2264 Tasting Notes
I needed something to help me settle down tonight, and this won the draw.
Of course, as soon as I had decided upon tea I decided to make cream scones. Some advice: Any recipe that is for scones that calls for 1 tsp SALT per 2 cups flour is wrong. WRONG. I used 1/2 tsp salt, and it’s too salty. :/
Oh well. The tea is good, my bed is made, and it’s time to go sleep.
A sample from Heather at the Victoria Tea Meet.
Ooh, this is pretty good! The tea is incredibly strongly scented, so much so that I was hesitant to make it. The smell is really sweet chocolatey tea.
Steeped, it’s actually pretty good! This is an excellent use of a roasty toasty tea, giving the background flavour of fire roasted marshmallows. This is definitely an application of toasty teas that I believe in! My marshmallows didn’t dissolve, but the tea is sweet enough to not need any sugar to bring out the flavours. The chocolate is in the background here, but it does exist. It goes from roasty and nutty to sweet and a little chocolatey. I used half the sample I received, which was about 2 tsp in my (new!) 315ml pot.
If this tea was still around, I’d definitely buy it. Now to hunt around for a decent substitute!
(PS. I can’t have the Della Terra S’mores tea because there’s crushed graham crackers in it, and I cannot do gluten.)
Edit: Steep 2 with 1/4 tsp sugar. 5 minutes, only 12 oz water. Still really good. Much more chocolate flavour this time, possibly due to the sugar. I see where people get the hot chocolate ideas from!
Preparation
That’s a bummer about the gluten! The graham crackers are the best part.
That sounds good! I wish it was still around.
I snapped up a bunch of this when it went on sale when Teaopia was changing over to Teavana. It was 75% off, so I got a lot for a little, but I have been conservative with my use to not kill off the stash too soon.
I honestly didn’t even think that places would put actual cookies and stuff in flavoured teas. It’s something I need to be aware of for future swaps!
Heather, I totally understand why you snapped up a bunch. It’s good! I wish I had gone into Teaopia more often, because it seems like they had some gems.
They had a few I liked. Davids has aways been my main squeeze, but only a Teaopia/Teavana at the mall I work at, so I had to find some faves.
My S’mores is gluten free! :D
Definitely something to consider. :)
:)
Robust. From CrowKettle.
This is indeed coconutty. It’s not toasted coconut like DavidsTea’s coconut oolong, it’s more of a sweet baking coconut.
I’m having this as a latte, since that’s how I prefer my matcha. 250ml almond milk, a couple tbsp water to froth the matcha in, about 3/4 tsp matcha, and 1/2 tsp sugar. I sieved this matcha because it’s quite clumpy, I’m guessing that’s due to the flavour.
I do like this, but I think that one flavour level down would be even better. I can’t really tell there’s green tea here, and I’d like to taste it a bit.
Edit: That went down fast. Yum! Now for something completely different…
My mother loves this but I agree that a notch down from robust would be better :)
Thanks! I really want to try this one, so now I know to order the royal base and distinctive flavoring.
I’m definitely leaning towards the distinctive flavouring. :) This is good, but less flavour would be better.
Oooh, me want to try. I just get sad when the matcha makes so little, though my technique may be all wrong. I so want to try more matchas from Red Leaf Teas.
It’s good! It’s more sunscreen/bounty bar coconut than toasted macaroon coconut, if that makes sense. I want to try more too! I just need to finish this course and figure out what on earth I’m going to do for work…
Brought a travel mug to meet up with CrowKettle today. Hope they like all the Steam Tea House samples! :)
I over sweetened it with 1/2 tsp sugar in my travel mug. I need to make note on the label that I don’t need sugar. I do like it with soy or almond milk, though. Very mapley, and the base adds a nice background for the flavour. I keep expecting the tea to be stronger than what it is, as I’m used to maple americanos, not teas. :)
Still. It was delicious again.
Preparation
Yay! Finished! I had one serving left of this tea, mostly made up of tiny broken pieces. I do like the fruity lemony scent and taste of this one, I’m just still disappointed that it was sold to me as a strawberry tea when I can’t really discern strawberry. Fresh berry, yes, but not specifically strawberry.
Oh well. It’s done, and the people I gave the majority away to seem to have appreciated the flavour, so that’s a win.
Still on my list? A strawberry black tea. Just. Strawberries.
Preparation
Drinking this one cold, as I brewed it up last night before bed yet didn’t manage to drink much at all.
Idk what is up with me. Yesterday I slept 12 hours through, today I slept 6 hours very interrupted. I’ve been laying here, playing games on my phone and sipping tea for almost an hour now.
This tea is so good. I love the fruity flavours mixed in with the almost-minty flavour of the tulsi. I just need to remember to mix this one up well, as the fruit floats to the top and the tulsi pieces settle at the bottom. A good tea to fell asleep with AND wake up to. :)
Had a few sips of this at my bff’s place today, and she got this tea at the Victoria Tea Meet from… someone. (I occasionally crash her afternoons at home and do laundry and help out with snakes. Today she got 9 sand boas in, and they are so cute! We sexed them and separated them and did a whole pile of dishes. Kinda fun.)
It’s pretty good, but not what I’d consider excellent. Not really coconutty, but definitely baked goods-like. I don’t know the provenience of this tea, so the lack of flavour may be due to age. shrugs Not something I’d rush out and buy, but it was pretty good and I’d like to try more from 52teas.
In anticipation of more matcha samples from CrowKettle and a post about this matcha by ShayneBear, I decided to make myself a matcha latte.
Yum. I do add sugar, but I also use unsweetened almond milk to make my tea lattes. So, about 1/2 to 1 tsp of matcha powder, 1 tsp sugar, 250ml hot almond milk, and a couple tablespoons of hot water to dissolve and froth the matcha powder in.
Umm, oops? I was picking up some samples for CrowKettle since we’re trading for moar matcha, and I ‘accidentally’ purchased 50g of this.
So. Worth. It. Delicious, delicious tea. I was talking to the lady working there and she said it smells so strong because they use sliced almonds as a carrier for the flavour. Well. Almonds and alcohol, which explains the boozy scent I get from the dry leaves.
Edit: Super hot and fresh, the tea tastes a little light – both on base and flavour. Just let it cool a bit, so it’s more of a drinkable temperature rather than a carefully sip-able temperature. The maple really comes out, and the base holds its own. Don’t underleaf this one like I just did… (My 500ml tea pot is more like 20oz. Oops?)
Preparation
Sounds fantastic! I’ll have to visit when I go to Van next time.
I really like the ‘store’, even though you’re essentially standing in the entrance/exit of Donald’s market while you’re sniffing teas. They are apparently going to start selling samples of their teas (yay, finally!) as two teabags in a pouch for $1 or so. They’re filling the tea bags themselves, and they are quite generous with the amount of tea they use per cup!
I assume steam house has no online presence? Not that I mind since its an excuse to go back out west
Facebook only at this point. I’ve been promised a website with ingredients, so once it’s up I’ll update. I don’t know that they’ll do online ordering, though. It’s a new company and I think it’s only 2 people.
that’s still cool. nice to have local places that aren’t your usual chains
Yes. I’m really appreciating the variety. I think their base teas are better than a lot of the usual chains, as well.
