Beach House Teas

Beach House Teas 12 Teas of Christmas 2023 – Day 1

This “advent” is more of a sampler pack, so there is no set order for the teas. I chose one at random!

This is… fine. It’s a somewhat generic and very muddled herbal tisane. And I’m not surprised, looking at the very extensive list of ingredients. Mostly, I’m getting chamomile, mint, and a whole lotta mustiness, perhaps from the berry leaves? I thought I was tasting licorice root, but it must be a combination of the star anise and the stevia. It’s very mild either way, not enough to bother me.

It’s still a fine tisane to have before bed, just nothing special and too many ingredients causing a lack of clarity of flavor. But I made it through Day 1, phew! Tomorrow we start all over again! :P

Sipdown! (10 | 357)

Another one from Sips by.

This mostly just tastes like cloves to me. It has other ingredients, like cranberries and oats, but they don’t seem to contribute much flavor. At the end of the day, I just taste clove and ginger with a touch of an herbal note from the raspberry leaf.

It’s not unpleasant, but I’m not the biggest fan of cloves so not a favorite for me.

Happy (belated) Easter!! In honor of the holiday, I’m sipping on a strongly brewed mug of Coastal Carrot Cake along with some fresh baked scones and chocolate eggs. This is one of my favourite carrot cake tea blends and, trust me, I’ve tried a lot!! It’s rich with a naturally sweet, earthy note of carrot along with a mix of warming spices – the perfect mix of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg all wrapped in a silky smooth white chocolate finish…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5L0jvROJkX/?img_index=1

Those scones were SO good. Cranberry scones with marscapone and strawberry, and of course some chocolate eggs on top just for Easter.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7DWwoAZgJ8

My favourite kind of actual cake is carrot cake, and on my birthday that’s usually what I get for proper non-tea cake to enjoy. This year I didn’t have a real cake, only cake teas, so I made sure to include a carrot cake one.

I’d still on fence about if I’m into this blend or not. It’s got the thick, dense quality that I feel a carrot cake blend probably should have and it’s slightly creamy. The spice notes are maybe a bit off to me though. I get nutmeg, which is great, but also the licorice-y taste of anise. I do like anise but it feels out of place in a carrot cake. The carrot is a bit earthy, but not quite the “cooked carrot” note I’m looking for. Some highs and some lows. Need to think on this one more…

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CpxoE_fuAkC/ (7th Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfLs6lrQY2c

The dry leaf aroma of this tea is soooo fucking incredible smelling, which is why it’s even more insult to injury that I drank a mug of it and I am just completely blanking on what it tasted like. I don’t think it’s the tea’s fault – I’ve been in a heavy fog all week due to lack of sleep (insomnia) and the resulting migraines that come from that. It’s just one of those mugs of tea where I practically just blacked out while drinking it…

Seriously though – the dry leaf aroma is almost like the perfect combination of warm spices that just send me straight to that carrot cake zone and the yogurt drops look so appetizing. Soooo definitely something that seems deserving of proper attention.

The mug of this that I drank earlier in the week was pretty enjoyable, but I have to admit that it mostly just tasted like a very classic, smooth Earl Grey with a tiny hint of lavender. Other than the strikingly cloudy and yellow-leaning cup colour from the pieces of pollen in the blend, I don’t know that I’d have registered this as a particularly “unique” Earl Grey or having a honey/bee sort of lean to it.

Steeped this in the morning along with a bee themed breakfast complete with this cute bee themed mug and a ricotta and honey topped bagel! I was pulled to this Earl Grey because of the unique inclusion of pollen, which gives it the slightly golden and more opaque appearance you can see in the steeped tea. With the addition of lavender and a pretty strong inclusion of bergamot it makes for a strong cuppa, especially since pollen can have a rather intense and commanding flavour. With that said, I still thought it was pretty balanced! If you’re a fan of floral and you don’t mind a really full bodied Earl Grey than I think this is a unique take on Earl Grey that’s worth checking out!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf9HnBVOe-s/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKCkFiHADdI

Samurai Travelling Tea Box – Tea #50

Last tea that I pulled from the box; I originally had 48 teas that I’d identified as things I wanted to try but that was so close to 50 that I decided to just grab two others.

I don’t know what I expected from this tea, but it was weird. Kind of fruity but really generic/hard to pin point in what regard and then there was a different and more “rich” type of tasting note that made me think of chocolate but wasn’t chocolate. It was kind of all over the place, and while it didn’t taste unpleasant I think it was just forgettable overall.

This sounded like a strange one from the tea box, so I brewed some up! I’m drinking it cold, and the flavor is mostly hibiscus. It’s a pleasant hibiscus – not too tart at all. It tastes all right, but I’d rather have an herbal version since I don’t love the way the black tea combines with the hibiscus. It was rather a long steep, but that didn’t seem to bother the tea, which was a relief.

‘Samurai’ Traveling Teabox – Tea #4
A tea company I’ve never heard of before. And reminding me of one of my favorite bands: BEACH HOUSE.  Check out their album ‘7’ which might be my favorite, if you’re new to them.  This blend is white and black teas with all sorts of berry in the mix.  I really wish there wasn’t hibiscus — it takes over.  dang it.  I’d love to be tasting all sorts of berries on this unique base instead of sour hibiscus.  To be fair, I think this is supposed to be an iced tea but I hot brewed it.  But I could swear this blend is 100% hibiscus in the resulting flavor.  What a shame.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 19 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //5 minutes after boiling  // 4 minute steep

Teafriend tea! Thank you, ashmanra :)

Repasting the ingredients for reference:
Organic Assam tea leaves, organic Pacific peppermint, organic spearmint, organic Washington cherries, organic lemon peel, organic black peppercorns, organic pure extracts

Used 1 heaping tsp to 8oz boiling, first steep 6 minutes, second for upward of ten.

This was a ridiculously smooth and bold blend. Well, the black tea was bold with good body. I think due to age, most of the other flavors like peppermint, spearmint (could smell in dry leaf), lemon peel (maybe brought some brightness) and peppercorns fell out. The cherry stuck around, though! So basically this tea was a dark and malty Assam base with a smooth and tangy dried cherry tone that often vied for first place. Solid morning brew that served as a vehicle for smooth, high caffeine delivery.

How many times can I say smooth? No jagged edges here.

I am probably not the best judge of this woody/herby tea because at the end of the day I would never pick this for myself. It was alright from what I recall but not to my tastes.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2019/03/25/beards-hollow-from-beach-house-teas/

Sipdown (604)!

I have made a mistake.

It’s almost midnight, and I decided that I wanted to squeak in one last cup of tea before bed. This is a sample from VariaTEA – just enough for one cup. It was in my sample box of herbal teas, and I figured it was perfect because I could finish it off in one go. However, when I measured it out I could have sworn I saw tea leaf in the blend and drinking it now there is very clearly black tea in it.

Fuck – that is not going to be helpful in terms of caffeine before bed.

Anyway; this is quite obviously a Lapsang Souchong blend. It tastes very smoky. I’m not sure what else it’s blended with though? I mean, apart from smoke notes I don’t actually taste a whole lot else in the cup. Maybe a tiny hint of lemon or some other sort of citrus? I’m not entirely sure. But apart from the caffeine before bed fiasco, I am enjoying this tea!

Sipdown (628)!

Finished off as an iced tea, but I think I underestimated the amount of leaf I had left because this definitely tasted a little weak compared to the last time I had tried it – not as sweet or juicy in the apple department. However, still pleasantly strong clove and cinnamon notes so that was still a win overall. I just would have enjoyed that strong clove flavour paired with that same apple note from before. Makes me feel like this tea is a touch wishywashy…

Very interesting blend; I expected a generally sweet apple profile overall but what I got was actually more of a spiced/mulled apple cider and I think that was actually so much better. So, definitely brightness from the apple (and pear) – I’d call it a mix of red and green apple sort of flavours, but there’s also a lot of strong cinnamon and clove notes in this that really accent the apple. So, it’s like “big punch of fruit” followed by a huge sweep of comforting, warming spice notes. Apple and clove is such a good pairing too, in my opinion. And then, of course, just a little bit of woody undertone from the rooibos.

Really interesting; can’t wait to revisit. It sort of made apple tea seem exciting again; when hasn’t happened for me in a long time…

Sample from VariaTEA- i think they missed the mark here. While it had the potential to be something like another tea i love, the lapsang in this one is too strong. Not that it’s a strong lapsang, but it’s strong enough to overpower the other flavours. None of the fruit taste comes through. It’s just kinda of boring. Does make me curious about some of their other teas though since i was snooping the website. heh

Final count: 42

Sipdown (619)!

It doesn’t surprise me in the least that I’m still really not enjoying this blend. It’s got a bit of a floral profile, but mostly it’s strongly flavoured of licorice root – almost exclusively licorice root. I don’t like it; at all. Happy to have it finished off and not need to worry about transporting it to Montreal.

Drinking this one right now; wanted something to ease into the day with before moving onto something a little bit bolder in terms of flavour and caffeine. However, I also thought this would be a sipdown – but I misjudged the amount of leaf I have and there’s actually still enough left for one more cup…

Flavour wise, I’m really not digging it. Like last time, I’m finding it fairly herbaceous and really heavy handed with the licorice root. Unlike last time, I don’t think it tastes particularly citrus-y and I DO think it just completely tastes of potent chamomile. Bleck, bleck, bleck. But at least it’s warm, and soothing on my sore jaw…

Not my favourite…

Oddly something about this smelled of citrus to me, and that weird citrus aroma ended up being carried into the steeped up taste too. Mostly tasted of lemon, licorice root, and some herbs to me. It was sort of gross; not because of the lemon that shouldn’t have been there but more because of the licorice root taking over the cup. Bleck.

Tea Press Sipdown (458)!

I had kind of forgotten about this tea if I’m being honest, but even with the lapse in memory now that I know I’m officially out of it I am actually a little sad. This was a pretty simplistic blend; mostly sweet spearmint with peppermint in the body and a slightly dry and pithy but ultimately pleasant lemony undertone and finish. That simplicity definitely translated into reliability and smoothness; and it can be really nice every now and then to have a flavoured blend without any sort of frills to it. I know I have some similar herbal teas on hand though, so maybe I’ll try mixing those with a black base or something to try and create a bit of a ‘dupe’…

Hot cuppa.

Very smooth, and full bodied/brisk. I deeply enjoy the mix of malty, sweet Assam notes and peppermint/spearmint. In this particular cup, the spearmint is stronger which means that overall it’s also sweeter. Spearmint is always sweeter than peppermint. I don’t taste the lemon today, though…

Still pleasant!

Admittedly, it was the name of this tea that initially caught my eye but when I saw the ingredients I found myself as equally intrigued by them as I was the name.

The idea of lemon and mint isn’t really unique, but I don’t know that I’ve tried them yet on a black base without other ingredients thrown into the mix that were more dominant flavours than the two. Plus, the fact it’s spearmint is also just a hair more unique. Now, the tea was intended to be drank as a cold brew or iced tea, but I’ve had an irritated throat/bit of a cold the last week so I opted to first try this as a hot tea since both lemon and mint are things that can be relaxing/soothing when you’re ill.

Flavour wise, this was really solid. I firmly believe that it reads as so well executed and balance because of the simplicity of the ingredients, though. You don’t need an ingredients list a paragraph long to put together good flavour. Now, I’m not saying it’s not possible to have a tea with that much going into to that teas good; but sometimes things just get muddled. This is smooth, rich and full bodied with equal parts sweet spearmint, bright lemon, and complex black tea. The lemon is tiniest bit pithy, in a pleasant way, and the black tea is a mix of malt, cocoa, and cinnamon notes.

With a hint of honey this could make a REALLY killer sick tea, but I’m also looking forward to trying it iced – I imagine it’ll be smooth and refreshing!

A typical red rooibos. The Rooibos overpowers everything else. Peppermint? Where? I can clearly see the rose petals but the rose flavor is so slight compared with the quantity seen in my metal steeper. It does have a nice smell though.