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So, I set this sample up to cold brew last night so it’d be ready to go to today for when Robyn came over to visit. I received it as a semi unexpected sample from Lala since I’d gone to the local store it’s sold at to buy some, but was told it’d been discontinued. I didn’t think I’d have the chance to try it, but Lala is amazing and sent me some so I guess I was wrong.

The dry leaf for this smells really intense: sort of like straight packaged lemonade juice mix – but definitely not artificial smelling, just very concentrated. When it came in the mail, I came home and my roommate was in the kitchen smelling the envelope. Since I wasn’t expecting any tea, I was kinda thrown off – but once he handed it over I understood why he’d been smelling it: even through the bag it was packaged in and the paper of the envelope I could still smell the leaf. Out of the sample Lala sent me, I used most of it for the cold brew today (about three cups worth) and then saved somewhere between 1/2 tsp. to a full tsp. to hopefully try a hot cup.

After straining the leaf out, there were still A LOT of little floaty bits, but Lala had warned me of this and it’s something I would have expected anyway considering how finely crushed the lemon peel in the mix is. The smell of the cold brew was really faintly lemon, and I was a little concerned that it hadn’t sat long enough to leech out enough flavour.

Trying it though, it was deliciously sweet and so much like freshly squeezed lemonade. Very thirst quenching, with some very subtle appley notes. Probably one of the best ‘lemonades’ I’ve ever had and I loved that it didn’t need sweetener at all. Robyn thinks this would be really good hot and would be great for sore throats (and I don’t disagree), but I think Lala was probably right in saying that this would be best cold brewed or on ice.

Excited to use up the last little bit of this as a hot brew!

Thanks again Lala for sending me the sample!

I almost forgot that I’d tried this in store today since it was their tea of the day! …Actually, it probably says a lot about what I thought of the tea that I forgot I’d even had it.

The liquor was a sort of medium orange colour with yellow hues and, when I tried it I had no information about what was in it other than the sales lady told me it was a flavoured green tea. I can’t say the name of the tea really did anything to educate me about what flavours I might experience.

Upon drinking, I was hit with a really vegetal taste next to something overwhelmingly fruity. So, basically high vegetal taste and high fruit taste (but the flavour wasn’t distinct enough to tip me off on which fruits I was tasting). There was also some unpleasant astringency. I wasn’t really a fan, and I think the sales lady could tell because she really didn’t suggest any green teas for me after that (even though I did end up buying a green tea it was one I had inquired about, not one she suggested).

I just looked up the tea on Tea Desire’s website, and I guess the fruit I was tasting was strawberry and raspberry. I’m not really a fan of green tea in general, but I’m learning to love flavoured green teas (or at least tolerate them). I’ve had strawberry green teas I’ve been much more happy with, though. There’s also sunflower blossoms in the mix, and thinking back now I guess I can see that. Still, not really my cup.

I slept in today, and because of that I didn’t actually have time to make myself a tea for work – which was crushing. This is the first time since starting that I haven’t brought tea with me to work, and I felt really empty handed all morning.

However, because my coworker Briana is really sweet she stopped at Tim Hortons on her way back from break and brought me back a cup of peppermint tea (without my even asking, which was so thoughtful). We’d been talking about tea a few shifts ago and I mentioned that I love mint teas – especially ones that are super strong or overleafed, and I guess she was actually paying attention to the conversation because not only did she pick the right tea (meaning, what I would have asked for if she’d told me she was gonna get me tea), but she also got an extra teabag for me so I could steep it extra strong!

Honestly, it wasn’t the most amazing peppermint tea I’ve ever had. Not by a long shot – but it wasn’t too bad either considering it’s bagged tea from, basically, a ‘fast food’ brand name. It was pretty minty – and with the extra bag I was able to make it really strong and powerful smelling. However, what I disliked what that in the end of the sip there was this odd taste like dirt. It was only really brief and vanished into the minty fresh aftertaste almost right away, but that split second dirt taste was present in every sip. It was sort of distracting, really.

Anyway, a huge thank you to Briana for saving me at work today (super unexpectedly too) since I didn’t have tea of my own like normal.

Aaaannnd more teas going into the cupboard… I want to tell myself this is a good thing; but I also want to be saving up to place online orders for Butiki and Della Terra as well. Ughh. It’s just hard since I work in the same mall as a tea store (so very accessible) and get a discount there too because of it.

Anyway, I purchased three new teas today (50g of each, since that’s the min. amount you can purchase): a flavoured green tea called Japanese Cherry, and Milky Oolong and Raspberry Oolong. I got home and immediately wanted to drink one; and this is the one that my friend Robyn suggested so trying this one first.

In all honesty, I’ve tried very few oolong teas – and basically all of the ones I’ve tried have been flavoured. I’ve also liked almost everything I’ve had. I decided today that I’d pick up at least one oolong tea to try out and after talking to the sales lady (a different one today – so now I know there’s at least three ladies who work there), she told me that this is easily the staff favourite out of the oolong teas they sell, the runner up being milky oolong. I smelled this one – and it was pretty heavily so I figured I’d take a chance since the only other tea I have right now with raspberry in it is Chocolate Rocket – and that tea is basically different in every other way.

Listed ingredients for this are oolong tea, raspberry bits (lots of them – they’re really noticeable), and flavor. Not sure whether or not that’s natural or artificial flavouring. The dry leaf smells like raspberry sweets and desserts. ALMOST pastry like, but the smell of the green oolong base cuts through and adds a sort of grassyness that kind of offsets the small of baking. It’s very sweet smelling – though.

I’ve complained before about Tea Desire’s generic brewing guide and how non-specific it can be. This is my first oolong from them, and the brewing guide for Oolong teas is pretty bad too. They suggest using 1 tsp/ for 2 to 5 min. – that’s fine, and not really unusual. However, the temperature they recommend is 70 to 90 degrees celsius. That’s a big difference – especially with tea. I think what I steeped mine in was around 80 degrees(ish). Middle ground is usually fairly safe…

I wish I could say I’m drinking this hot – but alas I ended up having to do some domestic things and left my tea to sit. Now that I’ve come back to it, it’s kind of lukewarm and really not a good tea temperature. I’ll have to go back and drink this at a proper temperature some other time this week (hopefully before I leave for comic con).

Smell is a more subtle and mild raspberry, with buttery notes that again sort of remind me of baking if not for the grassy notes of the oolong cutting in between. It smells pretty good – although the grassy smell is sort of reminding me of some green teas that I’m not too fond of.

This might be because of the temperature I’m drinking it at or maybe I left it to steep a bit too long, but the raspberry is tasting kind of funny. I’m getting great buttery pastry kind of notes and the aftertaste is creamy, sweet raspberries which together remind me of really good, flakey pie or raspberry danishes – but as I’m taking the actual sip there’s a bitterness to the raspberry that seems a tad unpleasantly artificial. I’m glad I can quickly swallow and enjoy the pleasant aftertaste, though.

I’m also tasting the oolong base, and it’s good too. Buttery and kind of lightly vegetal: definitely not as grassy as it was smelling.

I’m gonna resteep this a little later tonight, and I’ll add on to this note with my opinion on the resteep. For now, though – I’m kind of liking this, but that odd raspberry taste as I’m actually drinking is also pretty unpleasant – however, I don’t want to immediately pin it to the tea: it could be user error from over steeping and it might be the wonky temp. I’m currently drinking this at (so, conservatively rating this – and reserving the right to change it later).

EDIT: Second steep – this time much more attentive in regard to the steep time and temperature, and I’m drinking it hot. Oolong base is more present, and there are some lightly vegetal notes because of it. Still getting the buttery pastry taste, especially in the aftertaste which is creamy and delicious. The odd raspberry flavour I had before during the sip is way less pronounced, although still slightly there. However, the small amount I’m tasting it works (and I’m thinking it might be from the vegetal notes mixing with the pastry/dessert comparison I seem to have going on). I’m not sure if the change in taste is because this second steep has brought out different flavours or because I did a better job brewing it.

Regardless, I feel more comfortable increasing my rating slightly – but I’m going to have to try a first steep of this again while having the same attentiveness brewing it so I can confirm the flavour of this tea for myself.

I wasn’t really sure if “Bubble Tea” counted as tea and whether or not people logged it on Steepster regularly, but after a quick search I guess it does have a place so I might as well log what I had today.

In the mall I work at, there’s an Asian food restaurant (the name is escaping me – it’s not really a place I often eat) that sells bubble tea. They come in about 30 different flavours, and I’ve been curious about them since I started working there. I have had bubble tea in the past, but not often and I don’t really remember much of my experience having it other than I didn’t like the ‘bubbles’ (gelatin balls) themselves in the same way I liked the drink.

Today I had a lychee flavoured bubble tea. Lychee is one of my favourite flavours and this popped out of the list of choices for me; maybe that was because it was spelled incorrectly (‘lichee’), but still…

I really liked it initially: it was sweet and frosty. But, the more I drank the nastier it taste. It got TOO sweet and sugary, and I felt overwhelmed by the amount of flavour. Plus, the gelatin balls were disgusting and I couldn’t stand eating (drinking?) any of them. Eventually I just threw out the rest of my drink (about a third was left).

Maybe I’ll try a different flavour before I totally make my mind up, though. Anyway, since this is an amalgamation of teas under one heading I wont make an ‘official’ rating – but for the Lychee Bubble Tea I had today, I think I’d rate it somewhere between 45 to 55.

Work Mate!

I love the taste of this Mate, and like usual it didn’t disappoint today. I love that this can taste super sweet and juice like, but still maintain the earthy mate flavour. It seems like it should be a contradiction between the flavours, but it really isn’t.

Usually this does the trick energy wise too – which is why it accompanies me to work so often. However, today I didn’t think this really did anything to pick me up energy wise during my shift. I felt dead basically the whole time without any really energy boost. So, I guess I was a bit let down today.

Anyway, I still love this one regardless – and I really should go pick up some more!

I had a really long shift at work today, and I knew that the tea I had prepared in my thermos was NOT going to last me all shift so since I had just been down to the bank to cash my latest paycheck I went and stopped at Tea Desire right before my shift started and picked up a Tea to Go!

I’m just going to take a second the RAVE about the absolutely amazing customer service there! Personally, I’ve really never had a bad experience anywhere I’ve gone to buy tea – and I’ve had some super helpful and fun people serve me at the different DAVIDsTEA locations I’ve been to, but nothing compares to Tea Desire! There are two lovely ladies who consistently work there (maybe there are more employees, but those are the only two I’ve encountered) and each time I go they impress me! Not only are they very sweet and friendly, but they have a great knowledge about their product and an amazing memory! After having only gone there one time, my second time there they not only recognized me but also remembered exactly what I had purchased. And now, I go there a lot more since I work in the mall – and they greet me by name each time. A few times the older of the two ladies has had some great conversations with me about her favourite teas and other topics, and both of them are really good at recommending teas I would like based on what teas they know I constantly buy (and so what flavours I like) as well as making good (and not pushy) suggestions on other teas to try that I haven’t really explored. Plus, they’re not afraid to share with me the teas they personally stock and love and which teas they don’t. There’s none of this “everything we sell is magical and wonderful” bullshit.

And, today when I came in they greeted me by name. When I told them I was just looking for a Tea to Go today the first thing they asked was “would you like to try something new – or do you want one of your favourites!”. I love that they know what my two favourite teas from there are (Champagne Cassis and Banana Tea “Chocolate Cream”). So yeah, REALLY great customer service.

Anyway, the tea was predictably fantastic! I get this one To Go often because it’s a really heavy blend and keeping stocked is sort of expensive because of that. The amount of grams I get of dry leaf (well, fruit) is almost equivalent to the amount I’m paying (with mall discount) – so I think it’s one of the better teas to get To Go, price wise.

It had an especially oily mouthfeel today – but I’m not really picky about having “clean teas” or an oiliness with my teas as long as they TASTE good.

I love this tea so much; it’s a great half way between cozy, warm spiced tea and yummy dessert tea. I know Della Terra recently renamed this to Cinnamon Bun, but to me it’s more of a “Spice Cake with Cream Cheese frosting” type of tea. I’ve never tried DAVIDsTEA’s Sugar and Spice but I sort of imagine it would be similar to this (maybe minus the cream cheese).

Breakfast for supper! My favourite!

Even though I’ve done next to nothing today, it still feels like I’ve accomplished a lot and exerted a ton of energy. That’s a good thing, right? So far, I’ve beat another gym leader in Pokemon Y and finished leveling my Skrelp so it’s at the same level as the rest of my team – so yay for that. I think I’d like to get my team (of 12 Pokemon, now) to level 55 before tackling the 6th gym. I also talked to both of my parents for the first time in around a week or two; my mom this morning and my Dad this evening. We’re trying to plan out Christmas and figure out what the best time for me to come back home is. I’d really like to stay in town on Christmas so I can work and get stat pay (which my Mom understands, although my Dad wants me home) – so I figured I’d set aside a whole week to come visit both of them either before Christmas or after to compensate. Preferably after, because right before Christmas I’ll likely get a boost in hours but everything will slow down after Christmas… It’s kind of sad that everything has to be about the money.

I also started watching Degrassi: The Next Generation today. I used to watch it when I was younger, but I can barely remember the plotline or even what season I was watching. It was kind of iconic to me, though; the character Marco was some of the first REAL exposure to gay characters on television and in the media that I ever had, and that was important to me as someone trying to figure out my own sexuality. So I’m excited to rewatch parts (and see parts for the first time, too) – it’s another TV show that I think I can get into, plus it’s Canadian!

But back to the tea! First time I had this was to go for my first day merchandising for Calendar Club. I remember having mixed feelings about it and not really being sure if it’s something I’d reorder again. I think my mixed feelings were coming from the fact it’s heavy on mint and strawberry (which I love) and ginger with a green tea base (which I hate) – and that’s really contradictory. However, this is also a tea I’ve been dreaming about having again – literally! I had a dream about this tea. I don’t know if I’ve ever flat out dreamt about a tea before now. So of course I had to have it again!

I’m glad I did. Whatever reservations I had before are gone now – I’m loving this! Even if there’s ginger it’s not dampening how good this tastes right now, and although I’m still quite reserved and hesitant in my exploration of straight green teas I think I’ve really warmed up to flavoured ones. This tea is really balanced flavour wise: I feel like I’m getting something strong but equal from each ingredient, and taste wise this is very refreshing.

So yes, I think this is a keeper and something I’ll be reordering! Time to bump up my rating!

So, I had a really good cup of Della Terra’s Perfect Pear last night. Much better than the first one I had. However, it really didn’t help with deciding which of these two pear teas I should keep stalked in my cupboard. I REALLY want a pear tea as part of my permanent collection, but I think two pear teas with a black base is too much. And that is why I’m drinking this today – to try and narrow down and have a more direct comparison (not weeks apart).

Steeped 1 1/2 tsp. (a bit overleafed) in boiling water for six minutes. Compared to Della Terra’s tea, this one is so much more creamy and I like the tartness of the cranberry: it gives a more full flavour profile, but the smooth pear flavour tones it down so it’s not TOO tart. Still, that light tartness cuts through on the tail end of the sip in the best way possible. I’m not getting any floral notes in this blend, which is something I enjoy about Della Terra’s blend. I think both blends have roughly the same notes present in regard to the black tea base, so that’s not something that’s really swaying my opinion either way.

And I guess the last thing to take into consideration is availability and price. Cranberry Pear is definitely the much more available tea since I don’t have to order online, and it is actually cheaper. Big pro!

So, I think in conclusion… I’m going to keep Cranberry Pear my pear tea of choice! It’s super delicious and creamy, and the fact it’s cheaper and more available is a huge plus. I still really like Perfect Pear though, so maybe that’s something I’ll pick up for myself along with other Della Terra orders as a treat (just in small quantities).