Tea Desire

I had a really long shift at work today, and I knew that the tea I had prepared in my thermos was NOT going to last me all shift so since I had just been down to the bank to cash my latest paycheck I went and stopped at Tea Desire right before my shift started and picked up a Tea to Go!

I’m just going to take a second the RAVE about the absolutely amazing customer service there! Personally, I’ve really never had a bad experience anywhere I’ve gone to buy tea – and I’ve had some super helpful and fun people serve me at the different DAVIDsTEA locations I’ve been to, but nothing compares to Tea Desire! There are two lovely ladies who consistently work there (maybe there are more employees, but those are the only two I’ve encountered) and each time I go they impress me! Not only are they very sweet and friendly, but they have a great knowledge about their product and an amazing memory! After having only gone there one time, my second time there they not only recognized me but also remembered exactly what I had purchased. And now, I go there a lot more since I work in the mall – and they greet me by name each time. A few times the older of the two ladies has had some great conversations with me about her favourite teas and other topics, and both of them are really good at recommending teas I would like based on what teas they know I constantly buy (and so what flavours I like) as well as making good (and not pushy) suggestions on other teas to try that I haven’t really explored. Plus, they’re not afraid to share with me the teas they personally stock and love and which teas they don’t. There’s none of this “everything we sell is magical and wonderful” bullshit.

And, today when I came in they greeted me by name. When I told them I was just looking for a Tea to Go today the first thing they asked was “would you like to try something new – or do you want one of your favourites!”. I love that they know what my two favourite teas from there are (Champagne Cassis and Banana Tea “Chocolate Cream”). So yeah, REALLY great customer service.

Anyway, the tea was predictably fantastic! I get this one To Go often because it’s a really heavy blend and keeping stocked is sort of expensive because of that. The amount of grams I get of dry leaf (well, fruit) is almost equivalent to the amount I’m paying (with mall discount) – so I think it’s one of the better teas to get To Go, price wise.

It had an especially oily mouthfeel today – but I’m not really picky about having “clean teas” or an oiliness with my teas as long as they TASTE good.

I’ve been postponing my next cup of this for as long as possible, for a few reasons. Firstly, I don’t have a lot of it so I want to preserve what I do have left. Secondly, even though this is only $5 or $6 for 50g (something like that, I don’t remember exactly) it weighs a whole crap ton because of all the really massive chunks of stuff – so 50g gets you hardly anything. And thirdly, I’m a little worried that my second cup will not live up to how practically oragasmically delivious my first cup was.

However, I just got home from a freaking nine and a half hour work day (I don’t know if I’ve EVER had a shift that long somewhere), my feet are sore, and I’m tired of directly kindly old ladies to calendars of really obscure and specific dog breeds – like a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. I don’t even know if I spelled that correctly, let alone what it looks like. So, that in mind, I need a freakin’ reward tea right now.

Steeped 2 tsp. in 6 oz. of boiling water for 10 min. The liquor is a very cloudy light brown and smells strongly of banana and chocolate with some faint tropical notes, probably from the mango or papaya or whichever it is in the blend. And let me tell you, this is DEFINITELY a rewarding tea right now. I don’t think it’s quite a flavourful as I remember it being the first time I had it – but I’m not liking it any less.

It’s very creamy with a rich banana taste complimented by a somewhat more subtle chocolate flavour in comparison to some of the other chocolate teas I’ve had recently. Yum.

Also, I found out today that because I work at a mall, I get a 10% discount not only at the foodcourt, but in every store in the mall! That means I get 10% off at Tea Desire… I’m DEFINITELY taking advantage of that.

Since I was in the area today, I went and stopped by Tea Desire to pick up more Chai Apricot and check out some other teas while I was there. I’ve really been dying to get my hands on Teavana’s Chocolate Banana Foster but since it’s the only thing from Teavana that I’m currently interested in getting I’m not going to make an online order for just one tea (I don’t have a local Teavana store to go buy from), so I’ve been looking for a suitable replacement.

This tea looked worth a shot! Even though there were no Steepster reviews (I had to add the tea to the database!) there were lots of reviews on the Tea Desire website, so I thought I’d give it a taste.

Technically, I guess, this isn’t really a tea – it’s a fruit infusion but I’m ok with that because it just means another dessert tea I can drink before bedtime! Honestly, this tea looks and smells like dessert heaven. Everything in the mix is GIANT. Seriously, massive hunks of chocolate (not chips, HUNKS), bananas, mango, and WHOLE banana chips. Sadly, because of all the big pieces this one is REALLY heavy, so 50g doesn’t buy a lot (the sales lady joked that this is her “favourite trail mix”).

I just have to comment that I’m really impressed with Tea Desire’s guest service as well! Other than today, I’d only been in the store one other time but the sales lady recognized me right away! She even remembered what my purchase was, and asked if I’d enjoyed all the teas I had tried (and I gushed about Champagne Cassis, which is now probably my favourite white tea). It was a really welcoming environment and there care and attention for sure makes me want to come back again and again.

I steeped a cup of this for myself and a cup for Tre. I’ll be honest, most of Tre’s cup was chocolate and Mango since I seemed to get a lot of those bits and wanted to save the giant banana chips for myself. I guess I don’t share too well with others. In my cup, however, I made sure I got at least one piece of everything in the blend.

The liquor for this one is very murky and cloudy brown, with a little bit of an oily sheen that reminds me of some teas from DAVIDsTEA. Not a problem for me, but I know other people have issues with that oily kind of sheen or with teas that aren’t “clean”.

I steeped this for 10 min., although admittedly I was only aiming for 7. I got distracted by the sub delivery guy. It was alright though, because the steep time for this tea is incredibly broad: 4 to 10 minutes. At ten minutes, my tea tastes great. It’s very much banana – and not an artificial banana taste but the taste of ripe, real bananas. The chocolate taste of this tea is very creamy and strong too, and holy butts does it compliment the banana. The other ingredients in this blend sort of take a backseat, but that’s alright: with a tea called “Chocolate Banana Cream” or whatever, you’re not really DYING to taste the papaya are you? I don’t think so. With that said, I can taste the mango but it’s very subtle.

Honestly, I think I like this better than Chocolate Banana Foster! The only thing it’s missing is the caramel flavour, although for the last quarter or so of my mug I did add about a teaspoon of butterscotch pudding, and that worked quite nicely.

Overall, a very much banana and chocolate flavoured dessert tea that’s SUPER sweet (no need for extra sweetener, unless like me you want to add in that caramel sort of flavour – although it tasted divine without it as well). I’m thinking that a longer steep time is really important, with how huge the chocolate pieces are you’d definitely need a significant amount of time for them to melt. Also, use boiling or very near boily water – trust me, this tea can take it.

Definitely a tea that’ll now have a permanent spot in my cupboard! Tea Desire, I’m really quite impressed!

PS. The best part of this tea was totally eating all of the pieces afterwards!

There’s so much going on with this tea it’s hard to properly sort it out. It’s certainly spicy but there’s not really anything coming across that makes me think of ‘cake’ or any other kind of dessert. It’s not terribly sweet and the vanilla and the currants and the chocolate, which theoretically should have alleviated that, ended up pretty much buried underneath the spice. The spices are a nice mix with star anise and cardamom being the most prominent ones that pop out. I don’t normally sweeten green teas but this is one that I think would be improved with a bit of agave nectar or honey.

I’m liking this tea a bit better with some agave nectar added to it as it lightens the bitterness of the cocoa and makes the blend more like a chocolatey dessert tea. Still not quite getting ‘chocolate truffle’ from it though. :/

Yes, another chocolate pu’erh – they do seem to get paired together quite often. I get a stronger sense of the pu’erh base with this blend than I have with other chocolate-flavoured pu’erhs. It’s a pleasant mix of earthy and leather-like with a hint of smokiness. It goes well with the rich bitterness of the cocoa though it could stand to be a bit sweeter. Ultimately it’s not bad, but also not my favorite out of all the similar blends I’ve tried.

Cold Brew!

A lot more sourness/sharpness in the front of the sip than I expected from this brew – like a big hit of the champagne notes coupled with a lemony citrus vibe. The body settles into more of the sweet and familiar black currant flavours that I know and love, but each sip from the tumbler I was drinking this in was like a little surprise with that initial pop of flavour. Maybe the age of the tea? Maybe the vessel it was consumed in?

Not bad but different – and this is a blend I’ve had so much that, at this point, “different” can be pretty jarring.

Current cuppa, and it’s soooo satisfying because it’s one that I’ve been craving basically since i started moving earlier in the month.

Tastes a little like flat champagne crossed with Ribena, with a touch of lemongrass. That sounds gross, but it’s quite splendid. Light and refreshing, but still packed with sweet and floral flavours. It’s crazy that it can feel so light, too, while having such a pronounced jammy black currant note. Black Currant is 100% one of those flavours that I just always associate with being more dense.

Revisited over the course of the week because I was craving currant, but a lighter and more delicate currant note – I got more of a champagne taste from this cup than I did cassis/currant, with a sweetness and floral undertone in addition to the champagne notes. Still a bit of currant though, and I guess that’s really all I needed…

So this mug was sweet, smooth bright currant notes as usual with that champagne quality that’s just hard to describe as anything other than ‘champagne’. However, I also felt like I got a lot more lemon notes from the lemongrass in the blend than I often to; they were also sweet and bright with just a hint of sourness to them. It didn’t detract from the blend, but it introduced an element that broke up the consistency that is normally present for this one. I just thought that was noteworthy as I’ve had this tea so many times and it’s kind of interesting that there are still new experiences to be had with it.

Cold Brew!

I set this one up to cold brew a day before I got sick, and of course I didn’t really want to drink it at the peak of being sick so I’m drinking it now – surprisingly it’s still phenomenal even after an unholy six day steep. Strong currant and champagne notes. It lacks some of the sweetness that it normally has, but is still smooth and enjoyable overall! A delightful surprise, really.

I think this will always be a favourite of mine.

I made a mug of it earlier in the week, and got to enjoy about half of it before we got busy as work and I had to step away from it to help out. I had also offered to let a coworker try it, as I often do when I bring something new in to work with me. When I came back following the rush, the tea was gone! My coworker had tried and instantly fallen in love with it, finishing off the cup! She was super apologetic, but I wasn’t angry at all. I totally get it; this tea is amazing and I can absolutely see how one sip simply isn’t enough!

Something a little bit different this time around…

- Cold brewed the tea, then ran it through the soda stream
- Finally dropped in some frozen raspberries and let those slowly infuse
- It was actually delicious! Like this super fruity ‘spritzer’/soda kind of thing
- With clear, rich notes of currants and raspberry
- And then softer undertones of lemon, champagne and the white base
- Really fun, very refreshing and a nice way to switch up a tea I’ve done a lot with

Side note: if you’re gonna run tea through the soda stream make sure you remember to relieve the pressure like you’re supposed to – I was tired, and completely spaced out and instead unscrewed it from the machine without relieving that pressure. Which resulted in something that looked a little like this…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=860e_AgaF-Y

(The machine was fine though – just made a small mess for me to clean up)

Welcome back delicious!

This used to be one of my most favourite tea ever; I went through SO MUCH OF IT back when I had started my tea journey but it got to the point where I was wearing myself out. So, I took a break. That break just wound up being MUCH longer than anticipated. Like, two years longer…

- Every bit as delicious as I remember it being!
- Smooth, silky and rich mouthfeel
- Has the sweetness of champagne, with floral aspects
- Very strong currant notes, both red and black
- Slightly more weighted towards the black currant though; jammy and sweet!
- I feel like the sweetness of the champagne almost makes the currant seem candied
- Slightly citrus like finish
- Just beautiful, indulgent and relaxing though!

I feel like now that I have a more trained palate I can appreciate some of the nuances of this tea a little better than I used to be able to, however that doesn’t change my appreciation/love of it. It’s still just a VERY good tea. Dare I say it, still perfect.

Sipdown (146/154)…

This is a dreadfully inaccurate sipdown number. My real sipdown number is actually much lower – but I’m very behind on recording notes, so this isn’t a true representation of what’s in my cupboard.

Alas, this was the last of this blend. I cold brewed it, and it was a pretty delicious send off. Rather black currant heavy, but still captured all the usual flavours really well regardless. This was definitely one of my oldest teas (almost a year old) and I feel that while the flavour did definitely deteriorate a little bit, this remained very consistent and true to the flavour when I bought it despite the age.

Side bar; I asked for wine recommendations a while back and I did pick out a red wine to try. Or rather, I had the really nice lady at the liquor store pick one out for me based on what you guy suggested and stuff (I tried on my own, but I was so out of my depth). I then got home with my wine, and realized that I do not own a corkscrew.

However, I “Life Hacked” the cork out of the bottle. Or rather, I should say into the bottle. Since I could find any of the commonly suggested tools for pulling a cork out without a cork screw, I pushed it into the bottle instead. It worked ok, actually. But it turns out, red wine might just not be for me – it tasted very nasty and overwhelming to me. And oddly enough had notes of french bread and very sharp cheddar. And that weirded me out, because aren’t those things you’re supposed to pair with the wine? Not taste on its own?

Anyway – Red Wine: Probably not my thing. This tea: Definitely gonna restock eventually, just not for a while. I’ve burned through a lot of this, and a break might be nice to spend time with other flavoured whites.

God, that sounded like a really fucked up breakup line.

Heyo, tasting note number 1800! It’s not a huge, monumental number (like 2000 will be) but it’s still a big number and the next hundred so I did something semi-cool to celebrate.

Really, this tea isn’t new to me at all. In fact, it’s one of my most drank teas and it pretty well never surprises me anymore with it’s delicious currant flavour and the occasional crop of champagne notes that pop up; but what’s better to celebrate with than a little bubbly?

Anyway; this was cold brewed for work. Very refreshing. Even though the circumstances of drinking this one weren’t special it’s the thought that went into having it that counts, I guess.

I’m an idiot; just hours ago Tre supposedly ruined his phone by dropping it in a sink full of water while he was shaving. It’s pretty water damaged so he stuck it in a bag of rice – but he’s too impatient to give it a day or so (he expected “instant results” which is just crazy) so he has now gone to Target to replace his phone tonight, which I again think is hasty.

The me being an idiot part is introduced because I texted him ten minutes after he left asking him to pick me up some fruit gushers; half an hour later I’m only just realizing that’s a really stupid thing to do because obviously he’s not going to get the text…

Anyway; the tea! I actually botched this cup, but not for the reasons you’d think. My water temperature was way, way too low – and it came out an unappealing temperature with a wonky, half assed taste. Oh well. At the time I was making this, days ago, I had a whole bunch of other blends on the go which turned out ok so it wasn’t as harsh a loss as it might have been otherwise.

And, despite a weird flavour, the champagne actually came through pretty strongly!

I’m in a weird place right now; one that I’ve never really been in before and that I’m not sure how to navigate – and when I opened up to Tre about it he basically called me crazy and we got in this huge debate/fight and I guess that’s led to my opening up to you guys on Steepster about it?

http://globalnews.ca/news/1263356/18-year-old-charged-with-attempted-murder-2/

I found that article by accident today while looking up some other reports on things going on in Regina (updates on the Cornwall Stabbings and on the arrest of Peter Labarbera and Bill Whatcott for their anti-gay rights protest at the U of R, and subsequent arrest – some serious stuff is going down in Regina as of late). Normally I think I would have just glazed over the article, except for one crucial thing…

I know Tristan. I grew up with him; we went to elementary school together and highschool up until he dropped out. We were never the type of “friends” who interacted during school hours but he was the sort of friend who I would FB at one or two in the morning to have those late night, depressing conversations with were both parties kind of bare their soul a little bit.

This is even an “excerpt” I said in one of our late night conversations a few months after I moved to Saskatoon.

“But yeah – as long as what you’re doing isn’t harmful to another person (like going around stabbing people just for kicks) I think you should be able to do whatever makes you happiest.”

I just feel really… Shellshocked. And a huge part of me wants to reach out to both here his side of things and just see how he’s doing too. Tre thinks that’s wrong of me; that he’s clearly guilty and that people’s past and the trauma they’ve experienced shouldn’t warrant my guilt or his forgiveness. In part I think he’s right, but still. He was/is a friend; why is it wrong of me to want to reach out to him?

Oh well; at least this tea is light and fruity and just divine enough to put my mind somewhat at ease for now. But I don’t think this is something I can just “move on” from like Tre thinks should be easy for me to do.

Mmm, yummy sweet ambrosia! Delicious!

And that’s really all I have to add for this one; it’s a favourite that I’ve written about a lot.

So, a few days ago (two?) I burst a blood vessel under my right eye, or something along those lines. So, my face is really swollen/tender around that area and it hurts to blink! Bleck. Also, it looks like I was in a fight, heh…

Kinda sucks.

Had a round of white tea while there was company over. Nothing new or all that fancy – just some teas that I find to be really consistent in flavour that I knew would be enjoyable while Kristina was over.

Of course this was one of them! It’s my first flavoured white love and my favourite currant tea and just so delicious!

Well, that finishes up the cold brew of this one! Delicious!

Also, I just got the day’s mail, which included a very mustachioed swap package from VariaTEA! It’s huuugeeee and I can’t wait to dig into it!

I completely forgot I had a pitcher of this cold brewing. So, by the time I finally remember it was in my fridge and I had strained it, it had been cold brewing for over 24 hours. Eeeik!

That said, it was really good regardless! The current flavouring was very rich, and I actually got a strong taste of the champagne! There was also a light, vegetal taste to the tea but I actually found it pretty refreshing. I seem to not mind the vegetal quality of some teas when they’re cold brewed – maybe I should try more green teas as cold brews (although this isn’t a green blend).

Yet another way to enjoy this blend!

Making a note for myself to drink this on New Years; it’s the only “themed” tea I really have for the day! Maybe I’ll try it as a tea soda so it’s more ‘bubbly’ (laughing at my own horrible, horrible joke). I honestly think that might be good, though!

Anyway, made this for the day to take with to work! It’s Boxing Day, which means plenty of self centered shoppers and returns and refunds and the like. Ick – no thanks, I’ll pass. Except, I’m the manager so I can’t pass – instead I have to be here all day. This was my sweet treat and comfort tea to myself, to make it all better.

For preparation I made two separate cups with 1 1/2 tsp. of new leaf for each. Cup one was steeped in 80 degree Celsius water for 1 min. 30 seconds – and that was the plan for cup two, but instead I got distracted by the fact my rice was burning and this steeped for about four or five minutes instead. I poured both cups into my water bottle hoping they’d even out, but they only kinda did.

Taste wise, it’s the normal sweet currant taste but there’s just a hint of “cough drop” taste to it that’s not normally there. Of course, it’s totally my fault and not the tea’s. It’s not a horrible medicinal taste: more like the sweet cherry Sucrets which I always hoped my mom would buy me when I was sick instead of Halls. Those things were good, as far as cough medicine goes.

So ultimately, not so bad and still pretty good – just not the normal hundred I typically feel with this one. More like a high seventy or low eighty. Totally my fault, though.

Ok – so not my best cup of this but that’s totally my fault :/ I decided that I really wanted a cup of something sweet, fruity and white (it’s just a white tea kind of day, I guess) so why not drink some of my Champagne Cassis? It’s a beloved part of my stash.

However, I’m really tired and loopy and not totally there so I had all the prep done and leaf measured out – and the water was boiling. However, after the kettled had boiled I kind of instantly reached over and poured the boiling water over the lead without giving it time to cool, and this is definitely a tea that needs a lower temperature of water to steep in. Urgh.

So, today it’s kind of a little bitter – although not as bad as it could be. Still an overall good cup, but just not great. Although, I’ll admit to getting more champagne notes this way and less of the sweet currant jam flavour I love (expect I was totally craving sweet currants and not really banking on strong champagne notes).

Also, my internet is being stupidly slow which is really frustrating since I’m trying (unsuccessfully) to watch Degrassi online. Boo.

Next up? I think I’m gonna try the white tea I received from RiverTea!