RiverTea

Chose this as my ‘I can’t believe it’s my birthday today…last one before the big 4-0’ tea this morning.

I really like this tea. The chocolate spice makes me think that I’m eating something I should not be! Theoretically, this should keep me away from the donuts that a co-worker brought in this morning, but part of me suspects that will not be the case for long. :)

My Rivertea order came yesterday. Although it has nothing to do with the taste of the tea, it came in the most delightful packaging. Once I opened the cardboard box, I was greeted with tissue paper surrounding my order, and a cute sticker securing the tissue paper together that said ‘For a happier Kelly’. Considering my son had just finished an in-school suspension, and I apologized to the neighbor because my 7-year old daughter got mad at her son and mooned him…well, I could use some extra happiness!

The teas came in a bag inside cardboard containers. Very happy that the steeping instructions are on the bottom. I could definitely smell the teas, which worried me a little (I’m used to packaging that I can’t smell the teas through).

Before steeping, the smell of this tea just blew me away. I looked up a recipe for Chocolate Spiced Cake on Allrecipes, and yeah, I’m definitely smelling Chocolate Spiced Cake!

I steeped for 3 minutes 30 seconds, which is pretty quick for me. After my usual sweetening (I don’t think I drink any teas without sweetener…but I do try them first), I definitely taste Chocolate Spice Cake. I might have to go BAKE a chocolate spice cake after this.

There was a plastic swan also in my package…like a tea ball, but with a neck to hang over the side of the cup. I had a little bit of leaf escape through the holes, but it was cute, and did the job. The company made me feel special, and the tea is pretty good!

I don’t like reviewing teas “retroactively” but I really need to do it with this one. I only had a sample of it – enough for a pot for my husband and me, which means I have no more to try and review it later in the “afresh” mode.

So… I remember that it was fairly-fragrant, lovely-looking loose leaf – pieces of fruit (papaya) and calendula petals mixed in with downy white tea leaves. I noticed that RiverTea products’ flavoring is usually pretty subtle and I was afraid that with this one I am not going to get much beyond the base white tea. But I tasted… MULBERRY. It was definitely mulberry. And I don’t know how I know it because I’ve never had any mulberry. Okay, that is really odd, but I absolutely know that what they achieved in this tea is freakin’ mulberry. Sweet, smooth (and non-hibiscus like!) tartness, makes me think of a red, small, rounded fruit… but unlike any other I know.

Okay, I just google mulberry! Hmph! Looks like a blackberry. Perhaps it is somewhat related to it flavor-wise… Yeah, blackberry would be my closest guess.

I must actually get this tea next time and then I will attempt to review it again. This is more for “bookkeeping” purposes and the rating… Because I do remember loving it!

Other than that I’ve been still trying to reach sipdown status with many teas… And I discovered that 1 oz. is a LOT of tea – I still have so many Della Terra teas left since December/late November last year. And I only ordered an ounce of each!

Sipdown (206/208)!

Again, thank you Cavocorax for the sample! I think this one actually grew on me the more I drank it, and I’m going to have to bump up the rating a little bit now that it’s gone.

I had this for my morning tea, mostly to get an extra sipdown in because, the side effect of working nearly fulltime, it appears I’ll be doing less tea drinking now that I wont be home as often. That’s a little bit sad, but an important sacrifice if it means that I’ll be paying my rent on time.

This cup was nice though; very rich and fudgey and with a lot of anise flavour (probably thanks to the almost completely intact piece of star anise). I don’t think I’ll miss it terribly – but we had a good run!

One more cup and it’s a sipdown…

This mug in particular was really good; probably the best I’ve steeped so far. The anise was really present, as was the chocolate and the spices were cooperating by toning themselves the fuck down. Also, it somehow has an especially cakey mouthfeel tonight. Mmm!

And, our water is finally back (which is why I was able to make more tea) – so I got to take a shower! Yay! I’m getting all prepped for my first day of work tomorrow. Anyway, BB has been a little boring today – though the War Room/Isolated guests were amusing for a while when they had to match the house guests to their jobs/personalities. They couldn’t, for the life of them, figure out the bearded guy was the model.

Also, they made their final pleas for votes today! Soon… Very soon…

In a timolino as a travel companion yesterday. I’m working my way towards a sipdown. Cavocorax’s sample was super generous.

Last night I really got the “cake” out of this one, and much less of the spice. I also got lots of anise/chocolate which made for a delightfully sweet treat. I was a pretty happy camper ;)

Thanks Cavocorax for the very generous sample. I broke it out last night because I wanted to work on sipping down some of the blacks in my sample drawer that are in large quantity (so not one or two cup sipdowns).

This is another Rivertea blend with lots of bits, so I slightly overleafed it to try and get a few more of the chunks included (a huge piece of star anise!). Taste wise, I got prominent notes of cardamom, cinnamon, and chocolate and then slightly more background notes of the black base, vanilla, and the anise. Yes, that’s right – I finally tasted the yummy anise (screw you Ceylon Star with your no anise taste)! I do really wish it was stronger though in comparison to the spices. But I guess this is meant to be spice cake so it does it’s intended job.

Overall impression? I think this is a solidly average flavored black that would totally be some people’s cup of tea, but maybe not mine. And that’s ok.

Sipdown! Final tea of the evening today since the evening got away from us… god i hate wedding planning lol woot woot!

Final Count: 80

Almost at the end of this one and still enjoying it. I really like the fruit teas that Riverteas has, though i’m not much of a fan of their actual teas. However, this one does the trick for me for sure!

another tea from this evening. Just enjoying finishing up season one of GOT with my other half after a really long day. This is a nice pear fruit tea. I’ve picked it up a couple times now from RiverTea and it’s just what i need when i want something more like pear juice :)

Another from the weekend – had this hot while travelling to ottawa. love this tea, hot or cold. It’s just a really nice sweet, fruit tea!

backlog from last night – still enjoying this tea quite a bit. I just wish it wasn’t such a heavy tea. Even with resteeps it doesn’t got far. had this to wrap up the night in case the other tea i had wasn’t to my liking..but i enjoyed them both :)

enjoyed this one today while visting my favourite “under 1 yr old” and getting to actually have a FEW hours to enjoy the weekend. All i can say is that next weekend better be great damnit.

go exchange rate go! it’s up a little tonight so that makes me a happy camper, esp since they’re forecasting it’ll be down around 85 cents by the end of the year. BOOO!

This is the last of this tea – the remainder is off to cavocorax to try since we’ve both mostly picked up different teas from RiverTea. I really like this one, though i wish it wasn’t such a heavy tea. I suspect that i could likely use a little less tea and brew for longer, but i’ll try that next time since i’ll likely be picking this up again as it’s a herbal option for when i’m in the mood for a not black tea :)

Love this. Like a lot. When I get back I will write a proper note but this is wonderful. Only downside? Heavy tea = not many cups in 50g :(

Aisling of Tea had this and it caught my eye because I ALSO live in Toronto.

What do Toronto Nights taste like?
I probably wouldn’t say they tasted like green tea with almonds and cinnamon and citrus, but apparently RiverTea thinks it does. This is a nice light tea, and the flavouring is not overly strong – I find it a nice contemplative cup for what would be my after dinner-cup if I had actually eaten already. And I wouldn’t say no to drinking more, but I’m not sure this is one I’d crave often. Maybe in the late spring, in the evenings, when I’m sitting in the backyard watching the little squirt run around in the grass… And maybe if it’s iced.

Rob Ford would not taste like this. :P

And the rest of this is being set aside for Sil!
(rating is 79 because I like the cup, but don’t see I’d crave it often. )

lost my tasting note… grrrrrr…. own stupid fault.

long story short – too weak a brew, maybe i screwed something up…will try again. Got under 150 but orders in march will shoot me up again and terri is going to sabotage me. true story. :)

Final Count: 143

Just finished this tea today and sadly, dropped my rating a bit.
It’s a good tea, but it’s inconsistent. The flavouring chunks are so big they don’t disperse evenly so some cups are amazeballs and others are just ok.

Mmmm. This is very good too, but in a different way than Dolce Vita. It’s not as smack you in the face with fruit, but instead the mango and vanilla and cinnamon all coalesce together into something very relaxing and tasty. The cinnamon gives it a bit of a kick at the end of the sip to liven it up a little too.

I should try cold-steeping this!

I had a cup of this last night and one this morning because it was THAT close to a sipdown. Goodbye raspberry coconut tea!

Sipdown (250!)

“OMG, this is so good.” – me, 30 seconds ago.

Oh, this is the best way to start a Friday! It’s so freakin’ creamy and full of raspberry. Slightly tart raspberry but, wait for it, there’s NO HIBISCUS. I really love this tea.

I should probably leave this at the office but I just got it and I’m so excited and I’m not going to be surprised when at the end of the day I stuff all my new teas into my purse to stuff onto my tea shelves at home. Why do I even order tea for the office? :P Seems lik my new teas stay at home, and my small samples get smuggled into the office for sipdowns. But it works?

Anyway this tea is OMG raspberry yes.

sooooo another of my samples from RiverTea. Long story short? this would be a fantastic, awesome tea…if there were no flowers in it. Sadly, i’m picking up enough floral notes (even through the tartness of the raspberry) that it lessens my desire for this tea. I really like the fruity base of this, and the creaminess of the vanilla….but i just can’t get past the floral notes in here. Anyone who doesn’t mind floral but loves raspberry cream should really try this though, as i think that would love this!