TheLastDodo select Send Message

After purposely overloading my taste buds with everything pumpkin this season (As I always do.) I was curious, if not apprehensive to try this blend. But knowing what Tippy’s style of flavoring teas is like, I felt confident that this blend would not taste like the infamous teeth-rotting-sweet PSL.

I thought I had done something wrong when I had brewed this tea. The pumpkin is definitely underground for sure. There was no distinct ‘pumpkin pie’ flavor that I was expecting. The golden monkey in this blend does stand out as a pumpkin stand in (:P)though. It takes on a sort of sweet potato, creamy quality when the spices were added.
The cinnamon and nutmeg flavors were very light in my sample. Almost as if I didn’t even have it in there. I didn’t feel like this was a pumpkin-y blend at all. but the golden monkey was so good that I finished off the sample in a few days.

The last brew I made, I added the teeniest bit of maple syrup – about a half a teaspoon. I drizzled it over the leaves and waited a minute or two before pouring the hot water over it. It brought out the flavor of the pumpkin pie spices quite well. A very tasty last cup.

I have always been called an early bird. I will be the first to admit it. All my classes throughout my college career were as early as I could get them, and I cannot sleep in past 6am, even if I went to bed at 2 am. The majority of the places of employment I have had required me to be up and going anywhere from 4am to 7am. I am not one to stay up to late either. (Yes, I am LOADS of fun!)
Needless to say, just the name of this tea intrigued me. I love the idea of a bold and smoky slap-you-awake tea. The lapsang in this particular Tippy’s blend was toned down. I like a bit more smoky punch in my tea, so thank goodness they have their Lumberjack.
This tea hit the spot this morning with it’s smooth, yet robust flavor profile. It had a full mouthfeel that made me feel like I was drinking a glass of milk. It had the same experience to me as eating buttered multigrain toast with brown sugar and a side of applewood-smoked bacon. The combination of darkly sweet, malty, and smoke is a winning combo in my book.

note: I underleafed my second go at this tea later in the morning. None of the malty bread quality was able to make an appearance. Correct amounts of tea matter!

This was the first sample that I tried from Tealated. I loved the handwritten thank you and the coupon included with my samples. How thoughtful!
The white tea in this blend look to be Shou Mei. (White tea harvested after Silver Needle and Bai Mudan)
When I open the package I smell hard candies and a creamy whisper of coconut.
I brewed myself a cup and then used the rest for cold brewed for my smoothies.
I made a raspberry-grapefruit green smoothie with kale and carrots. The addition of Cream of White Coconut was a lovely addition!
The coconut and other cotton candy-like flavors we light and sweet. I would definitely consider this dessert blend whenever I need a sweet iced tea for drinking in the summer or adding to my smoothies.
Thanks Tealated!

I got both of Juniper Ridge’s teas for Christmas from my roommates. I love the idea of wildcrafted tea. I chose this tea shortly after unwrapping it. Hey, it was Christmas! Although they are in teabags, I don’t mind much. Loose would have been cooler, but I digress.
I was nervous about this tea. It smelled exactly like the little douglas fir that was our Christmas tree. I kind of like the smell of sweet pine, perhaps the tea would be better?
Well, I did not get too much piney flavor as I thought. Which is good. The stronger tastes that I noted were honey and lemongrass. The pine was sweet and not at all like those tree-shaped air fresheners. I could sense the sun and the wind whipping through the fir trees. It was a light and airy and not heavy and overtly pungent. Hey, I may keep drinking this one!

I just kept forgetting about this tea. I think I oversteeped it twice! The rose was SO strong. I’ll have to try again soon!

Okay. I will not compare this tea to Golden Orchid. I won’t.
The Golden Monkey base tea is divine. It’s the same one they use in their underground pumpkin. But the addition of vanilla beans changes this blend completely. Where the underground pumpkin has sweet potato notes, NSV brings out the Golden Monkey’s caramelized brown sugar flavor. I steeped this one three times western style. I could have gone for a fourth, and I wanted to… but I can’t cry about the steeping that could have been when the ones I actually had were perfect. The final steeping I had was nothing but pure vanilla sweetness. The melted Chocolate flavors really stood out to me on the first steeping especially.
This is a damn good cup of tea. Maybe Tippy’s best so far.
However, since I am not comparing, this is an ever-so-slightly price efficient alternative to Golden Orchid.

From Steepster Select Box: November 2014
The leaves are very fine. They are long, fuzzy, and thick for a such delicate leaves. The smell of jasmine is heavy on the dry nose. The leaves are fun to watch steep in my glass gaiwan. The liquor is full and bright. I can feel the smoothness from the downy hairs slide down my throat. The scent of jasmine is there at the top, but I still get the hay or corn silk aroma that comes with the silver needles.
I got over the taste of jasmine tea a while ago. It used to be my favorite flavor EVER in tea. Now I see the name and just go, “Eh.”
I liked the white base. I would have liked it more if it was just the base, and not the jamine.

I bought this tea on a whim at my local whole foods. I have asthma and I figured, “hey, why not?”
This goes in the ‘not’ pile.
The scent of thyme is strong in this tea. I don’t particularly care for thyme in my teas, nor in my cooking. The second time I steeped this tea, I forgot about it for a minute too long. The licorice root became angry and it’s flavor was very syrupy-sweet at the tail notes. The eucalyptus was also a bit much. I did get some of the ginger as well as some indiscernible herbal flavors. Maybe the elecampane?
Another note: I don’t think it did anything for my lungs anyway.
I don’t want to give up on blends for respitory health, but I may just give up on this one.