A Quarter to Tea

This was a great afternoon tea – even cooled it’s pretty tasty, though it’s a little almost floral when it’s cold. happy to have this one again.

Delicious afternoon tea. Added a pinch of sugar to this and it certainly brings out a bit more of the caramel deliciousness. I think i prefer it without though to have more of the apple taste.

Rainy day teas. Working hard and trying to plan for the weekend coming up. Next weekend my other half is at an 8hr race so i won’t see him all weekend and then i’m on vacation while he stays home :) So this is our last weekend to really get oranised before we’re already in to June!
Pulled this one out since i want to try all the new teas to figured out if i “need” to place another order. This one is still a delicious apple tea, though i would love more caramel. even cooled i’m a fan.

And yes VariaTEA – i forgot to pack you a sample but i’ll make sure to save you some!

Another tea from A Quarter to tea As some of you may know, i don’t love oolongs, but i don’t hate them. I do however, love a good caramel oolong…and add some apple to the mix, i am usually sold.

this one brews up as a nice bakes sort of tea. at least that’s first impressions…baked caramel gods…followed up apple and what feels like, a hint of cinnamon…except that it might just be me projecting that, because this does a good job of creating that baked apple sort of goodness…ingredients say…yes there is cinnamon in here but it’s not IN YOUR FACE cinnamon. it’s a subtle blending of apple, caramel and cinnamon. I am a fan.

First off, thanks to much to quarter to Tea for sending out these great samples of teas. I’m always looking for new blends, especially since there is no more butiki. :( I picked this one because i LOOOOVE a good banana tea.

Ceylon’s are not my go to tea, as they generally have an astringency that I dislike. In this tea though, i quite like the base. I steeped this for 4.5 mins and there’s no bitterness or astringency. the base is quite nice and comes through without overpowering the tea. I did make sure to get some nuts and bananas in to the cup for a balanced steeping. What comes through predominantly is the pankcake/walnut feel. I don’t really get much in the way of banana. Once the cup cools, there is a hint of banana, but it remains a nutty/walnut? pancake sort of blend. that aside, i still quite like this tea but i want more banana! So imo….boost up the banana in this bad boy and you’ll have a fantastic tea here :) Really nice first cup from A quarter to tea. thanks for sharing!

Another sample from A Quarter to Tea – thank you! I HAD to try this one as well. Ceylon black tea with walnuts and bananas! I made sure to get that big piece of banana into the infuser! Sadly, any Ceylon is not my favorite. The description says “rich” Ceylon but to my tastes, Ceylon is anything but rich. Sadly there wasn’t as much banana or walnut flavors as I was hoping either. As it cools, there are hints of banana and walnut. The second steep was the same. I’m probably not steeping this one correctly but there isn’t enough sample to figure that out. Maybe I should be using two teaspoons for a whole mug. http://www.etsy.com/shop/AQuarterToTea
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for a mug filled 3/4 // 7 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 min

A Quarter to Tea is a handblended tea shop started by Lauren in what the Etsy page says was 2011. How has the Steepsterers not known about A Quarter to Tea for so long? I’m shocked that not many of the teas have been reviewed yet. I’m glad she has finally introduced herself to Steepster! Saying hello to Steepster is always a good idea. :D Really, looking at the blends, I was thinking they are a bit Butikiesque (yes, that is a word now.) I want to try them ALL! Most of the flavor combinations seem to be exactly the teas I have been looking for. I was drooling at all of the amazing blends that A Quarter to Tea has to offer, so I just had to bite when samples were offered. There is now also the option of choose-your-own sample packs: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AQuarterToTea

On to the tea: I asked Lauren to send me the most pumpkiny of the FOUR pumpkin teas offered. The blend here reminds me of Della Terra’s or David’s Tea’s Pumpkin blends (due to similar leaves and the cute pumpkin sprinkles!) But those blends didn’t have this cinnamon or pumpkin seeds! Like those teas, the black tea is a little on the light side for me, but to be fair, I did fill up the mug when the suggested parameters say one teaspoon of leaves for six ounces of tea. I tried to do a little better on the remaining teaspoon the next day with better results. There are wisps of a creamy pumpkin flavor through the Ceylon as well as hints of cinnamon. The second steep was even more cinnamon. I’m not sure what flavor the pumpkin seeds add to the tea, but they are a nice touch. I probably could have used two teaspoons for a full 11-12 ounce mug though – especially with this black tea base. A lovely start to A Quarter To Tea!
First day: Steep #1 // 1 tsp // 7 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep
Second day: Steep #1 // 1 tsp // 5 minutes after boiling // mug filled 3/4 to the top // 3-4 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // few minute steep

A crackpot idea that turned out so, so surprisingly good!

It’s a punch of bergamot and then the maple and vanilla sneak up on you. Super sweet , lingering finish.

QAing tea is great. I had to make sure my ratios scaled up to blending a larger batch, so it’s a been a fun Saturday morning (no sarcasm, I promise!)

I really like my pumpkin spice teas to have a pumpkin taste to them, so that’s really what I tried to do here.

The initial taste is the pumpkin spice trifecta: cinnamon, clove and a touch of nutmeg with a satisfying punch of black tea. The pumpkin really steps out after the cup cools for 5-10 minutes (which is easy, because I’m great at forgetting my cups, everywhere). The finish is crisp with a lingering of pumpkin.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!

I’d like to start off by saying THANK GOODNESS these teas aren’t over flavored. This is actually one of a few teas I’d consider to be not quite flavored enough… but I think a lot of that is because I don’t like rooibos :P as much as I am trying. It tastes like the sexy twin of chamomile… which is basically saying rooibos = rose scented poo, so I like blends that are strong enough to null it out.

The flavoring on this though is amazing! It’s a buttery vanilla + strawberry. So yes yes yes! It was a little herby straight, but a touch of almond milk smoothed it out so the strawberry could shine! I like the strawberry in this, it’s very fresh tasting, but still a little jammy. It reminds me of some flavor of childhood I can’t quite pin down. Maybe strawberry shortcake?

Love the flavoring. Total A
What is holding this one back is my dislike for the rooibos base. But I knew that going in to it. It’s enjoyable, I’m just not a rooibos person. But I will learn, and I think Quarter to Tea has some good examples to help show me the way to the Rooibos Fan Club. I would def buy more of this (because I’m learning to not caffeine at night and this is one of the better tasting subs so far) and look forward to trying more from Quarter to Tea.

Yummy! This flavoring is subtle and fairly natural tasting… this is like earl grey with a touch of red twizzlers. I enjoyed it, even more with a touch of vanilla almond milk! The resteep lost a bit of flavor, which is why I didn’t rate this a little higher. But I really enjoyed this, especially for a flavored tea.

Oh my goodness. This tea is friggin’ good! I am devouring it. The first infusion I didn’t allow the tea to steep for 5 minutes and I was greeted with a nice rich chocolate cinnamon flavor that had such a nice homemade chocolate dessert feel.

Where this tea really turns heads is when you listen (shame on me) and actually use the steeping parameters that are on the package. Holy cow! Spicy, sweet cinnamon, rich chocolate, with a creamy finish. There are hints of a roasted flavor there too. I have drank three cups of this tea in the last 30 minutes.

I’m not a fan of chocolate flavored teas at all, but I am loving this one!

http://www.cuppageek.com/index.php/2015/10/22/mexican-hot-chocolate-from-a-quarter-to-tea/