Gold Rush

Ingredients: Organic: mulberries, coconut, white Silver Needle tea. With natural and organic flavouring

My brother has been trying to get me to try this tea for at least a year now. I haven't because 1. It has coconut, I am so sick a DT teas with coconut, and 2. It isn't very cheap

So, he gave me enough to make myself a cup so I could see why he likes it so much.


I am pleasantly surprised.

While I have never tried a mulberry before and never really heard anything about them besides that silly ice-cream truck song... I could not believe that they taste like!
Caramel!

This fruit and coconut tea tastes like a light and creamy caramel.
It's the weirdest thing... but I actually really enjoyed drinking this tea.
It's delicious! And organic!
Plus, it's a DT staple, so I don't see it going away any time soon.

I would recommend everyone give this tea a chance. Unless you're allergic to coconut, that is....



Happy Steeping,

~K

Matcha Chai Latte (organic)

I have been tip-toeing about trying this one for a while.

I used 2.5 tsp of powder of the suggested 2-3, 2 tbsp of hot water to disolve that in, then mixed it in to one cup of hot milk.

Honestly, it smells gross. Something about the smell of heated milk just really puts me off, which is slightly odd, because chai lattes are kind of my love.

This is an incredibly odd drink. I love chai, and I love matcha... but this is just odd. I really wanted to enjoy it, and I keep drinking, hoping that it will taste good, but it is just weird.
It tastes like someone threw some matcha into a chai latte.

Take that as you will, I would recommend giving it a ry if you aren't put off, but I will warn that it is not exactly a cheap product. It runs around $12  can, and while you get enough product for it to be worth it, that only really means something if you USE it all.

I will definitely give some to Laura so she can share her thought on this product.
I'm not all that impressed.


Happy Steeping,

~K

 

Mountain Organic Indonesian Green

Indonesian Green
from Tea at Sea

Ingredients: Organic green tea from the Halimum mountains in Indonesia.

I am finally. FINALLY. Starting to go through my samples that I have let build up for a little too long.
Starting off with one of the two I got from my order from the fantastic -and adorable- company, Tea at Sea.

As soon as I poured the steeped tea (I did a little longer than recommended by accident; 8 minutes) in to my cup, it had a very distinct seaweed arouma. So fresh. I am so excited, considering how much I loved their oolong, that I am near risking burning my face off so I can finally taste it.

I will take a moment as I wait to not burn my mouth all to hell to tell you about what Tea at Sea is offering that I think is BLOODY BRILLIANT!!!
You can get a 5g sample of ALL TEN of their teas for only $8 before shipping!!
THAT'S AMAZING!!! 

This is a fantastic organic green. The seaweed is light and refreshing, not at all over powering. Their description mentions a slight fruity flavour, and I can definitely get a hint of it. This tea is FRESH. Even though I over did the steeping, my tongue is not being assaulted with horrible bitterness, as many greens tend to do for me.

Tea at Sea, you nailed it. 
Picture yourself up on a mountain ridge looking over the ocean with a nice cup of tea nestled in the palms of your hands.
Nailed it.

A green-lover's delight.



Happy Steeping,
~K

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

La La Lemon (organic)

LaLa Lemon from DavidsTea

 Ingredients: Organic FairTrade black tea from China, orange peel, natural lemon and orange flavouring.

Orange? Orange?? There isn't any lemon peel in a LEMON tea?!?! Off to a great start here, DT.

This tea literally just tastes like citrus peel and black tea. The peel part really stands out, by which I mean, it's quite bitter. I would definitely recommend a lower steeping time. I struggle to taste the lemon over the orange, which is disappointing because I love lemon in straight black tea.

BUT! This tea is great for a lemon-y ICED tea. I made a jug of this during the summer (OH, GODS! SUMMER, PLEASE COME BACK!!!!) and added half a lemon, sliced. It was lovely. A very typical American iced tea. (I say American because in Canada, we like our iced tea to be comprised of sugar, sugar and moooore sugar -- what a twist!)

This would have been much better if I had actually had a lemon slice to plop in to my cup, but ALAS, I did not. So it was orange-peel-y.
In closing, I need more lemon in my lemon tea. LEMON, not orange. Lemon.... The yellow one. 
To the store, for some fresh lemon!!



Happy Steeping,

~K



PS

LEMON Because I didn't say it enough.

THIS is a lemon

This is NOT a lemon

Organic Mother's Little Helper

"Mother's Little Helper" from DavidsTea

Ingredients: Organic: peppermint, lemongrass, rosehips, hibiscus (Fair Trade), chamomile flowers, valerian root, cornflowers. With natural peppermint flavouring

This delicious peppermint tasting tea with hints of chamomile, rosehips and lemongrass prides itself as a relaxation tea... If tea had some kind of sentient powers, which it does not. Ooor does it? No, definitely not. I obviously meant, DavidsTea really pumps up the volume on RELAXATION.

And they should. 
Before I elaborate, a little back story: I do not sleep well. Meaning, I have this strange need to constantly know what time it is, and it even interferes with my sleep schedule! I wake up on average of ever hour to see what the time is. Mother's Little Helper actually helps me with this. I can go almost the ENTIRE night without waking up whenever I have myself a nice large cup of the stuff before bed. AND (for the ladies), it can help with cramps!

I'm drinking it right now so I can get to sleep early and sleep off some seriously nasty muscle pain. I love this stuff. It's got amazing qualities, and just tastes like a lovely cup of peppermint tea. Mmmm

This tea needs to be in EVERYONE's cupboard, or drawer, or on the counter - wherever the hell you store your tea! Get this, tout de suite!


Happy Steepi-zzzzzzzzz

~K




Oh yeah, and Yoshi LOVES it

Mountain Organic Indonesian Green Tea

Yes, I tape the label on.

Finally! A Tea at Sea review! This time it's their Indonesian Green Tea!

My first tea from Tea at Sea was their Oolong which Kayla reviewed.

I love this company. Their packaging is awesome, they give great samples and of course, the cork boat.

I brewed it at the directed temperature, and steeped it for about 4 minutes. Per 4 cups I used one Davids Perfect Spoon.
It is a perfect day for this review to be done, considering how gross the weather is.

This tea is very light, and almost a creamy-sweet flavor. It's a very hard to describe taste. It's a fantastic green and I really do enjoy it. It smells nice, it tastes nice, it's not at all bitter.
I do wish it was stronger, but, light isn't bad at all.



If you love greens, you will love this. Because I love this even though it's a very typical, very amazing and high quality, green.

Sorry this review is short, but I'm not sure how much more I can elaborate on "BUY THIS TEA"

-L

Mountain Organic Indonesian Oolong

Mountain Org. Indonesian Oolong
From Tea at Sea

Tea at Sea. So far they haven't much to offer as for selection of teas... but who cares! They are about quality and not quantity here, that is for sure! And I absolutely love them!! Not only is this tea so gorgeous that had me ordering right after trying it, just look at what they send you with your order!!

CORK BOAT!! LOOK AT IT!! AHHHH

Two samples for one little order of 50 grams of this amazing tea (which I swear I will get to very soon) and a little cork boat you get to put together. Unfortunately, the boat does not float in your tea (of COURSE I tried! Who wouldn't?!). And the packaging is just top notch and original!

I first tried this tea two Sundays ago when Laura brought it over when we had a mini tea/pizza party (what? We're on a budget, okay?!) and we made a nice big pot of it so we could both try it for the first time.
WOW!
This organic tea has everything that I love about oolong - light, earthy taste with none of the bitterness- but with a sooth, creamy punch of honey! This is a simple tea with a twist of something different that I can drink by the pot-full, which I did!

I fell in love with this tea. You will too.
Every lover of straight tea should have this in their tea cupboard.
Go! GO!! Get yourself this to-die-for oolong from an adorable company.

Happy Steeping
~K

Organic Le Digestif

Let me start out with saying, I feel really quite gross right now.
A headache, some nausea, major heartburn. Basically like a big bag of dicks.

Hence the Le Digestif tea. A warning, if you don't like TMI things, don't read this review. This tea is literally a blend to help you stop feeling sick, so that's what I'm talking about. I didn't want to review this tea when I felt GOOD, because I wanted to talk about the magic in REAL TIME.

Le Digestif has a bunch of fun things that can make you feel better. Best part? It actually works. And it's bedtime safe since, yay, no caffeine!
With catnip, fennel seed, ginger root, peppermint, orange peel, stevia leaf...you get the picture. It's a blend to make a tummy feel good and, I find, a head stop hurting.

Ginger root for nausea, gas, stomach cramps and heartburn.
Catnip for headaches, and tummy troubles.
Fennel for pain and fever reducing, as well as, you guessed it, tummy troubles.
Peppermint for gas and bloating (this is really helpful for painful gas buildups), and I find it helps with headaches as well.

It literally has all the natural powerhouses of tummy relief.

I personally find that, although Pepto works it can make me a little constipated. As someone who will get heartburn at the drop of a hat, and if I ever need to take antibiotics I MAJORLY risk disrupting my intestines natural flora, causing bloating and gas build up. Which hurts. It literally makes it so that breathing is hard.
So, chugging Pepto...that would not be fun.

It tastes like ginger and fennel. The peppermint leaves a nice fresh feeling in your mouth, which is really nice if you're feeling gross. It also helps take away that gross taste heartburn leaves behind. The stevia adds some sweetness. Per 4 cup pot, I put 1.5 tbsp and steep for 6ish minutes.
I honestly do like it's flavor. Some people won't, especially those that hate ginger, but it is very worth it if you feel like shit.
I mean, don't drink an entire fucking pot in one go. 4 cups will make you feel a little water-logged if you drink it in a short period of time. Have a cup, wait 10 minutes. Have a cup, wait, and so on and so forth until you're finish.

In the...hour or so it's taken me to write this up, I've started to feel better. (shhhh I kept getting distracted)

My heartburn is almost gone, my headache has been halved, my nausea is gone.

.

Skål and I hope everyone doesn't feel gross.

-L

IF YOU HAVE ANY TEA YOU WOULD LIKE REVIEWED, LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE WILL SEE WHAT WE CAN DO.

Sweet Indulgence: Organic Cream of Earl Grey

Cream of Earl Grey

So today I decided to start doing my Sweet Indulgence collection.

Apple Tarte Tatin

The idea came to me when my mum and I were making our Apple Tarte Tatin in a cast iron skillet [found in this cookbook***]. I wanted a tea that would be really nice with a dessert, that I hadn't reviewed yet, and that wouldn't conflict with the Tarte Tatin.
So I picked the Organic Cream of Earl Grey.

Keep in mind I only have the sampler pack. LUCKILY it is enough for two pots of tea (at least for Cream of EG)! So I put 1 tbsp to a 4 cup pot, and steeped for about 5 minutes. It's medium caffeine, so not bedtime safe!




I tried it black, with milk, with sugar, and then with milk and sugar.  I like it either black or with milk and sugar.
Just milk, and just sugar brought out a little bitterness in the tea. It was still good, just not as.
With milk AND sugar, it did kinda kill the bergamot flavor (you could still taste it, just not as strong). Now, you must be wondering why I liked it this way as well as black! I liked it because it was sweet and creamy and reminded me of drinking tea as a child. It tasted like an Earl Grey you'd give to a kid who wanted to try it.

Black it tasted like you mixed DavidsTea's Pure Vanilla and Early Grey together. AKA, delicious. And, as I suspected, it doesn't fight with the Tarte!
You get all the notes of a regular Earl Grey, just a little more mellow, along with some creamy notes of vanilla. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every cup.

I'm not 100% sure I'd buy it though. I have Pure Vanilla and I have regular Earl Grey...I'm going to try mixing them, to see if I get a similar flavor. If I do, then I won't buy it.

If you have neither Pure Vanilla and/or regular Earl Grey, then it's worth it to get this. Same if you have no intent of using Pure Vanilla as a stand alone tea, or mixed with others. Weight your options, and weight your pocketbooks. Tea can be very expensive.

It's a nice tea and any Earl Grey lover will enjoy.


Skål and happy creating!

-Laura


IF YOU HAVE ANY TEA YOU WOULD LIKE REVIEWED, LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE WILL SEE WHAT WE CAN DO.

***I really don't recommend this cookbook. It can be very vague. The Tarte Tatin came out to taste DELICIOUS but, it doesn't look great once you flip it.

Creme Brulee

Picture taken from DavidsTea

This has to be one of my favorite teas. It has become a standby that I find very soothing, on top of being tasty!

It's Rooibos tea, and it's organic! It has organic red and green rooibos, safflowers, calendula marigold, and some natural flavoring. It's also caffeine free! Safe to have before bed. :)
It has a very smooth, caramel-y taste, while staying nice and light. Honestly, it follows the description on DavidsTea to the T.
It doesn't really smell LIKE creme brulee, but it is more like caramel sauce; relaxing and soothing either way!

It's nice to have with some cookies, or pie. Some sort of dessert, whichever you happen to like most.

My beautiful pot o'tea

I personally will make myself a pot cup if I'm having a nice relaxing candle lit bubble bath.

When making a pot, I put about a tablespoon or two in the Perfect Infuser, boil my water until the kettle start to scream  bloody murder (I cut it off before people suspect that it's a person, instead of the kettle!), and let it steep for...5-7 minutes? I'm not sure, to be honest. The amazing smell distracts me.

Without milk

Beautiful, isn't it?

Sorry no outside picture today! It's all cloudy and gross. MORE FUCKING RAIN. But...perfect day for a mug of creme brulee! Did you see what I did there? I rhymed...YOU BETTER LAUGH.

The slightly blurry with milk picture

I normally don't drink any of my teas with a dairy milk, or nondairy milk. But for you, dear readers, I'll give it a go.

I'm using skim milk, because that's what I like to drink.

Surprisingly, I like it.
Not as much as without, but it's still pretty good. If I used a cream, or even 2% milk, it may taste better than with skim. But, alas, we'll never know.



Skål!

-Laura

~~~~~~~~~~~

dun dun duuuunnnn
DOUBLE REVIEW!!

I am totally guilty of getting Laura to buy this, and she has become quite addicted. ooops?Nah. It's pretty obvious WHY.

Okay, honestly? What gets me about this tea? The SMELL!! Wow!
Creme brulee? Okay, you got us. no. It smells nothing like creme brulee (to me anyways), but it is amazing. Like... butterscotch pudding. Or those amazing little caramel cubes (best. Hallowe'en candy. ever!!) Just, MMmmmMMMmmm.

Excuse me *sniff sniff snnniiffffffff* Ahh...!
Oh, yeah. And it TASTES good, too!

To prove how yummy this is... My bird, Yoshi, the tea loving lovebird, had no interest in the Rose Congou Green. But he could smell this one and WHOOSH, he's on my hand trying to dunk his face into my steaming hot Creme Brulee! (More of Yoshi to come!)

I. Love. Rooibos.
So, naturally, I really like this tea. Very similar to Birthday Cake (will review soon) in many ways, but not as crazy sweet. This one tastes so much more naturally sweet. It just wraps you up in a blanket of dark caramel warmth. Perfect for a rainy day, like today.

This is definitely up there with my favourites - which I can't really put in any particular order or even just flat out say what they are, really... Creme Brulee rocks, though! Yum yum


-K

IF YOU HAVE ANY TEA YOU WOULD LIKE REVIEWED, LEAVE A COMMENT AND WE WILL SEE WHAT WE CAN DO.