Herbal Infusions

Sipdown!! (220)

I was a little hesitant given the mention of licorice but I think it actually works to enhance this cup. This is a very pleasant cup of white tea. It is minty but in a relaxed, and muted way. And the anise just rounds out the flavor.It is flavorful without being in-you-face. Smooth, and calming really. Thank you Cavocorax for sending some my way.

And more from Dexter3657 (I should have that put on my logs automatically somehow, the equivalent of letterhead, ha!). Thank you!

Aw man, I should like this because it’s heavy on ubersweet licorice root which is one of my guilty pleasure tisane ingredients (I totally agree with Cavocorax that it reminds one of Stash’s licorice tisanes, which I loved as a teen staying up late doing my homework). That aspect brings to mind Steven Smith’s Bon Bon which I discovered and got a bit fanatical about over holiday break. But the other components, while definitely in the background compared to the super sweet licorice, include chamomile which I tend to be ehhhh about (like I’ll tolerate it in wellness or sleep aid tisanes for its soporific effect but I don’t enjoy it) and lemongrass which for some bizarre reason I actively hate in tea (love it fresh, love cooking with it…yeah, I dunno either; for some reason it reads like bathroom cleaner which leads to some weird urine smell association for me). All together it becomes something sharply, sickly sweet with a weedy (as in dandelions, not pot), musty (good word, MissB!) evocation and a hint of bathroom cleaner. It’s actually not as horrible as that sounds thanks to the crazy sweetness of the licorice root and the cooling quality of the mint—I finished the cup and I do see the way it evokes candy canes but with more oomph from the other less orthodox flavor additions—but you get the idea. Not my thing. Ah well.

Snow day! I will have a lot of at-home assignments to do to make up for it, but at least I can be in my pajamas and sipping a cup of tea!

What better tea to start this snow day off than with a cup of Marshmallow Snowflake Earl Grey?! The snowflakes in this tea are so pretty – not the cheap little sprinkle ones, but bigger gleaming white ones. I could smell the marshmallow aroma from this one even before I opened the little sample package. I couldn’t smell any of the bergamot, but it comes through in the tea as a light lemony flavor. This is followed up by a creamy marshmallow finish and a light bergamot and vanilla aftertaste. The creaminess and flavor of this tea is absolute perfection! I get tired of such strong bergamot flavors after a while, but this is one that I could drink everyday. I like that the Earl Grey flavor isn’t overwhelming, and it’s just softly floating in my cup wrapped up with the marshmallowy sweetness. Thank you to VariaTEA for sending me a sample of this one – I love it! I looked on their website but didn’t see it – is it still available to order?

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves with small blue and white petals and small white snowflakes.
-Dry leaves smell very sweetly of marshmallow and sugary vanilla. Tea liquor aroma is of rich vanilla with a hint of bergamot.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium orange brown color.
-Light lemony bergamot flavor with a sweet and creamy marshmallow finish. Soft bergamot and vanilla aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Excellent tea. A smooth cup. Light Earl Grey with a creamy sweet marshmallow flavor.

Sipdown (193/195)!

I mixed this with Simpson & Veil’s Strawberry Cupcake to finish them both off, which you can read more of here:

http://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/228193#comments

Thanks Courtney for both of those teas!

Thanks Courtney for the sample.

I have to keep this short because I’m due at an interview in an hour, but I wanted to get the two backlogged teas I have from Monday evening out of the way first.

Also, an update on yesterday’s interview: It was really short and brief. Basically I came in, shook the manager’s hand and filled out an availability sheet. No questions or anything; just my availability and a copy of my resume. I find out tomorrow morning whether or not they’re hiring me.

So the tea: I’ve tried this before and was kinda “meh” but asked for it again in the hopes that I’d be able to find something to mix it with – it seemed like an interesting idea. I had this cup straight though, and left about a cups worth left to mix with something else.

It was still weak like I remembered from before, but for a calm and relaxing evening it hit the spot pretty well. Some milk maybe would have made it a little bit more drinkable, but I wasn’t complaining at the time of having it.

Tre said it smelled nice – and I told him he probably liked the smell because it was basically just weak hot chocolate.

Sipdown (203)!

This is backlog from last night, after Tre took back his laptop.

I do prefer this one to the plain Cacao, I’ve decided, however after brewing up an extra strong 10 oz. mug of this (2 1/2 tsp. of leaf, effectively using up the sample from *variaTEA) and letting it brew for 30 min. so it was extra strong, I still felt dissatisfied with the taste. It was too weak and thin tasting, despite having split second moments of tasting like Strawberry Nesquik syrup or melted Neapolitan.

Just not my thing, I suppose.

So after making the plain version of this in the morning (ok, not the morning – but it felt like the morning to me) and being a little disappointed but then receiving some good feedback from different people, I decided to make the other cacao sample that VariaTEA had sent me as an “early evening” tea to take a break from the bulk of black teas I’ve been having today.

I used more leaf this time (2 tsp. for 10 oz.), and left the teaball in the mug the entire time I was drinking it because I knew it wouldn’t get bitter. Drinking it this way/with this variety, I actually enjoyed it a lot more. While I did still find it kind of weak, there was definitely more dimension to the tea from the strawberry and I think the fact that made it less “flat” (mono-tasting) was a huge plus.

The strawberry actually reminded me of Strawberry Nesquik milk flavouring, which is definitely my favourite. That said, obviously that has a sort of artificial quality to it but it’s one that doesn’t put me off. I don’t get “cream” in the flavour, but that could be remedied with some milk – except I’m all out at the moment (and only have myself to blame for it) so that’ll have to wait for another day to be tested.

I wouldn’t get the plain Cacao again, but I’d consider maybe getting more of this one.

Sipdown (206/209)!

Since I found this kind of bland on its own I finished off my sample by adding some of DAVIDsTEA’s Buttered Rum into the leaf as well. I have lots of that lying around, and the two seemed like they’re make a compatible and interesting pair, so why not?

And I was right, the two marry perfectly! The Cacao brings a delightful chocolate taste, but the black base in Buttered Rum and the smooth coconut and butterscotch aspects keep it from tasting weak. If I had any more of the Cacao I’d use it up by drinking it this way – but I’m not going to get any more just so I can mix the two.

Anyway, it was ultimately an experiment done well.

Also, I just burned the side of my face making a whipped lemon marshmallow cupcake topping. I was melting down marshmallows and lemon spread (it’s like the jam/jelly but right light and airy – it kind of reminds me of lemon pie filling) together to use as a topping on some vanilla cupcakes, and when I pulled the bowl from the microwave it bubbled up and splashed on my face.

Ouch – though it does taste pretty good.

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample of this – I’ve been curious about it for a while. It’s been in my sample drawer since getting it (as opposed to sample bags stuffed in my closet), and I’ve been waiting for the right evening to try it but this morning I finally just went “Fuck it, it sounds like a good breakfast tea” – though it’s 3 PM, so not really breakfast time. Except I just got up an hour ago, and this is the first food/drink I’ve had all day – so sorta breakfast, I guess.

How much leaf do the people who really enjoy this normally use? I used 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in 10 oz. of boiling water, steeped for 8 minutes and the result was pretty tasty but incredibly weak. Now, I’m sure part of that is because I used 10 oz. – but just wondering? It also weirded me out a little but that this steeped up practically clear? I was expecting at least a little colour.

Anyway maybe I just had steep expectations? Hah, get it? I’m punny. Don’t judge me – it’s 3 PM and I practically just got up. But yeah, it’s not like it was a bad cup or anything…

Sipdown!! (202)

Thank you Cavocorax for sending this my way. I am actually finding this cup very nice. The green tea has provided a very smooth for the almond flavor which is nutty and sweet. I bumped the rating on this one.

I had a stroke of genius at 4 am last night when I realized that since I use water bottles to make my SBTs, I could pour the cold steeped teas back into the bottles when it was done steeping and use the pitcher to make another flavor. That will enable me to try multiple flavors at once without having to drink a whole pitcher of cold tea by myself in the middle of winter. So now I have 4 bottles of Key Lime Cheesecake SBT to enjoy at my leisure while a pitcher of Rainbow Sherbet SBT steeps in the fridge.

Anyways, I ended up making this tea for a friend and myself. She came over for a day of tea and homework and by the time she arrived the kettle had already boiled and started cooling. I figured I would take advantage of the cooled water and make one of the greens I was sent in swaps. When given the choice, she picked this one out from the box Cavocorax sent me..

I steeped 2 tsps in 16 oz of 165F water for 3 minutes. The result was a very smooth and pleasant green tea. My friend really liked it and though I enjoyed my cup, it was a pretty simple tea. There was a tiny hint of almond and a slight berry sweetness. All very good but nothing I was blown away by. Thank you Cavocorax for sharing. I will enjoy the sample you sent but I don’t think I will be too heartbroken when it is gone.

I have to say that this tea SMELLED really tasty. I do love a spiced apple cider, and this seemed like it would be a nice blend. In fact, it is overall fairly tasty but there is just a hint of fake-ness to the apple component. It really reminds me of the taste of powdered instant apple cider, rather than fresh cider. I could definitely use more spices (ginger where?), but my main problem here is that it just came out bitter. And somehow, while being bitter, the flavor of the base tea was MIA. Oh well, thanks for the sample, MissB!

This one smells very interesting. It’s a blend of rooibos, raw pumpkin (almost like it’s been recently scraped out) and spices. The combination doesn’t sound that bad, but it sure does create a rather stinky scent.

Sipping… well, not as bad as I thought it would be. The rooibos and the spices come together quite well. It reminds me a bit of a spice cookie. I detect a little bit of something fruity, but it’s mostly a mystery fruit, nothing specific. There isn’t any pumpkin in sight, but the cup is still tasty. I also like the creamy bit that comes at the end of the sip. It seems to come from the rooibos, almost as if it were a vanilla rooibos base.

I think that pumpkin pie must be a very difficult flavor to create in tea form. I haven’t found a tea blend that has been able to accurately bring that creamy, buttery pumpkin PIE flavor to a cup. The blends have either been too heavy on the spice, strange and without anything resembling pumpkin pie. I’ll continue the hunt, but I’ve lost some faith in finding that perfect pumpkin pie tea.

Sipdown!! (207)

Goodbye minty tea. You were tasty but there are better mint teas out there. It was fun while it lasted though. Thank you Cavocorax for bringing us together :)

So this is a pretty mellow cup of minty tea. It has a touch of creaminess but I wouldn’t exactly call it “irish cream”. Really it is not bad but whenever I have sweet minty teas such as this, I can’t help but compare it to others I have had (Anti V-Day Treat and Santa’s Secret immediately come to mind) and it just does not have as much of an appeal. I am glad I got to try it though so thank you Cavocorax for sharing. I have enough for one more cup and I am sure I will enjoy it but this is not something I will miss when it is gone.

Sipdown!! (186)

Thank you MissB for the sample of this tea. Alas, it seems to be quite finicky so while some cups are really good, others are merely okay. It was fun while it lasted but I think I will be passing along the last couple of cups to my friend to test her luck with it.

I probably should have read my previous tasting note about steeping this for longer or using more leaf as I used the exact same parameters this time around. I am still enjoying this though. It is predominantly apple. There is a slight hint of cinnamon but mostly it is like sipping on warm apple juice. Not bad at all. Thank you MissB for passing along the sample! Luckily HI is pretty generous (as is MissB for sending me the whole thing) with their sample size so I have a few more cups to play with.

I am always just a little disappointed when a company gives absolutely no steeping directions. I would think they would know best about how their teas should be prepared but I suppose it leaves room for everyone to play around and find their sweet spot. For me, this cup was steeped for two minutes just below boiling. I find when I steep for longer the base takes overs.

Anyways, when I opened the sample package, I got a big whiff of fresh, juicy apple. In flavor, the apple is slightly muted in comparison to the scent. It is also covered just a bit by slight cinnamon flavor. I think I will try steeping this for longer to see if that brings out the flavors a bit more. Don’t get me wrong, this cup is still good, but weaker than I would have hoped (though that is probably my error and not a reflection of the tea). Thank you MissB for the chance to try something new. I look forward to experimenting with the sample to find this tea’s sweet spot.

And that’s goodbye to this. (162)

It smells so amazing, like a strawberry milkshake, but the flavouring is just too weak. I steeped for 10 minutes and then added a little bit of I’ll after a few sips, but I still wanted more. Hmmm. I keep feeling like I need to fiddle with it more, but I did get a few cups of it to play with…

Thanks VariaTEA for this! I forgot I had it when I implusively bought a sample of this on the weeknend. Whoops! But since it was in my spreadsheet twice this counts as a sipdown (162!) AND lets me try a tea I was curious about.

I think I should have steeped this longer – it smells amazing! Strawberry and cream and wow! Sadly, the taste is much milder than the scent suggest.

I do get some strawberry and cream. I just wish it was more. I’ll have to remember to try steeping for 7 min when I have the other sample of this!

This sample was given to me by the incredibly lovely Missb! Thank you so much, it really means a lot to me :)

I can honestly say I’ve never had Baileys before. I’m just not an alcohol person. I do know what Irish cream tastes like however and I do seem to be getting it slightly in this tea. Unfortunately the tea falls flat however…I’m not getting any mint at all. I’m not really getting much of anything, actually – just the faint Irish cream taste and a little bit of sweet from the Stevia I added.

Had another cup of this last night and this time, maybe because I was expecting it, the bergamot and citrus brightness was more immediately apparent. It really is a great winter treat tea. Has grown on me and I find myself wanting to make a cup more and more. It resteeps quite decently too (a nice surprise—I almost never bother to with black teas but did on a whim now that resteeping’s not hassle ‘cause the water’s always at the ready).

Another thoughtful awesomely unique pick from Dexter3657—seriously, this swap box is loaded with things that feel picked just for me in the most touching way. Thank you!

My goodness this is a complicated tea. I have a feeling I may have overleafed or oversteeped it slightly, but thankfully I don’t mind a touch of bitterness (in fact, I think I may even prefer it with this one because of how it evokes chocolate—Dexter3657 was kind enough to send enough so I can try it normally too and compare!).

I do think that accidental bitterness might be contributing to the impression of chocolate candy I’m getting, as it combines with the sugary marshmallow component. It’s creamy and sweet, makes me think of those big chocolate-covered marshmallow candies but with fancier/darker, higher cacao-content chocolate. It took me a moment to find the Earl underneath that complicated flavor, and it’s still relatively faint for me but the zestiness lends a brightness that helps even out the fluffy vanilla marshmallow sweetness. The orange comes out more as it cools too, and the combination of chocolate and vanilla and marshmallow candy combined with bright orange ultimately makes it a poster child tea of the holiday season (no wonder it was part of the 12 days of Christmas promo!). This feels like a rich, cocoa-y beverage with added orange peel to me. It’s heavy and intense. Not an everyday pick but a nicer more grown up upgrade option from hot cocoa on a snowy day, I think.

I loved this tea. It has a very smooth vanilla flavour with an undertone of cacao. I shared this tea with two co-workers and they both loved it too.