Tea Kitten (Sips by)

I don’t participate in Sips By but it seems that this is where the sample came from. After looking around it appears this company no longer exists. Might have been a covid knock out. Building and maintaining a business is hard work. So if you find someone you like support them.

Anyway. I’m not a fan of this tea. Theoretically it sounds pretty pleasant but the mixture of green tea and some of the ingredients was off in my opinion. Kinda tastes like some of those dryer sheets that have a lot of crap in them in the laundry aisle.

From the iced tea box.

This doesn’t read very “mojito” to me, since the mint is a bit more soft and herbaceous, and I don’t taste the lime at all.

That being said, I love yerba maté, so I’m happy to be able to taste it here, and the peppermint brightens it up a bit while melding in well with the overall herbaceous vibes. Overall mellow and just a bit sweet on that lovely, somewhat grassy green maté base.

From the brunch box.

Another nice grapefruit tisane from Sips by. This has a very realistic sweet-tart-bitter grapefruit flavor to it, along with a bit of an artificial chewable Vitamin C tablet sort of citrus note. It’s quite sweet, I guess it must be from all the candied fruit.

I do think I prefer the Elderflower Grapefruit Nectar from Tiny Bee to this one, just because this is very sweet. But both have nice grapefruit flavor, with just a touch of bitterness.

This sample is from Sips by. It’s a simple fruity green tea. It’s not tart, just light and refreshing. The second time I had it, I found it to be murky and not that pleasant, but I probably oversteeped it. Though my first cup was nice, I don’t think this one is special enough to seek out.

Sipdown! (48 | 322)

Another one from Sips by.

I’m not generally a piña colada lover, mostly because I feel like the pineapple always gets overpowered by the coconut, but this one is actually quite good. I can clearly taste the pineapple, and it’s a sweet candied pineapple sort of flavor. Coconut is there as well but it mostly adds creaminess and plays more of a supporting role, which I’m so happy about. The rooibos is mellow and smooth, softly woody but not medicinal at all.

Surprisingly, I would actually consider ordering this blend. I’ll have to add it to the wishlist and maybe I’ll remember it when summer comes around again.

Cold Brew!

Welp, we have officially hit the part of the year here in Montreal where everything is VERY HOT and INSUFFERABLY HUMID. Ergo, I am going through cold brews like it’s my full time job. Which, I guess, in some ways it sort of is? Lol.

This was fantastic though! Sweet and citrusy but with a welcome hint of bitterness and pith to balance it all out. It’s almost as lemon forward as it is grapefruit, though – so I don’t know if my brain goes to Paloma while I’m drinking it so much as it does, like, grapefruit lemonade? There’s even a hint of pineapple to the profile, too. I really, really liked it though!

Hot cuppa from this weekend.

Surprisingly, this infusion was closer to the sweet pink grapefruit flavour I had expected to get when I cold brewed it. However, that said, it was still a bit more of just a generically citrusy vibe overall that I’d like it to be. Still, the balance of sweetness to sour tang was perfection and the little pithy bitter accent was the cherry on top.

Cold Brew!

The dry leaf of this one smells a little intense and almost fermented, sort of like the different kinds of citrus in the blend are going off. That’s always a little concerning when you’re receiving a brand new tea, but thankfully I didn’t find it translated into the taste. I guess I slightly expected more of a pink grapefruit flavour, but this was still really nice with a distinct sweet grapefruit taste that was still balanced by just a hint of bitter pith. I thought it was pretty nice!

It’s okay. Nothing special. Typical rooibos flavor with a hint of vanilla. I’m kind of bummed that I bought such a large bag of it because I tend to reach for teas with more flavor.

This tea changed my mind about earl grey, and perhaps also vanilla! The bergamot and vanilla were balanced well and I loved each cup. It also makes a great tea latte.

This turned out to be a pretty tasty vanilla rooibos. It tastes how you might expect, nothing special, but good. No weird flavors, just a pleasant rooibos plus vanilla. It didn’t need milk. The package from Sips by only made enough for two servings, but it inspired me to order a different vanilla rooibos so I can have it on my shelf again.

Got as a sample… I think it’s just gimmicky. As promised, it does steep a pretty pinkish purple color, which turns blue if you add lemon juice.
However, the artificial watermelon flavoring overpowers all the other real fruit and the green tea in the blend, which is expected, but still a shame. Cold-brewing and drinking iced is the only tolerable way to consume this.
Not my thing.

Sounded lovely for a cold brew, which apparently diminishes the “magik” color powers of the tea, as it was a bright and bold green instead (and the lemonade added only diluted the color). Pleasant citrus flavor but too mild to be memorable for much outside the color.

Sipsby Advent Calendar.

After reading the description I went with a cold brew for this tea and finished the jar over a couple of days.

I’m a fan of tart hibiscus, but I wouldn’t even put “tart” in the description of this if it weren’t in the title. You do get the hibiscus flavor, and another that I can really only describe as a generic “fruit”. I’d agree with the assessment that it’s a fruit punch copycat; every so often I’d take a sip and feel like I had poured Hawaiian Punch instead. It wasn’t bad, but fruit punch isn’t a favorite of mine, and I wouldn’t go looking for this again.

I got this as a sample to try and… it’s just not my thing. A light, herby green tea by taste. The brewing instructions speak to the magic – a change in color – but…. I just prefer my tea to taste stronger.