343 Tasting Notes
Herbal Traveling Tea Box
I received the 2nd round of the Herbal Traveling tea box today which was a nice surprise as it’s been a long week!
Hmm, this is an odd one. I really didn’t taste pumpkin, though it was pleasant and creamy. I think this is my first try of an ESP Emporium tea and (at least) nothing is telling me to run far away from the company!
I intentionally overleafed and added sweetener and still no pumpkin to speak of.
Preparation
Attempt #2
2 tsp Adagio Blood Orange tisane
1 tsp Tealux Blood Orange Rooibos
1 tsp Davidstea Alpine Punch
This is significantly better than my last attempt (I think it’s the lack of the Tealux Rooibos Vanilla which, no offense to anyone who likes it, is seriously bad, but not quite as bad as the Adagio one – but both tend to be decent mixers). Anyway. I figured that I would start testing out different options. This was better than last nights, not quite creamsicle, but I think it’s partially due to the fact that this is blood orange and not the sweet fruit juice type orange you would taste in a creamsicle. Also, I’m thinking of trying Davidstea Birthday Cake instead of the Alpine Punch next time (though I have a nearly empty pouch of the latter so I thought I’d use it in a creative way).
I think the magic recipe is making sure I counteract the 1 part of the item I mostly loathe with enough other parts of things I like to cover it up! Tea science!
Preparation
I’m trying to get through some of my tealux rooibos blends (and I’ve noticed whatever rooibos they use isn’t my favorite) so I’ve been trying to come up with something palatable. This was supposed to be like an orange creamsicle but it really didn’t work. It wasn’t bad and I drank the full mug, but it wasn’t something I’d call delicious.
It was:
Tealux Blood Orange Rooibos 1 tsp
Tealux Rooibos Vanilla 1 tsp
Davidstea Alpine Punch 1/2 tsp (I thought maybe this would give some creaminess and it did, but the combo didn’t taste anything like an orange creamsicle).
Meh. Someone tell me never order 100 grams of these again, please.
This isn’t bad and I don’t think I’d ever drink it anything other than iced but it’s not my favorite. There are certainly strawberry lemonade-esque tisanes I enjoy more (like the tealux angel falls mist, a mixture of some Adagio tisanes or the Teavana one).
The only benefit this has that the others don’t is the addition of rooibos. Drinkable without sweetener, but not quite as pleasant as the others.
So I was bad and made a Davidstea order. Husband was not pleased, but the “perfect match”es from this past season were 40% off, how could I not?
I love Tiramisu and I get it at every Italian restaurant we frequent for dessert. This is pretty darned close. You get the coffee from the coffee pu-erh, you get a bit of creaminess (and in a coat your tongue kind of way – just like mascarpone!), I’m not getting cocoa powder per say, but there’s a slightly bitterness probably from the pu-erh that totally works.
I added a bit of sweetener to mine and all I can say is molto bene!
Sipdown!
(as predicted)
Got through the .4oz pouch fairly quickly. It’s good but I’m not sure it’s on my “to buy” list as some coconut oolongs are just so creamy and almost syrupy. This one is nice but it doesn’t have quite the same luxurious mouth-feel. So I dunno. Good, but not the best.
Sipdown!
I had snagged quite a bit of this from the first round of the “Caffeine-Free/Decaf Traveling Tea Box”. It’s a nice dessert rooibos, perfect after a long day of working. I add sweetener which makes it even more dessert like. To be honest, I go back and forth with what this tastes like… but the ultimate answer is good and that’s really all that matters. Would buy if it were available, but alas, it is another discontinued Teavana blend. Happy to have it while it lasted, though.
Not my favorite. It’s a roastier oolong, so it can tend to get bitter. Also, it doesn’t have the creamy texture that many oolongs do (especially the greener ones). I signficantly preferred Davidstea Long Life Oolong. Too bad I bought a 2oz pouch of this one. If only it were green! …. sigh
Maybe I’ll try mixing it with a greener oolong and see if that helps.
I actually really like this one. For an Adagio tea, it’s really quite nice. It’s a greener oolong so I almost automatically like it. Does well in the office. I have to add sweetener and it doesn’t quite have the syrupy texture of some ofthe other coconut oolongs, but it’s not bad by any means. If I needed to pick up some cconut oolong on “the cheap”, I certainly would consider this one. I only bought a sample so a sipdown should be coming shortly.
(This was generously sent by Nicole quite awhile ago)
Blah blah broken record, took oolongs to work… drink through them really fast. Yup, another sipdown due to drinking tea at work that works for work.
Anyway, I’m really tired. I worked a full day and then sat in traffic for almost 2 hours and then went to the symphony. It was great, but I almost fell asleep during the adagio bits.
Anyway, this is a great coconut tea, and I love that it’s a greener oolong. Glad I had the chance to try it! Would certainly have again if given the opportunity!
Hmmm…trying to decide if rooibos and pumpkin are similar enough in flavor that they just sort of overlap instead of standing out distinctly. On the other hand, it sounds like a logical combination.