A Quarter to Tea

I’ve been trying to expand my collection of herbal teas recently, so I ordered several rooibos blends from A Quarter to Tea this week. This particular tea is nice, but it didn’t blow me away. It has a soft, creamy vanilla flavor with a hint of coconut. (I’m not really picking up on any maple.) The rooibos base isn’t harsh or medicinal, but I wish the flavoring could be a bit stronger.

I am really enjoying this tonight. The flavor is pretty spot on. A little cakey a little egg nog like and yet since it is a white tea it is no in your face with the base tea it is light and nice and still very comforting.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been buying alot of tea. My mother is on a long vacation and since she is…less then enthusiastic about my tea addiction, this is an ample opportunity to buy as much as I can. So far, I’ve bought 9 teas from David’s Tea, (And planning on buying more in March.) Lupicia’s happy bag of which there were 9 teas, will be getting Kusmi’s Essential Teas set (Bought the set from Amazon, because I was having trouble with buying from Kusmi’s site. And lastly planning on buying samples from Fusion along with an ounce or 2 of teas I know I love.

But anyways, while drinking this tea is not like drinking a cup of eggnog…its still an tasty and interesting cup.

I ordered 2 7 teas sample packs and 1 3 tea sample pack, and completely by mistake put 8 teas down on the comments when I ordered, so they were nice enough to include this tea as 1 cup sample. I wasn’t planning on ordering again from Quarter to Tea till at least this summer, but I might be inclined to buy again, particularily this tea.

It has a very faint soft minty taste that eggnog has, but more of a eggy-cakey taste that others mentioned.

This tea is very good cooled down, but I get the feeling that it wouldn’t taste all that great cold. But I could be wrong.

I received this as a free sample with my first order from A Quarter to Tea. This isn’t necessarily something I would have ordered for myself, but it’s tasty! The base tea is smooth and light, really letting the flavorings shine through. The bergamot is strong, but not overpowering. The vanilla flavoring is surprisingly natural and brings a nice creaminess and the maple adds sweetness and depth. I found it enjoyable plain and even better with a splash of milk. This order is off to a good start!

Mmm. This blend seems just right for a snow storm. I like it with a healthy dash of rice milk. It adds a slight sweetness and creaminess that complements the caramel and milk chocolate notes beautifully. I’m not really getting any nuttiness but that’s fine by me.

I made the mistake of preparing this initially with boiling water. Oops.

Lovely leaf—curly, slender, and wiry.

In that first cup, I tasted very very faint sweet notes: apple, more rum than brandy, and the slightest hint of cream. A bit astringent despite a short two-minute steep. The cream note is along the lines of ice cream. I am not sure how the flavour is so faint and yet each sip leaves the vaguest of sweetness on my lips.

I’d like to note that I am finding these flavours because I am looking for them based on the name of the tea. Otherwise, I likely wouldn’t be able to identify them.

On the second steep with slightly cooler water, the flavour of the tea comes up nicely with a hint of apple. I taste houjicha rather than oolong. Odd. Is it a blend? Or am I missing something? Is my inexperience showing?

My leaf is from a sample. Thankfully, I have enough for maybe one more cup left. I think slightly cooler than boiling is the way to go with this tea. My rating reflects optimism that the next cup will be far better with cooler water from the get go.

Yummy! Spot on cake/eggy flavor. Didn’t really pick up any nutmeg or cinnamon notes. But either way the tea is quite a yummy treat.

I’m trying to not be grumpy about this tea, but I am…a little bit grumpy about this tea.

To start off though, the pros: well spiced, perfect amount of heat, nice enough base tea if you’re into that kind of thing.

The cons: this doesn’t really taste like Mexican hot chocolate to me at all? I’m trying not to hate on this tea because it doesn’t taste BAD or anything, I was just really looking forward to it, and it’s nothing like I was expecting. I can live without picking up hints of marshmallows or whatever, but I’m really not getting “chocolate” here and that was kind of the main selling point for me. Maybe the chocolate is just too subtle for me, but tbh this isn’t a tea where I’d expect or appreciate subtlety.

Yes, pretty much like vanilla cake batter frolicking on top of red rooibos. Enjoyable.

That said, this tea is very much in the same family as QTT’s Snowflake rooibos and DT’s Birthday Cake, Creme Caramel, and even maplely Oh Canada.

A teeny bit different, yes. But very much the same.

Edit—now that I’ve read the notes of others, I am wondering where my strawberry flavours went. Nope, none in this cup.

Delicious heavenly dessert, I’m in love. Sweet delicious caramel over not in your face peachy fruitiness. So happy I found this place and a new favorite tea :)

Whoa! Hello jalapeno! Usually I find teas with these spicy ingredients tend to disappoint when it comes to the spice department but it is present here. Yet, the tomato, or salsa, also registers giving the whole thing some sweetness. I think there may be strawberry along with the tomato but it’s hard to tell once the jalapeno kicks in. Definitely an interesting blend and worth a try but this is also not something I would reach for often.

Sipdown (150)

Again I didn’t get a chance to drink this until it cooled as I got caught up cooking dinner. Now, as I wait for the turkey breast to finish cooking, I am happily sipping away at this tea.

One thing I noticed is that the white base used provides a nice foundation of sweetness/creaminess that supports these decadent dessert flavors wonderfully. I don’t notice eggnog instantly as their is more of a cake flavor throughout the sip but right at the end, there the eggnog/nutmeg deliciousness. It’s quite nice though I do wish the eggnog was a bit stronger as the flavorings in this are subtle. It is worth a try but I think I prefer the Banana Split if I were to choose a white tea.

Sipdown (257)

I think my little sample has just been chilling out too long because the flavor isn’t all that strong here.

Sipdown (151)

I figured with all the old teas I have been working on, I should try something new. I first tried this when it was freshly brewed and wasn’t too impressed. Then I got held up with a phone call from a friend from Montreal and now a second call from my sister. I grabbed my cup to take a sip and the tea had completely cooled down. To my surprise, this brought out a whole bunch of flavors. The base, though present, moved aside, leaving room for a caramel banana goodness to take over. There is a berry essence from the strawberry floating in the cup, not the most prominent flavor but enough to help see the idea of banana split. A sweet and creamy custard underlies each sip. It’s interesting how temperature can make such a difference given that I was going to write this off when hot but now having it cooled, I am enjoying it significantly more.

And it’s a belatedly posted sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

Chocolate caramel hazelnut deliciousness.

And it’s a sipdown!

The second day of craving this one. Tastebuds still not all that, but the gentle chocolate nut deliciousness comes through and the sweetness and warmth of this tea soothes my still suffering throat. It is making my morning better and for that, I am grateful.

This tea always feels like a treat to me. Even when I am sick and my tastebuds are not at their highest functioning capacity. Delicious.

Fading a bit but very delicious. My second tea while recovering from having been whipped about by the harsh wind.