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It has been a long time since I have written a tasting note, but that is mostly because I was on vacation in Scotland! What a beautiful place it is, the rugged highlands, epic oceans, sandy beaches, cliffs, hills, munroes..everything was great! And the weather was gorgeous to boot! I can’t wait to go back someday, it was a good 10 days there but I will definitely return to see the eastern parts (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, we saved the whole eastern coast with its castles for another trip) and I would love to go back to the Isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides again, they were stunning! Great time, wish I was still there!

Anyways, so while on holiday I did drink a fair amount of tea, every morning in fact, although it was mostly basic bagged black teas by Twinings or Tetley, but I took those with milk and sugar so they were quite good with the delicious Scottish breakfasts. A few places had peppermint, and I had that one or two mornings to help with digesting the heavy food near the end of the trip. I also had loose tea once, in Glasgow, at a little cafe near the University I got an EG to go and it looked like it was loose tossed in a tea bag, it was also pretty good. So overall a lot of tea drinking, also, every B&B and hotel we stayed at provided a kettle, tea, sugar and milk in the room! I wish they did that here in Canada!!

Overall, a tasty week of teas and a great holiday. Now I am back to my stash, and will hopefully log some notes as the weather here is turning cooler so I should be drinking more chai, puerh and spicy pumpkin and apple things haha.

I don’t have time for a detailed review on this one, but the first few cups I’ve had of it are pretty good! Nicely spiced, with a strong mate presence, pumpkin notes nicely present as well, and a nice sweet aftertaste. Hoping for a mild boost from this on this dreary morning. Oh, and I’m pleased that butternut squash made it’s way into a tea :P happy I picked up a bit of this!

Another new tea today to warm me up and settle my stomach on this cold rainy night. The dry smell of this one was pleasantly musty and rich, reminding me of old books. Speaking of which, I would have been 8 when this tea was picked! So cool!

So I did a 30s rinse with boiling water and then a 25-30s steeping in a brew basket for a mug. The steeped tea is pretty light smelling so far, but pleasant again, no strong fermentation.

As for the flavor, this is a pretty darn good puerh. Quite smooth, some cocoa, dark fruit notes (maybe a plum of some sort), a nice mustiness, not fermented just rich and mellow. Deep. I feel calm and cozy. There is a mild tang surfacing as it cools, like a slight mushroomy savory note with ever so light astringency, unexpected but it works here.

Overall, a very nice complex puerh that has a lot of depth and is warming and delicious. I look forward to more cups of this tonight!

I haven’t been keeping up with writing tea notes with work and life and planning our upcoming Scotland trip, but I figured today I should get back into it and also review a new tea that I got a sample of quite a while ago from the lovely people at Teavivre. Many thanks for this sample!I

I brewed up this keemun for about 3 mins with 195 degree water. I usually prefer keemuns in the afternoon, but this one sounded right this morning to me! The steeped smell is bright and fresh, to me some red fruits, a hint of astringency (the good kind of astringency) and some malty cocoa notes.

As for the flavor, this is a rich, delicious tea. It’s rich, but the body is still pretty medium, so it goes down very smooth. The main notes are a lovely red wine flavor with a bready flavor and some more red fruits. There is also a mild cocoa note, slightly creamy with almost a mild buttery flavor.

Overall, I am very much enjoying this. With all the flavored teas I’ve been having lately, and gasp coffee (PSL season, ugh), this is a wonderful change and reminds me that pure teas still reign supreme and never fail to impress me. Thanks again to Angel and the Teavivre team for this lovely sample! Happy I have a few more packets of this :)

This tea is a freaking life saver. I have had an upset stomach all morning and have felt terrible, took some medications and they did nothing, remembered I had some of this tea at work and made it, wow, I feel so much better!!! I honestly do not know what I will do when I run out of this…maybe try blending it myself I guess lol. See previous notes on this delicious, stomach-saving tea!!

I finally bought some of the 2015 version of this tea last weekend, my last years was getting kind of gross and was hard on my stomach. Also strange, the online ingredients for this tea do not seem to match the ones on my bag, I could have sworn the bag said ‘pumpkin flakes’ and that is not in the online ones at all. Weird. I also made this to take to work, so I don’t have the bag in front of me, I should check that.

Anyways, I am really liking this year’s version better than last. This year’s is smoother and creamier, with more pumpkin flavor I think? I recall last years as very spiced with not much pumpkin.

I have already had about 3 cups of this since I bought it, I guess my brain is thinking fall. It also was very chilly here this morning, +6 and it rained yesterday so it definitely feels like fall! See previous notes on this tea, although note that this tasting is for the 2015 version. Rating still stands too :)

I picked this up on the weekend along with this years Pumpkin Chai and Honeycrisp Apple (notes on those later if I remember), and decided to make it this morning as it is a slightly chilly more autumn feeling morning, and a cranberry muffin tea sounded about right lol. This will be a quick note as I’m at work, but the dandelion root and cinnamon are good in here, making it toasty and muffin like. Cranberry and hib are staying at bay, probably because I only steeped for 2 mins (finally, not an overwhelmingly hibiscus cup!!). This actually is reminding me of Verdant’s Campfire Blend a fair amount, probably the cinnamon and dandelion. Tasty and sweet this morning!

My before bed cup – cozy, warming, and helping out my stomach as usual. Had it with a bit of honey to smooth it out and make it amazing as usual. Having a super relaxing night with the Spa music channel on and this tea. Almost sleep time haha. Sorry for the very non descriptive note. Too tired and relaxed. See previous notes on this tea :)

This is a great EG! Sad I waited until the last minute to try it, because it really is pretty good in terms of the EGs I have tried so far. It is a much more chocolatey version due to the LB base (yum) and there is a definite vanilla note after pouring it from my travel mug. Nice and caffeinated on this cold morning in the office again haha. This is a different take on earl grey, be forewarned – not overly strong bergamot if that is your thing. For me, it is more of a dessert like EG, Andrew & Dunhams EG is still my long reigning favorite. But I am happy to have picked up a sample of this to try while it was available, and I will also try to write a more detailed note later when I’m not at work lol.

Tasty and warming this morning!

It is another frigid day at the office..seriously, I have a fall sweater, light jacket, and scarf on right now to work inside, and my hands are frozen…drinking tea to warm up! This tea is the best, and I am seriously at a loss for what I will do now that it is discontinued. The ingredients are not the easiest for me to obtain to even attempt blending my own, and just attempting to blend it sounds like a daunting task lol. I guess I will just hoard this remaining bag I fortunately added to my Verdant order in May, and look for a replacement when it runs out. My current cup is definitely assisting me warm up today! See previous notes on this awesome tea :)