16827 Tasting Notes
I just downed a gigantic plate of tofu nuggets like nobodies business whilst drinking this and Prairie Berry. It seems like a totally strange combination of flavours, but somehow it really worked? I guess sweet and savoury pair more often than one would think.
Anyway, I picked this out because I thought the maple in it would fit will with the maple in Prairie Berry and, maybe, it’d give the impression of Saskatoon Berry syrup on pancakes when drunk simultaneously. Also, they steeped up at about the same temperature so that worked out pretty well.
1 1/2 tsp. of leaf, just under boiling water for about three minutes.
Taste wise, I’m especially getting the pancakes today with flickering notes of maple. Not a ton of butter in this cup, but that’s ok – I think that’s my least favourite part of this blend anyway. And guess what, it totally is like drinking the tea equivalent of Pancakes with Saskatoon Berry syrup.
Tasty!
Well, I just got back from the dentist and let me tell you there’s quite a lot to be done. Right now everything is going through my Dad’s insurance which kind of concerns me – we don’t have the best relationship and he goes through mood swings of “Let me be there for you however I can, whether that’s financially or otherwise!” (like right now), and “This isn’t my responsability at all – I don’t care what happens at all”. Getting everything done is going to take a while, so heavy chance of some mood swings coming my way…
For example, when I called him to summarize what the dentist said he blew up at me for letting things get this bad (I haven’t been to the dentist in probably three years). But, it’s not like I’m 30 or 40 and chose not to go: I’m 18 and this is my first year living on my own – getting check ups during those three years should have been his or my mother’s responsibility, in my opinion.
But here’s the total for things they want to do/pointed out to me:
- Remove all four wisdom teeth
- About six cavities ranging in severity
- Two = borderline in need of root canal (First step is temp. fillings)
- Prescribed two different pain medications in the meantime
That sounds like an awfully big bill…
But anyway, since they didn’t do any actual work today it looks like I get to enjoy some tea and food today! All the Saskatoon Berry excitement from last night gave me some crazy cravings for that delightful berry, so I’m starting off the tea drinking tonight with some yummy Saskatoon Berry tea to ease some of my dentistry concerns!
1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in 8 oz. of just under boiling water, steeped for four minutes. Dry, this is super Saskatoon Berry scented with a light maple syrup presence. Steeped up, the taste is sweet Saskatoon Berry puree with maple syrup and relatively strong notes of cranberries. It’s SO FREAKING GOOD.
I sort of get why it was discontinued though – Saskatoon Berries are definitely a very foreign fruit to some people (as evidenced by last night’s conversation) and also, apparently, are a bit of an acquired taste depending on your exposure to them. I grew up with them and, admittedly, it took me way too long to realize they were as well known as, say, a Strawberry.
Oh god. It is good you got in there when you did and now have pain meds to deal with the pain. I had a tooth cracked open for months and was in immense pain and then they fixed the tooth only for me to be in even more pain for a while. When I finally went back it turned out I had nerve damage from the tooth cracking and when they fixed the tooth they just ended up compressing the nerve so I ended up needing a root canal. So I definitely get the pain you are in with teeth that are at the point of needing root canals. Hopefully you are able to get everything fixed before your Dad has a mood swing.
I think you’re doing the right thing in taking care of your mouth. A lot of people don’t realize how many things can stem from not doing so. Don’t worry about your dad though, water off the back ;)
Once you get your teeth back into shape, it will feel so much better. I know my bf didn’t do anything for quite some time and once I made go to my dentist, he started to feel much better about the whole thing!!!
I love Saskatoon berries, I think it’s a Canadian thing :)
saskatoon berries rock.
oh poor you with the teeth! i would advise considering being fully out for the wisdom teeth: i was awake. really, better to be asleep. but that’s just an unsolicited opinion. maybethey can do it all at once while you’re out?
JustJames – I totally agree. general anesthesia for the win!!! I woke up not knowing what happened for the hour of my treatment. And then proceeded to cry because apparently waking up from it can make you feel that way even if you aren’t sad or in pain.
I am afraid of the dentist. I haven’t gone in years also. I’m considering one nearby that offers free nitro for office visits.
Oh, Saskatoon Berry pancake syrup! My favourite.
Best of luck with the dentist. When you get your wisdom teeth out, make sure there is someone to take you home. I had to convince a friend she couldn’t fly, and no, we weren’t going to drift home on the wind or take a bus, I ordered a cab. ;)
Good lord. I went 10+ years between dentist visits until Husband forced me to go last year. I kept saying that I would go when something was hurting and nothing did so I didn’t go. Then Husband made the appointment for me, so I had to go. I was SO scared I nearly cried while I was there, but the dentist was really sweet and kept explaining to me what she was going to do before she did it and reminded me constantly to just signal her by lifting my arm if I needed a break or felt ill or started panicking or whatever, and she took some time at first to talk to me about why I thought it was frightening. Of course it didn’t help the fear that I had imagined all sorts of things being wrong and nearly started coming to terms with needing false teeth at age 34 before going, but in the end there was one cavity, which she fixed right away, and two smaller ones which she thought I could probably stop myself by thorough flossing. Now that we’ve moved to another town, I’ve told Husband that I think we should stay with this dentist. It’s close enough to not be super inconvenient. I know her now, and I can’t face starting over with an unknown quantity again.
Oh… Oh!
This steeped up brilliantly tonight! Very decadent with sweet apple notes, buttery, glazed pastry notes, and soft notes of pistachio. I bet some milk would have enhanced the creaminess, but this was also perfectly fine without.
Preparation
You know, the problem with drinking tons of tea is that quite often you really have to pee at very inopportune times. For example, I’m nearly done watching The 10th Kingdom and currently I’m at a very dramatic part – but no, apparently it’s time to use the washroom instead.
Also, I really should have bought more of this because it’s become a staple tea for me. So sweet, and so good. After reading “VariaTEA’s” tasting note I just had to make myself a mug of it. Mmmmmm!
I’m gonna be out really soon :(
Preparation
I hear you about the peeing…I’ve been getting up at ungodly hours in the middle of the night running to the washroom! Kinda affecting my sleep :P But oh well, tea is worth it right?
I think I might hit you up for some of this…once you replenish, though! :)
Tweed and Hickory has Some of their teas at good prices. I’ve been meaning to place an order. Love this one!!
It gets worse with middle age—learn to love it ;) This was the first tea I ever loved enough to buy a whole pound of. Toward the end of the pound it was starting to lose its zing but you have made me crave it again.
Thank you Isaila for my sample of this!
For preparation, I steeped up 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in 8 oz. of boiling water for four minutes. Although now I’m wondering if that wasn’t enough leaf or enough time but I’m not getting a ton out of this. Boo…
What I do get, is a fairly creamy black tea with light (emphasis on the “light”) notes of chocolate and a whole lot of cinnamon. Odd – I didn’t think there was cinnamon in this blend? When it was really hot, I got some coconut notes but now that’s it’s cooled down a lot I’m not getting any of those either. And sadly, I certainly don’t get any anise which is what I was really looking forward to. It also has a sort of oily mouthfeel.
Also, now that the mug is almost done my tongue sorta feels funny? Like – very numb…
Oh well – thank you Isaila for the generous sample! I have a couple more cups worth left to see if I can produce a better cup, but right now I’m thinking this one just isn’t for me at all which is ok because at least I didn’t have to spend any money to find that out.
This was all licorice to me with a faint taste of chocolate. Definitely not for me, though I did think you would have liked it.
Quite honestly I didn’t mind it, but I don’t mind licorice. My dad on the other hand is a licorice fiend and loved it.
A friend gave me a whole lot of this for my birthday, and I don’t really like anise and some of the other ingredients at all, so I didn’t have much… It’s vaguely alarming to me that your tongue is going numb… But I hope that you eventually get a better cup from it!
I probably scored it lower than was fair – it actually didn’t taste bad and had it been branded differently (like, cinnamon hot chocolate – maybe?) I’m sure it would have left a better impression. I think I was just disappointed about the lack of anise, which I really love the taste of.
Haha of course. I think you definitely liked it better than I did anyway :)
Fuck yes!
Just had an over the phone interview with a Paint Warehouse, and I totally freaking nailed it! Although, now that means that I have to do an in person interview – but I think I’ll do a good job on that, too. Fingers crossed. If I did get it, I’d be doing 30-40 hours a week at above minimum wage – so HOORAY FOR THAT! That would mean more tea money sooner than later!
Although, downside is that it’s half retail and half labour – and I’ve never had a labour heavy job, although I did have a few labour intensive days at Calendar Club when we were doing merchandising/store set up and then for the take down.
Wish me luck, regardless!
Anyway, to the tea! Recently I’ve been feeling a little love/hate with this blend. When it’s right, it’s so right – like a refreshing spearmint sprinkled Creamsicle. But when it’s wrong…
It just sits with you so uncomfortably and tastes like “ew”. Just, sour and funky.
This cup (2 1/2 tsp. of leaf in 8 oz. of boiling water, steeped for five minutes) didn’t get a whole lot of the mint, despite my vigorously shaking the tin. That sort of makes it feel like this cup is missing something. Also, it’s rather tart/sour today, for whatever reason, and relatively Gooseberry heavy. Despite that – it’s still pretty agreeable and not the worst cup I’ve made.
Quite contently sipping away at it :)
WOOHOO! Congrats and I hope you get the job!
Good luck! Fingers crossed!
Yeah yeah!
You are full of good news today between this and your dentist appoint! Congrats! I shall keep my fingers crossed that everything goes well on both fronts.
As for the tea, I actually really liked this at first and then just didn’t. I cold brewed it to use up the rest of the leaf and actually preferred it that way.
I haven’t had it cold brewed in a while, but it’s in my “que” to try that way. I have like 10 I want to eventually cold brew – most of them whites.
I am iffy about cold brewing whites because they can get bitter I find. Unless they are Ombrelle de Papier. That is a special white.
Congrats!
Fingers crossed! :D
So, about a month (maybe more like two months) ago I went on a “I have no lemon tea options in my cupboard, so lets buy ALL the lemon teas” kick and I ended up getting like six or seven new lemon based teas – though this one was actually picked out for me during a DAVIDsTEA trip with a non-tea drinking friend who thought it smelled really nice.
I’m just now getting around to trying the sample amount I picked out and I have to say it does smell pretty lovely: like lemon drops with maybe a little orange and vanilla?
I steeped up 1 1/2 tsp. of it in 8 oz. of boiling water for four minutes and the smell is a 50/50 mix. of smooth black base and lemon rind. Taste wise, there’s definitely no vanilla here. Mostly, I taste the same 50/50 black base and lemon rind/peel – but that’s no so bad. I’m mostly just thankful that it doesn’t taste like Pledge and isn’t a cup of ungodly tartness.
I bet this would be a good sick tea…
It’s too bad there isn’t any vanilla in the taste-that would be perfect!
Hahah. I love how we all go through periods like that with certain flavours. I did that with pumpkin teas!
Oh yeah, I’d love a creamy lemon vanilla tea, kind of like H&S’s Wedding tea, but with a black base.
I don’t even know why it was with lemon tea, because I’m actually usually not a fan of lemon flavoured things. I can go months without even the slightest craving for something lemon, and then when I do want it, I want it baaaadddd. Now I have at least one lemon tea in every tea type except Pu’Erh, and maybe green?
I can send you the last of Lemon Tart if you like, then you can add a lemon green to your collection :P
I certainly don’t need more lemon tea – but I’ll keep it in mind for our next inevitable swap ;) Perhaps it’d cold brew well.
It didn’t :( However, I have a green called Strawberry Field which cold brewed pretty nicely. It was like a pleasant strawberry/papaya juice.
Though that won’t fulfill your lemon green criteria
Oh hey. Maybe I’ll mix this with the vanilla tea I have and cold brew it!
Hey, would you look at that – I’m over 100 followers now!
Anyway, I’m totally indulging my love of flavoured blacks today! There are at least three more I’m hoping to get in by the end of the day, some new and some old. This is one of the ones I’ve tried before – but since I was in a chocolate mood I grabbed this one over some of my other chocolate/some other flavour like mint or fruit mixes.
Today I added milk after recalling a few reviews that said it was tasty that way. With the milk, this steeped up to be a very smooth chocolate tea today, akin to a semi watered down cup of hot chocolate. Even though I’m not explicitly tasting the dates in this cup, I’m sure they’re part of what’s adding to the cookie/fudge feeling I’m getting. I also taste a bit more vanilla than usual, perhaps the milk is bringing it out.
It’s a “lick up every last drop” kind of cup.
Preparation
Ugh I want to drink tea too :( I made a glass this morning and then had to run out to class and leave it sitting on the counter. Soon…soon me and my beloved tea will reconnect and then I have a whole weekend (Yay for no Friday classes!) to enjoy it :)
Wow…sorry for that whininess…I sweat that isn’t why I wanted to post. I wanted to say CONGRATS ON OVER 100 FOLLOWERS!!! Exciting stuff :)
Woohoo!
Also I had this from VariaTEA but didn’t log it bc Steepster was throwing a tantrum. I wish I could have gotten more flavour from it, but with your review in mind I’ll blame that on my cold (as I should) and try it again.
I found it to taste very similar to the fugdgey oreo cookie but only the cookie part. I didn’t get any of the oreo center.
*fudgey
Congrats on over 100 followers! That’s a fun milestone :)
I actually hate Oreos, which is why it took so long for me to cave in and try this. What finally made me cave in was my favourite Tea Desire Sales Associate saying that the date taste was really strong, and I like dates so I finally got it ;P I don’t taste Oreos (thankfully) but I do often get Pastry/Date taste, and it has a nice fudgey chocolate – so works for me ^^
Does anyone remember the TV Mini Series The 10th Kingdom? I remember first watching the DVD set when I was like 12, maybe? I decided yesterday that in between job hunting I’m going to rewatch the whole thing, and I’ve just absolutely fallen in love with it, again! I had the biggest crush on Wolf my first time watching it, and I have to admit I still find him pretty attractive this time around, lol. Although, I totally get more of the innuendo/adult humor now…
Anyway, this was breakfast tea #2! For whatever reason I’ve developed a minor “quirk” if you will where I’ll only ever reach for an Earl Grey/Bergamot heavy tea during the earliest part of my day. I’m not sure why, but I seem to only crave that flavour as a “breakfast” sort of tea.
I actually have two samples of this, one purchased from Shadowfall and one given to me from MissB. This particular cup comes from Shadowfall’s sample. My parameters were 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in 8 oz. of boiling water, steeped for about 6 minutes (it may have been a little less than that). As far as the dry smell goes, I just smell a sweet Earl Grey, and steeped up it smells like a very light on the Bergamot Earl.
Taste wise, I was right about the Bergamot being pretty light. Like, it’s there and if you were just picking up a mug of this without knowing what it was, you would totally be able to taste and identify the Bergamot – it’s not that light. It’s not just too heavy or bold. Personally, I kinda like that. I also really get a sense of the vanilla in the mix. There is an additional fruitiness to the tea, but if I wasn’t reading “Blackberry” from the ingredients list then I would have no idea that’s what it was. I think many people have encountered that.
So overall, it’s a really nice light Earl Grey but I don’t get Blackberry notes from it. That said, I’m going to quite happily finish off my sample(s) and if I had an easy way (curse Adagio’s outrageous shipping prices to Canada) to get more, I think I would over some of the other EGs I have – partially because of the taste and partially because of the namesake ;)
I tend to be the same way with Earl Grey. Start with it and move to lighter stuff from there. Which is interesting because it’s exactly the opposite of how I’ve been taught to taste wines, for example. There, you typically drink the lightest first and move on to heavier stuff.
I think you are my soul mate. I adored The Tenth Kingdom (I think I was 13 at the time). I have it on VHS, also I have the book and it on my computer as well because I too had the idea to re-watch it recently. I had quite the crush on Wolf and waited desperately for them to make another. The rumour ‘round the internet is that they couldn’t afford to pay the same cast for Part Two so they scrapped it.
The 10th Kingdom was such a great mini series ! I think all the girls who watched it were a bit in love with Wolf… me included ! Now you’re making me want to watch it again. And soon ! :)
I just finished the part with the Peeps and the magic well, and is it wrong that I both found Wolf’s whimpering for Virginia to believe he was innocent pathetic and also very hot? D:
How I long to linger/On your sweetheart’s finger!
Ughhh – I hate the singing pearl ring! So annoying D:
10th kingdom represent! I had the VHS, the soundtrack and the book (I think they came in a box set?). I loved it so much. I still refer to “eighty-onest street” on occasion!
Ha, it’s so much longer than I remember it being. I feel like I may need to take a break soon because I’ve been going non-stop since getting up, but I just ended on a cliff hanger! D:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czDc-qWScr4 That’s where I am right now! The opening/closing song is so stuck in my head and I think I’m pissing my roommate off because I keep belting it out as loud as I can each time it comes on. I’m so happy people knew what I was talking about, though!
I remember marathon-ing it at a slumber party with some amazing friends in high school. We started at 11:30 at night and watched straight through. nostalgic sigh It actually came up relatively recently that we watch it again and this isn’t helping.
Guess what guys – it’s finally happening! I have a dentist appointment tomorrow to get all my stupid mouth pains fixed!!! YAY!
Anyway, I steeped this up for morning tea – finally! I’ve wanted to try it forever because it just sounds amazing, but I’ve been sort of putting it off because I have a limited amount and what if I just love it and then can’t get anymore!? However, VariaTEA sent me a fairly large amount of it in our last swap so I decided to finally give it a go. The leaf I’m using right now actually came from BrewTEAlly Sweet as part of her tea stash sale, though.
My steeping parameters were 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in 8 oz. of boiling water, steeped for six minutes. Dry the leaf smells kinda sweet but not really melony, and steeped up the smell is faintly melon with sort of bubble gum notes?
Taste wise? Ughhh…
That is mouth wateringly juicy! I actually really truly taste the honeydew! Which is awesome because I love honeydew! I hardly ever got to have it growing up because no one else in my family liked it. Sometimes we got watermelon which was ok because that’s my favourite melon (Honeydew is number two), but usually we got Cantaloupe which is my least favourite melon.
In addition to juicy honeydew flavours, I get a very subtle earthiness from the mate and an almost equally subtle taste of the green rooibos. There’s also bubblegum-esque notes. I’m not really sure what white hibiscus blossoms are supposed to taste like – the only other thing I’ve had them in was DT’s Buddha’s Blend and I really dislike that one. However, I don’t taste anything reminiscent of that mess of a tea at all (yay).
So overall – super impressed! I really hope this comes back with the spring collection (pretty sure that’s where it’s from) so I can get more of it. I can totally see this being my go to mate for early mornings over Main Squeeze which is also a favourite. Next up will be cold brewing this one because I’ve heard it’s good that way.
Yay for fixed mouth pain!
That’s great! Hope all goes well tomorrow!
I am so happy to read about the dentist!! Now I will scroll up and continue reading the rest
I am glad you liked it!!
wow okay, i might order this next time. i don’t drink mate but 2 of my very best people do. so i always buy them some mate when i hear of a good one. so hooray yes
This tea is on my bucket list.