16956 Tasting Notes
Sipdown (197/199)!
Thank you VariaTEA for providing this one! I was going to wait until I had company to brew it up, but with work now it appears that wont be for a long time, and I thought this would be really nice to enjoy on my day off, plus an easy sipdown.
It’s really hot so I haven’t gotten to drink it too much yet; just small sips – but so far I think it tastes really nice. Kind of like strawberry jam, actually! Plus it’s really pretty to look at! I’ll edit my note if any other interesting flavours present while I drink it, but for now I think this is lovely – and I’m really enjoying it!
Mmm! This is a cold brew; somewhere right around 24 hours give or take a few in either direction. And man is this a cold brew done right!
Seriously; this is so refreshing and thick and juicy tasting! It’s one of my favourite tisanes from DAVIDsTEA, and I think it’s especially good because there’s really nothing else quite like it! I don’t know of any other tea that has such a full guava flavour paired with this sort of rich mango sweetness. The two compliment each other very well.
Eventually, once I’ve cleared out some tins. I’d like to have full tins of Redberry Tonic, Pink Flamingo, Pink Passionfruit, Tropicalia, this one, and maybe Bamboozled (I already have the better Buddha Bamboo, from Tea Desire) just for cold brewing! That means I need to clear out three tins. That’s kinda doable long-term, right? I mean, I know already I wont be restocking Bravissimo and Midsummer Night’s Dream, and once I finish off White Chocolate Frost there’s nothing left to restock; so there you have it!
If you want Bamboozled you’d better decide fast; it’s being discontinued.
Lol, you’re a little late to the game; this tasting note is 2 months old and since I’ve restocked on Bamboozled, written several more tasting notes on it, bitched about all the discontinued teas, and finished off my Bamboozled again ;)
I have no idea how much you drink in 2 months. I was just merely trying to be helpful. Sorry.
Sipdown (198/200)!
I cold brewed the last of what VariaTEA sent me just to finish it off, since it was terribly hot and I didn’t want to go down that route again. In total, it cold brewed for 12 hours/
This time around, the chocolate tasted a lot richer and less “dusty” and old. And again, I didn’t get any sort of spice from this either like I originally thought I would. However, there’s just something really unforgivably awful about the orange in this; it’s hard to describe but it just tastes… Rotten.
So, after a few larger sips I decided that I couldn’t handle the rest, so instead of fighting through 25 oz. of it and feeling sick, I just dumped it. Good riddance!
Preparation
Last tea of the night!
The logic behind picking this one, besides thinking it’s tasty, is that it could kinda be an extension of “birthday themed teas” in honor of celebrating VariaTEA’s birthday today! I do realize this isn’t actually a birthday inspired tea; but you know blowing out candles on a cake and such… Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch?
This cup was delicious! It was definitely rich in flavour and beautifully captured a toasty marshmallow with caramel sweetness; actually one of the better cups I’ve had of this one, period. At one point I went to take a sip only to realize the mug was actually empty already – and I was crestfallen…
Side note type thing/date update: The guy I’m going out with on Wednesday and I have finally figured out what we’re going to do! The evening will start out with tea at DAVIDsTEA downtown (they have a sitting area at my store), where we can talk and get to know each other better – and then we’re going to walk from there to the indie theatre where they’re hosting a screening of The Room!
I think it’s cool we have a shared interest in really shitty movies! But you know what’s even cooler? Tommy Wiseau is actually going to be at the theatre doing a meet and greet/Q&A type thing because he’s in the city all this week and some of next!
I’m trying not to psych myself out/get nervous now, because there’s still more than half a week to go, but I have a feeling this is going to be really memorable, and for good reasons!
Sipdown (199/201)!
I’m extremely sad to say that the sipdown for this one, which I hoped would be an enjoyable departing cup, was a disappointing mess!
For some reason I cannot explain (because I brewed it no differently than usual) this still up to be incredibly bitter and dry tasting – enough so that I couldn’t stand to fight my way through the mug, and I ended up dumping the cup after four or five sips.
What a let down!
However, I’m ready to move on; more cupboard space and back under 200!
I also just noticed this was my second pumpkin tea of the day, and I almost made some Pumpkin Pie matcha for “Pie/Pi Day”, though I’m about two hours late, except I ran out of milk. That would have been three Pumpkin teas in one day…
Whisked up into the last of the milk! It only made about half a cup…
It’s Tre’s turn to buy milk next; and I’m really hoping he does so sooner rather than later, because there are so many more matchas I’m dying to enjoy – like the Mocha one from aisling of tea. This one, however, is from Courtney.
I picked it out tonight because it’s VariaTEA’s birthday!!! I just had “Birthday Cake” from DT two days ago for my birthday, so I wanted to switch it up a little – and I thought this could maybe still count as celebration tea because is is still a “cake” afterall.
Anyway, this cup was good despite being small! It whisked up really nicely, and frothed nicely for me too! Yay!
Final ‘work tea’ to log; I had it in a timolino on the bus ride back; which was interesting; I took the long route (40 min.) home so I could chat with a coworker when I could have just done the 20 minute walk instead. I think it was worth it though just to have a really good multi fandom conversation in person with someone my own age.
I need in person friends.
I was so worried this wouldn’t travel well though because it’s such a gentle tea; but overall I was really pleasantly surprised by how good this did in the timolino – the lychee still came across and it didn’t get bitter from sitting all day – so still a winning blend in my books!
I couldn’t make this one come up in the search bar no matter what I tried! I had to go digging through my cupboard; hopefully that’s just a hiccup though.
Work was nice! I brought a cold brewed version of this with me and sipped on it all day while stocking shelves; the cold brew time was nine hours.
While this was nice and refreshing and floral at first, it soon got really gross and the flavour of the jasmine was built up and became very artificial and perfume. It also left a dry feeling on my tongue which was not beneficial to making me a happy worker. So in the end, I tossed the last third of it. In the future, I think I’ll stick to hot versions of this one.
Also, it’s officially passed midnight (in my time zone, anyway) – so…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE WONDERFUL AND AMAZING VARIATEA! I COULDN’T ASK FOR A BETTER SWAP PARTNER!Bagged tea and pop tarts for breakfast, because it’s quick/easy and I’m still so exhausted from last night/work this week. At least I have all weekend off!
I’m really happy with my tea choice for the most part though; I’m just slightly regretting not picking something with lots of caffeine like a mate; maybe that’d be just a touch more helpful with feeling “bright eyed and bushy tailed”. At least this is tasty!
Tre just got up and immediately started bitching about the dishes not being done. Excuse me!? I’ve been doing all the dishes for the last month: you want a frying pan so you can make eggs? Fucking wash it yourself.
Haha, the joys of having room-mates (“apartment-mates”). Been there, done that!
hahahahahahaha bright eyed and bushy tailed! I loved this note.
Man, I don’t miss having a roommate.
Ugh, some people are so entitled..
If it makes you feel any better, I had a boyfriend whose flatmate once called him out on never volunteering to clean the bathroom. He said he thought the bathroom never needed cleaning because it always looked fine.
He was seriously shocked when she told him that it was always fine because she cleaned it every week. He thought it just stayed magically clean on its own without intervention. He lived alone when we were dating. You could totally tell that the whole not-cleaning-the-bathroom habit was one that died hard. Sigh. It’s not that hard to wash a pan. I’m pretty glad I live alone.
The pan issue sounds like my Very Spoiled son…grrr…
He thinks there is some magic "Cleaning Fairy who runs behind him
smh! He is 19
The roommate in question here is 20. I kinda get why he doesn’t want to do dishes; it’s his job – but he still has to take his turn every now and then or not get pissed when I do them at my pace.
This is my favorite out of the bunch I think.
i liked their strawberry and peach blooms for making iced teas… sad they didn’t continue having them.. maybe they will be back this summer!
They show up occasionally on DAVIDs web specials page
yeah I noticed that.. I still have a couple left from last year!