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I made myself a cup of this for the morning/early afternoon to take with on the bus ride to work. Today was my training shift, although it’s interesting because I was trained in a store I wont be working in – so the stock was different than what my store will be stocking, and the manager training me even said that many of her policies might be done differently by my manager. Hmm…

The cup I made today was over leafed, but that’s because I initially planned to add more water into my water bottle after the initial cup was done brewing. I didn’t want to brew two 6 oz. cups and have 12 oz. to drink on the bus, I wanted to end up with around 8 or 9 oz. However, I forgot to poor in more water so I just ended up with 6 oz. of really strong Monkey Bread.

It still tasted really good, but I’m wondering if there was a shortage or yogurt glob things in the dry leaf I used because there was WAY more spice cake flavour in comparison to the ooey gooey cream cheese icing sort of flavour I had last time. It still warmed me right up though, especially considering it was a very brisk and windy afternoon.

So, to use up the last of my can of Club Soda I decided to try another “experiment” and cold brew something directly into the club soda. I had no idea if it would work or not. So, I picked out a kind of tea I knew I liked a lot measured out a little extra than the intended amount of tea and dumped it into the can.

I then left the can with the tea in it in my fridge for around maybe 4 hours? And just now I pulled it out and poured it through a strainer into a cup. My biggest concern was that the soda would go flat from sitting in the fridge open for so long, and it appears my fear was not totally unjustified. This soda is much more weakly carbonated – although this is SOME carbonation. It’s like a fizzy drink.

I can taste the creamy pear and tart cranberry initially, but as the fizzing sensation really hits I get an overwhelming bitter taste. That’s not something I’ve ever really experienced drinking this tea normally, but then again I’ve also never cold brewed a black tea before and it makes sense to me that leaving a black tea to sit for around 4 hours would open it up to being fairly bitter.

Next time (and there will be a next time), I think I’ll be sticking to an herbal tea (which wont get bitter) if I’m going to cold brew my tea/soda in this method or I’ll be pouring the club soda into the tea (be it hot or cold) prior to steeping it. That said, this isn’t undrinkable – just not as pleasant as I would have hoped.

I find I’ve been doing an awful lot of experimenting lately. I think that’s a good thing, right?

When my Dad was over yesterday, we went grocery shopping and I picked up a case of soda water (12 cans or something like that?). I figured it’d be really neat if I could make my own pop – and probably really healthy too. So, today was pop experimentation day number one. I figured I’d try and play it safe today.

Fruit flavoured teas are natural pairings for soda, in my opinion. Just think of all the different kinds of Crush or things like Sprite or Mountain Dew which play off citrus flavours. So, I decided to make a Main Squeeze soda because it’s fruit, it’s a tea I enjoyed the first time I drank it, and I had some extra leaf from my first cup that I wanted to resteep.

So, I steeped up the leaf I had saved from my last cup with an extra 1/2 tsp. of unused dry leaf added in just to help out the flavour. I used boiling water and steeped it for around 4 to 5 minutes (I lost track of time). Before doing anything else I tried a bit of the tea as it was, and it tasted pretty flavourful and similar to how it did my first time drinking it.

In the future I’m probably going to cold brew teas I want to do this with (or at least stick them in the freezer temporarily to cool them down), but today I was impatient and made this as a hot carbonated drink. I wasn’t sure what proportions of club soda to tea to mix, so I just poured all the tea into a much larger mug and then added about a tbsp. of club soda at a time until it reached a level of carbonation I was happy with without totally diluting the taste.

I ended up using about a third of the can of club soda (just like a regular pop can sized can). The liquor is a really pale buttery yellow. Taste wise, it’s kind of odd but pleasantly so. I’ve never had a hot carbonated drink, so it’s a new experience. With the mix of tea and club soda, the level of carbonation is not as strong as you’d get from a regular soda – it’s more akin to the kind of fizzy feeling and sensation you’d get from Fizz candy. I think the tropical flavours of this tea work well with it, though – and I bet this would be awesome as a cold tea soda.

Since I still have another 2/3of a can of club soda left, I’m going to use that up today with some other teas. I have some Pink Flamingo leaf that I was going to try to re steep so I’ll mix the club soda and that one and I’ll find something else to try.

If there’s anyone else of Steepster that makes their own tea soda – how do you do it? What proportions do you use? I’m really curious to learn more about doing this. I wonder if you could cold steep tea straight into club soda or, by the time the flavour was leached out of the leaf, would the soda be flat by then? Maybe that’s a stupid idea… Just, share your soda experiences?

Tea number five out of my order of six teas from Della Terra. I’m a little ashamed at how long it’s taken me to get through these ones.

I’m not really sure how this one ended up one of the last ones for me to try since it was one of the ones I was most excited for when I placed my order, and it smells divine. The dry leaf, to me, smells like a cross between an honest to goodness s’more and a Charleston Chew vanilla nougat chocolate bar. I’m ok with both comparisons though – I enjoy both. I’m kind of surprised by how strongly you can smell the graham crackers and flavouring in the dry leaf: for whatever reason I wasn’t expecting to smell them and thought of them more as “the novelty” in the tea that made it a “s’more” and not just marshmallows and chocolate.

I steeped a level 1/2 tablespoon (1 1/2 tsp.) for my 6 oz. cup and steeped with near boiling water for approx. 3 min. 30 seconds. The liquor was a kind of medium to darkish brown colour and smelled heavenly (and very strongly of marshmallows). I’m feeling really impatient this morning (lots to do today, just sort of domestically around the house) so I added in a splash of milk to cool down the tea so I could drink it right away, however I didn’t taste the tea beforehand so I’ll have to do another comparison/review without milk.

Drinking, the initial taste is a really chocolatey black tea that gives way to a nice creamy, vanilla marshmallow flavour. The graham cracker notes are harder for me to notice, but I can tell that they’re there (again, that was more than I was expecting anyway). The flavour of the black tea base next to the marshmallows sort of mixes to create a semi “burnt marshmallow” flavour which is awesome to me – I love burnt marshmallows (I actually go out of my way to burn my marshmallows on purpose). However, at the core of the burnt marshmallow you still have the ooey gooey center.

Overall, I think this is a really good dessert tea and would be perfect for late nights during the summer if you’re either actually camping and want to pass on the calorie overload of an actual s’more or if you’re stuck in the city unable to actually go camping and you want to experience some of the awesomeness of camping anyway. I think Tre will like this one, so I’m gonna put off letting him try it for as long as possible.

But yes, this is a hit for me!

I actually had this twice today…

Whenever I spend the evening at the University with Robyn I usually stay for supper and eat and the huge buffet style cafeteria. Basically, you pay a flat rate and can eat as much as you want for up to three hours depending on when you show up to the meal (supper, for example, runs from five to eight). It’d be great except Robyn usually wants to eat quickly and then do other things – but she’s also not paying for the meal (it’s part of her residence/food plan). I, on the other hand, pay $12.55 each time I’m there so I want to get the most out of my meal.

I’ve had some really good food from there like pizza, mango chutney and tofu tacos, sweet potato fries, almond cherry coconut squares, and some of the best homemade style mac and cheese I’ve ever tried. Tonight, however, was the first time I had tea there. Unfortunately, all they carry is bagged Lipton teas – but they do have a good variety. I had this one with my dessert (carrot cake squares iced with a caramel cream cheese icing).

I didn’t make any physical notes while drinking this, but I retained a few mental ones. I remember this tea was really good initially but it also got overwhelmingly spicy and kind of “burny” on my tongue about halfway through. I also only had about 4 ounces of water to steep it in, and I’m not really sure what temperature of water it was steeped in – I didn’t have an exact way of telling.

Now, technically speaking, you’re not supposed to take any food out of the cafeteria hall – BUT, if I’m gonna pay a fair amount for food and be rushed eating it I’m gonna steal a few things… Like two teabags. I took another one of this one so I could properly review it, and a bag of Green Tea with Jasmine (to see if I can find a yummy bagged equivalent of the jasmine green tea that Lala sent me).

So, this one is not steeped following the recommended steeping instructions. Boiling water, for four minutes (low end of the spectrum, since it was really powerful before). Steeped, the liquor is a really murky brown and not so appealing looking. The smell is like a spiced orange. The mix of stuff in the teabag itself looked really gross as I pulled it out – kind of like beige baby vomit with little red bits (the hibiscus in the blend, likely). I apologize for the imagery, but well… That’s what it looks like.

Initial taste is orange notes in the front of the sip, with a more pleasant spiciness. I also detect faint lemon notes. I’m sticking with my impression of a “spiced orange”. I can’t completely recall the entire ingredients list, but I would be surprised if cloves isn’t part of it. With a little honey to sweeten up the orange, I think this could be really amazing.

Currently, I’m drinking this while I eat a slice of pecan pie, which I’ve being having CONSTANT cravings for during the last two weeks, making this slice so much more heavenly. I love that “as an adult” if I want to go out and buy a pecan pie to eat all by myself I can do that. The tastes are actually complimenting each other pretty nicely though.

Overall, I’m happy. I think this might be the first Lipton tea I’ve tried since getting really into loose leaf teas that I’d actually drink again with some enthusiasm. I’m not sure if I’d buy a whole box, though. I’d definitely steal myself another teabag, though!

PS. I think I should note that this tea seemed to do much more for my sore throat today than the Bravissimo from earlier did.

Backlog from earlier in the day.

Tre woke up really sick today, so I made him a large cup of this since it’s supposedly really good for colds/sore throats and such. About half way through the morning I realized that I too was getting a stuffy nose and had a sore throat. Yeck.

So, I made two really strong cups of this and poured them into my water bottle to take with me to the University today. I drank most of it on the bus ride while it was still hot, and then finished the rest off while we were in the middle of the “queeristorical walking tour” that the U of S Pride Center was running.

The tour was actually really cool and informative, and Robyn and I got to learn a lot about the LGBTQ history of the university. The tour guide was also really funny and entertaining, so it made up for a few of the (slightly) more boring sections of the tour.

The tea itself was really good. I find that with an extended brewing time (about ten minutes) and a little extra leaf this tea tastes basically like pure licorice and is super sweet, which is perfect for me. I know this blend has mint in it, but I really can’t detect it. Actually, a lot of the flavour get lost in the overall taste of the licorice and the only tastes shining through are chamomile and something that tastes like “chicken noodle soup” broth slightly (in the front of the sip mostly), but pleasant like? That’s a bad description.

Anyway, I’m finding this tea is perfect for when I’m really desiring licorice but otherwise ends up mostly forgotten about within my collection. Woops. As for whether it’s good for feeling sick, I’ll have to ask Tre tomorrow how he felt – it didn’t really do much for my stuffiness or sore throat. Oh well.

Tonight, after my Dad came over, we went out for supper at Boston Pizza (my favourite restaurant, and the one I request to go to everytime he comes over – which he’s probably sick of by now). Since I last saw him, I’ve completely cut soda from my diet as well as most juices so I asked the waitress what teas they had. She kind of floundered a bit over the question, but I made sure she knew it was ok: if she just gave me a broad idea that would be fine. She said there were two varieties of green tea (ick), peppermint, and something that was a black tea. I opted for the black tea, and much to my approval was presented with an Earl Grey! Yum!

I actually made notes on how it tasted on a napkin using a purple crayon she was nice enough to grab for me. My Dad kind of teased me the whole time on how much of a “tea snob” I’ve become. The whole time I was thinking “If you only knew some of the people on Steepster” (no offense to anyone – the degree to which fellow steepster users love tea is something I, intern, love about you all).

So, these are the notes I made on my napkin:

- Dry Leaf (Bagged) smelled smooth with strong bergamot notes and faint notes of lavendar
- The hot water provided was definitely not 100 degress celcius as recommended by the brewing instructions – my best guess would be around 80 degress celcius
- I steeped my tea for 5 min. exactly using a timer setting on my phone (5 min. was the recommended steep time)
- The liquor came out to a very deep amber
- As far as taste goes, the tea was midly astringent and mildly bitter with an unpleasant aftertaste (which I was happy to mask with my pizza, once it arrived)
- There were strong notes of bergamot and less noticible but still present notes of lavendar and honey
- The front of the sip had a distinct taste of black tea right before the flavour of the bargamot kicked in

Overall, the tea wasn’t too bad as far bagged tea goes, but not the best Earl Grey I’ve had (by far) – some of that might be because of the brewing conditions, however.

PS. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 was AMAZING! If you liked the first one at all (even a little) you’ll love this one. 10/10 would totally recommend.

Yay unexpected reward tea! I elaborated a bit more in my previous note about Blueberry Jam as to why I bought this, but essentially I finished work early so decided to treat myself to a new tea using the money I would have been spending on lunch.

The experience in store was kind of interesting, actually. I knew I was looking for a Mate, so when the sales lady (who is also the store manager) asked if I knew what was looking for/if she could help me, I explained I was interested in picking up a new Mate tea so I had more variety in the mornings. I told her I already had Chocolate Rocket (which I love) and wanted something fruitier.

She then pulled down Jungle Ju Ju, Main Squeeze, and Queen of Tarts. In between my sniffing different teas and reading the ingredients lists we started talking about Steepster. I was talking about how I knew a bit about each tea and what to expect based on Steepster reviews. I told her that of the three teas she had pulled, Jungle Ju Ju has the highest rating (81 I think?) and Queen of Tarts has the lowest. She seemed really personally offended that Queen of Tarts was scored lower, and then really insisted that it was the best selling Mate they had. I don’t know, it just really stuck out to me.

Also, in theory, it makes sense logically to me that Queen of Tarts would be a high seller since it’s really new. It was August’s tea of the month, so it was featured and therefore a lot of people probably tried it out above other Mates. Also, anyone who is a really big DAVIDsTEA fan, it seems, goes out of their way to try the new blends at least once so that’s even more people buying the tea.

Anyway, I think I’m glad I picked this one out. Jungle Ju Ju didn’t do anything for me smell wise, and Queen of Tarts smelled SO strongly of hibiscus – and while I like hibiscus I can get the flavour from either Goji Pop or Pink Flamingo, both of which I have stocked.

The dry leaf of this one smells super strongly of all things tropical. When I worked at the theatre, we sold a smoothie called “Tropical Storm”, and the smell of that smoothie is really akin to what I smell in the dry leaf of this one. It makes sense, they share some similar contributing flavours like pineapple and orange. There’s a gentle earthiness to the dry leaf as well, from the green yerba mate. I’m so excited to try this out!

My Dad is getting here from Regina at around five, and then we’re gonna go out for supper and see a movie (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2)! I’m also gonna try and convince him to take me grocery shopping so I can buy more stuff and don’t have to worry about walking back home with a ton of grocery bags. However, since he’ll be here in less than two hours I really only have time to properly review one tea and I was kind of torn between this and the two Della Terra teas I’ve yet to try. Opted for this though – I could probably use the energy.

I used a level tsp. for my 6 oz cup, steeped in near boiling water for 5 min. and 30 seconds. This steeped up to be a really vibrant yellow colour. The smell of it steeping was a pretty concentrated papaya, with some notes of orange and pineapple. The earthiness of the mate is also present.

Tasting it, the initial notes in the front of the sip are about 50/50 earthy flavours and tropical ones. The tropical notes are very sweet with a well rounded balance between pineapple, papaya, and orange. Part of me also gets an incredibly faint sense of mango. Again, I have to allude to the Tropical Storm smoothies I used to serve at work, minus the creamy dairy. I’ve read a few reviews that said the flavour was toned down in comparison to the dry leaf smell, and while (of course) it doesn’t taste exactly like the dry leaf does, I think this is pretty flavourful and powerful in its own way. The earthy flavour from the mate doesn’t hold up in the aftertaste. Instead, the aftertaste is an all tropical one that sits in your mouth for a really long time.

I think this is going to be a really good morning/breakfast tea, and I’m super happy with the purchase! Really loving all aspects of this tea (we’ll just have to wait and see whether or not this one is as stimulating as I hope it’ll be). I feel like I have a really good mix up of Mates at this point: Mate Mint from Tea Desire, Chocolate Rocket from DAVIDsTEA, and now Main Squeeze also from DAVIDsTEA – all together equalling three really distinct flavours. Also, it’s great to have something really tropical/citrusy that ISN’T an herbal tea.

EDIT: Yikes, this rating is a novel! I never realize I’m writing as much as I do until I post. The few of you who occasionally comment, how do you put up with reading so much?

The more I drink this the more it grows on my, and the more I want to drink it. What a vicious cycle (though luckily I bought 100g a few days ago, so I’m totally stocked up)! Anyway, I made this in the morning to take with me while I finished merchandising the store. I actually didn’t end up drinking until the bus ride home and by then it was cold, but it was really good. A little bit bitter but that’s because it sat so long (with a few little bits and tea leaves in the bottom that the strainer didn’t get out), and it wasn’t enough to make it unenjoyable.

We actually finished merchandising the store early though, which I was both happy and sad about. It was predicted we’d take 6 hours before set up would be complete and they could officially open, but it only took the three of us working (there were 5 for most of yesterday, but 7 by the end of the shift) three hours to finish up. I’m glad, because boxes of calendars are heavier than you would think, and my arms were getting sore, but also kinda sad because I could have used three more hours of pay.

Also, I got to shelve approx. 250 calendars relating to specific dog breeds. It really sucked because they were completely mixed up and out of order in the boxes but I had the shelve them alphabetically. It took forever. I swear, I don’t want to look at another dog for the rest of the week (except I’m gonna have to on Monday or Tuesday when I do stock/merchandising for the store I’ll actually be working in).

As a reward (and since we left at noon) for finishing really and working hard, I decided to spend the money I had set aside for lunch from the food court on tea instead, since the bus ride is only twenty minutes and DAVIDsTEA is so close to Calendar Club (plus, I’ll be working at a different location now so I’m not sure exactly when I’ll have a chance to head back out there). I wanted to pick up another Mate so I have more variety for breakfast on early morning when I have to get up, which will be happening much more frequently now. I got Main Squeeze, so I’ll be logging that pretty shortly.

Bedtime tea (also in an attempt to soothe my aching body).

I definitely underleafed, this one brewed up pretty weak tonight. Still, there’s a lovely eucalyptus and grapefruit taste and since I under leafed there’s not too much tartness from the hibiscus.

I let it sit a bit too long and now it’s cooled to a weird kinda lukewarm temperature. Not the best cup I’ve had of this, but considering how little effort I put into making it I really shouldn’t complain.