987 Tasting Notes
This came as a free sample with my Black Friday order from Teavivre, and it’s the perfect size to sip down over the next few days at work.
The dry leaf smells amazing: malty, sweet, fruity, like prunes and raisins. The brewed tea is much bolder than I expected, though. Perhaps I overleafed? However, it seems to take resteeping well, since the second steep was just as rich as the first.
Oh, and I’m drinking this at work using my new David’s Tea perfect mug with COLOUR-CHANGING CATS on it: https://www.instagram.com/p/BAM5X3axIY9/
Are you jealous yet? You should be. I’ve been hearing through the grapevine that it already sold out online, so I feel very happy that I bought this in-store, even if I made a vow to spend less on tea stuff this year.
Last night my hubby and I went into the David’s Tea at Scarborough Town Centre and milled around there for quite a bit. See, I really want to limit my tea purchases this year since I already have a fuckton of tea at home, but they just released their new lineup of teas yesterday, as well as their new teaware.
One of the new Perfect Mugs has CATS on it. Goddamn, I am weak, so I bought it.
And I bought a cat-shaped tea infuser.
And some Alpine Punch rooibos on discount.
And some Banana Nut Bread on discount.
And I got this tea for free as my Frequent Steeper reward.
So much for my discipline, eh? Not even a week into the new year, and I’ve already spent nearly $50.
Anyways, I had some Cardamom French Toast this morning. It’s amazing how there’s really this rich, eggy flavour to the dry leaf. There’s also a hint of something sour and creamy like cream cheese that I quite like. I rarely take my tea with milk and sugar, but I think it would work very well here.
By the way, here’s the new mug with colour-changing kitties! So cute! https://www.instagram.com/p/BAM5X3axIY9/
Nice cup!
I like this tea a lot. I’ve been craving it for several days now and I’ve got some here somewhere. It seems to have wandered off.
My excuse for spending way too much money at DT the other day is that it was all 40% off. The new stuff hadn’t come in yet.
None of the new teas have inspired me though I haven’t tried any yet. Did you like any of them?
Dawww so cute, love that!! I have a colour changing mug from them as well. Beware, they are stickers, so no dishwashers or super hot water. Or metal brillo pads on the outside. Hardy stickers, but mine is already scratched (someone put it into the dishwasher and a knife poked through from the bottom to second level, I’m just glad I caught it before the load ran!)
@Ness: I smelled the new teas, but haven’t tasted them. To be honest, they aren’t that interesting to me, though I may change my mind if I have a chance to taste them as teas-of-the-day within the store. I remember thinking the mango-turmeric one smelled really weird.
@Indigobloom: That’s why I’m sticking to drinking this at work, since there’s no dishwasher and I rarely reheat my tea in the microwave. I know that if I left it at home, it would end up in the dishwasher at some point and I don’t want to risk it.
Plus, the colour-changing decals act as a great signal that I need to finish drinking my tea before it cools down – I wish I had realized the benefit of them before.
@Ness, I picked up four of the new ones (somehow missed the Fennel one, though I’d have liked to try it) and will write notes for ‘em eventually. The Buchu Superfruit smelled REALLY good, imo. Mango Turmeric is the one I’ve got cold brewing right now.
yeah that is an excellent idea! I work from home mostly so I have no choice haha. Mine is holiday themed, candy canes… so I should probably retire it for the year soon. Maybe in a few weeks
Cute mug!
Thank you!
It just so happens that I passed by DT today and tried a sample of Mango Turmeric. I liked it, so I bought a bit to make at home and a few of the others in minimum quantity. The Buchu Superfruit did smell good, but I find DT fruit blends VERY tricky, some are divine and some are not even slightly. So, we’ll see. I look forward to what you make of it.
Many thanks to Lala for sending me a sample of this!
I can see why others like this, but this was far too malty and brisk a black for my taste. I used 1.5 tsp for 12 oz, and steeped in just-boiled water for 3 minutes, and it was surprisingly strong.
I’m sending the rest of this sample on to Roswell Strange since she expressed interest in trying it.
Thanks for sending this as a sample, Lala!
I took the entire sample that she sent me and made a pot to drink this morning. This is rich and malty, and I can see why people like this blend, but I prefer to have blacks that are a bit sweeter/fruitier. This is definitely a good breakfast tea, though.
Sipdown from last night!
I took the entire sample of this that I got for Christmas and made a pot to drink while watching some movies on Netflix. This wasn’t bad, but it was very heavy on the hibiscus, and smelled an awful lot like Forever Nuts. I like Forever Nuts, but since it’s not a seasonal blend, I have no reason to try and hold onto this tea.
Alpine Punch on the other hand? That shiz is delicious.
Sipdown!
Happy new year’s eve, all! I’m about to leave soon to spend it with my sister, who lives in Hamilton.
Speaking of which, I just bought a copy of the Broadway recording of “Hamilton” from iTunes. And. Oh. My. God. It is AMAZING. I’m going to have these lyrics in my head for days, and there is so much I’m learning from the annotated lyrics on Genius.com. Holy crap!
Backlog from last night:
I’m slowly reaching the end of this tea – I probably have 3 or 4 servings left. This is great for the evenings when you want something savoury rather than sweet.
However, the container is pretty bulky. I’ll be happy to regain the additional room when I’m done this.
Sipdown from this morning – I originally wrote about this tea here: http://booksandtea.ca/2015/12/toronto-tea-festival-tasting-set/
Another backlogged note from Christmas:
This was yet another tea in the set of samples my husband gave me for Christmas. I was surprised to find out that this was a green tea, because I normally associate cinnamon and orange with black tea blends.
Anyways, it wasn’t bad, but I swear to god that the sample is about 90% cinnamon chips, with barely any dry leaf in sight. I’m not complaining, since I like cinnamon, but I didn’t taste much orange or chili pepper.
KITTIES.