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At a minute in boiling water, somehow this does manage to taste and smell like those little hard grape candies. So much nostalgia! Some burnt bitterness does creep out near the end but it’s not as bad as I anticipated when I saw the suggested steeping parameters.

Thanks, OMGsrsly (and MissB)!

Cherry Blasters seasoned with peppercorn and rosemary is.. an interesting concept. Thank you, OMGsrsly (and MissB!), for this unique experience! I’m not sure if I like it, but it’s a lot of fun. Sometimes I get black cherry instead of Cherry Blasters, which is a pretty sweet occurrence.

I really, really want to read Firefight right now except textbook readings, presentations, responsibility, being an “adult”, and stuff. Brandon Sanderson is just SITTING there on my kobo..

This is an “assam-y” black tea blend, with a twist to the finish and lingering flavour- subtly composed of nutty cedar chips and sweet juniper berries. I’ve had other teas that have combined cedar and juniper berries but I like how this one mixes those flavours with the base blend.

Wow! I was curious when I should have known better. I may have to turn this into soap.

For true Floral Fanatics only.

Looks like they upped the ratio of actual tea leaves in this batch which means more leathery nippiness and less sugar cake. There’s definitely a lot more chocolate, dirt, and grit this time around, but I still see the things (vanilla) I originally loved.

I’m going to have to tweak the steeping parameters to account for the increase in zhu rhong presence. I may even add some of that Cinnamon Vanilla Baileys.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, steepsterites!

OMGsrsly’s Melon Oolong broke my tea hiatus, if not completely removing my tea blahs. It was a good effort though; Melona bars are one of the many ways to my heart. Now that I’m back in an environment where the water doesn’t always taste of metallic algae I can work through OMGsrsly’s gift bag and remove that apathy for good.. hopefully!

I’d contemplate picking this up again as a spring flavour and for the novelty of steeping an oolong at boiling temperature.. a good flavoured oolong to have when the temp. variant kettle runs off on vacation!

This is one of the teas I picked up on my outing with OMGsrsly, and it has become my main companion in the last week. There are better teas out there (and in my cupboard), but the smell always makes me swoon and loose all sense of judgment.

The cinnamon comes through stronger without milk, but at a 200F temperature it keeps its smooth toffee-popcorn butter texture. If I accidentally use boiling water I add some milk after- that ruffles out the cinnamon and astringency, while generally keeping things amazing.

Although the maple is slightly more subdued than I would like, I bear no regrets with this one, and would consider picking some up again. I do wonder if the Maple Toffee from The Whistling Kettle is the same tea; the two look identical.

It’s been so long! After abstaining for a year and convincing myself I don’t need this heavy weight in my life, I picked some up as my free 50g (and what a measly sized 50g it is).

You know what? It resteeps well, and it’s delicious. Totally worth the weight (haha..).

I’ve been doing it wrong.

I was pleasantly surprised when this fandom blend tasted decent on it’s own- I really wasn’t expecting much. The Mother had a sip from my cup and approved of it too, but requested her’s to be made with steamed milk. Much to my chagrin, this green based chai tastes even better with milk. The vanilla flavour oozes out like honey, blending seamlessly into the smoky spice of the cloves and cinnamon.

I’ve been doing it wrong and now she’s drinking the last of this sample. Darn.

Hmm, this has a lot more rice kernels than I previously remembered. This optimizes the roasty trait, but I wish there was more veggie butter in the mix. Although it’s not my favourite genmaicha, it’s still good after a huge dinner. It didn’t mind me flunking the steeping parameters either.. well, not too much.

Also, happy Canadian Thanksgiving!