Cuppa Geek

It was ridiculously hot here – heat index of 104F one day – and then we had a few blissful days that were cooler, and a couple of nights in the upper 60’s! It was a little rainy and after the dreadful heat it really felt like great tea drinking weather. And for some reason, this particular tea was calling my name loudly.

It had a bit more ginger than I like the first time I tried it so I just removed a few pieces of the ginger to get it to the heat level I like. And it was FANTASTIC. I felt like I had been transported to the best part of cool fall weather. I actually drank it several times over the course of the two cooler days we had.

Since the ginger heat was reduced, there was no need to make it as a latte. I added no milk or sugar and it was just bliss. The warmth was just right, the fruity berry flavor was spot on, and it was excellent plain when I was waiting for my students and again later in the evening when I had it with dessert.

I am pretty surprised I enjoyed it so much since I really am not a chai lover and usually make such blends as lattes. I can’t wait for another cool day to have it again!

I was super excited about the blackberry honey part of this one but was dubious about the ginger, because I like just a hint of ginger. I am not a true chai drinker because I know so many have black pepper and even turmeric and such. One of my students is from India and brought some of their own home made chai blend and holy moly was it spicy. No go for me. Then another lady from another part of India was horrified by that chai and said she only put cinnamon, cardamom, and clove in hers. So it is different by region and even family probably.

Well, back to this tea. The aroma is pure heaven – fruity sweet deliciousness. The first sip of it before additions was very good but I could tell there was a little more ginger than I go for in a tea, as my throat and tongue were VERY warm, and I am a wimp. However, it seemed JUST RIGHT for a latte.

I steeped one teaspoon of tea blend three times, added literally only about a half teaspoon of sugar because there are honey granules here, and I added milk. Ratio is probably 2/3 water to 1/3 milk.

This is so goooood! It is fruity and sweet! With milk, I would not know there was ginger in this. And that is how I like it. Just enough ginger to add sparkle but not much heat! I know that I am in the minority there.

2021 sipdown no. 29

In juxtaposition to most notes I saw on this one, I am getting a fair amount of heat from the ginger and less maple. I was hoping for the opposite, but still a tasty cuppa. The ginger is not as intense as I’ve had in other teas, so I am grateful for that.

All in all, not a bad cup to enjoy this afternoon.

Cameron has really got me thinking on the teapots we have and perhaps soon I’ll have to make up a whole pot instead go just my normal mug. :)

2021 sipdown no. 24

This tea has subtle hints of vanilla and cake and it’s quite tasty against the green tea base. I don’t get a lot of rose, but I’m a-okay with that! I actually enjoyed this cup more than I thought I would!

2021 sipdown no. 23

This one is really tasty! I would consider ordering this one for my cupboard in a heartbeat.

The blueberry and peach and pastry notes all come through perfectly. They don’t fight for attention. Yet they’re all there, right at the forefront. The flavours are also very true to form. There’s no fake or cloying-ness here. The blueberries are so true, I felt like I was back home on the east coast, eating blueberries from my grandmother’s garden!

The base tea is lovely, but ever so slightly astringent, though this may be fixed by steeping temperature. As the tea cooled, it only got better! The flavour profiles didn’t change, but it’s just so refreshing!

Thanks for such a wonderful tea Nichole!

Inattentively oversteeped at work, so something went a little bitter (not sure which ingredient that would’ve been). Threw in some rock sugar as an antidote.

User failure notwithstanding, this is a nice variation on the candy cane theme. I actually notice the cream first, with the peppermint kicking in from behind.

September Prompt 3 – A Chocolate Tea

Ashman went in late today so we enjoyed tea and toast together this morning. I almost served Dammann Freres Chocolate Black tea but hesitated because I know he doesn’t like some chocolate teas. (I think he WILL like that one, though.) Then I remembered that he loved this one back when I first bought it and we have not had it in a while, and we really need to drink it up. It would be a shame for it to go bad. I think this is next tea I will hit hard to make a sipdown.

These teas are true to their word – they really do make three steeps, and we always make all three and combine them to keep them evenly flavored, rather than drinking one strong and two progressively weaker.

The chocolate flavor tastes like natural chocolate rather than the mildewy smelling chocolate flavor or oil or whatever it is that seems to crop up in some chocolate teas.(Although last year I noticed the weird scent in my beloved Boston which broke my heart a little. It doesn’t even have chocolate in it, does it?). The strawberry is also more real strawberry than candy strawberry, and with the medium heft black base tea makes for a real yum.

Once Christmas is over, my mind goes to pink and red and frilly and lacy VALENTINE’S.

Nichole at Cuppa Geek mentioned that she was doing a special Valentine gift bag called the Valen-Tea Party, and this will be the featured tea, although there are others you can choose and honestly that Vanilla Rose Cake is taunting me from afar because it sounds so ever loving good! I will be getting some of that for my friend who loves green teas!

The first time I served Chocolate Covered Strawberry tea was with brownies and strawberries. I don’t usually serve like-with-like and Ashman even questioned it, asking if I thought it would be too much together? But once he sipped the tea, he declared it a perfect pairing.

You may have had this in your advent calendar teas, or you may have had the Vanilla Black or Peach Vanilla Black. This seems to be the same base. I would call this a very adult tea, that is dessert-like without being candy-ish. There are a few teas that seem like they would be delightful for a little tea party with children, and others that make me feel like a very dignified grown-up (now there’s a laugh) and this one has the grown up feel. It isn’t astringent, but lightly brisk, assertive, and resteeps very well. The flavors seem natural and not overdone.

We had our tea by the fire on this chilly, rainy night and ate our strawberries, saving the green tops for the bunnies who frequent our yard. We drink it sans additions but you could add milk and sugar if you like it that way. It can definitely handle it.

Cold Brew Sipdown (198)

F is for…Fruit Salad Lemonade and check out the “F” teas here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CRPzkPugxI0/?utm_medium=copy_link

This tea was nice enough but never delivered what I hoped for. I guess I expected it to be sweeter, fruitier, and more lemon-y like the fruit as opposed to lemongrass. It was ok enough that I drank the package of it but I don’t think I will get this again. I’m still grateful to Nichole at CuppaGeek Teas for the chance to try it though! Thank you, Nichole!

F is for…Fruit Salad Lemonade

This is my second cold brew of the day. Turns out F was another fun letter with a lot of teas to choose from.

This steeped a nice purple because of the butterfly pea flower. This has a generic sweetness and some lemon to it. It doesn’t scream fruit to me, or at least one specific fruit. Perhaps that’s the point though.

I cold brewed this for more than 24 hours because I got lazy and didn’t want to strain it last night. Today it had an interesting purple/grey color. However, I did not get a lot of flavor. Perhaps the slightest touch of lemon – as if I just put some sliced lemon into water. Otherwise, nothing. I will have to try this again with different methods.

June Sipdown Prompt – an iced tea

A true sipdown

I bought a lot of this tea and hoarded some of it, but now it is gone. It was great hot and also made a magnificent iced tea. The fact that it could be steeped three times made it economical to use for pitchers as well.

Gone but not forgotten.

Okay, so I was hunting about for something to drink with my lunch of homemade faux egg drop soup. I wanted a green and wasn’t sure what to have and I saw that I hadn’t even opened this one yet. I figured my soup would be pretty bland and something with flavor would be nice with it.

This was soooo good. It is definitely vanilla up front and not lemon first for me, even though I saw a good bit of lemongrass in my strainer. It was perfect, too. Waves of nostalgia were hitting me so I knew it was reminding me of a tea I haven’t had in a long time. And after searching a bit, I found it. It reminds me of Wedding Tea by Harney and Sons, which is a white tea blend. Honestly, I think I prefer this one as the green base is every bit as smooth as their white, but I think this resteeped a lot better. It was….smooth, delightful, comforting, soothing…wow, it was just what I needed to slow me down and make me feel peaceful today.

Love!

*advent new years day bonus tea *

Yeah i forgot about it…oopsy. I rather enjoyed this one today though lol i could ask for a little more vanilla in this one but the peach flavouring wasn’t overpowering or artificial. So yeah. happy january! lol

I’m looking at a window full of slow snow—wafting down like little cotton parachutes; the kind that creates very little worry because there won’t be much and the temp is just above freezing. It’s also the kind that makes you lazy because it’s so soothing to watch.

So I’m using that as an excuse to rock in my favorite chair and alternate peeking outside with peeking at old episodes of Northern Exposure. You need to find and watch the episodes with Marilyn and the Flying Guy. They are adorable.

Sitting next to me is a little cup of Caramel Apple Chai. I am picky about my chai. I want the spice to be light enough I can taste the other ingredients. I can. The apple is nicely evident, the spice isn’t obnoxious, and you can coax out the caramel with a little milk and sugar.

Cuppageek Advent New Year’s Day Tea

I was lazily reading tasting notes in front of the fire when I saw one that said something about the final Cuppageek tea. The final tea! I forgot there was one more left! I drank the others but lost momentum posting notes the last fews before Christmas. I hope to figure out what I had and review them, but I do remember that several of them were teas I already owned and have reviewed.

I jumped up and pulled out the last packet. Serendipity! It is caffeine free which is great because it is after 10 pm. and it sounds like a festive flavor one would drink…well, maybe more for New Year’s Eve than New Year’s Day but I didn’t really do anything last night and we are kind of celebrating tonight by having pizza and watching Taskmaster. We are wild. Off the chain.

I wondered if it would be hibby heavy cuz other people would have done that to us, but not Nichole. The coolest part to me was when the water hit the blend and I sniffed and said, “oooo strawberry and then ROSE!” I love love love that rose was the second strongest for me in this.

Sipping it, it really is strawberry-ish. Kiki described it well when she said it was like strawberry jello when you are making it and it is still warm. I also taste a bit of apple-y flavor and then the rose, and the rose is sticking around in the aftertaste for me. The apple and hibiscus comes across as that feeling on your teeth when you bite a strawberry and it is a little tart, more a tooth feel than a taste or mouth puckering tartness. I bet this would make an awesome summer iced sweet tea. Again, I can see this in pretty glasses with little girls gathered around me having cookies.

Edit to add: i made three steeps so it took a while to finish, and as it cooled the mint comes out more. Very fresh!

A very pleasant ending to my Advent calender! Thank you, Nichole!

Final tea of the advent grab bag. Though the 25th tea was meant by Nichole to be had on New Year’s Eve, I saved this for today, the first, since it’s Kiki’s name day.

“Dry smells like tangerine!”

I sniff it and say I think I smell cream, hand the packet back to Kiki.

sniff “Huh, yeah! Kinda like… kinda like a, what’s it called… a creamsicle.”

picks up the mug “Yeah, it definitely smells creamy, like creamsicle. Yes, hm, mildy citrusy, tangerine-orange flavor. I pick up the black tea and it smells like a …lightly… creamsicle. And it tastes like a creamsicle. smiles The more you drink, the more the orange comes out. I can taste the orange rind, or cit— citrus rind, whatever kind it is. It’s good. It’s very good. I’m not one to really like that vanilla cream kinda flavor BELCH because it tastes artificial laughs sorry, oopsie, more laughs so I probably wouldn’t buy it. Happy New Year everybody.” smiles

(FWIW, this is called Orange Dreamsicle on the packet)

Thank you so much, Nichole, for making this advent possible. Kiki had a great time trying a new tea almost everyday this past month. We found several that she really liked and I’ll be purchasing pouches of those for her if they’re available. The best part for her, though, was having me share her reactions with Steepster. She loves to please, so all your comments made her happy. I’ll be sure this year to post some reviews from Kiki here and there.

Sipdown

This was the remaining tea for the CuppaGeek advent meant for New Years day. It’s god a hibiscus-berry flavor and perhaps some vanilla but I don’t get much in the way of cream.

Not sprays of twigs with red plastic berries at the end, festooned with plasticized snow and glitter. Not a cranberry scone with a drizzle of glaze. Rather, the visual of a light layer of frozen rain glistening on the tiny red cranberries lining the boardwalk of the kettle bog, a hidden pocket, a remnant of Ohio’s glaciation. The same glassy glaze on the highbush blueberry of higher ground. Thick piles of sphagnum moss in impenetrably dark water, pitcher plants, tamaracks. I like when tea reminds me of my roots, and, at the risk of sounding like an old person… the good days, memories of which, in this moment, are now heavily relied upon. Lightly flavored, let it cool a bit. Throw in a little nostalgia from childhood – play-doh – and consider me lost temporarily to better times.

Thank you for the care package, ashmanra :) I’m down to the last few teaspoons, so I’m off to place a small order for me and Kiki.

Advent Day 24, From the Depths of the Grab Bag

“The dry leaf smells like lemonade, strawberry lemonade. It tastes… Got a little black tea and it’s, uh, it’s got a flowery strawberry flavor. Maybe some red clover.”

There hasn’t been red clover in any of these, haha.

“I didn’t mean red clover… giggles It’s okay. I got that… smacks lips …tannin thing. Maybe it’s got some lemongrass in it, maybe not. cackles It’s good, it’s good, maybe a 7. Would I drink it again? Ah, yes, if I was at somebody’s house. So what is it?”

Frosted Cranberry. Black tea —

" -Oh maybe why the - smacks lips — the, uh, the tannin thing. Frosted Cranberry, alright. Well, I got the berry part.

I rattle off more of the ingredients.

“I smell the cream flavoring, kinda butterscotchy, you know, but i like the berry thing, that’s nice.”

And peppermint leaves. Do you feel any —

" —Minty? Yeah a little bit."

And raspberry leaves.

“Ahhhhh.”

Advent Day 23, From the Depths of the Grab Bag

“The dry smell was, uh, like chocolate or chicory. And, uh, wet smells like, uh, like a chicory tea, like it’s supposed to taste like chocolate or vanilla. Cinnamon. Star anise. heh heh heh All I can smell is that perfumey smell. It tastes alright. It’s okay. It’s not bad. I’d say it’s a, uh 6 to.. 6.5. Maybe it’s got some kinda black tea or some kinda tea that tastes dry on your tongue. Unless it’s got some chamomile or something in it. Let’s see, does it have any fruity in it? I can’t smell any fruity. It kinda tastes like that Celestial Seasoning one that’s supposed to taste like ‘Get up in the Morning Tea.’ Okay, so what is it?”

Maple Ginger.

“Oh yeah, ginger but it’s so overpowered by the maple.”

It’s got oolong tea which is probably giving you the—

“—black, tannin.”

Aaaand [the rest of the ingredients].

“Okay. Tell everybody out there if they have a good tea they want to send me, I’ll give a professional critique!”

Advent Day 22, From the Depths of the Grab Bag

sniffs the packet “Oh, okay.”

“So, it smells like apple cider. That’s what it smells like to me. Apple cider, and it kinda tastes like apple cider with cinnamon stick. And uh, it tastes a little flat next to that black tea I had last night with lavender. It tastes a little one note. yawns It’s good. It’s not as good as the one last night though. I’d says it’s a 7. Would I drink it again? Yeah, but I wouldn’t order it. Maybe it’s got some rosehips in there. Alright, what is it?”

Hug in a Cup! I rattle off the ingredients.

“Well I guess it is kinda complex, isn’t it!” cackles