Janet's Special Teas

Homemade Advent Calendar from Arby: Day 3

I pulled a caffeine-free fruity tisane from the box this morning and drank it this evening while taking a relaxing bath. :D I should note that the tea Arby sent is from Banff Tea, but the blend is pretty identical to this listing, so… I’m using it. This blend also has Saskatoon berries, but they’re not an ingredient on Steepster.

So this could’ve been fun and interesting if not for the hibiscus. It’s just so strong and tart! And it’s a shame, because I can tell there are some neat flavors here — the herbal blend reminded me of like, aromatic bitters or some kind of herbal digestif. Which is, generally, a flavor family I really enjoy… when I can actually taste the different elements.

I think I’ll try cold brewing, because I bet that will temper the hibiscus and let some of those other flavors shine.

Sipdown (322)

This is one of the older blends in my stash that came to me via my swap with Evol Ving Ness back in 2017. It seems like I have never really loved it and this cup is no exception. It just seems to lack flavoring which is leaving me really underwhelmed. It maybe has some cinnamon but that’s faint. It could be age so I am not going to rate this one but I also will forget about it really soon. Thank you Evol for sharing though since it is always nice to get to try new things.

I always forget about the samples from Evol Ving Ness which are tucked away in a shoebox. However, today I was in search of a tea to pair with some of the goods from the One of a Kind show for my tea photo. This jumped out as something that would go nicely with the lemon squares I got. Citrus tea and citrus snack can’t go wrong. It had the added benefit of likely going well with honey and since I’ve felt off all day, tea and honey seemed like a good plan.

My first sips without honey we’re pretty underwhelming. I really got no flavour from it. I blame age…or my storage or both. Perhaps it wasn’t steeped long enough. I blame myself for this being bland.

I added in a generous squeeze or two of honey and now it just tastes like a honeyed black tea: Nothing special but it’s soothing.

Sipdown (288)

Finishing the last of this sample from Evol Ving Ness. Thank you!

This is so old that the last time I had it, it was the day Harry married Megan. So, when I grabbed it out of the sipdown box, I figured it was about time.

There seems to be nothing special about this tea. It seems to be a standard earl grey. It’s fine but it’s also pretty forgettable. Nevertheless, I am grateful for the chance to give it a try.

I haven’t had tea in about a week because I just haven’t been feeling well and I’ve basically either been at work or in bed. My tastebuds are still off but I’m feeling up to brewing and sipping so I’m back to drinking tea and posting my 365 days of tea pics and nothing felt more festive for the day of the Royal Wedding than this tea, generously shared by Evol Ving Ness, out of my Union Jack teapot. There isn’t much about this online so other than it’s a black tea and an earl grey, I don’t know if I’m to expect anything else here and tbh other than a mild blerg, I’m not getting anything else. Maybe it’s my tastebuds or maybe that’s the tea. All in all, it’s not bad though not amazing either. Thank you Evol Ving Ness for the share :)

Mango flavour present, but imitation, or preservative, flavour coming through as well. Despite steeping low and slow, rooibos is pretty woody.

ok, but would not be seeking this out.

I wonder what I am doing differently? I continue adding cacao nibs to amp things up here, but the flavour of the steeped tea is a bit on the mild and weak side. Still delicious, but I wonder whether this is the inevitable result of drinking several slap-your-face frisky blacks recently.

Operation massive focus pile continues.

This tea straight up continues to be delicious, but because it is fading a bit with age, I have been doctoring it up with cacao nibs and a bit of coconut. Totally working for me.

Operation massive focus pile continues.

I doctored this up so severely today—by accident, y’all— that it is almost undistinguishable, so I won’t comment.

Operation massive focus pile continues.

This tea is in my focus rotation. I’ve been doctoring it by boosting the chocolate flavour. Yes, indeed. A bit of coconut adds oomph too.

The thing about an absolutely massive focus pile is that there is a lot to choose from. For now.

I doctored this up with a half teaspoon of cacao nibs which is just the thing to refresh the richness of the chocolate. The cup is sweet dark chocolate with hints of caramelized coconut. Lovely.

My focus pile is onerous. That being the case, I have singled out two, three, or four from the focus pile for immediate attention, immediate meaning that at least one of these is on daily rotation. That’s fair, right?

This is one delicious tea. I’ve taken to adding half a spoon of cacao nibs to the leaf to freshen up the chocolate flavour. This approach pleases me. Today, I had my tea with me in a travel mug and added a glug of cream to good effect.

My new thing is adding cacao nibs to flavour-appropriate aging teas to amp them up. Here the cacao nibs catapult the caramel and chocolate to a whole new level. Yum!

Afternoon tea. The base is sturdy enough to carry the chocolate and the caramel in equal measure. A bit of vanilla comes through as well.

I have resurrected this aging tea by adding cacao nibs. Exactly the thing.

Chipping away at this. It’s a lovely cup, but I’d like more chocolate. Possibly adding milk would benefit this, but I am currently quite committed to drinking all my teas black and unsweetened.

I was reminded this week that coconut needs to be sipped down before other teas, so I hauled this out to my focus pile.

The chocolate here is mild, but it and the coconut mellow the spice. Nice blend. Travels well in a carry mug too.

It’s a chocolate kind of day. Not that chocolate occurred to me as I reached for this. It was more the sweet spice coconut aspect of it that caught my attention today.

My chocolate coconut chai snow globe tea. Snow globe because the chips of leaf drift softly in my clear glass steeper as the tea steeps. Perfect for this deep-freeze extreme cold warning weather.

Mellow.

So yes, I am spending a contemplative day, toasty and indoors.

Drinking this black and unsweetened. Mellow, as mentioned, with prominent cinnamon and cardamom softened by mild chocolate and coconut with the slightest bite of black pepper. The flavours are clean and clear.

Quite enjoying this.

My teas are in complete disarray: between living here and there, with internet and without, with the aftermath of hauling everything out and packing for the transition, and then on top of that the aftermath of readying for a big swap which happened between two households—so, GAH! The minimal tea order that I had to begin with has been upended. I have no idea where to find my usual favourites.

There are a few positives in all this chaos. The most obvious may be that I immediately started in on all the deliciousness that I received in the swap and yum. However, the swap packets are there and I am here. And my black tea favourites’ whereabouts are uncertain.

I may not know where my black tea blends are, but all this has unearthed a few oolong teas which I was not focusing on in this particular swap and that is a good thing because out of sight, out of mind.

This is one that I came across. Delicious. Not certain, but I am guessing tieguanyin. A really nice one. First steep sweetness. I wish I had a bit more information on this one.

Updated…
First two steeps sweet and floral, reminiscent of Taiwan High Mountain Oolongs.
Third and Fourth steeps become more vegetal, seaweed, and earth.

Last tea of the night for me.

Overall, I’ve actually had a shockingly productive and restful day. I finished ALL of my queued up tasting notes, drank seven teas on top of that, got some tea mail, explored a few new music artists, watched a movie, cleaned the guinea pig cage, cooked a really nice supper from scratch, and had a really awesome conversation with the boyfriend tonight where I got to share some of the music I discovered tonight while enjoying some of the music he likes. Plus, lots of awesome tea and music pairings! This is exactly how days off should be spent.

As for this tea? It’s maybe not the most amazing flavour to be leaving off on for the day BUT it’s also not the worst either. I’m finding it immensely heavy on the cardamom notes, with softer lemon and other citrus undertones. Honestly, if it weren’t for the music I’ve paired it with I think I might find it pretty boring as a flavour. That’s not far off the sentiments I had about it the first time I tried it though. It’s going to be a long process finishing this one off – but at least I know it’s an option to pull out when I am craving cardamom. On those very rare occasions…

Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/4wZsM3YDlGY

From my mom’s vacation haul – her pick for me.

To be honest, I wouldn’t have chosen this one for myself. In fact, last time mom went on vacation and she grabbed a tea for me all on her own she chose a rooibos that was actually surprisingly similar to this? She seems to kind of just gravitate to whatever rooibos blend has the most ingredients in it…

That said; this one doesn’t taste BAD. It’s very, for lack of a better word, generic though? I mean, bottom line it’s like a spiced apple flavour. It’s a bit on the sweet side, so lets call it a cinnamon apple pie with cardamom, to be generous. There’s some lemongrass undertone to it as well. I really don’t dislike it but this is the sort of flavour that I’m probably just never really going to crave because it isn’t unique in any way, so it’ll probably take forever for me to finish it.

Oh well. It was free, and a gift so I can’t really complain too much.

I don’t think I’ll ever be a fan of red rooibos, but this one tastes alright! I don’t even experience the usual exponential dread at the idea of drinking it. Huzzah!

Tastes of stonefruits, sleep, non-imposing roobios. I tend to chug it down before going to bed so I haven’t noted the subtitles, but I like it.

Too bad it was discontinued, but I’m glad I got the chance to try it (over and over again, because I bought the biggest pouch ever). Thanks for the great recommendation OMGsrsly, Bear With Me, and Plunkybug!