A Quarter to Tea

I’ve had a shortbread tea from AQ2T before – Rose Water Shortbread – but I don’t recall being a big fan of it. However, strawberry and rhubarb are much more interesting flavours to me, so I had high hopes for this tea! To start with, there’s a delicious baked goods smell from the dry (and brewed) tea – it reminded me strongly of another AQ2T blend, though I couldn’t tell you which. I likely still have some of it, though, and will figure this out at some point in the future. But – it’s a yummy, nuttyish aroma/flavour. (Could it be Lemon Lavender Butter Cake? Or is that tea just on my mind because OMG I just discovered that VariaTEA just gave me her remaining couple cups of it and I’m so thrilled/grateful?) Also possible that it’s reminding me of a nutty Butiki tea, but I just don’t know.

Back to the tea at hand… it mostly tastes like that nutty baked goods aroma – I’m surprisingly not getting much strawberry or rhubarb at all, though there is something in there. Actually – I think I’m tasting rhubarb, minus the tartness, but not really any strawberry. I’m digging the cakiness of this tea, though, so it’s good despite not quite being what I expected. It might be good mixed with something fruitier, actually; maybe I’ll give that a shot if I remember. I think this is another blend where a wee bit of hibiscus might have made a nice impact. Or, something tart. But perhaps I’m wrong, and it would have tasted weird – I’m no tea blender.

I am delighted to see that I have two packages of this – maybe it was just a lucky array of ingredients, but the last cup of this I had was incredibly delicious – so much creamy berry flavour (heavy on strawberry/blueberry?) Resteeped it probably 3 times and even then, the leaves still smelled faintly delicious. Yuuummmm.

My thoughts on this appear to be similar to VariaTEA and Roswell Strange (i.e. it’s a generic mixed berry flavour, without really any cheesecake or caramel) but for whatever reason I’m actually quite enjoying it. I’m cool with a mixed berry black/rooibos tea, and the flavouring is loads better than the tea I had yesterday. It’s also super smooth, which is great. I bought a second pouch of this on spec, and I don’t regret it.

I think this tea has a mistake on the bag – it says flavoured black tea, but the ingredients only list rooibos, and the tea itself is clearly rooibos.

Anyhow – this tea smelled a bit like fakey flavourings when I opened it up. Thankfully, it was mellowed somewhat since brewing, but I’m still not overly appetized by the aroma. There’s a clear berry smell, although I think I’d have difficulties identifying the type of berry, as well as a syrupy dessert overtone, which is certainly the most appealing part of the blend. Flavourwise, it’s “berry mix” to me, though I can taste hints of blueberry, and am getting some raspberry in the aftertaste. The flavours aren’t overly realistic, to me, though. The syrupy tone makes me think of sugared syrup made with fruit juices, and it’s enjoyable enough – I just wish the fruity flavours were better! I don’t get white chocolate at all though – although the blend is smooth, it’s not really creamy in the way I’d expect from a white chocolate bark.

Might be a good iced tea candidate? I’m not sure I like it enough to be able to finish it off hot.

Oh yes, I am crazy about this tea. I think it might be the base more than the flavouring, but I’m definitely digging the combination, and steep every last flavour molecule out before tossing the leaves.

Upping the rating from 82 into the 90s, because I definitely would buy 4oz of this…

I was surprisingly excited for this one given that I generally don’t care for chamomile. Maybe it was just the idea of a pavlova tea? Anyhow – brewed it up tonight and it’s a surprise hit for me! The chamomile doesn’t taste gross at all, though I can tell it’s in there, and the rest is a delightfully creamy, light strawberry. With just enough green oolong flavour to make me happy. It’s really nice, actually – a strawberries and cream oolong, with just a bit of something different (chamomile) to make it stand out. Probably not a tea I’d seek out often, but it ticked all the boxes tonight! (Unlike last night’s string of sadness.)

ETA: I’m sitting here smelling this delicious dessert smell and realized it’s my empty mug of this tea. It smells like vanilla whipped cream and I could sit here smelling it all night.

Probably not a tea I’d have picked up due to the peppermint, but when it’s part of a subscription, you get everything! It’s kind of strange… it tastes like a fairly reasonable minty black, but then when you swallow, there’s this poof of smoky acridity. Before then, the smoke is difficult (at least for me) to perceive in the flavour.

Honestly, this tea makes me think much more of (SPOILER) whichever dragon it was that was killed and raised from the dead by the white walkers – minty/icy cold, with smoke. As opposed to ‘Dracarys’, which inevitably makes me think of spice/heat and smoke.

May try this as a sweetened latte.

This tea sounded promising, but it just doesn’t work for me, and ends up just tasting like a vaguely fruity pile of hay. I suppose I can taste a bit of melon and orange, but I’d have loved for the fruitiness to be stronger here. This tea is destined for sweetened iced tea later, in the hopes that sweetness can bring out some of its better qualities.

Sipdown (207)

Another sample from Kittenna and also coincidentally one she had tonight as well. Thanks for sharing :)

The reviews on this one have been pretty much just okay, nothing negative, but no one is overly enthusiastic. So I was quite surprised when my first sip tasted exactly like a brownie. It someone managed to capture the entire brownie experience from flavor to mouthfeel (as much as tea can capture the mouthfeel of a solid – dense and fudgey). Subsequent sips were not quite as spot on for the brownie flavor however there is more cherry coming through. Some fudginess and strong cherry that is bordering on cough syrup but still staying on the non-medicinal side of things. It is a pretty good tea actually that I would consider getting again if that were an option but at the same time I am not heartbroken that it is no longer offered.

Another mediocre one for me. I can taste the cherry and the cocoa, but I wish it was on a black base instead of honeybush. That said, I’m not actually a big fan of black forest anything, so it’s probably not a tea for me!

Currently sipping on this one and it’s pretty nice and soothing though the finish is a touch astringent, but that might be because I left it to steep for an extended time period. I still struggle to taste anything substantial in this profile aside from spearmint though; it’s just such a distinct spearmint flavour!

Not totally sure what a Hobnail/Scotchtail is aside from it being a cocktail of some type; based on the ingredients list I’d assume something with ginger/spices and citrus? That seems weird to me though because the dry leaf of this tea smells extremely potently (and deliciously) of concentrated spearmint oil. Spearmint isn’t in the ingredients list at all, unless it’s one of the natural flavours in the blend, so I’m not sure exactly what I’m smelling but I like it!

Steeped up, this is still sweet and vaguely spearmint-y to me – but not as intense and strong as the dry leaf aroma I was getting. Aside from that I get a thin citrus note and a bit of ginger but it’s all coming together in a rather amalgamous way where the taste is just this soothing, sweet/warming cup that is vaguely boozy but nothing really distinct. It’s really quite different from what I’d expected, but I enjoyed the cup a lot despite that!

I just wish I knew a little more exactly what the inspo is and what’s going on with the spearmint I’m picking up.

Not thrilled by this tea. I used 4 pearls and made sure to also include a bit of the marshmallow root and raspberry leaf that was also part of the blend. The mouthfeel is quite thick and smooth, which is nice, and I think the base tea is okay, but I’m not really getting rhubarb or custard, just a vaguely fakey fruitiness. I think a touch of hibiscus might have helped here.

Another of my new teas. This one’s okay – not quite as good as some other coconutty whites I’ve had. I think I want some butterscotch or something? It tastes more like just coconut + bai mu dan.

Today’s other new tea. This one smelled much like… that peach one I like from AQ2T. (I’m really tired. I think I rated it 100, whatever tea that one is.) Peach Crostata Yunnan Black? Is that it? Anyways, smelled like that one, but flavour wasn’t quite as good. I don’t remember if I oversteeped it. Didn’t really get the vanilla or cream, and wasn’t thrilled with the base, but I’ll give it another shot later. Good peach flavour, though.

Yeah this one’s fantastic. I gave it an appropriate infusion this time and bitterness was not an issue. The sweet toffee flavours are really reminiscent of Della Terra’s desserty teas, and the banana is just perfect. Huge fan, would have loved to have had more of this one.

Yikes… Steepster and I appear to be having some battles tonight… but hopefully they’re now over. I’m suuuuper behind on posting and reading – just got home yesterday from a surprise trip to take baby to visit my parents/sister/nephew, and I really don’t care for using Steepster on my phone.

Anyhow! I had my husband pick up my massive box of teas from VariaTEA yesterday, yay! It’s probably literally like 2lbs of tea (I didn’t actually check). Anyhow, this was on top so I figured I’d give it a whirl.

The aroma is amazing. Like… basically the best caramel banana I’ve ever smelled. And the flavour actually matches it – except that there’s a strange bitterness lingering at the back. I think it might be from oversteeping, though – which I really hope, because this tea otherwise is stellar. I’m fairly sure I steeped this for a decent amount past 3 minutes, so I’ll try to be more careful next time, and rate it then. This tea is destined for a rating in the 90s, I hope!

Sipdown (229)

Like Roswell Strange I am pretty meh about this one. There is berry and maybe a sweetness that could be caramel but really caramel and cheesecake are MIA. Thank you Kittenna for the sample but this just wasn’t anything special.

Sipdown (230)

Another sample from Kittenna. Thank you!

This one is nice but not nearly as good as Lime Pear Fluff. This is much more subtle with flavors which allows the white tea to come out a bit more. Personally, I don’t love that but for some that could definitely be a positive.

Besides the white tea, I get coconut and lemon. Faint and sweet lemon as opposed to the actual fruit flavor or cleaning supplies. The softer lemon blends nicely with the coconut which is not lotiony but also not overly sweet or creamy. Again, this might be a positive for some but I would prefer a bit more.

All in all, it is okay but this is a tea I am okay not being able to have more of. Thank you for the chance to try it though, Kittenna!

I took a bit of this from Kittenna (thank you!) and now I am sad. So, so sad. Why?! Because it is so, so good! Lime? Check. Pear? Check. Fluff? Check. All there. All balanced. All delicious. Why did I have to find this AFTER AQ2T shut down? Why?! Hence the sadness. I love it. It reminds me of Butiki’s similar tea. Also can’t get that anymore. And now I can’t get this. Still grateful to have gotten to try it. A nice tea to sip on as I watch Falling Inn Love back in my own apartment.

Made myself a mug of this to have first thing at work today, and I must have got a scoop without any butterfly pea flower at all because it steeped out a yellow-ish colour the same as a normal cup of greener oolong would. The taste was nice though; the same watermelon notes that I’ve described in previous tasting notes for this blend. Felt light, refreshing, and, summery.

Another mug of Watermelon Blues that didn’t steep up blue…

Had this one at the start of the week, and the watermelon flavour was pretty solid though there was a more mineral and metallic note to the finish that was a little bit strange. It didn’t ruin the cup though; I like this sweet but still mellow and “round” feeling watermelon note.

If you’re curious, it steeped the colour of Chartreuse liquor.

Really interesting tea and, in my opinion, a much better use of the Butterfly Pea Flower than the last blend from AQ2T that I tried with it (Blue Moon Ice Cream). Flavour wise, this does taste pretty distinctly of watermelon but I like it because it’s not overly sweet and it has this slightly under ripe white pithy/rind note that makes it feel a lot more authentically like watermelon. The tiny bit of lemongrass in the taste is nice and adds a hint of sharpness that plays into that “watermelon rind” imagery I’m getting in my head. The oolong base is a cool choice, and adds a hint of complimenting floral elements to the cup. I really loved this blend!

Cold Brew!

Polishing off a brew of this one currently, while working on tasting notes. I got home from the party last night at about midnight, and then slept through all my alarms this morning. I woke up at about 1PM, so it was a LATE start to my day today. Later than anticipated, for sure…

This is nice though; my relationship with this tea is deeply love hate but (and maybe it’s the dehydration from last night talking) this is so refreshing today! I really taste a lot of creamy strawberry above any other flavour and the chamomile is only mildly present to tinge it with sadness. Good strawberries and cream flavour for writing!