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Umm, another latte and more matcha whipped cream. On an empty stomach. Possibly not the wisest decision, but oh so tasty.

Yum! I made matcha whipped cream (I knew I should have bought soy creamer for my tea!), and used it to top a matcha latte. So good.

1/2 tbsp matcha (a lot, I know) in 8oz almond milk. Sugar to taste. I used so much matcha powder it’s getting a little bitter, but honestly? I don’t care. There’s whipping cream.

Hmm. Maybe I don’t hate this one as much as I thought I did. I used a tiny soy sauce dispenser to brew this in, because I didn’t feel like pulling out my glass pot (Also, the soy sauce dispenser was $2, you you can gongfu for cheap!). 1/2 tbsp leaves, 3 oz water, 1 minute rinse. Then I did 2x 1 minute brews and mixed them in a mug.

Not too bad. The long rinse really cut down on the overpowering vanilla, and the flavour is good. Sweet, milky, vanilla-y tea. Not much seaweed background at all. The vanilla flavour is pulling a little astringent to me, but then the vanilla flavour in this tea isn’t my favourite.

I’ve dropped the rating because I don’t know what I was thinking before. I’m pleased with this tea, but definitely won’t purchase more.

In other news, I’m experimenting with flavouring teas. I mixed up one today, just in a glass canning jar. 1/3 cup Lover’s Leap ceylon, 2 drops lime essential oil rubbed into the jar and 2 drops on the leaves, 1 tsp lavender flowers. It’s sitting in the back of the cupboard to age for the next couple (few?) weeks. If I can find a local place that sells food grade flavour oils, I want to try making a smoky bacon marshmallow tea. Just because I can.

Successful mug of this tonight. I used maybe 1/4 tsp of “stuff” in significantly cooled water (I was just sipping hot water, then decided to make it into tea!) and made sure it just included 1 vanilla piece, and 1 almond piece. Steeped 3 minutes, added honey and soy creamer, and yes. It is good.

It’s really too bad this one requires so much fiddling to get right, because once you get it right, it’s incredibly tasty.

I think I’ve had this tea every single morning for the past week, so this is definitely one of my go-to morning teas. I don’t like mornings so much, and I find the peach flavour soothing, while the ginger calms my tummy. Adding in the usual soy creamer and honey makes it even more delicious.

Oh, this is interesting. After reading one of the discussion threads on low astringency black teas, I’ve decided to start using non-boiling water and shorter steeping times to see if I like any of my black teas without milk and honey. I also wanted to see how many re-steeps I can get out of this tea.

Steep 1: 2 minutes, 5g leaf, 8 oz water. It’s actually surprisingly drinkable without anything added! Not my favourite as there’s still some astringency, but definitely drinkable. Quite a rich flavour, with a bit of sharpness. Now I’ve had half my mug, I’m going to go get some milk…

Steep 2: Interrupted by a trip to Ikea! Will update later. Ok! Now that I’m back from Ikea (I bought jam, Swedish Fish, and a gluten free frozen cake! The cheapest Ikea trip ever!), I decided to have another cup. Again, I steeped for 2 minutes with water that was off the boil for a few minutes. This steep is even better – smoother, less astringent, and really quite delicious. I don’t know what the flavours are, but I like it! I might want to do a first steep for just 1:30 instead of 2:00 the next time I try this. I only have about 1/4 of my cup left, and I haven’t even noticed that I’m drinking plain black tea. Success!

Oh Steepster, I cannot read my notices and it’s annoying me.

I made this one today at work, after I caved and bought a coffee. The tea I made this morning was good, but didn’t hit the spot like I had hoped.

Sweet strawberry flavour. Steeps forever just fine since there’s no hibiscus. I need to bring more of this to work, I think, because it’s one of those teas I can make with no fuss to stay hydrated.

I’m trying to use up some of the teas in my cupboard, and this is one of the matcha mixes on my list. I decided to make it as a latte, and add some pumpkin spice to it!

The matcha isn’t bad at all, although it’s too sweet for my liking now. I use 1 tbsp of the mix in a 16oz mug, which is a pretty good ratio for me. To this I added two “smidgen” measuring spoons of pumpkin pie spice, and used half water half almond milk for the liquid.

All in all, not a bad drink! The matcha is a bit green tasting, which gives a bit of an unusual flavour, but it works quite well with the spices.

This tea is weird, and I’m not sure I like it. I’m drinking it like I normally drink my first cup, with a little honey and soy creamer.

It smells good both dry and steeped – sugary, buttery rum. But I don’t think I actually like drinking it. I think I’d prefer to just have a real buttered rum, and skip the flavoured tea altogether.

I picked up 20g of this yesterday to play with, so I have enough to try it plain, and as a latte. I don’t think I’ll be purchasing this one again. I’ll spend my money on some butter, to make some real buttered rum to keep me company while I’m studying.

Edit: You know, I think maybe the coconut is what’s ruining it for me. I might have to try a coconut-free buttered rum tea to compare.

Went into David’s on a whim, looking for a cream tea of some sort. Since all they have is cream earl grey, and that really isn’t a favourite, this one and buttered rum were suggested as alternatives. I got a cup to go, brewed 5-6 minutes or so in my travel mug.

Yep, it tastes like a milk oolong. And surprisingly, the western style brewing hasn’t made it bitter or astringent. I do feel I’m missing a lot of the flavour drinking it in my travel mug, though, since so much of what I like about oolongs is the scent.

While I do like this tea, and it’s not upsetting my tummy like some other oolongs I’ve tried, this isn’t really what I was looking for. I opted to not purchase this until I’ve sipped down some of the other oolong teas in my cupboard, and purchased 20g of buttered rum to experiment with. :)