touch astringent (possibly from over steeping) the black tea base is pretty lovely and the sweet touch of black currant is a lovely aspect.

I need to drink more of this to make up my mind.

While at the movies I also got a small cup of the bagged tea they sell there. I used to drink this all the time when I worked at the theatre during opening; I’d load it with three or four of the prepackaged things of cream and sip at it to gently wake myself up.

This time, I had it plain – but it was still a good, solid straight mint tea regardless of the fact it’s bagged.

Eiiiickk…

My teeth are killing me, and now it’s on both sides of my mouth. And, it’s so sporadic when it happens. It’s absolutely driving me crazy! I just want to curl up into a ball with a pair of pliers and pull them all out. Part of me, an increasingly large part, feels like that would be the best solution. OW! It’s not even when eating or drinking foods anymore – it seems like any large noise sets it off too. How does that even make sense?

Anyway – I made a timolino full of this earlier in the morning when I made all my other teas, but then left it to sit until later when I went to the theatre to see Frozen. I ended up guzzling this back while watching the movie, and it was a really enjoyable drink.

So my parameters for the timolino were about 2 1/2 tsp. of leaf steeped in boiling water for about five minutes.

Taste wise, this was basically identical to the cup I experience earlier in the week (you can read the tasting note from that one for a more detailed description) – except this one had greater Pumpkin notes, and somehow seemed closer to a Pumpkin pie and apple cider, not just Pumpkin/Apple cider.

The movie was also really good! I watched it with two friends that I was in the majority of my classes with all four years of highschool (one of them all through elementary too). It was great catching up with them and watching an awesome movie. And damn! Hans is SUCH a dick!

Mmm!

Yummy, creamy vanilla chai! I added some milk to this, and it just ties everything nicely together. The smell is divine, and the chai spices are nicely balanced with the divine vanilla taste and a gentle and subtle nuttiness.

What a great bagged tea :)