Cameron B. select Send Message

Sample Sipdown! (31)

Luckily, I looked this one up and saw that it’s a Darjeeling base before I steeped it!

I’m not sure how fond I am of the lemon flavoring in these AQ2T blends… It’s almost floor cleaner-ish. Not quite, but almost.

The Darjeeling base is interesting here, but the blueberry tastes very candy-like to me. Combined with the almost-cleaner lemon note, it comes off as very artificial-tasting. And I’m not really tasting anything cake-like here.

It’s a shame, as I really love blueberry-lemon muffins. The ones I make also have a cardamom crumble on top.

Here’s the recipe, it’s amazeballs:
http://www.callmecupcake.se/2014/09/blueberry-lemon-muffins-with-cardamom.html

(P.S. – I put less cardamom in the topping – about half of what the recipe calls for)

Swap Sample Sipdown! (30)

This sample came my way from Kawaii433. In fact, she sent me a lovely selection of 52teas blends! ❤

I do like the oolong base here – it’s a rolled oolong but it’s partially oxidized. It has a nice slightly roasty flavor with notes of dried fruit. In fact, it’s difficult to tell which fruit notes are coming from the oolong and which are coming from the fig. Either way, it’s a lovely combination.

I really love the light touch of cinnamon and honey here. They combine beautifully and add just a kiss of warming spice and nectar-like sweetness to the blend.

This is a good one. I’m not sure it’s quite great, I think I would prefer just a bit more figgy flavor. But definitely tasty!

365 Days of Tea Challenge – Day 18

This is the second of three teas from my Nina’s Paris order via Amazon! I chose this tea after seeing Nattie’s note, so thank you Nattie! I mean, who doesn’t love caramel and vanilla?

Wow, the aroma is all of my French dessert dreams come to life… It smells like a creamy vanilla custard smothered in buttery caramel sauce.

Nom, this is super delicious! It tastes very much like the smell, which is fantastic. There’s smooth, thick, and creamy vanilla custard here, and it’s definitely vanilla custard made with vanilla bean. It’s accompanied by a rich, buttery caramel sauce. In fact, there’s so much buttery goodness that it almost goes to a butterscotch place, which I love because I adore butterscotch.

To me, this tastes exactly like crème caramel, which is basically a set vanilla custard with a caramel sauce over the top. It’s actually baked in a ramekin with the caramel in the bottom (under the custard), and then when it’s turned out onto a plate the sauce runs down the sides.

Okay, now I’m officially hungry…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsyfEQiFxEw/

(P.S. – I just put up a discussion thread for a Nina’s Paris group order if anyone is interested! https://steepster.com/discuss/30194-ninas-paris-group-order)

Sample Sipdown! (29)

This is one of a few remaining T2 single serve packets that I have left from a huge T2 sale. They had sampler packs and individual 100+ gram teas for $5 each, so of course I bought a truckload…

I’m not sure why it’s taken so long for me to drink this one – I love chocolate and orange!

Anyway, this is pretty good! It’s not Three Friends, but you know… It has a nice milk chocolaty flavor that’s smooth and creamy, and a fairly good orange flavor that’s not too acidic and doesn’t taste too much like orange peel.

I will say, it’s just a bit weak, so would likely have required overleafing. This one in particular isn’t available anymore, so I guess I’ll never know if that would have improved it!

I’m sure it would have made a particularly yummy latte though!

Tea of the morning!

This is one of the teas from B&B’s January subscription box. It’s also a limited edition, I think it was a tea they offered previously that they brought back for a limited time? (shrugs)

Anyway, this is a green tea and green maté blend with coffee beans and cacao. For me, it’s just okay.

Don’t get me wrong, it tastes fairly good. I guess I just need another flavor or two to make it more exciting. The green tea is fairly boring, with just a mellow dry grassy flavor. The maté adds soft herbal and earthy notes. I can definitely taste the coffee, and I do feel it’s a nice amount of coffee, with a pleasant roasty flavor that doesn’t overpower the blend. I’m not sure about cacao, maybe a tiny bit? There’s a little creamy note that occasionally pokes its head out and whispers of greatness…

I think if there was more cacao flavor, I would enjoy this a lot more. As-is, it’s a bit boring? I guess I’m not a straight coffee drinker, so I like my coffee teas to be more latte-style as well! ;)

I can’t really comment on the energizing powers of this, as I don’t find myself to be much affected by caffeine and the like.

Bonus Tea Swap Sample Sipdown of the Day! (28)

This one comes courtesy of VariaTEA!

Man, every time I drink a Dammann Frères tea, I get grumpy because I would love to be ordering from them if they would just offer a 50g size. But I digress…

This is definitely a very woody-tasting tea. It’s likely from both the base tea and the vanilla, as I often find that bourbon vanilla has a strong wood note. I do also taste a nice creamy vanilla flavor, which I would like more of. There is a bit of a caramel-esque note as well, but it’s closer to burnt sugar than it is to buttery caramel sauce.

The vanilla note is nice, but it has a bit of a hard time standing up to the strong woody flavor here. It’s still a nice enough tea, but I would love more vanilla and caramel.

Tea Swap Sample Sipdown of the Day! (27)

Another one from Kawaii433’s epic swap package! This is one of the teas from the 52teas permanent collection. I love pancakes, so I’m excited to try it!

The dry leaf and steeped tea both smell deliciously buttery and maple-y. It’s always a shame when a tea has an amazing scent, as the flavor can never live up to it.

That is somewhat the case here as well – the buttery maple notes are definitely present, but they’re much more muted next to a fairly strong base tea. This tastes like it has at least some Assam in it to me, as it has that malty, raisiny tobacco note to it and there’s a bit of astringency along with a hint of bitterness.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a tasty tea! But I feel like in this case, the base tea is just a little bit too strong for the flavoring, and it overpowers the pancakey goodness.

I may still consider ordering some though, because pancakes… :P

Sample Sipdown! (26)

Hmm…

I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong here, but this doesn’t seem to have much flavor. I can taste the Darjeeling base, which has its muscatel and astringent thing going on. There’s a little bit of cherry, and it does taste dark and sweet and almost alcoholic, like a bordeaux cherry.

But cream, vanilla? I don’t find any of that.

I don’t know, this just isn’t tasting like a whole lot other than a second flush Darjeeling base with a hint of cherry.

Sad panda…

Sample Sipdown! (25)

So this was a random sample that I had left over from a long past Teabox order. It’s a green tea from Nilgiri, which is interesting. The dry leaf also looks quite unusual – it’s a mixture of rather small, straight leaves and little baby oolong-like pellets.

Woof, even at a 2-minute steep, this tea is verging on bitterness and is quite strong. It reminds me of a cross between a Darjeeling black tea and a Chinese green tea. There are definitely some similarities to gunpowder green tea as well.

It has the interesting floral and muscatel notes of a Darjeeling, along with the diva attitude toward steeping time. And the strong and somewhat smoky mineral notes are a dead ringer for gunpowder green. But at the end of the sip, there’s that soft and fuzzy apricot finish that I so often find with Chinese green teas, especially the robust ones like Chun Mei.

It’s definitely an unusual one, and I’m happy to have tried it. But generally I prefer more mellow green teas, so it’s not something I would purchase.

Sample Sipdown! (24)

So I kept thinking about this tea after mentioning this one in my note for Arabesque yesterday. It’s such an interesting and unusual combination…

I really love it though. The strongest note is probably the melon, and it’s a ripe honeydew sort of flavor. It blends perfectly with the cooling, minty eucalyptus, even though that sounds like an odd combination. I suppose melon and mint is a fairly common pairing, but eucalyptus just sounds so weird. Luckily, the eucalyptus doesn’t taste medicinal here, just almost minty with touch of pine.

I don’t really know what dragonfruit tastes like, but there is another fruit flavor here. If I had to guess, I would say something like kiwi-strawberry? It adds a little more sweetness and a different, slightly tart fruity note. There’s also a smooth herbal flavor from the lemongrass that melds slightly with the eucalyptus flavor and tempers it slightly.

I’m not sure I really get much from the base tea here, other than a bit of body and slight sense of grassiness. But I’m not complaining, as the added flavors really get to shine.

This one is definitely on the list to order a full-size pouch! I bet it would be fantastic cold-brewed as well.