The Tea Spot

This is definitely nice and spicy, but I’d like a bit more actual tea in it. However, I’m so over weakly spiced chais that this was a relative delight! It does come across as a bit thin-bodied and astringent, which is why I think more tea would help. Adding milk helped with the astringency but then dulled the flavor too much.

Sample Sipdown! (5 | 74)

I think this may have been left over from a past Sips By box? Unsure though…

Anyway, it’s a very robust Chinese green tea. It has strong vegetal and umami notes that rival sencha, as well as a hint of seaweed. But there’s also the harsher mineral and smoke flavors that are also found in gunpowder green tea. And at the end of the sip, a dry apricot note that I often find among Chinese greens.

It’s a bit too heavy for me, as while I do enjoy vegetal green teas, I don’t often love the ones with smokier flavor profiles.

Especially delicious with all the coconut clustered at the bottom though truly it was delicious throughout. I persist in wanting to call this Coconut Caribana. Honest sweet coconut delicious
regardless. Perfect for a winter day of leaping over slush rivers at the curbs leftover from the frozen snow/sleet/rain earlier in the day.

I had another travel mug of this that had gone cold overnight, but wow, super nice as a cold tea too. There was a bit of oily film on the surface, but nevermind.

Would welcome this into my cupboard again. A very tasty blend indeed.

And it’s a sip down!

Sipdown 69

(9 of 2019)

Ooooooh, YUM!

For some reason, I remembered it as Coconut Caribana—-hahhahhahhaha, yeah, well.

Anyway, creamy, coconut, floral, and delicious.

Smelled fantastic but tasted weird and bitter. Not a fan. 1.5/5

This is my very first pumpkin flavored tea. hehe (Thank you Cameron B.!) and I seriously over-steeped it… Like by an hour. lol

It’s good though. I saw some poor reviews but it tastes like pumpkin to me. I also picked up cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg notes. Typical spices that pumpkin coffee, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pies… Etc. have in it. Some other spices, maybe pepper… And it’s creamy. I only began trying flavored teas a month or so ago, and I think with flavored teas, I favor those that have “latte” or cream taste. I think if it wasn’t creamy, I wouldn’t have liked it so much. It really added to it.

Note: I ‘m staying away from bitter-astringent talking point since I over-steeped it and I didn’t ding it for that either because of it.

It smells like it’s trying for strawberry but didn’t quite capture it. It’s a confusion of strawberry, vanilla, and green tea.Recommended steeping time is 2-3 minutes. Steeped for 2 min with dunking. It tasted…leafy? I could pick up green tea, and sometimes the strawberries, but the flavors were confusing. Tasted 01.2019

Recommends 3-4 rosebuds in 8 oz of water, steep for 6+ minutes.
Smells like perfume, and tastes…like perfume. I like rose teas, but this was something else.
Very watery. It’s drinkable if I have to, but it’s definitely not something I would choose. Tasted 11-2018.

This tea is described as a “ruby red infusion.” Directions state to steep for 6-7 minutes.
The tea smells minty with sweet undertones. Not quite fruity, but sweet. Tastes good and feels nice on an upset stomach. Not an amazing tea, but pleasant. Disregarding claims about a “flat belly,” it’s a nice tea to soothe the stomach. Tasted 11-2018.

Smells like it might be bitter after steeping, but it’s surprisingly not. It tastes like warm, plain black tea. Don’t really taste any orange. Not a lot of flavor, but just enough that you could have it with a meal/other food and not worry about competing flavors. Tasted 11-2018

Smells nice and orangey, but tastes not quite fruity. Has some spiciness going on that is confusing. Tasted 01.2019.

Green tea with a slight floral taste and smell. Not very strong, not worth buying again. Drinkable enough to finish canister. Tasted 12.2018.

Sipdown! 5/365

This was presumably a sample from Sil, since it’s my writing on the sample bag – thanks! This is dang good. Malty, creamy, bold, smooth. Really quite delicious. I did not expect this! I would drink this again in a heartbeat. I did notice that the flavours were better after the tea had cooled, but I drink most of my tea cool anyhow.

Sipdown (260)

Flowers in a mug. Not as offensive as I expected. No pot pourri dryness. However, I am not a floral tea type of person so this isn’t for me.

I love the balance on this, very nice and spicy sweet without one spice note overriding everything else. It’s strongly spicy but not overwhelming and makes me want to try their other chais. However, there’s a note to both the fragrance and the flavor that I really dislike – I’m assuming it’s the yerba mate, which I know I’ve had before but not much. It’s a flat woody smell that has a somewhat rotten smell/flavor to me. It’s not too strong but I really dislike it. If not for that, I’d drink this tea 24/7, but with that note, I can’t stand it. I think it’s not fair to give it a numerical rating because of that. I would probably give it an 85 without, but like a 10 with.

It’s good but not all I was hoping for. I love chocolate and I love cherry, although I have yet to find either in a tea form that I adore. This is a nice smooth black base, and the chocolate flavor is present more in the aftertaste to me. The cherry is more of a fragrance than a flavor, but it’s there and it’s cherry as opposed to medicine. I wonder if part of the problem is that I bought this in a gift pack, so it was prepacked and sealed – that may be more likely to be a bit old and I’d bet cherry is somewhat volatile. Just musing, though. All in all, a nice solid and enjoyable cup with a sweetness to it, but not deserving of exclamation points in the name. :)

For a red rooibos, I like this. There is a creaminess and yet a tartness to it. It definitely has that woody tobacco scent, but that doesn’t carry over into the flavor. I can’t say I love it, because I really am not a red rooibos fan, but I will drink the rest of the small amount that I have.

Sipdown! (53 | 327)

I remembered liking this one, so I ordered a sample to refresh my memory.

I really like the flavoring here, it tastes pretty much spot-on for pumpkin pie. It has a nice creamy, desserty note to it, but I also taste pumpkin and warm spices. The allspice in particular is very nice. However… The base tea is just not good. Apparently it’s Assam, but I wouldn’t know that because it’s bland and generic-tasting. Slightly woody maybe, and a touch astringent, but not much else.

Oh well, it’s still pretty tasty with a drizzle of pumpkin oat milk. :P

Sipdown! (73 | 203)

OMG, why is the overall rating for this so low?! Not that it matters, but ouch.

I’ve been mostly enjoying this one as a milk tea lately, because it’s one of my favorites to prepare that way. Sort of like a pumpkin spice/iced masala chai latte mashup.

But I figured for this last cuppa, I would drink it straight. Now I’m not big on pumpkin spice generally, but I find this tea to be very good. Actually has a nice creamy pumpkin-y taste instead of just spices, and the spices are well-balanced. Really liking the allspice in particular. The base is generic, but gives a good foundation to the other flavors.

The Tea Spot doesn’t seem to carry this anymore, which is a pity. I’ll have to check back once it’s fall again to see if they offer it seasonally…

Another milk tea! I’m obsessed…

This one caught my eye, as it was in my focus box with my oldest teas. Technically it’s not one of my oldest, but I couldn’t figure out when I ordered it, so I figured I would get it over and done with, hah.

Anyway, it makes a delicious milk tea! It’s like a creamier pumpkin pie. I can taste the cinnamon, clove, and allspice, but they’re mellowed out nicely by the milk. And I definitely get pumpkin as well. My husband loves pumpkin pie, and was highly impressed when he took a sip, ha ha! The black tea also adds a nice malty foundation under all of the spices.

This one will definitely need to be a repeat, as I’m trying to sip it down anyway!

So this is one of three teas in my cupboard for which I wasn’t able to ascertain a received date. For some reason, there’s no email for this in my archive, even though I know I ordered it, and I never made an account with The Tea Spot so I can’t figure it out that way either. So I decided to just move this and the other two teas to my sipdown box to get them over and done with, because their not having dates irritates me… XD

This is one of the few pumpkin spice teas that I actually like. And I think it’s because 1) it has pumpkin flavor, and 2) it’s not an explosion of clove. The spices are nicely balanced and not over-the-top. I will say, the base is an Assam as it’s somewhat brisk, and I always forget to try steeping it a bit less. But I’d definitely rather have a more flavorful base than the blandness that a lot of pumpkin spice teas have…

Next time, maybe I’ll try this as a latte! :D

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!

Home – 6:00 PM

Another one from The Tea Spot. This must have been the one I placed the order for, as I have a full 100g or so of it. I really love that they use whole allspice in this blend, it’s unusual and it looks gorgeous in the dry leaf.

Yum, this is definitely the best pumpkin spice black tea I’ve had. It actually tastes pumpkin-y and has a slight creaminess to it. The spices meld together very well, but I think I can pick out cinnamon, clove, ginger, and perhaps nutmeg. Looking at the ingredients, there is no nutmeg, so perhaps it’s the allspice I’m tasting. The base tea is a bit brisk – I think this would perhaps be better with a Chinese black tea base. Next time I’ll try to remember to steep this one a little shorter or at a slightly cooler temperature, as it did come out a touch bitter and astringent.

I added a drizzle of maple agave and a splash of soy milk to the rest of the pot after drinking the first cup plain. Delish.

I’m not a great lover or chai or pumpkin spice, but this here is a good ’un.

Work – 12:00 PM

Happy November, everyone! I’m officially allowing myself to listen to Christmas music now. (Yes, I know that it’s still almost two months away…) Christmas happens to be my favorite holiday, so I tend to start early with the holiday spirit. But hopefully not in a way that annoys other people!

Anyway, this tea was a sample size. I ordered several samples from The Tea Spot a few months ago for some reason. I think it may have been because I liked something I got in my Sips By box…?

This is super yum, by the way. It reminds me of the black dragon pearls from Teavivre that I tried a few days ago, but with an even stronger cocoa flavor. Delicious!

It’s thick and satisfying, with a great mix of malt, cocoa, and baked bread notes.

Of course, it looks as if The Tea Spot doesn’t offer this blend anymore… Typical…

Also, is the name meant to be sexual…? Seems a bit odd, rofl.