16956 Tasting Notes
Mixed 1/4 tsp. of this and 1/4 tsp. of Brazilian Acai together in cold milk for a cup of “Berry Cheesecake” matcha this morning. You can read more about it here:
http://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/235367#likes
It was good, and I recommend it!
First tea of the morning/afternoon.
I fell asleep pretty ridiculously early last night, at least by my standards. I guess the major lack of sleep just caught up with me. In total, I think I slept for a straight 13 hours? And I could probably do it all over again – I still feel really tired.
But anyway, for my first tea of the day I decided to have some fun with experimenting – so I whisked a 1/4 tsp. of this and a 1/4 tsp. of Red Leaf Tea’s Cheesecake matcha into a glass of cold milk to make a “Berry Cheesecake” flavour for breakfast!
I really love the Cheesecake flavour, but the one time I had this one (a matcha soda) it fell pretty short for me and I figured I needed to switch things up and try it in a different way. However, straight Acai matcha milk didn’t sound appealing and I thought this might be a better way to try it. It’s actually very good!
Somewhat surprisingly, I can taste both the Acai and the Cheesecake – although I think the Acai is actually the strongest flavour which is awesome because my biggest complaint about the Acai soda was that it tasted weak and wasn’t flavourful. This is rich and creamy and does taste like a Berry Cheesecake. I’m really enjoying it!
I think both these matchas have also been featured free samples, so if you have both lying around I definitely recommended whipping yourself up a glass to test it out. You don’t really use much of each matcha so it isn’t a real waste if you dislike it, anyway.
Backlog.
I had a coworker, Morningstar, over for a while last night. She came to pick up the rest of a pack of smokes from me; I quit smoking around half a year ago but I still had some really old smokes lying around and I offered to give them to her to tie her over until payday this Thursday. While she was here, I showed her my collection of tea (she’s the only person other than Tre, my family, and my two friends in the city – Kristina/Robyn, to have ever seen it in its full glory, in person). She called me crazy, and then got all excited by being able to try all the “energy tea flavours” (what she calls Mate) at work.
I should show her matcha; I think she’d like the “matcha buzz” of it.
I made a cup of this in cold milk when she left (because Tre finally picked up milk, and I’ve been missing my beloved daily cup of matcha milk), while finishing packing up the last of my matcha samples for Keychange. In total, I’m sending samples of these flavours her way:
- Creme Brulee (Originally from VariaTEA)
- White Chocolate (Originally from VariaTEA)
- Pumpkin Pie (Originally from aisling of tea)
- Watermelon (Originally from aisling of tea)
- Brazilian Acai Berry (Originally from aisling of tea)
- Cotton Candy (Originally from aisling of tea)
- Caramel Popcorn (Originally from Cavocorax)
I’m hoping that between those samples she’ll find a few she really likes!
For me, this one is a point of great conflict. I love caramel, and I love buttery popcorn, and usually I love caramel popcorn but I don’t love the idea of popcorn/butter flavoured things that aren’t actually popcorn or butter. As an example, I can’t stand “Buttered Popcorn” jelly beans, and recently I had a hard time getting into Nina’s Paris’ Cancer blend because it tasted like liquid butter.
The only exception is DT’s Movie Night blend; but it works because it’s very lightly buttery, and almost in a pasty way.
This falls into that category; I like the taste mostly but just can’t get over the whole “drinking popcorn” thing. If you can wrap your head around that, this is probably for you; because the flavour is SCARY ACCURATE. I don’t know – this was pretty good and pretty weird. At least it frothed well enough I could scoop the matcha froth out of it…
Next one is a sipdown for this blend. I don’t think I’ll be looking to restock.
Flavors: Butter, Caramel
The other girl (Cody) from my loose leaf crash course wanted to make a bagged tea too, just in case she didn’t like the loose leaf (I told her it’d be a little earthy), so this is what she chose out of the assortment of Stash teabags I brought in for everyone.
She split the mug of this with me after trying the Brasiliano and admitting it was really tasty. This was pretty good too though (as always, more strawberry than pomegranate). I’ve noted favourite tastes of my coworkers, and it looks like I need to bring in some straight greens, fruity things, Chai, and mint! Can do on all fronts!
So I gave a “loose leaf tea” crash course to a few coworkers today; Cody and Morningstar. I taught them how to properly portion the loose leaf teas I’ve brought in for store usage (all steep at boiling temperatures except one, just for convenience sake), and how long to steep them, and all those good things!
We had a fun time smelling the different tins. Anyway, Morningstar asked if I had something that was high in caffeine/energy because she wants to quit drinking coffee so I brought this one in for her. I mean, Mate is the route to go if you want high energy – and this is a roasted Mate with flavours that are sort of like a flavoured coffee. It seemed like a good fit!
So this is the tea I “taught” them with, and we all had a bit of it. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it; and that makes me feel very proud of my looseleaf. Morningstar even asked me a WHOLE bunch of questions about the ingredients and where she could buy something like this for herself – so I told her she could get this specific tea in town, and that if she’s just interested in the caffeine/energy to go to DAVIDsTEA and ask about “Mate”.
Squea for learning! EeeiiiiI!
Sipdown (183/185)!
Ugh, this was so good! I’m so pissed that I left the last third of my timolino of it at work today! Stupid armed alarm preventing me from going back and getting it…
By the time I work again, this will have been sitting in the timolino for practically two full days; it’s going to be all gross and icky. No thank you! I want to remember this like the delicious tea it was today; mellow melon/pumpkin guts and a light dusting of “pie crust” – creamy with no unneeded spice. Perfect!
Thanks VariaTEA for the sample, it’s a true shame this is all gone.
Sipdown (184/186)!
Well, kind of a sipdown. I’ll get to that.
Anyway, thanks to VariaTEA for this sample. I was pretty “meh” about it as a hot tea, mostly because the coconut was coming off as incredibly buttery in a really unwelcome way. I thought I’d try cold brewing it, because Coconut typically cold brews well. So this was cold brewed then brought to work.
I still found it to be really buttery – in fact maybe more so this way. I really didn’t enjoy it that much; buttered pineapple should not be a thing. Ick. This is definitely better hot, but still pretty mediocre overall.
The reason this is only “sort of” a sipdown because I left half a thermos of this at work, along with another Timolino. They’re in a safe place – but I had just finished arming the store/locking everything when I realized I’d left them behind. So, my tea gets to sit and hang out in store until I work again on Tuesday morning.
Welp.
Flavors: Butter
My brain isn’t fully functioning and it’s taking me forever to form complete sentences for my tasting notes tonight, so I’m going to take that as my cue to head to bed right after this note is done. I have to be up again in five hours, and my body has been sleep deprived for far too long.
This was awesome tonight! Perfectly “Puffed Wheat” is how I’d describe it. And sadly, one more cup and it’s gone. To sipdown or not to sipdown, that is the question!
I made two cups of tea when I got home tonight; I’d have loved to make more, but I work again tomorrow at 9AM and I need to go to bed right away so I stuck with simpler, lower caffeine blends.
This sample comes from Dexter3657, though I’m pretty sure she got her sample from VariaTEA – so this works out nicely because, had Dex not sent me some, I’m sure VariaTEA would have eventually (or I’d have requested it).
I really like this though! It reminds me of Tea Desire’s Buddha Bamboo in the fruitiness of it – mostly the pineapple, which is really strong. The rhubarb is a little less strong, and hides in the background, though not enough where I can’t find it. The aftertaste is so potent – it really makes taking the time to enjoy this really easy. Mmm!
I find it funny that it reminds me of Buddha Bamboo, though! I’m buying Buddha Bamboo for VariaTEA because Tea Desire is local to me, and I’ve now requested she do the same for me with this blend, which is local to her. What a nearly comical trade off.
Haha Dexter is actually one of the few people who did NOT get this from me, though you are correct that I would have shared this eventually. In fact, I am surprised I have not already done so. And I will most definitely go pick this up for you if you like. I can also get you some Des Roses et Des Bonbons while I am there. I mean, we should get it while we can because in less than a month, the tea shop will no longer be around the corner :(
Oh actually that reminds me, let me know when you have the Buddha Bamboo because depending on when you get a hold of some (no rush btw), I might have you send it to Thornhill instead.
It’ll be either late this week or early next week depending when my next day off after payday is. But yes, I’ll let you know before I send anything off.
LOL I’m sure VariaTEA would have shared it with me, but I’m was already a fan of Camellia Sinensis, and had my won stash. :))
