New Tasting Notes

Just when I was lamenting the lack of chai blends in my cupboard, I came across this one. Hooray, cozy time! :D

I find most pumpkin spice things to be terribly disappointing, as they’re usually just the spice part with no pumpkin. Luckily, this tea has a lovely creamy pumpkin flavor along with the somewhat gentle clove, cinnamon, and allspice. The base is a little brisk but I’m okay with that, as I tend to steep my black teas below boiling and for less time than recommended anyway.

I’m not a big chai drinker but I’m so happy to have this in my cupboard for when these fall flavor cravings hit. A small splash of milk really oomphs up the creamy pumpkin-y goodness! Cozy and tasty, and aging very well! I bet this would be fab with a drizzle of maple syrup, too. Next time!

Geek Steep S1E5 – Birds of Prey

This is the tea I paired with my rewatch of the movie, and it might seem like an odd choice at first but with the majority of my tea pairings for the podcast thus far I definitely seem to favour picking teas that help me capture a feeling/experience to mirror the tone of whatever we’re watching/reading. So does this relate to Birds of Prey/Harley at all? Well, no…

What it does connect to is the experience of seeing this movie in theaters, which is how both Marika and I experienced this movie for the first time – together as well. It’s the only movie we’ve watched in theaters together, and like we talk about in this week’s episode we kind of agreed that this is one of those movies that is sort of just best as a “theater experience” so since we’re in a time where you can’t really go and have that theater experience the next best thing I could do was attempt to recreate it.

And so my cold brewed thermos of Root Beer Float and all the tasty movie snacks that I ordered in (bless you, Uber Eats) for my rewatch were the perfect feeling for capturing the fun and excitement of Birds of Prey. And, ultimately, shouldn’t that be what a tea pairing is!? Fun, and exciting?

Our Website: https://www.geeksteep.com/
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geeksteep/

My Geek Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGTSI_ZA-xw/

Listen to us on Buzzsprout:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286036/podcast/website

DB topic:
https://steepster.com/discuss/42133-geek-steep-a-new-tea-and-fandom-podcast

If you want to get caught up on the Geek of The Week for next Thursday, the spoiler for our explored fandom is at the bottom of our latest DB post!

Latte Sipdown (276)

This one smells so good but I could never coax out the flavors quite like I wanted to. Instead, I get a lot of black tea flavor here with the smell of coconut and vanilla. Even as a latte, it’s a black tea with some coconut flavor but the emphasis is the base and it’s nothing special.

Not too long ago I reviewed a Turkish Apple Fig tea from Mesmer. Except that one said Bayram. IDK if they are the same. I can’t remember what it tasted like. I would like to think they are different. Anyway..the apple had some tart to it the first time I tried it And then you get the fig part. It’s named appropriately. And enjoyable..but very forgettable. Would I buy recommend? Ehhhhh. I wish there was an option for maybe

I was really interested in this one since I have recently discovered violet tea (I’m a fan!) and lavender-flavored matcha is one of my favorite things ever. So I was highly curious about a violet matcha… shame B&B has already discontinued this one, but they still had old stock on the VIP page so I grabbed a sample to try during their last big sale.

I whisked this using the last of my coconut milk (I like lavender and coconut as a flavor pairing, not sure how violet will pair but since I needed to finish off the carton, I was willing to take that chance!) I like the floral flavor I’m getting, but… it’s a bit bitter. Not that bitter taste matcha itself can have, so I don’t know if its the sort of bitterness I sometimes get from going too heavy or too long with lavender buds, or if it’s just the cardamom… and I’m tempted to say it’s the cardamom. I like cardamom, but I just don’t think I like it here, paired with this flavor, like it isn’t sitting on my tongue right and leaving a spicy bitterness when I am wanting/expecting a sweet, floral cup. I am curious what this would’ve tasted like if it didn’t have the cardamom included in the powder… I think I probably would’ve preferred it that way.

No texture issues this time, but this one had a matcha base (with the B&B non-matcha powders, I seem to be getting some weird texture issues). Put the rest of my latte into a berry smoothie for tomorrow’s breakfast. Gave it a quick taste-test, and the flavor of the matcha is holding quite strong; and I still really like the floral, and really don’t like the added spice with it.

It came close for me, but didn’t quite get there…

Geek Steep S1E5 – Birds of Prey

Another week, another geek! This is our most “modern” Geek of The Week so far, being released earlier this year (though that feels like AGES ago now). Of course, the movie takes inspiration from the much more long running (by contrast) comic series of the same name – but we focused exclusively on the movie for this conversation.

I don’t always plan the tea I’m going to drink during the recording of the episode, but in this case I very much knew in advance what I wanted to drink. Sometimes I just have so many ideas for how to approach a Geek Steep pairing and this was one of those cases where I very heavily considered this as my main pairing. There’s the obvious name pun, which ties into Harley’s OG costume design, but the idea of this really intensely flavoured tea with a massive punch of tartness also works so well with her actual characterization – so it felt like a pairing that fit on multiple levels.

Though, if you know my history with this blend then you also know that it’s not actually a tea I enjoy a whole lot – so what you don’t see/hear in this weeks episode is me taking sips of it during our conversation and reeeaaalllyyy scrunching my face up from how shockingly tart the hibiscus is – and then Marika, in response to that, having the physically fight off laughing at my expression.

Our Website: https://www.geeksteep.com/
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geeksteep/

Listen to us on Buzzsprout:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286036/podcast/website

DB topic:
https://steepster.com/discuss/42133-geek-steep-a-new-tea-and-fandom-podcast

If you want to get caught up on the Geek of The Week for next Thursday, the spoiler for our explored fandom is at the bottom of our latest DB post!

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

So while browsing the discussion boards earlier, I was reading through the advent calendar thread and saw mention of a Kusmi advent calendar. Naturally, my head exploded. Once I had sufficiently recovered, I went over to their website but it seems the calendar isn’t available on the US site yet. Soon, my precious…

So anyway, this of course prompted me to steep up a cup of possibly my favorite Kusmi tea (although really, that’s a tough choice). Unfortunately, this one is at least a few if not several years old now, and has lost its luscious red fruits essence. So mostly it tastes like a somewhat generic black tea base with a hint of bergamot and vanilla….

Now I don’t let myself feel too bad about it, as I did get through most of the 100g tin over the years. So I suppose the advent calendar release will be the perfect opportunity to order a refill bag of this lovely tea! I’d best be sure to test out some of my other Russian blends to see if they need a refresh as well…

So long for now, old friend. We’ll meet again soon enough!

Thanks so much for this freebie, Ost! An individually wrapped sachet that I imagine isn’t new.  I can’t find any info, but it seems to be a plain green.  It isn’t bad.  I had some Pringles before drinking… my favorite: honey mustard (Rick & Morty pringles, no less!), so we’ll see what we can do with these flavors.  There is a drying effect. A bit of that smoke quality a gunpowder has. But I think it’s a mix of different green types.  Some leaves look like gunpowder.  It’s okay!  Boring note, but needed to write one for this lonely tea (and probably discontinued).
Steep #1  //  36 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 30 minutes after boiling //  2-3 minute steep
2020 Sipdowns: 82 (August Uncommon – Dots & Loops + English Tea Store – Swiss Hot Chocolate)

I was inspired to drink one of my Andrews & Dunham teas after seeing a note from amandastory516. Thanks, Amanda!

I’m enjoying this cup greatly while eating some Laughing Cow cheese and nice seedy whole grain crackers. This tea is lovely with the food, it’s strong enough to hold its own but not too strong.

I’m an Earl Grey lover, and this is a good one. The base is somewhat brisk but still smooth and flavorful with notes of wood and hay. The amount of bergamot is perfect, the starring flavor but not overpowering. It’s not perfumey at all, which can sometimes be an issue for me with cheaper Earl Grey blends. I’m also getting a light peppery note, but that could be a result of my food pairing.

Delicious, comforting and refreshing all at the same time! And the tin is so cute, I don’t even mind how highly impractical it is to open… :D

Though I don’t often opt for Jin Xuan teas, this one was recommended to me as fruity so I gave it a try. It’s from spring 2019. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of milky sweetness, grass, honeysuckle, and other flowers. The first steep has that note I interpret as cream corn, plus honeysuckle, orchid, other florals, spinach, condensed milk, and grass. The next steep introduces heady gardenia and coconut, and is great! However, this tea is almost too sweet. The next couple steeps are more balanced, with corn, coconut, cream, custard, spinach, arugula, herbs, and those heady flowers. The next two steeps are similar, though with more spinach and sweetness and sadly less coconut. The trend toward spinach, grass, and other veggies continues in the next few steeps, though the condensed milk sweetness persists.

This is a rather nice Jin Xuan whose coconut and floral notes I appreciate. The sweetness, however, is slightly overwhelming. Given its price, I’d consider buying this tea again.

I need to start off with a bit of a warning. I enjoy eating unsweetened 100% pure dark chocolate. You know, that stuff in the baking aisle your mom kept in the fridge that you tried eating as a kid because it was chocolate and discovered that real chocolate with nothing else in it tastes like bitter dirt. Yep, that’s the stuff. I eat that almost daily . . . for pleasure. I keep a bar in the top drawer of my desk at work as an afternoon treat. I have a bag of brewing cacao in my tea drawer that I enjoy pretty much as often as I do tea. (No, its absolutely nothing like hot chocolate.) So my perceptions of bitter and chocolate may not match the average person.

So, onto In the Mood for Love.

What can I say, its black tea. I don’t detect chocolate at all. Or malt for that matter. Actually, what does malt taste like anyway? I honestly have no clue. I had a chocolate malt once. It tasted exactly like every other chocolate milkshake I have ever had.

I don’t taste sweet. Given the fact that I have avoided anything containing any type of sugar at all for almost 7 years, I am pretty sensitive to the whole sweet thing. Carrots actually make me sick at my stomach because they are so sweet. There is none of that here at all.

On the first steep I detected no astringency or bitterness (note my bitter warning above however). It seems like a basic black tea with, as far as I can tell, no offensive qualities. As things cooled, I did notice a tiny bit of astringency show up, but it was pretty mild.

On the second steep there was still a slight hint of that astringency there, but never seemed to be more than just a hint

This is the second keemun I have tried. I was not a fan of the first one. I would be more likely to drink this one but there’s a lot of other straight black teas out there I would prefer.

Overall: decent but doesn’t stand out.

I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea to buy. I guess I was overcome with… something… at the prospect of pumpkin flavored tea that departed from the overplayed spice category. I recall not liking their pumpkin spice tea and maybe figured that they couldn’t possibly go wrong twice and must have learned from the first time. Maybe I was just too excited to be out of the house and doing any kind of Halloween shopping, even though World Market’s Halloween AND pumpkin merch/products were a fraction of what they have been in years past. The checkout clerk confirmed it wasn’t just perception, they had indeed reduced the amount of merch ordered because of the uncertainty of Covid. I’m mildly crushed that the pandemic is chipping away at the Halloween boost I use to get me through the rest of the end of year holidays.
Tea. This tea brings me no joy and tastes of bitter disappointment. Fitting for a 2020 vintage. There is a sour flatness towards the end of the sip, some mild vague spice and maybe a hint of maple in the alkaline finish. I have also noted the past few days that if there is a cup of bad tea in front of me, I will mindlessly drink it and mentally complain with each sip of sorrow or repulsion, trying to force myself past it despite having a cupboard full of wonderful tea waiting for me. I’m doing it again with this cup. I miss the $11 I wasted on this tea. It could have been spent on a much more delightful cup.

This flavor isn’t too special, sadly. It’s quite a light black tea with some indistinct fruitiness. Certainly not bad, it just didn’t really live up to its name or stand out in any way.

My day off, and I was looking for something sweet and cozy. This definitely fit the bill. Marshmallow and hojicha. Yum.

Tea from postcrossing THANK YOU envelope 6/6. after 2 months and week

Perfectly Balanced Yup, that is right.
Brewing Instructions: Steep 2 minutes or to desired strength That’s good, I did 2 minutes and it was alright.

But how about not trying it again? It was smooth, hay, and totally forgettable. Mild and hay. Nothing more, nothing less. There are better teas in same price range.

I wonder why it has got so bad reviews. Thank you derk (White Antlers?) for this pleasant experience of tea bag.

Well, it is pure linden tea. I woke up feeling having little common cold and linden should help. Won’t rate the medical purposes, maybe I just warmed up and it’s better, maybe it’s Linden, maybe it’s hot drink, maybe it is just wamer enviroment.

Ehhm, okay the tea… it’s quite flavourful, honey and herbal; decently floral and sweet.

I DO like it! It’s better than chamomile. By the way, it’s Czech national tree :)

After ordering a couple of tea advent calendars to enjoy this December, I’ve been craving Christmasy teas a bit. I admit I’d forgotten about this one until I found it rummaging about in my tea cupboard.

I was worried about its age because it didn’t have much of a scent in the tin. Luckily the steeped tea still has plenty of flavor left!

This tea does a nice job of straddling the line between a spice tea and a dessert tea. There’s a bit of clove-y warmth, but also rich marzipan and creamy cake notes. And just a little bit of sweet orange adds a nice aroma and harmonizes nicely with the spices.

So cozy and comforting for curling up and watching a movie. ❤️

A new tea powder from Bird & Blend I haven’t tried yet! I whisked it in coconut milk as a) that seemed appropriate and b) I really need to finish off this carton before it goes off.

The drink is very sweet, and I’m not sure how much of that is from the tea powder (coconut nectar sugar) and how much is from my coconut milk. Obviously I taste coconut (I mean… the milk) but oddly enough, the main flavor I’m getting from the powder itself is a guava/pear sort of taste. I see it is made with “Baobab fruit pulp” and “lucuma”, two things my uncultured tongue has never had before. A little research tells me baobab can be “citrusy”, “tangy pear”, or “sour mango”… I’m not really tasting citrus (wonder if the sweetness is countering the tang?) but maybe that is the tropical pear note I’m getting? Lucuma is also apparently very sweet! But I was expecting pinapple, because… pina colada! And I’m not tasting pinapple. It does taste tropical, but I’m still a little disappointed. The texture is also a bit chalky/grainy, which I also experienced with B&B’s rooibos-base tea powder, so I’m wondering if this something I’m going to consistently experience with their “not-matcha” powders. I don’t recall having this issue with any of their matcha base powders…

After sampling, I put the latte into a mango smoothie and blended it up. That takes care of the texture issues, at least! Oddly enough, I am finding more citrus notes popping in the smoothie (a tangy lemon?), but I still taste that “tropical pear” flavor, and am not tasting pineapple, which is what I was really hoping for.

I have so much catching up to do and decided to wade through some of it tonight with this tea!

This one is really tasty — very smooth with the slightest hint of mineral, but with a subtle background sweetness as well. I wish I had ordered more!

Why hello there, friends!

It’s been a while, I hope you are all doing well given the current circumstances. I haven’t been drinking much tea over the past year or two, but I’ve been feeling tea-ish lately so I thought I’d pop over and see what’s going on.

I’ve been mostly gravitating toward flavored black teas lately, and this is a good one. Smooth and mellow with a fairly light touch of bergamot and a nice fruity sweetness. The description lists peach and apricot, but to me there is a little bit of strawberry or something as well.

Very yummy and soft, perfect for chillaxing in the afternoon or spending the evening on the couch with your pugs! ;)