16374 Tasting Notes
Well balls.
Janelle just got here, and after adding in all my samples I purchased from her I’m now at 94 teas – which is the most I’ve ever had, with tons more on the way still. I have so many choices, and no idea what to dig into next.
Thankfully, after trying one of my RiverTea blends I had already started making this one (have to try something from each package, after all) so that makes the current decision much easier. After this, though, I think I need to tear into my Della Terra samples next so I can decide what I just need to pick up during their Black Friday sale. So, that leaves four Della Terra samples to finish (or at least try once) within a day and a half. I can do that.
Anyway, I stuck to the package instructions for this one. With the limited amount of Butiki teas I’ve tried – Stacy’s steeping instructions have yet to steer me wrong. Dry, the leaf for this smells quite like natural unprocessed maple (which I suppose it is). I feel like a lot of teas that try to recreate that sort of “maple syrup” kind of maple go WAY too sugary and sweet – but this smells just right. Sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. A gentle maple sweetness if you will. The pecan also comes through in smell, to me a bit less than the maple though.
Taste wise – this is a very gentle cup with delicate flavours. When the tea first met my lips I got some very slight citrus notes that were quite present and even though in the initial sip you do taste maple and pecan, the flavours from the two don’t really feel like they start to “set in” until you’re swallowing – and then your mouth is left with this very rich maple pecan taste, with the pecan really being the star in the end. Super creamy and smooth and just perfect – like I imagined it would be. I like that about Butiki teas: they live up to your expectations (and often exceed them) in my experience.
I think this is a perfect tea for when you want something sweet but not overpowering. I think this will be the perfect tea for when I’m in the mood to just have a quiet and relaxed evening, like now. Just sorta simply perfect. I have no reservations – this is going straight into the blue oolong tin that Tre bought me yesterday as part of my “gonna have to keep restocked” collection of teas.
Can’t wait to resteep :)
EDIT: The resteep was still very good – I feel like I got more citrus and pecan notes and less maple. Ultimately, though I think I liked the first steep better.
This is the first tea I’m trying from the teas I won in RiverTea’s “what would you do for 100g of your favourite tea” contest. Although, it was really hard to pick out of the five teas they sent me. This one, along with two other cherry teas, was a sample size and then I got what I’m guessing is 50g each of two different teas: a mango vanilla black (which I just totally love the name of) and a mulberry white. Admittedly, I think I decided on this one because when I opened my Butiki order up the first smell I was hit with was the very intense smell of the lychee in the Lychee Oolong that I ordered.
I took a few pictures of everything as I was opening the package up, and just a few moments ago uploading everything to Tumblr. This is the link if you’re curious:
Personally, I love the packaging. Everything is beautifully packaged and has a very personal and humble feel to it. It get the impression everything was put together with time, attention, and care. My only complaint would be that the teas I received in larger quantity have no listed ingredients or steeping parameters. For Boatsman, the mango vanilla black, I can sorta just stick with the parameters on the two black samples I received but for the mulberry white I’m going to have to do a bit more guess work.
Also, I can’t believe a company with a mulberry tea would pass at the opportunity to name it something fun like “Pop Goes The Weasle” :P
You have to see the opportunity and then seize it! I love teas with fun names – it really makes them stand out and, personally, it draws me in more when I’m shopping online. If I see something like “Mango Black” listed on a website I’m less likely to click on it for additional details than I am to click on something like “Boatsman” (I just really love the name of this one, for whatever reason, so it’s my example tea right now) so I can find out what’s in that blend. That’s part of why I love DAVIDsTEA so much: a lot of the time their blends have really fun names.
Anyway, dry this tea has a very light and subtle lychee smell. It’s somewhere in between the realm of artificial and natural smelling, but leaning more towards natural. I’m so determined to find the perfect lychee tea – so I do have high hopes (especially for a tea named “The Tea of Kings”).
I steeped 1 tsp. in boiling water for three minutes, as per RiverTea’s steeping guide. As it steeped, the aroma got to be significantly stronger. As it’s brewing now, the lychee doesn’t smell artificial at all and the black base smells a lot more strong and bold.
Here are a couple more pictures:
Sipping at this slowly now; the black tea base is the first flavour present each sip. It’s strong and bold – so I get the “of kings” comparison. There’s also ZERO bitterness and astringency: this is a very good black tea base that goes down quite easily. The black tea taste then transitions quite smoothly into this very sweet and lush lychee taste that reminds me of eating straight lychees. The lychee does NOT taste artificial or perfumey to me, which I’m so thankful of. This delicious fruity tastes lingers for a very, very long time in the aftertaste which really allows you to draw out each sip and take your time enjoying every last bit of the cup.
I’m really enjoying how this is very rich and flavourful and gives the impression of being complex without actually relying on a large variety of ingredients to create a huge taste profile. Often times that translates into a very overwhelming and overly complicated tea. This is simple and I appreciate that. I don’t think I can call it the “perfect” lychee tea, and it’s not the best lychee tea I’ve ever tried in general – however it IS the best black lychee tea I’ve ever had, and by a long shot too.
So as a first tasting of RiverTea I’m very impressed!
EDIT: As it cools down, the lychee gets even more intense and flavourful which just makes this SO good!
EDIT: I take back my complaint about lack of ingredients lists/no steeping parameters on the two larger amounts of tea I recieved. Apparently I just wasn’t looking hard enough: both the steeping parameters and ingredients are listed on the bottoms of the tins.
Well, depending on how you look at it, I’ve had a really good tea day and a really bad tea day…
I got up literally three hours ago and since waking up I’ve added 21 teas to my cupboard – and the day is not yet done. I’m expecting to meet up with Janelle today and purchase the samples I wanted from her tea stash which shall add about ten more teas to my cupboard. Yikes!
So, after waking up the first thing I did (after checking steepster, of course) was catch the bus to the mall so I could go to the bank to take out my rent money and the money I’ll be owing Janelle for the teas. Of course Tea Desire is in that mall so I had to stop in to, if nothing else, say hi to the sales ladies and get a tea to go. Of course, in addition to having this as my tea to go, I walked away with 50g each of two mores teas (Prickly Pear, which I think will be excellent for cold brewing, and Brasiliano which is a mate that smells SO indulgent).
I had this on the bus ride back home, and I have to say I was not totally impressed. Shelby, my favourite sales lady, said this was a favourite of hers and highly recommended it, so I took a chance but I’m glad now that I only got it as a tea to go and didn’t purchase any.
Taste wise, the black tea base had a very chemical taste to it that I just couldn’t shake. It was super present and it ruined any other positives this tea had. I’m wondering if a shorter steep time would reduce the harshness of that chemical taste, but I also did allow it to steep for exactly the time that Shelby said she liked it best.
There were positives, though (just sadly out weighed by the harsh chemicalness)! The vanilla that managed to come through was very smooth and natural tasting, and the grenadine was sweet in a way that wasn’t cloying like I’d imagine a grenadine tea to be. It almost but not quite reminded me of a Shirley Temple.
When I got home, I saw that in the 40 minutes I’d been gone I’d recieved not one, but two parcels of tea! My order from Butiki had come in, and I’m SUPER impressed by how quickly that made it to me. I definitely was not expecting to get everything by Black Friday. Also, Stacy was super kind and added an extra sample to my order (Irish Breakfast)!
And, the package from RiverTea which I won in their “what would you do for 100g of your favourite tea” arrived today as well! Considering it was coming from Berlin and mailed out less than two weeks ago I’m also very impressed by how quickly it got here, and seeing as I’m one of five people to get to ‘pre-try’ their teas I definitely opened that one up first. All the packaging looks beautiful, and they even sent me this super cool steeper shaped like a musical note! I took some pictures of things as I was opening the package up, so I’ll be sure to link them in my first review of their tea. It’s neat because I can definitely see how they picked teas for my to try out based on the flavours I told them I’m interested in! It feels super personalized and I’m incredibly thankful!
Now the only problem is what to have first…
My day started off so poorly, but somehow it managed to end in the best way possible! Catching Fire was SO FREAKING AMAZING (not gonna lie, I cried so much: I get way too emotional watching movies – and OH the sexy that is Sam Claflin had my heart racing the whole movie…)
Actually, earlier in the day right before leaving to go to the movies I got another parcel in the mail! This one was from LovelyLotus and I’m very excited to try out the teas in it: especially Coconut Grove. I’m kinda peeved though – Tre ended up trying that one before I got the chance (I’ll elaborate later in the note, though). Also, I wasn’t able to find the extra tea you threw in so I added it to Steepster myself, but if you know how it’s listed (and happen to see this) it would be awesome if you could point me towards it! I’m quite curious to try that one too…
After adding all that into my cupboard I went off to the movies with Robyn! Like I said earlier, the movie was SO AMAZEBALLS! Everything was perfect and everything hurt. I cried so much, I laughed so much, and I’m so excited to see how everything else unfolds (I have read the books though – I know how shit goes down, just excited to see it on the big screen). Debating rereading the series now…
I brought this tea with in a Timolino. I can’t resist David’s “challenge” on the tin to sneak this into the theatre (although I wasn’t too sneaky about it – I pretty much openly carried it in and I definitely openly drank it). Actually, this is the second time I’ve drank this AT the movies. First time was watching Mortal Instruments, coincidentally also with Robyn (but in Regina).
For prep. I used 1 tbsp. of leaf in my timolino steeped in near boiling water for about 4 minutes. It smelled heavenly: nice and buttery, just like it should be. At the theater, I actually downed half a large bag of buttered popcorn before breaking out the tea – and I can say having had both the tea and actual theater popcorn in close proximity (also having worked in a movie theater for over a year and eating a lot of/becoming very knowledgeable about popcorn) the taste is pretty close to bang on. Maybe it’s in part due to my over exposure to actual popcorn, but I think the tea form is actually better.
The blend I have is pre reblend where they included a butt ton of maple flavour – so it’s nice and buttery popcorn and very light buttery green apple tasting. It’s a GREAT flavoured green and one of few I keep stocked. I’m really hesitant to try the new maple version, though. Change is not always good…
On the bus ride home I was really shocked! I didn’t expect it at all, but Tre (my roommate) got on the bus at the same stop as I did, right after. Apparently he had gone to see Catching Fire too, and I’d just had zero idea. What was more shocking, he had a DAVIDsTEA bag with him too. I’d run into him on the bus after he’d gone Christmas shopping for me. I’m actually still laughing a little trying to imagine him in the store actually buying tea.
He said he tried a sample of Gingerbread and really liked it, and I pointed out that I have a 100g tin at home that I’ve been telling him he needs to try but he’s been refusing to because “it smells spicy”. Yeah…
Anyway, he said he might as well give me my present now since it wasn’t a secret. I think, considering he typically pays zero attention to what I’m saying in regard to tea, he did a pretty good job buying for me… He got me two coloured tins: the blue oolong one and the red rooibos one. If he listened he would have known I’m super specific about the tins I use: blends that are actually from DAVIDsTEA go in silver tins (if they’re blends I plan on restocking) with the DAVIDsTEA labels and the little coloured sticker tab that catagorizes them. Blends from any other tea store that I plan on restocking are labelled by hand and go in coloured tins associated with their tea type based on the DAVIDsTEA colour system. I’m sure they’ll get filled though – I have a large Butiki order on the way which includes rooibos and oolong blends and I’m sure there’ll be at least one of each I’ll want to permanently stock.
The other thing he bought me was 50g of Choconut Oolong: that means I now have about 190g of choconut oolong. Thankfully, unlike many others, I really like it. Hopefully I like it enough to drink 190g of it. It’s funny, he said he remembered me talking about how yummy it was (so it’s thoughtful he bought me some because of that) but somehow he doesn’t remember me specifically having him smell it like six times and each time having him proclaim it to be “the worst tea he’s ever smelled”. And, he doesn’t remember my saying that Robyn was coming over to specifically have it – or talking on and on about my excitement for “Nutella” tea, or my telling him about getting 100g for free after doing a random act of kindness and giving a to go tea to a homeless man outside the mall… Yeah, it’s a tea that gets talked about a lot at home.
So, I guess if anyone wants to try a bit I have some to spare?
Then when we got home I gave him his Christmas gift early (a Doctor Who calendar) and offered to make him tea. This is where the Coconut Grove from LovelyLotus comes in. Of course he asked for that one – and I haven’t had the chance to personally try it. But, I had said he could have anything so I made some for him anyway… He was patient enough with me to listen to me rant about the steeping parameters and to actually follow them. I think he felt my pain about not being the first in the house to try it. Dear God did it smell amazing… Can’t wait to try it tomorrow. Maybe in the morning for breakfast.
Anyway, this is a long tasting note and I stopped talking about Movie Night a while ago, so I think I’m going to end here…
Glad you had a good night.
I almost never buy concessions at the movies. We’ve been bringing in stuff for years. The only place I didn’t was at a theatre I used to go to that charged $2.00/movie ( they were in a price war with another company, and this was a long time ago now). That theatre made all it’s money on concessions so we obliged.
Love it! and I feel like you usually describe tree as a bit of a bumbling fool (bless his heart) and so I think it’s so sweet he bought you tea! :) :)
I worked for Cineplex for more than a year, and prior to working there I usually snuck all my food in because I felt gouged by ticket prices, but after working there I learned that just like the smaller theatre company you’re describing about 95% of the money from buying tickets does NOT go to the theatre company – nearly ALL their money and profit comes from concession. So, I very rarely sneak in food now or, at the very least, sneak some food in and buy the rest. I know that concession is overpriced (in fact I know the exact mark up on most concession items) but I guess I feel sympathetic having worked there. I also always try to buy concession combos because I know that 99% of the employees there are making minimum wage and I know exactly how shitty a job it is with super shitty hours… That ties into the combos because as employees we make a small commission on each one we sell.
I didn’t know about the commissions. Actually, the theatre was owned by one of the larger companies. It was just in a a battle for business with one of the other chains. I do buy food now and again but usually not the combos because the drinks are too huge. Most of the time I don’t go to the theatre anymore anyways. The volume is so loud at most of the theatres that I have to wear ear plugs or be in pain for most of the movie, so I guess I’m not one of their major customers. My mother mostly brought in snacks because she was a bit of a health nut and wouldn’t buy most of what was on offer at the time. Thanks for letting me know.
So, my day started off really shitty but thankfully it seems to have full turned around! I’m so pumped for tonight and seeing Catching Fire with Robyn since (and I don’t want to jinx it, so knock on wood) everything seems to be going my way!
First, my unexpected shift at work went by SUPER quickly and I had a really, really good hour or so conversation with the manager at the yogurt bar near my kiosk. Turns out she’s a huge tea fan too, and not just the “I’m strictly familiar with DAVIDsTEA” and “OMG TEA CAN HAVE CHOCOLATE IN IT!?” type of tea fan either. It was super cool getting to talk to someone in person (other than Robyn, of course) about tea and use all the ‘lingo’ and not have to ‘dumb down’ the way I was talking.
And then, walking home, I thought about the possibility of there being one of the swaps I’m expecting in the mail today possibly. That cheered me up, and although I didn’t find anything I was expecting in the mailbox I did find something I wasn’t expecting! I didn’t even know she was doing anything like this, but the angelic Lala was SO super kind to send me a totally surprise holiday card with a tea sample in it! Gah! The kindness and generosity on Steepster is just too much, and I really really needed this unexpected gesture of kindness today to make my day better! Thanks so much Lala and Merry Steeping and Happy Sipping to you too (and PS. the card is SO FREAKING CUTE)!
Then, on top of the other things that are going good, the cut on my gums that’s been giving me so much displeasure it healing up super quickly and nicely – and I’m totally going to credit sticking these Lipton tea bags in my mouth as the reason! It’s really nice to be able to drink tea without it hurting me doing so.
Lastly, and maybe the best thing of all, my dear friend Renee talked to me today! This might not seem like a big thing, but she’s been my BEST friend since 8th grade, we worked at the movie theatre together for nearly a year and she’s just so special to me. Sadly, the last few months before I moved I was going through some really bad depression and we grew apart and then, after moving to my new town, we completely fell out of contact despite my spending my first month and a half hear trying to talk to her. I was told from several people (friends and former coworkers) that she had grown to hate me the last few months before I moved, was happy I was gone, and no longer considered me a friend. That was a huge blow, and sorta sent me back into a depression (which I’ve been doing so much better coming out of this last month). So, it’s a BIG DEAL that today she messaged ME out of the blue and actually started catching up with me (and we’re now making amends). I’m quite literally crying tears of joy. Pure fucking joy. This was ALL that I needed to completely erase every little bit of shittyness that it feels like has been dumped on me since moving.
It’s SO SO SO good to know that I haven’t lost my best friend. Everything feels good now, and I feel like I’m going to be ok and I just felt like I had to share that. Steepster has been amazing for me and amazing in giving me a group of truly caring individuals to talk to and share a passion with. Just, what a great turn around to an awful starting day. I truly feel blessed.
Wow that got there quick. I am glad it helped to cheer up your day!
It probably helps that you’re only a city away. And it definitely helped cheer my day up! It’s a great feeling receiving mail just as thoughtful as it is unexpected! I instantly smiled! I’m also curious to try a Cuppa’T blend since I only started exploring different tea stores after moving – and therefore missed out on visiting this store! The tea you sent me smells heavenly, though ^^
Urghhhhh…
I’m so close to snapping. I feel sorry for the next customer who dares do something stupid like interrupt me to ask some stupid question mid sale. I know that’s poor customer service, but you have to understand that today was supposed to be my first day off in fourteen days. Did you get that? FOURTEEN FUCKING DAYS. And, instead of getting to sleep in and relax and be lazy I got a phone call from one of my employees and SIX IN THE FUCKING MORNING saying she couldn’t come in today because she was sick. Of course none of my other employees have the damn availability to fill her shift so that leaves me.
I’m grumpy and super pissed – my nerves are fried and every part of me feels sore. I needed this day off. But I guess I’m not allowed to have nice things… The one thing I’m thankful for, though, is that at least the shift I had to pick up doesn’t overlap with my plans with Robyn to see Catching Fire tonight. I need me some Finnick Odair (mmm, sexy Sam Claflin) and time with one of my only friends in the city.
Anyway, obviously a mate was the tea of choice this morning. With how exhausted I am and all the frayed nerves (I swear my right eye keeps twitching every couple minutes, and then the rest of the time it’s taking all my effort to even keep my eyes open) and energy boost seemed like the perfect idea. And, this is my favourite Mate, atm.
It’s nice and tropical today, but especially “earthy” and mate tasting today too. For prep. I used 2 tsp. for my 12 oz. timolino steeping in boiling water for six minutes. I’m thinking maybe taste wise I should have opted for a shorter steep time – but ‘added energy benefits’ wise I’m happy I went with a longer time so as to leech out all the good mate energy I could.
I am sorry! I hope you hear a kind word to brighten your day soon!
Thank you. It probably doesn’t help that, aside from my tea, since taking over as manager three weeks ago my diet has been almost entirely mall food (A&W, Taco Time, etc.). I’m sure I’d be feeling better right now if I was eating a little better – I’m just not spending enough time at home to cook good meals and, when I do have time to cook something, I’m typically completely exhausted from all the work. It’s a vicious cycle :(
How annoying to have to go in on your day off! Complain all you want here! I hope your day starts to look up.
slow cooker?
Understand.. I’ve had a couple jobs I lived at ie, cruise ship and when I worked on a Bear Study near Chapleau. At the Bear Study we would work through and then take a week or two off. I think I went 32 days straight once. On the other hand pretty everyone loved the job and we lived in a beautiful and incredible place, and we could take afternoons every once and a while and go rock climbing or biking etc. Towards the end of it I think we were all going a little bit loopy as the bears wandered off to forage for berries and out Boss was forcing us to be home by 6:30 pm ( we could easily stay out much later if he didn’t).
That sucks, Roswell! I had a manager who always used to have me work 10-14 days in a row and did that to no one else in the store, and on top of that, would stick my 3-4 hour shifts smack in the middle of the day so my life revolved around that damn job. It’s so wrong. I hope you’ll get some time to relax soon!
yyz – Damn! I don’t know if I could ever do 32 days. Until this job, the longest I had done was twelve. I guess it’s a little bit different when you’re doing a job you love (and making good money?). I personally hate my job, and though I’m making more than minimum wage now it’s not a whole lot more. I think that makes long stretches like this harder.
Incendiare – I’m not sure where you live, but in my province technically it breaks labour laws to have someone do more than six days in a row. The only reason I’m working so much is because it’s elective (for the most part because I don’t want to be that douchey manager who over works my staff). I’d never schedule my employees for a long stretch like this – and I’m trying to do my very best to meet their availability and give them around the hours they want. It’s just hard when two of three employees have restrictive availability and I’m left to fill in the gap between the times they can work (their availability does not overlap).
I’m supposed to have tomorrow off (if my employee doesn’t call in sick again – she’s working tomorrow too) so maybe I’ll have the chance to rest a bit.
That’s very noble of you to do that as a manager. As for me, that was in Alberta. You’re supposed to get one day off per week, or two consecutive days off if you worked two consecutive weeks but of course that manager never followed it. Complain and you get your hours cut even more. So I admire you for going over and above instead of taking it out on your employees, but you need to take care of yourself too. :)
Actually that job was uni internship type job so we made close to minimum and had to pay union dues as well! However we had free room and board to make up for it, and it was the kind of job that people would and did volunteer for. I survived Christmas season at the Body Shop though where are store was the highest grossing store in the mall next to sears. Probably that experience is closer. We were chronically understaffed, and people would volunteer to wrap gifts or take lunch in the stock room just to get away from it all at times. As far as labour laws I’m not sure about Saskatoon but we had to have 36 hrs off in seven days or 3 days off in 17 when I worked for the airline.
I really wanted to make myself black tea, but it also happens to be nearly 1 AM so my options for that were really limited (didn’t want the caffeine). Thankfully I bought this decaff bagged tea not too long ago. I looked at the box, and my thought was instantly “Ooh! This will be perfect with a splash of milk: great for ending the night on”. It wasn’t until about half way through steeping it that I realized I don’t have any milk in the house…
D’oh!
I’m going through my cupboard right now, trying to figure out how many teas I’ll have after my 52Teas and Butiki orders come in (both of which are placed), I receive all the swaps I’m expecting, and I get my Black Friday orders. It’s gonna be a really significant increase. I am limiting myself in regard to Black Friday, though – the only places I’ll be making orders are Della Terra and Butiki (second half of what I was gonna order with my first order). If Harney & Sons would have had a killer sale that applied to Canadians, I’d probably be placing my first order with them though… That basically covers the bulk of what’s on my shopping list atm.
I’m wondering if I could get down to 50 teas if I REALLY pushed to sipdown the few samples I have left. Of course, that’d never happen if any of the swaps I’m expecting arrive before Friday. Hmmm…
Anyway, this tea is good tonight – though I am disappointed in the lack of milk. I’m trying to price out my Black Friday orders and it looks like there isn’t enough on my prepaid visa card to cover them both, which means I’ll be using Tre’s credit card. Usually I give him cash equivalent to what I’ve bought, but our deal this time is that what ever I spend goes towards groceries/rent.
I love the smell of this blend so much! It seems kind of festive/seasonally accurate too – though not totally sure why. The only other blend that’s REALLY put me into the seasonal mood scent wise as much as this is David’s Gingerbread. That one smells heavenly too. Taste wise, for whatever reason I’m getting apple notes buried under all the vanilla, cinnamon, and clove. I didn’t get that last time – but I’m not necessarily complaining about getting that this time either.
Also, I’m very thankful Tre wasn’t home from work sooner this evening: I was watching Supernatural and had this ‘totally smooth move’ where I got distracted by something going on in the show and missed my mouth taking a huge gulp of tea. I literally (and I mean literally) poured half a thermos of tea straight onto my chest and all over my lap and the couch. Thankfully, my laptop was on the coffee table next to the couch and not directly on my lap (that could have been a horrid electronics disaster otherwise), and the tea was iced and not hot. But not a totally fun experience.
Supernatural will do that to a person:)
I do stupid things like that often: I’m afraid I’m not the most graceful of people. Once I was eating cereal and talking to my brother and I completely missed my mouth with the spoon (twice). Instead I jabbed myself in the cheek and got soggy cornflakes all over my face.
Using this again not technically as a tea but just sticking the teabag straight into my mouth to ease the pain of my aching gums (which have been healing up nicely from being cut open since I started doing this these last two days). Eating plenty of sorbet helps too, I think.
Anyway – pseudo sipdown! Although, not on this tea. Tomorrow I’m gonna go see Catching Fire with Robyn and I’m also gonna take the opportunity to unload a whole bunch of unwanted teabags on her, which I’ve got all packaged up now. So, good riddance to Bigelow’s English Breakfast, Bentley’s English Breakfast, Earl Grey, and Raspberry, Anisa Tea’s Persian Tradition, and Lipton’s Lemon Lift.
I’d throw these bags in there too if they weren’t getting a practical use as a “gum healer”. God, doing this makes me gag. It’s like drinking sewage water and yet getting positive health benefits from it.
Maybe I’ll take going to the theatre tomorrow as an opportunity to sneak a Thermos of DAVIDsTEA’s Movie Night into the theatre (again)…
Decided to revisit this one today – and I’m also making it a sipdown since after making my Timolino full of this I sent the last bit off in a swap package. I figured I’d revisit it since I had relatively fond memories, but I doubted that I’d enjoy it enough to ever really get around to drinking up the last of it. I’m sure it’ll be better appreciated where it’s going…
For preparation, I steeped 1 tsp. in my timolino with 80 degree celsius water for two minutes. The tea liquor was a pale green yellow like last time – but this time for the quantity of water I used significantly less leaf so I’m expecting the taste to be a bit lighter than what I remember (thinking maybe that’ll ease up on any unwanted vegetalness). I can’t really judge anything from the smell: my timolino seems to have picked up a permanent “white chocolate” creamy type of smell from the White Chocolate Frost I had in it (although I’ve managed to get the lingering taste of that tea out).
Taste wise, I’m fighting through a little bit of bitterness. I guess the steep time I used was too much. However, once I fight through that kinda bitterness the result is a somewhat creamy kind of spinach/cucumbery taste. Not too bad. I think I’m gonna try and hold onto my initial memory of this though: I remember it tasting better that first time. The after taste here is quite pleasant though – and even though there’s vegetalness it’s not in a “seaweed” or “grassy” which so I’m not completely turning up my nose on this one.
I don’t drink straight greens often if ever so sometimes I forget you need to use a very ‘light touch’ with most of them – but over all I think both memories/tasting in mind (edit: I just went back and reread my last tasting note on this) I’m happy with my rating and satisfied with my decision to pass it on, though glad I took the opportunity to try it one more time.
I set some of this to cold steep a few days ago, although I’m only getting around to drinking some now. Basically, what had happened was I realized I really wanted a cold, creamy drink – milk or juice or something. Well, we haven’t had milk in the house for a couple of weeks now (which has been all kinds of a pain to me) since it’s Tre’s turn to buy it (amount lots of other things like bread, laundry detergent, cheese, and olive oil that I’ve been living without for a while now: I’m down to my last few pairs of pants and socks) and he’s broke. I’m trying to be a good supportive roommate with patience sinhce I know he has a job now and I just have to wait until his first paycheck: the bulk of which will be going to rent and then the last bit for laundry detergent, milk, and bread…
I decided that a good fix in the mean time would be to set up a ton of stuff to cold brew – it wasn’t an instant fix, but next time I was craving juice I’d have a good alternative! And that happened to be today.
When I set everything up, I used my normal jug of cold water but I was kinda light on the leaf: I used 1 tbsp and 1 tsp for the whole jug when normally I’d use a lot more. This is one of my favourite teas, and I’m only now realizing how quickly I’m burning through it (sadly it’s seasonal and might not even come back next year) so, admittedly, I was being stingy. To compensate I gave this an extra long time to sit and do its thing – about 30 hours.
I’m drinking it now at work and you can’t even tell I was light on the leaf: this is super flavourful! I find that one of the key differences from when you drink this cold and when you drink it hot is that cold it’s very much a sweet pineapple and not a tangy one, and the coconut is much richer and appararent (more apparent than the pineapple), and super creamy. I love this tea both ways the same amount but for slightly different reasons.Today this is tasting like Pineapple Lifesavers or a pineapple milkshake.
I have two mail related things I feel like talking about, but neither are super relevant to anything so feel free to guiltlessly stop reading at this point ;)
First, I almost knocked down a poor little old lady today while at the post office. I was sending out two swap packages – one for VariaTEA and one for akgrowngirl and was admittedly really rushed since I started work in 5 minutes (post office is only 15 ft. or so from my kiosk, but still). After paying for everything I quite quickly rounded the corner and basically crashed into this poor old lady. After apologizing profusely and having her reassure me to, firstly, she was perfectly ok and, secondly, not to feel bad (she hadn’t checked around the corner either) I left and went to work… But damn! I feel really bad :S
The second, is that I HATE working with UPS for delivering my weekly paperwork to head office. They only come every few weeks to bring me stock, and my paperwork is due every Monday so I have to call and arrange a pick up. That’d be fine, but the mall acousits make it nearly impossible to hear someone over the phone or be heard over the phone – and UPS’s pick up service is automated. I had to repeat the tracking number, my address, parcel weight, number of packages, time of pick up and all this other stupid information like ten times because I was struggling to hear this automated voice tell me instructions and because the automated voice was having issues hearing what I was saying. Gah!
Plus side, the UPS guy who comes every week for the pick up is SUPER adorable. He’s just the perfect amount of “man” and “cute/innocent” combined. He reminds me of Dean, Castiel, and Sammandriel (I don’t even know if I spelled that right) combined in the most perfect way… Yeah: you can tell I’m firstly watching too much Supernatural, don’t do enough other than drink tea/work, and definitely don’t have enough in person human contact other than as an employer/salesperson…
But dat smile and dat ass…
Another pet peeve – when people try to ask me questions when I’m RIGHT IN THE FREAKING MIDDLE of ringing someone’s purchase through. It’d piss you off if someone interupted the sales lady/man as they were ringing your stuff through the till so why do it to other people!? And, it’s especially frustrating when I’ve told them, kindly, “I’ll be able to help you out in just a moment” and then they still cut me off mid sentence as I’m ringing stuff in to ask something stupid like “How much are the calendars?”. Christ! They’re not all the same price – and while I know most of the prices off the top of my head I certainly don’t know the price for all 500+ calendars we sell.
Anyway – that’s been my day so far. Knocking down helpless elderly people, frustrating phone calls with UPS, hot UPS pick up men, and stupidly impatient customers. I least I have this nice, smooth iced tea to bring me back into a state of calm and near nirvana – though!
It looks like Tropicalia is on special on DAVIDsTEAs website! http://www.davidstea.com/tropicalia-250g?&TF=27F5948F6518&DEID=
Well damn – that’s certainly a dangerously tempting thing…
I have wanted to try this for so long. It is yet another Butiki tea that everyone just seems to love. I don’t think I have read a single bad review about it.
It was one of the top teas on my “if I ever have enough money for a Butiki order…” list. First Butiki tea I ever tried, though, was Watermelon Xylophone which I just think is so amazing! Since unpacking and finding storage spots for the 35 teas I acquired today I’m opened up all the packages from Butiki to smell the blends and EVERYTHING smells amazing, but ESPECIALLY the oolongs (I ended up getting five oolongs and then a sample size of an oolong).
**I’ve opened up