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Made hot in my timolino this morning to accompany my morning Brasiliano. 2 tsp. of leaf, steeped in boiling water for four minutes – taken with two cream. A little bit astringent (I’m finding this isn’t the best travel tea), but overall very nice.

I woke up this morning with completely dried out lips due to straight clove oil coming in contact with them; trust me, it’s not pleasant and I do not recommend it. Basically, I was having such intense tooth pain that the diluted clove oil my step mom was giving me to dab on the sore area wasn’t doing anything – so I applied straight clove oil which totally numbed the pain, but also resulted in my puffy/cracked nightmareish looking mouth. Ew.

Combine that with the fact I had an allergy attack (albeit a mild one), and I’m a bit of a sight for sore eyes right now.

Anyway, I made this to drink cold this morning, to kind of “jump start” my day and get me more energized/feeling a little better. I used 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf for an 8 oz. mug, and steeped it for four minutes in boiling water. It was pretty rich and hazelnut/toffee smelling, with a nice roasty, almost coffee like quality in the background.

Taste wise, it was definitely a sweet toffee and hazelnut flavour with the same deep, roasted earthy mate flavour that vaguely reminded me of toffee – though stronger than was in the smell. Didn’t get much of the sunflower today – but it was still really good.

I’ve had this tea a few times before during prior trips to The Vintage Tea Room back when I still lived in Regina. I enjoyed it then, but I don’t think I appreciated it nearly as much – probably because I was relatively new to tea and didn’t have anywhere near as varied a pallet as I do now.

I purchased 50g today, and today is my first time making it at home under my own parameters. So, I steeped up 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in boiling water for four minutes. I then added in some milk, because that’s how I’ve taken this every time I’ve had it at the tea room. I do plan on enjoying it straight soon, though – to see what the difference in taste is.

Dry, this has an almost overwhelming smell of grenadine with wisps of black tea and fragrant floral and vanilla notes. It’s very sweet smelling. Steeped, this is much the same; strong notes of sweet grenadine, and floral notes that are stronger steeped than dry. The vanilla is still there, but not as much so.

Taste wise; this is very rich and full bodied with a nice Ceylon base. The grenadine in this is the most prominent flavor and definitely takes center stage; it’s very sweet and kind of fruity, reminding me of a mix of maybe pomegranate and raspberry. The vanilla is very mild and definitely sits comfortably in the background. The floral notes I pick up in the dry and steeped smell don’t come off as strongly in the taste – a little less present than the vanilla, but still just noticeable.

This is very good hot or cold, and I find it very smooth and clean with no bitterness or astringency. Drinking it now, I definitely have more of an appreciation for it than I did previous times when I wasn’t as knowledgeable of “experienced” of a tea drinker. I will happily finish off the rest of this – but maybe not too quickly; I don’t know when I’ll next be in Regina to pick up more of this, if necessary.

Made this in the morning in one of my two timolinos to enjoy later today. My preparation was 2 tsp. of leaf, steeped with boiling water for five minutes.

Dry, this smells super fragrant and lemony with a light honeycomb like sweetness to it. My Step Mom commented that it smelled like “natural perfume”, and while I agree it’s very strong and natural smelling, it doesn’t remind me of perfume – but maybe that’s because I associate most perfumes with a chemical smell.

Taste wise – I swear I’ve had this before. It’s incredibly familiar, but I know this is my first time trying this. Why is this so familiar…

I KNOW! Taste wise, this tastes almost exactly like Della Terra’s Lemon Chiffon! Yes – it’s basically the same sweet lemon flavour, and creaminess but without the pepperiness, which I suppose makes sense; these are both teas with lemon flavour and rooibos – and both are very good.

I think I’ll stick with Lemon Chiffon since I have 2 oz. of it to drink, and Good Morning Sunshine as a high energy lemon tea to drink as well – which basically covers both ends up the spectrum; high energy and no energy. This is great and I’ll enjoy the 20g or so I have left, but since I already have similar there’s no need to get any more of this.

Sipdown (162)!

Thank you VariaTEA for this sample! I was very excited to try it seeing as I am a huge lover of both pineapple (favourite fruit) and coconut. Sadly, this is my first and last time trying it because I used up all the leaf in the sample for a timolino full of this.

So, just a little over 2 tsp. of leaf, boiling water in my 12 oz. timolino for five minutes. I actually made this in the morning in case I wanted something to drink on the long bus ride back from The Vintage Tea Room, but I’ve held off on trying it until now with supper (vegetable stir fry, noodles, and kiwi – it’s super nice not having to cook for myself while on my ‘vacation’).

Dry, this smelled very intensely of sweet, rummy pina colada; very heavy on the coconut. Steeped, this was much the same way; very sweet with an especially strong coconut smell, and a very rummy quality. There was also something that made me think of floral perfume which seemed like a rather odd smell to pick up from this blend.

Taste wise, this has is more coconut than pineapple like I expected after the smell – however, the pineapple is a little stronger in the tail of the sip and lingering into the aftertaste. The rum taste is also pretty strong, and it adds greatly to the tea. There’s also a woody, and distinct honeybush taste which is nice because I thought the base would be totally masked based on how powerful the smell is. Nothing floral or perfumey in taste, but I do still get that from the smell.

I’m sad this is gone; I would definitely buy it again. DAVIDsTEA’s Tropicalia is another favourite of mine which is also a Pina Colada tea – though these two blends are distinct enough I would want both around.

Also – my new white timolino is definitely not retaining heat as well as my black one. I made two teas steeped the same way this morning; one in each, at the same time and this has cooled much more than the black one has. Huh – I wonder why that is…

I met up with a friend today for tea at The Vintage Tea Room! We split a pot of this tea upon my insistence; I never have bloom teas because I don’t have a teapot that allows me to appreciate their beauty at home. Though – the older sales lady gave my friend and I a “knowing” look after ordering a love themed tea, prompting both he and I to insist we were just friends.

I didn’t realize upon ordering that this was green tea (for whatever reason I was thinking it was white), but it was pretty apparent after my first sip because this had a strong grassy taste to it. Despite that, which is typically a turn off, this was very enjoyable. The jasmine was the most prominent taste in a very real and natural way – not at all perfumey. I actually struggled a bit to taste the the lavender, which is one of the advertised flavours, but the lily was very noticable to me.

This was a very enjoyable sweet, floral tea and I was quite happy to enjoy several cups of it while catching up with my friend. I had somehow blocked out the fact he’s so much of a conspiracy theorist – but hey, at least the conversation was always interesting.

And the tea was just beautiful after it had fully flowered!

I also ended up purchasing 50g of Monk’s Blend and 50g of Prince of Wales after inquiring as to where they get their tea from (mostly so I could accurately log things – turns out it’s from The Metropolitan Tea Company). Both smell incredible, and I can’t wait to try them!

PS. If you’re ever in Regina and go here for tea I highly recommend the cucumber cranberry cream cheese sandwich as the perfect food to enjoy with your tea!

Had this on the bus ride to The Vintage Tea Room this morning. Preparation was 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf, steeped in 8 oz. of boiling water for five minutes. This was poured into my water bottle, so when I was drinking it it was cold.

It tasted like toned down maple syrup or the maple filling in those maple leaf shaped cookies. Anyway, it was really good.

Ok, this is the cold brewed batch that I made for me and my brother to try! Formula was 2 tbsp. of leaf for about 6 cups of water, cold steeped for a good 18(ish) hours. The steeped colour is a dark red/purple that kind of reminds me of some darker red wines? It looks kinda scary and really concentrated, though.

I’ve actually had two cups today, which I suppose in itself says that this wasn’t so bad I wouldn’t drink it again. That’s a plus.

My second cup, I was suffering from some pretty horrible toothache so I wasn’t really so focused on the taste. But my overall impression on the taste from both cups is that this is a much nicer way to drink this tea. The tart and sour initial flavour is much more mellowed out but still retains the taste of hibiscus in a not completely overwhelming way. The rest of the taste is juicy strawberry and maybe raspberry, with a creaminess to it in the end sip accompanied by a sort of fermented fruit/borderline rum taste. Really, the “rum” flavour the name implies is just kind of barely present in the weirdest possible way.

So yeah – this is much more enjoyable cold brewed and I think that’s probably how I’ll end up finishing off what’s left of my 50g of it. I’ve definitely used at least 25g worth at this point, so that’s good.

Sort of sipdown (161)?

Sort of in that I’ve already placed an order for 100g more (like, weeks ago) that’s on the way – so I’ll soon have more to enjoy! Also, sort of in that I still have enough leaf left for one more cup, but I promised my Dad I’d save it and make it for him tomorrow.

I was perhaps being overly cautious of my water temperature (here at my Dad’s I have no way of measuring the temperature without guesstimating), and as a result I believe I used water which was too cold – so I don’t think I got the full flavour potential this cup could have had. I suppose that’s better than using too hot of water, though.

Anyway, I’m getting lovely and delicate jasmine and silky notes of sweet white tea; like honeysuckle! It’s still amazing, even if it’s not at its best. I’m excited to be receiving lots more! So thank you Lala for sending this to me – I’ve really managed to make the sample last, and I have thoroughly enjoyed each cup!

Unrelated, I just got back from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and it was a truly astounding and breathtaking movie! 10/10 would recommend to just about anyone! Seriously – amazing acting, and plot, and a killer soundtrack. More people should see it (and keep in mind this praise is coming from someone who worked at a movie theatre for over a year, and who saw a lot of free movies). I’d gladly watch this again.

Plus, it was really nice to go to the theatre I used to work at and visit with all my old co-workers! I got pretty emotional, I’ll be honest. I knew I missed them, but I just didn’t realize how much. I’m still trying to not care about the fact that Kevin (my former “best friend” who helped bring me out of my depression and who basically acted as an older brother to me for months) has ignored me since moving, and then tonight refused to look me in face and acknowledge I was there, though…

That hurt, and was kind of cold…

Sipdown (162)!

I made up the last of my sample from BrewTEAlly Sweet today to take with to the mall. Since I had it cold last time, I went for a hot cup this time. I have to say, I don’t think my new white timolino is retaining heat nearly as well as my black one does; after only being in the timolino maybe two hours the temperature had severely dropped.

This was still very lovely though; a really great and well balanced apple tea with sweet and not overpowering cinnamon notes. I’m not in a rush to repurchase it, but I do plan to eventually obtain more.