Utopia Tea

Here’s Hoping traveling teabox – Round 3

I’ve been having such a hard time finding time to try things in this traveling tea box as I usually don’t get home till after 7pm (or later) and so many of the teas are caffeinated that I want to try! Argh!

Anyway, this was a really nice blend. There was just over a teaspoon remaining so I didn’t fill my mug all the way, but it seemed to work. It needed sweetener for some of the flavors to come out, but once they did it was a treat, since the tea itself was almost thick in a way. Very dessert like and a fine way to start my Saturday morning. Not sure I’d go out of my way to purchase though.

Sipdown (191/195)!

Well, I’m not so sad to see this one go. Actually, I’m really thankful that the sample VariaTEA sent me was small enough I could use it all up in one go. Anymore and it would have been swapped to some poor soul or just tossed out.

It. Was. So. Gross.

It was like I was drinking this bad combination of citrus fruit that’s sat out the counter too long (where the fuck would citrus notes even come from!?), stale caramel, and butter that someone dropped on a dirty kitchen floor. I’m honestly shocked I even finished it: I guess I was really thirsty.

From the HHTTB2

I actually had this cup yesterday, but I got distracted and forgot to write a tasting note. Toffee, chocolate and hazelnut – What’s not to love? All of the flavors blended very well to create a sweet dessert-y drink with the hazelnut lingering after the sip. I didn’t try too hard to pick out each individual flavor since the combination works so well. I did get some bitterness as the tea cooled, but there wasn’t much left in my cup at that point, so it didn’t bother me. The very last sip was all chocolate. Deep, dark, it took me by surprise chocolate. Super yummy and a tea I’d consider ordering.

It’s a very subtle cookie. The almond is also subtle but in a good way. Think I will try this one again with some amaretto honey and see what happens.

dexter sent me this one in the quest to explode my cupboard a little lol I believe this one was on my wishlist, or if it wasn’t, would have been something i was interested in trying. However, upon brewing this up, the chocolate taste makes me not so very happy. There’s something ‘off’ about this one that makes me not want to finish the cup, above and beyond, the filmy weird things happening in my tea. I can see the potential in this one but the chocolate taste here just isn’t for me. BUT as always, love knocking things off my list of “all the teas!”

Sipdown!! (162)

Thank you Dexter3657 for surprising me with such tasty samples. I have really enjoyed my time with this tea but I don’t think this is something I need stocked. It has a nice rich and nutty flavor. However, as I continue to drink this tea, there is a sort of oiliness that underlies the tea that I am not loving (although, that could be a result of the tea having cooled quite a bit).

Toffee, chocolate, and hazelnut, all in one cup? Yes, please! Thank you Dexter3657 for sending some of this my way as it is certainly a tasty tea. I was nervous at first because this cup is incredibly murky but luckily that doesn’t translate into the taste. Instead, this is desserty goodness. I think, for me, toffee is the most prominent flavor but there is also a chocolate richness floating around the cup. The hazelnut element comes in right at the end to round out the sip and provide a fuller flavor. Certainly a cup I am enjoying and I am happy there is some more left in the sample for later.

Oh. Oh no. I am sorry Naylynn, thank you for sharing but this is just not great. Weirdly it is a little like soy sauce to be. It smelled amazing but I don’t particularly feel like drinking condiments. I am grateful for getting to try something new and this certainly sounded tasty but this is not for me. At all.

Sipdown!! (209)

Thank you NayLynn for a sample of this tea. Tbh, I am on the fence because it smells amazing but my sips alternate between an awesome vanilla bean flavor and an astringent black base. It is actually quite weird because I just don’t know what I am going to get with each sip. Would I purchase this? No, probably not. Would I have another cup? Yes. But for now, I am happy to just cradle the cup in my hands and sniff this aromatic cup.

This is a very odd tea.

In the bag it definitely smelled like caramel and popcorn, but somehow a bit of the flavours got lost in translation once the hot water got involved. Post-brew it tastes a bit like burnt caramel with light soapy notes.

It’s not a tea that’s fun to drink, honestly. I could probably stomach the whole cup if I had to, but since I drink tea for fun this one will be going down the drain.

I was excited to try this tea, it smells so good in the bag and looks fun with popcorn pieces and what I thought was coco puffs.

First sip tasted a little buttery but it smelled and tasted strange, some kind of seasoning. I tried to keep an open mind about it but I could not finish the cup. I poked at the coco puff that looked like a chickpea after being steeped and it was kind of gooey. I even tasted it, big mistake it was a concentrated taste of this strange tasting tea.

If I ever feel brave enough to try this again I will do it without the caramel ball. Thanks moraiwe for the experience and I was glad to see you did not like it either.

Adding: I had some caramel popcorn this weekend and I was surprised how much it reminded me of this tea. Movie theater seasoning peaking through the not completely caramel covered almost burnt popcorn. Not the best caramel popcorn :(

Here’s hoping tea box

Yummy! Great vanilla flavor- definitely not fake! The chamomile was OK. It seemed a little stake to me. Overall, a nice herbal blend for the evening.

Another from the GCTTB. This one was interesting to me… I haven’t had much luck with hazelnut in tea previously, so I figured I’d give it one mo try to see if it was the tea or the hazelnut that I wasn’t liking. So here it goes…

They dry tea is filled with hunks of toffee, chocolate, hazelnut and popped rice (tbh they almost look like rice krispies.) The smell definitely delivers on the name as I can pick out notes of toffee (vanilla flavored?), chocolate and hazelnut, there’s a dark undertone from the black tea, almost a bit of maltiness, but not much.

The liquor is a dark, cloudy orange-brown and has quite a bit of film on the top of the cup (though it’s not surprising given all the oily ingredients). The aroma contains lovely sweet notes from the toffee which blend well with the hints of chocolate and maltiness, while the hazelnut gives a nice middle note to round out the profile.

The flavor however doesn’t deliver the same upfront notes as the aroma though… I pretty much loose all of the toffee notes (though the sweetness is still there) which makes this tea a bit flat in my opinion. The chocolate is there, but it has mixed with the malty notes to form more of a dark chocolate while the hazelnut just doesn’t mesh well for me. It’s there and it’s definitely hazelnut but it just feels like its not blending into the rest of the flavor profile. I also get a really oily mouth feel that I’ve noticed in others hazelnut teas as well (especially as it cools).

At this point I am really thinking that hazelnut teas are just not for me, which is fine there’s lots of other teas out there! That said (putting aside my dislike for the hazelnut part) its not a bad tea, there’s some nice flavors there and I’m sure that some sugar would help to bring out the toffee flavors more too, but it’s just not my cup of tea ;)

This one smells just like delightful caramel! There’s big rolled balls of what I think are supposed to be caramel in it, as well as popcorn. It looks awesome.

Too bad it’s kind of gross. While I didn’t quite get straight dishsoap like TastyBrew did, I got something soapy, chemical and unnatural tasting that I can’t say I like at all. I managed about three sips before the cup went down the drain. It’s in those little caramel balls. They looked so intriguing I took the slightest nibble on one. They taste like salted hot, soapy plastic. Blerg.

I recived this sample in a fabulous giveaway from CrowKettle, thanks!

The flavouring is kind of nicely layered in this tea. At first I taste creamy textured dried fig, followed by baked apple and finally the tingling nip of cloves. I don’t really taste the anise and in the end the apple dominate the flavouring. I can see where ifjuly got the reference of cider, as the tea itself is tannic and drying in the mouth. The tea has a floral note and is slightly bitter. I don’t really find it that spicy but on the other hand I have a high tolerance for spice. Not a must have for me as I have apple and fig teas I prefer but I am happy to have had the chance to try it!

yyz, must say… don’t know that i’m as kind a person as you. this is a cup of lovely calm that i might not have shared!

didn’t even bother steeping outside of your recommended parameters. i am usually very picky about black and green blends too… very nice indeed.

very, very distant tobacco taste. not unpleasant. not bitter. very creamy. lovely vanilla. sense that the tea has thickness….. is making me sleepy! (not like i needed a big push, lol).

I really need to actually review this tea in full at some point…
But for now, just enjoying a cup of this semi-sweet and fruity black tea blend.

Just something different for a Friday morning! Sweet apple notes with the sharpness of black tea.

Tea at the office.

Work time tea

Push through the morning!

Oooh. This is nummy.

The tea part of this one is a medium-bodied base, with notes of cocoa and some fruit. The coconut and almond impart a roasted warmth and add a little bit of heaviness to an already creamy and rich mouthfeel. The vanilla, though, is easily the star of the cup. And it’s real, warming, flavorful vanilla. This is definitely one of the best vanilla teas I’ve had.

Thank you very much TastyBrew!