Boatsman

Thanks to Roswell Strange I get to try a RiverTea and I am definitely very excited. I reached into her package and decided to make the first black tea I pulled. I was glad to see it was this one. I was a tad bit worried as there was a whole piece of cinnamon in the blend and I feared that would get sweet in the cup but there was also cranberry pieces among other stuff so I figured it would all balance out.

I get vanilla for sure. Cinnamon is there. Mango and banana are also hiding in this cup. There is definitely a lot going on in this cup but I think it works. I also get a slight bit of astringency but nothing too over the top. This was a nice introduction to the company so thank you Roswell Strange for sharing this with me :)

ETA: As I continue to sip, this is actually getting better and better. The mango and banana are becoming more prominent and the astringency died down. Weird. I upped the rating :)

Sipdown (202/204)!

This note was much longer last night, but to my chagrin we lost our internet connection and I lost my tasting note (and couldn’t watch any TV finish my backlog).

Had this as a cold brew at work. In total, this sat for nine/ten(ish) hours. I’m actually really happy I discovered this one as a cold brew, because it was great for using up leaf, gets an older tea out of the way and tastes a lot better than the hot version. Win win win!

And as far as work goes, I feel like I’m really getting into a rhythm – not just with the job itself but with having a routine and consistent bedtime/wake up time. I feel like I was at a point where I really needed that.

But yes; this is gone now and I’m pretty ok with that. More cupboard space and all that. It was cool having this hand picked for me, though – and I still adore the name. I wont be surprised if I find it being added to future RiverTea orders.

And hey, I’m officially 19! I think that means it’s time to try some tea infused martinis…

This is one of the ones I eyed and then decided not to get and then my wife talked me into. I’m glad she did, it’s good! I taste cranberry and orange on the front of the sip, then the smooth vanilla, and then mango and banana in the back. Yum. The cinnamon comes out to play here and there and that is A-OK with me, I love cinnamon. All in all, it’s a very intriguing cup…I look forward to getting to know you better, Boatsman.

Mmm yummy. After the barrage of chamomile last night I was worried, but this is such a just damn good cuppa. It’s a black tea first and foremost, a little smoky, a little astringent. The fruit, vanilla, cinnamon, etc add a pleasant little sweet back-end to it, but the black base is really the star.

Also I desperately need to do dishes – this used our last clean DT perfect mug and infuser. Ooops.

Another one from Cavo that I’m just finally getting around to. The first thing I noticed was there were chunks of fruit in there with the black tea, & dried mums as well. It’s not a bad tea, especially lightly sweetened. Fruity with mango, kind of creamy. Chrysanthemum flowers are not really all that flower, at least not like roses or jasmine, and that’s fine with me. All it all, it was ok, but not something I’d stock. Still grateful to have the opportunity to sample it though!

Pass the Stash TTB #7

Something drew me to this tea as soon as I saw it. It just spoke to me.

I had a bad night last night. I got some bad news that left me feeling emotionally off-kilter. Sleep helped. But tea is also a healing balm.

This tea is lovely. It’s light, fruity without being perfumy, and just what I needed to pick me up. The mango is subtle and not overpowering, and melts into creaminess from the vanilla. There’s only a little bit left in the bag so I’ll be finishing it up before the box moves on.

Lewis and Clarke TTB

I decided to make this as a tea soda, following Roswell Strange’s method of using ~1T to 1oz boiling water, steeped 4 minutes, I then added the stevia equivalent of 2.5T of sugar to make a concentrated syrup, that I then added to carbonated water.

The result is interesting. I just notes of vanilla, cinnamon, and fruit, but not all in the same sip. Each sip is a little different than the last. Keeps things interesting.

This was the sample included with my RiverTea order. This is not a tea I would have chosen on my own.
The ingredients make it sound really weird. Mango, banana, cinnamon, vanilla? Don’t think so….

Really all I’m getting is cinnamon and vanilla in a black base. It’s nice and light, not in your face offensive, but I’m not getting any fruit at all. This just confirms that this one is not for me, but always happy when companies include free samples for you to try.

Cold brewed this one for like 24 hours. That seems to work out for me because I very likely always end up underleafing. I cold brew in a 1L pitcher and if I used enough leaf to make it as flavourful as I wanted, I’d go through all my cold brew teas way too fast.
So I leave it in the fridge for a day or so.

This one… There’s something weird about this one. I did get a creamy sort of mango tea. But either the cinnamon, banana or chamomile is rubbing me the wrong way. I couldn’t put my finger on it when I was drinking it because I hadn’t read the description/ingredients yet.

I will try again later to see what exactly my issue is!

I drank this before I read any reviews, and I was really taken aback because the flavors I got weren’t what were listed here at all. I had to go back to check the Rivertea site to see if they had reblended it. They haven’t.

I got vanilla, I got mango, and I got black tea. No cinnamon, chamomile, banana (which I hate and would have noticed), or cranberry.

It was a nice cup, nothing that made me make any funny sounds out loud to entertain my husband, but nothing bad either. I have to give Rivertea credit that their samples are generous, there was maybe 3 tsp in there, so that’s two big cups for me. Nice.