The Tea Girl

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 17

Backlog from last week – Day 17! Another sparkly tea from The Tea Girl! This one was soo pretty. I still get a bit nervous about ingesting the sparkles though haha! As for flavor, the first hit of this was hard on my stomach, although I think it was from work stress and not eating enough during the day than from the sparkles lol. I found the green tea a touch astringent in the first sips, then it mellowed out as the tea cooled and also was easier on my system. The flavor reminds me of that peppermint coconut tea DT used to have that I LOVED, it was a seasonal haha! I think ultimately I would prefer this tea with a herbal pure mint base, rather than green tea, but it was good anyways! And pretty teas always brighten my day :)

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 16

Backlog from Wednesday – so I am a huge popcorn fan. Like, I eat at least 2-3 bowls per week, and recently discovered stove top popcorn when my air popper died, and I LOVE IT! It’s one of my favorite snacks, so naturally, when I saw this tea, I was excited! Yay for popcorn tasting tea!!

I will admit, I didn’t pay as much attention to this tea as I should have, as I had it while in a work meeting, but it was quite tasty from what I recall. Lightly sweet, definite corn notes, a hint of butter…want to try it again to see if I pick up more of it, but it was pleasant and went down quite quickly! It also didn’t make my stomach cranky, which is awesome as sometimes oolongs can really mess it up! Tasty and will gladly finish my sample!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 15

Backlog from Tuesday evening – this was a tea I enjoyed, it was very cinnamon-y with a nice apple pastry kind of flavor. My husband kind of ruined it for me lol, he said it smelled like an air freshener! I see the parallel a bit, in that there are lots of apple cinnamon air fresheners…maybe the woody rooibos added to that comparison for him? Haha I don’t know – I found it hydrating and cozy and tasty, so will definitely finish my sample! May not be a reorder since hubby finds not his “cup of tea” lol.

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 14

Day 14 – almost caught up! I did have this tea a day late, as I got behind on the weekend haha! I also now realize I understeeped it – should have done 5 mins, I did 4 and it definitely could have handled more!

This tea was a smooth talking chai. Nice vanilla sweetness, nice spiced sweetness, nothing too out of this world or harsh. An easy drinking chai. Would love to try this stove-top with vanilla almond milk and honey next time, as that is my favorite way to make a chai!

I found it pleasant, but didn’t focus too much on the flavor (I was drinking it during a pretty intense workday, so my bad). Would maybe like a bit more pop, but that’s just me :D good tea overall! Might order more to play with it!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 13

DISCLAIMER – I did find a tea with the same name by The Tea Girl in Steepster, but checked the ingredients and they are very different, as this tea is nut free (confirmed with the vendor, as I have a severe peanut allergy so this one scared me haha). So I’ve added this one with 2020 in the name, so the old version and tea note attached was not lost!

Backlog from Monday – so since I got behind on the weekend, I had this tea on Monday. I also was a bit worried about it as I noted above – I have a peanut allergy and avoid all nuts. Now, this advent calendar is clearly noted nut-free, as is the tea labelling, but old habits made me message the vendor to confirm – yes all was good, no nuts!

So brewing this up, it smelled amazing! Caramel and SUPER NUTTY. So my brain is freaking out a bit, but I bit the bullet and drank it. And obviously, no side effects, no negative effects, just a delicious tea down the hatch and tasty on a dreary Monday! Yum! The caramel notes were amazing, and the nutty woody taste paired quite well! I enjoyed this! I am sad I will likely never have the courage to try a real walnut truffle, but at least I can enjoy it in tea form! Thank you @The Tea Girl for making an amazing nut-free tea!!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 12

Backlog from the weekend – I had this Sunday as I missed having it on Saturday – I feel like I’ve had this before! Maybe before Tea Girl rebranded? Anyways, this is an amazing coconut vanilla bomb of a tea, super comforting, super sweet almost like a sugar cookie. Not in an artificial way though! It was exactly what I needed in the afternoon! I’ll have to hunt through my cupboard… ah I did find it! It was a blend by Communitea Cafe, no idea where I got it, but the ingredients are slightly different so must be a different tea. I think the Tea Girl version is better!

Steeped in 185 degree water for 2-3 minutes. Cozy, soft sweet tea <3

Last dessert Rooibos new sample total try! I still have a decaf vanilla to try, but this is the last fully uncaffeinated tester. I received this one as a surprise free sample from The Tea Girl as well, thank you! I’ve had this one before and do like it quite a bit, mint and chocolate is a great combo, although a bit wintery for the upcoming summer. This is smooth and sweet, and hitting the spot tonight!

In unrelated news – getting old sucks. I somehow injured my shoulder at work by simply working at a computer…pulled something haha. Have a iced wheat bag on it and have been massaging it with a tennis ball all night.. definitely going to bed earlier so it hopefully is better tomorrow lol!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 11

Backlog – I was pleased that this tea showed up on a day I got a chocolate in my other calendar :D I recall having this in the evening (yes it was 4 days ago already), and it was quite amazing! My husband commented that it smelled too much like chocolate lol, so I guess it did its job? I quite enjoyed it, it truly was like an After Eight mint without the calories. Yummy and could see myself reordering for a sweet evening treat to satisfy my darn sweet tooth. I’ve been going through a giant bag of Lindor chocolates like nobody’s business lately, so anything to help that haha!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 10

I feel so spoilt this week – my tea advents have been AMAZING! This was no slouch either! I LOVE french toast, and I’ve had a french toast tea at some point (think it was by DT) and it was tasty yuminess. Something about maple in teas just makes me happy.

This one – smells just wonderful! So maple, cinnamon, breakfast! Steeped for 2 and a half mins with boiling water…next time might use a cooler temp, as the flavors here really shone once the cup cooled down. So tasty to drink in my afternoon meeting! This one might have to be a repurchase :)

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 9

So after my morning vanilla matcha, I was ecstatic to see that my afternoon brew was also going to be vanilla! I remember the DAVIDSTea vanilla orchid oolong…it was one of my favorites back in the day, so I was also excited for some nostalgia with this tea!

It smells sooo yummy! I love how delicate the cornflowers look with the tea!

Steeped at 195 degrees for 3 minutes. The leaves nicely unfurled, and the cup was lightly sweet, fresh and not too strong. A touch of astringency, but in a gentle way. I found this like a mellow cupcake, with a hint of dryness. Pretty enjoyable! I am sad I did not get a chance to do a second steeping, but my caffeine quota was definitely met for the day between this one and the matcha. Very yum, may have to order more of this to play around with it! Excited for my next steeping!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 8

Another note I am behind on – this one was tasty and interesting! A fruity, floral white tea…it was very pillowy and soft tasting to me :) definitely romantic, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would as the florals were well balanced with the fruit flavors. A good base that wasn’t overpowering either!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 7

Since this was a herbal, I made this one in the afternoon, quite late yesterday and I lacked drinking my water yesterday so I was so thirsty for it! This one pleasantly surprised me! I looked up the ingredients before making (as I always do) and saw my friend hibiscus…so was not optimistic. I decided to go all out and do a 4 minute steeping since it was mostly berries too…and verdict – it was quite good!

Not sure what was up yesterday, but I found the tartness refreshing and not overpowering (like most hibiscus). Maybe I was needing some vitamin C haha. The berry flavors were quite well done, and I feel this tea would take sweetener well, even though I didn’t add any. Super thirst quenching as well! So a happy hibiscus surprise, and I will easily finish my sample of this one!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 6

I almost missed having this tea as I realized I hadn’t checked it out at 3:30 yesterday, and after 4 pm I avoid caffeine lol. But got it in, and still slept good!

I was at a loss for how to brew this one – it’s a blend of black and green tea…so the temperature was a bit tricky. I decided on oolong temperature (195 degrees) as a compromise. It turned out pretty good – sweet and floral, I enjoy lavender teas so no complaints here! I may play around with water temperature a bit more for my next cup, might steep a bit longer and with a cooler temperature. Enjoyable, and will finish the sample easily!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 5

Day 5 – first chai! I love chai, especially if prepared stove top, but normally the caffeine gets me with them as it’s normally a finer black tea. This one was no exception on the caffeine front lol so I didn’t quite finish my massive mug of it. But as for flavor – this was pretty good! It reminded me of a mix of Stormy Night by DT (probably the star anise and chocolate) and a chai I had from Verdant back in the day. I found it to be a soothing chocolate and not a fake chocolate, which was good! The black base was great, robust! I would definitely like to make this one stove top and add some milk and a touch of honey – bet it would really shine! I would like the ginger and chili to be a touch stronger too, as I love spicy teas!

Overall a very tasty chai! Will definitely finish off my sample, and as it is a local company may end up reordering! Enjoyable, I just have to watch the caffeine in it haha.

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 4

I opened the little tin of Day 4 before noon yesterday, as I like to see if there is caffeine. Huzzah – this one was a herbal! And man it smelled yummy! Very raspberry, fruity, yum. A Friday tea indeed! After the fruit peach bomb of my morning matcha, this felt like it would follow nicely.

I found this surprisingly enjoyable. I am so leery of hibiscus in teas lol…I believe I steeped this one for 3 minutes as I was worried it’d get that horrible metallic taste from my friend hibiscus. Surprisingly it did not! It was super berry tasting, pretty sweet – felt like it’d be amazing blended with some fresh lemonade…maybe add some gin…:D might try that on the weekend with this one!

A definite summer tea type blend, not one I’d reach for much in the winter, but in summer yes. I imagine it’s great iced! Will finish off my sample of it indeed!

PS – I am so pleased with this advent calendar so far – it’s been fun, as I’ve had to add pretty much every tea to the Steepster database for it so far! Spreading tea love to the masses :D Also, the entire calendar is inherently nut free – as someone with an allergy, for this to be clearly stated right on the front, I very much appreciate it! Happy with this local to me company, and highly recommend you check them out online if you are not in Edmonton!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 3

Well this one looked exciting right when I opened the small tin – glitter! I can’t say I’ve had glitter in too many teas, I think the only one was Glitter and Gold by DT back in the day…so this was kind of cool! My brain also was like “hmm is this safe to eat” lol, so I admit, I did leave most of it at the bottom of my cup at the end haha. But it certainly looked magical :D

As for the tea – I am not the biggest fan of fruity green teas to begin with, and I was a bit nervous with the overwhelming fruity smell. I brewed it with 175 degree water for about 2 mins.

The flavor was decent…it was fruity, with a touch of astringency/bitterness from the green base. Not my favorite green tea (as I like my green teas without flavor mostly haha), but it was interesting and I will finish off my sample with no complaints! Probably not one I’d order again personally. I will see if I can pick out more distinct flavors with my next cup, as I found it rather generic fruit rather than defined strawberry or apricot flavor. Happy to try it out though, and the glitter factor definitely made it worth it!!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 2

Day 2 from my Tea Girl Calendar! I opened this shortly after my matcha advent tea from DavidsTea, as I like checking to see if my second tea of the day will have caffeine haha. I am not the best with caffeine as my fellow Steepsterites know, even though I am improving!

So I was super pumped to see that Day 2 was a herbal! And WOW did it smell good! So much cinnamon and sweet apple, just like an apple crisp! I steeped this with boiling water for around 4 mins, and it was quite good! I see that it looks like a lower water temp might be more recommended, so my second tea I will make at a lower temperature. It was quite good, and very hydrating – I love that about honeybush teas. And not too artifical or watery, which I sometimes find can happen with apple teas.

Overall, a tasty non caffeinated cuppa, and I want to have another cup tonight with fresh leaves but I also want to save them :P so I’ll have to wait. Definitely a good one!

2020 Advent Calendar from The Tea Girl – Day 1

I am so excited for this advent calendar for a variety of reasons: they are a local Edmonton company, I haven’t tried many of their teas (except the one they made for a local brewery collaboration which was an AMAZING BEER), and the packaging is SO CUTE! So hurray for new teas in the cupboard, hoping to find some that I want to order larger quantities of! #supportlocal

So Day 1, Candy Cane oolong – how festive! This tea smells SO MINTY. And tastes SO MINTY. But a sweet mint, not a peppermint – truly like a candy cane! Did not get much of the oolong base, but the caffeine was a nice pick me up in the afternoon. The mint opened up my sinuses and was awesome! Pretty intense, so not one I’d have every day, but a great holiday tea to start off this advent calendar!

Sipdown! I went from hoarding this because of its ultra eggnoggy awesomeness, to months later, perplexed by its aged ketchup chip-like aroma. Months ago, despite smelling like ketchup chips, it luckily didn’t taste like that. However, I noticed these last couple cups did taste a little like that when I added actual eggnog to it so perhaps that allowed me to really notice the difference in flavouring of the aged tea.

It’s so scrumptious fresh but not sure if I’d get more unless I knew I’d drink it a ton and not let it age.

This tea ages so strangely! Over the past couple months, I’ve been trying to figure out what the scent of the dry leaf reminded me of. Fresh, it was exactly like eggnog: creamy and spicy, especially heavy on the nutmeg. But lately, it’s been smelling a little on the astringent side, kind of like vinegar? At first, I thought that maybe it reminded me of something cidery, but that’s not quite right either. Sniffing and sniffing as I was waiting for the water to boil, it finally dawned on me. This smells like ketchup chips. KETCHUP CHIPS. Especially the Old Dutch brand. I freaking love ketchup chips but I’m not exactly stoked about the idea of a tea tasting like them. My mom also agreed with me that this is SO that.

Luckily, the steeped tea does NOT smell or taste at all like ketchup chips. Whew. The spices come back, although the creaminess has taken a back seat. With light cream, this is a lightly spiced nutmeg tea. Yummy. Still not as good as it was when it was fresh, but it’s something that one ought to really drink up fresh. Yeah yeah, you can say that about any tea, but not all teas turn into ketchup chips after a while. What a fancy magic trick that would be.

Ok then, so since this is the third time having this already, then perhaps I should actually write a note about it. When I initially picked up this tea three months ago (how did 1/4 of the year already go by?), it smelled like pure eggnog. Real eggnog loaded with nutmeg. By far the most realistic eggnog-scented tea out there. I was also excited about the orange peel in it thinking it would add a nice new dimension to the classic eggnog flavour.

With half and half, this tastes so creamy and nutmeggy. But now that I’ve recently switched to 2% milk, it’s not as good. It could be that or maybe that the leaf itself has aged a little more.

Three months later, the dry leaf also smells more acidic, akin to a cider. It still smells good but it’s not as warm and fuzzy as before. I’m going to have to experiment with this tea more to see which perimeters work best for it. And next time I go to their store/cafe, I’d like to try this one prepared their way since it’s apparently amazing.

Sipdown topped with eggnog. The spices paired beautifully with the eggnog, although I’m glad this is out of the way. It makes a nice chai, but I would only consider repurchasing if I were running low on tea and wanted to grab something nearby.

Silly brain, I had a dream about this tea last night. I actually had this the other day with milk and sugar but never bothered to write about it. Other than weird dreams about going through security screenings in a strange metallic building (largely influenced by catching up with Scandal over the past few days, I think), I had this other dream that my mom had old high school classmates of mine to visit her at the K-12 school that she taught at, and where I went to school for thirteen years. There she was making tea for them, and happened to choose this one to serve them. Worried that the guests may not be as impressed having it without any additives, just as I was about to tell her that it’s better with milk and sugar, this sugar bowl appeared out of nowhere and she was pouring light cream in. Huh, ok then, move right on!

It sounds weird, but the aftertaste of this tea an hour after I finished it reminded me a little bit of Remedy’s masterpiece which bears the same name. My guess is because this time around, I got more star anise in my basket.

Good job taking this long just to try this, Swedish Chef. This is the last of the Tea Girl tea I picked up back in November that still needs some love. How does this measure up to my favourite Kashmir chai in the world brewed in a hometown cafe? We’ll see.

To try to emulate the sublime aforementioned chai, I added organic granulated sugar and some half and half instead of drinking it straight. Too bad I just used up the rest of my ground almonds in my cereal the other day because I could have sprinkled some on top.

I cracked open the green cardamom pods before brewing in order to get the most out of them. In flavour, I’m detecting mostly cardamom, cinnamon, and fennel. No clove or anise, unfortunately. Maybe a hint of ginger far in the background. I’d dial it back on the sugar a bit next time, otherwise this is a decent green chai. I’d say it’s the best home-brewed one I’ve tried thus far. And for the record, I’m sure this is the exact same one that Steeps sells, which I tried years ago but never made it with milk/cream and/or sugar which seems to bring out the best in this.

The almonds and rose cannot be detected either, as they’re lack of presence in the dry leaf leads to ultimate spice dominance. Ground almonds and pistachios need to be brought into the picture. Maybe a few more rose petals.

Since the cloves are rather sparse in the dry leaf, the taste of the tea will definitely hinge on the amount and variety of whole spices that randomly get scooped up with each spoon. Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious. So next time I play Kashmir Chai Roulette, I’ll see which spices wind up in my strainer, subtly altering the experience/flavour.