VariaTEA Send Message

Thank you MissB for sharing this tea with me! I decided to try it out because I assumed it was caffeine free and thus a good tea to try at night. Although this tea is sweet and sort of cake-y, I am really not getting Red Velvet. This tea is sort of just a sweet rooibos – nothing special and kind of nondescript. It is a pleasant enough cup but once the sample is gone, I doubt I will miss it, or even really remember it all too much.

On a different, but sort of related note: Out of the three teas I tried today sent to me from MissB, I managed to somehow spill two of them on my crotch while sitting cross-legged on my bed. The first tea, Eight Candles, ended up spilling out when the cup turned sideways and I did not notice until it spread over a fair bit of my bed and got really warm on my legs. So I ended up washing all of my sheets and my mattress cover. I then put the clean sheets on my bed and sat down to enjoy some more tea and do some more readings (code for procrastinate by watching Supernatural on Netflix). When I went to pour this tea from my timolino to my mug, something weird happened, I still am not sure what, and I again got tea on my crotch and my freshly cleaned sheets :(. At least this time I was able to put a towel between the sheet and the mattress protector before it soaked through. Nonetheless, today has not been a good day for having my mug near my bed it seems.

MissB sent this to me and though I am very glad I got to try it, I am also glad there was only one cup worth to try. This tea is just not for me. I am finding I really do not like the hibiscus in this blend as it is cutting through the other flavors and denying me the sweetness promised. Also, I can’t find the ginger in this cup at all. Thank you MissB for the sample, if not for you I may have bought some and been very disappointed.

This came from me for the wonderful Roswell Strange. I didn’t notice any cow sprinkles but this tea smelled so good I just had to brew myself up a cup. It is very pleasant. Sweet, minty, and with richness from the chocolate. I don’t know if I would buy this in the future as there are so many other dessert type teas I would reach for first (such as Anti V-Day Treat when I am in the mood for a mint tea) but I am definitely going to have no problems finishing up the sample I have. Thank you Roswell Strange for letting me try some of this tea!!

This is the Harney & Sons tea for me!! Thank you Cavocorax so much for sharing this amazing blend!

The smell is heavenly. Sweet and coconutty! The taste is akin to a delicious chocolate dipped coconut macaroon with just the perfect amount of black base to keep it from being too sweet. This is the perfect dessert cup and I am so glad I brewed it up. I will definitely need to get more of this in the future. Thanks again Cavocorax!

ETA: Having this resteeped and it is just as tasty as the first cup!

This came from me in a generous swap package from Cavocorax. I pulled out the box she sent to try SoHo and when I saw the matchas I decided I would make myself a cup of this too with whatever water was left in the kettle. Unfortunately, I overestimated how much water there was so I probably ended up having 1/2 teaspoon of matcha for about 4-6 oz of water.

As for taste, I did not really pick up much peanut butter flavor. I tasted mostly sweet matcha. There was a nice creaminess to the tea that was reminiscent of smooth peanut butter. Even adding some milk did not bring out the peanut butter flavor. I am holding off on numbers though until I try this properly. It was still an enjoyable cup though so thank you Cavocorax for sharing with me!!

Yesterday I bought 2 oz of this on sheer reputation alone so when I got a sample in a package from MissB, I was super excited to try it for myself and see if I made the right choice. Also, the fact that it is actually Hanukkah right now only helped me to come to this decision faster.

In my excitement I forgot to smell the dry leaves but I did notice its festive sprinkles and big pieces of marshmallow. Once steeped (which I planned on steeping this a little below boiling to let the flavors shine through but I got impatient and steeped it in boiling water), I could smell the marshmallow and it smelled so sweet and delicious. I am very happy to say that the sweet marshmallow smell translated beautifully in the taste. This tea is a cup of marshmallow, caramel goodness fit for any holiday celebration!!

Unfortunately, it took the whole sample to brew this in my timolino but I have more on the way so no worries here :). Thank you MissB for your generosity. You are the best tea friend a girl could ask for!!

I was excited to try new teas this morning but the Cactus Flower leaves I had left in my gravity steeper still smelled so amazing that I decided to resteep them for a third time. I put boiling water in and left them to steep for 10+ minutes while I made breakfast and cleaned anything left in the sink.

Though this held up amazingly well for a second steep, three times in not the charm here. There is still flavor but now that most of the sweetness has gone, it tastes almost chemical. Oh well, two steeps is better than many other teas I have tried. Luckily I have more fresh leaves that I can use in the future thanks to the generosity of JennyFur. On the plus side, I now freed up my steeper to brew new teas in! Thank you JennyFur once again for this delicious tea :)

I started my day resteeping the leaves of the Cactus Flower tea I had last night. The flavor held up perfectly so I was very happy sipping away at it as I looked through different online stores and debating if I wanted to buy more things or not.

At the same time, I steeped some Georgia Tea Company’s Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai tea in my timolino. This came to me from JennyFur and I was excited to try it out. Unfortunately, I never got around to it because I ended up going with my roommate to actual stores to shop. Usually I would avoid stores on days with big sales, especially when I can get the same deals online,but she needed to get sized for bras and I needed a white collared shirt for my grad photo on Thursday (both of which we got so YAY!). However, this got left behind.

Luckily, we went into CaesarsTea and got some teas to go. My roommate had a coupon for a free cup of tea (the employee who sold me the 25 different teas a couple weeks back gave us each one but I forgot mine at home). She was only supposed to be able to choose between their two teas of the day but the saleswoman helping us let her chose any tea she wanted. She got a tea called The Energizer which was minty and very nice. I got a fruity Pu’erh and white tea while I was there called Pu Show. It was rather enjoyable because despite not adding sweetner, the Pu’erh was so caramel-y.

Then our shopping trip turned into a bit of a day out since we planned on meeting a friend near by later in the evening to go see Catching Fire. We decided to kill time by going to get some bubble tea. I got a Passion Lemon tea which was amazing. They basically take passion fruit black tea and throw in some lemon sorbet. It was fruity and tart and super delicious.

After the movie, which was AMAZING!!, we went back to our friends house and she made some Osmanthus tea. That tea was so buttery – it was almost like drinking liquid butter. Not really for me but an interesting taste experience for sure.

Now I have finally returned home to find some awesome tea packages from MissB and Roswell Strange. And after 12 hours of sitting in my freezing apartment, my timolino managed to keep my Sleepy Hollow Tea warm. Although it tastes a bit soapy. I will have to try brewing it again and having it fresh to really review it.

All in all, I had a pretty great tea filled day. Plus, now I have a bunch of new teas to try to keep me busy until all my awesome Black Friday orders arrive!!

I got a sample of this from JennyFur in a swap. Unfortunately I got distracted placing Black Friday orders and this tea ended up getting super cold. Luckily, it was not bad cold. It had a strong apple presence combined with cinnamon and other spices. It is sort of similar to a weak mulled apple cider.

I did, however, manage to get a few sips in prior to it cooling. As a hot tea, the spices have a far more prominent role in the cup. Perhaps there us even a bit too much spice in the hot cup. There is a bit of sweetness from the apple but rather than the flavors complimenting one another, they just seem to conflict.

I think I will enjoy the sample I have but I don’t think I will be ordering this in the future. Thank you JennyFur for sharing!

This came to me in a swap with JennyFur and I was super excited to give it a taste.

As I have mentioned many times before, my roommate is not a huge fan of flavored teas. And if you had not guessed, I am all about the flavored teas. So a lot of the time we might both like a tea but to varying degrees as in things I love, she thinks are just ok and vice versa. However, every once in a while we land on a tea that we both agree is pretty amazing.

Cactus Flower is one of those teas. Like the other teas we both really like, such as Jessie’s Tea and Caesar’s Provence, this tea is flavorful enough to appease me while not being in-your-face bold about their flavors. Instead there is a delicateness that makes this for a very pleasant and calming tea. This is sweet but in a subtle way. It has a hint of peach/mango fruitiness that hits your tongue just as you finish and pleasantly stays behind in the aftertaste. There is even a bit of floral to this, which most of the time I would be against, but it definitely works in this cup.

If this were still available it would definitely be making it into my Della Terra order but I guess I will just have to savor what is left of the sample I have. Thank you JennyFur for being kind enough to share this delicious tea with me!!!