Cornelia Bean

#mugtober

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!

Today’s challenge theme was appropriately Thanksgiving/Harvest so I decided to pick out this delicious blend of different farmer’s market themed fruits and veggies. Though Cornelia Bean has renamed it, this is one of my favourite catalog fruit infusions that you can find from a bunch of companies (usually under the name “Market Fresh”). I think I actually own three different “versions” of it right now…

Anyway, it’s super sweet and juicy with bright notes of fresh citrus, apples, and cherries with a subtle cooling, fresh cucumber pulp undertone. This was another one of those teas where I saw the prompt and just thought “Well, I’ll take the excuse to make this tea I love.” Looking forward to a day filled with some other autumnal favourites, though!

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FA85RO89HA

Another cuppa from yesterday.

This isn’t a very complicated blend and it wasn’t anything particularly mind blowing either, but I thought it was very solid in achieving a approachable, smooth vanilla profile on the shou pu’erh base. There was nothing funky or red flag-raising to the shou, which is sometimes an issue with blended/flavoured pu’erh. It was expectedly earthy and dense, but in a way I don’t think would immediately turn off someone new to the tea type. The vanilla comes through, though is less of the sweet/creamy type of vanilla you often see in vanilla teas. Could maybe be a little stronger to hold up to the base choice, but I still liked it!

Cold Brew!

Very juicy but without much acidity/tartness, and overall quite a refreshing and pleasant brew. At first blush I get more of a blueberry flavour but then it’s a little more of that mixed berry with a “purple berry” sort of lean – definitely reminded me at times of a really nice Saskatoon berry jam. It’s very nostalgic to me, and the Saskatoon berry element is for sure a large part of that.

So far, this is probably my favourite tea from my most recent batch of Cornelia Bean teas.

Sipping on a mug of this currently and I’m enjoying it a fair bit. The dry leaf aroma really pops off with such a robustly sweet and milky profile that makes me think of sweetened condensed milk with a caramel-y undertone to it. Steeped up it is still quite milky, which is a desirable and expected note for a tea inspired by Honk Kong milk tea. It’s also brisk and malty, but tinged with an unexpected but not entirely unwelcome note of fresh jasmine. This element feels very unorthodox given the blend inspiration, but it does taste very nice. Overall, the steeped cup is much less sweet than the dry leaf would have led me to believe – but it’s very enjoyable nonetheless.

Still trying all the new Cornelia Bean blends I got!

I really, really wanted to just LOVE this tea because I love rhubarb as a flavour so much. I do think this was a very solid fruit infusion, but it wasn’t quite the kismet that I was hoping for. I think the biggest thing for me personally was just that the taste of hibiscus was much stronger than the taste of the rhubarb. Rhubarb is also tart and, at times, pretty jammy so it makes sense to me to include hibiscus to amplify those elements. I just wish the balance was more even, at least?

The tail end of the sip and aftertaste were where this tea really sang, in my opinion. For a couple of reasons. Firstly, and I’m not sure how much if this is possibly in my head, I could have sworn I was tasting just a bit of vanilla/cream and y’all know how much I adore a rhubarb and custard flavoured tea so that softer, silkier note was a fantastic reprieve after the tangy, tart top notes and mid sip. Secondly, much of the hibiscus had passed by the back end which meant I got to taste more of that pure rhubarb flavour.

I feel like trying this cold brewed could potentially shake up the flavour distribution a little bit here (particularly the hibiscus levels), so I’m excited to try that next!!

Cold Brew!

I found myself somewhere between underwhelmed and just “whelmed” with this tea. I really love pineapple and pineapple flavoured things (including tea) typically, so I wanted to try this blend because I could just picture how refreshing the combo of tropical pineapple and mint must be… but as soon as I saw the dry leaf in the bag I grew skeptical. It very, very much had the appearance of very aged fruit pieces and other ingredients, and the aroma was rather dull too. Definitely seemed like quite old tea.

Taste wise, it’s not necessarily unpleasant tasting but it does have a bit of an aged funk to it and overall the taste is pretty flat/stale leaning. The pineapple is the strongest note, which should be a win but I thought it was rather waxy and artificial seeming. The mint is light and kind of muddy/earthy which comes off as somewhat cacophonous with the sweet, candy-like pineapple rather than being the refreshing mojito-ish vibe I was hoping for.

Definitely bummed about this one.

A little while back my mom was in Winnipeg on vacation and I asked her to stop at Cornelia Bean for me to pick up some teas. A lot of what I wanted to restock on isn’t carried by them anymore but I did get some new teas! She shipped them out a few days ago, and that package arrive in MTL last week so I’ve been enjoying sipping through them…

This is a very, very simple blend. Just a straight forward juicy, dense tasting orange blend on a brisk, full-bodied black tea base. It’s the kind of tea that can either come off as boring or reliable/consistent depending on your mood. I did enjoy this mug of it though. I thought the orange notes were deep and weighty enough to properly convey the blood orange they were going for and I appreciate that it wasn’t excessively sweet either.

Sipdown (303)

Going into 2021 with one less puerh in my stash and I feel good about that. Alas, it’s a decent puerh so this was probably the least stressful to drink. The key with this one is the mint is the strongest flavor, rather than the base. However, I don’t get much more beyond mint and the dense puerh mouthfeel so personally I’d rather have a mint tea on a different base if that’s the flavor I was looking for. Nevertheless, thank you Roswell Strange for introducing me to a decent puerh.

Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing this with me. It was randomly selected for today’s #septembersipdown and I’m honestly so grateful it was a flavoured puerh and not a straight one. Gotta ease my way in.

This actually isn’t bad as far as puerh teas go. That’s due in large part to the mint which covers up the muddy/mushroom/umami qualities of puerh that I don’t really like. I don’t get much in the way of lime or rum if I’m being honest. Mostly this is a mint tea that coats your mouth like puerhs do with that thick/dense mouthfeel.

So, as far as puerhs go, this is great. As far as teas go, this is meh. I’d probably just have a mint tea on a different base instead of this. As such, I won’t be seeking it out again but I’m also not looking to toss the rest of the sample. So thanks again Roswell Strange for finding me a tolerable puerh :)

ther has got to be a puerh out there that some companies generically use for their flavoured puerh. If not, then i dunno what’s up. this one was from a few days ago and i remember thinking that the base tasted similar to other flavoured puerh i’ve had from a few companies. Still though, it was enjoyable and did have that pistachio flavour going on. thanks for the share VariaTEA!

Sipdown (287)

Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing but this is a nope for me. I made s’mores cookies and those have an awesome s’mores flavor. This tea, has something that is touching on s’mores, but then a mix of fruit that seems out of place and distracting.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_3WQvfAAE_/

Sipdown (293)

I don’t know if Roswell Strange was trying to broaden my horizons or torture me or a bit of both but back in December when she gave me a bunch of teas, she gave me a bunch of puerhs. As many of you know, me and puerh are not friends but also if someone shares something with me, I feel compelled to try it. So to ease myself in, I went for a flavoured puerh.

This definitely has a great pistachio flavor. It’s clear and distinct but doesn’t overpower the puerh base, as much as I wish it would. The base smells earthier/muddier than it tastes, which is nice but it definitely still has those qualities. Per Roswell Strange’s recommendation, I added a shitton of milk.

There is something cookie-like about this with the milk. The pistachio comes through and so does the puerh, though not as strongly. With that said, I don’t know where it’s coming from but I’m also getting something that is sort of like rubber/latex – kinda like the flavor you get in your mouth after blowing a bunch of balloons. Also as I continue to drink, the smell of dirt that puerh has fills my nose and it’s just not my thing.

Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing! While this was better than puerhs I’ve had in the past, I’m just not quite at the point in my tea journey where I enjoy puerh tea. Who knows if I ever will be…

I was excited to try a Sea Buckthorn tea as I recently drank a bunch of Sea Buckthorn in Russia, but this one is a bit underwhelming. The Sea Buckthorn taste could be stronger.

One of my favourite teas at Cornelia Bean.

Sipdown (1422)!

A forgotten mug that ended up being consumed when it was super cold. However, it was really delightful that way – like drinking blueberry juice with a pop of tangy hibiscus and a bit of black currant. Really flavourful and juicy.

Not a favourite tea, but this was always very consistent and reliable as a nice fruity berry rooibos. I would probably repurchase if I was back in Winnipeg and had it more accessible, but it’s not a tea I’d go out of my way to restock.

Sipping this one currently – it’ll be my last tea before bed today.

It’s super saturated and syrupy with deep notes of sweet blueberry and black currant. Because of the slightly more medicinal natural undertones of the currant, the mineral and woody notes of the red rooibos tea base feel a little more exaggerated and I could see this being off putting to some people. However, I don’t mind that hint of something more medicinal because I feel like it offsets these super juicy and thick berry notes.

I only have one more cup of this tea left so I’ll definitely be getting a sipdown this month.

Cold Brew!

So, yesterday was the Super Bowl – I don’t really sport, at all, and I definitely didn’t watch the game. I figured, though, that this tea inspired by Winnipeg’s football team “The Blue Bombers” was about as close of an homage to the Super Bowl as I was gonna get – so that’s what I sipped on in the evening.

In my head I remembered this having a denser blueberry flavour, and this is true but there’s also a pretty strong black currant flavour that I seem to have forgotten about. It’s pretty coating and sticky on the palate, and I like that it’s not overly sweet and still has a plucky tartness about it. It was the unoffensive, fruity rooibos that I didn’t know I needed to make it through the evening – but I dug it!

I probably wont be sad when I finish this off (it’s not super unique) but I have no criticisms right now either.

Last tea of the night from yesterday – just some simple fruity goodness, plenty of currant and blueberry. Very comforting, well balanced mix of berries and honeyed woody rooibos excellence!

Brewed hot and then forgotten about, then remembered and consumed cold.

Not bad; has a tartness from the hibby and a bit of a medicinal currant undertone that isn’t the most pleasant combo; could be from sitting untouched for so long in the evening though. Also age, possibly.

Hot Cuppa.

Very, very blueberry – which is great. However, also notes of florals (lavender, mostly) and black currant with this overarching “wildberry” sort of quality. It’s a little bit tart, but pleasantly so. Rides the line between tasty, juicy currant notes and more medicinal currant very finely though.

I want this in some sort of alcoholic cider format type thing.

Finally trying the last of the Cornelia Bean blends that I got last year…

This one is, I believe, inspired by the Winnipeg Jets. I don’t really sport at all, but I’m smart enough to know that’s a hockey team who’s team colour is blue. So, ergo, you have a blueberry/black currant blend with lots of cornflower – visually a huge pop of blue. I don’t really care about the hockey stuff though; what I do care about is the fact that this tea smells like buttery, cream blueberry pancakes!

Steeped up, it’s quite nice but not really pancake like at all. The biggest reason for that, I think, is the hibiscus – it’s not awful or overpowering but definitely gives the sweet blueberry/currant blend a tartness that cuts right through the sweetness. So, basically, it’s this GIANT wave of very natural, juicy blueberry followed up with the hibiscus. The currant is more like an undertone underneath the hibiscus. It treads a little bit into that bad medicinal currant zone but mostly avoids it. I did have a few sips where I thought that medicinal quality was a bit stronger, though.

At its peak when it’s REALLY hot, imo. As it cooled, I thought it got a little funky.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk8mm1Qmt-Y

Had this one yesterday while working out episode outlines for the podcast I’m working on; I drank a lot of tea while working on outlines because it helped keep me focused on the project. It’s been a while since I last had this one but I really enjoyed it! It was so thick and rich, with deeply nutty and SUPER creamy pistachio notes and smooth earthy pu’erh. What I enjoyed most about it was how distinctly nutty/pistachio tasting it was without tasting sweet either.

Soooo good!

Morning cuppa.

Very, very thick and creamy mouthfeel with a rich but not sweet pistachio flavour. I think it’s really important to make that distinction that even though the pistachio was a strong flavour it wasn’t a sweet one; if anything it was more salty and the entire cup leaned very much towards the umami side of the taste spectrum. Also a bit of a “meatiness” to the earthy pu’erh base tea. Very full bodied though and a good tea to sort of start the day with – very ‘bold’/present.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41CchibIF74&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=2&t=0s

I was craving something nutty, and this certainly hits the spot. It’s just got such crazy full bodied and well fleshed out pistachio notes it’s almost even a little bit too nutty. It’s also creamy, and has just a slight bit of saltiness to the point where it just kind of feels like I’m drinking the equivalent of yummy, natural lightly salted pistachios. Of course earthy undertones from the pu’erh as well – it’s very hard to drink a flavoured pu’erh and lose the base flavour: it’s so distinct.