For Tea's Sake

Funnily enough, this is the second tea named “Let It Snow” currently in my cupboard. I don’t get the appeal of the name; it’s pretty fucking cheesy as far as these winter themed tea names go and not indicative at all of what the flavour of the tea is gonna be…

I think this is basically just a straight EG though which is something that’s definitely NOT exciting to me at all. As such, I skipped over doing the whole plain, basic infusion tasting to get a feel of the tea ‘cause realistically if you’ve tried a dozen+ straight EG teas you’ve kind of tried them all. Instead I steeped it hot, with some very foamy/frothy milked scooped onto the top to form a pillow for me to sprinkle candy cane shards on top of.

Now that’s how you take a boring tea and make it fun, flavourful, and festive! It was only ok though; I mean, the tea itself is just really boring/bland and there’s only so much candy cane shards can do to turn that around. I essentially just made a cup of EG with mint, and while it was drinkable it was hardly a “treat”. Bleh.

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Honestly I’m just happy to have one less boring, straight peppermint in my life. Like, it didn’t taste bad but is this the kind of thing I really need to hoard that one last cup of? Definitely not, especially when I have better mint teas in my cupboard like straight Wintergreen or a million different mint blends.

Cold Brew!

Wow, this one was mighty intense as a cold brew! Like, I took a sip and I was fully and completely smacked with the mint which had such a great, menthol heavy finish. It was very much the same sensation as deeply inhaling air when it’s like -40C outside,
which happens quite a lot in Saskatchewan during the winter. When your whole body it outside in that kind of terrible weather it sucks but the sensation of such crisp, cooling mint when you’re in a warm environment is actually kind of wonderful.

This was a great cold brew.

Got this one in For Tea’s Sake’s “Festive Sampler” – to be perfectly honest, had it not been in the sample I 100% would NOT have bought it.

So, those who’ve been around Steepster for a while know that while I don’t have any issues with mint I don’t generally drink straight peppermint. Aside from the fact that it’s kind of boring, I had a REALLY bad peppermint experience years ago where I found maggots in a specific tea company’s pure peppermint. I 100% will NOT touch that company’s straight peppermint anymore – but I don’t blame the company itself. I mean, tea is a botanical product and stuff like that is just bound to happen every now and then. Shit happens. Still, it’s left me in a spot where straight peppermint teass send me back to that experience and I get the stomach wibby wobblys.

In fact – before I brewed this one up I emptied out the sample tin of it and just looked through the leaf. Just in case…

Once I was assured this was good to go, it actually wasn’t bad though. I mean, there is the aforementioned thing where as a flavour it’s kind of boring – HOWEVER, I did think that this one in particular was pretty smooth and fresh, and thought it packed a pretty good minty punch while still having that relaxing quality a good peppermint tea should have. It’s because of that relaxing quality that this will probably be my last tea of the night ’cause boy am I tired now! And good thing too, I work really early in the morning tomorrow and I really ought to be getting to bed…

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A little bit bitter and astringent, but ginger and custard notes were present and I suppose kind of came together in a way that was eggnog… adjacent? I happy to have finished this tea off though – I’ve sort of exhausted any love of it that I had left…

Another more Christmas inclined tea flavour…

Made this one with eggnog as well, because there’s something delightfully meta to me about adding eggnog to eggnog inspired teas. I also added a bit of vanilla agave as well, for extra creaminess. It was a fine cup of tea; but I really loathe the presence of ginger in this one. Also, like all other eggnog inspired teas this year, this failed to make me feel festive.

Definitely a strong eggy/custard flavour, but accented with warming ginger and clove notes and just a pinch of cinnamon. Ginger is a touch strong for my liking, but it’s still a very nice eggnog profile overall. Not my favourite because it’s a touch choppy/astringent even with the yummy dessert flavours but it can be a nice profile overall and I’m grateful to have something sweet and comforting to sip on during my Netflix binges.

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So it super sucks that the first time I really feel like I’m actually getting the flavour of REAL eggnog from this tea is also the cup where I’m finishing it off…

I don’t know what the difference was this time around: only thing special I did was add a splash of milk to it!? However, this was really rich, sweet and creamy, and custardy with that strong eggnog-y flavour and then nice supporting cinnamon/nutmeg and vanilla notes. I enjoyed it immensely, actually. I’m just super bummed out that it didn’t taste like that the whole time I had it.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLbqnmvLPKE&index=18&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ

Hot and straight this time.

This one still doesn’t taste like eggnog to me, but I do feel like I got a bit of creaminess in this cup that sort of grasped at those flavours. I mean, it was more of a vanilla flavour than anything else but it’s definitely better than nothing. Apart from that, I tasted cinnamon and clove, with hints of a sweet ginger note in the finish. In so far as mouthfeel, it was a bit murky/muddy and definitely not the smoothest liquor in the world. Still a decent flavour overall.

I think better than the last time, with milk.

Hot, with a touch of milk.

The sample comes from VariaTEA and it’s one I’m especially glad that she sent because I very nearly bought some of this over the Christmas season when I saw it at Chapters. In the end, I just couldn’t commit to blindly buying that large of a quantity.

I think I’m happy I made the decision I did though – it’s not that I disliked the tea in any way when I drank it today, though. The problem for me was just that it didn’t taste like eggnog to me. Mostly, it was a vanilla/cinnamon flavour with some other nice, soft underlying spices such as clove and nutmeg. Maybe a hint of ginger, too?

I’m sure I’ll finish the sample she sent with ease – but this is not eggnog, and that’s what I would have wanted from it were I to buy it for myself.

Hmm.

Hmm.

This tea has definitely got pu-erh in it. So, points for that flavor still being able to come through with all the rest that’s going on. :) The first few sips are QUITE bitter, because I didn’t add any cream/milk or anything, just a Perfect Tea Scoop of sugar like I normally would with a flavored black. So the coffee makes the first few sips a little too astringent… but about five or six sips in, my palate adjusted, and I can really taste just about everything that’s going on, except the chamomile (not sure what chamomile is doing in this blend, anyway, as it’s never going to outshine the pu-erh OR the coffee. The black tea base is also pretty muted, but if it was all pu-erh, I wonder if we’d even taste the coffee. So I’ll allow that the black tea serves a purpose. Overall, I am not as turned off by this as I was afraid I might be. The price point was good, so I might consider purchasing it again, if the hubs likes it.

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Finished this one off as a cold brew today; I didn’t have a lot of tea leaf left so it’s a weaker/more watery cold brew that what I’m used to brewing. Still, the candied plum notes and very gentle cinnamon at the top of the sip are noticeable, and sweet and refreshing. It’s not the best way I could have finished this one off, but certainly not the worst either.

Very ‘cinnamon plum’ tasting.

Smooth, well balanced, not overly spicy or sweet. Also just kind of boring, though? I feel like I’d be able to get more into this one during the winter – which also feels kind of ironic to say because even though it’s April now our city is still blanketed in snow and freezing so it does kind of still feel like winter anyway.

Welp.

Hmm…

Kind of like a floral, sweet cinnamon and clove sort of thing? Once again I definitely did not get plum from this one in terms of flavour. Weirdly, though, I did get a surprising amount of elderflower and elderberry flavour!? Not a damn clue what in the blend made it taste like that but it was actually pretty nice.

Very average tasting cuppa overall though.

From the For Tea’s Sake holiday sampler.

I definitely tried this one last year, and I was not a fan so I wasn’t thrilled to receive it in the sampler but I tried to have an open mind brewing it up. I still don’t think it’s a great tea, but something must have changed because I did have a better experience with it. I don’t know if that change comes down to a formula change for the tea itself or if my palate has just changed – or maybe I just knocked preparation out of the park. Who knows?

I do think it does have more spice notes that a “Sugar Plum” blend should have, but at least I actually did taste plum this time around! It was a very dark, rich plum taste with lots of clove, and cinnamon undertones. Also, a brisk flavour in the cup for sure but no awful astringency this time around! As a spiced plum blend, this could be quite good and I guess I can see the finer/festive appeal of these flavour pairings. Just…

It’s called Sugar Plum. Don’t you think it should be a sweet plum blend!?

Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/A0Ws3rB5eg0

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Thanks VariaTEA for the sample!

I made this one at work iced, and I have to say I was initially rather disappointed with it. The cinnamon was way too strong, and very astringent. I decided to add some agave to the tea to hopefully sweeten things out and soften up the astringency/intense spices. It did work because more fruit notes were drawn out; nothing I’d call especially plum like through. Also, definitely less astringency though the intensity of the cinnamon/clove was still rather strong. I guess, bottom line, I just expected the fruit/plum half of this blend to be stronger since that’s the aspect the tea’s named after. Some spices would have been a nice compliment to a sweet plum note, but as is the balance of flavours in this seems opposite to what it should be for me.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukNOaKeUEQY&index=11&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ

I might have effed up my first attempt at a London Fog but in the end, it all worked out alright: http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/02/20/shades-of-earl-grey-let-it-snow-from-for-teas-sake/

This is a queued tasting note.

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Drank this one cold brewed on the balcony because it was nice enough outside to do so.

Honestly? Wasn’t in love with this one. Really, after the Strawberry Oolong I first tried, all the other For Tea’s Sake iced tea collection seemed like a big step backwards. That said it wasn’t bad; it’s just that it came off as a very generic and average quality apricot/peach black and I’ve had more than my fair share of those.

Still very refreshing for an early Spring(ish) cold tea on the balcony though.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhU9MZ98jxo&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=3

I love The Chainsmokers and I strongly feel like this may be a solid contender for the Spring/Summer anthem of 2017 – and we’re only in January. Give it some time and it’ll likely be as overplayed as Closer though. Pairing was mostly for the Spring/Summer vibes as it was definitely that kind of atmosphere.

Cold Brew Sipdown (122)!

Made a pitcher of this one, and I’m sure glad I decided to take a thermos of it with me to work the morning after I strained it because I came home from work and both roommate had already polished it off!

I didn’t mind this one; the blueberry came through quite clearly and strongly for me. I didn’t taste the other two berries so much, though. What was really missing for me was just a bit of sweetness. Instead this had a little bit of a drier, flatter taste that left me wanting more out of each sip. Not as good as DT’s Blueberry Jam, imo.

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I love, love, love the packaging for this one. It was pretty well enough on its own to make me want to try this one, despite the cheesy as all hell name.

Mint and lemon sounds like it should make for a really refreshing iced/cold brew; sort of lemonade-y I’d guess? So I cold brewed this one! I was really excited about it too.

It’s not bad, I guess. I definitely thought there would be more balance between the mint and the lemon notes but this is very much a ‘mint with lemon’ tisane and not ‘mint and lemon’ and there IS a big difference between those two things. I want to like it really badly, but it’s just strong and a little odd.

Also, if I’m being perfectly honest the intensity of the mint is giving me flashbacks of DAVIDsTEA’s Peppermint Amour and that time I found a maggot in the tea leaf. I still gag every time I have to open the tin of Peppermint Amour for a customer, by the way. Like, every damn time. While I was quickly able to shake the feeling of maggot tea whilst drinking this, the fact is brought up that unpleasant memory in the first place is just… ugh!

I think I’m content with just this one tasting, on this one. Again, it’s not the worst but I think I may just have more cons than pros this time around.

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Day two of it being so hot in the house that you could melt off a nutsack.

So, I’m starting the day with a cold brew! This one has been going in my fridge for days now because I’m forgetful – so it’s very strong/potent. Mostly, it tastes like sweet candied strawberries with melon and plum undertones. However, that extended brew time has really drawn out a lot of grassyness from the base teas and it’s a little bit harsh. I mean, for something like a 40 hour steep time it’s pretty amazing it’s not bitter though; just strong and astringent. Kind of a chlorine taste too, if I’m being honest.

Despite that it’s still not an awful brew, though I have a few regrets about going hard with this 25 oz cold brew on an empty stomach…

Iced!

So, I saw the other day that the Sears in my mall was selling these little sample packets of For Tea’s Sake’s iced tea line up on clearance for a dollar, and I remember REALLY enjoying this one so I bought the last sample packet. I mean, for a dollar what do you have to lose!?

- Oolong base was stronger this time around than I remember it being
- Quite grassy/‘lawn clipping’ like
- The strawberry & melon notes are every bit as smooth, sweet, and lush
- Really refreshing!
- In a way, it’s a TOUCH candy like: the melon isn’t convincingly natural/realistic
- Still really good though! Very happy I got to revisit!