Tickled Tea

Definitely smells like cinnamon coffee cake and kind of tastes like it too-but I added double the amount of tea suggested for a cup. My gut told me to do it and I am glad I listened or this tea would have been weak in flavor. Overall, this is a pretty good cup of tea but I am glad I only got a sample of this one to try.

This is a weird cup of tea because it tastes strange at first (must be the spices)…but then I get a nice mild pumpkin flavor that lingers and reminds me of pumpkin pie.

Latte sipdown (339)

This tastes like cardboard. This just isn’t a great tea. Having had a good experience yet so I’m dropping my rating slightly from 55.

This is good until the end of the sip when it gets pretty tinny. It definitely has baked good vibes up until that point.

The smell of the dry leaf reminded me of one of my favorites from last year’s 52Teas advent calendar – Hot Spiced Buttered Rum. It, too, is a green tea with warming spices. I adore that tea, especially when he weather is cool and crisp. Sadly, this particular tea is not for me. The green tea base is nice enough, but the flavor of the pumpkin is completely overwhelmed by the cloves. I don’t even taste the other spices in the blend. Another 50g bag I won’t be finishing.

Finding good pumpkin blends is apparently as difficult as finding good apricot or vanilla blends. The search continues…

I guess this sort of tastes like a graham cracker. Maybe? Possibly a cinnamon graham cracker? It definitely doesn’t read s’mores to my palate. It’s a bit like a snickerdoodle…but the sugar in the cinnamon sugar coating has been replaced with maple sugar. I don’t get any chocolate flavor. The white chocolate adds body and sweetness, but I don’t taste the carob at all. I finished my cup but I won’t be finishing my 50g bag.

I’d tried DT’s version and thought it tasted more like a fruit cake than a coffee cake. This blend sounded more promising, but I’ll admit I was really underwhelmed. Apart from a very distinct bakery note, the tea just tasted like very weak apple cider to me. I couldn’t make it through the cup. I’m tempted to try it again because there were so many rave reviews, but I think I’ll just sell/swap the rest of my 50g bag. Bummer.

Sipdown (520)!

Hot with a single pump of agave.

I think I remember this one being somewhat tasteless last time I had it, and that was still sort of true this time around. With the agave, it did have a bit more ‘pop’ to it, with an almost candied lemon sort of taste. I think that lemon was supposed to be the ‘cola’ in the blend since spice and lemon are often paired to recreate the taste of cola and I think it sort of worked; but it was a transparent attempt. There were hints of cinnamon also, but very mild. Nothing that would remind me of rum, either.

So not a TERRIBLE cup in terms of just tasting bad, but far from hitting the mark for what was advertised…

Nothing to write home over.

Sadly, I don’t remember a whole lot about this mug. I drank it a few nights ago on the bus ride home from work, but I was having a really engaging conversation with someone and my mind just wasn’t heavily on the tea. I remember initially feeling like I was getting notes of lemon/orange, but then feeling like I was losing the potency of those notes over time. Like, as if the tea was losing flavour as it cooled down?

Bottom line though, and most importantly, at no point drinking this did it ever remind me of rum or cola – and if you’re tea is going to be named after those two things then at the very, very least you have to nail at least one of those two flavours. So, I was a bit disappointed. I have more leaf of this though, so I’ll be able to try it again and reevaluate.

Another sipdown for today

I steeped this quite strong (2.5 tsp for 500mL hot water, 3 minutes). but it still tasted watered down. It was thinner than I expected, and tasted more of spices than chocolate and cocoa. Even with vanilla soy milk it isn’t as rich as I was hoping. It isn’t a bad cup, but not as good as it could have been. Cinnamon, almond, a bit of black tea. This would have made a killer chocolate milk latte.

Sipdown (338)

This smells like fresh baked cookies thanks to the maple flakes. Unfortunately those maple flakes also make this super sweet. Like super, super sweet. It also has a nice flavor from the cinnamon and creamy white chocolate chips but there is just too many sugary components that there isnt enough cinnamon in the world to balance it out. This could have been awesome if it weren’t so cloying.

Sipdown (339)

I made another iced latte and tbh I thought I really didn’t like this because it seemed watered down but I stopped for a second to think about what I was doing and the whole 24 oz mug was basically gone. So I guess I liked it enough. Also only now did I realize it is watered down because this was underleafed by 1/2.

As it is, it is still a chocolatey, nutty chai. It reminds me of DAVIDsTEA’s Stormy Night actually so if you miss that, this may be worth checking out. Cinnamon is strong but not sweet so that’s nice and the chocolate is smooth. It actually isn’t bad and I am sure if properly leafed this would have made for a pretty great iced latte. Nonetheless, it is not something I can see myself drinking all that much so I probably won’t be restocking this anytime soon.

Cold brewed this is much improved from the hot cup. A lot more candy flavor with some fruity/berry notes. Better but still basically sugary water and thus not something I need to keep around.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2018/02/14/carnival-candy-crackle-from-tickled-tea/

The rooibos here is coming off citrusy which is weird but still nice. And there is a sweetness but more fruity than cotton candy. It isn’t a bad tea but nothing is all that great about it.

Sipdown (331)!

So, this is the cold brew I had mentioned that I was brewing. Honestly? Drastic overall change in flavour compared to the hot cup! I mean, it was still very apple-y and the base itself was a very strong flavour but it was much sweeter overall with less straight up hibiscus tartness, and more of that “punch” sort of element to it. I also tasted bits of the goji, and it almost had like a strawberry thing going on?

I still wouldn’t call it tropical – but it was an improvement for sure. I don’t think this is something I’d want to order again but I’m thrilled that my second tasting was such an improvement and if it was served to me that way, I’d definitely drink it again if served it.

This one was… alright.

I currently have a cold brew of it going in the fridge, and I’ll be honest I’m a lot more excited for that than I was for this hot cup of it. I do think the company description of “tart and tangy” is pretty dead on, though. It’s just that was almost all it was? Like, a STRONG flavour of the rooibos base and a whole lot of sour hibiscus and apple notes. Nothing in it really reminded me of tropical fruits or fruit punch.

I mean, if that’s what you’re going to name your tea after you need to nail at least ONE of those elements, right!?

Sipdown (531)!

I had every intention of finishing this one off on Easter because it was so thematically appropriate – but I ended up finishing it off the day after instead because I got tired and went to bed a lot earlier than intended. It feels like all I do right now is work and then sleep…

This was actually the most impressive cup of this tea I’ve had to date though; it had hints of cakeyness but most importantly it had some very nice, balanced spice notes (both allspice and cinnamon, but I swear nutmeg too) and a very authentic, sweet carrot undertone and finish. I think in the last half year I’ve really come to greatly appreciate carrot as an addition to tea, and the natural sweetness it can provide a blend. It really is a much better alternative to licorice root or stevia. So, a very nice cup.

And one less number to worry about.

Midday cuppa.

This was pretty warm and inviting. I think I liked it better this time; without the addition of milk – it was more carrot cake like. I mean, it still doesn’t have the creamy frosting/cream cheese icing component that I think it needs to REALLY nail the flavour but it’s a lot more carrot heavy in flavour, in particular in the body of the sip. Pretty natural carrot notes, too! The body is also quite malty. The rest is a mix of soft, warming cinnamon and nutty walnut notes in the finish. It’s a bit astringent, but pretty solid!

So, I bought one of DT’s new Tea Presses – after years and years of refusing to buy an iced tea press. Honestly? I still doubt I’ll ever use this one for iced tea – but for hot tea I’ve been finding it pretty convenient to have around, and I like the red colour so much…

I made this one in the tea press the other day, with some milk.

I actually thought this tea was delicious! However, I do have some issues with it too. For starters, despite there being an abundance of carrot in the dry leaf I can’t really taste the carrot? Also, I always get really frustrated when people make carrot cake blends that DON’T also take a stab at the cream cheese frosting – and there’s no frosting in this tea either. Adding milk did add an element of creaminess, that kind of forced the imagery into the cup – but it’s not really the same thing.

That said, the spices are really nicely balanced and warming: in particular I thought that the allspice was a really nice touch. It’s very autumnal in feel, and right now I’m finding myself particularly drawn to more autumnal feeling teas as the weather sort of changes/transitions. Also! The walnut was really pleasant; that note definitely came through in a very nice way and the element of nuttyness with the spices was really relaxing, especially since the walnut adds this really subdued sweetness that I find spicier blends always need to feel put together.

It’ll be interesting to try it again, for sure – just to see if I can find the carrot flavour and make this a real ‘Carrot Cake’ tea and not just a spice cake. Holding off on rating for now, I think.

Iced Tea Sipdown (333)!

I think, for what this tea is, it was very simple – but I kind of liked the simplicity.

Flavour wise, the rooibos base was pretty strong but I thought it actually complimented the more medium bodied orange notes; it gave it a honey sort of quality rather than the woodyness or peppery quality I think it COULD have added. The orange wasn’t overly sweet in and of itself; very orange zest/peel like in flavour – however the sweet, silky vanilla flavour combined with it in such a way that it gave that orange more of a sweet quality.

I do actually think this was a pretty good “Creamsicle” flavour – although it COULD have been richer over all. It reminded me a lot of DAVIDsTEA’s Orange Blossom blend, but without the floral elements. I’m actually a huge fan of that DT blend and since it’s retired now, this is a good one for me to keep in mind if I ever wanted a pretty solid replacement for it.

Sipdown (296)

I used the sample to make both a hot and iced tea. I started with the hot cup before it cooled and I got tart hibiscus in the front of the sip and stevia at the end. Somewhere in the crossover there are hints of jammy blueberry/generic berry flavors but the stevia aftertaste is too much for my liking. It has potential for those that don’t mind the sweetener.

The iced tea is a lot more hibiscus than the hot cup but that means no jammy blueberry. Alas stevia still lingers. So this is certainly not for me.