16790 Tasting Notes
Bit of a backlog from earlier this morning.
Woke up with a serious craving for this tea. Don’t really know why, since I wasn’t in love with this the first time I drank it. Maybe I just needed a stronger black tea with a little vanilla creaminess to it.
Steeped for around four minutes I think? First few sips, and sort of what I was craving? There’s the strong black tea base which is soothing right now, but there’s not really much creaminess to it. I think I actually noted that the first time I drank it, so what’s up tastebuds? I don’t really know what I was thinking exactly – I’m definitely craving something with a strong black tea base but MUCH more cream. I think I have to break my own rules and add milk and sugar to this.
Added about a tablespoon of milk and half a teaspoon of sugar. Still a very strong black tea flavour, but now the creaminess I wanted is there along with a more obvious vanilla.
I think I’m in a weird tea drinking mood today.
Midnight tea? I think yes! Wanted something without caffeine because I’m actually hoping to fall asleep soon… Fingers crossed. Wasn’t really digging any of the herbal teas I have right now, so Birthday Cake it is! Honestly, this is the only rooibos tea I have on hand – I should really try out some more or restock on ones I’ve tried in the past and liked (last time I was at DAVIDsTEA, the salesman was telling me about October’s tea of the month – a rooibos blend called Currant Affair; I absolutely love anything with currants, so maybe I can hold out until then).
Ah Birthday Cake, the tea that started it all! This was the very first loose leaf tea I ever tried, the tea that introduced me to DAVIDsTEA and, evidently, the tea that introduced me to my borderline addiction of loose leaf teas and the Steepster community! I hold a special place in my heart for Birthday Cake.
The dry leaf smells divine – like sickly sweet vanilla cake with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream! Now that I’m more familiar with loose leaf teas and rooibos tea specifically I can faintly smell the “woodiness” of the base tea that apparently turns some people off from rooibos teas. The sprinkles in the loose leaf are so flipping cute and I remember it totally blew my mind the first time I bought this (for my friend Skylar’s birthday – she too has a great love of tea and this seemed cute and quirky to me) seeing that tea could have things like sprinkles in it.
Steeped, there’s a very oily sheen on the top of the cup – likely from the artificial flavourings and the sprinkles. I know that bugs some people, but it doesn’t really bug me.
I don’t think I love this tea as much as I did when I first tried it and was (even more) inexperienced in the way of loose leaf. The flavour seems ‘lighter’ to me now that I’ve tried much more flavorful teas. Still, this tea is still good. There’s a very present vanilla taste which is more than satisfying the sugary sweet vanilla flavour I was craving.
I get more of an impression of vanilla cake batter or vanilla icing than baked cake itself (although the smell is very much like the smell of a cake baking in the over), however this might be more of a psychological thing since cake is a solid but cake batter or icing are liquid. I don’t know – does that make sense? There’s a pleasantly “eggy” quality to the tea, and a creaminess that I associate with the vanilla, but also with milk (even though I haven’t added any). I’m thinking that’s from the dehydrated ice cream bits which would actually contain milk.
So even though I’m not as in love with this tea as I used to be, I do still deeply enjoy it (and obviously still crave it from time to time) and it holds a very special significance for me. Tonight, this was the perfect bedtime tea!
Preparation
Figured I’d best give the other matcha that Lala sent me a fair try before I rule it out as a tea type that I don’t like, and since I spent a fairly busy day grocery shopping with Tre and am WAY too sore (recently started an “at home” exercise routine type thing – basically 10 minutes when I wake up, consistently whenever my electric kettle is boiling something, which is often, and 10 minutes before I go to bed; I am SO out of shape it’s not even funny) to actually cook or to go through a more elaborate process of making tea tonight this seemed like a good idea.
I’ve read on a few reviews that I good, and easy, way to make matcha cold is to put some into a water bottle with a smaller amount of water, shake the ever living crap out of it, and then fill the rest of the bottle and shake that all up – so that’s the method I tried. The water bottle I have isn’t really specifically for tea, and I’m not totally sure how many ounces is holds. I want to guess somewhere between 10 and 14 ounces? I used about half the sample that Lala sent me to mix up.
Taste wise, this is A LOT better than the MATCHAccino. I’m able to drink this without gagging or feeling like I’m going to throw up – which I think is a plus for any tea drinker (or at least I’m hoping that’s something many of you consider a plus). I believe that what Lala sent me was “Robust” flavouring (I quickly browsed the RLT’s website to see how matcha is sold and the naming/grading/whatever word I’m looking for system they used, and then checked the ratings for this one here on Steepster – I think I recall Lala saying it was robust).
Honestly? I don’t taste any green tea which is a HUGE plus. In fact, if the drink wasn’t green itself I don’t think I’d have remembered it was green tea. Taste wise, it’s reminding me of Nibs with sort of a cough syrupy aftertaste. That might just be the portions I used, though. It’s not the tastiest thing I’ve ever drank – and even though Tre LOVED the MATCHAccino he wont even try this one because he hates cherries. However, even though I don’t LOVE this it’s palatable for sure, and it gives me enough hope to try a few different kinds of matcha from RLT in flavours I like a bit more. I here the Caramel matcha is really good and since caramel is one of my favourite flavours I might give that a go.
Hope is not lost! And I definitely will be finishing off this sample.
Thanks Lala!
Holy tea! The lovely and incredibly generous Lala sent me a package of teas to try out (mostly straight green and whites, among a few others) and now I just have so much to try out! I wasn’t really sure where exactly to start, so I let my roommate make the first pick…
So, starting out with some unflavoured MATCHAccino. I had to look up how I’m supposed to make this – so fingers crossed I’m doing this the correct way. I guess I have enough that I can try another cup in different proportions if I need to.
I’m making some in “iced cap” format for Tre and I.
On it’s own, the dry MATCHAccino mix doesn’t smell so bad – very sweet, but definitely green tea. I want to like green tea, though! So of course I’m excited to try this.
All mixed/blended up now. It looks… Well, lets just say that typically I’d be pretty cautious about drinking something so green. Unless we’re talking vegetables, there’s some sort of instinct that I feel most people posses that talks them out of eating suspicious green foods.
It smells really, really sweet. Fingers crossed?
First few sips… ICK. YUCK. NOPE. It tastes like horribly sweet grass. NO. NO. NO. I do not want to drink more of this. Seriously, I LOVE the smell of actual sweet grass – you know, the type used in First Nations ceremonies. It smells so good, and that’s why the dry powder form of this smells like. But, ewwww. It’s too sweet and too grassy. I’m sure it’s not the tea or sample’s fault – but I just DON’T like it.
On the plus side? Tre does. He can drink the rest of my cup for me.
Dala also sent some Black Cherry flavoured Matcha for me to try, and it smells REALLY good too. It was going to be the next one I tried, but now I’m not so sure. I want to like it, but I’m not sure. Maybe it’ll be like other green teas – much more palatable flavoured as opposed to straight.
I’m gonna try and use up the last of Lala’s sample of this one though – in a hot format. Maybe it’ll be better that way? She sent lots of green teas, so I’m really hoping I find at least one type that I like. If nothing else, her generosity will lead into a great learning experience & further proof that green tea just isn’t my thing.
Had an amazing cup of this and then promptly resteeped it to have some more. Not really gonna comment on the initial cup because it was pretty much the same as the cup I noted last night.
The resteep was decently good. Dominant tastes were lemon and white and green tea. Basically no notes of bergamot, which is a shame.
This was my summer treat to myself! I absolutely love pineapple, in almost any form, and I also really enjoy coconut too – so it’s no surprise that Pina Colada is a favourite flavour of mine.
The dry leaf smells exactly like it should: a pina colada! The smell of the pineapple and coconut is really quite strong, and you can’t really smell any of the other ingredients. The little sugar hearts are a cute touch as well, and it’s hard for me to resist picking both them and the pineapple bits out of the tin for eating.
I drank a lot of this iced over the summer – it’s just delicious and really flavourful, and SO refreshing. I really should make the effort to go to my local DAVIDsTEA to refill my tin before they run out of this one! The leaf in my tin is pretty sparse and although I probably won’t be drinking this one as much now that it’s getting to be fall, I still want to have the OPTION of drinking it.
This is actually my first time drinking it hot, and I’m not totally sure what to expect – this tea is delicious cold brewed but I somehow just can’t picture drinking a Pina Colada hot. It just seems so… Contradictory.
Steeping, it’s a very sweet and aromatic pina colada smell with some creaminess to it that can probably be attributed to the coconut. I think I can very lightly smell the apple, but it’s not a strong smell and it’s mostly buried under the very dominating pineapple and coconut.
I gave this a long steep time: the full seven minutes. There’s a lot of flavour in my first few sips (well, more gulps really). Pineapple is the first flavour – very sweet and slightly tart. The pineapple then develops into a very full bodied coconut with a HIGH level of creaminess. This is leaving my mouth watering, but I still feel very refreshed. It’s a very smooth tea with light floral notes from the rose, safflower, and marigold.
Even though I prefer not to add anything to my tea, I bet with a bit of rum or a splash of cream this would be heavenly – maybe worthy of a perfect ‘100’. To my list of things to try out, I’m adding both of those additions to this tea! I’d also love to try adding some leaves from DT’s Buttered Rum. Has anyone else done that yet?
As a hot tea, I honestly like this as much (if not more) than I do as a cold tea. Probably an unpopular opinion, I know. I think I’m going to attribute that to the fact that I prefer hot tea in general. I really, REALLY need to buy more of this.
EDIT: Got a really good second steep of this one! I’m not really sure how long it was steeping – I lost track of time. It was definitely longer than 10 minutes though. This steep tastes nearly identical to the previous cup, but with a very sharp note of tart and sour apple on the end of the sip.
Preparation
Final cup of the night? Probably…
Enjoying ANTM and catching up on the last few episodes. I don’t know why, but I’m rooting for the guys this cycle so much more than the girls. Only guy I dislike at this point is Marvin (though, I still like him more than most of the girls) – but I’m seriously supporting Chris, Phil, and Nina.
I keep coming back to this tea though! It really is perfect for all moods.
Preparation
Trying out the last of my DT purchases from today! Of the three I bought, this one was my Dad’s favourite. He really has a thing for white teas, where as I usually lean towards a good black tea.
I really like Earl Grey teas in general, so this was my sort of “experiment” on the Earl Grey front; I’ve never tried an Earl Grey with an non-black base. My expectations of this one were for it to be much lighter.
I didn’t really make any notes while I was drinking this one – I was too preoccupied with cooking my supper and flipping out at Tre for filling the whole apartment with smoke and the really nasty smell of burnt charcoal. He decided to make himself one of MY mini pizzas – without asking, I might add, when he had no idea how to cook them; basically he cooked a miniature one person sized pizza at 600 degree temperatures for somewhere between five and 10 minutes. Of course the entire thing was completely burnt and a solid black colour. He was going to make himself another one, but I guilted him into not wasting one of my pizza shells and instead eating the disgusting burnt mess he made himself.
If I’m recalling correctly, the dry leaf for this one smells pretty strongly of bergamot, with a really nice light lemon smell. The only reason I found this one was because I was searching the DT website for teas with lemon in them – my cupboard is pretty lacking of lemony teas (other than the God awful Lipton tea I have for when family comes over). And I swear, my little yogurt bits were sparkling. Like – a full on “Twilight Vampire” shimmery white.
I have to admit, I’m not entirely sure how long this cup was steeped – like I said, I had a little bit going on that distracted me. I’m sure, at the very least, that it was less than five minutes. Steeped, the liquor is sort of a peachy yellow. The smell was pretty much just bergamot – the lemon scent I think had been pretty much lost.
The bergamot in this is pretty strong (which is fine – I like bergamot), but the lightness of the lemon and the creaminess of the yogurt bits manage to keep that from making this a heavier tea. It still remains light and fresh. I remember there being an almost grassy aftertaste, so that was probably the green tea added in to this. I didn’t realize until I’d gotten home there was green tea in this mix (not really a green tea fan) – but I think I’d have still made the purchase even if I’d known there was green tea in it.
Overall, I like my Cream of Earl Grey from DT better – but this is still really good. I can see how there’ll be days when I’ll crave this over my other Earl Greys (or just crave it in general).
