Cuppa'T Specialty Teas

Iced Latte!

Made this near the end of the work week since we finally got a new order of milk for the kitchen. I thought this was nice enough, but I wouldn’t make it as an iced latte again if only for the fact it really just tasted like a chocolate rooibos latte. Sadly the beautifully sweet and nutty hazelnut note was kind of lost using this prep method….

Last but certainly not least from my vacation/garden themed “Teas I Drink In A Day” roundup earlier this week…

I picked this up while here on vacation, at the same time I restocked my Nights In Paris from Cuppa’T. I didn’t initially plan on getting anything else, but last minute curiosity got the better of me. More for the hazelnut in the blend than the chocolate. I’m practically a broken record at this point, but I don’t love chocolate teas.

I found both chocolate and hazelnut notes to be really rich and well defined in this cup, but overall the blend was actually a little too sweet for me. Almost cloyingly so. Less steep time or, perhaps, some milk would probably help course correct and the cup would be a much more perfect balance of decadent chocolate and creamy hazelnut. Definitely seems like there’s promise here, for sure!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvdVk3lOL2I/?img_index=5 (Fifth Photo)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOFpm8hh3FU

STTB Tea

This was in a package labelled chocolate stout, which I was very excited to try. It turns out to be a herbal instead. Regardless, I thought it would make a good morning cup since I love chocolate teas.

I do like the cocoa shells, it tastes like cocoa or dark chocolate. I’m not really getting orange flavour. There is some bitter citrus rind and some citrusy herbs (lemon balm), but nothing that tastes like a Terry’s chocolate orange. I LOVE orange chocolate. It is one of my favourite chocolate flavours. This needs some vanilla and more creaminess to really sell the chocolate aspect (although, the cocoa shells are a great start). The orange flavour isn’t there. Adding some dried orange pieces or orange essence might help. I’m not sure why a blend called chocolate orange wouldn’t have any orange in it, but it really should.

Cold Brew!

We have reached the point in the evening where I am tired and don’t particularly want to write long tasting notes anymore. This tasted like fig. It also tasted like basil – maybe a little more so than I expected/remember but not in an unpleasant way. It also had a nice juicy tropical/pineapple undertone that was a welcome compliment to the basil. I liked it! Felt summery.

From late last week – I’m behind on tasting notes again.

The fruit component was very “bubblegum fruit” and, having recently had Tealyra’s Basil Pomelo tea, I thought that the basil seemed really like handed but I think that’s just because that tea is SO intense. The basil was actually present and without that more recent comparison I think I’d have been very happy with the level.

I had this one cold brewing in the fridge, but the one of my roommates didn’t fully close the fridge door and no one noticed until later in the evening (when I got home from work) so the brew was actually kind of room temperature. So, really, I made sun tea instead of cold brew.

I’m not big on sun tea – not only it is a much higher risk for bacteria growth, but you’re basically just drinking room temperature tea which is sort of gross? Like, I want my tea hot or cold – ideally not in the middle. So, I slugged my way through the brew (which was very fig/candied waxy pineapple in taste – not nearly enough basil) but it was weird and not what I wanted.

Current cuppa.

This tea is weirding me out a little bit – the package says it’s a fruit infusion, but the ingredients list says it has white tea in it and I can kind of see what could be some broken up, flakey looking white in the ingredients – but it could also potentially be sweet blackberry leaf. Without pouring out the entire bag it’s hard to closely inspect it. It’s also supposedly got basil in it, and the dry leaf smells basil-y but there’s no basil in the ingredients list…

Regardless of the weirdness of the ingredients, it’s a pretty damn nice infusion though! It’s pretty fruity, but more medium bodied and mellow that a lot of fruitier teas I’ve had as of late – there’s no sharp hibiscus, and it even feels like there’s a more minimal amount of apple in the blend/not a ton of filler. I immediately get the sweetness of the blackberry leaf, but there’s also a nice fruity quality that feels like a mix of candied pineapple and fig (and a little bit of apple). I’d describe it as rather juicy! However it does have a herbaceous savory undertone that reminds me of basil – so I want to believe that there’s basil in the blend but the ingredients list seems to contradict that.

Could the “flavouring” in the blend be basil flavouing? I suppose it’s not off the table, but I’ve never seen basil flavouring used in a tea blend before – it would surely be cheaper just to blend with actual basil instead of some type of basil flavouring.

The tea is an enigma, but one I’m digging!

Sipdown (229)

This was the second oldest tea in my steepster cupboard based on the recently added sorting and it comes from Roswell Strange. This blend is so old, it was sent to me in either 2015 or 2016 as part of the package of teas to be had with certain songs. The song she recommended for this blend is “One Day I’ll Fly Away” by Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge.

Bit of a disclaimer – not only is this tea old but it may be overleafed and I got distracted ordering clothes online so by the time I started drinking it, it was cold. Essentially this sample wasn’t treated well so if this note is talking about a garbage tea, it is likely my fault and not a reflection on the tea.

So while this has what is clearly a nice vanilla note to it, that pairs well with Nicole Kidman’s smooth and soft voice in the song, there is just too much lavender for me :( I think the lavender probably stands out more b/c it is cold. While I can definitely see where Roswell was going when she paired this tea and song, I treated this too poorly for it to be an enjoyable experience. Nevertheless, thank you Roswell Strange for the share!!

Sipdown (227)

Finished this off the other day cold brewed in milk. It was better than the plain hot tea but not as good as the first time I cold brewed it in milk. Good but nothing great so I am okay saying goodbye. Thanks for sharing, Roswell Strange!

This was much better in milk. It is still cinnamony and a bit creamy but cold steeped in milk really helped to bring out the “milkshake” element.

Another one from Roswell Strange. Thank you!

I cold brewed this in milk for 8 hours. The plan was to make a hot chocolate but that didn’t happen because I got lazy. So now it’s just flavored milk and honestly it is pretty good

Its creamy and has a whole lot of flavor. I want to say vanilla and cinnamon and something else that’s so familiar but not all that common but really works.

From two weeks ago – I’m definitely behind a little bit on tasting notes…

This was ok but it’s got one of those fruity profiles that’s a little generic and the apple is also very strong in the blend, so you get a lot of that apple-y sweetness overtaking the cup and then a more mellow generic strawberry/red berry taste that’s very clearly coming from the flavouring in the blend. There’s some pleasant tartness though to balance the tea out.

It’s fine – nothing special, but you don’t always need teas to be special to be enjoyable.

Cold brew from Friday evening, with some sliced up lemon tossed into my mason jar of cold brew as well. This was so good. It was essentially just juice/lemonade, but what’s wrong with that? Sweet and juicy – prominent strawberry notes but with the lemon slices I got a lot of citrus/lemon too – and some tartness/brightness.

Strawberry Lemonade, essentially. Yuuummmmm!

Iced!

This was lighter in terms of taste than expected, but quite delicious. Nothing about the flavour really reminded me a whole lot of the name though – I found the taste more tropical, with the dragon fruit coming through the most clearly for me as well as the general sweetness of the apple. Kind of felt like, maybe, this had the generic “red fruit” flavour that is in so many fruity blends?

Ultimately quite enjoyed it though, and was very happy with the level of flavour and sweetness. Would probably also be good hot, but I feel like I’m really getting into iced tea season now…

I was craving this earlier in the week but I couldn’t find my sample bag. Finally found it today, but after steeping it and taking those first few sips I realized my craving had long since passed. Mostly it tasted like boozy almond flavouring with a bit of vanilla. Not bad, but a little generic and too heavy handed on that one particular tasting note.

Geek Steep S2E8 – Misfits

Keeping tasting notes brief tonight because I am tired and probably a little bit sick, but it always bugs me when I don’t get my Geek Steep tasting notes up shortly after an episode comes out…

This is what I chose to steep up during my rewatch of the episodes I selected for this fandom. This isn’t my favourite tea (see previous tasting notes for why) but it’s not bad either; just a sort of almond-y sweet and creamy profile. However, I had one goal and one goal only for every tea I drank during this episode of Geek Steep: incorporate as many dairy related teas into the episode as possible. Why? Well, you’ll have to listen for the in depth explanation but the short version of it… Lactokinesis!

It’s been a while but I spontaneously found myself craving this tea so I dipped back into my small tin of it – it was a nice cup and honestly I’d all but forgotten the flavour profile so I was a little surprised that it had such a hot cinnamon flavour but I welcomed it – it worked nicely with the sweet almond and creamy vanilla notes. Body was a bit thin for me, but the flavour good! I’ve always thought that this was a really weirdly named tea, but if you don’t think of the name at all it’s nice!

In other news…

I got a hamster over my holiday break! It’s been probably about two and a half years since I last had a pet because, since moving to Montreal, I’ve not been allowed to have pets in my apartments. However, over the break I had a conversation with my landlord to see if she would change her mind about me having a small caged pet based on my rental history and she agreed, so I was finally able to get a small furry friend!

I don’t have photos yet because I’m still in the taming process, and he seems freaked out by my phone – but his name is Gorilla and he’s a mostly black Dalmation Hamster. Once he’s comfortable enough being held out of the cage and around phones I’ll sneak some photos. He’s super fluffy and adorable!

I still think the name of this tea is absolutely awful.

However, today’s cup tastes like perfection. It’s sweet and creamy, with this and coating vanilla notes and a complimenting strong and sweet cinnamon note that doesn’t actually add any “heat” to the overall mix. It does, I reluctantly admit, taste like what I imagine a cinnamon and vanilla milkshake would.

Hot with a little bit of vanilla agave – this was nice and had a general sweetness and creaminess to the profile that I found tasty and also soothing. However, there was really nothing distinct at all in what flavour that sweetness/creaminess was conveying. So…

I guess that’s fine?

A morning(ish) cuppa from today.

I wonder what about this is supposed to be spicy!? It’s such an odd descriptive choice in the name of this tea because even if there was a present spice not (there was NOT) I don’t think that’s something that most people actually want in a milkshake – so it’s a strange selling point!? Hopefully I make sense when I say that. If, say, the “spice” was cinnamon I think even calling this “Cinnamon Milkshake” would still be WAYYYY better than “Spicy Milkshake”.

But anyway; what it actually tasted like was a floral but ultimately very creamy oolong blend with a little bit of that black tea maltiness in the undertones. The creamyness comes from a mix of coconut and vanilla, both of which are nice notes through a tiny bit artificial tasting. I think this is milkshake adjacent in terms of flavour; because I’m looking for that comparison I’m finding it but if I wasn’t trying to relate the flavour of this tea to that concept I don’t think I’m land perfectly there.

I did like it though, as a whole.

Latte Sipdown (608)!

This was a mostly good latte with some lovely buttered rum notes and a nutty sweetness. It’s also fucking freezing in my apartment today despite having the heat cranked up; so a hot and cozy latte was the exact perfect thing to make with my breakfast. So cozy and warm. However, there was also a weird saltiness to the cup that I haven’t experiencing with prior tastings of this tea? It wasn’t bad, but just really threw me for a hot second or two.

So yeah – basically a hot, cozy mug of salted caramel, nutty, buttered rum goodness?

Made this one in a travel mug to drink on the way to work this morning: sadly my vacation/break has come to a close! I am excited to be back at the office though – as much as it means less exploration of Montreal so freely, this is a great environment!

The tea was somewhat flat tasting today – possibly it just doesn’t translate well to travel mug style preparation? I guess I could have also just botched the steeping too though? Not totally sure; I just know I wasn’t particularly feeling it.

Hot, with a splash of butterscotch schnapps.

Holy shit – adding in that schnapps was a REALLY smart addition! It’s really smooth, but that “buttered rum” taste that I experienced with my first pot of this tea is amplified tenfold without sacrificing the body and malt of the black tea in the blend. It’s very rich, and sweet but not over the top because the black base is strong enough to support those notes. Reminds me a little bit of those Butter Rum life savers candies!? Do they even make those anymore!?

I have a distinct memory of spending one of my winters, right around Christmas, in the hospital for a prolonged period of time because I was getting my tonsils removed. I received a “Lifesavers Book” from the hospital staff that basically opened up the reveal packages of the candies on either side – the classic fruity ones and buttered rum. No one else in the ward liked the buttered rum ones so I got like six or seven packs of them. They were the fucking BOMB.

It’s been a busy last week at work; but I managed to sneak to the downtown Cathedral area after work today for a short while which let me stop at Cuppa’T and restock a favourite tea I was out of as well as pick up a couple new teas before I leave for Montreal in a week!

I mean, I do own several blends from Cuppa’T already – but it feels nice to have gotten to pick up some new ones before leaving. It’s like taking a little piece of Regina’s tea scene with me to Montreal, in a way. I only got a small amount of this one (about an oz) because I’m actually hoping to finish this one off before I move (leaving three new blends to take with), and of the four teas I picked up it was the one I felt the least sure that I’d like…

I brewed myself up a large pot of it tonight, and am just finishing it off now. I did add a little bit of milk at the recommendation of the sales associate who sold it to me. I’m mostly liking this blend, but at the same time I’m not totally sure what it’s trying to be? None of the listed ingredients are ones that I’d associate with truffles – and from what I gathered in store the “butter” element in the same is supposed to sort of be like buttered rum!? To be fair, the dry leaf does have a buttery, sweet and almost toffee like aroma to it so maybe!? It’s a little weird, though.

As far as taste goes that lack of clarity in terms of flavour is still sort of present. The black tea base is surprisingly present throughout the cup, and has distinct notes of yeast-y bread, malt, and dry/astringent nuts. It’s nice, and I appreciate the full bodied characteristics and briskness – I can also see why it was recommended that I add milk. As for the flavourings in the blend, I do actually feel like I’m getting the sweetness and buttery elements of buttered rum with a tinge of toffee to the undertones. I really like that element of the tea too, but wish it was stronger. If “truffle” is supposed to be chocolate, though, then I’m completely MISSING that aspect. Also, there are spices in the ingredients but not really in the flavour so that’s also a little weird.

So overall, I’d say this is semi-buttered rum flavoured with really strong black tea. Like a lightly/moderatly flavoured breakfast-blend type of tea!? I mostly really enjoy it, but there’s just something that is stopping me from “fully” embracing it.