Tea Desire

Pu-erh seems to make my tummy feel better. Or, maybe it was just an excuse to have this delicious tea?

I had some of this last night, and just writing this tealog is making my mouth water again. So incredibly good! Have yet to mess it up, surprisingly. Upping the rating.

Yep, again. I’m addicted. Cup #4 in less than 24 hours.

Third cup of this tonight, and this is a re-steep. Surprisingly, tastes just as good as the first, although this time I had to strain the tea through a paper filter because of all the clumpy (I assume caramel) bits — so many that they actually clogged the bag and stopped water from pouring through!

My bag says only pu-erh and caramel pieces in it, sans ‘natural flavor’. Regardless, this is fantastic. There are chunks of caramel in here, and it’flavors the pu-erh beautifully. I find pu-erh’s really help my stomach and get my digestive juices flowing, and thus why I’m trying this tonight… so amazingly delicious, even oversteeped.

This is pretty darn tasty for a herbal. How do I know? My 6-year-old asked if he could have a sip, and then another, and then, “How many more sips can I have?” I told him to have as many as he wanted. He asked if it was special juice, and I said no. He replied, “Well then Mommy, it’s a special golden tea, and if you drink it as much as I do, your eyes will see better!”

Yep, that’s some pretty special tea alright.

I have to admit that I really do like this more than I gave it credit for. For a medicinal, it’s surprisingly tasty and creamy.

In an attempt to see if I can get my tastebuds back, I’m having more of this. Not the best tasting tea, however it’s medicinal, and I kinda enjoy that sorta thing, especially when in this weird place of fighting something when I feel dandy. Other than my sleep… that’s been off kilter for a while now.

Anyway. Eucalpytus is in here, however it’s faint. It more clears the sinuses than anything, and has little flavor. There’s a mint in here, some dandelion perhaps, fennel… a real mélange of herbs.

This tastes much more.. herbal than anything when oversteeped. Still something sweet and tasty in the brew, however less appealing now than previously. Was hoping it would help kick whatever I’ve got going on in my stomach.

This medicinal is fantastic oversteeped, and I can see myself drinking it over and over again. It’s a mix of a variety of different things… I get a light mint, something berry/fruity (raspberry?), something mildly creamy, a touch of anise, something very woodsy too. I would LOVE to drink this while camping!

I gave it another try. Steeped properly, this is just hibiscus, and it overpowers the blend. Yuck. Pass. Anyone like or want an hibiscus-based herbal?

1.5 tsp in 12 oz.

I like my medicinals to steep longer than recommended, however this one needs just a 5-10 minute steep. Why? Because all I’m getting is hibiscus and apple out of this one, with faint notes of other, muddled herbs in the background right now. Will steep this properly tonight and see if my rating changes.

8th tea of Christmas!

This was interesting because it’s not really like a milk oolong, it’s more like a dulce de leche oolong. Not really milky, but kind of sweet more in the sense of condensed milk and caramelly. I really liked it though.

I wonder how much it costs to ship here, because the taste of this is exactly what I have always wanted, but as salted caramel. I feel like this has the caramel flavor I want although I haven’t ever bothered to actually taste many other caramel oolongs. But this is so good why would I want to? Not sure if I used it all for my cup though. I have tea everywhere right now.

This smells amazing! Glad the bags are sealed well. Irish creamy goodness. Saw very few chocolate drops, which was fine by me.

Steeped, it’s less appealing. There’s a hint of astringency, and bitterness. Truvia perks it up a bit and helps with the bitterness but not the astringency. I’m getting faint irish cream here, and more so when it was piping hot. Need to fiddle I think, perhaps with less of a steep and slightly lower temperature.

Sipdown (146)!

I guess ultimately a forgettable one, though? I know I drank this cold brewed but I didn’t take notes ‘cause I was at work and now I can’t remember if there was anything stand out or out of the ordinary for this brew. I guess not? It probably just tasted like it did any other time I’d cold brewed it…

Regardless, while I’m not happy to see it go I’m not disappointed either. I’ve just gotten tired of it at this point, and I’m not looking to stock a coffee tea right now.

This is a queued tasting note.

Cold Brew! Kind of over this tea a little bit; not that it tastes bad. I just feel like I’ve tried it every way that counts, and it’s so consistent that I don’t really get anything new out of drinking it anymore. Creamy, nutty, chocolate, coffee…

It’s good but not really a cupboard staple for me anymore. Especially since I’m not a huge coffee lover in the first place.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7d8LUJ8Ejk

Cold Brew.

Very smooth and creamy chocolate and coffee notes, with a hint of nuttyness. Almost more of a hazelnut? It was the perfect balance between sweet and refreshing without tasting sugary. I’ve decided I’m sipping it down though: I need to clear out tin space for two teas (Cocteau and Rhubarb Custard) and this one is kind of similar to a few other rooibos blends I’ve got on hand, so I think it’s time for us to be parting…

I had this one yesterday; it was really nice with really rich chocolate notes and a smooth, dare I say ‘sultry’ coffee taste?

With starting at Value Village early in the morning today, I new my sleep schedule was FUCKED so I’d either have to pull an all nighter then go to sleep at a normal time tonight, so as to “reset” my schedule, or go to bed at like eleven at night or midnight, instead of 5AM like I’ve been doing. And because I didn’t know which I was going to do I wasn’t sure whether I should have been drinking lots of caffeine or lots of caffeine free tisanes. Honestly, this seems pretty split down the middle, option wise…

And like I said, today was my first shift at Value Village. It was a shorter shift and basically I just met another girl named Amy who’s training with me in the same departments, and then the two of us got to watch a whole bunch of training videos (harassment policies, dress code, safety videos, etc.). We also filled out a bunch of paperwork and got a store tour. Honestly, it was really boring but overall I kind of get the impression I’ll like working there. It reminds me, thus far, of Dollarama with the job duties/warehouse kind of vibe but so far the staff engagement aspect/and friendly atmosphere between employees seems a lot more like the upbeat team oriented attitude that everyone at Sobeys had. Honestly, that’s great because it’s pretty much merging the aspects I liked most about each job. Plus, there’s a super hardcore focus on Halloween which is wonderful because that’s my favourite holiday!

I still have an interview at DAVIDsTEA tomorrow while I’ll go to because I said I would and confirmed my attendance, but despite really wanting to work there and get that valuable tea related experience (assuming I’m even offered a job) I’m certainly leaning towards Value Village. It’s just much more practical right now, and while I want to go with my hard I need something practical where I can just save up money and have an easy commute…

Queued Tasting Note.

Apparently I have had this cold brewed before. I couldn’t remember if I had, and I thought I was trying this blend a new way by prepping it this way! Darn.

It was really good though; definitely didn’t have much of a “cream” factor from the chocolate drops/yogurt drops. I mean, that flavour doesn’t always come out to begin with – but this was especially lacking. It made up for it in robust, almost earthy sweet mocha notes though. It even had a tinge of hazelnut in the finish! And I know there’s not a lot of caffeine in this (just the little bit from the coffee beans) but I still felt like I was tricking my body into being more awake/alert at work.

And that’s never a bad thing.

Cold Brew!

This has a tiny amount of caffeine in it because of the coffee beans, but I thought the strong coffee flavour would maybe have a placebo affect and trick my brain into thinking I was having a ton of caffeine. No such luck though; still felt drained after I had it. It was super coffee flavoured though: the cold brew really, really exaggerated that flavour more than it did any of the others.

Hot is still a bit better, though.

Made into tea syrup and drizzled over vanilla ice cream because that seemed like it would work. It was basically very sweet coffee syrup. Just coffee syrup – no chocolate or nuts or anything. That sugar really brought out the java.

And really it was almost too sweet, but since it didn’t quite cross that line it was pretty good overall.

Very dark brew today; intensely chocolate and coffee with a creaminess to it from the yogurt. Also a little nutty? I’m not sure if that’s a flavour note I’ve observed in this one before.

Anime watching Steepsterites, a question: Have any of you watched Hellsing? Was it good/easy to get into? Should I give it a shot? It doesn’t seem like my sorta anime, but it was recommended to me so I want to at least watch a few episodes.

I’m trepidatious, though.

Made a large mug of this to sip at while watching Big Brother with Tre; he made an interesting observation – when my tea mug is either totally full or piping hot still I bring my face down to the mug to sip from it, instead of bringing the mug to my face. Hopefully that’s an apt description; I had never noticed I do this until he mentioned it but it’s definitely totally true.

I actually let most of this one get cold though; like I said earlier it’s SUPER hot here today, and this one is really good iced! It’s just like this rich, robust chocolate/coffee duo, but with tea! I’m very happy I decided to restock this one; it’s an interesting rooibos to keep around, and good for those odd times when I actually am craving a little java.

In the timolino at work, though a good portion was saved for the walk/ride home.

This made for one hell of a delicious, creamy coffee/chocolate drink yesterday and it was the perfect warm little cuppa to hold in my hands as I bused home after closing. It made the dreary day feel less dreary and kept me warm and comforted on the quick little walk from the bus to my house.

The coffee notes outweighed the chocolate in this cup, and there were also light woody notes from the rooibos and almost caramel like notes – though I’m not sure where those ones were coming from. Not that I’m complaining, at all, though.

Just stellar.