Tiesta Tea

The aroma is somewhat slight as it steeps. Perhaps my water wasn’t hot enough. Fascinating, I can see why they call it fireberry. It gives off notes of campfire smoke but don’t worry they aren’t strong like a lapsang. This is a mind-boggling tea. The smoky notes then turn into cranberry and hibiscus notes with elderberry swirling around them. The rooibos isn’t as strong as I thought it would be but it shows its face occasionally with earthy and sweet cookie notes.

This one loves passionfruit. Before I found out I was allergic to dairy I used to seek out this passionfruit dessert that was melt in your mouth and pucker your face. No, this is not a replacement for that and to be honest I remember each time I drink flavored teas now why I don’t buy them anymore. The names sound so enticing but the taste is just not anything near to what a pure tea offers. Yes, I am biased. This one offers a bit of bitter raspberry and a hint of passion fruit on the tail end. It’s decent… Not one I would drink again me thinks.

My favorite lemon tea is probably by San Benedetto but I wouldn’t say it has much lemon flavor. This is a good one, especially cold. Much better than most iced teas you will find pre-made ike Snapple, Arizona. I would buy this again. I think the lemon flavor is subtle, not very tart. Tons of lemon rinds and pieces in it. There was a huge chunk of dried lemon in my first batch.

Solid Earl Grey- not bitter, pleasant bergamot taste, smells amazing! I like it…ALOT

I had the misfortunate of drinking Arizona Iced Tea recently- when did they start making their teas with high fructose corn syrup? Anyway it was disgusting. IDK if I am spoiled by making my own or if their “tea” has always been that nasty. Anyway, I drink this one cold. It has a lot of fruit chunks and mine had a huge dried lemon piece. It’s mostly dried fruit as opposed to tea. But I like this one, I only drank it cold. It has a pleasant fruity taste and smells nicely of tart juicy mango.

Has all the fruitiness and sour of passion fruit in the scent but didn’t live up to the smell once brewed. A bit boring, forgettable, the fruit didn’t balance with the black tea. I probably should have tried it cold though and with sugar, I’m sure it woulda been better

Sips by tea number 3 for October!

This is a pleasant enough white tea. It has a light strawberry sparkling wine sort of flavor to it, with a touch of deeper berry or maybe pomegranate. The flavor is nice enough, fairly juicy-tasting, but I can’t help feeling this flavor profile would be better with a touch of tartness, maybe from a sprinkle of hibiscus. Or even as a fruit tisane?

Anyway, enjoyed it well enough, but not something I would order.

This is a really nice one, you can really taste and smell the Lavender. It just has a really clear taste of Earl Grey. I was pleasantly surprised. Can drink with or without milk, it holds up without milk surprisingly well. Nothing bitter or off-putting. I could see myself purchasing a large bag

This blend is from a TTB but I can’t recall which one. I’ve had it several times but did not finish it off until today.

The green tea is a bit astringent and bitter. I find it drying in my mouth. The aromatics are quite nice, though, because I can make out floral and fruity notes. Distinctly, coconut/creamy and passionfruit as well as what might be rose or general floral notes. The smell is very fruity and vegetal, like matcha. The after taste is where the coconut and rose come in.

Wanted to get my hands on more samplers and this one seemed pretty popular on Amazon. Kinda pricy considering the amount I think. Its definitely not enough for the advertised 60 cups. This is a light flavor tea. Kinda fruity and doesn’t hold up to milk and sugar like a classic breakfast tea should. It is nice without the sugar and milk though. Just lightly fruity. Not bad.

It was recently my turn with the latest Reddit TTB, and this was one of the teas I tried. It’s pretty tart and low quality. It’s just sour generic fruit. I wouldn’t want it again.

Somewhat Bitter. Not my cup of tea

I love this blend! As a tea AND coffee lover, this blend nails the white mocha latte flavor I wanted from other blends that I’ve tried in the past. Its slightly sweet, has that smooth vanilla/ white chocolate note, and that roasty coffee bean flavor throughout, plus you can still taste the black tea. If Vanilla Cappucino from David’s Tea was too sweet for you ( it was for me) this one is the way to go!

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #59 overall / Tea #26 for February

Thursday 2/18 — Pulled this out yesterday to have for Mastress Alita #2021steepstersipdown prompt on Feb 2/17 (“Wednesday, February 17th: Random Acts of Kindness Day – Drink a tea that was kindly gifted to you!”)… @briannadrinkstea on Instagram put this in my box of goodies that traveled to me from Australia!

It’s been a while since I have had a tea from Tiesta Tea, I brewed this warm-ish and plain at work with a metal steeper in my 20 oz DT tumbler. It was a cozy cuppa of green tea with light citrus + lemongrass flavors. Last couple of sips I drank cold 2/18.

#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge

March Mad(Hatter) Tea Tournament!
Round #1 – Match #5    Tiesta – Fruity Pebbles  VS.  Butiki – Taiwanese Bi Luo Chun

So here we have one old and one “new” tea.  I didn’t know which would win here, but then I steeped:  whoa, even if this weren’t a Butiki tea, in a blind taste test, I would still go for this one.  I could swear it’s not that old.  It still, even after all these years, has wonderful characteristics of a green tea that I love.  The Tiesta is okay, with its generic fruit flavor, but overall the green tea seems drying and tasteless.  Which might explain including the fruit.  Winner: Butiki’s Taiwanese Bi Luo Chun

A sample I had requested with my order from Tiesta!  I can’t resist a name like ‘Fruity Pebbles’ as I once loved that cereal — I try not to have it too much now because I’m old and that cereal is basically 100% sugar.  The blend here is a long leafed green with fruit bits!  Pineapple, papaya, and strawberry bits, with an addition of rose petals.  I wouldn’t say it specifically tastes like the artificialness that is Fruity Pebbles… but if there was a healthy authentic version of Fruity Pebbles, this would come close.  It’s a fruit flavored green tea.  The fruit takes over any flavor of the green tea.  Mostly pineapple.  No rose notes to be found.  I like it! 
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 37 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  32 minutes after boiling // 2-3 min
2021 sipdowns: 2 (Octavia – Ancient Yunnan)

Discovery Advent Tea #19
SPICY! I like spicy chai but this is like pepper spicy. Which makes sense because I’m looking straight at a darling little hot pepper of some sort. Interesting chocolate aroma to go with it. I let it steep longer to see if it would get spicer. IT does not.

Discovery Advent Tea #2
Guessed correctly that it was oolong with many tropical fruits. I quite enjoyed this one. Quite nummy.

Homemade advent day 15

I made this as a coldbrew, despite the cold conditions here in BC. No snow yet, but almost two weeks straight of daily rain and gloom. A few days recently have had brief sunny periods and I feel inspired to make a fruity coldbrew for the occassion. I chose this sample I took out of a TTB because the ginger is wintery and warming but the peach is fruity and suits a coldbrew. I didn’t love the cup as much as I normally enjoy ginger teas.

The ingredients sound great, because ginger, papaya pieces, apple, orange blossom, and peach pieces sound like an amazing combo. The4 peppercorns give this an extra kick of spicy! However, there is also a small amount of very potent rosehips that make this blend very acidic. I wasn’t expecting this to be so sour and because the ginger is naturally sweet I hoped it would balance out. The second steep had more ginger and less fruit but was still sour. A real disappointment.

A very fruity, sweet, ‘red’ tisane, with some tartness. Pretty nice. The liquor is very dark and almost more like a juice than a tisane. You can definitely taste the currants in this one.