Cornelia Bean

I was really impressed by this tea! I bought a batch for the bf, who is far more into green teas than I am, but I was curious so I brewed myself a cup this morning. It is actually a really nice tea!

I watched my steep time for once, so there was none of the bitterness I generally associate with green teas. This one had a definite green base, but it was softened by the mix of fruit and vanilla flavours also present. The tea has enough natural sweetness to it that I felt it did not need any additional sweetening. Overall, it was a really nice vanilla/fruity green that I could totally see going with the holidays!

I don’t think this tea would fare at all well with a long steep, like in my tea traveller, but it is certainly a cup I would love to brew at home once in a while.

I steeped a pitcher of this up again but I am still just getting apple and mixed fruits. I am really not able to draw out the strawberry or the goji very well. It is not a bad tea and I am sure I can get through my pitcher easily enough, but I am not sure this is one I will be reaching for again very quickly.

This is not a bad tea, in fact it tastes really good, just not what I had expected. I gets lots of apple and a berry blend taste, more strawberry heavy than goji? I have had other goji heavy teas and this did not taste like what I had expected it to. I think it is a good tea, and one I will reach for when I am looking for a good fruity tisane, I just wish it was a bit heavier on the goji and strawberry.

After a restless half-sleep, this is what I’m sipping now (cold) as I try and rouse myself. Mate, make your magic!

I left this in the fridge overnight, as I brewed it, took a few sips, and then realized it had mate in it. My daughter poached the majority of it for her thermos to take to school… “Mom, this is so much better than the Root Beer Float tea in the fridge.” “Yes honey, that’s because Root Beer Float is cold brewing and likely needs more time.” In typical teenage fashion, she shrugged her shoulders and ran off. She graciously left me one cup to try, so I could actually log and rate it here.

Cold, this is thick and slightly buttery. I taste the rooibos and lost the mate, except for at the end with a touch of dryness. There’s caramel in here too somewhere, although I’m only getting it hidden in my jaw, like a tartness I’m just shy of tasting, yet know that’s caramel giving me that mouth-watering, tingly reaction. A touch of Truvia really brings out the caramel flavors to a burnt toffee-ish taste. There’s something else in there that I can feel, however there’s zero taste to it. Adds to the faint dryness at the end.

A lovely cup, and a huge thanks to Dexter3657 for the sample!

Dammit! It’s 1:35am and as I went to log this tea, I discover I’m drinking mate. First sips have been lovely, however I need to put this aside until tomorrow if I’m going to get any sleep. Lesson learned: review tea ingredients that Dexter3657 meticulously sends with her swap to me prior to steeping.

Amazing!! I like this one even more than I liked Prickly Pear, and I really liked that one! This tea is much more berry influenced. Given my love for Redberry Tonic, I can taste the sea buckthorn, but there is so many more berries and fruits that it just makes for a lovely sharp blend. I tried it hot and am looking forward to trying it cold too!

This was wonderful! Tart but not too sour. I kept it steeping in my tea traveller and it just kept getting better and better! The pear flavour is strong and enhanced by the kiwi and rose. I think this made for a really nice tea, but it is also going to be a lovely iced tea!

Having let this sit on my shelf for months, I finally gave it another shot. This time I sweetened it and went for a minute and a half steep. I think sometimes I just can’t win with teas, the flavour was a lot less rooibos-y, but this time I managed to oversweeten. It is a good tea, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t seem to brew out the orange and clove I am smelling without doing something else to ruin the cup. Maybe this one needs to sit on the shelf again for a while until I get some stroke of brilliance.

This one is definitely one of the boyfriend’s teas. I like the cloves and love the orange hints, but the rooibos comes through a little strong for me. I am so enamored with the flavour though that I might try sweetening it and give it one more shot to see if I can downplay the rooibos. This is a smaller tea company, but they really have some excellent blends. I am loving the stuff I try from them!

I have no good explanation for why it took me half a year to consider tossing this in a pitcher and cold steeping it. Surprise super, it make for a great tea when cold steeped. The orange peels do still come through (and get bitter if it steeps too long), but this overall flavour is a nice, tart, natural orange. Overall, this is a wonderful orange tea with just enough natural sweetness that I don’t feel the need to toss in additional sugar.

I am moderately torn on this tea. I really love the orange flavour. It is very authentic mandarin orange tasting. The one issue I have with the tea is that is can get a teeny bit bitter when the leaves steep for too long. I have tried taking it in my traveller multiple times and I have had quite a few issues with a few sips of unwanted orange peel.I think this is a really great tea that shines with a bit of a shorter steeping time. With just a quick steep, you get a naturally sweet orange based tea.

I really, really like this chocolate mint tea. I find it very similar to popular chocolate mints, like Read My Lips, but there is something more to it. Maybe it is the larger chocolate chips or the pink pepper? Either way, the tea is wonderful in my tea traveller without any extra sweetener. The mint is evident in the smell, but there is a lot more to the flavour. It have been my go to mint tea for the past few days!

sipdown! I am relaxing this evening by watching a few shows and having a couple of good solid cups of tea to finish off a couple samples. I’m pretty proud of myself for getting to under 200 teas this weekend AND resisting buying tea from butiki and tealux – two things i had told myself i could do if i got to under 200. But I am trying to hold out until the end of November. Terri and i have to stay strong!

I really love this tea. It’s one of those teas that i would order again just to have around for when the mood struck. thanks so much to dexter for sharing this one with me! love it!

mmmm thanks dexter! I am a fan of this tea! It’s a little sour, but a touch of sweetener offset that. I will need to cold brew this, but as a hot brew it’s really tasty. It’s not as pear as i want it to be, but it’s pear enough for it to be tasty in my books!

another cold brew of this one tonight – good for hydrating after an afternoon in the sun. I’m not burnt, but i am warm and hot…and itchy. which means too much sun for me today lol thanks for sharing this one with me dexter!

another cold brew tea courtesy of dexter let me first start off by saying that unlike the one that David’s tea came out with recently…this smell of this one doesn’t make me queasy. I cold brewed this one and while it looks similar to the one from DT – it’s a much nicer brew. :) also the giant chunks in this one are kinda fun! thanks a bunch dexter!

Final Count: 117 (22 left to go for anyone counting lol)

Great Canadian Travelling Tea Box

So i’m a little over whelmed today in terms of being both a) exausted and b) feeling like my cupboard is totally out of control. Not sure why today feels that way since i’m not much higher after getting my orders in, than i have been in the past. 223 if you’re curious.

I still have a few teas left from the travelling teabox that I want to try, that i don’t want to parcel out and add to my cupboard. Same thing in principle i know except this saves a bag.

So the tea…I really wanted to try this one because it’s from a local shop near Dexter and because it’s one of the most interesting looking teas i’ve seen…AND it’s apparently her favourite tisane…that she didn’t bother adding to steepster! cough So i dont know what’s in this except some green stuff and yellow stuff and purple things…and it smell great! This actually comes as close as i’ve seen to the “fruit tea” i had while i was in Beijing. Seriously…it’s fan-freaking-delicious! I may just have to beg dexter to buy me some and send it my way or something. or i could just buy some stuff…since i took two seconds just now to go look at their website lol

Sooo i’m rambling i have a head ache and haven’t had dinner and really just want to go to bed. but this tea? it’s like a spot of funshine. yep. funshine.

Great Canadian Traveling Tea Box

Dexter added this from a local tea company and it is YUMMY! Seriously…i just want to take the whole bag. That’s saying a lot too since it has mate in it, which i don’t like. I think this would make one hell of a kickass latte in the winter. It’s a creamy delicious treat. I can smell the almond as i’m drinking this one, but it doesn’t translate into that artificial tasty almond flavouring that i like. Instead it’s closer to a more real almond taste in my opinion. There isn’t enough chocolate on this, but the almond and caramel blend nicely to make a deliciously creamy tasty cup.

that goes amazingly well with the pumpkin spice muffins i just made… MMMMM

Did first rinse with boiling water and then a 25 second steep. It’s okay – not particularly distinctive or complex. The tea flavour really comes in second to the mint and lime, and there’s very little of the multi-facteted earthiness that I associate with pu erh.

I’ll hav to experiment with more rinses and different steep times and water temperatures. As it is, this tea isn’t really grabbing me.

I get to add first note??! I feel stressed just thinking about that!!

Ok, I’ll do it. First, I must thank the ridiculously generous Dexter3657 for sending me this…thank you!!!

The dry leaf is pretty – all chunky fruits and petals and it smells sweet.

It brews up to a light golden colour, and once brewed it is reminiscent of tart flowers. But neither is overbearing. I don’t like tart tea’s usually, but this one is pretty good. The tartness is so light, that it adds to the flavour in a positive way. If the tartness wasn’t present it would be too sweet.I am also getting a hint of pear, which works really well with the tartness.

Dexter3657 was generous with this sample, my next sampling of this will be as cold brew which I think will be fantastic for this particular tea.

I’ve never tried this before, so won’t rate it tonight. All I have to say is that it’s AMAZING with hazelnut Kahlua.

Will write proper tasting note someday when I drink it straight.

Nobody rated this or logged this. Not sure a newbie should be the first to do so… Ah, the pressure. Especially since Rooibos is my least favourite of teas. However, Dexter3657 sent this to me and I can’t possibly not try it! Rude and wasteful, right?

It’s a coffee flavoured Rooibos so it gets points from me right off the bat. And the thing is that whatever is going on in this blend masks the Rooibos quite well so I’d say this is a better introduction to Rooibos for those who are just not sure.

There’s coffee on the nose, and in the aroma and flavour of the brewed liquor. I do find it a little on the weak side at 1.5 tsp for 8 oz with near boiling water. It brews a clear caramel brown liquor. That’s the best I can do without sounding too pretentious.

It’s one of the better Rooibos I’ve had even if a little on the weak side.

I took the picture of this off their web site, the picture does not do this justice. There are MASSIVE pieces of fruit in the blend. I have no idea how to measure it, there are pieces of dragon fruit the size of a tablespoon. Smells amazing.

I cold steeped this and it was fantastic. One of the best fruit blends I’ve had. Its expensive because of how heavy it is, you don’t get much for 100g. I think I’m willing to splurge now and again. This will be one of my summer staple iced teas!!!

I should have read my first note on this tea before making this batch but you know, it’s 3 am and I just wanted some iced tea. I said the first time that 1.5 tsp for 8 oz might have been too much tea. This time I used the same tea to water ratio and made two steeps combined in a pitcher. I sweetened and came up to bed with my too jars, excited. Then I tasted. Bleah.

So astringent with little, if at all cherry flavour. I had to sweeten the H out of this poor sucker and water it down so much with ice to make it drinkable. Won’t miss this one (sipdown!)

Thanks, Dexter3657 for sending me generous amount of this tea, but it was not for me.