Snarky Tea

Cold Brew!

The dry leaf of this blend smells a little bit funky, but steeped I actually liked it much more than I expected. Initial flavour was almost Kool-Aid like with a deeper sweet and tangy mixed berry note – kinda blueraspberry in vibe? The finish grounds the otherwise very bright and lively berry notes with a herbal and woody note that, at first sip, I didn’t like. However, it grew on me quickly and I actually found it was a good balance for the flavour!

Cold Brew!

This was nice! The ingredient list seemed a bit messy to me at first glance, but it all came together quite cohesively. The liquor was a really lovely warm purple colour and the taste was just sweet and tart mixed berry. Almost like that kind of generically “purple tasting” wild berry flavour from every early 2000s childhood – not as artificial and sweet, though. Schisandra gets sour so quickly, so the balance between it and the hibiscus was impressive. Not too much, but still bright with a pleasant pucker. Really nice summer flavour, but with hydrating ingredients like rooibos. Just super cool overall!

Enjoying this tea iced I don’t think I would like it hot. I have a sample from the Valentines collection. Delicious cherry and banana flavor. Does not taste artificial at all. The banana flavor is light but it tastes like the real thing. I like banana teas but I’m picky. I will order again but it’s seasonal so it will have to be next year. I have a lot of fruit teas to have iced.

This tea is part of the Valentines Day Sampler. Delicious tea. My favorite chocolate strawberry tea. More strawberry forward with nice chocolate flavor. I will have to try it as a latte too. I have enjoyed the teas I have tried in the sampler. I love Rose Dusted French Caramels too. This is a seasonal tea. I would buy a bigger bag but I have too much tea right now.

Sipped on this one at the office today. Just a real simple, brisk and straight forward cup of black tea – has that sort of “typical black tea” taste that a lot of less experienced tea drinkers just default associate with things like Orange Pekoe or breakfast blends. Really, really clean finish. Not a ton of flavour, all things considered, but great body and just the right amount of astringency. Perhaps a little nutty, and a bit of a lemon rind/pith situation – but subtle.

Cold Brew!

I guess I’m really on a cold brewed raspberry tea sort of kick because this is what I reached for the day after finishing off that really fantastic raspberry green tea cold brew from Tea Runners. There’s definitely lots of similarities between these two teas, but this is sweeter and has the juicy orange undertones to it as well. As I was sipping on it, it really reminded me of Rainbow Sherbet but just without the lime part. Same kind of raspberry and orange flavours, though.

Geek Steep S2E29 – Weird Al

I’ll be honest, I love when we cover music on Geek Steep. We really, really debated in the second season if that was something we wanted to introduce to the podcast and I’m so glad we did – this is probably my favourite musical episode yet.

I chose this to drink during the recording because the entire vibe of the company – though this tea in particular – seems to really be on point for the Spirit of weird Al. It’s tongue in cheek and a little sarcastic and clever, but still really playful. Kind of like all of Al’s parodies. Plus, it tasted really nice! Like a raspberry and orange kind of sorbet. Very rainbow sherbet vibes.

Life was chaotic this past October and I just didn’t get to drink as many Halloween themed teas as I would have liked. However, I made sure to drink at least one on Halloween day itself and that was this one. I had it in my little ghost themed ceramic cup, and it was nice and warming and autumnal to sip on while I walked between the two offices (the one where the tea lab it, and the one where most of the staff work – they’re about ten minutes apparent). This was a cinnamon forward cup, but the sweeter notes of candied pear came through in the finish. I would maybe want something just a little more pear forward, but for a “spiced pear” blend the level of cinnamon is totally appropriate.

Pear? Yes. Spice? Yes.

However, even still I find this to be a bit of a middle of the road kind of blend. It could be more pear or it could be more spice but it’s a little bit vague and muddied. I get allspice the most of the spices here, and then cinnamon. They’re nice but since the pear leans pretty juicy and floral (with the banana/bubblegum vibe that sometimes pops up with ripe pear flavours) it reads just a tiny bit disjointed to me. Still a enjoyable enough cup and nothing bad tasting but less clean in delivery than some of the other Snarky Tea blends I’ve had.

Side note – I recently ordered Heirloom Barlett Pear from Harney & Sons based on some of the reviews I’ve seen here on Steepster. Very excited for that to arrive!

More apple teas!

This one rides an interesting line between a more sweet, crisp apple flavour (like a hard cider) and the ever so slightly baked apple profile of a more spiced apple cider. It’s not actually really spiced, it just has a hint of that style of apple note. I do appreciate the level of sweetness though and how natural it tastes. Plus, simplicity is not a bad thing. I wanted a nice apple tea and I got one. No complaints here!

I wish Snarky’s shipping wasn’t so bat shit expensive to Canada – they have a lot of really interesting sounding seasonal blends!

Cold Brew!

I’ve been sipping on this one throughout the evening as I’ve written these tasting notes, and I’m enjoying it a lot. The dry leaf smell is very sweet and juicy, and reminds me a lot of DT’s Apple Cider blend which is why I thought it would be good cold brewed. As I’m sipping it now, it’s almost equal parts sweet red apple notes and more woody and mineral leaning rooibos. However, because it’s a green rooibos base those notes are much lighter than your standard red rooibos and definitely not medicinal – so might still work for the non rooibos lovers of the world.

Definitely less juicy/sweet than expected, especially with this base, but it’s not lacking in the apple flavour! Plus, I think the more mellow flavour makes it better in large quantities like what I’m consuming now, and it gives a better opening to sweeten to taste. The packaging has cinnamon sticks on it, and I’m tasting a bit of spice but it’s verrryyy mild and I wouldn’t necessary describe it as specifically cinnamon. It’s a good addition though!

Overall… This blend gets a thumbs up! It takes a lot at this point for apple teas to feel different to me (I’ve tasted so many) but this ratio of apple to rooibos is really pleasant to me and the fact it’s not just a stereotypical apple cinnamon tea or a reaallllyyyy tart apple go a long way to setting this one apart from the onslaught of herbal/rooibos apple teas out there.

Steeped this one up earlier in the week. It’s one of the few teas from Snarky that I got in sachet format, since that’s all that was offered on their site. The smell reminds me a lot of DT’s now discontinued Chocolate Orange Pu’erh – both dry and as it was brewing.

I wasn’t very fond of the pu’erh base itself in this blend – it was pretty funky in taste and didn’t seem super well settled. Kind of that fishy vibe that newbie pu’erh drinkers often associate with shou that’s simply just too fresh/not aired out. The chocolate was nice and fudge-y though, and the orange just right. Like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange.

The pu’erh got better as the tea cooled down, but it’s just not my favourite.

(Short tasting notes today because I have a killer migraine.)

Cold Brew!

I find all the packaging imagery of lemons deceptive since this is just a straight black tea, but I do understand that the idea is you would use this as a the base to make a traditional Southern Sweet Tea. It’s good as is; full bodied and brisk but also still has some natural sweetness. Malty honey notes and even a touch of citrus, but that might be the power of suggestion… at least a little bit.

#mugtober

Honestly I’d forgotten I had this tea until I went looking for a pumpkin tea (which was the prompt for this day) from a company I hadn’t featured yet. It was a very clove heavy mug with A LOT of earthiness from the pu’erh itself and just a hint of vanilla on the finish. Very nice when it was hot, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as it cooled. The spices started taking over a bit, and the balance seemed a little off to me.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCsrt0nNliM

It feels like the wrong time of year for a pumpkin spice blend, but I just wanted that more earthy petrichor-rich pu’erh base and clove combination so badly. It was very soothing, and scratching that flavour craving really did put me in a better, less stressed mood. Shou pu’erh and clove is just… yum!

Oops All Pumpkin 2/10!

This was my first time trying this tea from Snarky. I’m not usually huge into pumpkin spice flavoured things, but I really liked that this one uses a pu’erh base. The robust body and strong earthiness bring a lot to the combination of spices here. It was pretty clove heavy, which I also really enjoyed. The combo of clove and the camphor elements of the base were just… chefs kiss! It also seemed like maybe there was a cream flavouring in the blend as well, which did create the illusion of whipped cream on a slice of pumpkin pie. It kind of just all worked for me.

This was one of my favourites of the day!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CkYo7Xju3Rv/ (Second photo)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYMiM9cV0fs

I tried to keep most of my song pairings today on theme with Halloween in, at the very least, name – but I couldn’t resist the low hanging fruit of this pairing. It just works too well and was really fun.

Geek Steep S3E18 – Castlevania (Anime)

This is the tea that I drank during our recording for this episode because, at the time of recording, it was October and I was feeling the Halloween spirit. This is such an incredibly dark and molasses-y yet super sweet candy like blend. By far not something I would ever recommend unless I knew for certain the person I was speaking to was a fan of black licorice. I even joked during the episode that I thought Marika would hate it since she’s very much team licorice root while I cannot stand the root and much prefer this black licorice flavor.

Had this today because, well, Halloween!

I love black licorice and anise-like flavours, but I dislike licorice root. This blend has all of the above, so I was really unsure if I’d enjoy it or not. It’s a super sweet blend, but definitely REALLY heavily black licorice in taste and it does have the coating mouthfeel effect of licorice root. The taste of licorice root, though? Not a problem at all! So, I really enjoyed this. I can tell it would be a CRAZY polarizing blend, but for me it scratched a sweet and indulgent that was also very nostalgic.

Made this hot with a little bit of vanilla agave. I was going for a loose Peaches & Cream sort of vibe and it kind of worked? The peach flavour itself and the bold black tea base are really enjoyable, but there was something kind of off about the finish to me. It tasted buttery but in a sort of unpleasantly oily kind of way. Also, I don’t think I added enough of the agave as I didn’t really taste the vanilla at all.

Got a relatively large order from Snarky Tea earlier this week. I actually ordered a lot less than what I received, but to my surprise they upgraded all the sample sizes I’d picked out into full size bags and then tossed in a few other extra large bags as well!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkO2wOBuo-j/

I picked this one out randomly to drink first. It’s very simple and straightforward, but really good! Full bodied, brisk black tea with a juicy sweet peach note that shines on top of the solid foundation. Definitely one of those “mono flavours” that can sometimes read as boring but is also equally balanced by the fact it’s so reliable in flavour, which makes it a top choice for a daily or habitually consumed tea.

Strange VariaTEA TTB – Tea #7

The name of this tisane made me giggle. There are actually a disproportionate number of chamomile-based tisanes in the TTB, so I figured I should try to reduce them down since I assume that means a lot of people don’t like chamomile. So this is the first of several!

It’s definitely mostly chamomile. It has a nice natural sweetness and a soft, honeyed chamomile flavor. I do taste just a little bit of lavender and perhaps a tiny hint of lemongrass?

It’s pleasant and relaxing, but nothing special. It does the job well, though.

Result: Finished Off

Backlog: I enjoyed it for an easy going citron green tea. I liked the other blends a lot more, but I still enjoyed it with honey from Cafe Nola. They did up their game when it comes to tea, though. There’s one blend called Smart Ass that I want to try out, and yes-it’s an oolong blend.

Backlog from two years ago:
Surprised how much I liked it. I actually got it twice on request. It is artificial, but I like the raspberry flavor and enjoy that the green tea wasn’t too prominent. My basicness enjoyed it well enough, though I would not want to own a lot of it. I enjoyed trying it out a local cafe.

When I had this one at the coffee shop, I was surprised how smooth and well rounded the black was. I thought it might have been a Chinese tea for the base other than the usual ceylon, but I could be wrong. I had a large cup in 16 oz, so it didn’t oversteep. The rose can be a bit overpowering, yet I really liked it. Then again, that was two years ago. This tea does have something cloying in the finish. I don’t know if it has bergamot-I didn’t taste it personally last time, though Snarky Tea does mention a chai like aftertaste? Either way, I will try it again after I gift it.