A Quarter to Tea

On a roll today so decided to go way past my self imposed caffeine limit and have the last of the QQT black teas. I think with the celyon based teas I need to let them cool a little for the base to not over take the flavors. First sip I was like yak, I came back to the tea a few minutes later and yum. I get all the flavors, chocolate, orange, and a smooth base. This is pretty tasty. I would expect this would get a little better with a tad bit of brown sugar. Yum, another fun cup. After finishing tasting all the samples I couldn’t help myself but place another order. I am glad Lauren decided to post on Steepster!

I love EG, so I had to pick one of the QTT’s EG’s to try. This one seemed the most unique. This is good. Nothing crazy fancy. When Lauren says their is a punch of Bergamont she is not lying. As it cools I get a slight hint of sweetness and maybe cinnamon? I think I would have to drink it right next to a straight EG to notice substantial differences between a normal EG and this. Not my favorite from QTT, but not bad.

This to me is tasting exactly as advertised. Roasty, sweet, nutty. A fun treat this morning. Delicious!

Oh what a wonderful cup for the morning. This is some serious yum! I think Mazi said it, I am turning into a fan girl. I am already plotting the next purchase, b/c I mean who could pass up a sweet potato pie keemun? I am drinking this tea straight, which if I had my drothers I would be adding milk and sugar to chai, but those are off limits for now. Just straight it a decent chai. I get some spice, who the heck knows what kind, plus some maple for sweetness. I am not really able to pick out pumpkin in this one, but it is still delicious. The base works for me on this one. Not too strong and not too weak.

EDIT: As it cools I definately was able to pick up more of the pumpkin spice flavor. Also, I am finding 2 tsp for about 8oz of water is the sweet spot for these.

Sipdown (123)!

Just ordered more samples from A Quarter to Tea! The Smoky Sweet Potato Keemun really sold me on doing so; I mean, there were several that I was really curious about but the idea of that one had me salivating – and I don’t even like Keemun! So, I should probably get my reviews up for the blends from A Quarter To Tea that I’ve already tried…

This is my second sample from A Quarter to Tea! I chose it for a couple reasons; the big one was that the other two samples I picked out were oolongs and I wanted to get to taste at least one of Lauren’s other tea types. However, I was also interested by the fairly unique ingredients. I’ve never seen Sangria with blueberry, for starters. Finally, I wanted to find a Sangria tea that was an improvement on the other two I’ve tried. DAVIDsTEA had a seasonal Sangria blend which I didn’t mind but didn’t love, and Red Leaf Tea has a Sangria flavour of matcha I currently own but don’t particularly like. And the idea of Sangria with a white base sounds awesome, too!

It was hard to form much of an impression of the tea dry: I could see several chunks of the dry ingredients in the blend, but there wasn’t a distinct aroma. Part of that, I feel, is that in the package Lauren mailed to me the Cherry Chocolate Latte was really a dominant flavour and I think possibly may have contaminated the other teas it was packaged with or, at least, “cancelled out” their aromas – which weren’t as potent/strong. Since Lauren suggests on her Etsy page to ice this and since Sangria really is a drink best consumed cold I decided to go with a cold method of preparation. However, instead of icing I went with cold brewing because that style of preparation is a favourite of mine.

I do find this tea to be very mildly/delicately flavoured overall, with softer and less prominent notes of apple and blueberry and a jammy stonefruit quality which I suppose is the cherry. I want to point out that mild and subtle isn’t actually a bad thing, however Sangria doesn’t have a ‘delicate’ flavour to begin with so it’s not reading as the most accurate flavour profile. Plus it’s a little odd for me to neither taste “orange”/citrus which is such a common Sangria flavour or the wine/rum. As such, while I really like the flavour that I do taste, I find it very hard to drink this and think of it as ‘Sangria’ flavoured. The name just doesn’t seem to match, you know?

I’d be interested to see this tea rebranded as another flavour, maybe even some kind of ‘punch’? This is a refreshing, light, fruity cuppa but in my ‘quest’ for the perfect Sangria tea my expectations just haven’t been met.

So even though I’m on a tea buying hiatus (a BIG one) everyone on Steepster has been seriously tempting me with their tasting notes from Quarter to Tea and so I decided to bite the bullet a week ago and treated myself to a small package of seven different samples and upon opening the bag this morning I’m oh so glad that I did!

I overleafed this and maybe thats where I’m seeing the difference but this tea is FAN-FRIGGIN-AMAZING Like drink it forever and I’d be happy amazing!!! Authentic cherry and chocolate flavors with a kick of coffee – this may just have replaced Cocoa Amore for me as my go to cherry tea because (1) its seriously delicious and (2) its actually available unlike Cocoa Amore!

Buying more right now!!!

So, for me this tea was a tad off mark. My taste buds are only detecting the chili flakes and the cardboard taste of the Ceylon. After reading the great reviews on this I had hoped for sweet chocolate with spice, but I didn’t quite get that. I will have to try more the sample tomorrow to see if it was just my brewing…….

Well this is delicious. I don’t always like cheesecake flavors in tea but this one is rocking my world right now. The chocolate isn’t slapping me in the face – which is a good thing. I just got a nice blended pumpkin cheesecake flavor with a hint of chocolate yum. I think I might be a fangirl.

Yum! Coffee + cherry + tea. Yes Please! I am really digging this blend. The flavors are well balanced. The cherry doesn’t scream cherry, but you know it is there. The coffee when it was really hot was a tad bitter, but as it cooled it blended really well with the mix. This tea also gets a huge A+ in my book for creative/unique flavor. I mean I would have never thought these flavors would go so well together. Love it.

Sipdown and the chocolate taste came back. WTF. The past few times it’s been more like a Yancha Chai, but now, full on spice, chocolate, and marshmallow.

Okay, I’m not tasting the chocolate as much this time. I get the anise, spices and oolong, but only a chocolate undertone for soaking it for three minutes. It actually tastes different from the times I’ve written about it before. Oddly enough, the bag still smells very chocolaty and when I brew it with a certain amount of water, the chocolate aroma boomed in my face, then disappeared as I added more water. Specifically, it was going from about 10 ounces to 16. So, I need to use more leaves or less water.

I now totally get what Fjellrev and Evol Ving Ness have been getting. It’s actually more like a oolong chai to me right now. Again, totally different from before. But I still really like it without the chocolate. Considering this cold weather, I need any spicy comfort I can get.

After getting some, I can see why people were disappointed by this one. A lot of people were expecting a heavily chocolate black tea with a oolong smoothing out the texture followed by the spiciness. It really is a strong oolong with a smooth black compliment intensified by a candy spiciness then followed by a dark chocolate aftertaste. The tea on its own actually tastes closer to an organic Mexican hot chocolate mix using coconut sugar instead of regular sugar.

As with tea, people have different preferences with their hot chocolate. I don’t like super sweet chocolate. I rarely go below 60% cocoa and usually opt out for the 80%. In short, I like darker chocolate that is more subtle and less sweet. A part of me wants to do a poll on Steepster of the people who rated this tea to see the type of chocolate they eat and how sweet do they like their hot chocolate.

For this tea, you’re really expected to get the chocolate tones from the oolong then from the chocolate itself. I personally like Qilan Yan Cha oolongs and am very glad that it is the dominant tea. I would then recommend people who like toned down, dark chocolate of the organic variety to try this. Don’t expect a creamy hot chocolate, but instead think of a nutty, smooth oolong that turns into a spicy chocolate tonic. In short, flavorful, but watery. And I enjoy it.

After so many fumbles, I decided to sip it gong fu while I steeped it Western. Ho-ly-crap. So good. At 15 seconds, I tasted the oolong, which was nice, roasty and creamy. 30 seconds, some cinnamon and something like paprika sneaks through. At 45, spicier with marshmallow. 65, the chocolate comes to dance with spices and marshmellow. At 90, the party of all the flavors begins. At 120, the flavors all here and tango so sweetly and passionately. I can taste the oolong, black tea, marshmallow, cocoa, spices, EVERYTHING. I wanted to stop and I should have there. At three minutes, it was good, but it had to cool down to really taste like Mexican hot chocolate. Still freaking amazing though, with a smooth mouth feel.

By far the most complete tea out of the ones I’ve tried from Quarter. Currently on steep two to see how it does. Really, really good.

Now after 3 minutes, mostly spices, the black, and the oolong. Good, but it does not have the mouthfeel magic of the first. Should have been just as careful with this one. But after 45-55 more seconds, some chocolate said hi and it was better.

I could brew maybe one more cup since eucalyptus like spiciness emanates out of the cup. But the base would probably be thin. I’ll finish here.

Backlog
Preworkout dessert to keep me awake and I’m again pretty happy with this tea. I got everything but the chocolate which I’m starting to think that it was due to the way I was brewing it. I do get a chocolate undertone from the flavoring though. Again, not a problem for me because I attack the strawberry and pistachio parts of the ice cream anyway.

I let the last steep from the prior session cold brew over night and it was so yummy. You taste more of the sencha, pstachio and cocoa in it and it really tastes again like spumoni.

Used whole sample in 7 ounces. Bad idea. Steeping it for 30 seconds. Good idea. Letting it steep another 30 seconds. Stupid idea. Drinking half, then adding more water. Great idea.

Consensus: it really tastes like liquid hot spumoni. The pistachio and the sencha are the most dominant-which is good because whenever I ate spumoni, I would ONLY eat the pistachio first, inching every morsel of green without touching the strawberry or chocolate. Then I would move on to the strawberry, and then I relaxed a little bit more with the chocolate. I was really OCD as a child.

Okay, back to the tea. The coconut provides the creamy background that the tea really needs. The cocoa nibs are great-shadowed but ever known and ever present. Strawberry perfectly compliments everything else and puts a smile on my face. Steep two at 40 seconds is coconut and pistachio Sencha with cocoa. My only complaints in taste is the astringency, which I can avoid If I steep it lighter.

Unfortunately, I do have one larger complaint and that is the packaging. I could smell every tea through the bag and I’m not sure for how long they would keep their flavors, which is why I’m drinking all of them now. I could be wrong and hope that I am wrong. I also REALLY need to steep these teas lighter. Thankfully, I have enough of the Cherry Latte to figure that out with.

I’m so glad the the taste matched the smell entirely, which is why I’m rating this higher than the others I’ve had so far. I do need to try this again. Spumoni is one of my favorites after all, and so is Sencha.

I cold brewed this one over night. Maple and pecan ever present with nutty oolong. Good and better than some of the other steeps, just a little drying.

I get the maple. I get the pecan. But then roast and char dominate. I should have kept it at two minutes and 45 seconds, maybe less. I went up to nearly four minutes and was a bit disappointed. Smell is heavenly, and the flavor combo is of course awesome. I just need to brew it right. I used the entire sample this time, though. It does improve significantly as it cools down closer to 180.

Time for rebrew, steep #2. 2 minutes, and now there is a nicer mouth feel-I can really taste the pecan and the dry pecan shell now. Letting it steep another 30 seconds….yummy, bolder, maybe 15 more… and better. Maple is fainter, but the Quilan is really noticeable with the pecan pairing to its natural nutty flavor. I like the simplicity of this one more than the cherry latte, but I prefer the type of flavor of the cherry latte. Again, the mouth feel could be smoother. I probably would have enjoyed this more maybe with less leaves, or with less time in the first steep. Still good, but it has better potential. I’m going to brew it one more time and maybe cold overnight to see what else it offers.

Again, intoxicating smell so good that you can get drunk off of it, but the liquid was a little bit thin. The flavors came out best at 2 minutes and 45, then at around 4 minutes the second steep using the entire sample-which was maybe two small teaspoons. Orange and rum are the most dominant, but it could use a bit more chocolate which was really brought out by cream. Nevertheless, the tea did give me a really great euphoria.

Okay, it’s been near perfect lately. I’ve had at least two 16 ounce servings of this in the past four days not including resteeps. This and the Mexican Hot Chocolate have kept me happy and awake.

Sipdown to make first class of the week awesome, and it did. I finished it off in my Urban Tea Tumbler and it was the perfect combo yet again. Chocolate covered cherries with coffee roasting in the background indeed making my morning that much better, and my classes that much more enjoyable. 5 or 6 grams yielding three strong steeps in 16 ounces, 15, then finally 11. Goodbye, and I look forward to meeting you again…

(Waiting for people to gag at my cheesiness.)

Lauren, you don’t need to worry now. The magic is back: full fledged cherry goodness with nice chocolate coffee accents and a great base tea. I got more hojicha, cherries, and oolong in this cup and the combo is awesome. Even the nice, smooth mouth feel ending with roast is back. I will always recommend this tea and enjoy it.

Based off all of my experiences of this tea, the only real problem is the different consistencies I get from each cup, which ENTIRELY depends on the ingredient ratio. That’s why my reviews for this are ad hoc.

Better this morning with more cherries. It’s still been a bit flat, but for whatever reasons, the flavor returns when the tea is almost cold. Good then, and good in the later steeps this morning. I think I just had the ingredient and leave ratio off last time.

I’m not getting the same taste this time. Mostly bitter leftover coffee grounds and hints of cherry. Where did the flavor go? Where did the smell go in the bag?

This is a back log and a current one. Back logging, I’ve used the same steeping parameters as when I changed the rating, but I still haven’t gotten what I loved about this tea. I used even more leaves this time and less water (5g to 8 ounces-2 minutes tried, upped to 3 minutes in 6 ounces) and it’s almost watered down. Temperature 185 F.

Maybe it’s due to another mess up from my part. Though this tea shouldn’t really lose flavor, but I should probably drink the rest of it pretty quick. I’m also surprised at how hypercritical I’m being. Hence no rating. On that note, the Panna Cotta has been amazing and wish I had more.

Don’t worry Lauren, this is not the new bag you gave me. It’s still from the old one. That recent one is a gift.