Bamboozled

Bamboozled from DT

Ingredients: Pineapple, bamboo leaves, peach, apple, peach crunchy , peony petals, rose buds, artificial flavouring

Tah-da!! Finally, I am reviewing something from DavidsTea that is STILL available!!
(way to finally get your shit together, Kayla)

I have never had a bamboo tea... Come to think of it, I'm not sure i have ever consumed bamboo in any form. So I was quite interested to try this fruity cornucopia. It smells so light and fruity when you take a big sniff of it dry, and when it is steeping you can really smell the bamboo.

I can really, really taste the peach and pineapple. I assume that unfamiliar flavour is bamboo, and it adds a delightful woodsy type flavour. I picture myself just chillin' in a bamboo forest -just not the suicide one- as I sip at this fruity, but delightfully unique flavour. 
Fruity, floral, bamboo....y? I certainly am BAMBOOZLED trying to pin down the flavour of this mad delicious concoction. 

Icing this with some sprite and cucumber slices would be heaven. But it is still shitting snow from the sky here, so I am in no mood to get all fancy and summery with my drinks. Okay, and lazy. But it would be delicious. 

Obligatory panda tells you to try this tea!!
 

"TRY THIS TEA!!! IMMA PANDA"

 
Happy Steeping,
~K

Cool Cucumber

I'm doing 3 DavidsTea spring collection reviews. Mostly because none of the others made me particularly want to spend money on them. And this is the first; Cool Cucumber by DavidsTea.

This tea smells almost exactly like those cucumber melon scented lotions, just with a sorta minty undertone. And I honestly don't know what to make of that. My entire room reeks of the stuff with just one pot!
I honestly think if they made this tea for an iced tea, it may sound/smell more appealing? I'm going to try some iced and review it in here.



This is my first time tasting it, so I'm tasting as I review. And reviewing before I go to the accountant!

Honestly there is nothing remarkable about this tea. You get a SLIGHT aftertaste of its scent, but mostly you can smell it after you've swallowed. It's a pretty boring tea to be honest. Also, a little confusing. A black tea, with cucumber and honeydew melon? Black teas, as we all know, are fairly strong in flavor. A nice black tea lets you know what it is in a bold and pleasant way. Adding flavors to black tea means you want really complimentary additions. Not two very mild flavors. Cucumber is yummy, but mild and watery. A fresh flavor. Same goes for honeydew melon.

They had to add artificial flavors to it, which doesn't bug me in principle, but in practice, this could have been avoided by someone thinking it through a bit more.

It's why Buttered Rum (the review to come later) works. All strong flavors added that help round out and mellow out the black tea.

When it's iced, I'd say it tastes about the same...maybe a little bit better? I dunno. I'm just very underwhelmed.

I didn't finish my pot. I'm not buying any more.

Not a favorite.

-Laura

Coconut Oolong

Coconut Oolong from DavidsTea

Ingredients: Pao Zhong oolong tea, coconut, artificial coconut flavouring.
(Can I just say how hilarious I find it that the label ACTUALLY says "contains coconut"?! NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!)
 
Oh, damn. I did it again. Grabbed a tea that DavidsTea recently got rid of... sorry. I really don't plan to. I just grab something that I haven't tried yet. 

And yes. Coconut. BUT! This was actually meant to be all about the oolong.

It smells pretty good, and I have a whole tin (I bought it for my mum but she was all: "I have too much tea already") so I figred I should give this tea a go.

And now this entire floor of the house that I'm drinking this on smells of insanely creamy coconut. I'm pretty sure Chris is holding back his rage, because he REALLY hates coconut.  (Sorry, babe)

It basically tastes like watered down coconut milk... I guess... Or maybe someone made a tea of coconut oil. The flavour is INSANELY intense. And though I enjoy that it is a super creamy coconut taste, I really wanted to taste more of the oolong.
Going half/half milk oolong were I ever in a super coconut-ty mood, would be totally fantastic. But alone, this tea is just too much for someone who isn't a huge fan of coconut.

I said coconut A LOT in this post. Yikes.
Well, that's about all I have to say. This tea makes one hell of a perfume! And if you love coconut (shit, I did it again!), you will definitely love this and should try and track some down, if you can.


Happy Steeping, and happy spring-but-not-really-spring,

~K

Lavender Faery Tea

This 'wine' is normally supposed to be for the first of February, but screw that I wanted to match it up with the Spring Equinox (which is on March 20th). Also, it's a fucking tea not a wine because fucking hell this isn't even close to a wine. Any people upset by the change can come yell at me I guess.

Let's usher in Spring, shall we!







Lavender Faery Wine Tea for Imbolc
(better late than never, Sort of)

You can use the recipe I used as inspiration, which I found here. You can totally use the one here, that this one was based on. Or mine, which is below.

• 1 cup of milk per serving. (Soy/almond/coconut optional)
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract (Optional. I used about the same amount of vanilla agave)
• 2 scoops of lavender tea
• Lavender buds or cinnamon (I used cinnamon)

Warm a cup milk on the stove (Or microwave, who am I to judge); be careful not to burn it. It will taste like shit if you do. 
Once warmed, steep the tea, honey, and vanilla extract (or whatever you used).
Serve in a teacup and sprinkle lavender buds or cinnamon on top. 

No dogs. We cannot share.

Okay, so if you like warm milk and honey you will like this. Because that's exactly what it tastes like.  You can sorta taste the lavender, and sorta taste the cinnamon, but it's fairly yummy. It left me relaxed, warm and happy. Like Spring does.

Feeling optimistic about the warmth, and bitter about the cold,

Laura

Sencha Yabukita

Sencha Yabukita from DT

So, I have a terrible habit of reviewing davidstea teas that are discontinued right after I buy them, apparently. I'm sorry!

I enjoyed this tea (steeped for three minutes - ONE MINUTE TOO LONG) with my dinner of chicken-stuffed Chinese sweetbuns. Excellent pairing. But I was really impressed by this tea. I wasn't expecting much, but I really, really like it.

(I'm trying not to make you envious... I'M SORRY!!!)

Sencha with a punch of nutty-ness and super smooth.

I won't rant and rave about how much that I love this tea... because you can't have any.
I'M SORRY

Try and hunt down this tea at your local tea shop. Seriously. Do it.


Happy Steeping!

Beef Stew with Lapsang Souchong Star

I would like to start out by saying that I have never made a stew before, but this turned out amazing. My point? Anyone can do it! (So long as you don't mind the gigantic mess that results)

This is a large crock pot (slow cooker) recipe

Crock pot with the beef stock

What you will need:

• 4 Perfect Spoonfuls of DavidsTea's Lapsang Souchong Star tea
• 900 ml (one "box") of beef stock 
• 8 cups water
• One pound baby red potatoes
• One can wax green beans 
• Small white onion - pureed
• At least two pounds of stewing beef, cubed (I used four)
• One large crock pot 
• Seasonings of your choice 
• 2 tblsp cooking oil 
• 1 cup + 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup butter/margarine
• A CAN OF GUINNESS

1. Add the beef stock and 4 cups of water to the crock pot. 
2. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and steep the Lapsang Souchong Star tea in it. Double the time (10 minutes!)
3.  Bring a pan to medium heat and add the oil.
4. Cover meat in lightly seasoned flour (1 cup)
5. Sear the beef through
6. Cut baby potatoes in to bite sized pieces.
7. In a new pan,  melt the butter/margarine then add flour to make a roux
8. Mix roux with the stock in the pot until blended
9. Throw EVERTHING but the beans in to the pot!
10. Season
11. Eight-ish hours before you want to eat, turn the pot on low and go about your business (I throw it in before I leave for work and it's ready for dinner)
12. Add the beans half an hour before you want to eat
13. ENJOY! 

 I hope I haven't left anything out. 
The great thing about stew is that you can tweak it as often and liberally as you so please.

This makes enough for a good eight servings. And it still doesn't last longer than two days between Chris and I.

Happy stewing!
~K

Long Life Oolong

Today's post is Long Life Oolong by DavidsTea (Organic Shui Xian oolong tea, peach pieces, apricot pieces, almond slices, orange peel, safflower petals, natural and artificial flavouring)

I'm steeping this little bugger how all Oolongs should! NUMEROUS TIMES.

So, I started off boiling the water on my tea kettles 'oolong' setting (190F), then into my pot I scooped two spoonfuls with my David's Perfect Spoon (because this tea has just as much fruit/nut in it as tea leaf itself) straight into the pot I use specifically for Oolongs (it has a mini strainer in it, so it catches most of the tea). No other pot will do!

On the first steep the Oolong sticks out the most, with a slightly peachy aftertaste. The almonds are lost in the first steep. It smells fantastic. Like dried peaches. Looking forward to the next steep! It can only get better!

The second steep is so much better. The Oolong is much lighter and less imposing, which allows the peaches to poke through a bit more. If the first steep could be exactly like the second steep, then it would be perfect.

But, in my opinion, the point of a good Oolong is to not only enjoy many cups, but to enjoy many cups with friends. You don't make a quick cup to go, you make a pot over conversation, then another pot.

I never got to a third steep because I don't think I physically could drink 12 cups of tea in one sitting.

All in all, I say if you like peaches, you may be a bit underwhelmed on peachy flavor, but...just add a few extra dried peach bits to your tin?

Overall, a pleasurable experience that was brought to me by Zachs family for Christmas.


-Laura

Green Seduction

Green Seduction from DavidsTea

Inredients: Organic: green tea, black tea, green rooibos, rosehips, pomegranate arils. With natural flavouring 


This tea smells so lovely, like sweet pomegranates and fresh green tea leaves. I am a big fan of everything rosehip (it is SO good for you, especially your skin) and pomegranates are pretty awesome. Seductive...? We shall see.

Steeped between 3-4 minutes. I got excited and poured my water before waiting for the minute to change to start new. (I should just used a timer, honestly, Kayla... get your shit together). It smells so good!

Even though it smells super sweet, I was a bit shocked (mostly due to DT's slight obsession with everything being sweet) to find that it was perfectly balanced. I feel like I can actually taste everything; the green, the black, the pomegranate, even the rosehip (though that is the hardest to detect). 

It isn't sweet, it isn't bitter and will stay that way so long as you keep around the three minute mark... It's kind of perfect. Pomegranate and green tea are just a great match, and I'm really impressed.




Well, I keep getting distracted by watching/listening to Let it Go over and over and ovvveerr again on youtubes.... so, that's all!
This tea is super delicious!


Happy Steeping,
~K

Tea and Hair Days 23 - FINAL

Whoa. Done so FAST. Holy shit.

Basically, this is a compilation of a bunch of different days of pictures. Because honestly, save for the drawback of "my hair has gotten lighter" this was a good idea.

Toodles, poodles
-Laura

Pure Chai

So I love Chai teas and tea lattes. If it has "chai" in the title, I'll probably have some.

So when I got the DavidsTea Pure Chai, I was really excited! I was excited to be brewing it in milk on the stove, to be brewing it and adding eggnog and basically never having to leave my house for a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte with Eggnog  chai based beverages.



But DavidsTea, although your pure chai SMELLS amazing, it's game is WEAK.

I'm not going to post every single time and way I tried this to make it work, I honestly didn't take that many pictures.

I tried going straight in milk (skim milk), two cups of milk, 2 tbsp of chai. Not strong enough.
I tried going straight into light eggnog. Not strong enough.
I tried 3 tbsp of chai, steeped in about 1 cup of boiling water, with some eggnog added...it was CLOSE to being strong enough, but it had a weird aftertaste, almost dusty.

Will I buy it again? No. It's far, far too weak.
It tastes good when brewed directly in milk, but it is so pathetically weak.



If you haven't noticed this was made when eggnog was available. In December. This is posting in March. Shhhhh

Ignore my lies

Laura