Pinky Up

This one tastes like fake berry and the worst sorts of rooibos. It all tastes really murky and strange and not at all pleasant. I’ve had it at least five times cold, and I think I’ll stop torturing myself now. Sadly, there’s really nothing good about it.

I’m a chamomile fan, but this one leans more celery-like than I prefer. I skip the resteep because it’s 100% celery. I don’t really get any citrus flavor, which is too bad. I prefer to sip and enjoy my tea, but this is a good one for a workout or a day with little time.

This is sort of similar to Pinky Up’s cinnamon roll tea, but not quite as tasty. There’s a woody cinnamon flavor and some sweet apple. It makes a strong enough resteep. I enjoy this one hot or cold without milk. It does a pretty good job at representing apple pie.

A pleasantly strong Early Grey tea with a nice aroma and flowers.

I saw this tin at the international grocery store, and I just had to try it. The flavor isn’t too unique or special, but it is enjoyable. There’s nothing about this blend that evokes baked goods. It’s more of a mild herbal spice blend. It’s mild enough that I wasn’t sure it would take milk. It has its own sweetness. I like to oversteep/overleaf this a bit, and it turns into a slightly less great version of S&V’s snickerdoodle. Yeah, when brewed like this, it’s a pretty good tea. I checked Pinky Up’s website, and most of their teas are out of stock, but there are several that sound pretty enticing.

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This was from my Sips by January box. I used the whole packet (about a tablespoon) for my 12-ounce mug because I find fruit tisanes to be quite weak if not overleafed… So easy sipdown, yay!

It’s quite sweet, though that’s probably partially due to my overleafing. The flavor is mostly sweet and tart apple. There’s a lovely warming cinnamon note as well. It’s nice to have a fruit tisane without hibiscus in it, not that I hate hibiscus, but it’s a nice change to not have it here.

It’s a very simple flavor for sure, just apple and cinnamon, and the apple leaves an acidic aftertaste in my throat that I could do without. And the sweetness is a bit too much for me. I’m not really getting anything cakey here, which is a shame. But it’s definitely pleasant (albeit sweet) cuppa to sip on before bed!

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Thank you Cameron B for the share!

When I won the Instagram giveaway a couple months back for teaware, I picked up a small glass teapot. It’s partially frosted but I’m used to the DAVIDsTEA Nordic mugs where you often can see through the frosting when heat is added. Because of that, I now have a failed time lapse of this blooming since the bloom is obstructed by the frosting. It was very pretty though.

In addition to being pretty, this filled my kitchen with the smell of honeydew which was quite promising. However, drinking it, there is some honeydew but mostly the base tea which is really buttery but a touch bitter. That bitterness trends towards drying floral. Perhaps that’s on my steeping though as I left this for 5 mins in 80C water.

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Just when I was back under 800 teas, a package from the super lovely Kittenna showed up with some AQ2T blends from a group order that I was waiting on and a BUNCH of tea samples! Tea friends really are the best, and most generous! I’ve got one ready to send out to her as well, just gotta make it down to the post office…

This is one of several one cup tea samples that she sent; I love getting able to quickly taste new teas this way without the guilt of having extra sample hanging around for ages afterwards!

This probably isn’t a flavour profile I’d go out of my way to buy – I don’t like coffee or chocolate flavours in my tea all that much and I’m kind of neutral about actual tiramisu. So, this is the perfect way to capture a snap impression of it! Immediately it loses points in my mind for the absolute oil slick that the steeped liquor becomes. It’s completely dotted with the fat from all the melted down white chocolate, and it coated my mouth in a rather unpleasant way.

However, that aside I thought the flavour was pretty spot on to Tiramisu. It’s got the coffee intensity right, and there’s a rich creaminess to the flavour along with a good dose of chocolate. As I said, I’m not the customer for this flavour profile but if I was then I think I’d feel pretty satisfied with the taste of this tea.

Thanks for sharing!

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Finished this one off last week in a big glass teapot, which I shared with two coworkers because I didn’t want to commit to drinking a whole pot of blooming tea. I’ve had another blooming tea from Pinky Up but I don’t recall liking it that much – this is a flavour combination I usually love though so I was hopeful it would actually come across in terms of flavour.

Firstly, I will say that the actual bloom itself is really unimpressive looking. Like, it’s just a bunch of green tea tied together and a small little amaranth looking flower. Nothing super eye catching/stand out which is sad because generally the whole appeal of bloom teas is the visual of it!

However, the rest of the experience was pretty nice! The tea is actually deeply aromatic and as the bloom was unfurling the whole room smelled softly and pleasantly of ripe peaches and vanilla! It was actually making me really hungry, and I found myself salivating a little just from the sweet and enticing aroma. The taste is really mild/delicate. There’s pros and cons to that; bloom teas basically just continue to steep all the way until you’ve finished the pot so it starting off REALLY light helps prevent those late cups from being really harsh and bitter/astringent. However, the flip is that it takes a while to find the sweet spot when you’re actually tasting the flavour of the tea and added flavourings…

I found the tea actually smelled stronger than it tasted, but I still got a very gentle peach and cream note from the infused cup – more cream than peach, actually. My favourite cup was actually the last one of the pot; it was really thick and creamy and while the green tea taste was a little astringent and “punchy” the creamy sweetness and hint of peach offset it in my mind.

Overall, this wasn’t mind blowing and I likely wouldn’t purchase any – but I liked it more than the Lavender Gelato flavour I tried earlier in the year.

Thank you for sharing, Cameron B!

A blooming tea that actually tastes pretty good. It has a distinctly red apple flavor with a wonderful juicy sweetness. Really quite good.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2019/03/30/candied-apple-pinky-up/

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Thank you Cameron B for sharing!

Lately I have been enjoying my smoothies with cinnamon so I thought this may be a fun tea to incorporate. I was wrong. I am getting mostly the plain greek yogurt and then a weird flavor from the tea. Sort of cinnamon, but on the sweet side and carrot. Not the best way to go about drinking this.

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Thank you VariaTEA for sharing! I was really curious whether or not this blooming tea would actually taste like honeydew that I didn’t even make it in a glass teapot; I just shoved it in a larger teapot and brewed it up without any regard to the aesthetics of the bloom at all.

I did think it had a trace of honeydew flavour, which was more than I had actually expected at all so already that was a win for me. It’s not really overly strong though, and the flavours I experienced more so were a mix of malt, hot hay, generic floral elements, and a hint of cucumber skin. With a thicker, creamier mouthfeel. Not a bad infusion; I finish the whole pot that I had made and wasn’t unhappy with it – but I do wish the honeydew was a bit stronger.

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Thank you for the share VariaTEA! This sounds like a flavour right up my alley, and the dry leaf smelled quite nice – sweet, sugary berries!

Steeped up, this is actually really sweet, but in a way that I feel is appropriate for a cotton candy inspired blend. I actually feel like I’ve experienced this exact profile in a tea before but I’m really struggling to recall which tea – it’s a serious Deja Vu moment for me though. Just a hint of the white tea base (hot hay notes, a bit of honeysuckle) but mostly a very candy sweet, sugary artificial “berry” flavour – not any one specific berry, but just the generic berry flavour that you really would get from blue, fluffy cotton candy. It’s accurate! Maybe a little too artificial to be perfect, but at the same time I don’t know how you would convey the titular flavour profile without having that artificial quality!? It is a synthetic flavouring, afterall…

Thanks for the share VariaTea – this was nice!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxxea7egYIw/

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Thank you VariaTEA for the tea care package!! As always, you sent a bunch of really interesting sounding teas that I cannot wait to explore!

So, I’m just now realizing that this “Confetti Cake” blend is supposed to be more of a white sponge cake with confetti sprinkles type deal (like the Betty Crocker boxed cake mix) and not the “Confetti Square” profile that I had in my head when I was drinking it – more peanut butter-y with multi coloured marshmallows. So, with that realization in mind I think this is a lot better than what I was initially feeling about it – completely and utterly not like a Confetti Square at all.

That said – it’s still definitely not GOOD. I mean, it’s basically just sweet chamomile! I taste nothing else remotely cake like in terms of flavour – only the unpleasant taste of chamomile. It didn’t even have anything visual in the tea leaf to indicate those confetti sprinkles that would normally be associated with confetti cake. So, definitely a miss for me overall.

Thank you for sharing though VariaTEA – I always like exploring new to me teas!

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Thank you Cameron B for sharing but I just cant get past the chamomile with this one. Chamomile and stevia. Not for me.

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Thank you Cameron B for sharing but this tea is definitely not for me. It has a lot of cinnamon which is weird but when it was brewed I noticed what seemed like apple. Why apple and cinnamon in a strawberry shortcake tea? That is bad enough but this doesn’t even taste all that great as a cinnamon apple tea. It is way too sweet and sort of coats the tongue. It just is off.

I’ve been using this to coconutify my other teas. Plum and coconut? Yum. Caramel and coconut? Also yum. Probably going to try it with my chai and cucumber tea, too.

Couple things before I review this — the leaves do not look like they do in the picture. There is a downright crazy amount of coconut shavings in this. Like each teaspoon is about half tea, half squiggly pieces of coconut. Wow. The flowers described in the name seem to be cornflower, calendula, and chamomile. I can see coconut and chamomile going together.

Second, this tea isn’t listed on Pinky Up’s website. I only see it on Amazon. Have I found yet another discontinued tea? That would be my luck lately.

Anyway, it smells like coconut paradise. I absolutely love coconut, so I am more than excited. The tea brews up pale and greenish. It smells like dessert in the best way. There is a tiny bit of coconut oil floating on the surface, but nothing like 52 Teas’ coconut flavors. As far as taste goes, it’s everything I had hoped it would be. So creamy, with notes of vanilla. It’s like coconut cream pie filling.

I can’t wait to try this iced. It’s definitely a winner. Possibly the best coconut tea I’ve had to date.

EDIT: Coming back to say that I am kinda getting a weird chlorine note. Not sure if it was my preparation or my cup or what. I might dock a few points for that if I taste it again next time.

EDIT 2: I made this over ice last weekend and there was no chlorine note. It was just pure coconut bliss.

Big, glass teapot of this because sometimes you just need to start your mornings with something beautiful…

This bloom, purely aesthetically speaking, is pretty pleasing. It has some vibrant, bright contrasts from the flowers tied in with the green tea: pinks and oranges. It opens up very quickly, too – and has some pretty good expansion. However, I don’t think it’s well tied because a lot of the green tea seems to have separated from the bloom and is now floating in my pot independently of the bloom itself.

Flavour is… meh. It’s lavender.

Not great lavender and not awful lavender. Just a touch boring? At least the green tea isn’t getting bitter over time as I drink down the pot. So that is somewhat of a win. Blooming teas are always a crap shoot in that regard.

So tbh I grabbed this tea this morning because I have Cotton Candy Caramel Corn and had an idea for a tea picture. But once it started brewing, I was excited to get to try another berry cotton candy tea.

I brewed this like a green tea because I thought it was a green tea but now I realize its a white tea. Oh Well.

Tastewise there is a nice jammy blueberry flavor. However, despite that, I am finding this a bit flat. I am blaming the white tea and also stevia which coats the tongue. It is not overly sweet as blends with stevia usually are but there is still that stevia taste coupled with hay notes from the white tea. It all sort of stops the jammy blueberry in its tracks instead of letting it shiny. Also, I think their hope was the stevia would lend itself to the “Cotton Candy” aspect of this tea but I don’t think it is successful in its job. They should have just thrown actual sugar in this if that was their plan.

Still, I am glad I got a chance to try this tea because it was one that definitely peaked my interest. Thank you Cameron B for the share!

Home – 11:00 PM

The Great Cupboard Excavation
Untasted teas remaining: 5

This does definitely taste like a cinnamon roll, with the pastry, cinnamon, and icing notes. Maybe a little raisin and orange in there as well.

Only issue is, it’s waaay too sweet for me. I guess it must be the “maple crystals”, but it’s quite sugary. Which is unfortunate, because otherwise I would be tempted to keep this one around as a nice cinnamon roll herbal tea… :(

Home – 10:00 PM

Another Pinky Up tea. I’m confident that this one will be less offensive than the last! This is a flowering tea, which I don’t really care about. Really, it’s a detriment in my opinion as it makes the tea less cost effective and more annoying to brew.

I used two orbs for 16 ounces of water. I just let them steep directly in the teapot, since two of them together don’t fit in my basket well. Of course, there were a bunch of detached tea leaves floating around so I ended up having to strain it into another container and then pour it back into the pot.

This is a nice enough honeydew green tea. The base tea is very light and has a bit of a smoky profile. The honeydew is also light, and there is a bit of creaminess to it. I’m not sure whether this has cream flavor as well as melon, but it’s possible. Overall, it’s light and sweet with good honeydew flavor.

It’s tasty enough, but I already have a favorite melon tea from Lupicia. ;)

Home – 8:30 PM

I’m not sure what these people were thinking with this tea.

It’s supposed to be a strawberry and cake flavored black tea. Yet when I open it, the first thing I notice is that there’s a ton of cinnamon bark mixed in. Since when does strawberry shortcake have cinnamon…? It makes no sense.

Brewed up, yes it has quite a bit of cinnamon to it. Which makes it rather confused, is it strawberry shortcake or some kind of apple pie?

Plus, the flavoring is so artificial-tasting to me. It’s like I can feel the residue on my tongue after each sip. Plus they also put a ton of brittle pieces in, so it’s overly sweet.

Nope, nope, nope…