Climber's High

Ah! This marks three sipdowns today! Three! Have I ever done so well? No idea, I can’t say I keep a tally. I should, and occationally take it out and be impressed with myself.
That means, unless I have miscalculated grotesquely, that I am now at 40 teas. 40 teas and no more in my cupboard. I have my Black Friday goal hit. I can now do my Black Friday tea shopping with an easier confidence, and more available cupboard space.
Wahoo! I am very pleased indeed.
Oh, the tea? Not a repeater.

I love this tea on a cold winter’s morning to get me started. It reminds me a lot of a sweet chai which I really enjoy. It’s a little strong for a daily drinker, but excellent as an occasional pick-me-up.

The Everything Tea. That’s what this is. Read the ingredients: roasted yerba mate, black tea, green tea, white tea, pu’erh, ginger root, cinnamon, cardamom, licorice root, eleuthero root, saffron, black pepper, clove, fennel, safflowers, peppermint, tulsi, and vanilla flavoring. See what I mean? I’m almost surprised that there’s no rooibos and oolong.

This is a really good chai, and the smell is probably the best part of this tea and the potential health benefits of each ingredient. It was designed to give people a mild high, and before the morning, or before a workout, it encouraged me to be alert and little bit more cheery, or energetic. I smell this, and it’s like Christmas and vanilla. With so many flavors, this tea also becomes more complex as you resteep it. Again, the taste like the smell is like Christmas and vanilla, more so on the Christmas fire angle.

Considering the kitchen sink nature of this tea, you really have to put in a lot of effort to try to get each ingredient in a single cup. There were times were I had more white tea leaves with the mate than the others, but honestly, those times or when the cup had Pu-Erh where the better brews. The flavors really came out with those teas. Otherwise, one ingredient could overpower the other, like the mate quenching the saffron. Or, two flavors could accent each other and overwhelm a different flavor- not clashing at all, but silencing. That’s why I steeped it for 2 min and 45 sec. It’s also good at 3 minutes, but you get more roasted mate. I added about 45 seconds in the following brews. I wonder if the sachets version would be better if each ingredient is placed in a specific way in the bag.

This tea certainly saved my behind up in college, helping get through the day. I also admit that I convinced myself that this is the perfect tea on a budget because it has almost “everything”. My health craze was also worse at that point (not that it still isn’t bad) making me think that it is better for my whole being. I liked the Bolder Breakfast more for taste, but this one is more effective for health which is why I rated it higher. Good for me, yes, but not a panacea. Worth it anyways.

I picked this out without having any idea of what it was supposed to taste like—the name caught me. There was only slightly more than one cup’s worth so this is a sipdown.

As this brews it smells grassy to the point of almost being moldy. Not exactly the most appealing. The taste is better, but it’s not my favorite. There’s some cinnamon but the mate takes over most of the cup, including any chai that’s supposed to be there. It’s not a bad cup, but not for me.