A Quarter to Tea

Tasty but not my favorite offering from A Quarter to Tea ( hands down that title belongs to the Chocolate Cherry Latte Oolong) but its still a decent offering, just not one I would be rushing out to restock (unlike the Chocolate Cherry Latte Oolong which I had to have more of IMMEDIATELY!!). This tea delivers on its promise of maple and pecan and my dry leaf was seriously overflowing with pecan pieces however something about it just didn’t ‘wow’ me… don’t get me wrong, its tasty, and I’m sure some people will absolutely love it, but for some reason it was reasonably forgettable for me, maybe because maple and pecan aren’t my usual go to?

I am however SUPER excited about trying the Vanilla Cider Panna Cotta Oolong and the Frosted Carrot Cake Genmaicha that I couldn’t resist ordering this afternoon!!!! Which means I’m cheating on my tea buying hiatus again with A Quarter to Tea but how could I resist? Those teas are deff my sort of flavors!!!

This came as a sample with my order today. I am not jazzed by the black tea base, but the pumpkin spice flavor is subtle and warming.

Tart cherry start with a smooth chocolate pistachio finish. This tea is yummy. A great way to conclude my day.

The smell of the dry leaf is intoxicating. WOW!

At first sip, I wasn’t sure about the flavor. All I tasted was orange. After it cooled a bit, I began getting the chocolate flavor. The second steeping tasted like those chocolate oranges you see around Christmas.

Additional notes: Sad sipdown of my sample. I liked this one… I would have loved it if the chocolate was more pronounced. Cocoa shells would work! I ended up splitting my sample into two steep sessions of three cups. So it was about two heaping teaspoons (or maybe 2 1/2 teaspoons) for each steep session which I think worked really well. The steeps never got weaker anyway. I think it was the perfect amount of spice though. This blend is just my thing though. I’d probably order it again when ordering from AQTT. Also, there was a sad sipdown of Bluebird’s Nearly Nirvana that I’ll be enjoying throughout the day.
Happy Easter to those who celebrate! It’s a great warm day here anyway.

I had to try this one! I love the idea of teas trying to be a spicy hot chocolate. This is Ceylon with dark oolong. I wouldn’t think Ceylon when I think of hot chocolate, but the resulting cup somehow tastes like a spicy hot chocolate. The few mini marshmallows in the two teaspoons in my infuser melted FAST. Sometimes teas have weird unmeltable marshmallows, but not here. And there is plenty of SPICE but it’s the perfect amount of chili for me… quite a kick at times and lasting through the final steep. I thought I saw a chocolate chip, but they aren’t listed in the ingredient list. I wouldn’t say there is a lot of chocolate flavor (and that’s where some cacao shells might have helped… I can see cacao shells tasting especially nice with the chili). I forgot cinnamon was even included here…. it must have been hiding behind all of that chili. The Ceylon and oolong never get that oversteeped flavor and stays consistent throughout the steeps. Another great blend — possibly my second favorite so far. A blend worthy of checking out!
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled (half mug) // few minute steep
http://www.etsy.com/shop/AQuarterToTea

This also has cinnamon, but it is not in my face like the sweet potato pie. I had to let this cool a minute or two and then the real flavors started to come out. It is a creamy cheesecake with chocolate. Not to bad.

Ugh, sweet cinnamon……. That’s all I get. I wish I would have looked at an ingredient list. Was there one to look at? The concept of this one sounded fun. Oh well, can’t love them all.

This is totally on me. I should have known not to buy a tea with the word “smoky” in the name. The sweet potato got me though, and I ordered it. To be fair it’s not very smoky but I still taste it and it just isn’t my thing. The rest of this is going in Stephanie’s box. Someone else will be able to appreciate this more.

A sample of this was included in my order. Thank you Lauren!

This weekend was intense. My husband went on a weekend trip to do a trail marathon in Mohab. So the kids and I had plans to hang around and check things out on the nice fall weekend. I woke up very early Saturday morning in horror. My stomach had other plans. I had managed to catch a stomach bug. Instead of enjoying the fall weekend I was wishing for death and praying my children didn’t hurt themselves while I dozed in and out of contentiousness. All help which I could have called on was also in Mohab with my husband. Single mothers I applaud you. I don’t know how you do it day in and day out.

Stomach back to normal and enjoying tea this morning. This is not my favorite cup. For me the strong note of coconut mixed with green tea is a little much for me. I would much more prefer the fruity flavors to shine and the coconut to just be a hint in the back ground. Thats okay. Can’t love them all. My wallet is thankful for that!

This light tea is the first cup of tea I have in the morning to start my day. I’ll admit that I’m a novice to tea tasting, so I apologize that this review might not be as helpful as others!

The way I prepare this particular tea, I wouldn’t say it’s my substitute for sangria. However, I love the light, fruity hints first thing in the morning. It’s a delicate diversion from a coffee mindset, with its heavy, punch-in-the-face, “YOU AWAKE YET” flavors.

Ah Sunday… The one day of the week when there is no alarm clock waking you up and you can lay in bed with a delicious cup of tea a good book and not feel guilty that you don’t emerge from your cocoon until the mid morning hours!

I was hoping this was going to be a super chocolatey delight with a slight punch of spice and chili however I found the heat of the chili overpowered the rest of the flavor and it really was all I could taste. Maybe I just need to shake the bag up a little before dipping into it for my dry leaf? I’ll try again shortly and see if I get better results.

Additional notes: Sipdown on this rainy autumn day! I love autumn except for the dreading of winter that it brings. It’s chai weather! This one is nice, but I mostly get a fennel/licorice flavor… but this blend is older now.

I’d love to hear what anyone thinks is the pumpkiniest tea? And I don’t mean the spices. I mean the actual pumpkin flavor. The tea with the most pumpkin flavor? To me, it’s Bluebird’s Pumpkin chai, even if it technically uses carrots instead of pumpkin pieces. But that’s sad! There should be more pumpkin teas!

I received my smallish order from A Quarter to Tea! It’s so tough to make it a smallish order, since I want to try ALL the blends. This pumpkin blend seems more my jam than the other that I tried. First, it’s an assam base rather than ceylon. And I love assam much more than ceylon. The assam adds raisin notes. There are plenty of spices here – all the types you could wish for, even fennel. The spices are delicious, yet don’t deprive from the maple flavor, mainly at the top of first cup. I’m not sure if pumpkin flavoring is included, or if it is from the pepitas or just general “pumpkin spice” flavor from the spices. But this is a great autumnal brew. Love the lingering spiciness.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for mug // 7 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // few minute steep

This cup is Marzipan’s fault.

My education in the fine art of Magic the Gathering continued today. I decided to stop geeking out over the lore and crushing on Jace Beleren (what, I can have nerd crushes) long enough to work on actually playing the game, running my Red Black Griefer deck, destroying all the lands because that technique is just sexy. Something about playing a card that destroys my opponents hard earned lands and destroying their creatures is really satisfying, especially when it involves lots of undead…see I really do have an unhealthy obsession with liches.

Today’s tea is a step into an older love of mine, from my younger days working at a tea and coffee shop…chugging roasted oolongs and eating chocolate covered espresso beans like crazy. This blending of two worlds is none other than A Quater To Tea’s Chocolate Cherry Latte Oolong, a blend of Organic Quilan Oolong Tea, Hojicha Tea, Coffee Beans, Dried Cherries, Mini Chocolate Chips, Chicory, Natural Flavors…as someone who loves blending unusual things, it is safe to say this tea got my attention. As a gesture of awesomeness, use the code GEEKERY10 to get 10% off a purchase of $5 or more, just be sure to use it by December 15th. Ok, tea, and coffee, and other fun things, the aroma…ok wow, this smells like coffee alright! Roasted coffee with creamy chocolate and sweet cherries, it has an underlying smokiness to it as well. The roast is very strong, which I love, it was always my favorite thing about coffee, alongside that intense bitter taste.

The brewed tea smells so good, man, it is intense, strong notes of rich chocolate and creamy sweet cherries with a nice heavy roasted coffee and just general roasted smokey finish. Not a tea sniffing experience for the faint of heart. The liquid is quite roasted and nutty, with notes of cocoa and coffee, gentle smoke, and a nice creamy sweet chocolate finish.

Surprisingly I decided to not make this into a latte, no cream or sugar…mostly because I was out of milk (can you tell I just never drink the stuff? I pretty much get it when I need it for cooking) so if you were hoping for a frothy return to my coffee shop days, sorry about that. I am glad I did not sweeten it though because this tea is sweet! The combination of the chocolate and cherries, with the sweet notes of Hojicha and Oolong make for a quite sweet cup of tea. There are strong notes of coffee, and roast which balance out the sweetness, and the lingering cherry notes add a wonderful finish. Out of the three samples I tried, this one was my favorite, definitely one I plan on getting more of for when I crave coffee on those rare occasions.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-quarter-to-tea-chocolate-cherry-latte.html

This is the third tea from my order. I was drinking it hot last night and then put some in the fridge to cold steep, which is what I’m drinking now…..

Hot – I really really really didn’t like this. Tangerine – nope, Mango – nope, Raspberry – nope, coconut – ok I got that – way too much of it. This was just a little bitter, a little acidic, something weird that I’m just calling sharp, a little citrus and a whole lot of coconut. Not to my taste at all. I didn’t finish the cup…

Cold – better, but not much. There is still not at all what I thought it would be. Orange coconut – that’s what I’m mostly getting. There is still some of that weird sharp taste.

Sorry – nope, this is a total miss for me. :((

Second tea from my order…….

I was really excited when I saw the listing for this one. I’m not the biggest maple fan (I know it’s almost against the law here in Canada) and most pancake teas are maple something. This is Banana Nut Vanilla Butter Pancake. That makes me happy.

I like this – I really like this, but as others have commented I think it needs more banana. The banana flavor is really nice and should shine more.
There has been some conversation about the base in this one. I actually like it. I think there is just a hint of astringency and that helps cut the sweetness, it helps with the balance. I also like the mouth feel. Bold and thick aren’t the right words, but this isn’t thin and weak – it’s just right. Something about the mouth feel helps with the buttery aspect of this.
I’m rambling – Nutty, buttery, hint of vanilla, some banana, nice base. Really good – could be amazing with more banana.

Just a note – this is a really heavy tea, there isn’t much in the 1oz bag. That’s not a criticism – I’m just saying that there are lots of nut chunks in here making it heavy. If you want lots to play with order 2oz. :)

Whimper – sniff – I’m drinking the last of my first order tonight. My second order shipped today and I’m already regretting only ordering 2 oz – what was I thinking? Why didn’t I order like 6 or 8 oz? I guess I really should wait a bit to order more….
This is just soooooo good…….

My order arrived today!!!! YAY!!!! I placed that order because of the reviews of this tea.

I’m just going to agree with the others. ABSOLUTELY FRICKEN’ FANTASTIC

3tsp/16oz 95C 4.5 minutes That’s what I did.

Dark chocolate, coffee, cherry – that’s what I’m getting – in that order. Lots of slightly bitter dark chocolate, some coffee, and then a really nice hint of cherry at the back. And it’s CHERRY not cough syrup. I’m not getting much oolong, but there is some roasty toasty goodness in here – that could be the oolong or it could be the hojicha. Doesn’t matter, it’s well balance and so yummy. I’m a very, very happy camper.

(Having to stop myself from rushing back to the site to order more – need to try the others I got first – there may be others that I will need more of….)

Sipdown (120)!

My final Quarter To Tea sample, for now…

I think my mistake with this one was drinking it cold brewed: I thought it would be a nice apple flavour with caramel sweetness which would translate well into a cold brewed dessert type tea but when I actually tried it I realized that the flavour was a little more subtle than expected and perhaps better suited for hot preparation.

That said; while I feel I didn’t get the most out of my leaf I did enjoy the cold brew! I thought that the oolong base was probably the strongest flavour but had a kind of sharp, semi-sweet “apple” flavour near the tail of the sip and the finish. Like a Granny Smith apple, but a lot less tart. If that makes sense. The start of the sip was softer; I definitely picked up on cinnamon notes but the caramel didn’t translate well into any part of the sip. I think I just wanted that flavour to be much richer and apparent, and not just a “sweetened the whole sip” kind of generic flavour?

But overall this was still good! I’d drink it again (hot) but probably wouldn’t order it again because I think unless the hot version is just mind blowing, this mostly just feels a little average to me? It’s probably exactly what some people want out of a Caramel Apple type oolong: subtle hints of flavour over a nice oolong base. I was just, personally, craving something a little more rich and ‘in your face’ like the Cherry Chocolate Latte Oolong was. Of my three samples, that one is absolutely my favourite.

NON TEA RELATED:

I’m such a proud Canadian citizen today!

Today Justin Trudeau was sworn in as our Prime Minister officially, and that in itself would be enough to put me in a good mood because to me it signifies the end of an era that was suffocating Canada and brings with it new hope. However, I was moved to tears when I saw the list of his cabinet members! For the first time in Canada’s history, like he promised, there’s proportional representation. Not only did he select more woman as MPs than ever before, but a true ‘half’ (15 of 31) are woman!

Not only that, but we have the first ever Aboriginal justice minister in the history of Canada (Jody Wilson-Raybould). Our minister of Democratic Institutions is now Maryam Monsef, who came to Canada from Afghanistan as a refugee fleeing the Taliban in 1996. Her place in our cabinet is incredibly moving! Our minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities is a legally blind paralympian!

And the rest of the cabinet… Incredibly well appointed.

Our new minister of National Defense is Harjit Sajjan a retired colonol who was the first Sikh to command a Canadian army regiment and who also served in Afghanistan (not to mention Punjabi is now the third most spoken language in Canada and we have proportional representation of that on our cabinet now too; four elected MPs speak Punjabi with the majority of the others being split between English and French, the two national languages). We have a cabinet filled with immigrants, refugees, woman, people of colour, multiple faiths, scientists, astronauts, teachers, people with disabilities! Truly representative of our country.

Today is a good day to be a Canadian.