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When I first bought this tea I had no idea what was in it. I hadn’t read the ingredients list at all – I was just sort of interested in the name and sort of on a whim asked if I could smell it. It smelled like creamsicles to me, but heavy on the citrus. And there was a very, very faint smell of something I thought was mint. I got a very small amount of it to try – and I’m happy I did, because this has turned into a favourite herbal tea of mine that’s perfect for before bed on those days when everything has gone all wrong.

I now have about 100g of it – I find it THAT good.

To me, the dry leaf smells most predominantly of gooseberries and oranges – I still don’t get an overwhelming smell of the Spearmint and if there’s one thing I dislike about this tea, that’s probably it. I appreciate and welcome when a nice slap in the face of mint. For anyone who has never been fortunate enough to try cape gooseberries, you really should! They come in the coolest little husks and taste like a tropical tomato. The most similar taste comparison I can think of is a tart pineapple.

Steeped, the liquor is a brighter, just verging on a orange, yellow colour. The smell of the steeped tea, like I’ve seen mentioned here, is definitely creamsicle, with a freshness truly brought out by the Spearmint. And taste wise, I can taste the vanilla creaminess of a creamsicle too. The mild tartness definitely comes from the gooseberries, but it’s a tartness I really enjoy! And yes, way deep down I can taste spearmint too – more so on the tail end of the sip in a way that makes this a very refreshing tea.

I just love this tea though! At any temperature it’s delicious and occasionally I can even get a second steep out of it, albeit one much milder. Still good though!

A Gooseberry and Orange Creamsicle.

Out of the four teas I bought from Tea Desire, this is the one I was most interested in! It’s a flavoured green tea AND a Chai, both of which are tea types that are very hit or miss for me. However,smelling the dry leaf has me really excited to try it.

It’s hard because I have no idea how to explain how it smells, and yet I know EXACTLY what it smells like. In my senior year of high school in commercial cooking class we vegetarian “Sweet and Sour Meatballs”. The meatballs themselves were made with crushed nuts, yogurt, cottage cheese, and different sorts of shredded cheese. What the dry leaf really reminds me of is the “sauce” that the meatballs were cooked in. Sadly, I don’t remember all of the ingredients that went into the sauce, but the ones I do remember are ketchup and apricot jam (both in quite generous amounts), and then I know there was some sort of spice added to the sauce as well. The dry leaf smells exactly like this! And, that sauce was really weird – but SO good.

Following Tea Desire’s steeping instructions I’m steeping a generous teaspoon of this for about two and a half minutes. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect – but if this tea tastes anything close to how it smells I’m sure I’ll like it.

Steeping, the most prominent scents are cinnamon, cloves, and apricot. Maybe it’s because I’ve already made an association to those Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Meatballs, but I also smell a very sweet sort of tomato scent. The liquor actually reminds me of the colour of dried apricots or apricot jam.

First few sips… Mmmmm! It does taste more spicy than it smells, but in a good way. This is definitely a very sweet and spicy tea. Most prominently, I taste the cinnamon, pink pepper kernels, apricot, and cloves. I’m happy I’m not getting a distinct sense of ginger – it’s by far NOT one of my favourite flavours and I tend to avoid food and drink in general with prominent ginger flavour.

I love this tea, and I don’t have anything like it in the rest of my hoard so I feel like, once the 50g I have is gone, I can restock this pretty much guilt free! A success on the Chai and Green Tea front!

This is the first tea I’m trying out of the four I got from Tea Desire! Unlike the other teas I purchased, when I went to smell this one in store (they open the tins and then wave a fan over the leaf which blows the scent towards you) I was only able to smell the black tea base (since it’s described as an “East Frisian’s delight” the base is likely some sort of ratio of Assam and Ceylon) – none of the vanilla. Since only some of their teas have the ingredients listed I had to ask what was in this one. The sales lady told me that it’s black tea with vanilla bits and a natural vanilla flavouring. I was hesitant to purchase because I couldn’t smell any vanilla, but she promised I would taste it so I decided to give it a chance.

At home, I was able to smell the dry leaf much more closely, but I’m still only able to smell the black tea base – no vanilla. For my first cup I’m using 1 heaping tsp. for my mug and steeping it with boiling water for 4 minutes (the recommended time is 3-5 minutes so I just went right in the middle). Steeped, the liquor is a darker amber colour. It smells strongly of black tea, but again I don’t smell anything vanilla-esque.

First few sips and I’m hit with a very full bodied black tea. Black tea is definitely the dominant flavour here. A take a bigger sip (almost a gulp really) and let it sit in my mouth for a while. The longer it sits the more I’m, at this point surprisingly, tasting vanilla. After swallowing, the vanilla taste really hits me in the aftertaste. It’s a very creamy sort of vanilla, but it doesn’t taste artificial at all either. I understand where the “velvety” part of the name comes from.

The more I drink from my mug, the more I’m able to taste the vanilla without searching so hard for it. However, the black tea is also tasting fairly bitter as well. Once there’s only about half a mug left I add about 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar and a small splash of milk. This really tones down the bitter black tea, while still letting the taste of the black tea be present. It’s also really brought out the taste of the vanilla – which is another plus.

I do enjoy this cup, but I also dislike that I have to add both sugar and milk to enjoy it – I prefer a tea I can just drink straight. I don’t know if it’s something I’ll repurchase once it’s gone. Since it sort of needs the sugar, it’s also something that Tre can drink without me feeling like he’s wasting the leaves by adding a lot of sugar to the cup. I’m sure he’ll be excited for there to be another tea in the house that he can drink without my nagging him.

I’ve been neglectful! I have probably about 3 days worth of dishes piled up in my sink (many of them various teacups or mugs). I should probably wash those. However, there’s no rule that says I can’t do that while enjoying a cup of tea. I think I’d like to try my Genmaicha again. I really want to like green tea!

Again, I’m gonna do this following the parameters McQuarries has set out on their website. And, unlike last night, I’m also going to resteep these leaves a few times.

First cup: much the same as last night. Really nothing different to comment on.

Second cup: I resteeped for the same amount of time (1 minute). It’s actually a pale green this time, not a yellow. Smelling it, well, I smell seaweed. This time I’m also smelling a nutty aroma which I couldn’t smell last time, even though I could taste it.

First sips, I taste roasty toasty nuttiness and green tea – no seaweed! I need a few more sips to make sure: yeah, there it is in the aftertaste. But it’s oh so subtle. I can handle this. If that’s all the seaweed I’m going to taste in this cup then I’m pretty sure I can enjoy it. Really, it’s not too bad. Maybe it’s just that it’s an aquired taste? Maybe the more I drink it the better it’ll get.

Third Cup: For this steep, I kept my time at 1 minute. Toasty and actually really quite yummy. I’m not getting any seaweed taste at all. The nuttyness is pretty much gone or, at least, it’s very subtle now. I don’t think I’d want to push past 3 steeps. MAYBE I could do a fourth, but at the moment I don’t really want to push it. I do think I might have to up my rating a little bit.

I think, next time I drink this, I’m going to play around a little bit with the steep time on the first cup. But, I probably wont drink this for a little while – I still have the teas I picked up from Tea Desire to try yet (two of them are flavoured greens), and it’s been awhile since I had some of my favourite DAVIDsTEAs, so that might be my next cup of that day.

Also, I now have 9 freshly cleaned teancups/mugs in my cabinet! Shame on me for letting them all sit in the sink for so long.

Up until now the only straight green teas I’ve had have been the sort of ‘generic’ type of bagged teas (Lipton’s straight green tea comes to mind; I currently have a box of it sitting on my dishwasher for when I have guests or family over). This is my first real loose leaf, unflavoured green tea. I bought it today at McQuarries on a whim. Somehow I’m going to find a way to enjoy green tea! However, I’ll be honest – I have very low expectations that I’ll actually like this tea.

Regardless, this is another tea that I had to look up (on their website) recommended steep times/portions and what not for since it’s not listed on the little baggy that it came in. For a cup, 1 tsp. steeped for 1 minute. Again, this is my first time making Genmaicha teas, so I’m doing this exactly like how they recommend to. And, it’s worth noting that since I’ve never tried another Genmaicha I’ll have nothing to compare it to directly.

The dry leaf smells like seaweed. I don’t smell anything I can qualify as rice. I should note that I hate seaweed. I hate sushi, and seafood in general. Bleck. This cup smells really gross…

Although, the smell of it steeping was enough to wake Tre up. I think that’s good?

Liquor is a pale to medium yellow colour. Now that it’s steeped, the seaweed smell isn’t as strong. Looking at it, it reminds me of melted butter. On that note I’m going to take my first few sips. Actually, it’s not as bad as I expected. I do taste seaweed, and I can taste green tea. But, there’s also a sort of sweetness to it that I wasn’t expecting. I can also see the “roasty” sort of taste comparison that’s been mentioned on other Genmaicha tea reviews. As I get closer to finishing off the cup I’m tasting more of a nuttyness, and less seaweed.

I think I’d be willing to play around with other Genmaicha teas if I could get my hands on smaller amounts; there’s no way I’d buy another 50g of this. And, I will play around with what I do have to see if I can find a way to better enjoy it. Perhaps it’s because my expectations were so low, but I’m pleasantly surprised right now! If I could find another version of Genmaicha with a less pronounced seaweed taste then I’d probably like this a lot more.

As my first straight, loose leaf green tea I’ll consider this a success.

It’s a white tea day today! Resteeped the leaves from earlier today. Still caramel goodness! Reminds me of those little clear wrapped caramel squares you can buy for like five cents at a Seven Eleven. Yum!

Holy tea! Just got home from a day of touring loose leaf tea shops in my new city! I went to DAVIDsTEA, McQuarries Tea and Coffee Merchants, and Tea Desire. Overall, I think I liked the service at McQuarries the least – the sales lady seemed really impatient as I took my time browsing the aisles. In the end, I ended up buying 50g (the smallest amount I could get) of two different teas. This is one of them!

The packaging it came in (a small brown paper bag carefully folded over) has absolutely no information about how to steep this one – nothing on amount of leaf, steeping time, and water temperature. I didn’t really want to guess (even if it would have been an educated guess), so I checked their website to see if I could find any information and, thankfully, there’s some listed. Even though everything is SUPER general, it’s enough to go on and 50g of this one is enough to tinker with as well.

So, 1 1/2 tsp of tea steeped for only 1 min. I’m making my first cup by the book! Err… Website. The dry leaf smells very light and floral with berry notes, however the berry I’m smelling isn’t really distinct enough to pinpoint what kind of berry I’m smelling. Steeped, the liquor is a sort of medium yellow, although it starts off as more of a pale green.

Personally, I’ve never had Ontario Ice Wine before but my roommate Tre has & he says the dry leaf smells exactly like what he had. I think that’s a good thing, although he says he didn’t particularly enjoy the ice wine he had. Steeped, it smells less floral but I still get that unidentifiable berry smell.

First few sips and it tastes good. It tastes different than other white teas I’ve had so that must be the Ice Wine I’m tasting. Yeah, I’m personally not tasting anything floral anymore. I taste berry in the end of the sip, and a bit in the aftertaste. There is a mild astringency – but the keyword there is mild.

I don’t really want to add sugar to this cup, but I wonder if it would bring out the taste of berry or whether it would kill it. Since this cup is pleasant enough I’m going to wait to try that another time. I’d also like to try leaving the tea leaves in another minute or two longer.

EDIT: By the time I reached the bottom of my mug the tea had grown noticeably bitter, so I think I will try adding a small bit of sugar next time.

EDIT: Second steep! Followed the same steeping parameters as before, but added a level tsp of sugar to it. Still as flavourful as the first steep but I think I was right to add the sugar – it DEFINITELY brings out the berry flavour. I think I prefer the second steep more. Looking forward to what a third steep will bring out of this tea!

EDIT: Third steep of this one went to Tre. Steeped this for 2 minutes and, at Tre’s request, added 2 tablespoons of sugar to it. I snuck a few sips before I gave it to him and it just tasted like sugar water to me. I’m not sure if that’s because of how much sugar he wanted added to it or because three steeps is too many. Even though it just tasted like sugar water to me, though, he said he could taste ice wine. Interesting.

My first DAVIDsTEA white tea purchase! White teas seem to be hit and miss with me, but I’m making more of an effort to try them so I can see what exactly I’m liking and disliking.

The dry leaf (although, this one really is more of the other stuff than leaf – but maybe I just got a batch with extra mulberries? There’s a TON of them, way more than anything else) doesn’t smell good. Well, that’s my opinion anyway. And, after reading different reviews it looks like most people have an opinion different than mine. I can smell the coconut, and that part of the aroma smells good to me, but the rest smells… I guess the best way I can put it is ‘alcoholic’. Like a BAD sort of fermented wine type of smell? I’m sure I’m getting that from the mulberries and, since I’ve never tried anything else with mulberries, I really have nothing to compare it to and no idea if mulberries are supposed to smell like this. Still, this tea was VERY highly recommended to me by a close friend because of the “caramel” taste it has (she knows that I am a die hard fan for almost all things caramel) so regardless of the fact I think the dry leaf smells icky I ended up buying some anyway.

I’m not sure how long is a good time to steep this one for my first time drinking it, but I’ve read a lot of the reviews on this tea and it seems like this one doesn’t really get bitter if you steep it for a long time, so I’m probably gonna lean towards the higher end of the recommended steeping time.

Steeping, the liquor on this one is a very pale yellow. I must say, as it steeps it’s smelling a whole lot better than it did as dry leaf. Very coconutty, and I’m totally understanding the caramel comparison too! Sneaking a few small sips while it steeps I taste pure caramel goodness.

Now fully steeped, Gold Rush taste delicious! I wish I’d made a pot of this instead of just a mug – I could spend all day drinking it. The flavour is very full, and even though I’m mostly just tasting ooey gooey caramel I can see how the coconut is contributing. A very creamy cup with no need for anything added to it! Everything about it is pleasant, including the aftertaste which lingers for a LONG time. Definitely a rebuy.

I’ve kept reading reviews and it looks like it can hold up to an even longer steep time, so I think I’ll try that next time. Anyone know how well this one resteeps?

I’m so glad my first impression was so wrong! Thankfully I have friends who know my taste, dare I say it, better than I do.

Drinking iced :)

The more I drink this iced the more I think I might actually prefer it iced as opposed to the hint peppermint tea I’m more used to…

Making a note to drink it hot again sometime soon so that I can make sure I still like it that way!

I might just end up shooting Tre! He decided to make a cup of one my DAVIDsTEAs for himself and chose Red Velvet Cake. It’s not that I don’t want him using my teas (he has permission to make himself whatever he wants so long as the tea balls aren’t already filled with leaves for things I plan to resteep later), but that he blatantly ignores what the tins say about amounts to use for a cup and what I’ve told him.

So, earlier today he made a cup of DAVIDsTEA’s Hot Lips for himself (the tea I bought specifically with him in mind), but halfway through his cup decided that he didn’t want Hot Lips anymore so he boiled up some more water, filled the mug up to the brim with new hot water (without dumping the old tea) and then, when he thought I wasn’t watching, took out a tablespoon it filled it so it was heaping and then proceeded to try and cram all of the leaves into a tea ball. THEY BARELY FIT. The leaves are gonna have no room to expand :/

If it weren’t one of my least favourite (if not my least favourite) DAVIDsTEAs that I currently have stocked, and if I didn’t have so much of it I would be so much more upset than I am right now!

He also added in about two full tablespoons of sugar to it! So, he has a mug of watered down Hot Lips that was then resteeped with AT LEAST twice the recommended leaf for Red Velvet Cake, and he then added a ton of sugar to it. YUCK.

Anyway, that’s why I’m drinking Red Velvet Cake right now – he was just going to trash the leaves, but it seemed like such a waste especially considering how much extra leaf he used. So, I resteeped the leaves and added a small bit of milk (maybe 1/2 a teaspoon if that). Like I said, Red Velvet is not one of my favourites, but this resteep is actually better than I usually get and almost as good as when I steep this one for the first time. I’m going to attribute that to the fact he used so much leaf for his cup.

I swear though, I better not catch him wasting leaf for any of my favourites! I might have to start hoarding some teas in my closet where he can’t get at them…