TeaGschwendner

I had whiskey flavored tea for breakfast. How is your day going?

Felt weirdly tired last night but didn’t go to bed early. Dog woke me up at 3:45 to go out. His walkies schedule has been off due to patio work. Laid in bed until 5 when I heard our gate rattle and saw the motion sensor light go off. Took dog back out to seek intruders. Usually it is a raccoon, possum, or cat, but this may have been one of the many domestic rabbits that escaped from a neighbor who was trying to start a rabbit breeding operation. No culprit found, but apparently there were fascinating scents left behind because doggie didn’t want to come back in so I let him enjoy the excitement of running back and forth, nose to ground experiencing all the rich aromas of whatever had made the early morning visit.

I had a cherry vanilla bagel in the freezer and decided to do a crossword and have early brekkie while everyone was still asleep. (Wow, I’m old.) This seemed the oerfect tea for today.

I don’t really know anything about whiskey, or whisky, but I did taste a sip of Bailey’s Irish Cream once at my son-in-law’s behest. It was tasty but the fire of the alcohol didn’t super appeal.

This tastes similar, with cream and cocoa and boozy taste sans fire. I feel like there is vanilla with the cocoa as well.

Now the dog owes me a cuddle and the world owes me a nap. And since I have seen three black and white bunnies from where I sit, I am betting it was rabbits that set off the lights.

This was a most welcome gift from White Antlers, as I had been looking at whiskey flavored tea for some time and hadn’t ordered yet. This one is a winner.

Its a lightly flavored sweet tea and it is one of the few pineapple teas where there isn’t a generic tropical flavor . I can really taste the pineapple! The black tea base is more of the background flavor here.

Smells and tastes like orange. I love orange flavored teas and end up a little disappointed a lot because the flavor of the orange does not always come through or it overpowers the base tea. This one is a good balance of the orange and the oolong. The light notes of orange mix with the lightly toasted oolong.

The almond is more mild than I expected, but the black tea is rich enough that I decided to not mute it by adding milk. The almond has that sweet amaretto quality to it. I’m sure it was stronger when it was fresh, but even now, this one seems pretty high quality.

Actually this might be my least unfavorite lemon rooibos I’ve tried. Usually, they’re like floor cleaner to me. Here, the lemon is mild and not too fake, and it really seems to mix well with the rooibos. It’s still not an excellent tea, still a bit weird tasting, but I’m happy to have enjoyed a cold cup of it.

With milk, this silky smooth incense tea may end up as one of my favourites over time. There’s sandalwood alongside all of that anise, vanilla, jasmine and spice too. Such a happy tea (except for maybe the tea name, which is a bit outdated in my neck of the woods).

Steep Count: 2

Edit Apparently, there is lemongrass in this, and anise + vanilla aren’t listed as actual ingredients (flavouring may fall under “natural flavours”). Regardless, I like this one a lot. I swear I’ve had it before under a different name too; there’s a bit of nostalgia to this blend.

This was included as a sample in my most recent order. Thank you!

Compared with the more pithy grapefruit teas I’ve been drinking lately, this one is kind of muted (or gentler). As a hot cup, the base is kind of smoky and vegetal, like asparagus. The citrusy grapefruit and guava are equal parts bitter and sweet. The guava in particular adds a mild flowery element.

As a cold brew the green base is smoother and subdued.. everything is actually. It was pretty sweet and mild, but refreshing enough.

While I prefer a more pithy and nippy grapefruit flavour and less smoky green teas I did enjoy the novelty of the guava here; it’s a different ingredient than what I’m used to! It smells lovely too.

Yes, this is good. I drank it alongside a cup of Jayida Ché’s Rooibos Vanilla Chai and I just feel so spoiled right now. Wow, awesome consecutive tea lattes.

If you’ve had Vancouver based Bayswater’s Creme Brulee/Divine Temptation this blend is kind of a relative. It’s smooth and rich, wearing its dessert tea status on the cuff of its sleeve. I had some reservations about the rooibos/black tea blend but it’s easy to forget that “they” exist half the time. Once I run out and when my cupboard is less ridiculous (in 2021) I’ll likely suck it up (argh shipping) and reorder, if just for the fantastic O’Connor’s Cream and this. Yum.

good. drink. happy. yay

Here in the Lower Mainland, we are experiencing our “false fall” (refer to this pie chart for a full list of Vancouver, BC’s “seasons”:
https://preview.redd.it/3ub7pory9c521.png?auto=webp&s=5d52146b3a4832433dd4ec2dd6f2b32ac6ebdbb7 )

Tonight, I bit the bullet and decided to try adding Vanilla Cinnamon Baileys to this tea. It’s pretty delicious in an uncomplicated way. This may be a thing in the upcoming cold months.

Chugging this one away while in Limbo. I still think it tastes like the “cheese cream” in bubble teas, and I’m perfectly ok with that.

With Milk.

Ever had a Crema Bubble Tea from the likes of Chatime? The cream flavour is hard to describe because it has a savoury component, like a cheese, but is still used in a dessert-like context (cream cheese like in cheesecake). It is a flavour that makes me a bit nauseous but also a tad in love.

O’Connor’s Cream has a bit of that “dessert cheese” quality. It’s rich, velvety, tangy, and heady (boozy) to taste and to smell.

I’m surprised cocoa is present (yeah, I know it’s in the description and listed as an ingredient, supposedly helping to catalyze the flavour profile). It’s mostly subtle, like a Browned Butter Milk Chocolate, that is more parts browned butter and milk than chocolate (and add whisky). I don’t know if I would’ve picked cocoa out if it hadn’t been pointed out. It’s doing some interesting things, creating more persuasive flavours and food associations.

Anyways, I was apprehensive about ordering 100g off the bat, and was going to offload some on my old workplace if I wasn’t a complete fan or merely liked it. Now, I suspect it won’t last as long as any of us would like (family members are already fans too).

Advent day 19. Who is Gwendalina and what’s up with her baked apple? There is another tea company that has a tea under the same name. Huh. I feel like I may have steeped this at too high of a temp. The apple was subtle for most of the cup and came out more as the cup cooled. It was an okay cup.

Advent day 18. Took a few sips before adding cream and honey and was greeted with a concentrated brew with spices. After adding to my cup I get a deep tea taste with a mixture of spices on top. The spices are blended so well that I can’t really pick them out individually. It’s a warm and comforting cup, but I feel so so about it in general.