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I mixed this with another tea to use the first blend up. You can read about that here:

http://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/223197#likes

Sipdown (206/209)!

Since I found this kind of bland on its own I finished off my sample by adding some of DAVIDsTEA’s Buttered Rum into the leaf as well. I have lots of that lying around, and the two seemed like they’re make a compatible and interesting pair, so why not?

And I was right, the two marry perfectly! The Cacao brings a delightful chocolate taste, but the black base in Buttered Rum and the smooth coconut and butterscotch aspects keep it from tasting weak. If I had any more of the Cacao I’d use it up by drinking it this way – but I’m not going to get any more just so I can mix the two.

Anyway, it was ultimately an experiment done well.

Also, I just burned the side of my face making a whipped lemon marshmallow cupcake topping. I was melting down marshmallows and lemon spread (it’s like the jam/jelly but right light and airy – it kind of reminds me of lemon pie filling) together to use as a topping on some vanilla cupcakes, and when I pulled the bowl from the microwave it bubbled up and splashed on my face.

Ouch – though it does taste pretty good.

And I’m the first to record a note for this one as well…

All three of my RiverTea samples were green blends, mostly because I couldn’t justify getting 50g of a green blend prior to trying it since I’m so fickle about them in the first place. One was Genmaicha, because I had to try it, and the other was Sky Dive because I wanted to compare it with the Tea Desire version which is nearly identical. This one I chose because it actually seemed really potentially delicious.

Dry, it certainly smells wonderful; sweet with a strong nougat smell and some nuttiness from the almond. A touch of nice marzipan smell too, and hardly any green tea base. Sounds good to me!

Steeped up, the taste is a little vegetal – but in the nice kind of buttery way and not in a seaweed or lawn trimmings way that totally puts me off. Mostly, this is very sweet and nougatty with just a little bit of marzipan almondy cookie/cakeness in it. I don’t really have any green dessert teas (just green chai or fruit tea, primarily) so maybe this could be an option. I’m actually really quite liking it.

Because it’s a green, I want to finish my sample and maybe play around a little before making my mind up, but I think this is something I might want again in a 50g quantity (certainly not 100g) if I had someone I knew I could share with if it felt like maybe too much. I could definitely see myself requesting it as a sample though.

Definitely not an awful experience though – and it makes me excited to try my other green based RiverTea samples.

Sipdown (207/210)!

I guess I’m sort of inadvertently participating in Sipdown Saturday. I was thinking about what I could pair with another green I was making, and thought “Hell, why not sipdown this one”. I’m sad to see it go because I love the Banana in it, and it was fun telling people I owned a tea called “Napalm Ferret” and trying to have them guess the flavour.

Oh well, Maple Bacon elicits almost the same response anyway.

Hmmm…

I typed out the full name and company for this one into the search bar, but it still wouldn’t come up until I had hit enter.

Anyway, also from my morning round of teas. I was focused on reviewing the Earl Grey, so this had gotten pretty cold by the time I was drinking it – but it wasn’t bad or anything. Just a lovely sweet yellow cake and brown sugar sort of tea. I could actually taste the cherries in it just a teeny bit today, which was almost mind blowing because I never get fruit from this one!

Despite having two blacks and a mate this morning, I’m still dead tired though. I didn’t even wake up/hear Tre leave for work this morning, and usually that briefly wakes me up and then I fall back to sleep. But nope, slept right through that, and I’m thinking it may be ‘nap time’ soon again…

Sipdown (208/211)!

Slowly making my way back under 200 – but as soon as I get something in the mail, my dreams of accomplishing that any time soon will be squelched.

Thank you Just Organic tea for the samples! An EG sounded like a good way to start my morning today, so I picked out this one. Dry, it smells very strongly of Bergamot. I was also very happy to see that there’s no lavender in this blend. That’s an ingredient I don’t tend to be on good terms with.

Because I drastically oversteeped the first JOT sample I tried, I was very careful and diligent with my steeping of this one, and made sure to pull out the basket at precisely four minutes. Since I was sent samples specifically for reviewing, I feel very obligated to do a really good job. Steeped up, is smells like it could be a tad astringent, and has a very strong bergamot smell too.

Taste wise, I’m a very happy person. There actually isn’t any astringency which is awesome. The liquor has a thick, weighty mouthfeel to it and the black base is present (not completely masked by the bergamot) and tastes a little earthy and malty. The bergamot itself is somewhere balanced between weak and strong; for me, I’m finding it’s at a very nice middle ground. It’s also very rich and fresh tasting – and leaves an incredibly pleasant aftertaste in the mouth.

I am super impressed by this EG, and actually really sad this is a sipdown. I have lots of TARDIS and Cream of Earl Grey left, but once I’m out of both I would very seriously consider stocking this one above the other two.

Also, in other news I might have another roommate soon. My friend who was over yesterday is in a very awkward and inconvenient living situation right now (she’s in a one bedroom apartment living with her ex – and they’re actually sharing a bed right now because the place is too small for them not to). So Tre and I are very much considering the possibility of her coming and living with us.

It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch because there was originally going to be three people living here initially – and seeing as I sleep in the living room anyway, all I’d have to do is move my stuff from my bedroom and officially make the living room “my room” for her to have a place to stay. It’d help a lot with rent – and it’s not like she’s a ‘new’ friend. She’s from Tre’s graduating class, but was a very good friend to us both all throughout highschool.

So, I guess we’ll see what happens…

Well, this finishes off what I purchased from BrewTEAlly Sweet – though it’s not a true sipdown because I still have a sample from VariaTEA which is untouched. Yay for that!

Someone told me this was good cold brewed, so that’s how I prepared it! In total, this cold steeped overnight for thirteen hours before I strained it out this morning.

I must say, it is still delicious but the taste isn’t really anything different from the hot version…

Just cold.

Sipdown (209/212)!

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample – I was right about this being a really easy sipdown. I had a little too much leaf for a smaller cup/mug, so I made it in my timolino instead and slowly stretched it out over the span of the evening.

It’s actually pretty good – and I really enjoy the banana flavours in it. I wont get it again because it’s not unique and I can find similar flavour elsewhere from a company I’d rather support, but I’d be lying if I said this one hadn’t surprised me with how good it was. The one thing I maybe regret with it is that I didn’t try it with milk. That probably would have been really good and really relaxing.

Seems like a few people had this one today.

I made up some in a timolino. Actually, I made up two teas in my timolinos because I wanted something I could stretch out over the evening and enjoy slowly instead of pounding back several smaller mugs and having to get up over and over to make more tea. I was feeling lazy and sleepy.

This was very good, especially since I used boiling water (I blame sleep brain). It was light and buttery with just enough apple in it. I wanted to drink it while watching Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy – but I ended up just watching Archer instead. So, it was a TV night – not a Movie Night, but this still seemed fitting enough.

Sipdown (210/213)!

I have to admit, this cup was alright too. It even was vanilla flavoured enough to sort of remind me of vanilla pudding after I had added a little bit of milk to it. It made me wonder if there’s “Tapioca” tea – because to me vanilla pudding and tapioca pudding have completely different tastes.

This still isn’t my favourite, though – and I still wouldn’t get it. But maybe I’d ask for another satchet or two in a swap because it is a decent enough decaf black option for at night.

Thank you again, Keychange.