Roswell Strange Send Message

Sipdown (200/204)!

Not sad to see this one gone, and not going to waste any more words on it.

Sipdown (201/205)!

Thanks VariaTEA for the sample. This was barely even on my radar prior to receiving it (I was much more interested in the Cheesecake Genmaichas that Frank has done), but it certainly is now. I was really quite pleasantly surprised with how flavourful it was.

Honestly, I was kind of conflicted by the flavours because it was total puffed wheat and then juicy berries which in my mind equates to some kind of gross soggy cereal type mess, but it was actually phenomenal in practice and I thought very well balanced and interesting with great contrasting yet complimenting flavours.

I even made the effort to resteep it, which I basically never do, and was impressed that the fruit flavour (which somewhat deteriorated) was still detectable. I would buy a full pouch of this one, and I’ve also added it to my wish/shopping list.

Sipdown (202/206)!

Thanks VariaTEA for the sample (and I think Josie Jade by extension?), but I really wasn’t all that impressed, and I kind of knew I wouldn’t be just based on the smell.

This one smelled like really high quality, fancy ass rich people soap. Which, yes, is totally a thing. It’s always like overly complex flavours like “Cocoa Shea Butter with sea Salt and Coconut bits” and shaped into ridiculous things like a sea horse or an open clam with a pearl inside. Is a simple “bar” not good enough? Thing is, as far as soap goes it smells pretty fucking phenomenal – but when you get down to it, it’s just soap.

That smell really carried into the taste as well. Rich, extravagant flavours but bottom line – it was soap. I honestly felt like had I poured it on my hands I could have lathered up with it. No one wants that from their tea…

Had a timolino full of this and it was good. still hard to put into words, but really good. I recently rewatched the Irene Adler episode, and it was pretty phenomenal, though in hindsight I think I should have seized to opportunity to drink this one along with it. Sadly I didn’t.

I recently packaged some of this up for VariaTEA which is why it was out, so it’d kind of been taunting me for a while – seducing me into having it again ;)

I’m increasing my rating slightly though, because it’s grown on me a fair bit and it really enjoyable, albeit weird.

Sipdown (203/207)!

I made a timolino of this to take with to hang out with a friend, and then we ended up back at my house, and the timolino got kind of neglected, and then when I did remember it I split it 50/50 with my friend who really enjoyed it. I was kind of sad though, because I really wanted to enjoy the last of this delicious tea all to myself.

It’ll be sorely missed – and my conclusion is that I do like it much more than Birthday Cake or Oh Canada! but I’m not going to go out and stock it again until I’ve finished at least one of the large quantities I have of both of those teas. Preferably not until I’ve finished them both off. It’ll be an incentive for me to sip those ones down…

Sipdown (204/208)!

Now I’m into the backlog from yesterday – so, about half caught up?

After a day of just black teas, I’ll admit that it was pretty nice to have a mix of things again, and to get some sipdowns/new teas into the mix as well.

I was not sad to see this one gone at all – and I thought that this second cold brewed batch was much more on point with the hot batch I had which tasted very strongly of beets. Icky, and no thanks. I am thankful for the sample from VariaTEA though, because I would have been curious otherwise, but this is not something that I think will ever find its way back into my cupboard. Or at least, I really hope not.

And finally this concludes the teas I enjoyed during my day of Perfect/Favourite blacks.

This one is relatively new to me, and I don’t think it’s perfect but it is very enjoyable and provides an interesting deviation from just a normal caramel black because of the marshmallow. It’s the kind of tea that I would share with my non-tea drinking family because I think it’s flavourful enough for them to enjoy it, and I think the sprinkles and such would amuse them. Also, I do believe that they could pick up the marshmallow flavour.

It’s also the kind of tea that makes me think of campfires because of the toasty marshmallow flavour, which is maybe backwards with what S’mores is meant to do – but I think this does it better.

Mint teas are a nice, relaxing way to end the day with, so this was part of my last round of black teas for the night. It’s not a “perfect” tea, but I do greatly enjoy it and it’s earned a spot in my cupboard as a nice minty, dessert/late night tea.

I find I’ve maybe grown apart from mint teas now, which were at one point the only tea I drank, but it felt wrong to do a day of black teas and not include at least one mint tea. It doesn’t hurt that this one is fudgey too.

Best. Cake. Tea. Ever.

Not a perfect black, but a really yummy one. Since first trying it, I’ve definitely grown much more fond of it too and I’m actually running out of what I do have so I’m kind of hoarding it. This was a good excuse to break it out, though.

Mmm!

The taste of this one is amazing and I adore the super creamy caramel flavour. It is by far one of my favourite teas in my cupboard, and I hate to admit that it actually slipped my mind earlier in the day because the tin had gotten pushed to the very back of my storage closet.

I would say that the only thing that keeps this from getting a perfect hundred score is the mouthfeel, which I have a really hard time describing. It’s just sort of ‘off’, but not in an oily or thick or thin way. It’s almost powdery? But that’s not quite the right word either. Whatever it is, it’s not a big thing – just a very slight annoyance/distraction.