Roswell Strange Send Message

Cold Brewed for a total of, umm, 14 hours? Right around there, anyway.

Because I stuck it in a timolino, I couldn’t fit it all in so some of it was drank this morning before getting to work. I was really worried that this would be super hibiscus heavy because visually it looks like there’s a bunch of it, and this got a pretty decently strong steep time too. However, really it wasn’t bad at all!

There’s a bit of a hibiscus tart edge on the front of the sip but it’s really brief and then it quickly mellows out into the nice, rounded off red fruit kind of medley of flavour. Think Strawberry, Raspberry, Red Currants, and Rhubarb – though mostly I taste the raspberries over anything else. I also get notes of the blackberries/elderberries right on the end of the sip/in the after taste.

This was really good, at home and at work, down to the last drop! Definitely refreshing; and surprisingly low key for hibiscus. I’m happy to finish off what I have, and I think I made a good pick (better than Rum Cream from last time, anyway). I think VariaTEA might also like it – so I’m making a note for myself to save a sample of it for her!

So like I’ve mentioned in a few notes tonight; I took a spontaneous trip to McQuarrie’s Tea and Coffee Merchants tonight after work… And a broke hiatus.

But it’s ok, really! I can afford to break hiatus (just can’t afford to go crazy), and I was reasonable with what I got. Since this wasn’t an especially planned trip, I just kind of looked around and picked out some things that seemed interesting. In the end, I got two different kinds of bloom teas (this one and a hibiscus one that’s supposed to be really pretty), two fruit blends for cold brewing, and a Passionfruit rooibos. I mean, c’mon, how could I resist the passionfruit!?

I know McQuarrie’s get a lot of their teas from Metropolitan Teas – but not all of them, so I carefully matched the names of some of the blends I got, the descriptions, and the ingredients so some of what I got is logged in my cupboard under the the Metropolitan equivalents (such as this one), but they aren’t all like that. I had to add a few to Steepster; the ones that aren’t sourced from MTC.

This one piqued my interest for sure; a mint flowering tea? Yes please! Reading the description, I’m even more intrigued. I love mythology; and this sounds like a myth a could get behind. I might look it up to see the proper thing, though. The tea description seems a little broken/simplified.

Taste wise; this is pretty nice. It’s definitely a very light mint but it is refreshing, and something I definitely didn’t struggle to finish 25 oz. of. The weaving floral notes were super interesting; I’m trying to think whether I’ve had a floral mint before, and I don’t think I have. But the combination worked!

As far as the aesthetics, because lets face it – that’s an important aspect to blooming teas, I felt they were a bit of a let down. The tea liquor was the very pretty, light green that just reminded me of mint from the colour alone. However, the bloom was pretty well colourless and very plain. Definitely the least pretty bloom I’ve ever had thus far. Next time I make this, I guess I’ll take a picture for the tea entry. I forgot to that this time around…

So, this was cold brewing all work day – and when I got home tonight after work, a trip to McQuarrie’s, and hanging out with Kristina (we watched Scott Pilgrim, I showed her Misfits, and we spelled dirty words with Alphagetti – it was awesome) I went to strain it straight away; only to find an interesting surprise!

All the liquids in my fridge have freezed to the point of “slush” – things like syrup included. Huh. I double checked; the settings inside the fridge/freezer haven’t changed, but yet my fridge has taken “cooling things” to a whole new level, heh…

So I went to pour this in the water bottle for work tomorrow (so I could steal the Mason Jar for one of my new teas), and I ended up having to “scoop” the tea into the thermos because it was so frosty – and then “scrape” the icy bits off the side. I ate those though; they were really good.

I hope all the food in the fridge is still good…

Sipdown (185/187)!

Made the last of this in a timolino, but at work using a basked I brought in for the timolino. I knew I was going to be able to make less tea this morning (because two of my three thermoses got left at work), so I planned to make some on break or before signing in. Ultimately, I made this right before leaving though.

I think I was wrong about this being the kind of blend that keeps growing on you to the point where you just can’t do without it; it doesn’t taste bad this time around, it just tastes bland. I hardly get much of anything – and certainly not orange or raspberry. Hmm…

My “tea game” seems off today.

Oh well, I guess that just makes it easier to part with this one. I’ve still yet to find a Pu’Erh (of the under ten I’ve tried) that I’d want to keep restocked. Next up will be Tea Desire’s Caramel Pu’Erh – I plan to get some for myself when I go to pick up VariaTEA’s Buddha Bamboo on Thursday.

I’ve kind of had bad acid reflux all day, so maybe that’s why this tasty especially off today when I made myself a cup of it while on break (the bag has been transferred to work for some more “forced” sipdown progress). I mean, it didn’t even taste bitter or astringent; it just tasted incredibly bland/weak – and I know I made it properly…

Hmm…

Sad thing is, it smelled so good! That made the taste even more of a let down.

Used to add some extra kick to a cold brew! You can read more about it here:

http://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/235687#likes

Cold Brew!

I had half this morning before work, and half went into the one timolino I had at home (but don’t worry; I saved the other two from work today! They’re at home now, safe and sound). In addition to the La La Lemon, I used the same “trick” I tried with Cuppa T’s’ Raspberry White – and I tossed in a bag of Stash’s Meyer Lemon to try and get that extra kick of lemon in it.

At home; this was great! The black base was full and kind of malty, and the lemon was strong but not overly sugared which was perfect. It was like having a very stripped down lemonade. No “mouth puckering” but still quite distinct. However, I think this was only good when it was still super icy cold and straight from the fridge, because later at work this started to get borderline “Pledge” flavoured, and I had to dump it.

Bleck.

Also, speaking of “Lemonade” I made a trip to McQuarrie’s Tea and Coffee today after work (I took advantage of getting off earlier in the day than I normally do). The bitchy sales person wasn’t there, so I asked the guy who was about King Tut’s Lemonade just to confirm it is in fact discontinued. Prepare to make a sad face; because it really truly is…

Sipdown (181/183)!

Severely disappointed to see this sample from Janelle go away! It was so damn good! However, for the moment my sleepiness outweighs my sadness, so I’m keeping this note short. I have an early morning tomorrow, after all…

And maybe a trip to McQuarries’ after work?

PS. Did anyone else watch the HIMYM series finale? I did and I’m SUPER PISSED OFF. I feel so cheated! That was not closure, and I’m so sad to see some of my ships (without giving away spoilers) sink… Not cool.

After this morning/early afternoon I didn’t get in a ton of tea drinking. I decided I was going to take advantage of my day off and, now that I have some money do my grocery shopping. I ended up going shopping with my friend Kristina and she helped me carry all my groceries home.

As a thank you for that, and because my grocery budget was more than enough to cover what I bought, I ordered in pizza for the two of us and we spent the last few hours watching Netflix comedy specials. The only “tea” I had in that time frame was a can of Nestea’s Iced Tea (which is super sugared) since it came with the pizza.

Now I’m having this lovely, highly delightful black blend courtesy of the lovely VariaTEA who is going to pick me up an additional 50g of it before she leaves Montreal. I wanted to have a cup of her sample sooner, rather than later, so I could let her know how much to get me.

I’m wowed by how amazing and candy like the cherry in this is; it’s totally familiar and nostalgic, and yet I feel like it’s unique and true to only this tea as well. Definitely very amazing! And then, the super subtle floral edge of this makes it that much more interesting and very dynamic and fun. Lots going on with this one; but not in a way that’s too crowded or competing!

Really happy to currently have more and be getting even more!

Cold Brew Sipdown (182/184)!

In total, this sat in the fridge cold brewing for pretty much a full 24 hours. When I set it up, I actually thought I had much more of it, and I was expecting to still have a bunch left – but somewhat thankfully there wasn’t as much as I thought and I got to dump the last of it in the mason jar!

This is pretty good cold brewed; I think better than it is hot, anyway. Hot I get this really funky, ‘soapy’ after taste that competes so much with the orange and the cinnamon, and all the other fruits. As a cold brew, the main flavours of this are orange/banana as immediate flavours and this incredibly long, lingering cinnamon/clove aftertaste that’s just really lovely and adds a cool dynamic to to the fruitiness of it. And there’s absolutely no soap flavour.

I wont get this again; because while it’s a neat cold brew it’s not overwhelmingly special either, and also because the fear of the lack of “soap” flavour being a fluke it holding me back a bit too. I think I may have sent this to a few other people, and based on this cup my recommendation to them is to try cold brewing the sample instead of having it hot.