T2

Middle of the night here and I can’t sleep. Perfect time to try a new tea, caffeine free of course.

I started to brew this as directed with one teaspoon in my infuser cup and it just looked pitifully inadequate so I threw in another heaping spoonful. In hindsight, one should brew to the instructions first time out the gate.
Boy, is this some strong tea. VERY tart. Touch of sweet. The tartness was overtaking the sweet, so I added a spoonful of sugar. This might have been my second mistake. Now I have myself a very tart, very sweet, somewhat syrupy concentrate. Perhaps best left for tomorrows cold brew. Goodnight cruel world.

Having never ordered from T2 in the past, I scooped up a few teas before they stop selling in the U.S. (I’m a sucker for 50% off!). This one is very appealing to me in concept and it smells delightful, but there’s something discordant about the flavors! I get a little milk chocolate, yes, and maaaybe a smidge of orange, but also something kind of earthy that doesn’t quite work.

For me, a chocolate-orange blend needs to be really bold and vibrant in flavor, and maybe even a bit sweet. This one is none of the above. I’ll have to try significantly overleafing it.

I will say that it stands up to a bit of nondairy milk quite well. Maybe I’ll try it as a latte.

These T2 teas seem to be finding their place in my collection as sick teas. I bought this one thinking it would be good for migraines and inflammation, but I have found the ginger to be pretty weak compared to my other ginger teas. However! The lemongrass is pretty decent, which made this a good option the other day when I had an upset stomach and could barely handle the thought of liquid at all. I just leave the bag in – it doesn’t go bitter or harsh. It’s got a nice gentle tartness, a touch of sweetness, and a touch of grassiness. Sometimes I fall asleep with a half-drunk mug by my bed and by the morning some proper ginger flavor has finally made its way into what’s left of the tea, so I can see this maybe working as a cold brew or with a reallllllly long steep.

Historically, I have not personally been the biggest fan of T2. There are just other brands whose teas I enjoy more. But it’s still a loss to see yet another tea shop have to shrink operations. Roswell articulated this beautifully, so I’ll just add that places like T2 have an important role. It’s where a close friend discovered rice oolong and sticky chai, which probably wouldn’t have happened otherwise because she’s not a tea nerd. With DavidsTea having shuttered most of its physical stores and Teavana long gone, there just aren’t a lot of intro-level, friendly, physical shops for people to discover tea in. I love my local and specialty shops, but I also recognize that they can sometimes be intimidating for beginners, or people can just walk right by thinking that these shops aren’t for them. And not every place has a local specialty shop. The shiny, welcoming mall store served an important role in introducing non-tea people to tea, and now fewer people are going to have that experience. I’m not an economist but it’s hard to imagine that there won’t be a knock-on effect for the industry from these collective closures. (Admittedly, I could just be a dinosaur who doesn’t understand the internet economy because I bought my first loose leaf at a Teavana store, but to my mind there’s something physical about that first tea discovery that doesn’t translate to a screen).

So, with all that said! Yes of course I made a big purchase from T2’s closing sale! This was the only oolong I got; the oolong selection was slim. The last mint oolong I had was Butiki’s, which was of course sublime. Let’s stipulate up front that Stacy’s was better. This one has its merits as a migraine tea, which is what I made it for. It’s a very light oolong mixed with a very strong spearmint. The aroma of the spearmint is actually so strong that it made my partner a little nauseous even though he likes spearmint just fine. He literally had to leave the room, which only sort of helped because the smell wafted through the whole place. It just smells like mint gum to me. For a migraine, though, it’s great. The spearmint is really strong, which helps break through the migraine fog a bit, and it does double duty as a caffeine delivery system. The oolong itself is tightly rolled but quickly unfurls into fairly small, torn leaves. It’s just kind of light and nondescript relative to the spearmint. I’m inclined to try this again when I don’t have a migraine, just to see if my impressions are different. This serves a very particular purpose when my head is imploding, but it might hit differently when I’m feeling clear.

Cold Brew!

Just let this one brew in our hotel room in a water bottle so that, when we got back from the festival and dinner on Saturday night, I’d have something ready to drink. I got mad as I was drinking it though. Not because it didn’t taste good – it did taste really good. Probably the most saturated flavour I’ve gotten from any of the T2 cold brews so far. Strong notes of strawberry… and watermelon.

It was the watermelon that pissed me off. It was so sweet and delicious, but it felt so painfully out of place for what was supposed to be a Strawberry Margarita. It made me upset because I was really looking forward to a bright, juicy strawberry note with that bright and refreshing note of lime that, like, makes a margarita a margarita. There was NO lime here at all, and the absence in combination with the name was just so, so disappointing to me. Totally an inaccurate name – and what’s wrong with just calling this what it is!? A strawberry melon tea. That’s also delicious and would have properly set up my expectations…

Cold Brew!

Picked up all three of the newer flavours of T2’s Cold Brew line. All three seem to be loosely cocktail inspired, which I find interesting. It does look like this is more of a pink grapefruit flavour, based on the ingredients list and web copy, so it’s interesting to me that they went with juniper as the main name callout.

I thought this was nice, though pretty herbaceous overall and less bright and juicy that I’d expected it to be based on the ingredients, flavour descriptions, and all of T2’s marketing photography. Does taste like grapefruit, but in a softer and borderline muted way. Also, despite being so herbaceous, it’s not actually a super particularly juniper forward flavour. I didn’t get the pine notes I’d have expected to.

I think I’d be interested to try this with a doubled up dose, like I tend to do when I drink most cold brew sachets from other companies. They’re just a bit too weak for me otherwise.

This tea could 100% be renamed “Buttered Popcorn” or something along those lines! The genmaicha here leans heavily into popcorn territory rather than anything more roasty, and then the pandan flavoring gives it a smooth buttered note. (At least, I assume it’s the pandan!) The pu’erh is the backbone, I think, with an earthy note underlying it all. I’m weirdly not getting much coconut at all, which is a shame, because I think it’d add a welcome bit of sweetness.

I honestly can’t decide how I feel about this tea. There’s a mustiness to it that’s a smidge off-putting to my nose, alongside a whiff of something artificial. “Day-Old Buttered Popcorn” might describe the effect for me! At the same time, it’s quite unique, and I keep going back for more.

As soon as I opened the packaging, I knew I’d enjoy it from the strong aroma of toasted coconut and pandan. The tea is subtly sweet, so it’s nice unsweetened and plain. It’s refreshing and light while still rich and toasty. I feel it can be enjoyed at any time of day, any season.

I really enjoyed this!

The spices are so warm, peppery and sweet. I love how cozy and interesting this tea is.

A very tasty and lightly perfumed green tea!

Brewed in a teapot at slightly under 75 degrees Celsius with around 10 pearls in my pot, the tea came out a gentle light green and scented delicately of jasmine. It was a sweet, light tea with a subtle grassiness to it. Delicious!

I’m generally not a fan of T2 teas, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this one – particularly since the leaf has been sitting around for a while. The pai mu tan base is pleasantly sweet and complemented well by the mellow ginger. When it cools, the bite of the ginger comes out more. It changes the flavor from mellow & sweet to sharp & bright, but both are very pleasant and refreshing. This is the rare T2 tea I would actually recommend and happily drink again. But for the moment, this is a sipdown, and checks off the ginger tea on Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge this month.

Catching up on my sipdown notes. This tea is really old so I won’t rate it.

I’m generally not a huge fan of T2 but I don’t mind this one! The peach flavoring is really pleasant, peachy and gently sweet and slightly tart – like an actual peach rather than the candy-like peach taste some teas have. It also complements the grassy sencha base nicely. I’m sure the sencha itself was more flavorful years ago when I bought this but by now it’s pretty one-note.

Another old T2 tea bought during a deeply discounted sale. Prepared coldbrew.

I taste something melon-esque, but it doesn’t quite read as watermelon to me… maybe a somewhat muddled honeydew melon flavor? Mostly, though, this just tastes like a hibiscus mint tea, emphasis on the mint. It’s a very refreshing spearmint, but leaves a strong cooling menthol on the tongue each sip. It really dominates the flavor, and nothing about a “watermelon sorbet” makes me think of spearmint.

I’m fine with the taste, it’s a good iced tea, but it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. My head was thinking something heavily flavored with that fake “watermelon candy” sort of flavor used for watermelon things in the US, not honeydew drowned in spearmint leaves. If it were named “Minty Melon” I think I’d be more on board…

Sipdown! (38 | 135)

This was the second free sample in my T2 order.

It’s not bad, but it tastes nothing like a cookie to me. There’s not even the idea of a cookie. Really, it’s just a very ginger-heavy chai with a bit of cardamom and clove. I don’t really taste the base at all, but the ginger is quite strong and the steeped tea light in color, so I’m not surprised.

Anyway, it’s not unpleasant to drink, especially if I were a ginger lover, but it’s nothing special.

Sipdown! (37 | 134)

Taking a break from TTB teas to get some sipdowns in! This was a sample from a T2 order that I received today. I just ordered a few tins (because shiny) but they included two loose leaf tea samples, which I thought was nice.

This tea is a bit confusing. I think it might be the orange slices that are throwing me off? On the one hand, it does have a sweet spiced cake-like flavor going on, and even a bit of creamy icing. But then there’s a weirdly fruity tartness that pops its head out, and I don’t think the two flavors go together very well. The tart note also brings out more astringency in the base, which is not helpful.

Anyway, strange tea. I think it would’ve been tasty without the orange. Such an odd choice for a carrot cake tea, it almost tastes like hibiscus… O.o

Weak, very weak compared to T2’s. Barely any flavor, barely infused into water.

This one has been needing a sipdown for a while, its not a bad tea, but does have a bite to the aftertaste so it hasn’t been one I reach for. For a blend, its quite balanced, would go well with a little honey, and certainly seems it has enough caffeine for any morning brew. I wouldn’t buy it again, and I’ll probably leave it in the cupboard until I need a brisk morning cup again.

I’m not a rose fan, so I was prepared to dislike this, but I’m happy to say that it’s actually nice. I don’t get the usual extreme sourness from the rose. It’s quite floral, but in a pretty tasty way. The green tea tastes a little old, but I grabbed this sample from a TTB, and I don’t believe it was stored in an airtight way in there (it has been since it’s entered my possession, of course). I would drink this again.

A failed spiced fruit tea blend. Heavy on the spice, but not in a good way. The fruit is completely apple forward.