New Tasting Notes

Lovely. A perfect way to wind down the evening. A nice herbal latte and the new season of Rising of the Shield Hero.

The dry aroma is intense and pleasant. Soft nose sips. Too much of a whiff will lead you straight to a tissue. Strong in all the ingredients.

Add the powder first. I used about 3/4 tsp of powder. Then hot water. About 4-5 oz. Mix. Then milk of choice. Mix. Enjoy. Honey is also a welcome addition to the party.

This is a nice and spicy blend. It will clear your sinuses. Smooth with a slight but pleasant afterbite.

This is a new one for me and considering how much I love Manoomin Maple, this one did not disappoint. While I definitely will always love Manoomin Maple more, this one was the soo warm and cozy while we’re watching TV.

So, Mom and I decided to move our initially much later trip to Montreal up a few weeks because we kind of needed to escape the craziness of life. So… we also found out that there was a DAVIDsTEA close to where we are staying so… we had to grab a few things! Mom ended up getting a bunch of Nordic mugs that were marked down to 10 CAD$ to give as holiday gifts this year. I however… went a little crazy with some teas. I’ve added them to my cupboard but I got:

- 250g Cotton Candy (one of my favs)
- 250g Cactus Rose (New to me but.. convinced I’ll like it)
- 250g Birthday Cake (New to me)
- 1 tin of Manoomin Maple (gonna probably get more…)
- 1 tin of Manoomin Apple Pie
- 100g Simply Maple Breakfast
- 100g New York, New York
- 2 Apres Ski sachet packs
- Nordic Mug- Manoomin

Any who… This blend is sooo good! I brought a mini kettle up with me so while we’re relaxing a bit after dinner we’re also trying teas! I like that its not too sweet and the rooibos ties it together really nice… just enough to taste it!

Another Chicago Tea Festival tea that I have yet to open. They ran out of this one (they were sampling) but said they’d ship for free. Hopefully, that didn’t cost them too much money.

My excitement in trying this tea has quickly diminished, knowing that they have added rhubarb leaves. Technically, you aren’t supposed to consume it in high amounts. Apparently, you need to consume around 11 pounds of rhubarb leaves to reach a fatal dose. But otherwise, it can cause other issues like kidney stones.

Not going to lie… I am apprehensive and I don’t think I can open this one at the moment till they reply to my email.

I taste some pepperiness from the base. On top of that, I taste a hint of spice from the anise. It’s a pleasant combination, though not super special.

TTB 2025
Cinnamon and astringent but still good for a morning wake-up. Glad I got to try, thanks for adding it to the box.

TTB 2025
The dry leaf is gorgeous, and I made this an iced tea. I tried a few sips hot, and mostly got hibiscus. Cold, the sweetness emerges and rose is the dominant note. Not my cup of tea but I’m glad I got to try! Thanks for adding it to the box.

TTB 2025
There’s a lot going on here, don’t taste the chocolate or orange, but the second steep was cinnamon and a lot less muddled. Thanks for adding it to the box.

Tastes like a mix of lemon meringue pie (plus lemongrass and mild earthy ginger) with that Yakult probiotic flavor.

Interesting. Novel.

A nice, classic chai. The CTC base is very malty and smooth, and the cardamom is the strongest spice here, followed by the ginger. I do taste a touch of clove and cinnamon as well. The spices taste fresh and aromatic.

I prepared mine plain and added a drizzle of meadowfoam honey, but I think this would be a good classic option to keep on hand for lattes and stovetop chai as well.

Sipdown! (4 | 107)

Sipped through another bag of this, and it’s still just delightful. Perfectly balanced between sweet and tangy, and oh-so-refreshing for summer. To me, the predominant flavor is the orange and lemongrass, but I can taste tart strawberry as well.

So tempted to go ahead and place another order, but I want to make myself drink through some of my pound bag of Watermelon Cooler from Adagio first… XD

2025 sipdown no. 33

I while ago I ran out of matcha from Teavivre and picked this up as a replacement. While this is a good matcha, I personally found the vegetal flavour a bit too pronounced. On the positive side: it’s smooth with minimal bitterness and decently creamy. It works in a pinch (and we easily finished off 100g), but I know there are matches out there I’d enjoy more.

Finishing this as a cold matcha latte with homemade lavender syrup and oat milk.

Sipdown! (3 | 106)

Finished off the last of these fairytale tins from Adagio. It was very rainy here at the end of last week and over the weekend, so I was in an autumnal mood. This was perfect for that, as it’s basically a cinnamon candy honeybush with maybe a hint of clove. I think it’s essentially the same as their pumpkin spice honeybush, but with different additions.

Pleasant, but a bit weak and not something I would reorder.

The story of this tea is what led me to buy it. The flavor/aroma profile is also very unique. You can check out more on that here: https://teatiff.com/2025/07/08/volition-tea/

Dry aroma: Nothing. More on my thoughts about this below.
Dry Appearance: Trichomes all over. Silvery buds, a mix of dark green and olive green.
Wet Leaf: Mouth-watering. Greens, sweet melon, and a note of freshness that makes you float away.
Flavor: Honeydew, Vegetal. Bamboo shoots. A bit of pine and birch, Minnesota’s varieties anyway.
Mouthfeel: Soft. Like a silk comforter.

On the dry leaf: There is no odor-absorbing packet but there is biodegradable packing peanuts to keep the leaf from moving around. While I understand the reasoning behind it, I would do a few things differently. One being that the peanuts shouldn’t be directly touching the tea. While they are technically edible, they are not made in food-safe areas (unless that has changed?) I also wonder if they absorb aroma like desiccant packs do? According to what I read, some do. A nice double use to keep the tea from being contaminated by other aromas.

This sometimes ends up a little thin. I overleafed it the most recent time, and then it was quite tart and slightly funky. It’s just not for me. It’s best cold with a lot of sweetener. Then it tastes decent, but I’d rather drink a different fruity tea.

Sipdown!

My 1st one since getting back into tea as a special interest 2 months ago. Since then I’ve amassed 5 months worth of tea, assuming I only have one session a day.

Haha the way I deep dive..

Anyway this chamomile is often a fine line between weak and tasting oversteeped but when you get it just right, it is lovely.

Shall be trying more chamomile from different brands now though.

TTB 2025
This is tart strawberry with a little earthiness underneath. It’s nice and sweet without stevia, but the second brew didn’t have as much strawberry flavor. Glad I got to the bottom of this mystery, thanks for add8ng it to the box!

Got 75 g of this tea with my latest WFT order as I liked it so much last year! This year’s batch is similarly amazing, but maybe slightly less so. I’d give it a 98 this time around. Still fantastic, but maybe not as much pizzaz as last year. So glad I got a lot though!

Harvest: Spring, 2025
Cultivar: Qing Xin
Location: Bi Lu Xi, Renai Township, Li Shan, Taiwan
Elevation: 2300 m

Sipdown! (Mar 2023 version)

Good as always. Not quite as top as plain marshmallow treat, but it’s pretty tasty.

Sipdown!

Not the biggest fan of the particular flavour imparted by cacao nibs, so not too sad of a sipdown! Otherwise a decent tea with a good base, though.