Santa's Milk & Cookies

sipdown (189) time to switch to the lesser caffeine options i think. I’ve kinda been drinking a lot today in an effort to stay warm in our house. Our balcony door’s weather stripping is nearly non existent so the wind has been pushing through all day, making the house colder than normal. I had tow ear socks today. blech. 188 up to 193 and back down to 189 lol good times were had by all!

this one’s not too bad but it’s a little picky for my tastes. it’s easy to brew this up and get a bit of bitterness that i don’t like. Still though, an enjoyable cup!

Sipdown! I gave the rest of this to VariaTEA as well as a ton of other samples. I didn’t count them. I just kept adding. Mwahahah.
Hopefully she finds more of the Herbal Infusions teas that she enjoys!

This one is sorta flat. I’m less enthused about it now that I’m not drinking it on Christmas day. Sorry Santa’s Milk!

This tea smells SO amazing but the taste falls a bit short. However, when milk is added the black tea base is toned down and there is definitely a cookie taste. Not a super sweet cookie but rather a slightly burnt spiced cookie. Not bad but I have two bags of it (since Herbal Infusions sent me a duplicate order) and so I will probably put one up for swap if anyone is interested.

Okay, my usual steeping parameters for 52teas (3 min at 185 degrees) works for Herbal Infusions as well! Yay! I didn’t get any bitterness and the flavor shone through. This tea smells like cookies, for sure. It tastes lie maple-flavored cookies. I’ve never had a maple-flavored cookie…do they have those in Canada? It probably has something to do with the little maple leaf-shaped sprinkles in the tea. I liked this tea. Can’t say it’s what I expected, but definitely yummy.

Wow. This smells divine. Definitely like milk and cookies! Even steeped, the smell remains, and my office space smells lovely.

Hot, this is perfect. Like, I couldn’t imagine anything better. Creamy, buttery, and dark graham cookie – kind of perfection. Zero astringency or bitterness. I did make sure to overleaf slightly (1.25 tsp per cup) and had the water just below boiling for steeping. I did steep it WAY too long again though, and yet, still perfect.

Once cooled however, the tea gets bitter and astringent, in an icky way. Some sugar helps slightly (it was perfect as-is when hot), however it’s still really drying to the palate.

Note to self: only drink this hot. It’s excellent there, and less than excellent if I wait too long. Giving it a high rating for the taste when it’s excellent.

I got this tea from VariaTEA for my fiancee, who loves cookie teas. After trying a cup myself this morning, I don’t think that this will disappoint him. The smell reminds me of chocolate chip cookies, and there’s a little brown sugar noticeable. The flavor is more of a rich sugar cookie flavor with a light spiciness to it. The flavor seems to change with every sip, but every sip is equally delicious! I’m glad we have a whole pack of this tea to enjoy, although once the fiancee gets a hold of it it won’t last long! Thanks, VariaTEA!

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves with small red and yellow leaf sprinkles.
-Dry leaves smell sweetly of chocolate chip cookies. Tea liquor aroma is malty with hints of rich brown sugar and cookie.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark orange brown color.
-Strong black tea flavor with a brown sugar finish. Sugary cookie and lightly spicy aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A unique cup. Sweet brown sugar and cookie flavor with a hint of spiciness.

Thanks to Isalia for Day #11 of the 12 Days of Christmas 2013. Love the name of the tea. Really had a good time learning about Herbal Infusions. Dan, the owner, has some really good videos loaded. The shipping is really reasonable, I think I am going to place an order. As for this tea, I think I steeped it on too high of a setting. I did a black tea setting but maybe right under boiling would of been better. Thus so, all of the wonderful flavors did not jump out at me but it was an enjoyable cup to start the day.

A sample from VariaTEA. Hopelessly unseasonal, given that it’s practically summer, but I don’t mind. Delicious tea is delicious tea, and this is particularly wonderful. For starters, it smells wonderful — even dry, the rich scent of freshly baked cookies is hopelessly enticing. Brewed, it’s even better. That actually came as a bit of a surprise, as flavoured teas can be a bit hit and miss in terms of tasting like they smell. Not so with this one!

I gave 1 tsp of leaf about 3.5 minutes in boiling water, and added a splash of milk. It’s amazing from first sip; deliciously bakey, choc-chip cookie flavoured heaven, with a gorgeous milkiness that develops mid-sip. I like how the milk tastes slightly “thin”, like actual milk would. It’s almost too much in a way — it’s fairly sweet and rich, and a smallish cup is definitely enough. Thanks to VariaTEA for sharing this one with me!

Sipdown (201/203)!

This is the last of yesterday’s backlog I’m going to be able to squeak in a write up for, at least for today. I need to go get ready for my interview and eat something. Still, I made a nice(ish) dent in it!

I finished this off quickly because I could see the sipdown potential and was not worried about hoarding it. The last was prepped in a timolino to allow for the little extra bit of leaf, and I mixed in some milk just like I had pondered doing earlier this week.

I was actually less impressed this time around and thought this mug worth taste rather burnt/bitter, and almost had unwelcome notes of cinnamon. Despite maintaining a “cookie like” taste, this was not so delicious and the milk did nothing to help at all. I finished the whole thing in the hope that by the time it cooled down a little it’d be better (just slowly sipping at it in the mean time), but it never did and in hindsight I think I should have just dumped it and saved myself some time.

I’m going to lower my rating.