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Sipdown (214)!

Thank you for the tea VariaTEA! This was a really fun one.

- Made in gravity steeper
- Used a blue gumball in my tea leaf; the orange one is in the leaf I added to the GCTTB
- Dry leaf smelled like bubblegum and bananas
- Steeped up a weird, cloudy bright green hue (not a natural “tea green”)
- Initial taste is candy sweetness
- Definitely tastes like bubblegum, but the bulk/dollar store type of gum
- It is fun though; gotta give it that
- And the green base is JUST present enough (grassy)
- Overall, I’m not mad at it and would call it just slightly above average
- But you have to buy into the fact it’s bubblegum w. real bubble and will taste artificial

This is a queued tasting note.

Sipdown (215)!

Drank this one cold brewed on the balcony because it was nice enough outside to do so.

Honestly? Wasn’t in love with this one. Really, after the Strawberry Oolong I first tried, all the other For Tea’s Sake iced tea collection seemed like a big step backwards. That said it wasn’t bad; it’s just that it came off as a very generic and average quality apricot/peach black and I’ve had more than my fair share of those.

Still very refreshing for an early Spring(ish) cold tea on the balcony though.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhU9MZ98jxo&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=3

I love The Chainsmokers and I strongly feel like this may be a solid contender for the Spring/Summer anthem of 2017 – and we’re only in January. Give it some time and it’ll likely be as overplayed as Closer though. Pairing was mostly for the Spring/Summer vibes as it was definitely that kind of atmosphere.

Cold Brew sipdown (216)!

I wish I could say I enjoyed this one more overall, because it was a gift. I just didn’t though; it was too brisk and really astringent and I found that on the whole despite the fact I got a couple nice tastings it lacked any sweetness/brightness. Which it definitely needed.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnQKb2lHGes&index=1&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ

This is a queued tasting note.

This is the tea I drank, iced, after my Calming Chamomile. I wanted to reward myself for drinking a Project Tea Wall tea (less than ten left), even though it was one I was dreading/hated.

And this was a great reward! Sweet, fruity and tropical. I would have happily guzzled the whole thing but one of my coworkers accidentally knocked over the cup it was in and spilled out around half of it… So, not a very long lasting reward it would seem.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPiAE068AMQ&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=32

I don’t think this is the world’s strongest pairing to be honest, but I was working with very limited music selection given the laptop situation. It’s painful because I DO own like 20 CDs that I really enjoy but I have no way to play them without a laptop at the moment…

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

#ProjectTeaWall

Ok, so technically the tea I drank was DAVIDsTEA’s Calming Chamomile BUT it’s the exact same thing as this Chamomile except it’s no longer sourced from Egypt and so they had to change the name. I’m not going to make a new tea entry/page for it though because even when you look at DT’s website the ‘new’ Calming Chaomile page is under the URL for Egyptian Chamomile, so…

Fight me.

Anyway; I have been DREADING this tea because I can’t stand chamomile despite the fact I like that it makes me sleepy/drowsy and therefore it’s good for before bed. I had no clue how I was going to drink this in a way that I wouldn’t loathe; but I did it. How? Well, I drank it iced with about a tablespoon of honey to drown out the taste of actual tisane.

Yup; could hardly taste the chamomile. Instead I got a nice, sweet and smooth cup of honey goodness – and of course we released a honey flavoured chamomile blend just a few days afterwards…

I know this one was a bit of a cheat, but I’ve obviously had chamomile before. I just needed to drink this one to be able to honestly say that I’ve tried it.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUdvTZRvcqw&index=10&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

This is a queued tasting note.

Drank this one as a nice, slightly roasty before bed type of tea with some music, during my brief stint without a working laptop last week. Thankfully I had a dozen or two different songs downloaded on my phone and that helped keep me sustained in the mean time.

The tea was great; I love the very soft roasted notes alongside really interesting nutty notes. At times, it’s very peanut like and then other sips are sweeter and remind me a little more of hazlenut. There’s a grassy undertone throughout, it’s also quite light. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it the flavour profile reminds me a bit of summer to autumn transitional campfires; but at the start of the night when the sun is still somewhat out. Cool, fresh air with the warmth of the fire surrounded by grass that’s just starting to lose the brightness of the green hue.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS7IPVkzlIc&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=2

Lyrics are darker than the music sounds…

Sipdown (217)!

Final sample from my Tea Ave order!

- Teabag/Western
- Quite floral
- Even though they’re strong, it’s a little hard placing/identifying the floral notes
- Light to medium body
- Different from Oriental Beauty because I didn’t register roastiness from this one
- Sweet honeyed peach/stonefruit, especially in the finish
- A little buttery

I’d say this was the most complex of the three samples they sent and probably also my favourite of the three.

Sipdown (218)!

- W. Milk
- Smoky Top Notes
- Body is sweet and smoky
- Finish very butterscotch/peach heavy
- It’s a TOUCH over the top
- Has grown on me a bit since first trying it though

It would have been interesting seeing if this would have grown on me over time or been an “acquired taste” type of tea. Who knows, though.

This review is for the Chocolate Rocket infused Milk Chocolate…

This was my snack, in between cups of tea, for my Series of Unfortunate Events binge!

- Strong raspberry notes
- Little bit of roastiness? Pleasantly so
- Quite creamy and rich without feeling over the top
- Both a yummy chocolate and a solid representation/adaptation of the tea

I’d probably put this one in my Top 5 tea infused chocolates along with the Chai & Mighty dark chocolate and the Movie Night white chocolate…

Sipdown (119)!

- Teabag/Western
- Smooth and more sweet than expected
- I’ve had this before but to be fair it’s been a long time
- Light, very natural jasmine
- Other supporting floral notes that are harder to pin point
- Has a bit of a weird but pleasant note?
- Kind of like cool air? I guess it’s the “fog” from the tea…
- Better than I recall it tasting last time I tried it