Stash Tea

After my last teabag, I don’t have high expectations but one can always hope. This is, again, a cupboard tea from the vrbo in Kauai. The aroma starts kinda peachy, kind of grandma’s potpourri in the bathroom, and part very synthetic candy. The wet tea bag… It’s like a mix of wet leaves and someone decided to be funny and sprinkle peach flavoring on them. The taste. Nope. Just a lot of nope. I didn’t even steep it the entire time. It’s one part bitter, one part compost that is not being taken care of properly, and the last part is all synthetic notes.

I have an old box of this in teabags, which I have decided to drink down over the next few nights. One Royal Albert 1990 – Bouquet mug of approximately 400ml, two teabags at a time, just a way to keep my mouth busy so I don’t snack or drink Sprite all through the evening now that my caffeine sensitivity’s gotten a tad too high to allow for anything caffeinated after four.

The bags, I must say, smell lovely. Vanilla and winter spices are balanced and all this needs is a hint of pine to smell very much like an ideal Christmas, at least to me, a very overenthusiastic-about-Christmas sort of person. Another of my interests is perfumery, and although I don’t usually go in too heavily for gourmands, I could see myself wearing this a lot in winter, if it was a perfume. Since it’s a tea, though….

I’m going to blame the effects of the decaffeination process on the leaves for why I struggle a bit with it as a tea. If I drink it straight, it tastes a bit harsh. If I put some milk in it, it tastes too thin, as though I were just drinking 1% milk with the ghosts of some spices in it. Neither experience is what I hope for when I smell the teabags. It does serve its function of keeping me out of the Sprite and the food, though, and there’s only a couple of more days worth left in the box, so it’s all right.

TTB sample! This was much better than I expected! I drank it cold with plenty of sweetener, and it was tart, but in a pleasant way. I tasted hibiscus and berry and something a tiny bit exotic. It was pretty pleasant!

This is my go-to morning tea. It has a sufficient amount of bergamot, though to be fair, I always want more. I drink mine with a little honey and lemon and it’s a good start to the day. Is it fancy? No. Is it good. Yes it is. It’s a sturdy tea.

I saw this tea while I was shopping online at Sobey’s and gleefully added it to my cart, only to discover that it was out of stock. Bah humbug! After I asked around, including here on Steepster, my mom managed to find a box at Bulk Barn of all places, and gave it to me during the holidays. I steeped two teabags in 355 ml of 200F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

This tea smells like an After Eight: strongly minty with hints of chocolate. In descending order of prominence, the flavours in the first steep are mint, cocoa, lavender, and vanilla. I tried to up the lavender quotient by using two bags, and while it kind of worked, there really wasn’t as much lavender as I hoped. Not surprisingly, the aftertaste is quite sweet. I don’t mind the milk chocolate flavouring, though it does come off as a bit artificial. The second steep is much like the first, though the mint is a bit tamer. The lavender peaks out in the final steep, though that’s probably because the other flavours are starting to fade.

This is a nice holiday tea, though not as unique as I anticipated. As chocolate mint teas go, it’s pretty good.

Devon Bartholomew Advent Day 25

There’s a lot going on in this blend, but somehow it works! The lavender is subtle enough that it just adds a bit of interest to an otherwise typical milk chocolate peppermint Christmas tea. My only complaint is that I found it a bit thin and lacking in body; I think I would have enjoyed it more on a black tea base. Still an enjoyable end to the Advent, though! Now on to trying the new tea I got for Christmas. :)

Devon Bartholomew Advent Day 21

It was a busy weekend around here, so I have some catching up to do on tasting notes! From what I remember, this was a pretty classic jasmine green tea, which didn’t really stand out in a good or a bad way.

not sure about this one… it’s chai, so of course it’s very comforting and nice for the chilly days we’ve been getting here in mtl, but that fake rum flavour can be a bit offputting. tried preparing this the “traditional” way one would make masala chai (not so traditional of course since these are tea bags lol) and it was a LOT better than simply steeping it in hot water. still, that rum flavour is a bit too weird for me and i don’t think i’ll be purchasing this again – i was just a bit curious as i usually quite like stash’s offerings.

Pretty good with milk. I would order this to have on-hand.

Courtney sent me 3 tea bags of this festive tea; thank you!
I was a little hesitant brewing this while it’s still just November; but decided to give it a try as I wanted something simple (yep, tea bags were preferred), if possible mouth (throat) coating and had a tooth for something sweet.

Well, as I have a sore throat, I wanted to have it coated with a good tea and well this quite delivers it! It had all expected flavours. Hot chocolate, refreshing peppermint and floral lavender. Not much of vanilla in my cup; but maybe I wasn’t just focused enough. Definitely an easy-drinker and I liked it in the mug. I wasn’t a fan when I took it from the outer wrapping, the aromas were sooo strong.

I’m kind of warming up to this one…our office feels like a rainforest in the mornings and a glacier by mid-afternoon, and a caffeine-free warmer-upper is welcome. Mostly rooibos and cinnamon (the “granny’s spice cabinet” kind, not the red hot candy kind) with a little natural sweetness from both ingredients.

Do your less-tea’d friends make assumptions about your tea preferences? Mine often jump to the conclusion that “You’re a tea person, so you must like chai.” So I’m usually overstocked on gifted chai versions I might not select for myself.

(That said, the thoughtfulness of a coworker who brought me this little box was a pleasant surprise during a week throughout which I have been feeling like a cranky dragon.)

This dragon breathes cinnamon, and lots of it. But as that is my favorite chai ingredient, no harm there. It’s a nice counterpoint to the rooibos, and with a little concentration, you can pick up the remaining spices. A little milk and sweetener would have improved my first cuppa, but it was pleasant and drinkable without.

It’s an ok chai, however i have had better holiday chai’s

Backlog

My friend who met me at the tea exchange recommended that I gave this one a try. It was the second cup for the afternoon and it was fairly good. I liked that there were gentle peppermint with chocolate notes. While my taste for Christmas-y teas has gone, I enjoyed this cup.

I was away for the weekend and tea options were limited so I opted for this one on Sunday morning.
It’s very mild, to the point that it’s really difficult to actually describe.
I added a little soy milk and sugar and it was good, smooth and agreeable.
Reminds me of something that would be a staple in someones cupboard who didn’t like a lot going on in their tea.
It’s just simple and pleasant (nothing fancy) and sometimes that’s the safest bet.

February 2024 Steepster Sipdown Challenge — Your cheapest tea

2/11/24 Sunday – I tend to not discriminate and buy all kinds of tea. After all, Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice is one of my boyfriend’s favorites.  Was trying to find some easy options for the weekend in my stash and found this unopened box. I’m always work at a hotel, but working the front desk on the weekend is not the same as my office job on the weekdays. Also, it was a nice play with the name of the tea with Chinese New Year this weekend.

I brewed three teabags in a large DT to go tumbler (using the hot water in the lobby!) and it was honestly very pleasant to sip on, enjoyed the spices (I’m a fan of ginger, and not sure if cinnamon and clove were distinct) and the fact the rooibos gave it a base as I was sipping it towards the end of my evening shift and didn’t want caffeine to keep me up.

I was ready to now love this tea bag, but it actually ended up being pretty solid. Mostly because of the peach notes because wow those were some intense and juicy peach notes! Like, juicy in the sense that it did taste a lot like I was drinking actual peach juice. The ginger added a soft earthiness, and a bit of back end heat. It was weird because I think I’d have enjoyed this tea just as much if it were solely peach but I did feel like the ginger did TECHNICALLY create more balance. Just the peach would have been very sweet and maybe a little cloying. The matcha dusting and green tea base weren’t entirely eclipsed but they definitely took the backseat here…

But yeah, peach loves don’t sleep on this one!

I just got back last night from World Tea Expo in Las Vegas. Though I decided for my own sanity to not try to attempt to track all the various samples of tea or tea infused cocktails that I tried on either the show room floor or restaurants, I still have a handful of tasting notes to log for more “proper” cups of tea that I snuck in throughout the four days…

I’m starting here because this is the tea that I drank on the flight from Montreal to Vegas. I brought a handful of teas with me (mostly bagged) because I knew they’d come in handy for flights and the hotel – and I ended up quite thankful for that. As the cups of hot water on planes are quite small this ended up being a very concentrated little cup of tea, but that juicy and tart punch of acai ended up being a great little second wind for myself for the last leg of the flight.

Had this last night and it was pretty good, but was it acai!? Definitely an intense berry flavour with a lot of top note tang and tartness from the hibiscus, but I don’t feel like it specifically said acai to me. More generic (though tasty) mixed berry. Maybe a blueberry and raspberry cross, if I had to name something?

I don’t really ever think of making iced tea with teabags, but this is maybe one teabag option that would be pretty good chilled…

Evening cuppa from a few night ago! I’m normally not really into chamomile, but I actually enjoyed this quite a lot. I think that’s largely because the cinnamon and apple flavours are both pretty potent and they mask the chamomile base almost entirely. That’s probably a con for some, but it’s a big pro in my books. I also like that the cinnamon and apple are fairly well balanced. I guess I’d say the cinnamon is stronger, but only by a hair.

Homemade Advent Calendar from Arby: Day 9

Catching up! This teabag was a victim of the Minor Lavender Sanitizer Spill of 2023, but happily it seems to have sustained no lasting damage.

As soon as I ripped open the bag, I could smell an ingredient/flavoring beyond the standard chai flavors — turns out there’s rum flavoring. It’s an interesting addition, and I’m not opposed!

I’m mostly getting cloves, allspice, and nutmeg in the brewed tea, with a bit of the rum flavoring at the back. The base is a bit weak. I bet it would be nice brewed with milk.

This black tea is a little plant-like, but not bad. It’s from a past TTB. It does decently with some sugar and milk. I expect an assam to be bolder, but maybe this batch is old.