Cuppa'T Specialty Teas
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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.
It’s been a crazy last few days and before I get into the tasting note I just wanted to write a small personal Corona Virus update because I’ve had a few people reach out to me asking if I’m still working and things like that.
As things with the Corona virus are rapidly escalating, what’s been going on with work has rapidly been changing. As of today, all of the retail locations have been temporarily closed and sadly all the retail employees have been laid off – along with probably about ninety percent of the office staff. I have conflicting feelings about this – obviously it’s good for stores to not be open to minimize the spread of the virus as much as humanely possible but my heart aches for everyone who has been laid off. Thankfully, it is a temporary lay off and when everything settles everyone should be hired back on. While being laid off is scary, I do think it’s the best call for the most part? I spoke to my brother who works FT at an Olive Garden – so, retail industry. He’s in a spot where their store is still operating, but have DRASTICALLY reduced the amount of shifts/people being scheduled. They’re not penalizing any staff that choose not to work/are taking sick time for self quarantine but at the same time in not actively laying off their employees many of them are having their income massively decline – my brother included. I was initially very frustrated that all the retail staff at DT locations weren’t kept on, but my brother telling me how being laid off would be BENEFICIAL to him changed my opinion. He would be able to collect unemployment insurance, which calculates how much you’re paid based on the average hours you’re working – if retail employee’s hours taper off to a minimum then they actually will make less in most cases than what they would on EI…
As for me, I was part of the small selection of staff that wasn’t laid off – for which I am both very grateful, and left feeling highly guilty about. The majority of staff who were not laid off will be working from home until further notice, but because it’s not possible for me to do my job from home I am continuing to come into the office for the time being. I’m obviously taking a lot of precautionary measures, and aside from the commute there and back I’m self isolating. There are actually less than ten employees now who have access to our office, many of them being lab staff, so it’s pretty safe at the office all things considered – it’s empty enough we can all be in completely different rooms and never interact if we don’t need to/want to. We’re working reduced hours to minimize the time we need to spend away from home; and to avoid high traffic periods on the metro.So, that’s what’s going on with me.
I hope all my friends here on Steepster are doing well and taking precautions/working from home where possible and self isolating. I’m thinking about you all. And enough of the sappy stuff, time to talk about the tea…
I made this cup with some peppermint agave, which may initially sound like a weird pairing but this white tea blend has mint in it already so it really just exaggerated the cooling/refreshing notes that were already present. It also had the added bonus of adding some brightness, juiciness and general life to the watermelon notes. It was delicious overall, and an improvement upon how this normally tastes without additions.
Made a small batch of cold brew into popsicles using this tea a few days ago.
I wanted to make them, initially, with a puree of fresh mint leaves, watermelon and agave but my mom ended up using all the fresh mint for a mint milkshake and my sister at like 90% of the watermelon so I ended up only using the tea – no extras. I think that was a mistake because texturally these were basically just GIANT ice cubes and as far as flavour goes they were oddly bitter, even though I tested the cold brew before pouring and it tasted perfectly fine.
So far I’ve had one of the batch which has tasted good – and it was pretty mellow, with a slight watermelon taste and then a more cooling minty sort of finish. It was refreshing but just not what I was really going for…
Hot cuppa, on the way to work a few days ago.
Definitely some hot hay notes notes from the white tea creeping into the main body profile here; quite strongly, actually. Otherwise a nice, sweet medium bodied watermelon taste with a little bit of a mint edge to it too. Feels fresh and summery.
Cold Brew!
So the city I live in hosts a yearly art festival in the summer for a week, with the final day having this giant street fair with tons of food trucks, local artists, and creators of all sorts. It’s a beautiful gathering of community, and a really fun time!
I got a decent haul this year:
- Perogies from my favourite local food truck
- Some locally made bath bombs
- Lemon & chocolate bagels from my favourite baker
- A new matcha bowl from a local potter
And of course a little bit of tea from Cuppa’T – they have a lot of their regular summer flavours, many of which I’ve tried before and I already have my favourite one stocked up. This was the only one I saw that seemed new, and it smelled really good so I decided I’d grab 50g and see what it’s like iced or cold brewed for the summer.
I really wish I’d grabbed an ingredients list because I know there’s a lot going on in this one, but one thing I remember is that it actually didn’t have any sort of melon in it but it did have apple, spearmint, and morninga leaf among other things that I’ve just forgetting. Taste wise, it’s quite nice and smooth though – definitely has the crisp, cooling feeling and sweetness of the spearmint quite strongly. I really enjoy this spearmint and fruit pairing as well as the spearmint and white tea combo. It does convey watermelon though, albeit in a sweeter and clearly ‘replicated watermelon’ (not natural). I still really like/enjoy it though!
Basically, sweet watermelon, apple, spearmint, and slight floral undertones. It’s REALLY good, and sort of unique. It all works.
I’ll probably email the owner for an ingredients list, though…
I almost forgot about St. Patrick’s Day but thankfully I remembered and was able to sneak in a teacup of Irish Breakfast with a little splash of oat milk and honey before the sun had completely set for the afternoon! Irish Breakfast is probably my favourite of the classic breakfast tea styles because I’m just all about the intense body and punch of malty sweetness. Probably would have been a more appropriate cuppa to start my day with ‘cause, y’know, breakfast teas and all – but was still delightful!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CbOEdAFuwiN/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIQ-V_oMDCk&ab_channel=MattMaltese
Malt to the extreme, with just a hint of vanilla.
This was just something I made for a quick cup last week, prior to packing/moving craziness. It had just been a while since I had a more traditional/simple breakfast blend and that’s what I was in the mood for. Glad I keep this one around even if it’s nothing spectacularly fancy.
I’m drinking this right now with some peppermint agave added into it because I was in a bit of a festive black tea kind of mood but the cup is kind of behaving stangely? It’s pretty damn sweet, which makes sense because I added lots of agave, but I’m only just getting a whisper of the peppermint/candy cane notes that I wanted from the cup. It’s strange to me how much of the general sweetness of the agave has come through without the mint doing the same. Aside from that it’s not a bad cup – very thick and full bodied with a ton of malty raisin and bread-y notes. It’s exactly what I want from an Irish Breakfast in terms of flavour, just not what I want from a peppermint Irish Breakfast…
Very nice “breakfast” mug of tea made and drank on one of the days this week where I was actually up and out of bed earlier enough to make tea before leaving for the metro – a rare occurrence for me as I tend to sleep as long as humanly possible and minimize my time spent awake at the apartment. I’m not a morning person; I make my lunch and set out clothing the evening before, as well as shower. I can be up and out of the house in less than ten minutes if I need to be…
I had this mug with oat milk; I’ve been enjoying exploring that type of milk alternative lately. It’s pretty new to me, and I’m finding that I like it in some teas but not all of them – it’s got quite a distinct taste. This pairing was pretty good; I find this tea really full bodied and brisk, malty and bread-y already but adding the oat milk really emphasized the bread-y element of it, making for a strong and full bodied cup that tasted like French Bread and oats? It was good, though.
With some cherry infused creamed honey. I couldn’t taste the cherry, but I did appreciate the addition of the honey sweetness in this super brisk/full bodied malty cuppa. It was a good late evening mug to sip on while cooking; something with the body to keep me going until I hate a bowl of food in front of my fat face after a long day of work…
So I was messing around with my Divination tea a week or so ago, and just having a bit of fun with tea lead reading. It’s not something I personally put stock in as far as genuine belief goes, but it’s always something I’ve found interesting and kind of wanted to learn as a cool “party trick” or whatever…
I like using this tea for it because it’s a CTC grade and works really well in terms of clumping/sitting in the cup in a way that can be interpreted. Huang Pian is definitely not the worlds best tea leaf reading type of tea, if you know what I mean. I also just really like this one because it’s a very smooth blend that takes a while to pick up astringency/bitterness – and when you’re drinking from a cup of tea with the leaf just loose sitting in the bottom that’s a very good trait to have.
Photos here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BlqnqkeHtKz/?taken-by=ros_strange
Flavors: Bread, Cream, Malt, Vanilla
With cashew milk and pumpkin agave.
This was delicious; very full bodied and rich with creamy malt notes and then of course the beautiful, sweet added flavours of the aforementioned milk and agave. It’s a solid cup though! It made for a really nice late night mug to sip on while curled up on the couch. Very peaceful!
With milk and pumpkin agave.
I honestly feel like all kinds of basic drinking this; it’s so pumpkiny. However, pumpkin is the epitome of fall, and I’ve been leaning into fall flavours/teas so heavily as of late. Plus, I just really enjoy that it’s so full bodied and smooth, with a great mix of creamy malty flavours and sweetness. Can’t beat it.
Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/H20BWllOyWo
Gotta pair it with some equally Autumn feeling music.
Cuppa’T had a flash sale recently for the beginning of September, so I stopped in to see if there was anything I wanted – I ended up restocking my favourite herbal that they carried this summer and picking up 50g of this for myself, and then because I’d bought 100g in total I got another free 50g of tea as part of the sale which I also used in this tea so that I could give 50g to the boyfriend.
I actually like Irish Breakfast a fair bit, and generally prefer it to English Breakfast or all the other ‘breakfast tea’ derivatives. However, my boyfriend really likes Irish Breakfast. Prior to meeting me and having his tea world explode with possibilities, Irish Breakfast was actually the only tea he owned and drank regularly and even with my introducing him to a whole bunch of other options it’s stayed a favourite. He goes through it like no bodies business, so I thought it might be nice for him to have something similar but just a little different on hand to play with/alternate in between different cups so that he doesn’t go through his Irish Breakfast quite as quickly.
My first impression of this one is that it’s nice but not mind blowing. Certainly, like Irish Breakfast, it’s a VERY full bodied, bold and brisk flavour. I thought the creamy element of this one might soften it a little, but not the case. I’m undecided on whether or not that’s good or bad. It is creamy, not as in your face as anticipated? The dry leaf smells creamier to me than the steeped tea actually tastes. The biggest thing that personally I was “meh” about was the fact it was really astringent? Like, almost uncomfortably so.
I can’t help but wonder if that’s because I made this in my tea press and it sat for a while? However, that’s 100% not been an issue for me with other teas with more finicky bases so I can’t be certain. I think, in my case, the best thing to do is going to be to retry it the exact same way as before – except in an infuser mug rather than the press. Then, I’ll know for sure if it’s the tea itself or the method of making it.
As for the boyfriend, he tried it today and while he liked it he said it definitely needed some sugar. Also, he always adds milk to his teas, so his cup wound up with milk and sweetener though I drank mine completely straight. He does prefer the traditional Irish Breakfast, though.
Anyway – for now, I’m holding off on rating this one.
Sipdown (1007)!
Another “kinda sipdown” where the remainder is going into the TTB…
This was my last tea from yesterday and I drank it while catching up on Canada’s Drag Race and AS5 – I think that VariaTEA may have picked this up already, but I am kind of obsessed with Jimbo!! Also stoked for the AS5 finale – I feel like I could reasonably see anyone of the finalists taking it, but of course in my heart I want Shea to win!
I think I’m ready to say goodbye to this tea – in part because I think I’ve just experience everything I can with it, but also because my herbal/rooibos sample drawer is so full that I can’t close it right now…
Flavors: Cardamom, Chocolate, Citrus Zest, Cocoa
From Friday…
This is old tea, so that explains why this cup tasted this way, but… the chocolate and orange was so flat/lifeless and stale tasting, but the cardamom!? Man does that cardamom hold up! I think I just need to add something with some sweetness (milk or agave, maybe) when drinking the rest of this just to perk up the flavours a little bit. I’m near a sipdown now, though!
Hot, with chocolate agave and cashew milk.
I really feel like the name of this tea should reference the cardamom in the blend in some way because it’s definitely the strongest flavour in the blend. Even after adding in even more chocolate in the form of chocolate agave, the ‘ranking’ of flavour notes in this blend was still cardamom, chocolate, and orange. It’s nice though; very sweet and silky cardamom notes and with the nuttyness of the cashew milk and general sweetness I kept thinking of halva. Really tasty…
Cold Brew!
This is only “meh” as a cold brew; I mean nothing is inherently bad about it I just think the flavours here are a lot better suited to hot tea. It’s very, very cardamom heavy and that note kind of masks all of the other ones to a pretty large extent. However, underneath that cardamom is a hint of milk chocolate creaminess and some orange peel/rind notes. The sweetness from the chocolate actually gives the cardamom a bit of a candied/chocolate coated vibe that makes me feel a little bit like I’m snacking on some sort of gourmet treat.
Yeah – very much getting the vibe from this that someone who really enjoyed it would be a bit of a ‘gourmand’. It’s just got a fanciness about it from the mix of very rich, indulgent/decadent flavours. I wish I enjoyed it more as a cold brew, but it is what it is. I’ll finish it off, and try to make the most out of the cardamom notes that take up so much of the profile. Cardamom is just better hot, that’s all.
Hot tea from yesterday.
I remember this one being a lot richer the last time I had it as opposed to this time around; it was very light bodied, and I know that it wasn’t underleaf and it got a pretty standard steep as far as herbals go…
I mean, the orange was tasty and I got some nice, but very light, cardamom notes so the combination there was pretty solid. Where was the chocolate, though!? The whole sip I felt like the chocolate notes that were present were an aftertaste. Like, the main flavour had already passed, and this was just the shadow that remained. Of course, that meant that the actual aftertaste was pretty well nothing. Just a full stop, flavour wise.
I wanted to find this sweet, enjoyable and relaxing but mostly this time around I just found it to be pretty bland.
Another new Cuppa’T edition to the stash!
Yesterday I decided to take a venture down to the Farmer’s Market on my day off; I ended up with a pretty solid haul which I’ve been enjoying throughout the weekend! In addition to a pouch of this tea, I ended up nabbing:
- A sack of locally grown potatoes (very excited to cook something with these)
- Some homemade cookies for the not-boyfriend since he had kindly requested some
- Two loafs of lemon dill bread from my favourite baker
- Some vegan friendly, stone ground flour chocolate chip cookie mix
- The worlds BEST pineapple/mango salsa
- A jar of garlic infused honey (not sure what I’ll use it with, but excited to figure it out)
- A bottle of creamsicle turmeric nut milk (SO GOOD)
- A bottle of “Vitamin G” fresh pressed juice; it’s orange/cucumber/ginger/carrot/lemon
- And a homemade raspberry mint ‘freezie’ to enjoy while I shopped
I mean, that’s a pretty fucking good haul.
The bread got snacked out throughout the weekend, the salsa used today with some nachos I made for the family, the juices drank and enjoyed, and the first set of cookies given to the not-boyfriend and now it’s time for me to enjoy the tea! I’m starting off with a cold brew, because it’s hotter than the underside of a nutsack today.
This one jumped out at me because I don’t really have a herbal tea on hand with chocolate and orange and I thought it might be nice to since I do really love that flavour combination. Initial observations about this one drinking it cold brewed are that it’s REALLY heavy on the chocolate though. Like, easily the most prominent flavour is the chocolate. There’s some orange going on here, but mostly in the background and it’s hard to pick it out until the finish of the sip when the smooth, creamy and intense chocolate notes are subsiding.
Apart from that, this one does seem fairly straight forward: lots of chocolate and a little bit of orange. It’s smooth and sweet without tasting cloying or artificial. Cold brew may not have been the best way to go about making this for the first time but if I can accept that this is just much more chocolate than it is orange I think it could be a pretty tasty tea to have around in the meantime – especially for evenings.
Hot straight, because I wanted something tart.
Not “kill me now” level of tart though, so I only steeped this for two minutes which was enough time for the liquor to get an impressive pink colour but not enough time for my tongue to feel like it was shriveling up and receding into my mouth when I took the first sips. I recently had “balsamic white wine beets” at a restaurant, and weirdly enough as I sipped on this that was all I could think about flavour wise. Just tart, acidic and vinegar sort of sour…
And now I just want salad – with hibiscus balsamic dressing on it.
