Steep Me A Cup of Tea

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Recent Tasting Notes

84

Morning tea; one from my Steep Me A Cup Of Tea haul! I just had to get this one ‘cause it’s named after Dakota so it seemed like the perfect representation of my trip there! I like souvenir tea; souvenir tea is good. Plus, it did smell really good in store.

It took me longer than I’d care to admit to figure out why this tasted so bloody familiar to me when I took my first sips this morning. It was sweet, and bright and tropical with an extremely familiar fruit and white tea combo. Eventually it hit me though; this is a passion fruit flavoured white tea, and I’ve been enjoying a passion fruit white tea from 52Teas quite a bit as of late too – their Passion Fruit de la Creme. These two are actually pretty dang similar, which of course means that this one is ALSO delicious!

Main differences, I think, are that this is a little brighter in terms of flavour with just a hint of tangyness to the passionfruit where as 52Teas’ version is silkier/creamier because of the “creme” component in the blend. This is also a little rosey/floral but not overly – just a nice, soft touch in the top of the sip.

Yeah, definitely feeling this one!

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91

Sipdown (910)!

Very upsetting sipdown for me because I still haven’t found an easily accesible replacement rhubarb oolong for this tea – and it’s one of the best rhubarb flavours I’ve experienced in a tea that wasn’t a tisane. If I ever, for any reason, find myself back in Fargo I will be buying A LOT of this one to keep me stocked for a long time.

I definitely think this was the best thing I purchased from Steep Me a Cup of Tea. If only I had known…

Flavors: Floral, Nutty, Pastries, Rhubarb, Tangy

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91

This was a cuppa from this morning, and it was nothing but delightfully creamy rhubarb deliciousness with just a hint of floral undertone from the greener oolong! Sadly I’m very close to finishing this blend off, so if anyone knows of a company carrying a rhubarb oolong then I would love to find myself a replacement…

Mastress Alita

I absolutely love TeaSource’s Rhubarb Oolong! I recently sipped mine down because it was an older bag, but intend to replace it with a fresher stash in the future. I consider it a cupboard staple!

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91

Current cuppa!

Started my morning with a really nice Gongfu session, following like a fourteen hour sleep, and now I’m just having a nice mug while we get brunch ready. It’s been a while since I last had this tea, but I’m still loving it. It’s got a brightness and juicy quality to the rhubarb in the cup but it’s also quite creamy, and silky. The perfect balance of those tart elements of rhubarb and the creamy and floral complimenting flavours (from the oolong) that mellow and smooth it out so well.

This is delicious!

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91

I feel like I revisited a lot of tea favourites this week; but that’s never a bad thing. A good “treat yourself” tea week was actually long overdue…

I made this in a tea press and honestly I adored it – I always do. Sweet, creamy rhubarb with more sweetness than acidity. Coworkers were less enthralled with it; they wanted more acidity/tang and not the creamy rhubarb that I personally adore.

More for me.

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91

A little bit grassy and floral (orchid notes) but overall very bright and sweet with juicy, tart notes of rhubarb. I added the tiniest bit of milk, and it just slightly gave this a creamier taste which made it seem a little more like a highly natural/less overtly sugary and dessert like "rhubarb custard’ profile. It was so good. Thick, velvety mouthfeel also. Continues to be a favourite, for sure.

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91

Woke up this morning craving this tea so badly. So, when I went downstairs to measure out the teas I wanted to bring to work with me for the day this is one that I started with immediately. There’s no way like wake up deeply craving a tea that you actually own and you don’t drink it that day.

I’m still so into this one; it still tastes incredibly fresh to me with really robust and sweet and tart rhubarb notes. I haven’t ventured into the added milk territory yet with this one because I’m a little worried it’s just a bit too tangy/acidic and it might curdle the milk but you have NO IDEA how much I want to bust in that ‘creamy rhubarb’ territory. Maybe I’ll try the milk thing next time…

It wasn’t the end of the world that I couldn’t add milk though because in addition to being fairly green tasting and a little rosey/floral the oolong base also had a nice buttery finish to it. It wasn’t quite the same as a creamy rhubarb custard sort of flavour but it was still really nice and complimentary to the overall cup.

But guys, I’m gonna need some serious rhubarb oolong recommendations! I’m probably gonna be out of this one before I know it and it’s definitely not something I can easily get my hands on again. So anyone else have a rhubarb oolong tea that they really like? Or maybe just a rhubarb tea in general? Open to suggestions, for sure!

LuckyMe

Sounds like a really interesting tea. Never seen rhubarb in tea before but now that I ponder it, I think it would complement a lot of teas well.

Kittenna

Does powdered creamer curdle? I wonder if that could help with creaminess, possibly.

Roswell Strange

I’m honestly not sure if it would; but something that might be worth trying for sure!

Mastress Alita

I have a Rhubarb Oolong I adore, which is TeaSource’s Rhubarb Oolong. I drink it often. I’ve never felt the need to milk it, but it is great both hot and iced.

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91

Had this one the other day and… AMAZEBALLS.

Seriously, I’m really kicking myself right now for not ordering more of it back when I was in Fargo ‘cause now I don’t have a way of getting more unless someone in the area sends me some (and I don’t know anyone in the area) or we go back, which I don’t think is gonna happen ANYTIME soon. But I mean, how was I supposed to know it would be so good!? I was just so skeptical after trying Story of My Tea’s really unpleasant rhubarb oolong. Ugh!

This was super rich though, with a surprisingly creamy sort of rhubarb taste! It did have a little tartness/sharp edge to it, partly from the oolong base which tasted very green and floral but on the whole I was actually reminded a lot more of rhubarb and custard flavoured things that overly acidic/tart rhubarb. Plus, it had a very velvety mouthfeel, and just a super smooth profile overall. I don’t even mind the hint of grassy sharpness of the floral elements, it just completely added to the tea for me.

Yessss! YUM YUM YUM!

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77

This one wasn’t particularly bad but it also wasn’t great. I mean, it had raspberry notes and a tangy creaminess that I’ve come to associate with the “cheesecake flavour” used in many tea blends. However, it was also very artificial and had a bit of a chalky sort of finish that I found negatively effected the overall profile by quite a lot. To be fair, I didn’t expect this one to be “mind blowing” – but it didn’t even seem average. I think it has been, probably, my least favourite of all the teas I grabbed from this company…

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77

Hot with honey.

I over steeped this one, and it definitely didn’t hold up great. What it reminded me of though was actually the one time in highschool where I tried making my own cheesecake; I badly burned the bottom of the cheesecake but nailed the rest of it – so it was like eating a bit of creamy, smooth tangy cheesecake goodness and then finishing on this really bitter, charred note. My experience with this cup mirrored that, only with the addition of raspberry undertones.

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77

Sipping on this while watching this week’s episode of Marvel’s Runaways on Hulu! Once again, I highly recommend checking it out if you’re into super hero stuff! Basically, it follows around a group of six teenagers as they find out that A) their parents are super villains and B) that the majority of them have various forms of super powers/super power type abilities! One of ’em even has a pet dinosaur!

It’s great.

Anyway; this tea is pretty great too. Not fantastic or mind blowing but I mean solid enough. After sipping on this cup for the bulk of the episode I’m finding it’s very consistent with the first time I had it; medium to full bodied with a decently present black base and then a flavour profile that’s just a little more reminiscent of yogurt rather than cheesecake. Yeah, like a somewhat tangy raspberry Greek yogurt.

Tamarindel

I have mixed feelings about Marvel — I really liked Jessica Jones, but I couldn’t get through Daredevil and I tapped out somewhere in the third season of Agents of Shield. I guess I was just feeling like Marvel was doing the same things over and over. Is Runaways noticeably different from these other shows?

Jillian

I’m still pissed off at them for cancelling Agent Carter.

Roswell Strange

You’ll 100% get a different vibe from Runaways than the Marvel properties that Netflix has tackled which are much darker/gritty, and Agents of Sheild which is very tied in to the Marvel movies/references them heavily. This one is FAR REMOVED from the rest of Marvel’s properties.

I mean, both Runaways and all the properties that build up to The Defenders (Netflix stuff) deal with more “street level” threats (no alien invasions/world scale threats like The Avengers) but this is very much “ragtag group of teenagers rebelling against their parents, who happen to be an organization of villains with cryptic/mysterious motives”.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0ahUKEwjMhK-G0fTXAhWK5YMKHU8RCPAQFgg7MAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.denofgeek.com%2Fus%2Ftv%2Fmarvels-runaways%2F269176%2Fmarvels-runaways-what-sets-this-superhero-show-apart&usg=AOvVaw2839kp-V2HweM6X8kzTBoh

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjMhK-G0fTXAhWK5YMKHU8RCPAQFggpMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2017%2F11%2F22%2F16692076%2Frunaways-hulu-superheroes-brian-k-vaughan&usg=AOvVaw2RXSnddwGsp5oLy0rFE2Ms

Tamarindel

Thanks for explaining, that does sound different and very cool :D I’ll check it out!
@Jillian — Agent Carter totally deserved a longer run.

Rosehips

I just started watching Runaways last night, and am easily hooked.
(Thirding the opinion that Agent Carter was unfairly cut down before its time)

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77

First tea I’m cracking into from Steep Me A Cup Of Tea!

This was the tea store we looked at in Fargo; I grabbed a lot of things to try out from them too – eight different teas. I liked the store a lot; the owner did all of his blending in store and was really welcoming/friendly. I know I definitely talked more about it in a previous tasting note – but I just wanted to reinforce the fact that I had such a good experience shopping there. I really, really hope that I enjoy a decent portion of what I picked up.

I think this was the only black tea I picked up; it was one that I wouldn’t have thought I’d enjoy based on the description but when I got a chance to smell it in store was delightfully surprised by it. The dry aroma is very sweet/creamy with a tender raspberry aroma to it, not unlike the buttery raspberry quality you’d get from a strudel/danish. Or cheesecake too, I suppose.

My first tasting was in my tea press with some added in milk to give that cheesecake element a bit of a fighting chance/helping hand. So many people struggle to do cheesecake teas well; I really want this one to do it justice. I will say that I really enjoyed the flavour and I can loosely see cheesecake notes there because there was a bit of a tangyness to it, but I felt like I was mostly getting the tang from the raspberry notes. So it more so gave me the impression of like a raspberry or even more of a mixed berry sort of flavoured/scented yogurt? With a bit of a buttery undertone as well.

I’m not disappointed though in terms of flavour even if I don’t think it was 100% dead on. It’s certainly not the biggest swing and a miss I’ve ever seen for cheesecake teas either and the rest of the flavour was good! I don’t foresee issues finishing this off, and I think it is a good creamy/dessert flavour with soft fruit notes which is something I’m into.

Flavors: Berry, Butter, Creamy, Raspberry, Yogurt

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72

#VacationTea

Day number two in Fargo! Not much on the agenda for the day; we stopped at the only tea place in town and hit up a museum – later on in the evening we’ll do supper. We wanted to check out the ‘zoo’ they have here, but sadly it’s closed all of the days we’re here. Tomorrow we’ll check out another museum, and then it’ll be time to head back to Winnipeg.

The museum we looked at was actually pretty cool: they had a giant replica viking ship and chapel – all made as authentically as possible. What I found most neat about the viking ship is that they actually sailed it! The same museum also had some Americana art by local artists, and some very cool wooden die cuts. Those were probably my favourite thing overall. Lastly, there was an exhibit about prohibition and Minnesota/North Dakota’s history with alcohol.

We took tons of pictures ourselves, but I don’t have any of them downloaded yet so here are a couple of the museum that I was able to find with a quick google search:

https://mnprairieroots.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/ship-overall-view.jpg

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/02/d2/e6/0d/heritage-hjemkomst-interpretiv.jpg

The tea shop was pretty neat; the owner was super friendly and engaging – took the time to give us a complete tour of the shop, point out some of his favourite blends, and brewed us up a sample of one of the teas. His shop was largely wellness focused with a lot of different blends intended as health aids, which definitely isn’t my thing in particular but I can see the appeal it has to others and he was clearly very passionate which I think is important.

I did end up getting a good handful of things to try though; largely blends. I thought a fair bit of his offerings were pretty unique/diverse and I liked that he does as much in store as possible (although they did sell A LOT of Republic of Tea product as well). Plus, he sold in one ounce sizes, which definitely was a big bonus for me! Perhaps the most surprising this was that they actually carried a selection of Pu’erh from Misty Peak. He didn’t seem to know much about them though, other than which were Sheng/Shou. Apparently Misty Peak had approached him in regard to carrying their teas.

I was tempted to buy some of the loose sheng – Misty Peak’s reputation aside. It actually smelled pretty damn good. It wasn’t worth blind buying it though; if I’m going for a straight pu’erh I want to know as much information about it as possible. Besides. I know Misty Peaks has an online store, so if I really want I can always order from them directly. It was just kind of interesting/surprising seeing their teas in this small, out of the way shop in Fargo.

This tea was ok – it was the one that he brewed up for me and my Dad. I looked for it on their website, but it’s not listed so it must be a new blend. I remember him saying that it used a Wuyi oolong for the base though, and it definitely had hibiscus in it as well – I could visually pick it out in the dry leaf, and it was pretty present in the taste too. The roastier oolong paired with hibiscus was… different. I didn’t hate it, but it was a little weird. It also didn’t really taste at all like plum, sadly. Mostly, it was just a slightly sour/tart generic berry kind of profile. Maybe a little raisin too. I’m grateful we got to try it, but it wasn’t interesting enough for me to feel like I wanted to buy it.

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78

More bad weather coming in. I think I’m actually getting depressed. I just don’t want to deal with it. Ugh. Thank God I can work from home tomorrow, so that’s a good thing.

My throat is slightly sore today. Tea really is the perfect thing to drink. Sore throat? Have some tea. Bone deep cold? Have some tea. Sitting and knitting? Have some tea. I feel bad for the people who don’t know the joys of tea.

gmathis

Ugh indeed. Hope you’re feeling better!

tea-sipper

At least you DO know the joys of tea. :D I also feel bad for those who don’t. You’ll get through winter.. you’re almost there…

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78

OMG! OMG!!! Fargo, North Dakota, USA now has a tea shop!! It’s called STEEP ME a Cup of Tea and it opened only two weeks ago. It’s a 15 minute drive from my place. I heard about it today on Facebook and immediately drove over there. I had an appointment to get my glasses so I wasn’t able to linger. However, I did manage to spend the rest of my birthday money in 5 minutes. :)

I picked up an ounce of this one, Extra Spicy Chai, and an ounce of Ginger Peach. Late this afternoon I brewed up a pot of it. I know most people enjoy milk in their Chai, but I never put milk in my tea. I know, I know, I’m a barbarian.

Anyway, the color is a rich amber, not as dark as a Scottish breakfast tea or as light as some white teas, but a nice rich golden brown. The flavor is good. It’s a typical chai blend. Nothing outstanding, but very nice. The rooibos isn’t especially noticeable, so that’s good. As for “Extra” spicy, I think the Good Earth Original is spicier than this. But I had no trouble finishing the entire pot. :)

Flavors: Cinnamon

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Evol Ving Ness

Barbarian, heh.

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