The NecessiTeas

meh. No matter what i try to do with this one, it never seems to work. Today i got a little bit more cola, but in the end it really is just a whole lot of rooibos. oh well…never know until you try!

this is more like cherry rooibos. I’ll have to try dropping the temperature and see what happens.

this one was a little better today made it while playing games and making cookies. We did a slow cooker pot roast as well given the weather so it’s been a warm, comfy, cozy weekend. Also, the toys we bought doggo as a birthday present were a bit hit – helped keep her from going crazy being stuck inside a little more than we like. One’s a giraffe with tennis balls for feet and the other is a spiky turtle that squeaks. She’s in love with both of them…hasn’t stopped playing with them all weekend haha.

this tea is still too light in terms of flavour for me to be limoncello….but it’s a half decent lemongrass tea. haha thanks for the share VariaTEA!

Final Count: 29

real limoncello is intense. This is not. Going to play with this one a little more before landing on how i feel about it.

pulled this one out of the giant bag of samples from VariaTEA. I haven’t bothered to organise them, just dumped them all back in the bag after adding them to my cupboard. This way it’s a more random drinking experience until they are a little smaller in number haha. If they were organised, i’d have been able to compare this one with the bluebird version, but it wasn’t meant to be. this one comes across as something i’ve had before…sort of generically apple with some hints of cinnamon, a little vanilla and a bit of sweet fruitness coming through. I can see myself drinking this more in winter vs now that it’s spring. Thanks VariaTEA!

Final Count: 69

this tea makes me angry every time i have it lol. it’s not really banana…not really marshmallow….it’s just this weird sort of i dunno what to call it tea to me. I’ve tried to boiling water…cooler water….standing on 1 foot….no matter how i make it, it’s just…“whatever” bah!

still undecided about this one. It’s kinda just strangely creamy versus anything else…maybe a little vanilla today but that’s about it. so odd.

jury still out on this one. a little woody…creamy…yep more to come later.

Finished this one off tonight after my run and it was delicious. Just the right balance of fruity mango goodness without being a cloying sweet “fruit tea.” Thanks VariaTEA!

Final Count: 55

Unless i mixed up the two teas i had tonight, this one was the one that hit the spot. I’ve got a bit more of this to try so i’ll be able to double check later on haha. a refreshing brew that was sweet and tropical without being overpowering with too many things going on.

Final Count: 76

this one sounds like it would be up my alley but it really wasn’t. Something about the melange of flavours just didn’t work when i brewed this up tonight. I can’t even place why it didn’t work.

Tea Pop Sipdown (373)

Today has been a day for tea experimenting. First I saw a video for an inside out iced latte where you make ice cubes out of tea and then top it with milk. I am going to give that a try tomorrow as my On Wisconsin ice cubes are setting in the freezer overnight.

This was my other experiment. I made a tea pop using mango bubly and I also added grenadine. When I took my first sip I realized I added a bit too much grenadine so then I decided to balance it by the Mango bubly except I got too heavy handed with that so the Island Mango flavor is being mostly drowned out by the sharpness of the sparkling water flavoring. Good in theory but my execution was lacking.

I made this tea as a tea lemonade. I am feeling much better but I still have a cough and the sniffles and because of that congestion, it seems I still have messed up tastebuds. So more than anything, this tastes like a sweet lemonade. I maybe get some candied pineapple and the occasional mango note (though that could also be from the mango I ate while drinking this). It’s good but I know there is more to this tea and I am sad that my tastebuds just don’t want to work.

Sipdown (323)

I had high hopes for this and it never quite lived up. I sometimes got banana and the honey Bush was actually nice. Realistically if I had no expectations it would be a fairly decent caffeine free option but banana fluffernutter implies certain flavors that this tea just never delivered.

I made this earlier but it got cold since my brother’s girlfriend is here and we have been baking cookies all afternoon. We started with peanut butter cookies while we waited for the butter to soften. My brother-in-law, who has a severe peanut allergy, is at the Fire Hall today so we’re taking advantage of his absence and having ALL THE PEANUT BUTTER (between this tea and the cookies)! We then made nutella cookies and then my sister requested Salted Caramel cookies. Now that the butter has softened, the plan is to make chocolate chip cookies and Cappuccino chocolate chip cookies but we’re taking a break and I am finally drinking this tea.

It’s okay. Banana-y. Honeybush-y. Nothing really screams peanut butter and other than the sweetness, there is not much marshmallow either. It is a nice enough tea but I am always left wanting more.

I brewed this up plain and was really excited because (a) the tin had an awesome banana smell, (b) there were large peanut butter chips in the leaf, and (c ) the marshmallows were plentiful. I will also say I was a bit worried because of the peanut butter chips as well but there is no oiliness or scum to be found in the mug.

At first it just had a honey flavor and I was disappointed but I judged too quickly because the honey gave way to banana which is what lingers in the aftertaste. Peanut butter and marshmallow aren’t doing much. So ultimately I would call this a honeyed banana tea. Kind of reminds me of the fried bananas you get from sushi/chinese food places for dessert more than a banana fluffernutter, which is still good but not what I expected.

Latte Sipdown (349)

So this latte was basically a 1:1:1 split of tea, frothed milk, and whipped cream. It’s that time of the month (sorry if that’s TMI) and while normally I crave chocolate, the whipped cream in my fridge called to me and I may have gone a bit overboard. However, it’s also hot tea topped with cold whipped cream so that melted real quick which was disappointing.

When I started brewing this, I was sad because the smell of this tea that I once loved wasn’t all that appealing. I was worried this would go the way of Forever Nuts and be completely offputting. Thankfully that is not the case. It maybe isn’t as rich and delicious as I remember, even with the copious amounts of whipped cream, but it is both chocolatey and nutty and somewhat akin to the peanut butter in a Reese’s (though it would need a little more sugar and a little less nutty to capture that properly). I am okay with this sipdown but this is one I may revisit in the future.

As a plain hot tea, this reminds me of all natural peanut butter with no sugar added. As a latte, this reminds me of the sweeter peanut butter inside a Reese’s cup. I wish I got more milk chocolate but all in all this is a nice one.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/12/18/peanut-butter-cup-from-the-necessiteas-2/

I made this as a latte the other day using both regular and chocolate milk. Then I thought it would be nice to chop up a peanut butter chocolate bar I had and put it on top. Tbh it was waaaayyy too much. I think this is much better as just a regular latte with plain milk. The tea itself is rich so no need to add more.

I believe this was in my advent calendar from Sophia (thank you!) and I am loving it on this bitter cold winter day! The black base tea is warm and comforting layered with a strong (but not too artificial) banana flavor and just a bit of maple sweetness. I’m not really getting anything that reminds me of oatmeal, but that’s fine; I enjoy it just the way it is!