Culinary Teas

Thank you Sil for sharing this but I am not a fan. It’s not bad but something tastes off at the very end of the sip. It is almost as if the caramel is just a bit older than I would like it to be and the rooibos a touch too woody. I am grateful for the opportunity to try it though. Hopefully Cavocorax will have better luck.

Cards and Tea Travelling teabox

Soooo i quite enjoy this one. it’s red rooibos, which i know some are not a fan of, but i like it, especially when it’s not that woodsy rooibos, which this is not. Steeped this for about 11 mins and it’s now a creamy delicious cup of tea. I know i’ve hard variations on this theme before and most of them are similar but this one is pretty good in my opinion. Though red rooibos haters may not agree with me :)

One creamy cuppa earl grey. Good color, smells like Cornish cream and sharp tangy bergamot. Taste the same. Don’t steep too long though, gets a bit coppery tasting and bitter. Milk helps in that case. Not a bad earl grey at all. Still looking for “the one”, though.

From the Tea and Cards TTB.: this tastes like an earl grey creme with some blueberry flavouring. The flavours are nicely balanced. I enjoyed my cup, and I would definitely accept a cup, but I can’t say that it’s something that I would necessarily buy

Smells divine while steeping. Very slightly vegetal, buttery and creamy, like clotted cream. The bergamot is definetly there but doesn’t transfer well after steeping. Not quite vanilla but definetly creamy and smooth. Not my favorite unfortunately. I’m still very much in love with my plain old Bigelow Earl Grey Green as my go to Earl Grey. But this is a second runner for sure.

Dry leaf: looks very pretty in pouch; rolled green leaves that unfurl while steeping with pretty blue cornflowers. Smells like bergamkont, gunpowder green and cream.

Steeps go a gorgeous golden amber cooler.

I’m having a cup of this tea right now. I came across this in my stash and i have no idea how long I’ve had this sampling. Hopefully it’s not too stale.

Well, the good news is that I don’t think it’s stale. After a few moments of cool time, I can taste the apple and the caramel notes come through nicely. The black tea is brisk. It’s also a tad astringent. I think I’d prefer it to be a little less tannic, but, overall, it’s a tasty tea.

It’s one that I can’t find on the Culinary Teas website anymore, so I guess they’ve discontinued it. While there, I did happen to notice that they’ve changed their website.

Anyway, due to the potential age of this sampling, as well as the fact that it’s no longer available from Culinary Teas, I’m not going to bother rating it.

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this. I love lavender scented everything, I own plenty of lotions and such, and when we got our house, the first thing I planted in the little garden was lavender.

That being said, I’m not sure lavender is something I need to drink.

I got distracted and forgot that I had this steeping (my life story), so it could’ve been five minutes or more. The EG was fine but the lavender definitely gave it a yucky bitterness.

I will refrain from giving this a rating and try again when I remember to set the steeping timer.

Meehhhhhh… It’s vanilla like, yes. It is also a bit dull. The vanilla tastes very true vanilla bean like, but this tea just doesn’t have much more going on with it. Pass.

I just cracked this one open for the first time, I have a soft spot for plain vanilla anything, and enjoyed DTT’s Cafe Vanilla tea, I purchased this one hoping to find another delicious plain vanilla.

I did not.
When I opened it, the smell was pretty alcoholy, but I still gave it a chance.

It tasted OK, but not the creamy vanilla goodness I was hoping for, not even close.

The weird smell of the dry leaves seemed to somehow translate to the brewed tea. It wasn’t gross, and I pretty much finished my cup, but it absolutely not what I was hoping to find.

Another one for the swap pile!

This one has a very strong and very distinct toffee-caramel aroma! I was worried for a moment that it would be too strong when brewed. Nope. There is a nice balance between the B/C/T flavor and the mild, but decent base tea. No astringency that I can tell. (I used a 3 minute steep.) Each sip leaves a lingering buttery sweet feeling in my mouth. It’s almost sticky in the way that toffee leaves a stickiness behind. It’s not a very complex tea. Very one-dimensional. But the tea base and flavoring works well together—and it’s enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. (: I might try adding milk to this the next time I brew.

Hm.

Smells like chocolate and caramel, tastes somewhat like that, but I’m not overly impressed.

The base is nothing exciting, and I find the tea just tastes like flavoring. Like, just not natural.

Honestly I think my major problem is that I love chocolate soooooo much that chocolate tea will never satisfy me.

However these last few days of flavored tea testing only serves to reinforce my intense desire to order some MF teas….no matter the cost. They make flavored teas I love and that don’t gross me out or disappoint me.

Swap pile!

From the HHTTB2

Strong cinnamon notes up front followed by the sweetness of the plum. This is really good, and it’s something I’d love to have in my cupboard during the holiday season.

Oh my gosh. Slap me upside the head with cardamom, why don’tcha? That’s about what sniffing this tea is like! Don’t get me wrong, I like cardamom… in certain applications. I just am not quite sure I like it to THIS degree of intensity. It is quite literally the only thing I smell.

Okay. I have brewed it, tasted it, sweetened it slightly, and tasted it again. I have to say, the black tea here is really not strong enough to stand up to Mr. Big Mean Cardamom, although I can actually taste it. The overall flavor is just unappealing to me, to be honest. Perhaps I just like my cardamom to be accompanied by (and mellowed by) other things than just a mid-grade black tea. The husband likes it, though, so I’ll let him drink it. ;)

Speaking of the husband, super exciting news came recently! We found out that after he graduates from A School, he (meaning we, as a family!) will be stationed in Aurora, CO for his first duty tour! I am SO stoked about living there. I’ve been to CO a couple of times and LOVED it, so I can’t wait to call it home. Plus, there’s the Rocky Mountain Tea Festival coming up in August! Yippee!!

This is one that TastyBrew had ordered on my behalf and shipped to me, as I don’t think the company ships to canada, or else it was a ridiculous price to do so.

I just had it for the first time in forever, and it was very good. I only got one steep out of it, the second was bitter and flavorless.

However steep one was definitely very blueberry, and absolutely creamy, with that sweet vanilla note.

I’m not sure how often I will be In the mood for something like this, because lately I don’t seem to want these overly flavored blends, but it is a nice cup if you’re looking for a sweet treat.

edit I realize this review tells you nothing except that it tastes how it’s supposed to….. :P

Had another itch attack last night. It’s been the only part of this pregnancy that i can’t stand. Oh the fat, swollen feet are pretty annoying but I still consider this a great pregnancy when I hear what others have gone through.

So where am I going with this? Pulling this tea out of the box made my morning. It kinda reminds me of strawberry slender pu er by teavana but this one has a stronger base to it. In other words i can taste the sencha more in this one then i can taste the pu er in the other.
I’m going to try this again at some point iced like another poster said and see how it is.

Received a sample of this last year from the awesome TastyBrew.

In my cup it smells very faintly dessert like, but not really. And I don’t taste any pie at all. I guess I’ve been spoiled by Della Terra’s flavored teas because these ones that merely suggest some sort of vague non-specific dessert just don’t do it for me.

I’m debating not finishing it and going to make something else. Something…GASP…unflavored.

I do appreciate getting to try this because the name sure sounded promising, but if I had to compare the taste to something I would say it’s a flavour akin to if I was chewing on a brown paper bag. Yeah. So that is to say a complete lack of flavour.

I put a little splash of milk in here for an after supper treat and it’s totally weak.

I know it’s probably at least a bit affected by the age of the tea but there’s no way it was delicious to start with. I can tell.

Backlog:

I like this. Sweet with a nice tropical fruit taste. Lightly grassy from the green tea, with soft buttery notes. The buttery notes give this a pleasant, silky texture.

Lightly tart, mostly what I get from the fruit though is sweet. Sweet papaya and sweet passion fruit. YUM! Tasty hot, but even better iced.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/03/02/crime-passion-green-tea-culinary-teas/

SIPDOWN

I’ve been “spring cleaning” my vast tea stash and discovered a packet of this from a tea swap last year… and I hadn’t even tried it! Well, there was about enough for a pot so I threw it into some boiled water and let it steep.

I drank it nekkid—without milk or sweetener—in order to properly gauge the flavour. It was nice and dessert-y, but a little light on pecan pie-ness, I’m guessing because the tea might have been a tad old. Oh well, it was still lovely, and now I’m one tea closer to thinning out my stash!

I’ll take the stress off Shmiracles and do the first review, which is probably only fair anyway, because I sent it to her!

Unsweetened, it’s mediocre at best. I don’t get much orange, and the cranberry is kind of a generic sweet-tart cranberry flavor lacking any real depth.

However, a little sweetener goes a long way in here. It sweeteners up the cranberry and gives it kind of a cranberry relish flavor. It still retains its tartness, but rounds out and smooth the flavor. Also some orange peaks up and has a presence in the back of my throat.

It’s still nothing special, and I won’t be getting it again, but I won’t have much of a problem finishing off the other 6 bags either.

Thanks to the Tea and Card TTB for this tea! Although rooibos is not necessarily my favorite I am often surprised. I smell the caramel and rooibos when I open the pack. I used 212 degrees for 7.5 minutes. I taste a nice caramel with a vegetal overtone from the rooibos. As per usual, I added a touch of sweetener. Brings out the caramel just a bit. I enjoyed this sample and will resteep to see how it holds up. I wouldn’t rush out to buy it but I am comfortable drinking it and would be happy to have more.

Thanks moraiwe for this tea. It is making me happy tonight. It reminds me of a Cream of Earl Grey without the bergamot. Creamy vanilla, yum. I think I may always need a vanilla cream tea in my cupboard.

Oh my. Cherry chocolate tea? I’m in. Sadly, I let this cool before trying it, so I only know what it’s like now – cold. I definitely get cherry (on the cordial side of things, as opposed to medicinal), and I do taste a touch of chocolate… it’s a vague chocolate cherry candy, the ones with a cherry liquid filling and a cherry inside, with the hard chocolate coating? Yep, very similar taste, just much lighter than I’d like… I want MORE flavor, darn it! :)

Thanks to Dexter3657 for this generous sample!

1.5 tsp in 12oz.