God Damnit Steepster! My super, long ass tasting note got gobbled and now I get to rewrite it…
So, I’ve been moping around the house miserably all day now, not really accomplishing much of anything. I suppose I took a trip to the post office, but that just ate a bunch of time and wasn’t really fruitful at all. And, I guess I did a load of laundry and took my first shower in what, four days? I was starting to smell myself, so that had to be done…
I also haven’t been drinking or making much tea today, which I really should get on. I did apply a few places right after I first woke up, but it just feels like I’ve had a totally meaningless few days. I think Tre even noticed that I’m feeling a little “blue” because he interrupted my game of solitaire to talk to me, which he like never does. But anyway, I decided that so I have something to do I’m going to fully and properly review two new teas every day until I A) Have a job again or B) Run out new teas to review. I’ve also plugged in my 3DS to charge and once it’s ready to go I’m going to finally beat Pokemon Y, since that became really low priority when I was working full time hours. Once it’s beat, I think I’m also going to put together a proper competitive team.
I’ve been hesitant with trying this blend (one of two of my BF order teas I’ve yet to try) because I had such a strong, adverse reaction to Peach HoppiTea and I was concerned I’d have the same reaction with this blend as well, because of the hops. However, I had to pull it out when I put together VariaTEA’s swap package and I haven’t put it back yet, so might as well have it now.
Dry, it doesn’t smell bad at all which is a great relief because the smell of Peach HoppiTea made me physically ill. THis blend it very strongly scented with rhubarb in a sweet and also tangy way, with strong notes of cinnamon and a spiciness that I’m sure is supposed to be the hops. I also get whiffs of the black base, although not a lot. There’s virtually no presence of the vanilla in the dry smell. For steeping I used 2 1/2 tsp. (the recommended leaf was 1 tbsp.) in 10 oz. of boiling water steeped for four min. and thirty seconds. I made this a bit weaker than suggested just as a precaution incase this did make me feel ill.
Steeped up, the smell is significantly less strong though that’s not to say it doesn’t smell flavourful. I still get a large presence of rhubarb in a sweet and a little tangy way, but the vanilla is also almost just as noticeable. It’s definitely smooth and creamy and I’m feeling it sort of tempers the tartness of the rhubarb. The cinnamon/hops are there too, but a little more gentle, and definitely sitting in the back.
Taste wise, this is a flood of rhubarb in your mouth with a super thick mouthfeel and the creamy taste of vanilla. This is followed up with a still present but more light rhubarb tastes and notes of cinnamon/hops. I need to make this for Tre sometime because he’s definitely more knowledgeable about hops/alcohol in general and I want his thoughts on whether he gets “ale” out of this. The last alcohol inspired tea I served him was Ontario Ice Wine, and even though he hated the taste he was able to instantly name it for what it was supposed to be, without any prompting. As it cools, the vanilla/rhubarb get a little more intense and the hops/cinnamon get a little less noticeable. The aftertaste is sweet, creamy rhubarb although it left a kinda numb(ish)/tingly feeling in my mouth like cinnamon or clove teas sometimes do.
Overall, I’ll pleasantly surprised with this blend. At this point, I’m not sold that I’d need to buy more of it but it does make a good cuppa. Who knows, maybe I’d throw it into a large order to reach the free shipping mark – although, it really doesn’t take a lot of work or effort to build up a large enough cart with Butiki to reach the free shipping threshold.
