Malloween

So this tea appears to be a blend of Adagio’s Vanilla Oolong, Black Cream, and Lapsang Souchong, with marshmallows added. Since the Lapsang was listed last I thought it wouldn’t be very prevalent in the blend, but I was wrong… all I taste is Lapsang Souchong, not a hint of vanilla/cream/marshmallow in the flavor. It’s just pure pine smoke, which I’ve always had major issues with… the smell gives me migraines and the tea irritates my throat and makes it scratchy and causes me to cough like crazy. This is all campfire, no s’more.

Ya, nope. I’m not even going to push myself through the rest of the sampler bag. This is going in the bin.

Strange VariaTea TTB #1

I haven’t done a TTB in ages, so it was so fun to dig into this one!

I love smoky teas and I love marshmallows, so this was an obvious first pick for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much of either flavor in this cup…it was just a smooth, slightly sweet black tea with the tiniest hint of smoke coming through in the aftertaste. A pleasant enough cup, but not quite what I was hoping for.

I don’t like lapsang, so this was never going to be a winner for me. I had some sweetened with milk, but ultimately ended up giving most of the cup to someone else. I could really only taste the smoke. My sample only came with two marshmallows, which I didn’t include in the cup, but I doubt they could have made any difference. I added some cake batter extract, and when it cooled, I finally tasted a hint of dessertiness, but it was way overpowered by smoke.

2021 Advent Calendar

This one was a nope for me BUT I have a suspicion that it’s because my travel mug is not the best receptacle to use.

Adventaggedon Day 17: Tea 5/8

This is one of Marika’s favourite teas from “Brutaliteas” so even though it was a bit weird seeing a tea with a name that’s an obvious reference to Halloween I wasn’t complaining – plus, I also really love Halloween.

This blend has lapsang souchong in it so it’s a surprise to no one that it’s right up my alley. I think that they’ve used a really lovely, restrained amount of it though because that smoke note isn’t swallowing up the flavour at all and instead it’s emphasizing the burnt sugar notes that are accompanying the creamy toasted marshmallow and the overall taste is giving me the perfect burnt campfire marshmallow taste! I know I’m in the minority when it comes to loving a marshmallow so torched that it’s black, but this was awesome! So nostalgic, cozy, warm and delicious – and I see why Marika loves it so much!

My morning cuppa. This had a nice solid flavor, not too strong or too bold. I didn’t taste much in the way of marshmallow, but there was a flavor there I couldn’t place so maybe that’s something. Planning to drink more of this in the coming days because it’s just a really tasty black tea. Thanks for letting me try this one, amandastory516!

Advent Day 17

This is actually not only one of my favorite Brutaliteas blends, but one of my all-time favorite teas. Another blend that they reformulated, and this is my first time trying the new version. It’s actually a slight improvement (luckily)! The smokiness is a bit more muted, with more of the marshmallow flavor coming through.