Tea Squared

This is a queued tasting note.

Had this one hot; very bright pineapple and fig notes that dominated the cup entirely. It was very fruity, juicy and sweet with just a little bit of acidity from the more tart ingredients. Made for a nice way to finish of the day…

So, normally, I’m always watching a TV show. I find one I like, preferably with a few seasons so I’ll be occupied for a while, and I just binge the shit out of that. And I usually get really involved emotionally with the characters. But lately I just haven’t found a TV show that can catch my attention. So, instead, I’ve been watching a lot of stuff without plot before bed; mainly reality TV shows.

The night I was drinking this I watched maybe a whole season of Penn & Teller’s Fool Us. It filled the time; and was interesting. There have even been a few episodes where P&T were fooled but I was like 95% sure I knew how it was done. I came to a realization today though…

I’m not watching nearly as much TV or the same kind of TV right now because I’m not relying as/so heavily on the characters/show as an escape mechanism or coping method like it has been pointed out to me that I tend to do. Why am I not needing something to emotionally invest myself in to escape the real world? ‘Cause for the first time in a while I’m pretty fucking happy…

So, there’s this MASSIVE thunderstorm right now – it’s been raining for almost a solid three hours now and the lightning is so bright that it lights up the street for blocks and the thunder so loud you can hear it in every corner of the condo. It’s the most beautiful thing. I find so much peace and happiness in rain…

Trey and I were sitting on the balcony just basking in the beauty of it all; I decided the only thing that could make the moment any better was a pot of tea so I brewed this one up and we shared hot cups of tea on the balcony while watching the storm.

The brightness of the cup was a very poignant contrast; this had such juicy and full of life notes of rose, apple, pineapple and of course fig and it brought an almost tropical flavour to our summer time storm. The brightness/happiness of the cup in particular is what felt like a contrast; normally rain is thought of as “sad/depressing” (though not in my case). Drinking something so fruity and sweet almost felt like a big ‘fuck you’ to the rain. Almost. Trey loved this though; I knew he would. I should drink it more; it’s so yummy – hot or cold.

It’s nice to have this one back in my cupboard again!

I drank this one hot while I had a friend over; we binge watched the entire first season of Misfits which was a phenomenal life choice. I’ve seen the whole series, but not since high school so it was almost like watching it for the first time again. While I remembered the really vague overall plot points of the show, I’ve long since forgotten all of the little jokes and tinier plot points and those are such a major part of what sells the show…

The tea was fantastic too. It’s got a very bright flavour. If I could encompass the whole cup in one word I think it would be “sunny”. It just strongly gives off that vibe, what with the bold, juicy flavour notes of rose, fig, honey, apple and pineapple. I mean, pineapple is kind of the epitome of a ‘summer’ fruit, right? Maybe right after watermelon?

Yum yums.

Sad Sipdown (117)!

Today’s word of the day is trepidation. Trepidation is hesitation due to fear or nervousness. Pretty sure I’m not going to be leaving the house today; so gonna have to try and slip this into conversation with Tre today…

This tisane really, really grew on me while I had it. I’m actually going to miss having it around, a lot. But since it’s SO easy for me to pick it up since we sell it at work, so come summer when I’m going to be cold brewing constantly I’m sure I’ll pick it up again.

It’s just so perfect; soft, sweet, fruity, floral…

And the fig is really, really well done. Bumping up my rating to reflect how fond I got of this treasure! Fig, caramel, pineapple, and rose? Can’t go wrong there.

Still sick.

But good news; not as sick! There are some definite health improvements going on – it’s just a matter of time, I suppose.

But yeah; yesterday I was still feeling sick but not as sick (though the longer the day went on the worse I felt; hoping today wont go like that) so I decided to have something a little more adventurous and flavourful on the way to work, though because I know my palate is still pretty out of whack I went with something I’m kinda casually trying to sipdown and that I’ve had a few times before!

This was actually lovely, despite definitely tasting at least a little off. It was especially rosey, and sweet; I must have got lots of caramel/fig in my measured out leaf. Surprisingly very little tartness/hibiscus/pineapple flavour but whether that’s ’cause of measured leaf or weird tastebuds will forever be lost on me.

Today’s word of the day is…

Trove!

Trove means: “1. A discovery, find 2. a valuable collection : treasure : haul.” I’ve actually only ever heard the second definition before, so I did in fact ‘learn a new word’ today. But this one is easy to use though; it can easily apply to all of our tea troves!

So I had to be fairly restrictive with what tea I brought with me for my trip; I wanted a combination of comfort teas, things to work on sipping down, and new things to try; but at the same time I didn’t want to pack an excessive amount of tea for the time I’m down here.

And, I spent last night raiding my Mom’s tea cupboard (I’m going to try and take a picture so you can all witness how horrific it looks and share in my pain) and there were a few interesting sounding things I may attempt to try as well, along with a few things I left behind the last time I visited.

I also forgot that my Mom has the teeniest little teacups instead of mugs like the ones I use; the teacups she has are 8 oz. tops, but I think are actually far closer to 6 oz. and it may just drive me crazy; I’m so used to my 12 oz. mugs. So last night I made two before bed cups of tea; this was one of them!

I really do like this blend; it was a whim purchase and I think it was a good one. The fig in it is so well done, and really apparent in the flavour but there are a lot of other great flavour contributions too that round out the cup. Last night’s cup in particular had a really thick mouthfeel and a particular sweetness about it; the honey/caramel flavours in the blend were really shining! The hibiscus? There was so little of it that the liquor was barely even that “trademark” hibiscus pink! And then just a brief little flicker of pineapple juice and rose in the aftertaste.

I brought the whole bag of this one; I’m probably gonna try to sip it down – but I think I might repurchase it again when my cupboard is at a lower number. My mom took sips of both teas I made; this was the one she liked better – she called sweet and fruity. Don’t think she was able to identify the fruit in it though.

Last review of the night; I just took a sleeping pill which I expect to start kicking in shortly. I anticipate I’ll need the extra help sleeping given that I’m going to A) have to deal with loud boys soon and B) be sleeping on my actual bed and not the couch.

For those not in ‘the know’ I happen to own a super expensive bed that was a moving out/into my own place present from my Dad, expect despite the price tag it’s maybe the worst bed I’ve ever slept on or, at least, close to it. It’s basically like sleeping on wood. No give. At all. So instead, I sleep on my couch. And I love it. I’m very, very adjusted to sleeping on a couch. My body doesn’t even know what to do with all the room on a bed now, ‘cause with a couch it’s like “No; don’t roll over! You’ll fall!” and, well, beds have more than like two feet width…

I think I made good queue progress today; it’s certainly not cleared yet (I just counted and I’ve got 21 tasting notes to go – ugh) but I made a really nice dent in it! I just have to keep writing at this pace, and soon I’ll be golden!

This one was prepared hot in a timolino; I’m working on sipping it down because it’s not something I need stocked but I’m still quite enjoying it, so I’m sipping it down at a much more casual pace than I often do with teas I want out of my cupboard.

- Very fig/camarel dominant
- With hints of rose
- No tartness from the pineapple and hibby(?)
- Can’t remember if there’s actually hibby in this
- Really sweet and tasty overall!

Tried this one hot last night.

It’s kind of funny actually, because I was already steeping it when Tre and I started having a conversation about whether or not I judge people based on the groceries they buy. My answer was that honestly, I’m too focused on work and doing things quickly to really pay attention to whatever someone’s buying. You’re getting 31 Papayas? I don’t fucking care. But whenever someone comes through with boxes of super shitty bagged tea, I always pick up on that and definitely cringe internally.

He then asked whether we actually sell any decent quality tea, and I said we do in fact carry one brand of loose leaf – Tea Squared, what I was brewing (and also David Rio’s line of “Instant Chai” which is pretty good too). He snatched the bag from my hands and took a whiff. And then made a face because this “smells like nail polish”. It does not smell like nail polish. He must have been high. Maybe from huffing nail polish?

It’s the rose though – that’s why he didn’t like it. He hates rose, and this smells pretty strongly of it. Taste wise, you can taste the rose too but it’s not too bad. Mostly it’s actually sweetened fig: sweetened from the pineapple which gives a faint tartness, and sweetened from the caramel, which is more present in the aftertaste. It reminds me of McQuarrie’s Fig Rose blend I had for a while, except less rose-y. But there’s definitely similarities.

I’m still liking this one! Which is good, because if I wasn’t then there’d be no weight in my argument with Tre about tea quality (though technically this is just a fruit blend).

Cold Brew!

This company is a new one to me, but Sobeys carries a large selection of their loose teas and some of them look pretty good too (plus decent price: $10 for 80g), so I had to try at least one of them. This is the one I bought, although there was another tisane which caught my eye too. Fig is definitely a less common fruit/flavour to see in tea, so I was definitely interested in trying it. The lack of super cliched tisanes was nice!

Dry, this smells very fresh with strong, aromatic notes of figs, caramel, and rose. The cold brew is a kind of “blush” pink, and smells really fruity with some floral traits. Taste wise, there were really strong juicy fig notes paired with sweet pineapple with a mild bit of tang/tartness to it, possibly from the fruit or possibly from the hibiscus. There was a caramel and honey sweetness that softened the whole thing, and a floral/rosey after taste. Overall, it tasted really natural!

I’m actually really impressed, so I think I’ll definitely eventually be buying that other tisane that caught my interest!

YYZ sent this one my way, along with a few others marked “fruity blacks” I am doing my best to work through some of my samples and it’s nice to have a few straight teas in with all my flavoured samples heh

However, this one was a little too bitter for me. I thought it might be, given the smell of the dry leaf but wanted to try it out anyway – i’m still curious how close i’ll get to 2k teas tried before my steepsterversay heh. I can see why YYZ put this one in the fruity black category but i just cannot get past the bitterness. Oh well, it was nice to try :) thanks YYZ!

This is actually pretty nice! It reminds me a little bit of the flavour profile of Andrew and Dunham’s double knit blend, except this one is a little bit more tannic and bitter, and has a denser texture in the mouth.

It has broken leaves, with scattered golden saffron tips and smells of dried apples mixed with apricots and pastry, which oddly does remind me of France, where I often had apricot pastries or pain au chocolat for breakfast.

Itsp Brewed for @ 3 min at slightly under boiling in around 8oz of water resulted in a dark rosewood tinted brew that smelled of apples and plums, Danish like pastries, cinnamon, a spicy floral, a hint of cocoa and icing sugar.

It tastes of bitter cocoa, the deeper tones of malt, cinnamon, apples and plum, molasses, and danishes. It is rich in density and texture. The aftertaste is of brown sugar.

I’m so glad I picked this up at my local grocery store today. Apparently this company is started by a founder of the tea emporium in Toronto. They sell online at http://teasquared.ca

this is a delicious blend of berries and lavender. Love it!