Cornelia Bean

I cold steeped this over night in the fridge. I like it better hot. It’s ok cold steeped, but I think the peach gets lost in the green base. I like Cornelia’s peach flavor, and it’s really nice in this when hot steeped, but it’s more muted cold steeped.
Next time, hot steep and then cool for iced tea……

Sipdown (133/140)!

Firstly, read this: http://gawker.com/my-14-hour-search-for-the-end-of-tgi-fridays-endless-ap-1606122925

I don’t understand how one person can hate mozzarella sticks so much; and also only 7 plates after 14 hours is embarrassingly low, in my opinion. I would have been aiming for like a plate an hour…

Anyway, the tea! I said I’d have the last cup worth prepared at home, so I did – and it did make a difference. In addition to the rich juicy grenadine, I finally found the vanilla flavouring and there wasn’t any bitterness or astringency (though I still feel like that was more so from sitting in the timolino for so long and less so from being prepped that way). So hooray for a tasty cuppa and some flavour improvements!

Bumping my rating just a touch.

First to rate? Ok, I’ll do my best.

Sample comes from VariaTEA – who else? I made it up in my timolino yesterday because I was really craving a good Monk’s Blend and I’d yet to try this one despite having it in my possession for a while. And though I took it to work with me, I didn’t actually start drinking it until after I’d gotten home and began making myself supper (I actually cooked and not just microwaved, since I had today off!).

As a Monk’s Blend it was pretty good! It had really strong, flavourful grenadine notes which somewhat leaned towards pomegranate in flavour with maybe a like strawberry-like quality. The vanilla, which is also traditionally part of MB, was a little less noticeable and definitely faded into the shadow of the grenadine, but that said there were still sips where it showed through a little more prominently.

The black base had the faintest touch of malt to it which was interesting, and there was also a little bit of astringency near the end of the timolino but I’m going to chock that up to the fact that this one sat around in the timolino for a good eightish hours before I got to drinking it. Overall, not as good at my favour MB from MTC – but solid.

I still have one more cup worth, and I think I’ll prepare it at home in a regular old mug for comparison. Looking forward to it!

Sipdown (140/147)!

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample! I decided the best way to use it would be as a cold brew, so that’s the method I went with. It had a relatively long cold brew time of like 18 hours…

Honestly, I don’t remember much about what this one tasted like so I guess I’ll have to default to the notes I wrote for myself:

- Fairly Smooth
- Creamy/Vanilla Notes
- Mild Strawberry Notes
- Decent Overall

So I guess I had positive enough things to say about it, but I suppose the fact I hardly remember it probably says something too, right?

Maybe I don’t recall it too much though because I drank it during my extended cleaning shift at work which was until around Midnight, and I was actually pretty busy. It was an interesting night; I closed the store with my Manager (the Witch) who I guess hadn’t closed in like half a year (she typically just works mornings). I had to walk her through the closing process and basically reteach her how to do everything.

Hopefully it gave her some perspective into just how much she’s asking of us every night when we close: it’s not so much that her tasks for us are hard or challenging, it’s just that she assigns so many of them that it’s not realistic for a two person team (one of which HAS to be on till) to accomplish them all without either doing a sloppy job or sacrificing our break times. There’s only so much time in the evening…

Thank you VariaTEA for sending this tea my way!

I’ve isolated this tea in a cute tin so it’ll keep it’s flavour and it smells so nice and luscious. I smell caramel and slight hints of chocolate so I’m hoping that the rooibos doesn’t overpower the flavouring!

But alas, the rooibos did overpower the sweet chocolate and caramel notes. it’s okay, but I definitely would have loved to taste the sweetness in this tea. A decent rooibos, something nice to end the night with :)

tea from this morning courtesy of omgsrsly Now that my Butiki teas have arrived i am back on track for figuring out how to get down to my goal this month! 95! here i come (sitting at 144). this one was fun to try but not my favourite of the black teas that omgsrsly sent my way. still though, enjoyable but not awesome enough to crack my favourites :)

omgsrsly sent this one my way and since i have enough for a couple cups, i’m trying to go through the first round of all her straight black samples this week for easy sipdowns next week haha
This one isn’t bad, though i think it’s more of a with milk sort of tea as there’s an edge in here that i’m struggling with this morning. Either that, or it’s going to be one of those days for me and tea haha. I do like the strength of this one though, so it’s an enjoyable cup. I’m glad i have another sil sized serving to play with haha thanks omg!

GCTTB3

Okay, time for some personal news here.

Remember when I said last week I would go on a tea-buying hiatus until September? Well, it appears that this vow was well-timed, as I found out yesterday that I’ve exhausted my EI benefits.

I’ve been freelancing and money has been coming in through that, but not enough to support myself on, so the EI money was a real help. However, now that it’s gone, I really have to evaluate my expenses and ramp up my freelancing so that more money comes in. (By the way, I work as a writer, editor, and blogger – if you or someone you know needs help with sales copy, blog posts, editorial quality control, content management and so forth, let me know.)

At least I still have my tea to keep me company, and I’m expecting one last shipment to come in very soon (the teas from the Just Organic Kickstarter that ended 2 months ago, so it’s not like I’m still spending money on new tea).

Anyways, this tea. It smells amazing, like an After Eight mint! I have a tiny bit of Read My Lips by David’s Tea in my cupboard, so I smelled the two side by side this morning. This tea smells mintier than Read My Lips, but RML smells a bit chocolatier.

I made a full pot of this tea this morning, and am still sipping on it. It’s not quite a sweet as I was expecting, but I’m not too upset. I’m just glad I got a chance to try this, though I think that if I’m looking for a chocolate mint tea in the future, I’ll just stick with RML since it’s easier to come by.

GCTTB3

Backlog from last night:

This tea smells sooo good when you open the package. A beautiful mixture of orange and spice. However, when I brewed it last night, I let it steep for far too long (I was in the basement dealing with laundry). Despite this, it was still pretty good, though adding a bit of honey didn’t do much to change the flavour.

One thing I’ve noticed about red rooibos is that it seems that there are two kinds of rooibos tastes. Some teas have rooibos that tastes woody and medicininal – this seems to be the majority. However, sometimes I’ve had rooibos that tastes somewhat citrusy and peppery – there’s a watery bite in the background that reminds me of watermelon rind.

I can smell the difference when it’s steeping, and this particular tea definitely seemed to smell like the second kind of red rooibos, which is the kind I prefer. I wish there were a way to find out what rooibos it would be before I tasted it, though, so I could avoid the woody kind.

omgsrsly sent this one my way and i was super excited because i do love me some lime flavoured type teas and having the sage there sounded interesting. Sadly even after letting this brew FOREVER, it’s still just kind of a limey creamy sort of tea. It’s nice, but not what i was expecting of hoping for, if that makes sense. Still though, a nice cup to end the day on given my meat coma at the moment from dinner at Copa Cabana (brazillian restaurant where the meat keeps coming….).

Final Count: 182 (3 days left until steepsterversary!)

*omgsrsly*sent this one my way and i have to agree! this one is quite deliciously orange and full of bouncy, fluffy fun! :) sadly uh i drank this a while back and don’t have much to say besides…all the sipdowns today and i’m still right where i started i think lol

thanks for sending this my way VariaTEA another one i haven’t tried. As far as teas go, this one is alright. I’d be hard pressed to call this rhubarb though. it’s more a generic green fruity tea to me…still nice enough but not really rhubarb or meringue.

Great Canadian Traveling Tea Box – Round 3

This is awesome, but what was less awesome was spilling hot tea all over myself as I was reading through tasting notes on Steepster. Thankfully 1) It wasn’t quite boiling by the time this happened and 2) It was only about a 1/4 of my cup till I realized the hot liquid was coming from the mug… anywho. Apparently, my brain is a little foggy. Oh and there’s a number 3! It turns out to be delicious and I will be keeping the rest of it.

Sipdown (155/160)!

Man, this one still has me totally confused by what it’s trying to be and what it actually is. Tonight it still tastes like lemon but in a more Pledge like way (ugh!) with a very seperate creaminess to it and then a stronger hazlenut kinda thing going on.

What the fuck!?

At least this is the last cup of this strange and confusing tea, so my mind can rest a little and be at peace once more.

Unrelated but very exciting; the cast has been announced for Big Brother Season 16 in the US! Yay more Big Brother! I’m a die hard Big Brother fan (been watching since I was twelve) and I’m sure some people remember me freaking the fuck out over the Canadian BB this year. Well, prepare to have that all over again!

Sadly I can’t watch the live feeds this time around because they’re not offered to Canadian viewers which is disheartening, but I’m sure it’ll still be awesome regardless! Any other Steepsterites gonna be watching? I’d love to have someone to gush to/with.

This is the cast list: http://www.globaltv.com/bigbrother/cast/index.html?n=zach+rance

I just finished skimming profiles and I have to say no one stands out to me right now as super super awesome – although a few stand out in a negative way to me; namely Amber, Hayden, and Nicole… Ugh vain people!

But yeah; squeals of excitement!

Steeped up tonight as a caffeine free blend to enjoy while painting my nails (matte “Barney” Purple and Gold) and watching Death Note since they just added that to Netflix! I was going to start season two of GoT but I couldn’t pass up Death Note since I’ve been telling my friend Robyn I’d watch it for years now. I’m on episode 3 right now; it’s decent. I’ll finish it (and Tyrell and Tre will complain I’m putting off GoT) that’s for sure. I don’t have any character(s) I feel really attached to yet, though.

So this tea is in The Box, but I already happened to have a sample of it from VariaTEA so I just used leaf from that sample instead of the box sample. It seemed much more logical. I really had no clue what to expect from this one; there’s no ingredients list or product description here on Steepster and I haven’t seen many reviews for it from people – and the picture is even kinda fuzzy. So I was totally going in blind. When I measured it out I was pretty surprised to see lots of fruit; I was actually thinking the bits in the picture were little caramel cubes.

Taste wise; this is definitely fruity in a citrus heavy way. I felt like I was drinking a woody lemon tea similar to Della Terra’s Lemon Chiffon but without the cream element. There are other flavours here too; but they’re hard to put my finger on. Rose or something else floral? And then I want to say a nutty quality. But it’s weird!

SWAZILAND WHAT ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE!?

I still have one more cup of this left to try and I’ll leave it rating less until I’ve had it because right now I’m just sorta straight up confused!

Another sample from the lovely Dexter! Ohmygawd peachy goodness <3

I’m pleasantly surprised by the base green. I kind of thought it might be quick to turn bitter, but it’s actually really forgiving.

The peach is a bit soft, almost like slightly over ripe, or maybe canned peaches. The green base has a bite to it, without being bitter, which rounds it out quite nicely.

As it cools, the peach becomes more prominent, but there’s a slight bitter note to the base.

I’m actually really impressed with this one! One step closer to finding that perfect peach tea, yay! Thanks again Dexter!!!!!

Thank you so much for this one a while back Dexter3657… but I guess it’s just Dexter now. :D I haven’t seen any rooibos and roasted yerba mate blends before, but it sounds like it would be a good combination. Add those little caramel cubes and a HINT of marzipan flavor, and it’s pretty magical. I see there should be cocoa nibs in the blend, but I didn’t see them or taste them. I think it would do better without anyway. It’s a fully thought-out blend. The caramel balances the rooibos and the rooibos with the roasted yerba mate is like a rustic autumn cup. Perfect outside reading with the cooler weather today. A good one! I’ll enjoy the last few teaspoons!
Steep #1 // a few minutes after boiling // 5 min
Steep #2 // just boilied // 4 min

Because Dexter3657 is beyond amazing, I received a whole package of additions to the Project Peach sample collection. I’m known as the insane tea person here (The cleaning staff allegedly talked about my tea cupboard for about three months before someone finally worked up the nerve to ask, ‘Is that really all tea, and WHY?’) so when I picked up my mail, one of the cleaners side-eyed me and said, ‘More tea, huh?’ It did smell insanely good in my cubby, so it could also have been that.

My favourite yoga DVD is ridiculous in many ways – it’s from the mid-nineties, and Bryan Kest has long, curly hair, wears yoga jeans (?!) and is very touchy-feely while topless. Combined with his random life advice and thickly slurred lilt, it’s definitely an acquired taste… but a wonderful programme, nonetheless. It’s on YouTube, but beware of any drinking games based on him touching the curly-haired lady, or using the word ‘release’ – you will thank me in the morning.

But I digress – what I meant to say was that Kest was the first teacher who really made me work hard to get to that fluid stage, where each movement is precise and measured, but still flows into the next seamlessly. That’s the first thing I thought about when I tasted this tea. It’s like a shapeshifting scene, where the two faces exist simultaneously – there is absolutely no way I could distinguish the passion fruit from the peach in this tea, but they’re still both undeniably there – I’ve never really tasted that before, and I love it.

So yeah – the two fruit flavours work very well together, and the end result is a smooth, juicy rooibos. There is a slight tartness to the aftertaste that I haven’t decided how I feel about yet, but other than that, this adds up to a very well-balanced sip. I will definitely enjoy finishing the rest of this sample – thanks, Dex!

[Sample sent from Dexter3657 to Rome, June 2014.]

Sipdown (168/174)!

Almost done the backlog…

So, I made this hot in my timolino yesterday and it used up the whole sample from VariaTEA. Unfortunately, I was a neglectful tea drinker and I ended up sipping on it while doing closing cash counts, and I was so focused on my numbers that I hardly remember what this tasted like at all.

I vaguely recollect thinking “man, that’s strong rooibos” after my first sip, but then nothing. At least that means it probably wasn’t so bad, right? At first, my computer auto corrected my misspelling of “vaguely” to “vaginally”, which would make for a very different tasting note. And I don’t even know if the rooibos was strong because that’s what this tea is like or if it’s because I grossly oversteeped this (nine minutes) to begin with.

Welp, I guess I wont rate it.

Sipdown (168/174)!

I’ve been a lazy teablogger, and I feel bad about it. So, time to work through some backlog, because I’ve had several interesting teas over the last two days which I’ve yet to log, and I really want to explore the updates to the flavours list some more!

This was an easy sample sipdown from VariaTEA and a tea I had for breakfast in the morning. I think it says a lot in a probably bad way that this is my third Sea Buckthorn tea and I still haven’t got a clue what Sea Buckthorn tastes like! It makes my head hurt.

Basically this was a very smooth and creamy rooibos with maybe the faintest hint of generic, borderline “dry/tart” fruit? I really should have logged it after I had it while the flavour notes were still fresh in my memory. It was good; just subtley flavoured. I’d drink it again if presented the chance, but I wont seek it out either.

Sea Buckthorn what do you taste like!? Why is your flavour so elusive!?

I really like Cornelia Bean’s tisanes. This one is really good too. It’s more goji than strawberry, but cold steeped with a little white tea makes for a really nice iced tea. This makes me happy.

I couldn’t find steeping directions on Steepster so I went with my normal green steeping parameters of wait five minutes for water to cool, and steep 2 minutes.

This is a nice green tea, but I’m really not getting much rhubarb. The base is nice, so that’s a plus, since that’s essentially all I taste. There is a creaminess to it, though that could just be the base itself.

After Fru P’s Rhubarb Green, this one is not so impressive.

Thanks for sharing Roswell Strange!

Thank you VariaTEA! I don’t drink many green teas, but I enjoyed this one last night. It was a nice creamy rhubarb with a pleasant green base and the cup didn’t last long enough for me to properly review it!

That and our massive combined Lupicia order was distracting me. :/

:) I’m happy I was able to try this though! I should drink more greens.

ETA I accidentally logged this as strawberry meringue. Thanks, VariaTEA for pointing that out!

Sipdown (185/190)!

Gotta keep things short because my bus’ll be here any minute now – but cold brewed this sample from VariaTEA because I know that Tea Desire’s Prickly Pear (which is nearly identical in ingredients) is very good that way.

And I’m not surprised this is too! It’s phenomenal; kiwi, pear, melon, a little bit of a floral aspect, and just a touch tangy/sour really does equal a yummy treat! Sad to see this one go, but I still have the TD version so I’m not that broken up about it.

They really are practically the same!