The NecessiTeas

Made this as a latte with oat milk, and added some cocoa powder. Really decadent and the banana, peanut butter, and marshmallow flavors are still very distinct. Im about to purchase 2 more bags because I can’t be without it. So, so good.

I packed some of this tea up for Sil who I swear I shared this with before and even read a tasting note by. However, that tasting note is gone and neither of us can recall if she liked it so I figured I would share (possibly again) since it seems like her sort of tea.

Once I had it out again, I decided to make another tea lemonade after the success I had a couple days back. Once again, it is really good. Like a mix of a creamsicle and an orange julius.

Seems the key to this tea is having it as a tea lemonade. It tastes like what I imagine an orange Julius tastes like. Cold. Refreshing. Tart. And yet it’s also creamy and sweet. Nice vanilla/marshmallow flavor that goes nicely with the citrus. Think creamsicle but with more citrus.

Cold brewed this over night. There is a whole lot of marshmallow fluffiness here. Marshmellow and then a bitter citrus mixed with base. Not my favorite cold brew. I have had it hot before though and I think that is better.

Sipdown (211)

Cold brewed the last of this one and didn’t love it. It just came off so waxy to me as pineapple fruit teas often can.

For a little while I was so good at posting my Sororitea reviews here soon after they were put on the site. Then school happened and more specifically exams and I got far behind. As in, five pages behind. Oops.

The tea had been hanging out in a ziploc bag in my stash for far too long so when I finally tried this iced and hot I was less than impressed. The hot tea had good enough flavor but it was very subtle, especially for a NecessiTeas blend. The iced tea was mostly just white tea flavor. Both okay, but neither anything too special.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2019/03/05/strawberry-shortcake-from-the-necessiteas-5/

Swap Sample Sipdown! (1 | 70)

From VariaTEA!

Hmm, this is very underwhelming to me.

There’s some sharp orange peel sort of flavor that reminds me of cleaning products. I don’t really get any cranberry or scone.

WOOOHOO! Officially finished all my tea samples in my cupboard with this sipbown. Still have 2? puerh samples i think but whatever. I managed to try the last of this one as a latte and it was just what i needed it to be today. A little sweet, because of the marshmallows but i like the creamy chocolate milk sort of taste. I haven’t had ACTUAL hot chocolate in a long time as it never really appeals to me, but i could drink more of this :) Thanks VariaTEA!

Sample from VariaTEA. this one really worked for me today. Not sure if it’s the snow ot what, but i was really surprised that i enjoyed this one as much as i did. Enough that i’m glad i have enough for at least another cup – which i might make as a latte :) It’s not quite chocolate – very few teas can really capture that for me mousse au chocolate, i’m looking at you but it is very reminescent of powdered hot chocolate, which i haven’t had in forever since i started just making hot chocolate from cocoa powder eventually so i could control the amount of sugar etc.. This has got a hint of vanilla to go with the “chocolate” and a hefty dose of marshmallow flavour from all the melted marshmallows.

thanks for the unexpected surprise variaTEA!

Sample from VariaTEA. This one was “ok” but i think i’m just done with mint for a while…like a year or something unless it’s in the background. I also wasn’t a fan of the oil on the top of the tea. In general this was a decent enough peppermint tea.

Final Count: 59

nope nope and nope. Sample from VariaTEA . This has potential to be a tea that i could like if they took out the licorice root. Unfortunately while the intiial sip of this was a pleasant taste, the cloying sweetness from the licorice root made this undrinkable. :(

Swap Sample Sipdown! (48)

This one came from VariaTEA!

For some reason, I expected this to be a chocolaty Golden Monkey. Obviously that’s not the case, though I wasn’t too disappointed, as I also love banana.

Unfortunately, this tea is super banana Runts. And to me, that’s so much less enjoyable than more natural-tasting banana flavor.

I think there’s chocolate there, but I can’t really taste it under the strong artificial banana flavor.

Nope nope nope!

Tea Swap Sample Sipdown of the Day! (18)

This one comes from VariaTEA!

I admit I was a bit worried at first, as both the dry leaf and the steeped tea smelled oddly floral, almost like rose?

Luckily, it doesn’t taste like rose. Thank goodness!

It’s a perfectly nice and fairly mild peppermint tea. I appreciate that they used peppermint flavoring in addition to the dry leaf because, to me, they’re two different flavor profiles. There’s a bit of a creamy element here as well, which is a nice compliment.

The only issue I have is that I can’t taste the base tea, period. I would think this is an herbal blend based on the taste alone. It’s not a huge issue, but I would definitely order the Candy Cane Rooibos from Simpson & Vail if I wanted an herbal-tasting candy cane tea, as that one is actually herbal and caffeine free.

Happy to have tried it, though. And looking at the NecessiTeas website, I will definitely need to order from them at some point because their flavors sound amazing!

Iced Sipdown (591)!

Now this? This was fucking delicious!

I made it iced today in the morning to drink while doing some archiving; with a tiny touch of agave added in too because I was craving sweets. I don’t know that I necissarily tasted the cherry in the blend; but the mix of coconut, pineapple, and kiwi was phenomenal. Such a great, sweet and tropical kind of re-imagining of a Pina Colada type of flavour/profile. I’d 100% drink this again – in fact, my immediate thought was how much I would have loved to have had a pitcher of it instead of just a cup to get me through the work day…

Tea Swap Sample Sipdown of the Day! (2)

This swap sample comes from VariaTEA. The name was too tempting to pass up!

Unfortunately, I’m not getting a whole lot out of this tea. There is a nice bit of tart raspberry/blackberry flavor, but otherwise it tastes a little chalky? And I’m definitely not getting maple or waffles. The base tea is mellow with light musty and woody notes.

Ah well, they can’t all be winners! ;)

Withholding a rating since I’m not sure how old the tea is.

Sipdown no. 4 of 2019 (no. 492 total). A sample.

A ittle less sour/bitter when steeped for only 7 minutes and slightly overleafed. But still not a favorite.

I got this sample when I ordered the Carrot Cake back when I needed to restock my non-caffeinated supply.

Since I’m trying to find things I can sip down, I thought I’d open this up and see what it has going on. It’s not something I can sip down in one sitting but it’s a small packet. So 2 or 3 maybe.

It has a very creamy vanilla scent in the packet. Really nice. Reminds me of the SpecialTeas Rooibos Lemon Chiffon smell.

I followed the directions, sort of: 1.5 tsp in 12 oz water at boiling. But I was busy placing my Lupicia order (the last one!!!!) and forgot to take the filter out of the cup.

It makes a sort of vibrant orange, slightly cloudy liquor and smells like lemon cookies.

The flavor is a bit disappointing. I had hoped I’d get a sweet lemon cookie flavor, what with the brown sugar in the ingredients and all. But it really isn’t sweet.

Oddly, it isn’t really overly sour or bitter either. Though it is a little of both. It’s like there’s a bit too much lemon peel in the blend? Or something.

It might be better if I didn’t oversteep it. I’ll be sure to stick to no more than 7 minutes next time.

Sipdown (601)!

Finished off as an oa tmilk latte with a bit of vanilla agave drizzled on top. Maybe not surprisingly, it just tasted like drinking oatmeal in liquid form, but sweeter. Needs more banana, for sure. Not sure I’ll miss this one.

Thanks for the share though, VariaTEA.

Morning cuppa with breakfast, which was actually also oatmeal…

This was a little bit funky to me; definitely nails the maple notes but it does it in a way that is a bit artificial and more like one of those maple & butter flavored pancake syrups and less like actual maple syrup. Definitely not that “Canadian touch” when it comes to maple.

I also feel like maybe the inclusion of actual oats in the blend maybe did something weird for the flavor? I can’t really describe what it was though as it wasn’t a flavor that was pointedly “off” but just a general wonkiness to the blend? No banana either, sadly. It was a drinkable cup, and I did finish it because it was COLD this morning and I needed the warmth – but definitely not the most pleasant profile.

Home – 9:30 PM

Another one from VariaTEA! I don’t drink many honeybush blends, mostly because they’re not super common. This has cute wee marshmallows in it!

I dig it. The banana flavor is admittedly very much like banana Runts, but I’m okay with that. I do get a lovely fluffy creamy flavor as well. I’m not sure I would specifically call it marshmallow, but the effect is similar. The honeybush base is woody and smooth, and I suppose sort of gives a suggestion of peanut butter. But only because I know this is supposed to have peanut butter!

It’s tasty. The flavor is quite light overall, but I’m okay with that for a caffeine-free evening blend.

Cold Brew Sipdown (716)!

Finished this off this morning while playing Pokemon SWSH – it was really refreshing/hydrating and I actually deeply appreciated having something cold and crisp to sip on because I started to get a pretty bag migraine from the posture I was sitting in combined with the bright light of the screen. Is this a sign I’m getting old!? To be honest, probably more of a sign that I need to sit up straight and actually wear my damn glasses…

Tea was good though! Really good, actually!