1298 Tasting Notes
Thin mints! This absolutely tastes like a tea version of the perennial Girl Scouts favorite. A splash of rice milk adds creaminess that really takes the blend over the top, but it’s not necessary. Thank you to Quarter to Tea for the review sample! I am way behind on tasting notes because I am moving, but I wanted to get this up before the Black Friday sale goes live so I can tell everyone how impressed I am with the blends I’ve tried so far from Quarter. I am limiting my tea orders this week to no more than four companies and this is one of them (TeaVivre is another, the rest are still TBD).
Hmm. I’m a sucker for cheesecake, so I was excited about this flavor. It disappoints on that front. Ignoring the name though, it’s a pretty tasty blend. The tart lemon flavor and roasty houjicha flavor balance each other out. There’s a hint of creamy vanilla that softens the tartness of the lemon and makes the flavor more evocative of dessert than fresh fruit. It’s also quite pleasant cold. Think more lemon meringue than lemon cheesecake. This was a nice enough blend, but I’m not heartbroken to say it’s a sipdown.
Such yum! My dad brought this back for me from a trip to Canada. Don’t let the word “herbal” mislead you – this has yerba mate in it. I kept it at the office for a nice mid-morning pick-me-up. The maple flavor here is perfection. I particularly enjoyed it with a splash of rice milk. The result was just a creamy, sweet, satisfying breakfast brew. Sadly, as my use of the past tense indicates, this was a sipdown yesterday!
Flavors: Cream, Maple
Thank you to CheshireEyes for including Bamboo Tea House’s Almond Cookie Green Tea in my Secret Pumpkin package. I am fairly confident that this is the same as Della Terra’s Almond Biscotti, which was delicious. It’s just a perfectly almondy, biscotti flavor. It is slightly sweet and has a gently drying afterfeel. This is one of the blends I really missed from Della Terra. It’s nice to know that it’s still available elsewhere!
This is easily one of my favorite straight rooibos teas. It’s woody, sweet, and soothing. I also really like the company’s mission/process. The tea itself is produced on a cooperative farm. The women who pick it are paid a fair wage, and they also hand-make the labels and beads. 100% of the net profits from the business are used to pay school fees and buy books and uniforms for orphans. Bonus: the boxes are very lovely and I always keep them for their aesthetic value. Sadly, this is a sipdown, but I expect to restock soon(ish).
Sipdown! My initial tingly-mouth reaction to this blend seems to have been a fluke. I finished off the rest of it today without a problem (other than the fact that I’m now out of it!). I’m moving soon, so the goal is to keep going with the sipdowns and not buy much new tea for a while.
Sipdown! This is one of my favorite ginger teas. The flavor is strong, crisp, and soothing. That distinctly ginger zing lingers on the tongue as the brew soothes a cranky tummy. Or migraine. Or cold. It’s not magic but I do often use this tisane to ease discomfort. Of all the teas in my cupboard, this is the only one that I stock specifically for its health benefits. Looks like time to restock!
I normally quite like this blend, so I was very disappointed to read others’ reviews that the flavor seems to have changed. I finally, apprehensively, gave this year’s blend a try at work today. Honestly, it tasted the same to me. I made it in my travel mug, added rice milk, and enjoyed the sweet/spicy combo. Not sure why everyone else thinks it’s off. Maybe it just tastes the same to me because I don’t drink much black tea?
