The NecessiTeas

Wow – this tastes exactly like Lemon Chiffon from Della Terra.

I have to wonder if NecessiTeas may actually be sourcing this tea (or a pre flavoured rooibos base, at the very least) from the same supplier that Della Terra sourced theirs from; East Indies Tea Company. The flavour is just so dead on that it feels like a very real possibility to me. Plus I know from when we did the East Indies group order, years back, here on Steepster that both Lemon and Lime Chiffon were catalog blends carried by East Indies, meaning that any tea company could go and purchase them for their stores…

Thing is, I don’t think this has the exact same visual as lemon chiffon – which is why I think that NecessiTeas might but doing additional blending with a purchased “base” tea. That’s not a super uncommon practice; unique visuals sell tea better (especially when you’re selling online using a picture over in person where you can smell the teas) so sometimes tea companies will buy a catalog blend but add something to it to beef up the visuals and make it a little less obvious it’s a catalog blend.

9/10 times more large, chunky ingredients don’t actually contribute a significant enough flavour to drastically change the overall profile of a tea – so it’s an easy enough “trick” to do…

But this tastes amazing – don’t let my analysis let you think that I’m not enjoying every bit of this tea.

Big, big pot of Western tea right before bed.

Everything about brewing this tea as a giant pot of it was a brilliant idea, except for the fact I ended up waking up in the middle of the night several times because I had to pee. This tastes exactly like Della Terra’s Lemon Chiffon blend, though – so not only is it really delicious but it’s also a major blast from the past/incredibly nostalgic.

“Back in the day” Steepster people would probably lose their minds over how similar the two are, to be honest. Like – it really takes me back to like four/five years ago on Steepster right after I had moved to Saskatoon. Damn…

Sipdown (306)

This was a random selection and happened to be a caffeine free sipdown so that’s awesome. Also, I am ok saying good bye to this one. It’s mostly lemongrass and I have better versions of this flavor profile in my cupboard still.

Apparently I was craving lemons yesterday when I decided on my teas for today seeing as this is the third tea today and it is the third with a lemon component (Frozen Raspberry doesn’t itself have lemon but I know it is made w/lemonade).

This is ok. Sweet. Sorta creamy. Mostly lemongrass. I have one more serving left and once I finish this off, I won’t be buying it again. It’s not bad by any means but I can get better interpretations of this flavor profile more easily accessible such as the Lemon Cream Rooibos from the Tea Haus in London or Lemon Meringue from Tealish in Toronto. If I want this, I’ll likely grab those instead. However, if this is more easily accessible to you, it is not a bad option.

I made this iced tea this morning and am only drinking it now. It has been sitting in front of me while I’ve been studying but I just haven’t thought to drink. Thankfully it is still cold and rather nice. It is creamy and lemon. A touch lemon-grassy but very dessert-like.

I describe this as lemon meringue tea because this had more body than I anticipated and some vanilla creaminess and yet it was still light. Made for a nice treat, especially following the disaster that was my attempt at expertly documenting the wonderful color changing effects of DAVIDsTEA’s Magic Potion.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2018/10/19/limoncello-from-the-necessiteas-2/

Made this as a teapop and though there is a light creamy vanilla/citrus, it is mostly lemongrass

Sipdown (643)!

This was a VariaTEA share – and it smells really good; like DT’s Forever Nuts with sweeter and maybe a little caramel tinged!? It made me super excited to try it! I’m sipping on it now, though, and it’s not bad but compared to the dry/steeped aroma I’m finding the taste somewhat disappointing. It’s just sort of bland/watery; like a weak cup of Forever Nuts – that same sort of cinnamon/apple/almond combo. No caramel sweetness either. It’s not bad, just lackluster.

This was a sample I got with a NecessiTeas order and at first sip it reminded me of Forever Nuts by DAVIDsTEA. The apple is definitely the foundation flavor of this blend, coating your tongue with its sweet and fresh cinnamon-apple note. At first it is a bit of light vanilla that sits atop the apple but that quickly is taken over by the heavier and nutty almond and chicory flavors. There is a baked good vibe here and though the different components all together sound like an apple strudel, I find in actuality this tea doesn’t come together quite how it should so instead it is a jumble of flavors. In fairness, that could be due to my negative experience of Forever Nuts and the similarity to that but as I sip, I just can’t help but think that this is not the Apple Strudel tea for me.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2018/08/16/grandmas-apple-strudel-from-the-necessiteas/

Sipdown (621)!

Finished this one off at work today as an iced latte. I was initially unexcited about this one because I imaged it would likely just be a boring black tea with chocolate, however I was delightfully surprised by it. Of course, it WAS a really strong chocolate flavour however there were quite a few additional ingredients in the blend that broke up that chocolate flavour a bit but still paired well – and for me, at least, that’s what made the blend so good. The main one was the vanilla, but also the marshmallow (of which there was an abundance). It just made the chocolate so creamy and smooth tasting that I almost forgot that there was so much chocolate in the blend/that I don’t usually get into chocolate. The barley and apple were nice too; just added a touch of a toasty quality and some sweetness that differed from the chocolate (respectively speaking),

This is definitely not the kind of tea that I would ever stock up on – but I came into this one with very low expectations and they were just completely smashed. I’m not sure why VariaTEA and I had such drastic differences – but I’m sort of glad we did.

I was packaging this up for Roswell Strange and Sil not too long ago and it smelled soo good that I just had to make myself a cup…or two. I brewed this as a plain tea and as a latte with vanilla almond milk.

The plain tea was rather murky but surprisingly smooth which is nice that it wasn’t oily or slimey but also not so nice since the flavor wasn’t all that rich either. The chocolate flavor was earthier and more akin to cacao while the barley gave this a grain quality, like chocolate cereal…in water.

The latte wasn’t much better as it tasted chalky and like unsweetened oatmeal.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2018/07/06/hot-chocolate-from-the-necessiteas/

I really liked this one with its caramel pumpkin flavor, its caramelized sugar burntness, and its ribbon of vanilla with just a dash of spice.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2018/06/11/pumpkin-brulee-from-the-necessiteas/

Made this yesterday as a tea lemonade using the tangerine lemonade. This is the first tea that can actually stand up to the lemonade flavor and more than that, it actually complimented it and made for one very tasty drink. It was like drinking a liquified jolly rancher – a little sour and a lot sweet.

Latte Sipdown (638)!

Making this one as a latte was VariaTEA’s recommendation, so that’s exactly what I did. I’m a fan of the chocolate peanut butter cup tea that DT sells, which is quite similar to this one, so I was excited to see how this would compare. As far as I can tell, the BIG different between these two is that this one has caramel pieces in it? For me, that’s actually a really good selling point – but who knows if they would drastically impact the flavour.

I think the ultimate answer is that this does make for a REALLY tasty latte, but not one that’s massively different from the DT version. It’s perhaps a little bit sweeter from the caramel, and it has a super creamy/nutty peanut butter taste that does loosely emulate the filling of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup/comparable candy. I don’t think it’s nearly as much chocolate as the DT version!? However it’s hard to say without a direct comparison. Even if that’s true, I’m ok with the trade off for the sweeter/richer nutty components. Yeah; this one was REALLY good and I’m super happy I decided to do it up as a latte because it was the perfect cap to a long shift at work and gave me this really indulgent moment!

Not overly a fan of green, strawberry teas…this one was pretty average. nothing extra special about this version of a strawberry grean…though i’d argue if they were going for shortcake, they feel short. heh. It’s much more generically strawberry green.

Final count: 44

This is a sipdown for me, but apparently I didn’t have this tea listed in my Steepster cupboard so I don’t get to count the number decrease… Boo!

I enjoyed this last mug though; I finished it off last night while watching the Season 6 premiere episode of The 100 – and honestly I am shook. I wish someone at work liked The 100 because there was so much to unpack, and I just really want to have someone to talk to about it. What an emotional rollercoaster…

Tea tasted lovely; but what significantly more chocolate than banana.

I found myself in a weird state of flux with this tea – I had steeped it up hot and added in a bit of vanilla agave. If you’ve noticed I’m using a lot of vanilla agave lately it’s because I have a bottle of it with a broken cap that’s nearly empty and I’ve been trying to finish it off quickly. The tea was simultaneously too sweet/rich in terms of vanilla/chocolate/banana flavour but also was very thin and watery too? It was as if it was in two seperate states that just should not have been able to coexist. A bit of a mind fuck.

Sipdown (631)!

We’re now carrying almond milk at work, which is exciting for me because I try not to drink milk so much but I hate the taste of soy milk. So, work is one of the only places I ever drink actual milk in anything. Now I have another option, though!

So, this was an almond milk latte – and because we recently celebrated our 10 year birthday as a company we have a TON of sprinkles left over from the specialty drink we were serving, so I added lots and lots of sprinkles to the top of this one too. It was a little excessive but also really fun. Who doesn’t love a latte with sprinkles!?

Flavour wise this was great; sweet banana and just slightly bitter chocolate notes. I liked the tiny bit of bitterness contrasted with the really sweet banana/sprinkles. The hint of nutty almond milk was a nice, complimentary addition also. A good, sweet treat that didn’t feel over-complicated.

Something sweet to sip away at midday instead of munching on snacks…

Chocolate? Check! Banana? Big check! It’s a nice flavour; and I do really enjoy sweet banana and chocolate teas – it’s a big soft spot for me, especially since chocolate teas can be quite hit or miss for me. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a chocolate banana tea I didn’t like though? No exception here.

Biggest qualm is that it’s MIGHTY oily. Like, the film of oil and melted chocolate goo on the surface of the tea liquor is the worst I’ve seen on any tea in quite some time. The mouthfeel is also a little oily. At least the flavour is really solid though. Solid enough to make up for the oil slick I’m experiencing.

Thanks for the share VariaTEA!

Sipdown (579)!

I’ve been drinking a lot of DAVIDsTEA’s Candy Cane Crush blend this winter, and unfortunately that blend is just so strong and flavourful that it’s made this blend look a little weak and watery in comparison.

Hot cuppa, on my last day off.

There’s definitely nothing wrong/bad about this tea at all save for a somewhat oily feeling mouthfeel. The flavour is sweet, smooth peppermint bark though with creaminess and a little hint of chocolate. It’s also finally snowy outside and winter-like, so it felt really awesome actually brewing up a cup of this at a more appropriate time of the year.

It’s kind of weird how much the seasons (and your surroundings in general) can affect your experience when drinking tea, but there’s really something to be said about the atmosphere you drink a tea in sort of “making the experience”.

I’ve been on a bit of a mint tea binge this week; I think it’s helping a bit with the headaches I’ve been having – and I mean maybe it’s placebo, but if it works I’ll take it. This one was nice; definitely very creamy and rich on top of the overall strong mint notes. Reminds me of white chocolate bark with candy canes, like what you get at Christmas. Also very similar to DAVIDsTEA’s Candy Cane Crush but somewhat more balanced in terms of general sweetness. Thanks for the share VariaTEA!