Tippy's Tea

i think my mouth has trouble with these teas from tippy. This one is more chocolate than mint for me today…but i can almost see where folks are comparing it to an after eight. I would need a buttload more mint for that to be a true comparison for me :) That being said, this is still a tasty tea and one i might consider once i finish up the last of my peppermint patty from stacy…not that this is a herbal, but there also isn’t really room in my cupboard for a huge number of mint teas!

I like the base of this tea…and i think it for sure has potential. It makes me excited to try other teas from tippy once i get my cupboard under control. Thanks for sharing Cavo!

today, the raspberry is more present so maybe the flavour just hadn’t disseminated throughout the entire bag? Today this is very much a raspberry tea…but now it’s missing the cocoa lol. Still a decent tea, but needed a little sweetner to take the edge off the raspberry flavour :) thanks for sharing cavo!

Sample from Caocorax today, all i’m really getting from this one is cocoa with a hint of what might be raspberry if i concetrate a lot. I’m ok with that though, because raspberry seems to be a challenging flavour in teas for me as it often tastes artificial and not really raspberry like at all. Little more of this left which i’ll save for a non sick day, but this was tasty.

cavocorax sent this one my way as it was on my list of teas to try. I can see how people are comparing this to WP’s GO. It’s very similar though different too. I can see keeping this one in my cupboard though, especially with the decline of the cad dollar. It’s a flavoured tea…not not on my ZOMG must have list…but this is a good vanilla tea. Quite nice. Thanks a bunch for sharing cavo!

This seems like pretty quintessential Golden Monkey. It’s got the dry scent of clean forest floor with malt overtones. The wet leaves are even maltier, but the steep is more sweet than malt. Go figure. The monkey has always been a house fave and this one fits right in. Yum.

How lovely! This one made me sit up and smile. The dry nose caught my attention right away with its deep keeemun richness. The flavor has a firm base, with definite malt, but balanced with a lighter, slightly sweet topnote. Definitely a keeper.

Interesting. This has more butter notes initially than other GMs I’ve tried. They add a nice rich smoothness. It smells moderately of smoke but that flavor doesn’t show up until about 6 minutes of steep. The longer the steep, the more minerally it gets and the more the smoke comes to the fore. Sweet spot for this one with me is about 1.5-2 minutes. Before the butter gets overwhelmed by minerals. The buttery notes make this one stand out. Take those away and it’s a good GM but not distinguishable from others.

Having a giant mug of this tonight. It could be mintier but even so…

Such minty. Such chocolate. Such good.

Yes. This is either an After Eight mint (of which I can eat whole boxes at a time) or a minty chocolate cookie that I have a recipe for… I’m leaning more on the cookie side as there is a slightly baked good note in the scent. This is a well balanced blend. Unsweetened cocoa and mint and the vanilla smooths out the edges of both of the other flavors. Sometimes those two can be sharp on the tongue.

I was careful with steeping per instructions for this first time. I think I’ll add a bit more leaf next time since I tend to like my Golden Monkey teas slightly overleafed. But for this one, it was 1 1/2 teaspoons per 8 ounces spring water @ 200F for 3 minutes.

First off, I just would like to say, what the hell is an after eight? So, after some Googling I have come to the conclusion that after eight’s are just UK versions of an Andes mint. Huh.

This is not so vanilla, exactly. Creamy, fudge-y fun of the golden monkey and sweet ever so slightly cherry-esque vanilla beans. With each steep, the vanilla comes out and the tea gets sweeter and sweeter. Holy cannoli, Tippy’s. Your golden monkey is SO. GOOD.

I could definitely smell the mint in the dry leaf, but I got disappointed by the first sip. No mint on the palate? whaaat? But, as soon as I inhaled, I got the familiar coolness that I associate with chewing minty gum. Not what I had expected, but I think it’s quite refreshing. (pun intended.)

This tea smelled so yummy in the bag…like chocolate chai! When I brewed this at work with a splash of half and half and a bit of sugar, I tasted a smorgasbord of flavors. Spices…cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, but more of a baked quality, not too spicy, which is awesome! I also detected a hint of orange and overall, it was caramel and vanilla sweet. Mmmm!

At home this morning, I brewed it up with a splash of almond milk, but it turned out spicier. I think this tea does better with a stronger milk presence, and as Tippy’s has suggested, this would probably be awesome as a latte. It brings out the cookie quality. :)

Sipdown! Goodbye Early Bird. You had nice cocoa notes and were a fabulous introduction to lapsang, but now I want the strong stuff! ;)

I got this tea because I liked Midday Flight and I wanted to try a bit of lapsang. You can definitely smell it, but it’s not overpowering in the taste. It’s like a subtle wood smoke flavor and aroma. I like it. Good with milk and sugar. You notice the lapsang the most, but it’s not harsh. It’s a different kind of smoke than I get from a Keemun…it’s sweeter and it fills up your whole mouth, if you know what I mean. It would be a good tea to introduce someone to lapsang.

The experience of drinking this tea for the first time stuck with me all day. It’s pretty cool that I was finally able to enjoy a tea with lapsang in it. My tea journey has come far! I might even have some tomorrow morning! Now I’m wondering what a full blown lapsang would taste like. Hmmm, may have to explore that. ;)

I had a short, shallow moment of dread when I discovered the milk of yesterday was gone today (note: always check for this factor before steeping spice teas). Luckily, this tea seems pretty awesome without it.

This one’s quite wintery: gingerbread cookie spices, nuts, a versatile fruitiness that is one moment hot apple cider the next chocolate and orange rind, and maybe even a touch of smoke.

I’ll have to pick up some of Tippy’s keemun and assam to see how much they cultivate those delicious fruity dessert flavours- and there are so many flavours, but they work!

Dry leaf smells like minty After Eights, the liquor like chocolate vanilla dessert with light mint garnish. The flavour is, um, one of those instances that make me realize how much I swear when attempting to express a strong emotion (it’s good). Mint leaves and vanilla always win in my book, and this tea is doing what my Laoshan Black hasn’t been doing lately in the cocoa/chocolate department.

Also, it’s a tasty tea with milk, which brings out a mild yet equally fantastic vanilla waffle cone, with a chocolate mint drizzle finish.

..and my roommate just got back from class and is giving me crap for the ice cream I bought today. Ugh. I’ve entered an alternate reality where Purdy’s ice cream and Toblerone cake are met with scorn, while the generic frozen Safeway cake, that existed in this apt. before my residency, is thrown onto a pedestal and enforcing proselytism on all unwilling basement inhabitants (me).

I refuse to eat that cake!

Been drinking this a bit lately… it’s always an easy one to bring to the movies with me, I find it a very reliable tea that never fails me. And is always tasty.

I continue to appreciate this tea.

That is all!

I bought a veritable mother load of this tea recently, so I can have it at work as often as I like. It’s still a favourite (naturally chocolatey) vanilla tea of mine. It’s also nice to support a Canadian tea company, ESPECIALLY given the horrendous state of our dollar currently!

I want to drink this every night. The great thing is, since it’s more affordable than GO, I feel like I’m allowed to drink it, I don’t have to mete it out by the leaf, clinging to it for as long as possible because it’s a “special” tea for rare occasions.

This is delicious and I don’t feel bad drinking it as often as i please.

It’s thick and rich and smooth and allllll vanilla. I will buy more. Oh yes.

Made another cup of this earlier, just finished it.
It had been a couple days so I just had to come back to tell you how delicious it is.

“Not So Vanilla” is a misleading name, it should be called “Tons’o’Vanilla”.

Or, you know… “SO Vanilla”

Received this last week, very excited about it!

The bag smells divine.

I couldn’t wait long to try it, and I’ve had a couple mugs now (2 steeps each)

I am a huge Golden Orchid superfan, it’s probably my holy grail tea. Though way too expensive to drink regularly, it’s definitely something I covet and cling to.

I was hoping this would be at least a bit comparable, and it is! It doesn’t have the long, delicate unbroken leaves that GO uses as a base, but it is still full of flavor. Maybe not QUITE as naturally chocolatey for the base, but the vanilla aspect does not disappoint.

It has a lovely thick and creamy mouthfeel as well.

Perhaps I shouldn’t compare this to anything else, but I can’t not.
I can’t remember what I rated GO but I will definitely reorder this when it’s gone.

Vanilla everything FTW!

Sip Down. I’ve ordered a few dessserty teas this pat month so I need to make room and sip down a few.

That is the end of this one :( I don’t think it is quite as good as Golden Orchid, but darned close. I had been hoarding it, but it’s been a while, and tea doesn’t stay fresh forever. I shall miss you, Not So Vanilla! Your smooth mouthfeel, your luscious flavor, your soothing warmth in my cup. sob

I decided, since I’m not feeling so well yet, to have a tea I know I like this morning. This one was good. You know, one of those “comfort teas” when you don’t feel like being adventurous. Most of the teas I’ve had this pas tweek haven’t tasted good. Maybe it’s because I’m sick, or maybe those teas are old… I dunno. I do know that this tea tasted fine.

This afternoon while I was sewing quilt blocks together, it poured. I had the blinds open and as I sat at the machine, I watched the sheets of rain come down. With the clouds and the rain obscuring the light, the day was dark. It put me in an almost melancholy mood. It was like something from a faded sepia photograph. Can you imagine it? Woman at a sewing machine in a gloomy room with a cat in a basket at her feet and a cup of tea in her hand, staring out the rain-blurred window…

This is a very nice tea, so smooth and mellow. Really perfect for a day of summer rain. What could be better?

I’m on a Tippy’s Tea roll. Reached blindly into the tea box (I really have to get the teas unpacked!) and pulled out this one for this morning. As always it is smooth, slightly sweet and yummy! Surgery is coming up in two weeks. Will I be able to taste this when I recover? I hope so because it sounds absolutely lovely!