Special Teas Inc

Had a craving for maple the other day but I didn’t want something super sweet/rich, so I ended up digging this blend out and it was the perfect fit for what I was looking for. Basically a toasty, smooth Genmaicha with an ever so slight hint of maple. Simple, but well executed. Really enjoyed it!

Cold Brew!

This is the one tea from Special Teas that my mom and I both bought. I ended up cold brewing it to sip on during one of the days in Victoria where our primary activity was outside the city as I knew I’d want tea for the road.

I liked chilled Genmaicha a lot, so predictably those toastier notes were as delicious cold as I’d expected. It’ll be interesting to see if the flavour balance is the same or similar when hot, but cold I thought the sweetness and bright notes of the apple popped more than expected but with that pleasant maple finish. I love the idea of a maple genmaicha, and maple and apple also taste wonderful together. As a blend, it’s sort of like DT’s now discontinued Movie Night but toastier.

Advent Calendar Day 24

Haven’t had time to post amid all the festivities, but I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! I missed family I wasn’t able to see because of COVID this year, but still enjoyed our smaller celebrations over the past two days. And having new tea to try just added to the fun! One more massive THANK YOU to Shae for organizing and Amanda for being an amazing swap partner. This was so much fun and I’m already looking forward to next year!

Now on to the actual tea…It’s been a couple of days since I drank this, so I don’t remember a lot of the details at this point. I do remember it being quite smooth and sweet but not very nutty…kinda like pecan pie filling without the pecans. Not a standout, but still enjoyable.

Advent Calendar Day 22

I don’t think I’ve ever had a caramel genmaicha before and now I’m wondering why not because the combination works so well! This has a distinct caramel popcorn vibe, which I’m guessing from the name is exactly what they were going for! The caramel is sweet and smooth and the toasted rice adds a nice depth to it. I wouldn’t mind a bit more flavor from the base tea, but it’s still really nice.

Advent Calendar Day 17

Yay, Steepster is working again! From what I remember when I tried this blend first thing this morning, it had a pretty strong pumpkin flavor with a hint of spice and a slightly sour aftertaste. Pumpkin doesn’t tend to be my favorite, so I wasn’t a fan.

Home made advent day 9

This is my new go-to spearmint now that my previous sources are too expensive or no longer sell a spearmint tea. This is just plain spearmint with no added flavours. I like the sweetness that comes from spearmint and it has less menthol than peppermint. It also doesn’t induce heartburn as much as peppermint does after a meal. I like how fresh this spearmint is and that the leaves are broken into the perfect size (not fine dust but not too large).

Advent Calendar Day 6

This one smells really rich and caramelly! The flavor doesn’t quite live up to the aroma, unfortunately. The base tea is nice and smooth, but the flavor is more of a vague butterscotch sweetness than a true caramel. Pleasant, but nothing special. Still fun to try something from another new-to-me company, though!

For a tea that has ‘spice’ in the name, it’s really lacking in the spice department. It’s more like Christmas orange. The prominent smell/flavor is orange. Like cooked orange peels. There’s some rose, and a tiny bit of almond as well. But, mostly orange.

Yum! Genmaicha goes extremely well with the maple. Apple is pretty mild, and is more of an afterthought. But, the toasty popped rice and maple create a pancake experience that just works. Enjoying it with a Trader Joe’s pumpkin empanada, and it’s quite the tasty breakfast.

This tastes nothing like pecan pie, but I’m really enjoying it (I actually had it both the morning and night yesterday, which I rarely do). It’s more of a creme brûlée flavor than anything, which I’m absolutely not mad about. Raisins are listed on the ingredients, but I didn’t see any either time I had a cup…not sure how much a raisin would contribute to the overall flavor though.

This smells incredibly sweet and caramely. Unfortunately, even with the addition of honey, it reminds me of a bowl of oatmeal. Specifically, a bowl of oatmeal covered in whiskey and honey that I had in Northern Ireland. While I’m enjoying the flavor and the nostalgia it’s stirred up, it’s not quite the caramel flavor I was looking for.

Arby Advent Day 8
This one is a pretty generic herbal tea. I can’t find it on the company’s website, so I’m not sure what the ingredients are. I know I taste mint. I’m not sure what else. It’s not bad, but not remarkable, just generically herby.

Sipdown (268)

Arby loves this tea and was so kind and sent me a sample. Alas, I let it sit for quite some time but I have finally gotten to it. Though I am not having the same experience with it Arby had, I can appreciate that it is a nice milk oolong tea. It’s almost got a bit of a coconut/mango sticky rice vibe to it. Thank you for sharing Arby!

I thought this was a mystery sample, but upon tasting it realized it is my beloved milk oolong. I must have put some in my bag and forgotten about it.

Buttery jade oolong, very creamy mango and coconut flavours, stonefruits, milk scent/flavor. The oolong base (I believe this is a straight oolong, but I’m not sure) is what really makes this. It is super buttery and creamy, sweet, gives a thick and very pleasant mouthfeel. It reminds me of mango sorbet or coconut gelato. I brewed this western style, but my cast iron pot with smaller water volumes each steep. Water 80 deg, C, 450 mL water, 3 steeps. Try 85-90 deg. if you find it steeping too slowly, sometimes it is a bit slow when you keep the temp down. You will not burn the leaves if don’t let it get over 90 deg. C I haven’t tried this at boiling/100 deg. C, but I wouldn’t risk it for a high grade jade oolong.

The tsp of leaves expands to a point where it takes up most of the pot, which is why I limit the water volume to avoid it overflowing. It is so aromatic I can smell it brewing throughout the kitchen.

This is the best oolong I have ever had. It is flavoured (I think? whatever they used for the milky scent is great) but the natural oolong flavour comes through as well. It smells of coconut cream, mangos, skim milk, and jade oolong (think Anxi unroasted Tie Guan Yin). It suits the name milk oolong well. It has the sweet creaminess that goes so well with the base. The base has a natural fruitiness to it-it is very fresh and not roasted, but you still get natural buttery and fruity notes from it.

This is actually the best tea I’ve ever had. The perfect combination of flavourful, sweet, savoury (buttery), thick, and perfect iced or hot. If I could only drink one tea the rest of my life, I would pick this one. You can’t oversteep it (it doesn’t get bitter), but it holds up well to all brewing methods – gongfu, western, long cold brews. It resteeps about 8 times before I notice any loss of flavour.

This green base is why I think I don’t enjoy green teas. It’s just too green and grassy for me. The leaves look beautiful expanded, and those little pink petals open up. I do not taste cherry at all or anything more than the fainest hint of flowers.

quite an amazing blend, i fully recommend it!

the green + oolong give it a lovely earthy baseline while the berries and raisins make it light and sweet. beautiful balance.

it also resteeps fantastically (7 times???!!!!) very impressive!

1 tsp turbinado in my 16 oz mug. meets the literary description of ‘nectar’ from all my reading. :-)

my new favourite!