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Another morning, another new (for me) tea. This one wasn’t originally on my to try list, but I’ve heard good things about it so I thought I’d give it a shot. I wasn’t sure that it was what I wanted this morning either… I wasn’t really in a sweet mood but everything else was just not right for today. Anyone else ever have those mornings that it doesn’t matter what’s available, you don’t want any of it but you want/need something? That’s been my morning, from breakfast to now. And it’s not just food either… sigh ah well

Dry this tea smells very sweet and filled with berry scents. The rosehips also standout and, combined with the safflower petals, give it a nice floral scent that mixes well with the fruity berry-ness of the tea. There’s a few darker notes from the black tea but nothing that really stands out to me at the moment.

The clear orange-brown liquor has a much deeper scent profile; the (previously almost overwhelming) sweetness has mellowed out and now blends nicely with the rest of the aromas, while the berry notes have become darker but still with that tart fruitiness to them. The floral notes from the rosehips and safflower have also evened out and now serve as a lovely base for the berries. I can also detect a bit of malt coming from the black tea which should prove interesting if it transfers through to the flavor profile.

Speaking of the flavor… I don’t know that I’ve ever had a berry tea that has had so much berry-ness to it without being overly artificial. There are some slight artificial notes to it but I don’t find them particularly off putting. The juniper berries complement the blueberries quite nicely and both stand out in the tea, while the rosehips and safflower serve as subtle highlights giving it a bit of a dynamic tone. I can catch hints of the acai powder every once and a while but not often and the darker malt notes from the black tea form a nice base for the rest of the flavors.

A very interesting tea… I’ll have to see how it differs from DT’s Blueberry Jam before deciding if I’d like it in my cupboard but for right now it’s a potential. And I could see it being good iced too.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about a new (to me) tea… But considering I went and got a ton (well only 21, so not a true ton!) of DT “samples” from my local store I’ll be posting a bit more frequently again :) Course the whole point of doing this was to get the perfect mug infuser for free so there’s a bonus for that too (more on that at a later time.)

So this morning I pulled 5 samples from my bag to take with me to work and first up is “Some Velvet Morning”. I wasn’t sure about this one since I’ve never had dandelion root or schizandra berries but the dry scent convinced me to give it a shot. Filled with bright, fresh citrus notes the aroma pulled me in. There was a certain sweetness to it as well that kept the citrus from being harsh and the couple of notes from the green tea helped to round out the scent profile. I also got a few darker notes that I’m guessing are from the dandelion root but I’m not 100% certain on that one.

The clear yellow-orange liquor wasn’t nearly as citrusy as the dry leaves were and the darker notes from (again I’m guessing) the dandelion root and the berries really start to come through. There’s also a few grassy notes mixed in there. Overall I find the scent a bit muddled at this stage; not as fresh, but still compelling.

The flavor… not bad. A bit on the astringent side, and a touch muddled but not bad. The lemongrass and orange work well together as a lovely high noted, fresh component and the berries and dandelion root fill in the dark notes nicely, but it’s missing some mid-range notes to make it well rounded and fully balanced. I also find the green tea to be a bit overwhelmed by the citrus, it’s really hard to pick out any distinct flavors from it. Sweetness wise it’s pretty good though; it could use just a touch to help even out the citrus but otherwise not bad. I’ll have to try this again at home with a touch of honey, that might also fill in some of those mid-range flavors too.

BTW has anyone seen Spring around recently?? If you do can you let it know that I’d like for it to come and visit me soon!

Couldn’t quite figure out what I wanted to drink today… Sweet? Tart? Dark? Spicy? Fruity? Nothing seemed quite right. In the end it came down to three teas and “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.” This one won. It’s a good tea, dark but with some nice sweet fig notes to break it up, I’ll be sad to see it gone.

In other news my partner leaves for a conference tomorrow… I’m on my own for 3 days, how much trouble do you think I can get into in that amount of time?!? ;) Unfortunately it’s supposed to snow all week so, probably not much :(

Backlogging… On the train into work yesterday morning I was standing near someone that had a cup of Santa’s Secret… Oh did that ever smell good, so I thought I knew what I was going to have. Then I got into work and ended up having this tea instead! They’re very similar but I find this one to be less sweet and darker than Santa’s Secret (go figure with the distinct chocolate hits present.) Now what am I going to have this morning… decisions, decisions…

So I wanted something comforting and warm and I’ve been craving chocolate for the past week so I pulled out some Cocoa Canela, brewed it up but it just wasn’t quite what I was looking for. Time to I decided to experiment! (don’t get me wrong it was still good but I really was looking for something richer and creamy, to be honest I should have just gone downstairs and gotten a real hot chocolate but oh well.)

I started off by adding some cream to the mix, not bad. It certainly added the creaminess that I was looking for but for whatever reason it tasted a bit odd so I added just a touch of sugar to blend things out and that helped. I’m still not sure about the roasted mate flavor with the cream but in the end this was really pretty close to actual hot chocolate… just with a bit of banana and cinnamon mixed in.

Backlog from yesterday.

I really couldn’t decide what I wanted to drink… I think I ended up opening and closing every single bag/jar of tea that I have with me at work before I found something that fit my mood.

This was a bit bitter from being oversteeped but I find that unless I over steep it (or add tons of leaf) I just don’t get the apple flavors that make this tea really live up to it’s name. That said once the apple is there it’s perfect. :D I’ve only got one more mug worth of this left though and then it’s time to try and track down a new spiced apple tea… suggestions anyone?

Didn’t enjoy this one as much as I usually do… not sure why. It was nice, rich and warm with that lovely peppermint freshness but there was a metallic undertone that really just threw things just a little bit off for me today. Oh well. I suppose if we had perfect cups of tea each time then there’d be nothing to distinguish tea with! :)

I’ve heard that some have this as a latte, I have a hard time imagining how that might taste… Anyone willing to try and describe how it changes things? (I realize that everyone has different tastes but I really can’t quite see how hot peppermint milk makes sense; granted I love peppermint ice cream so…)

I can’t say enough good things about this tea… I love it and I doubly love the fact that it’s caffeine free! Cinnamon and honey with creamy rooibos… it’s just so naturally rich and indulgent. It’s wonderful.

Oh hey… Look at that! It’s time to go home! Too bad it’s not Friday though! :)

Ever have one of those days where it both simultaneously drags and goes way too fast at the same time? That was my day. It doesn’t help that despite working all day I feel like I got nothing accomplished. sigh Ah well, this is why we have tea!

I actually wanted this tea yesterday but by the time I had a chance to actually make it I was an hr away from heading home and I don’t like feeling rushed when drinking tea… anytime I’ve got a time limit (real or self-imposed) it just detracts from the experience for me. So today it was… I do really enjoy this tea, the orange brightens up the whole cup but the spice is still nice and deep. Not to mention that it’s smells divine too. Today’s cup felt particularly rich to me… thick in a way that I hadn’t noticed before but was really nice to relax to.

Ok Winter… I’m good now you can change into Spring anytime! (Heh ya right… like the weather/seasons have ever listened to me!) -34C windchill walking to work today… I’m still chilled!

It’s definitely a Monday morning too, I really needed a pick-me-up and have been craving this for a bit now so I took the plunge. Lots of raspberry flavor today alongside the chocolate and roasted mate notes. I was also getting a few notes from the almond but they were almost a bit burnt… not sure where that came from. I must say though, this tea has grown on me… slowly. I never really liked it and now? Now it’s not half bad :)

In other news I think I’ve finally adapted to my new teaspoon… my previous one won’t fit into the jars that I’m now using at work so I snatched an actual teaspoon measuring spoon from home (Hi honey! There’s still two left in the drawer, and you haven’t even noticed this one missing yet! So no harm no foul right? wink Right?) It’s been a bit of an adjustment but I think I’ve got it now!