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So, I was shaking the bag up for this one and made a discovery which also made me feel like an idiot. There was tons of flaky orange pumpkiny vanilla bits at the bottom of my pouch which had sunk there and I guess hadn’t made it into previous cups because the bag was so full the leaf didn’t have enough room to move around and set all the little bits free.

So, this cup had lots of those little bits in it which were elusive to me otherwise – and I am expecting the addition of them will probably alter the time I’ve been experiencing previously.

And I was definitely correct in those expectations because this is much creamier with a very strong vanilla taste than any cup I’ve had prior. In fact, really all the mild/subtle flavours that I’ve felt were really muted are significantly strong and I’m absolutely getting the creamy pumpkin taste from the leaf. By far, this is a much happier cup.

I’m going to be very sure to shake this up ton before making it from now on because those little flaky bits are totally essential to the quality of the cup. This’ll make finishing what I have left a whole lot easier.

Sipdown (205/208)!

Thank you akgrowngirl for the sample. This cup used it up – which is a sipdown that was easy to do but also one I kind of wanted to put off. I liked having the variety in my cupboard, but ultimately it’s not necessary since I have 100+g of Teavivre’s Jasmine silver Needle, which I also greatly enjoy.

This was a really nice tea with really beautiful and calming notes of jasmine, which was exactly what I needed after being assaulted by near boiling whipped marshmallow topping. Perhaps, sometime down the road, we’ll meet again.

EDIT: Also, ironically enough, this was tasting note 666.

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.