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Since I was in the area today, I went and stopped by Tea Desire to pick up more Chai Apricot and check out some other teas while I was there. I’ve really been dying to get my hands on Teavana’s Chocolate Banana Foster but since it’s the only thing from Teavana that I’m currently interested in getting I’m not going to make an online order for just one tea (I don’t have a local Teavana store to go buy from), so I’ve been looking for a suitable replacement.

This tea looked worth a shot! Even though there were no Steepster reviews (I had to add the tea to the database!) there were lots of reviews on the Tea Desire website, so I thought I’d give it a taste.

Technically, I guess, this isn’t really a tea – it’s a fruit infusion but I’m ok with that because it just means another dessert tea I can drink before bedtime! Honestly, this tea looks and smells like dessert heaven. Everything in the mix is GIANT. Seriously, massive hunks of chocolate (not chips, HUNKS), bananas, mango, and WHOLE banana chips. Sadly, because of all the big pieces this one is REALLY heavy, so 50g doesn’t buy a lot (the sales lady joked that this is her “favourite trail mix”).

I just have to comment that I’m really impressed with Tea Desire’s guest service as well! Other than today, I’d only been in the store one other time but the sales lady recognized me right away! She even remembered what my purchase was, and asked if I’d enjoyed all the teas I had tried (and I gushed about Champagne Cassis, which is now probably my favourite white tea). It was a really welcoming environment and there care and attention for sure makes me want to come back again and again.

I steeped a cup of this for myself and a cup for Tre. I’ll be honest, most of Tre’s cup was chocolate and Mango since I seemed to get a lot of those bits and wanted to save the giant banana chips for myself. I guess I don’t share too well with others. In my cup, however, I made sure I got at least one piece of everything in the blend.

The liquor for this one is very murky and cloudy brown, with a little bit of an oily sheen that reminds me of some teas from DAVIDsTEA. Not a problem for me, but I know other people have issues with that oily kind of sheen or with teas that aren’t “clean”.

I steeped this for 10 min., although admittedly I was only aiming for 7. I got distracted by the sub delivery guy. It was alright though, because the steep time for this tea is incredibly broad: 4 to 10 minutes. At ten minutes, my tea tastes great. It’s very much banana – and not an artificial banana taste but the taste of ripe, real bananas. The chocolate taste of this tea is very creamy and strong too, and holy butts does it compliment the banana. The other ingredients in this blend sort of take a backseat, but that’s alright: with a tea called “Chocolate Banana Cream” or whatever, you’re not really DYING to taste the papaya are you? I don’t think so. With that said, I can taste the mango but it’s very subtle.

Honestly, I think I like this better than Chocolate Banana Foster! The only thing it’s missing is the caramel flavour, although for the last quarter or so of my mug I did add about a teaspoon of butterscotch pudding, and that worked quite nicely.

Overall, a very much banana and chocolate flavoured dessert tea that’s SUPER sweet (no need for extra sweetener, unless like me you want to add in that caramel sort of flavour – although it tasted divine without it as well). I’m thinking that a longer steep time is really important, with how huge the chocolate pieces are you’d definitely need a significant amount of time for them to melt. Also, use boiling or very near boily water – trust me, this tea can take it.

Definitely a tea that’ll now have a permanent spot in my cupboard! Tea Desire, I’m really quite impressed!

PS. The best part of this tea was totally eating all of the pieces afterwards!

Mmmm! This is, without doubt, my favourite bagged tea (and one of my favourite black teas, just in general). Sadly, it’s also one of Tre’s favourite teas so I’ve actually got a small stash of bags (about 5) hidden in my apartment so that should he finish off the supply in the kitchen I’ll still have a small ration.

I’ve only seen this sold one place: the art museum in my old town, but I’m keeping a fierce eye out here in Saskatoon! It’s odd, my observation of Saskatoon so far has been that Saskatoon doesn’t really stock any food with Saskatoon berries in it, which you would think would be the opposite case.

The smell of this one steeping fills the whole house (so if I ever do have to rely on my secret stockpile of this tea, I’ll have to drink it when Tre’s not here). The dry leaf reminds me of Saskatoon berry pie, and the smell of it steeping is freshly picked Saskatoon berries. As dry leaf, you can’t smell the black base at all, but it’s a more present smell as it’s steeping.

The taste of this one is very sweet – there’s no need to add sweetner of any kind. The first taste when you take a sip is the black tea base, but then you get the very sweet Saskatoon berry which lingers heavily in the aftertaste. This tea is pretty straight forward, there aren’t a lot of contributing flavours other than “black tea” and “Saskatoon berry”. The only downside to this tea is that it gets very bitter very quickly, so you want to go with a short steep time. I never exceed four minutes for this one.

Teavivre Sample #3:

Ughh! I had a longer more detailed review for this one written, but Steepster ate it and it’s late and I don’t so much feel like rewriting it from scratch so mostly I’m just going to summarize…

Anyway, last tea of the night which leaves one Teavivre sample left (a straight white tea) and one Butiki sample left that I’m going to try as my reward for finishing all the straight tea samples that Lala sent me.

I wanted to read the steepster reviews of this one, but there are only two tasting notes. Since there was no info. in the tea description or on the sample packet about how much leaf to use for my cup I basically just guessed 1 tsp. since that seems to be a pretty safe amount for green teas.

The dry leaf smells very fresh and lightly vegetal which is usually unappealing but not so much in this case. I keep going back to the sample packet to take another whiff. There’s something REALLY familiar smelling about the dry leaf for this one, and it’s bothering me – however I’m certain I’ve never tried this specific tea before.

I steeped 1 tsp. for 1 minute, and the colour is a pale yellow/green. The scent is mildly vegetal, but in a way that I don’t find off putting (probably because of how light it is). The taste of this tea is very light and the only notes I can get are vegetal ones reminding me primarily of very lightly creamy spinach. It’s very refreshing, and there’s absolutely no bitterness or astringency to be detected. I’m wondering if I did underleaf this or whether that’s how this tea is supposed to taste. I’m definitely going to need to try this again with more leaf and a longer steep time to be sure.

I keep going back to the words “light”, “refreshing”, and “smooth” in my head. Conservatively, I’m going to rate this tea a ‘75’ for now, but I reserve the right to increase the rating if I taste this a second time and am able to duplicate the taste or can get it to taste better (because I really like it) or decrease it if it tastes really different and unappealing because right now I’m in a bit of disbelief about whether this is really how the tea SHOULD taste.

Teavivre Sample #2:

Green tea…

This one is supposed to smell/taste like chestnuts, I guess. Being totally honest, I know very little about Dragon Well teas. The leaves themselves look very similar to DAVIDsTEA’s green tea base used in Hot Lips, which is a flavoured green tea that I actually like a fair bit. However, I think Hot Lips has a sencha bae like most of their flavoured green teas – anyone know for sure? Maybe that’s a stupid question – I don’t know.

I don’t smell chestnuts in the dry leaf. I do smell grass. Still, this is less vegetal smelling than most straight green teas I’ve smelled.

I steeped 1 tsp. in about 80 degree water for a minute. There isn’t really a strong smell coming from the liquor of this one, that’s good because it’s not too seaweedy or grassy and bad because I have no idea what I’m going to taste.

Actually, I really like this one! With the exception of the Butiki Teas that Lala sent me, this is probably tied as my favourite alongside the Jasmine Pearls – so far anyway. It tastes light and buttery, with almost some nuttiness to it. In a lot of ways it’s reminding me of the Genmaicha I bought at McQuarries.

I think I could drink this on a regular basis – and I’d be open to trying different varieties of Dragon Well too.

I think I need to retreat to my room though, and come back to the rest of the samples in an hour or so – Tre’s watching Vines or Youtube videos or something like that, and every ten seconds or so he breaks out into really obnoxious laughter. It’s kinda disrupting my “restful Sunday” and the calm tea drinking atmosphere I’ve got going on…

Teavivre Sample #1:

Dry leaf smells sweet and floral. I definitely like the smell of this one, but I’m not surprised – I’ve been trying more white teas lately and have been really liking them.

Steeped 2 tsp. for 1 minute and about 15 seconds.

Hmm… It’s a little bitter. Not a lot, but just enough that it’s sort of off putting. I’m sure that’s likely a user error though, and not the tea itself. However, the cooler my cup got the less noticeable the bitterness seemed. Aftertaste is very lightly floral, and sweet.

Not a huge fan, but I’m going to hold off on a rating until I’ve tried it again because one of the things I’m finding so hard to get over is the bitterness, and that was probably my fault.

Transition tea! Today I’m going to be trying as many of Teavivre straight tea samples from Lala as possible in between doing laundry and trying to finish season four of Supernatural. Since my breakfast cup of tea didn’t quite hit the spot I decided to drink something I am familiar with before venturing into other teas that I might not enjoy as much.

I can’t help but think that this tea tastes like chocolate covered mangoes – but that’s because I just ate a large spoonful of Nutella. I steeped this cup in a lower water temperature than when I had it last time, and for a slightly shorter amount of time. The green tea base tastes a little bit weaker than I remember it being last time.

This morning, I’m really reminded of the syrup you get at the bottom of a bowl or can of fruit cocktail – an amalgamation of sweet fruit juices (the primary one being mango). Yum.

Woke up way earlier this morning than I’m accustomed to, though for a fairly good reason (and a blameless one; I can’t expect people to instantly know that 1 PM is still a time when I’m typically sound asleep) – I have a job interview! It’s for the Calendar Club/Go Games! which would be something different than settings I’m used to – having only worked at a carnival and a movie theatre (both places focusing on food services). It’s also only a seasonal position, but really at this point a little money over a temporary period is better than no money at all.

Since it was an early morning (technically afternoon) for me, I really wasn’t in the mood to go through a more elaborate tea making process – so bagged tea it is! I quickly skimmed through the box of bagged tea I keep for unadventurous family, Tre, and people who in general I feel are not worthy of my loose leaf tea and this is the one I settled on.

The baggy itself smells like raspberry, albeit a more artificial smelling raspberry. It has a black tea base, and that’s present too. There’s no steeping instructions (something I hate about bagged tea) so I basically eyeballed it.

The raspberry in this tea is most present in the aftertaste, and even then it’s super mild and artificial tasting. The black tea base in this just tastes off and unpleasant. There’s some slight bitterness to it as well.

I’m wishing I had made a different cup of tea, and when I’m more awake I definitely plan to make something better.

Since I was visiting Robyn at the University again today (I just got home now, so I was there on campus for around six or seven hours?) I decided I needed to bring some tea with me, so I made two cups of this hot, poured them into my water bottle and tossed in the freezer for around half an hour or so while I was getting ready, so it was nice and cool by the time I left.

While I was at the university, I brought her the rest of the match that Lala gave me (the black cherry flavoured matcha) since she seemed super interested in the unflavoured MATCHAccino I gave her yesterday. I didn’t really like either of the matchas too much, so I think she’ll get a better use out of it. I need to remember to bring her book back next time – this is the second day in a row I’ve forgotten it here at the apartment!

I’ve made Goji Pop as a hot tea a few times, and I was sure I was doing something wrong because both of the times I made it it tasted sweet and melony (if a little watered down), but it was clear! No colour AT ALL. I’ve seen pictures of this tea brewed and it’s usually very red or at least pink, and it’s even described as a pink tea. I was really confused at to what I was doing wrong – I was certain I wasn’t under leafing.

Well, today before I made my tea I made sure to shake the tea extra well and I think the problem I must have had making it was that I wasn’t getting bits of each ingredient in the mix, because both cups I steeped (I didn’t resteep, just made two separate cups – I didn’t want this to taste more watered down than I’m used to it being) were BRIGHT red. Finally, Goji Pop that looks like Goji Pop!

I stole a few sips of each cup while it was hot. The first cup didn’t really have any melon pieces in it, and it mostly tasted like tart and sour hibiscus and cranberry/orange flavour (sort of what goji berries taste like to me). I’m sure what I was missing in the previous cups I had hot must have been hibiscus and the goji berries (or I at least had a lot less of them) because there are the things I can picture giving the tea the bright red colour it’s supposed to have. The cups I’ve had in the past have been much lighter in taste and also very melon flavoured.

The second cup I had I made sure to include a couple pieces of the sugared (or whatever it is) melon. This one was also bright red, but when I tasted it it taste sweet and sour with a VERY strong melon flavour. I’m pretty sure this is a lot closer to the flavour this tea is supposed to have.

Mixed together and chilled, this tea smells very much like melon with a more subtle and muted hibiscus/goji berry smell. Actually, it smells quite enticing and really, really fruity. The taste is pretty strongly melon, even after being mixed in with the cup that didn’t have melon in it. I really like the melon taste, and it pairs well with the hibiscus and goji berries. As an iced tea, this is definitely less tart, which is good. I don’t mind the sourness of hibiscus but sort of dislike really tart teas.

I’m glad I held off on logging this one until after I’d tried it iced and had an more successful brewing attempt (something that wasn’t totally clear). I prefer this as an iced tea over a hot tea, definitely. I can’t stress enough how important it is to get a bit of each ingredient in your cup – I think it really affects the flavour of the tea when something is missing (especially when the hibiscus, melon or goji berries are missing).

I’m not gonna rate this one as high as I want to, since it’s a bit more (I don’t know if this is the word I want, but…) temperamental than other herbals I have – you need to pay attention to what you’re measuring out to make sure things are included and can’t just blindly dump a couple teaspoons into your steeper. It’s still a really good tea though, and a really unique flavour. Maybe if I have more success brewing it in the future I’ll rate it higher up.

And on a somewhat unrelated note, I fed my roommate one of the goji berries and he spit it out onto the floor. Guess he’s not a fan.

Backlog – This was my early afternoon (but technically my breakfast) tea. First cup was extra apricotty, so I must have got lots of apricot pieces and things in with the loose leaf. Otherwise, basically the same delightful oolong it usually is.

Second steeping was MUCH more peachy in flavour, with a considerable amount less of apricot flavour. The flavour of the oolong base was also especially strong, which was pleasant. In the first steeping, the extra things usually overpower the taste of the oolong quite a bit.

Sipdown! This is my last tea of the day (or first depending on how you look at it, since it’s after midnight)…

I’ve been holding onto this last tea bag for months now, waiting for the perfect time to drink it and I just now decided that I’m not going to have a perfect time, so I might as well drink it now and make room for more new teas! This is one of the few different kinds of ba teas that I did actually drink on occasion before I was introduced to this glorious world of loose leaf. My taste preferences have changed pretty significantly since I started drinking loose leaf and it’s been quite a while since I had this one that I’m wondering if I’ll even like it at all!

Since trying loose leaf I’ve learned that I’m really not a green tea girl, and yet this tea is a green tea base and it’s one of few teas I actually liked growing up (and that I consistently drank growing up). It’s also mint though, and mint is still one of my staple flavours and one I don’t seem to get tired of.

The tea in the bag smells like wintergreen gum, to me even though there isn’t actually wintergreen in the blend. Very strong mint smell, not really any green tea smell. I know from past experience that it doesn’t taste quite as minty as it smells, but I’m wondering if I’ll be able to taste the green tea more now that I’m a bit more familiar with it.

First few sips and… It’s still super good! Phew. Yeah, I taste the green tea – but I still taste the mint more!I’m actually really tasting spearmint in this cup, and less so peppermint. Yay! I still find it really refreshing, and I’m so relieved that now that I have a bit more of a distinguished palette the green tea isn’t putting me off. There’s really not a lot to add though, it’s a pretty straight forward Moroccan Tea.

Now I just have to find somewhere local to buy this! In my old city it wasn’t hard to get ahold of, we just picked it up from Superstore or Safeway. In my new city, I’ve checked both Superstore, Shoppers and Co-Op but none of them choose to stock this one (each individual store gets to pick what they stock). I guess I haven’t checked Safeway yet, so hopefully the Safeways here actually stock this one. Otherwise I’ll have to try and coerce a family member to buy some for me and bring it with next time they visit.