Floragold

One of the bagged teas I packed with me for my trip. I, unfortunately, drank it during the peak of the cold that I managed to catch during the week – and at that point I could hardly taste a thing, so I don’t really know if this was good or bad or somewhere inbetween. I think it’s supposed to be raspberry and currant? But I couldn’t tell…

Another tea that I packed for my Winnipeg trip – I packed a lot of bagged teas because I know that for travel they’re far, far more convenient. I actually drank this one while on the plane from Montreal to Winnipeg – this is not the first time I’ve made tea while 30,000 feet in the air, it’s always an experience though…

I had mixed thoughts on this one; I liked the pineapple note a lot and the strawberry, while generic, was also nice. Kind of a sweet candied fruit vibe that I could get on board with. The green tea base wasn’t good though; rather drying and astringent, and extremely grassy. There was also too much of it; definitely not proportional to the fruit in the blend.

Could have been worse – but also could have been better. Still, it was tea – and a lot better than the shitty Tetley tea bags that the airline was offering. So a net win, afterall.

Vanilla and Cardamom chai on a rooibos base…

Surprisingly, I think this is my favourite Floragold blend that I’ve tried so far!? It does taste like vanilla, cardamom, and rooibos all distinctly but with pleasant notes – they compliment well. However, when I do that thing where I shut my brain off and let all of the flavours kind of bleed together it reminded me a little bit of rootbeer w/ vanilla? I wonder if there’s sarsaparilla in the blend? Regardless, I was very into that weird spiced/vanilla rootbeer kind of flavour. It’s delish!

I feel conflicted about this blend – it’s supposed to be pineapple and grapefruit, which actually sounds like a delightful flavour pairing to me. I don’t really recall it tasting much like either of those two flavours but it did have a generic tropical and borderline candy like sweetness that was pretty nice and the entire time I was drinking it I had this nagging feeling of deja vu and nostalgia; I never did figure out what it was reminding me of, though…

Sipdown! 216/365!

I actually drank this quite a while ago, but had misplaced the package and didn’t know what I’d drank – until today, when I found it while cleaning (mission to actually babyproof the living room). Unfortunately, all I remember is that I wasn’t particularly fond of it. It looks like it’s supposed to be Pineapple-Grapefruit flavoured, if I’m correctly remembering my French, but I don’t recall that at all. Oh well.

Thanks for the share regardless, Roswell Strange!

Sipdown! 215/365!

Another share from Roswell Strange – thanks!

This tea is supposed to taste of strawberry and pineapple… but while I can taste that it’s fruity, the primary flavour is definitely a mariney/grassy green tea. One of the few times I’ll say that I’d rather taste less of the base tea. It’s not terrible though, but definitely a generic sort of flavouring (it’s quite familiar to me – I’m thinking of some “strawberry papaya” blacks and greens I’ve had in the past, with chunks of candied pineapple), and not a great base choice. Well, to be fair – it’s actually a fairly standard base choice for medium-quality flavoured greens, so I’m probably being overly harsh. Probably not bad for a bagged tea, but nothing I’d pick up.

Sipdown! 214/365!

Thanks to Roswell Strange for this sample! Unfortunately, I oversteeped it, but luckily, a bit of extra water tamed the astringency right down – so a fairly forgiving tea! The bergamot is actually at a perfect level and quite tasty, though there’s almost a bit of a piney note in the aftertaste that’s perhaps not my favourite. The black base isn’t too notable – it does its job.

Not a bad EG, but it would be better with milk just to cream it up.

This one is a “herbal tea but with added green tea” – and I say that because that’s how the company is marketing it, but normally I’d probably just consider this a green tea with a lot of herbal ingredients/not much green tea in it at all…

Unfortunately it was a pretty forgettable infusion and I don’t really remember what it tasted like too much apart from being rather ambivalent towards it and seeing lots of lemongrass in the dry leaf.

Another tea from Floragold that makes you go “How does this name have any correlation to the flavour at all!?” – it’s a mango/peach rooibos, and a pretty tasty one at that. I just fail to see any correlation with the name…

On the sweeter side, and definitely an artificial mango/peach combo – but still quite tasty. I almost found it creamy, and that gave it a Campino/yogurt candy sort of vibe. I think there was a mango/peach Campino flavour too, so it’s just especially fitting. I enjoyed the mug a lot though.

Really, I’m mostly just noticing the trend that Floagold’s strength is their rooibos line up. That’s definitely what I’ve been most impressed with this far!

This… might actually be the best tea from Floragold I’ve tried yet!?

It’s supposed to be a strawberry kiwi flavour and, much to my surprise, it actually did taste like Strawberry Kiwi!! It was pretty sweet, and heavier on the strawberry notes – but it was there and that’s a heck of a lot more than what I was expecting. Really hit me with a wave of nostalgia; strawberry kiwi is such a 90s/early 2000s flavour. Really nice, though!

However, Fairy Fragrance!? What a weird, and kind of off putting name!? Like, I don’t mind a good fairy reference/whimsical reference with my tea however I don’t know if “The Smell of Fairies” is exactly the direction you should be leaning. I mean, I’m sure fairies would (hypothetically) smell better than say goblins or dwarves or what have you. Just, in general, I think it’s best to refrain from naming your tea after anyone’s odor.

Sipdown! 161/365!

Thanks for the share, Roswell Strange! I was feeling like a black tea the other day, and also like I should get in a sipdown, so I found this in my teabox from Roswell. Thankfully, it was better than the herbals of theirs that I have tried; not a bad example of a bagged assam, IMO. Malty and a bit thinner than my preference would be, but decent flavour.

Very, very standard/simple/classic Earl Grey flavour – especially for a bagged tea. It was just fine, but kind of boring so I twisted it a little bit with the addition of some pumpkin flavoured agave. I actually really enjoyed the bergamot + pumpkin combination, and now I just really want someone to make a tea that is purposefully Earl Grey and Pumpkin.

You could call it a “Pumpkin Fog”.

I’m perplexed by this cinnamon/orange rooibos blend…

The dry leaf of it smells quite delicious, albeit very familiar. It’s essentially like DT’s Spice Is Right blend (Cinnamon, clove, orange) but with a more intense orange note. However, steeped up there’s a very off smell to the infusion. I know this is a pretty harsh comparison, but also it’s accurate: the steeped tea smells a lot like literal shit and farts, and also cinnamon. Kind of like someone took a very big number two, and then covered the aroma with some Febreeze…

While the steeped tea actually tastes fine, basically a softer version of the dry leaf aroma with more woody rooibos undertones, the smell you get when you bring your nose to the cup to take a sip is so off putting that it took me ages to finish off this mug. Don’t know what’s up with the blend to make it come out like that; but definitely not a “good” experience with this one.

Sipped on this while actually eating a slice of cherry pie.

Unfortunately this is another one of those herbal/fruit blends that is basically just acidified apple and hibiscus (ie. TART!) with some flavouring tossed into it that doesn’t resemble what it’s named after. It’s cherry, in the biggest stretch of the word. A hint of red fruit that could be cherry, but mostly just super tart and generic berry flavour. I mean, it was nice alongside my slice of actual cherry pie but drinking it while actually having a slice of pie only seemed to really emphasize just how much the flavour didn’t align with the real thing…

So this “Swiss Herbal Infusion” is comprised of three main flavour profiles: orange, mint, and ginger. I’m not sure if that’s actually a common Swiss flavour/tea combo, but I’ve definitely never seen it before (well, I mean, I’ve seen those three ingredients paired together but never under this name) so I’m not sure if this is a case of me just not knowing a thing or if it’s one of those weird German tea names that doesn’t quite fit…

Before I get into the tea, though, I have to share a short story that kind of ties in to it:

So, when I moved into my apartment here in Montreal I was told that there was a private gym in the building for tenants to use. At first I kind of scoffed, because I’ve not been to a gym since high school/am pretty unfit in general and don’t have a strong desire to focus super heavily on my physical well being. Like, it’s not that I want to be unhealthy/out of shape – but I don’t feel shitty about my body type/shape/size as it is so “fixing” it isn’t a priority for me. Over time I became more curious though, so I went looking for the gym because I figured there are aspects of going to the gym that do appeal to me…

I like being able to listen to music, and the gym can be a nice way to do that interrupted. I also like walking, but don’t love the outdoors – so I wouldn’t be opposed to having a casual walk/stroll on a treadmill or elliptical. Especially if it’s more private/there are less people around. However, I simply could not find it. Like, I walked up every floor in my building and didn’t see a gym anywhere. So I just gave up, and assumed I had misunderstood the person I’m leasing my apartment from.

Until last Sunday where, after going for a walk in the afternoon, I got in the elevator to head back to my floor. Now, there are four elevators in my building and I guess in the last four months I have, purely coincidentally, only been in three of them. Well, this time I got in the fourth elevator and, low and behold, there was a button on the elevator panel labeled “Gym” that doesn’t exist in any of the other elevators! So I clicked it.

Well, the elevator went all the way to the top floor of the building – which I hadn’t been to. I guess it’s not accessible by stairs – at least, through my apartment building. I explored the floor a little bit, and there is a stairwell that gets to the floor (in addition to this elevator) but if you take the stairwell down you wind up in the apartment building directly beside mine – which is kind of weird. Sure enough though, there’s a private gym that’s only accessible using the door badge/pass of anyone living in my apartment building or the one next to it; it’s fairly decked out with equipment, and pretty nice. There’s also a rooftop patio, and a “common room” with some seating/a pool table/a TV.

So I guess that whole story is my lead in to saying that, for the first time in six years, I went to the gym! I did a 30 minute walk on the elliptical, at a setting that was probably higher than what I should have started with. It was exhausting and hard but despite thinking several times about quitting halfway through I DID finish the walk. I’ve even been back several times since last Sunday and completed the same walk, with it getting easier each time. I like how private the gym is; there’s never been a time I’ve got where there was more than two other people there and since I live ina building a predominantly Chinese people who either don’t Speak English as a first language or well at all, it’s pretty quite – no one trying to chat. I certainly don’t want to jinx myself, but I think I could get really into going in that sort of atmosphere…

As for the tea!

Well, I think this is a flavour combo that I normally wouldn’t like all that much, especially since the ginger was pretty strong. However, after a half hour of hard work at the gym (especially with how long it’s been since I last went) I think that ANYTHING would have tasted good. I made the cup right after getting back to my apartment and I guzzled the whole thing!

I had low expectations for this tea – it’s another “fruit blend” with a name that doesn’t sound fruity at all and an ingredient list that tells a completely different story. Like, I’m sort but is the “mild” part of this Gingerbread House tea the fact it doesn’t taste like gingerbread at all? ‘Cause, if so, then I guess they’ve nailed it?

Basically this tastes like DT’s Sleigh Ride blend but with less cinnamon and a TINY touch of ginger. It’s very tart, very hibiscus and apple forward with a kind of floral-ish note. More of a fruity profile than anything else.

Nah…

A strong lemony profile but one with a decent amount of clarity and flavour, without tasting medicinal at all or harshly tart. You can tell that there’s also a great deal of lemongrass in the blend, as well. It’s simple and plain, but for a bagged lemon tea it’s also fairly nice. Pretty average overall, but I like to always have a bagged lemon option around (for when I’m sick) and it’d be perfectly content with this being that bagged lemon tea if I didn’t have anything else on hand…

Sipdown! 112/365!

Another fun sample from Roswell Strange – thanks!

This one was another I was looking forward to – vanilla lemongrass sounds yummy! And I happened to like DT’s Vanilla Swirl. Unfortunately, things were not in my favour with this tea, as I brewed it up at an awkward time and only barely got to taste it before it got forgotten, and when I returned to it, it had a funky aroma and got dumped. However, what I did taste (and smell) was not bad. Definitely vanilla, some lemon, but a large dose of rooibos which not only tasted fairly woody, it also left little woody pieces of residue all over my house (or so it feels) – a bunch clearly escaped the teabag and found their way everywhere.

Anyhow. Not a bad tea; I would drink it again, though I wasn’t overly keen on the rooibos.

Well, it’s a little bit past Christmas but that didn’t stop me from brewing this one up. It’s supposed to be a fruit blend, with cinnamon and vanilla? I kind of tasted the cinnamon, but certainly didn’t get any vanilla from the flavour. It’s also very, very dominantly fruity – primarily a mix of hibiscus tartness, acidified apple, and raisin. Really in your face flavours and nothing I would associate with “Christmas”.

I wasn’t a fan.

You know what’s a little crazy to think about? I wrote my 7500th tasting note six days ago, and now this is tasting note number 7550. Seriously, 50 tasting notes in six days is a pretty crazy amount, right? I knew I wrote a lot of tasting notes but I don’t think I’ve ever really processed the amount in full until right now.

Anyway – this is a jasmine and golden plum green tea. The plum aspect sounded nice to me, but I don’t have a wonderful success rate with jasmine greens so I kept my expectations low for this tea. Rightfully so; it was mighty unimpressive. Very bitter green tea, despite being cautious with my steeping, with a super perfume-y jasmine and really no fruity notes at all.

Boo.

This is meant to be a raspberry/apricot herbal tea. Don’t ask me how that relates to “Fortune” because I simply do not know. I can sort of get raspberry from the taste, but an artificial raspberry. The apricot is super, super lost. Mostly this just tastes like hibiscus though, with a weirdly chalky finish? Sort of like Flintstones vitamins…

Sipdown! 90/365

A fun tea sample sent to me by Roswell Strange – thank you!

So the story of how I came to try this tea today is slightly amusing; my 5-month-old son was exploring on the floor and managed to get himself over to the box of teas Roswell Strange had sent me (it’s not too far away; he can’t crawl yet). Next thing I know, he’s reached his grabby little hands into the box and is clutching one of the individually-wrapped teabags she sent! And shoving it in his mouth, as babies do. I checked, and since it was a herbal tea, I let him munch on it for a bit, until I noticed that the package had opened up and the teabag, slightly damp on one side, was falling out. Since it was no longer sealed, and bonus – contaminated by baby spit, I of course had to brew it up today. I am hoping this is a sign that he is going to like tea, unlike his father :D (Side note: he was not pleased when I took it away, so I gave him back the wrapper and he happily munched on it for another 5 minutes or so.)

So this tea. It was one I was actually pretty interested to try – a chai with “vanilla cardamom taste”, basically, my favourite type of chai. Except with a rooibos base, which can really make or break the tea. Luckily, the rooibos here was just fine, doing its job of being a solid base without tasting gross or medicinal. The flavouring was pretty good, too. I wasn’t paying enough attention to notice cardamom specifically, but I enjoyed the chai spicing, which typically means it is cardamom-heavy, and there was an interesting spiciness from the inclusion of peppercorns. For a bagged rooibos chai, this was actually quite tasty. I do prefer my chais to be caffeinated, so wouldn’t likely pick this up again myself, but would definitely drink it again.

Thanks again, Roswell!

I feel like it’s been a long time since I last had an East Frisian blend, but this was quite a nice one – especially for a bagged tea. I added a tiny, tiny amount of milk to the cup but I honestly probably could have left it out. It’s such an intense, full bodied black tea but at the same time is wickedly smooth – no astringency/bitterness. The predominant flavour is just a very strong, intense malt note. However there’s also a bread-y quality too; like Soda Bread. Good to start the morning with, as a Breakfast Blend alternative.

Package says that this is a rooibos with “cream flavouring”. Basically just tastes like a vanilla rooibos though; sweet and smooth and a tiny touch artificial. Not really unpleasant in any way but super run of the mill/average and the kind of profile that could be achieved by basically anyone…