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This sample comes from VariaTEA.

I’m a little confused why Santa’s Milk and Cookies has maple leaf sprinkles in it, to be honest. Like – sprinkles is fine, but why maple leaf sprinkles? It’s not like the flavour is abundantly maple or anything. I guess Canada has been doing their publicity stunt thing about Santa being a Canadian Citizen/getting Canadian Citizenship but I highly doubt that was the thinking or logic.

Taste wise, this wasn’t bad, but it was’t good either. It actually tasted very familiar but I couldn’t place where from which bugged me just a little bit. There was a bit of cookie taste, but not really anything too impressive. Maybe some vanilla? I’ll try it with milk next time and see if that helps, I guess.

Sipdown (199/202)!

It took me a while, but I finally finished off the sample I received of this from VariaTEA. This cup I drank cold, and it was pretty good – definitely more chocolate than I’ve come to expect from this one. Overall, this tea was less than impressive but not exactly unpalatable either. Occasionally it tasted metallic, which was weird.

Sipdown (200/203)!

Goodbye icky green tea/mate ginger mess. You’re not going to be missed.

So… I wasn’t really drinking this one yesterday so much as I was eating it.

I’d just finished packing some up for Courtney, and I thought to myself “Self, chocolate would be lovely right now”.

“But self, we don’t have any chocolate in the house?”

“You’re right self, but we do have some very expensive ‘trail mix’ don’t we?”

“You’re absolutely right, self!”

Let’s just say that I only regret it a little bit…

Sipdown (201/204)!

So, the new Strawberry Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha looks really delicious, but I’m thinking that before even considering getting another pouch of Genmaicha I should really at least try the plain Marshmallow Treat that I already have. That would maybe be a smart plan, yes?

I chose to overleaf this cup and make it a sipdown rather than make two smaller cups. There was kind of an awkward amount of leaf left after my first cup…

This was pretty tasty though, with a bit more marshmallow aftertaste to accompany the chocolate in this cup. Thanks for the sample Lala!

Sipdown of sorts (202/205)!

The ‘of sorts’ is because the remaining cup or two is going to go to VariaTEA so she can get a taste of this one. Gotta spread the RiverTea love, right?

This cup was just delicious, sweet nougat/marzipan yum. I’m a little sad to be parting ways, and will definitely consider reacquainting myself with this one at a later time. I don’t need it in my cupboard to be happy though, so I’m embracing this sipdown.

Sipdown (203/206)!

So I guess I unknowingly saved the best Just Organic Tea sample for last! I’m not really a chai fan so I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this one, but it was really good and really pleasant.

I will start by saying that if you don’t like cloves then this probably isn’t going to be your cup of tea, because cloves were probably the dominating flavour. Personally, I love cloves so I was tickled pink that they were so prominent (Cloves and Fennel are what really sell a Chai for me). It definitely doesn’t hurt that the pumpkin was also nice and sweet and smooth and pretty darn present too. And just a touch of sweet maltiness.

Honestly, I like this better than DT’s highly revered Pumpkin Chai, and once I’m done what I have left of that one I can see myself opting for this instead.

Also, if you haven’t done so you should really check out Just Organic Tea’s Kickstarter Campaign, which will be drawing to a close in about a week. Maybe consider backing them, since they’re only about half way to their goal. Hey, you could even get some of their teas – which have all been quite impressive (especially this one and Oothu Black).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/justorganictea/just-organic-tea-the-very-best-tea-delivered

Sipdown (204/207)!

Not much left to say on this one that I haven’t already covered. I finished it quite quickly, which I didn’t expect to – but I do love my pear teas.

There’s a little bit going to VariaTEA, so I’m hoping she enjoys it.

Sipdown (205/208)!

Tre tried reading the name of this one and royally screwed it up several times. To be fair, the name is a little bit of a mouthfull. It was amusing to me, though.

Thanks Lala for the sample. It was enjoyable enough, and I think a good introduction to this company. This cup in particular was more cinnamon and less apple. I have plenty of cinnamon apple teas, and I’d likely pick them over this one – but it was really nice. And I loved that it was black with no bitterness or astringency.

Plus Fuji apples. I like Fuji apples.

Sipdown (206/209)!

I didn’t expect to like this one as much as I did, but on the whole I was really impressed just like I have been with practically all Just Organic Tea’s samples thus far. In fact, this may be my favourite so far.

I was careful steeping this up, and then I almost added milk without tasting it because often I do cave and add milk in with straight blacks, but I’m really happy I didn’t because this was outstanding on its own. I was actually reminded of Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black (which I’m currently having a hot and heavy love affair with) in some ways, and my first though was that this could be a really suitable replacement for that one if it were ever not available.

The tea was very smooth with no bitterness or astringency, and it had a very thick and full mouthfeel to it, which is always welcomed. I hate tea that seems thin. Taste wise, I picked up notes of baked bread as well as some lovely maltiness and sweetness that was maybe borderline fruity. I think I’ve narrowed down now that what I really love in a straight black is that malt or baked bread flavour, so this having both just sold it for me.

Very good.