A Quarter to Tea

Sample Sipdown! (15)

I love that these samples from A Quarter to Tea are perfect for a large single serving. That way I get to try the tea, and it’s an instant sample sipdown! Perfect! And they’re very inexpensive, too.

I am a lover of chocolate orange, so I’ll almost always take the opportunity to sample a chocolate orange tea when one is available. So, of course, this found its way into my order!

Wow, this smells sharply of tangerine. Hmm… This one is not for me. The combination of the rum and the tangy citrus is reminding me a bit of citrus floor cleaner. There’s a strong alcoholic or chemical note, and I’m not sure whether it’s coming from the rum flavor or just the added flavoring in general.

I do taste creamy milk chocolate here as well, but it’s not very harmonious when combined with the more acidic tangerine.

Oh well, another reason to be happy for the small sample size! :D

Pumpkin tea showdown! I drank 5 pumpkin teas side by side for comparison.

Dry, this has a strong blend of natural spices. Cinnamon take over in the scent. Heaviest on the tea with only a few other spices in the steeper basket after steeping. The cinnamon is still there after steeping, but the spices have blended more in the scent coming off the cup. It’s very bright on the sip and strong. I’m using smaller mugs than usual for this flight and I fear my usual 1.5 perfect tea spoon may not be so perfect for this tea with this sized mug. This blend had more tea in it than the other blends and it coming off rich. I think it’s the cardamom and clove that are overpowering.
Adding cream… this is much nicer now. The spices are still strong, but are rounded out. The cardamom takes center stage but is blended well with cinnamon and clove. I feel like I can believe in the projection of pumpkin a little more here, but none of these teas really say “pumpkin” to me in flavor. I long to taste the unmistakable flavor of pumpkin in a tea.
Cold… I can drink this cold! It isn’t as nice, but the spices are still present. The start of the sip is a little bland, but mid sip and beyond the spices are there and tasty.

Sipdown! 126/365!

This is absolutely delightful today. Short infusion, and that seems to be the sweet spot – it’s bright, delicious orange with a caramel sweetness. Still not really sure about tamarind, but it’s so good I don’t care. Upping the rating just a tad, 76 from 72. Kind of want more of this.

Fan of the orange flavouring (very pop-like) but not getting any tamarind. Wish I did!

Sipdown! 79/365

Not a bad example of a rooibos, but I wasn’t thrilled by this one. Just didn’t get anything special out of it. Failed to add sweetener as I’d suggested to myself I should next time; more evidence for reviewing my own tasting notes before drinking down the last of a tea.

Maybe it’s older; maybe I’m just not a fan. It was fine but nothing special, IMO. Seems like people who tried it with some sweetener had better opinions of it, so perhaps I’ll try that with the rest?

I am well acquainted with bellinis. This, however, was not a bellini. It was fruity and it was green tea. Not a bellini.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2019/01/11/tropical-peach-bellini-from-a-quarter-to-tea/

Sweet citrus to start the morning – crisp, and tangy.

I may need to diversify my work stash; I’m getting a little bit sick of my flavoured tea options because it feels like I’m cycling through the same things day after day. Now may not be the most ideal time to do so though…

Bleck.

Something else I made a large iced pitcher of at work today – what can I say, it was an iced tea kind of day!? This is nice iced – I feel like that’s the majority of how I’ve been drinking it. It’s more of a floral lemon, and I think it would benefit from just a touch of sweetener for a bit more brightness, but it’s simple and clean finishing and ultimately quite refreshing.

Iced cuppa, with a hint of agave added in.

This wasn’t really any different from the last iced cup I had not terribly long ago, but I just wanted to note that leaving this tea at work actually has been really helpful in terms of finishing off the tea/moving through it at a good pace!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/BxcZwJnAJkb/

Iced!

I brought a bunch of teas to work this week to put in my desk; hell I even made an excel spreadsheet of which teas I have at work so that I’m never confused where a tea happens to be if I’m looking for something in my stash at home and it’s actually at the office. This was one of the teas I brought; it wasn’t a conscious choice but like 80% of what made its way over there happened to be white teas (flavoured and straight). I guess because I was mostly looking to clear up some space and the sample packets of white tea usually are the bulkiest because of how fluffy it is?

This was pretty solid though! I didn’t like it quite as much as last time, but ultimately it was still a very refreshing cup and I really like how it’s sweet and lemony/tart without falling into that trap of just being this intense, fruity monstrosity. It’s not overly loaded with flavour, there’s not a crazy amount of hibiscus in the blend – it’s just… nice. Only nitpick from me is that the finish does really taste artificial, but not quite bad. Top of the sip is delicious lemon perfection, though!

Late morning cuppa, along with some pink grapefruit gummy candies and a good graphic novel. It’s freezing out today, so I think I’m putting my city exploration on hold for at least today – we’ll see if I brave the outdoors tomorrow at all. Instead, I’m holing up in my apartment and drinking tea…

I can’t believe that I’ve had this tea for so long and not tried it yet; it’s actually really good though! While it has some of the tartness that I associate with hibiscus and, to a lesser extent, lemon, and a touch of that grassy/hay taste from the lemongrass I’d say that the profile of this cup is overwhelming sweet! The same sort of sweet lemon that a nice lemon candy or lemon sherbet/sorbet might have. Very bright, lively, and fresh! A sort of sticky/lingering mouthfeel, that washes over the entirety of your mouth. It’s a nice cup; one worthy of a little salivation…

365 Days of Tea Challenge – Day 11
Sample Sipdown! (7)

The first to be tried from my A Quarter to Tea sample order! :)

Hmm, I do admit to being a bit disappointed. I actually overleafed a bit, and still this is quite light on flavor.

But the flavor that is there is quite good! There’s a lovely creaminess here, and I do taste a hint of eggnoggy nutmeg as well. I can taste the base tea, and it has a smooth oat & hay flavor. There’s perhaps a little hint of amaretto or rum flavor in the background as well?

It’s good, just a bit lighter than I was expecting. But definitely custardy! If it were a bit stronger, it would be completely amazing.

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

Gonna start another attempt at 365 tea sipdowns for this year – I likely nearly made it last year, but missed actually recording a large chunk after I returned to work. Might have the same problem this time, not much I can do.

This is not a sipdown, but a yummy tea. Light black tea, lightly chocolate, with just a hint of almond. Definitely desserty, though not my favourite tea.

Was hoping this tea would be flavoured more with the nutty version of almonds instead of marzipan, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. However, it was tasty for what it was, and did remind me of crispy almond wafers. The chocolate wasn’t overly strong.

Not too shabby. I wasn’t impressed that this was a green tea, until I saw that it looked like it’s probably houjicha or bancha or something similar – yum! It did indeed taste like a pepperminty hot chocolate, although the chocolate could be stronger. The base was great. This would have been terrible with a standard sencha base, IMO. The roastiness of the tea matched it well.

She wasn’t kidding… this tea is spicy! Tastes reasonably accurate to the name – chocolate and verrry spicy. Honestly, a little too spicy for me. I’ll almost certainly have to have the rest with milk and sweetener, and diluted.

Tea Swap Sample Sipdown of the Day! (6)

This one comes from VariaTEA!

I’m always intrigued by the concept of marshmallow genmaicha, but I’ve been disappointed by it in the past. But I do love a good genmaicha, so here we are! Plus this one has cute sprinkles.

I admit, this one is a bit disappointing too. Mostly it tastes like a plain ol’ genmaicha with a hint of bitterness from the grassy green tea. I suppose I can taste a little hint of vanilla or marshmallow if I concentrate. There is a note of artificiality to it as well.

Not for me. Oh well! It smells nice at least.

This is a sample I don’t think I had ever actually tried before (so sadly, not a sipdown). I’m not overly fond of spicy teas, but the novelty got me. I admit I was a bit terrified to see (presumably) jalapeno seeds right in the dry tea – yikes! Thankfully, although it’s spicy, it’s bearably so. I’m not really getting too much strawberry (it’s there, but muted – let’s blame age), and I’m not sure what other flavours are supposed to be present. However, it’s an interesting combination, and I’m glad I tried it – it might be fairly appealing to a tea lover who enjoys heat! I’d be interested in trying this level of heat with other flavour combinations, actually. But this is definitely a novelty tea, not one that anyone would likely drink regularly.

Sipdown! 8/365

This is yummy! I’m drinking it cooled, and it’s really nice – it would definitely be a great iced tea, as is recommended. I’m getting a lovely citrus flavour (lemongrass + other citrus), and it fits nicely on the slightly smoky green tea base. Can’t say I’m getting strawberry though. I didn’t realize this was chun mee, which I have liked previously in other blends (it’s the base in Sun + Cloud Mist (52teas), which was a delicious creamy lemon tea). This tea isn’t creamy, but I don’t think that would go here. Just light and refreshing.

Yeah, I wasn’t expecting this tea to work for me. The ingredients are white tea, rose petals/buds, schizandra berries, and rosemary; I’m only fond of the first and last items on that list. Anyways, flavourwise this is fairly light, and actually quite accurate to the description – slightly floral, and slightly herbaceous. It’s just a whisper of rose, and a smidge of rosemary, and the schizandra berry is probably in there somewhere but I’m less acquainted with that flavour and can’t pick it out. It’s less terrible than I was expecting, but this probably serves as a sipdown as I plan to offload it shortly on my mother, who may enjoy it more.

Sample from VariaTEA – trying to get through a couple of the older samples she’d given me prior to the new year. This one isn’t a bad tea. I found it to be enjoyable enough to drink but it wasn’t churros and there was no dulce de leche. So on that front, it fails. Happy enough to drink this one, but nothing to write home about.

Ah, of course I rated this a 95. I drank it a couple days ago and was thoroughly pleased with it. Just delicious. Similar to Eggnog Poundcake but the black base gives it a different dimension, and I think the spicing is a tad different.

Part of the December subscription box!

For whatever reason, the description/ingredients of this tea worried me – it didn’t sound like it would be what I was hoping for. But I was totally wrong – it’s delicious! Of course I figured out why I like it so much… it uses pretty similar flavouring to Eggnog Poundcake, which I absolutely adore. Different base, and possibly slightly different spicing, but it’s unmistakeable. I can’t say I got any cheesecake tanginess but I’m not sure I cared. This was a delicious cup of tea. I still prefer Eggnog Poundcake though; I think I like the white base better.