Trader Nicks Tea Company

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This one is a cinnamon candy style black tea, similar to Harney & Sons’ Hot Cinnamon Spice, but less intense and less sweet. Smooth black base with a Red Hots/Big Red gum sort of flavor.

It’s enjoyable, especially since I’ve been craving fall and brought out the autumn and Halloween mugs this past weekend. But it does taste a tiny bit weak, so I think I prefer some other renditions of this flavor profile because of that.

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Second tea from my subscription. Really nice picks this month!

This is a blackberry and raspberry black tea, and I admit I was a bit nervous to try it. A lot of times, mixed berry and blackberry teas end up tasting like berry Tums to me for some reason. Luckily, that’s not the case here. This has a nice balance of candylike vs. fresh berry, with the raspberry being on the tarter side (with the help of a touch of hibiscus) and the blackberry being more like a sweet candy or jam. There’s also an herbaceous note from the blackberry leaf, which I think actually helps this tea taste a bit more fresh.

I don’t think I’ll order it, just because I have a lot of other berry teas that I love, but I enjoyed receiving it in my subscription. :)

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Subscription tea for July!

I tried this one both hot and cold brewed, finishing it off cold. I quite like it. It’s a nice mix of sweet candy watermelon with a refreshing hibiscusy red fruit base. The watermelon does a nice job of balancing those tart hibiscus notes, while also not becoming too sweet. My only complaint is there’s a slight musty note at the end of the sip. Not sure from what, strawberry leaf maybe? I found it present in both the hot and cold preparations.

Would consider ordering a pouch of this if I were planning on making a Trader Nicks order. Their Sea Witch blend is still my favorite of their fruit tisanes, highly recommend that one.

An afternoon cuppa from yesterday, while at work. I find the description Trader Nick’s gives for the tea very accurate and I think my coworkers must as well because the aroma of my steeping tea did illicit a lot of observations about the smoked rum aroma. It was a very smooth brew, with upfront smoke followed by a rich, round vanilla, rum and spice profile. I think it’s perfect for its Pirates of The Caribbean inspiration, and all in all quite an enjoyable and well balanced mix of flavours.

Second freebie included with my subscription.

Was interested to try this one, because I love hojicha and it’s somewhat unusual to see it in flavored blends.

I do taste a bit of the hojicha here, and it adds a nice toasty bottom note. However, the primary flavor is the amaretto rooibos, and I don’t really love amaretto/marzipan sort of flavors in tea. To me it’s quite cloying because of how sweet and cherry candylike it is, and even though I actually like that flavor in desserts, I’m not a fan of it in tea.

So a bit disappointing, but obviously that’s down to my personal preferences. I do wish the hojicha had a stronger presence, as it’s mostly overshadowed by the strong flavoring.

Free sample from my subscription package!

I was excited to see this as one of my free samples, because I remember thinking it sounded good when I was perusing the new Star Wars blends on the website.

For me though, the flavoring is a bit too strong here, and it overpowers everything else, including the jasmine. It also doesn’t necessarily taste like citrus to me, more of a vague tart tropical note. I would probably guess passionfruit? I could maybe see a bit of raspberry in here, and there is a little hint of jasmine at the end of the sip. Mostly I taste a candylike tart fruitiness.

It’s a pleasant enough fruity tea, just didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

TTB
This tea smelled delicious, almond and vanilla. But the first steep was a bit meh tasting, the aromas of the dry leaf and the brewed cup just didn’t translate. So I steeped again and put it in a go cup hoping the aromas would sink back into the tea, and they did. Nutmeg and vanilla blended well and I really enjoyed the cup. Thanks to whoever put this in the box!

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From my June subscription. The other tea was one I’ve already tried and don’t like, so it went into the rehoming box he he.

This tea definitely wins for most adorable packaging. It’s (of course) Little Mermaid themed and the label has the scene from the end of the Under the Sea song, where all the fish turn and point at Ariel, but they’re pointing at the name of the tea! So cute, ha ha.

Tried it both hot and now cold brewed. It’s okay, a bit generic in my opinion. I really enjoyed the Sea Witch fruit tisane, but this one has more of a hibiscus flavor to it, with the fruits in the background. A bit of a tropical thing going on, but I also taste a bit of peach.

So not one I would order for myself, but just adore the packaging, and happy to have tried it. :)

This smelled really strongly of almond extract when I opened the bag. The marzipan-type flavor comes through pretty strongly in the tea and goes well with the rooibos base. I enjoyed this both warm and cold. It tastes really pleasantly spiced with a sweet almond and a tasty rooibos base. The resteep was worthwhile as well. There are cheaper places to get similar blends though.

Free sample from my June subscription.

Not a huge fan of this, it has a very syrupy red fruits flavor to it, and then to add vanilla on top of it is just too cloying for me. It definitely reminds me of some French-style “red fruits” teas. I feel like it’s reminding me of a specific tea, but I can’t place which one at the moment…

Anyway, not a fan but always appreciate free samples. :)

This is a kind of hit-or-miss blend for me, I mean I want to like it but I’m not sure I do… It’s a very bitter oolong, mixed with a light puerh, and an astringent green tea. It’s lightly peachy and floral but unless it’s cold brewed it’s not… hitting the spot.

Cold Brew!

This was fine as a cold brew but I think that the somewhat generic rose and berry combo will be a little bit forgettable in the long term. I wish either of those key flavours were a little stronger. Note both though, as that would be too much. I do appreciate how smooth everything was, though.

Steeped this one up over the weekend! It’s definitely not my favourite of the Trader Nick blends I’ve tried, but I think it’s a very solid and well balanced one. I do definitely taste the rose but, as indicated on the packaging, it’s offset by a more jammy black currant note. Both black currant and rose can be quite polarizing but I do really think they compliment on another and create this rich yet aromatic cup profile with a surprising amount of complexity to it. The body was great, and it was just really smoothing and easy sipping. Nothing magical, but nothing unpleasant either. I’d say that, if florals and currants don’t turn you off, it’s well worth a try – seems like it has the potential to be steeped with a lot of flexibility. Hot, iced, tea pop, with milk, with honey…

#SVTTB Round Two – Tea 12/???

There are a couple different blends from Trader Nick’s in the box this time around, but this was the only one I didn’t already own. Man Catchin’ Beignets is one of Trader Nick’s most popular blends so I definitely wanted to try this one since it’s also inspired by The Princess and The Frog, but by the villain of the movie.

Honestly it was just fine as a tea. Solid chocolate and roasted almond flavours with a hint of toffee and the more mineral and chestnut-like notes of the oolong which really compliments the almond and chocolate flavours. My main thing was mostly that I just don’t really love chocolate teas a whole lot personally, so I could appreciate that this was a well balanced rich chocolate blend while also acknowledging that I probably wouldn’t ever really find myself gravitating towards it over some of the other chocolate teas I own already.

And on that point, that was the other big thing for me. As nice as the tea was, I just felt like it was a combination I had tried already so, so many other times…

This tastes a lot like S&V’s blueberry cinnamon crumble. It may be the same blueberry flavoring, but this one doesn’t have the baked good flavors, and it’s also slightly starchy from the pumpkin. I’ve quite enjoyed this so far, though I would buy blueberry crumble instead, especially since it’s half the price.

The almond and orange and rooibos somehow mix perfectly in this tea – it’s quite delicious! I’m drinking it cold, and it’s really so refreshing and perfectly blended. The second time I had this, it was a lot more orangey than the first, which was still nice, but I did miss that awesome almond flavor. The cold resteep of this is almost as strong as the first. I’ve finished my 2 oz now, each steep different from the last, but all nice.

This is supposed to be tiramisu flavored rooibos, and I’ve had a lot of good coffee teas lately, so I was looking forward to this. I taste rooibos and alcohol-tasting chocolate flavoring. In the aftertaste, I detect a hint of coffee. The second time I had this, the alcohol flavor was a lot more present, and it was really too much for me. It smells so strongly of alcohol too. I’ve now had this four times, and I think I’ll have to pass along the rest of the bag. I just can’t get over the alcohol flavor.

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I’m not big on fruit tisanes, but I actually really enjoyed this one.

It tastes like cherry candy, but specifically like cherry Jolly Ranchers, one of the few cherry-flavored things I actually enjoy. It has a nice tartness to it, but not too much thanks to the lack of hibiscus. Perfect balance of sweet to tart IMO, with the coconut adding a subtle accent.

Tried it hot and cold brewed, and both were scumptious. Would consider buying more of this, shockingly LOL. Now I really want to order more from Trader Nicks, but I’m not doing very well at drinking tea at the moment, so it’ll have to wait heh… :P

Had this one again hoping that I’d get the love for it a little more if I could fully pay attention to the cup, but I just don’t feel the love here. It’s a fine tea, but the oolong is a little drying and coarse and there’s a borderline plastic-y side to the nuttier notes. Just doesn’t make me think of beignets, either…

Geek Steep S3E6 – Koroko’s Basketball

As y’all likely know by now, I got a Trader Nick’s order a while back. What you don’t know is that the thing that sparked the order was the fact we were doing a Disney episode for Geek Steep – it was the perfect excuse to to finally pull the trigger on placing an order with this company that had caught my attention.

This is the tea that I drank while recording this episode and as you may have noticed this wasn’t the Disney episode – that was the week prior. I actually placed my order well in advance in the hope that my Disney haul would arrive before we recorded and both Marika and I would have lots of teas based on our songs/movies to chose from. To no fault of Trader Nick’s, the order unfortunately arrived just days after we had recorded.

I still wanted to show case the company though, and if nothing else it made for a great start of the episode story. Since this is the blend that I’ve seen discussed the most from the company (it has some pretty die hard fans on IG), it’s the one that I picked out. At this point I’ve tried many teas from Trader Nick’s so I can confidently say that it’s not a personal favourite of mine. However, I do get the love for it. The blend is warm and cozy with a really lightly sweet vanilla note and a bit of a nutty toasty pastry flavour. Smooth, and easy drinking with just enough of a nod to the movie inspiration.

Free sample from my holiday order. I think I steeped this a little too long since it turned out somewhat bitter. I taste a bit of almond, but it’s mostly slightly bitter black tea. It’s desserty, but I wouldn’t want it again, even brewed properly. I just wanted more from it.

A bit sad to see another floral tea this month, after the cherry blossom one in April. Ah well, not their fault that I don’t like rose.

It’s honestly a bit bland? I do taste rose, but it’s much milder than the dry scent. Not really getting black currant at all though…? Maybe a little hint.

Not loving it, but mostly due to my personal preferences. Going into my rehoming box so someone else can hopefully enjoy the pretty stained glass-themed label art.

TeaTiff Traveling Tea Box | No. 7

This one smells incredible, like amaretto. I was so excited about it, but ultimately it fell flat for me. That’s not to say that I don’t like it, but the aroma was so promising that I’ll admit I was a little disappointed.