A Quarter to Tea

I love the floral flavour of this! I drank this hot because I did not have time to make/eat breakfast. I tasted flowers (mostly lavender), honeybush, sweet honey, and various herbs. This is delicious!

I do like the rooibos and black tea combo base, it creates a bit of sweetness but also a nice amount of flavour from the tannins. It brewed a dark amber because of the black tea in it.

This tastes like a lemon poppy seed muffin to me, but with a bit of blueberry flavour added. It is quite flavourful, although I would like liked more cakey flavour (almond, caramel, or vanilla maybe?) I’m not getting any butter or cream notes like I thought I would, but this is still a nice blend.

FYI: this makes for a tasty iced tea.

Tannic and bold black base, vanilla, artificial maraschino cherry flavour, cream, some sweet (graham cracker or pastry, maybe?). I wouldn’t buy it again, but it was interesting to try. The base is definitely too tannic for me and it has bitter tendencies (similar to what you might expect from a breakfast tea-I’m just sensitive to bitterness). The cherry flavour is artificial tasting, but not cough syrup or unpleasant. It is nice iced if you keep the steep short, but it sometimes doesn’t stand on its own (needs milk). I definitely prefer it brewed cold, I might use the rest of my leaf to make a killer iced latte.

Very bold black base with a tendency towards bitterness. I coldbrewed this 10 minutes, 1 tsp leaf and the base was still not very good. I think teas like this are best suited for those who like breakfast blends/bold blacks. Still, that satisfied my cherry/fruit iced tea need. Lots of cherry, maybe a bit of malt and some cocoa.

I really like the black base on this, and the strong flavours of oats , cream, and pastry. I found the cherry flavour very strong and very artificial (like cough syrup) but otherwise it was excellent.

I didn’t enjoy this blend as much as I expected to, but I think it could be because of the name. I was expecting notes of caramel and vanilla bean. Instead I’m getting mostly rooibos with hints of coconut and sugar. It is very good, but I do not taste any caramel, pasty, cake, or cookie like I would have liked. It is pretty good if you ignore the name, but I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who does not like rooibos.

High-five to rosehips for the sample!

Let’s start with appearance: this is a pretty tea. It’s got little men/flowers and those shiny spheres that people sometimes put on cupcakes. It comes in golden/dark curls* that unfurl when you toss it in the water, which I like to watch.

*(Does the tea curl on its own, or is there some poor unfortunate soul in Asia somewhere curling it up? Please tell me it curls on its own.)

When the tea has finished steeping, the stars/men have dissolved, and the silver balls have mostly dissolved. I think the silver balls are all show and no go.

That said, this tea tastes like beer. It’s got a malty/stout thing going on. With cinnamon in it. I tried a chocolate dessert stout once that was a bit like this. And I liked it okay, but I’m more of a fruity witbier type of girl.

Same goes for this tea. It looked so cool that my hopes soared, but the flavor itself wasn’t the tops.

Big ups to Rosehips for sending this to me! I am so happy to have traded with you! (squeeze)

At first sniff, this is kind of… vegetal? I think that’s the carrot. It’s a spring soil kind of scent.

But then you get in there and… damn. She (I think Rosehips is female? — the real name is unisex) wasn’t moved by this, but I adore it. It’s a creamy, carrot-y, slightly coconut flavor. Kind of like a carrot cake with a few coconut sprinkles on top. I am totally getting it.

I think that the nut contributes to the cream flavor (?), but it might be superfluous. I don’t really pick up a lot of it on its own. I specifically made sure I had one of the blend’s nuts in this first scoop. NO MATTER.

There is still a slight grassy undertone to this, and I’m not quite sure where it’s coming from, but it’s not enough for me to dislike this blend. I’m totally on board here. I’m going to be a sad panda when the sample is gone.

Very strong flavours of genmaicha, toasted rice, and popcorn. I can taste spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. There are flavours of bread, cream, and brown sugar. This is definitely the best carrot cake tea I have tried thus far.

The looseleaf is GORGEOUS to look at. There are tiny marshmellows and all different colours of flower petals! The look alone made me want to make this tea this morning.

This is a lovely blend of rooibos, chocolate chips, tiny marshmallows, and herbs. I find it a bit plain, but I enjoy the floral taste and the hints of creamy cocoa and sweet marshmallow.

I would recommend this blend to anyone who enjoy rooibos and can handle floral flavours. The sweetness is not overpowering, but there are hints of mallow and cocoa. You have to really like rooibos, though,because that is the main flavour present.

Sipdown!

While this brewed up murky, I still like the candy sprinkles in it, it gives a hint of sweetness to the cup.

Coldbrew!

I expected this to be similar to the flavour of the tea brewed hot, but I found it very woody, herby, and nothing like key lime or graham cracker/pie. Nothing sweet or creamy, either. I recommend sticking to brewing this hot.

I opened the package and just had to try it right now. The looseleaf smells strongly of lime zest, lemongrass, vanilla, and sweet custard. I can see little bits of graham cracker and what I assume are white chocolate chips. The oolong is rolled into beautiful emerald green mini pearls.

I steeped 1.5-2 tsp (difficult to tell with the larger pieces) and 550 mL hot (but not boiling) water. It brews a light yellowish green and smells like lime and flowers.

I’m quite glad I bought a larger size of this, because I’m in love with it. It is so amazingly fruity, sweet, creamy, and there are hints of floral, honey, nectar, and flowers. Any one who enjoys key lime pie or desserty teas will enjoy this.

Sipdown

Thank you Sil for sending this my way. It is definitely a tea I have enjoyed though the flavor is almost gone so it is time to say goodbye.

The vanilla and pear is strong today while the butter is providing a large dose of creaminess. No cardamom to be found though that’s just fine with me. Thank you for the share Sil.

Another tea from the awesome Sil!

Tbh I drank this absentmindedly so I didn’t notice any particular flavors but I didn’t notice it was warm and comforting and just a happy, homey flavor…like baked goods in fall. I will try to pay more attention next time but this did go down quite easy and isn’t that what counts?

Thank you Sil!!

Alas, this tea and myself just never really got along, no matter how hard we tried. And I feel like we did both try!
But it just wasn’t to be. I found the coconut to be overwhelming, making everything bitter.
So this tea is not for me. Not at all. So I must say that this Sipdown is a bit of a relief.
Sipdown!

It was all coconut today, and an odd bitterness towards the end of the sip. Drat it all, and I was trying to be cunning and bring out more of the carrot and cashew today.
Oh well.