CaesarsTea

I picked this one up at Walmart. Ten dollars for 80g including the tin. The tea is wrapped seperately inside.

I prepared this two ways. The first was the traditional Japanese way, using a large amount of tea, 7-8g, and a small amount of water, 200 mL. The second method was to use a large mug of water, 400-450 mL and 4g of tea.

In both cases the tea had plenty of flavour. Grassy and Straw like aroma’s dominated the tea. On the second steeping this mellowed nicely. This is the sort of tea you would want to drink while sitting in a field after harvesting hay.

It’s quite different from the usual lemony sencha. The price makes brewing some concentrated sencha very inexpensive. I will say that it reminds me somewhat of green teabag tea, but more so.

I will post pics later.

Blech. Sipdown.

I had this a few nights ago and thought it was okay. However, I wanted to finish this so I brewed the remainder of it last night. However, I overleafed it in order to get rid of it all, and the brew was so cloyingly sweet I couldn’t drink it at all.

I will not miss this.

I took this out of the GCTTB3 way back last summer but never tried it until now.

The previous notes about a weird spice flavour had me worried that this would taste like… curry mixed with apples somehow. I was expecting something like turmeric, I have no idea why.

Anyways, this tea doesn’t taste weird – unpleasantly sweetened, maybe, but not savoury in an unexpected way. I can definitely taste apple and clove, and possibly some cinnamon. I’m also getting a tartness that makes me think of rosehip or hibiscus, even though the liquor isn’t that red.

However, I do taste some sweetness like stevia was added to the blend. Just a weird sort of chemical sweetness that tastes kind of thin and hollow.

It shouldn’t be too hard to finish this off, but not a restock.

Sipdown (209!)

So I think i was afraid of steeping this because it requires slightly more effort than steeping at boiling water, as this sample has sat around for months! Sorry VariaTEA! :O

But there was nothing to be afraid of and this tea is nice and fruity and slightly sweet and very nice on a cool summer day like today. So thank you- I’m happy I got to try it!

Great Canadian Traveling Tea Box – Round 3

Trying to get my few tasting notes in for this box before sending it off to the next recipient (and somehow manage to stuff everything back in plus what I’m adding). I drank this about a week ago so ignore the lack of detail, but I did not enjoy this one, though it was drinkable. I was expecting something similar to the Teavana Spiced Apple Cider (which I adore), but there was a spice in this that didn’t sit well with me. Happy to have tried but would not purchase.

another one from variaTEA and i have to say, i am not getting mango or strawberry here lol for me, this tastes like a cup of peach tea. It’s fairly pleasant though, not quite what i was expecting. still though, nice to try something new heh

Sipdown (158/164)!

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample. It seems reviewers have had this hot, but I took this a different route and I cold brewed it. I figured it’d be a nice, thirst quenching way to start off my morning and I was pretty correct about that.

I’ve been trying to pin point the flavours in this without looking them up because they’re kinda weird to me – but mostly good weird. I would have said Strawberry and orange or some other kind of tropical-y type fruit. I guess I was sorta right: mango and “passion tropical flavour”, whatever that is. Doesn’t really taste like passion fruit to me but I can see the mango in here.

This was very good at first, and now the mango (or I thought orange) is just sorta sitting on my tongue all lingering and weird like. It’s building, but in a very weird though not all together unpleasant way. I guess overall I’d call this one sorta just average? That might be because I’m not a huge mango fan though. It is nice enough, however. Probably the best CaesarsTea blend I’ve had, I think? I can’t remember exactly how many VariaTEA has sent me, but at least a few and this is better than the ones I remember.

Thank you VariaTEA!

another tea from variaTEA….i’m still hoping i can get to 200 teas before next weekend rolls around…god that’s a lot of tea to drink before july 1st haha.

this is a pretty average genmaicha to me. there’s nothing to set it apart from the others i’ve had but nothing to make it a terrible tea either.it’s a middle of the road sort of genmaicha which means a pleasant cup to drink but nothing i need to go out of my way to drink more of :)

I love genmaicha, but this one is just average for me. It’s really nice to look at, lots of fluffy popped grains of rice. It’s just not toasty enough for me, and that makes it too green.
It’s ok, and if you prefer a less roasted genmaicha, you might like this one – but this isn’t my favorite.

SSTTB

GCTTB
I’m not getting much mango from this – it seems more…. peach? something to me. I’m also finding that the white base is a little vegital – more greenish than white.
It’s a light fruity tea and that works for me, just not quite what I was expecting.

Despite the fact that there were snow flakes in the air today, I’m craving light, fruity summery teas. Thank you VariaTEA for sending me a sample of this in the surprise package you sent. :))
This is actually really nice. Nice white tea that’s not getting in the way of the mango. It’s not over the top fruity – but really nice and gentle. I’ve enjoyed this – thank you so much for providing me this opportunity.

A sample from VariaTEA, and the last of my pre-bedtime teas tonight. At first, I was convinced this was going to be all rooibos. After the first couple of sips, though, I proved myself wrong. This does taste almost like a truffle — a milk chocolate richness develops first, and then the sweetness of white chocolate comes through, with maybe a touch of vanilla. It’s almost reminiscent of a truffle with a milk chocolate centre that’s been dipped in white chocolate! The tiniest swirl of mint helps to prevent it becoming too sweet and cloying, and a slight background woodiness from the rooibos also helps on that score. Overall, I’m pretty impressed with this one! It’s a great guilt-free dessert tea, and a relaxing evening cup. Thanks again to VariaTEA for sharing this with me.

A sample from VariaTEA. I was expecting this one to be quite sharp, somehow, but it’s not like that at all. It actually reminds me of a couple of orange teas I’ve tried recently; Twinings’ Lady Grey and Mighty Leaf Orange Dulce. It shares the same orange cream, almost sherbet-like, taste. I added a splash of milk to my cup, which I think helped with that a little. It’s not a very natural orange flavour, though; more like kia-ora than fruit. Even so, it’s a pleasant cup. The black base suits the flavouring and stops it from becoming too sweet and cloying. It’s not one I’d want on hand all the time (a good thing, because I don’t think I could get any even if I did…), but it’s a nice treat on a spring evening, and a great dessert tea. Thanks to VariaTEA for giving me the chance to try this one!

As for this tea, it is good, but nothing mind blowing. There is an apple sweetness mixed with the smooth green base (which is less vegetal than a lot of the other Caesar’s greens I have tried). There really is no “pie” element which is disappointing. At the end of the day, this is just an alright apple tea which is nice but not what I wanted from the cup.

Sipdown. This isn’t a favorite of mine—it’s a little bit too acidic, almost like some kind of gummy candy. It’s not bad, but the fruit flavor covers up the tea base a little too much for my taste. There’s only a little bit of an aftertaste of sweet hay.

The smell of this is incredible—very fruity. The taste is primarily white tea, and a good one at that. Pleasantly buttery with just a touch of a hay note. The middle of the sip and aftertaste are lemongrass and peach respectively, and neither is overwhelming or fake-tasting. I’ll have no problem using the rest of this up! Mom likes it too so I think we’ll sip it down soon.

This tea smells wonderful, but it smells way sweeter than it tastes. I added some sweetener and cream. It made it much richer and I did enjoy it after that.

Sipdown (191/193)!

Well, thank you VariaTEA for the sample; you know how I love my Genmaicha and how I love trying things from locations that would otherwise not be accessible (especially places local to fellow Steepsterites) – so I liked this for those reasons especially.

I think this is a really aromatic Genmaicha! It has that special quality to it; though the taste is a little more average, and this cup leaned a little more to a vegetal side so it wasn’t the best one I’ve produced.

HOWEVER; I now only have three(?) Genmaicha blends to get through before I can justify cracking open my Marshmallow Treat; DT’s Genmai Hojicha, RiverTea’s Genmaicha, and Verdant’s Laoshan Black Chocolate Genmaicha! I just finished fishing the first two out of my closet, and rotating a whole bunch of new samples into the sample drawer because it was looking sparce. Yay!

Goodbye, CaesersTea Genmaicha – I’m onto new and hopefully better blends!

EDIT: I just checked my physical and online cupboard, and apparently I do not have a sample of Laoshan Black Chocolate Genmaicha even though I’m like 95% sure that Courtney sent me some in her swap package. I remember specifically requesting it, and being excited when I saw it in the package…

Plus I took it off my wishlist (just added it back now).

URGH. There’s no trace of it ever being in my house, and I swear I had some of it. Damn! I was really, really excited about that one. Where the frick fracking fuck could it have gone? I mean, it’s DEFINITELY not like Tre took it. He’d take one look at the name and be all “fuck no”.

Late night Genmaicha.

I wanted popcorn, but I waited too long to make it and now it’s nearly midnight, so I’m being a good tenant and not running the popper because I know that’s a dick thing to do to our landlord trying to sleep upstairs. Still, I’m a little disappointed regardless.

Anyway, this was good! I really enjoyed cradling the cup close to me and smelling it; I’m not sure why (especially since this just tastes average), but this is the best smelling Genmaicha I’ve ever had, and it made me feel really comforted to have it close to me where I could enjoy it like that. It tasted good too, which is probably worth pointing out.

One more cup and it’s gone; but I’ve decided that once I’ve finished this, my RiverTea Genmaicha sample, and my Genmai Hojicha from DT I’m finally breaking open the 52Teas Marshmallow Treat! That’s giving me incentive to finish it up quickly.

TRY ALL THE GENMAICHA!

Thanks VariaTEA for passing this along! It was my nightly Genmaicha last night and I was thrilled to try it. I know you said this seemed like it has/had something “extra” in it, so I was sure to look for that.

What I found personally that this tasted pretty much just like your average, typical Genmaicha: roasty, toasty and warm. Although, I thought this was much more aromatic and intense smelling than other Genmaicha, even if that quality didn’t carry over into the taste. Was that it?

But yes; a nice cuppa!

I received a sample of this from bluebelle. Thank you for sharing.

The weather hinted at spring today so I was feeling like ice tea. This looked like it would be good as an ice tea so I made a cup of this. It was good! Peachy, lemony and a nice white tea base. Very refreshing. I might add a bit of sugar on my next cup. Thank you!

Backlog from last night. I totally don’t remember much beyond this tasting like a smoothish sort of creamy tea. I liked it..but sadly i got distracted by my bed and forgot to pay attention to it. But thank you VariaTEA! :) it was enjoyable haha

Thanks VariaTEA! this tea smells wonderful…more vanilla than peach, but totally ok with me given my declining deire for peach teas in my life. However, brewed…this is a different beast. It becomes a sort of weirder black tea that isn’t quite peachy or vanilla like. It reminds me of something, though i can’t quite place it. Ah wel…can’t win ’em all!