Kittenna Send Message

The dry leaf smells exactly like cinnamon hearts, as does the steeped tea, but the flavour just doesn’t live up. At first taste, the tea is sweet, and I’m noticing a bit of lingering heat at the end, but in between I find the tea tastes rather like slightly cinnamony cardboard, which is somewhat unpleasant. Perhaps this is just how cinnamon acts in tea, but I don’t particularly like it. I put the teaball back in after it had cooled (which drew the sweetness out, I think), and will perhaps try steeping longer next time. Until then, I am disappointed :(

When the girl at my local DavidsTea store asked if I wanted to try the tea of the day, ‘Rooibos de Provence’, I was disappointed because I had been hoping that I’d get to try one of the teas off my long list of “to-try” teas… and this was definitely not one of them. Lavender is not my favourite fragrance, so this tea did not sound appealing at all, but what the heck, right? It’s a free sample.

Wow, was I ever wrong to just dismiss this tea! The berry flavours paired with the floral aftertaste are absolutely amazing; delicate and subtle and calming. I don’t think I’ve ever tried a straight rooibos, so am not sure exactly how much it is contributing, but it’s definitely delicious. And lavender? Completely different in tea than it is in soap. Looks like I have a new favourite ingredient! (So who knows of a creamy, nutty coconut/banana/lavender tea?)

ETA: Second steep (~4min, 93 degrees C) is pretty much a weaker version of the first, with considerably less floral aftertaste. Perhaps a tad less sweet, and I don’t like it quite as much, but it’s still pretty good :D

It actually tastes like it smells! I love when teas do that! Definitely makes me think of key lime pie. I was surprised by the lemongrass – although I thought I didn’t like it in tea, the flavour is definitely noticeable in this tea but it fits in perfectly and deliciously. Yum. My to-re-buy list is getting quite long now…. (although variety is good, right?!)

Oh my goodness. This tea is AMAZING. It has the creamy banana-ness of Snow Bunny without the nuttiness or harsh black tea, which means it is nearly perfect! I am so very in love. Just a hint of sweetness and loads of creamy, banana-y goodness. I’m not entirely sure how long I steeped this one, but I think it was the bare minimum, and that was excellent for a first steep. Trying a second as soon as the water heats up! I will definitely be buying a big tin of this soon…

ETA: second steep, which was with ~95 degree water and for 5+ minutes, is pretty awesome too. Definitely tasting more of the oolong in this steep and less banana flavour, and it’s a bit more astringent (tannins?), but quite delicious. Probably would rate it a 98. Soooo happy.

Slightly sweet, with strong blackberry flavours. Definitely a very berry-flavoured tea, but I’m not entirely sure whether I like it enough to buy again (but luckily since I bought 20g, I have a few cups to go!) Further notes to come.

So, Goji Pop, we finally meet. A bit different-tasting than I expected but so far I think I like it. The predominant flavour is melon (before reading the ingredient list I thought watermelon), with a lemony overtone. Slightly sweet and light-tasting; I suspect it would be delicious iced during the summer! Suspecting the rating may improve the more I drink…

Ok…. definitely liking this better the longer it sits, and the cooler it gets. Fabulous!

Oops, think I steeped this one too long today, or the water was too hot (downside of making tea at work where I have no means of measuring water temperature). Although the smell is still delicious, juicy pear, it definitely tastes rather… bitter and unpleasant, with only a hint of tasty pear. I seem to recall that the flavour was best when the tea was only briefly steeped, so I’ll have to try that again before giving it a rating, as today it would be below 25, and if my memory is correct, it’s really more of an 85+ tea!

Another bust with the Timolino :( Steeped this one the same as Cranberry Pear (which was a couple days ago). It was still grapefruit-citrusy, and certainly wasn’t bad, but I think the water staying too hot kind of messed with the creamy and delicious aftertaste. Looks like tea steeping is going to occur primarily out-of-thermos, which can then keep my tea warm (not hot).

I’m so disappointed… tried making this in my brand new Timolino thermos-y thing and it just didn’t taste the same. My usual steeping method involves boiling water in a mug, putting in the tea, and allowing any cooling to happen that naturally does while the tea is steeping, but of course with the Timolino the water doesn’t cool, so I think it was steeped too hot, too long. The sweetness just wasn’t there in the same way, and there was a musty earthy icky flavour underneath (black tea?). And to drink it, I had to make a special effort to cool it down, which ended up with me pouring it into a mug in which it cooled before I drank it. Not sure I’m going to get a ton of use out of the steeping basket…

(Not changing my rating though… I know that this tea is fabulous prepared in my normal method!)