Trader Nicks Tea Company

I know this is technically inspired by Cinderella, but I was looking at all my pumpkin tea options today and I thought that this one just stood out from the others. Plus, I realized it was such a perfect pairing with my watch of It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

More than just the name, there’s something so whimsical, bright and positive feeling to this blend that made it feel perfectly balanced with this nostalgic childhood classic. While it doesn’t much taste like pumpkin at all, the blueberry note is sweet and jammy and just felt right as I was taken to this really simple, blissed out place while watching. Like, I could have picked a million different pumpkin teas to drink with this movie but something about them would have felt too intensely flavoured, or serious, or just… heavy? This was great. Really great.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CzE927Gulv0/?img_index=1 (8th Pic)

I own a lot of “Halloween teaware” so picking just ten pieces to use today was really tricky. However, when I realized I was watching this movie with this tea I thought this hand thrown and hand painted mug was perfect. It’s got this playful, cartoon-y sort of look to it and the colour palate is much more playful than a lot of mugs I own. So that was a bonus bit of pairing to what ended up being my favourite movie I watched today.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4OlQmODaUk

Blueberry and pumpkin, eh?

This was an automatic addition to my order. I mean, the idea of these two flavours paired together is just so freaking weird in a way that feels targeted to me specifically. However, flavours aside, I think it’s just such a fun and playful interpretation of the movie and characters within it. I mean, blueberry feels right for Cinderella and so does pumpkin. Until I saw this blend I had never thought of Cinderella as the “pumpkin spice princess” but now that’s all I’m gonna think about. It’s just so… so spot on!

The tea is a touch of a let down. I say ‘touch’ because it actually taste great, but I don’t get the pumpkin at all and that feels like a lot of build up of expectations for a hollow delivery. The sweet and jammy quality of the blueberry very nearly makes up for it though. I find blueberry tricky to work with on a rooibos base (unless it’s green) because the rooibos often brings out a tarry and medicinal quality to the fruit butt that’s not happening here. It’s just juicy and fresh feeling, and I like a lot!

(I am very partial to blueberry teas though)

Evening cuppa. Basically like a lemon ginger, but with much more emphasis on the lemon side and more of a sweetness to it than the classic lemon ginger. It should be a given that this is not exactly a classic interpretation though, what with the deep blue colour it steeps up and all.

Cold Brew!

This tea tasted so eerily familiar the entire time I was drinking it and I was just never able to properly place what other lemon tea it was making me think of – which definitely drives me a bit crazy. Anyway, it was pretty good. The butterfly pea flower does cause it to steep a blueish grey colour that’s fairly appropriate for Hades. A more brilliant blue would feel wrong, but this actually kind of looks like the skin colour of the Disney character…

The lemon is very complex in taste – but that’s because it’s coming from multiple different lemon-y sources. It works though! Not too sweet or pithy or tart but a little bit of all the above, too. Also natural yet just a touch decadent and creamy. The ginger was lighter than anticipated, but I liked how it clicked with this very extra seeming lemon note. It was very refreshing!

Sipped this one earlier in the week – maybe it was my subconcious telling me to drink some elderberry and echinacea before I started feeling properly sick? Who knows, though.

Trader Nick’s has a blend for practically every dwarf, which initially felt like an over representation of Snow White to me – I mean, how much can you really riff on with each dwarf? They’re barely fleshed out characters. However, upon closer glance this seems to be where Trader Nick’s has channeled a lot of their functional blends, which is clever! Sleepy is a blend for sleep, IIRC Grumpy was an anti-stress/relaxation oriented blend, and this one is more of an immunity/cold and flu tea.

I probably would have pased this one up under normal circumstances, but it was recommended by thereaderscup on IG so I added it into my order out of curiosity. It’s very tart and kind of syrupy in mouthfeel with strong and unsweet notes of elderberry, black currant, and hibiscus with hints of ginger and that funky sort of “feet like” undertone of echinacea. It’s borderline just a bit gross because of the echinacea but the other flavours are strong and do a decent enough job covering the taste. Hot, it could use a biiitttt of sweetener IMO (honey would probably be great) but the flavour is punchy and tart enough that it would probably be really refreshing iced.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CpNvrY-u594/ (2nd pic – first is a the haul)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvpyaUcv4Iw

I got in a sample order from Trader Nick’s this afternoon; I’ve seen them pop up more than a handful of times on instagram from various tea friends and I was really fascinated by their Disney themeing – plus many of the blends sounded quite delicious too!

This was including as a free sample within that order and, as it’s something I actually heavily debated ordering myself, it’s a pretty perfect choice! At first the idea of a red hot cinnamon candy tea seemed really strange and out of place for a character like Tinkerbell – especially in more modern depictions of her as more friendly and helpful. I’m looking at you, animated Tinkerbell movie and doll franchise! But, as a reflection of her temperamental spirit within the original animated movie, it’s actually pretty spot on and a refreshing interpretation!

The tea itself is fine. It definitely has that red hot style of cinnamon flavouring (aided by the candies in the blend) but it’s not actually as intense and sickly sweet as I expected it to be. The black tea is pretty full bodied and has a touch of astringency to it, though the flavour is relatively muted aside from some maltiness – I feel like it helps dilute the potency of the cinnamon some. What I do wish is that the chili was more prominent. I didn’t really taste it, but a couple steeps I just slightly felt it.

What’s possibly more interesting is that there’s a sort of doughy baked-good quality to the finish, so what’s happening as I drink this (especially as it cools) is that it feels like a cross between a cinnamon bun/pastry and cinnamon candies – and I sort of like this happy middleground!

Would I buy this again? Likely not, it’s not a profile I feel like I’m missing in my stash or that I’m heavily drawn to typically – but it’s nice and I would definitely recommend it to people looking for a less intense cinnamon tea. Plus I’m very happy I tried it.

This tastes like you added a bit of ginger and butterfly pea flowers to Glazed Lemon Loaf by Tazo. It has that lemon cream cakiness with a little bite. The blue color is perfect for Hades too! It was super yummy, I definitely recommend it, the pea flowers don’t leave an after taste with this one it’s all lemon cake with a touch of ginger icing.

A flu season staple! This blend is not only immunity boosting but super yummy, it tastes like a berry-infused, tart, red wine. It’s great hot and cold but I prefer it cold brewed for early morning convenience. I got it just before the holidays and I’m already almost done.

Strange VariaTEA TTB: Tea 30

Thank you thereaderscup for adding this to the tea box. It was fun to try but alas my hatred of puerh struck again!

So sad to finish the last cup worth, I think I may need to order more soon

A delightful rosey- currant blend. The florals are a bit stronger than the current but it is the star of the show so it’s expected. One of my favorites from Trader Nicks.

Strange VariaTEA TTB: Tea 28

Thank you thereadersteacup for adding the fandom teas to the box. They’ve been a lot of fun to try and this made for a fun eggnog latte while I worked. That said though, this reminded me of DAVIDsTEA’s Pumpkin Chai except the cinnamon in it is like red hots candies. I thought that was distracting and took away from this a bit for me.

Very Carmel-y and sweet but not too overly sweet. It has the perfect bit of anise to give it a light pizelle flavor. Love love love it!

Strange VariaTEA TTB: Tea 27

thereadersteacup on here and on Steepster had the box before me and told me about Trader Nicks and their Disney flavoured teas. When I said I thought that was so fun, she was so sweet and added a bunch for me to try. Same with Brutaliteas. I was so excited when the box arrived but then I was sick and then I pulled out a tea from the box and it had mealmoths in it. I was so grossed out that the box got quarantined to the garage and moth traps got set up. So far it hasn’t seemed like the moths spread beyond that one tea but it’s taking me a while to feel comfortable with the box again.

However, I wanted to try this tea so I thoroughly inspected it, confirmed it was moth free and made it. At first it seemed like it was just heavily nutty flavour but I kept drinking and the flavour balanced out to a nice and sweet baked good flavour profile. I was happy.

Thank you thereadersteacup!

I really loved this one, it’s not overly spicy like I thought it would be. It’s really got that ooey gooey chocolate flavor with a hint of gingerbread-like cookies.

A really nice Earl Grey with a fruity twist. I recently figured out that I CAN have passion fruit flavoring but not the fruit.. I don’t know how. So… I was super excited to finally try this blend and it does not disappoint!

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Last Trader Nicks sample from Gabby! Thanks Gabby, for helping me try a company I was curious about without having to buy full sizes! :)

This is fairly similar to the Ghoulish Delight I had earlier – both have puerh and black tea with chocolate. But this has a stronger black tea flavor because instead of rooibos, it has lapsang. There’s not a ton of it, the smoky taste is very subtle and more of an accent flavor. This doesn’t have chocolate flavoring, but it does have bourbon flavor, and the booziness is reminding me of the chocolate flavoring anyway ha ha.

Overall it tastes earthy, woody, slightly tannic with a boozy chocolaty note and a touch of smoke. I like everything but the bourbon flavor I think, it’s giving it a somewhat artificial taste IMO. So I probably wouldn’t order it because of that, but I like the idea and it was fun to try!

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Another tea from Gabby (as was the last one, I forgot to mention)!

Now, I’m not a chocolate tea lover. I’m not a chocolate flavoring lover in general, it reminds me of cheap chocolate coins or something and it just tastes weird. But this is quite good for a chocolate tea! The chocolate flavoring is a bit boozy-tasting, as it often is to my palate, and it has a Tootsie Roll edge to it. But I can also taste a bit of caramel and almond, which is a nice complement. I also like the mix of black tea and puerh here (I can’t taste the rooibos), as it gives a smooth, rich yet not overly earthy base.

A nice tea, just not one I would order due to my personal preferences. But I will recommend for people who do like chocolate-flavored teas! And it makes total sense for Halloween as it’s sort of like a candy bar tea.

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This tea has the best name, ha ha… And I’ve been wanting to try Traders Nicks since seeing them on Instagram, I watch a lot of animated movies and their teas are all Disney-themed. This one is from the Princess and the Frog, of course!

Sadly, it’s underwhelming for me. Even using a lot of leaf, it lacks flavor IMO. The oolong base is fine, very smooth with some woody notes. Not a lot going on otherwise, but it’s not bad. The flavoring… I don’t think I would be able to tell you what it’s supposed to be if I didn’t know. Caramel maybe? But it’s sort of generic “desserty” and ends up just tasting like flavoring to me without having a specific flavor. Maybe a touch of butterscotch or buttery something? I was also excited to see salt in the ingredients here, but I don’t taste it at all… Looking at the description, it says they started with a base of caramel oolong, so I guess that makes sense. Definitely not getting nearly enough caramel though.

Anyway, sad panda that this tea isn’t for me. Buuuuut, happy panda that I got to try a sample from Gabby so I didn’t end up buying a bag of it later! Yay tea friends! :P