Acquired Taste Tea Co.

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Recent Tasting Notes

89

500th note! Woot! So many reviews, kind of crazy!

I did have a different cup of tea this morning that I could have logged as my 500th, but I wanted it to be this one, as it is just hitting the spot on this blustery day. Lovely apricot and cream flavor! A current favorite, and because it is, it gets the spotlight of my 500th note. And a local company! Yay for tea, can’t believe I’ve written that many reviews in under a year! Now I feel like a tea addict :) see previous notes on this tea!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec
Sil

Congrats!

Fjellrev

AWesome, congratulations!

CHAroma

Congratulations!!

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89

This is an excellent tea!! I’ve had 2 cups of it since I bought it, and it is just awesome. The apricot and cream flavors are very true, and the black base is perfect for them, not sure what type, actually, I know nothing about this tea other than the name, I couldn’t find it online! But it is a darn good one. I smelled it the first time I went to the store and for some reason didn’t get any, probably because I got the lemon cream instead (which is also really good). The sales clerk was having a cup with milk the first time I went in, so I might have to try that sometime too! But this is the PERFECT autumn tea. I love it, will definitely drink lots of it!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec
Fjellrev

I’m so glad to hear that! I’ve had my eye on that one.

mrs.stenhouse12

They seem to be pretty good with black cream teas, both maple and lemon are tasty as well!

Fjellrev

Good to know. I’ll definitely make my way downtown and check them out next time I’m in town then.

mrs.stenhouse12

They are super knowledgeable about tea there too, and a very nice selection of teaware :) but you have to get 50g of each tea, which is quite a bit, haha I’ve been sucked in though because so far they seem pretty good!

mrs.stenhouse12

Incendiare, try this tea! Haha maybe it’s just me, but man this is good! A perfect autumn blend too :D

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69

SIPDOWN! This last cup was the best of the three, all the cranberry and cream must have sunk to the bottom of the bag. A very interesting rooibos to try, I might buy it again in the future if there are more cranberry bits lol. See previous notes!

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69

Had a cup of this one as my final cup of the evening, phew, lots of tea today! I feel so hydrated :D this one is not much better even with a longer steep time, still very rooibosy. I have enough for one cup still. It at least is a decent quality rooibos, smooth and tasty. See previous notes on this tea :)

Preparation
Boiling 7 min, 0 sec

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69

Another sample I picked up on Friday. This smelled super interesting dry, cranberry with a hint of cream and the rooibos balancing everything nicely. It was interesting because I haven’t had many cranberry teas, especially a rooibos, and you really could smell it in there! Very autumny.

I steeped it for around 5 minutes. Steeped, it mostly smells like rooibos. Boo :( as for the flavor, ehh I get a mild cranberry note, but a sweetish cranberry, so a bit medicinal. Not much cream, maybe a little bit? But yeah, mostly rooibos. A smooth rooibos at least, but I was hoping for a heavier cream flavor, something akin to Lemon Chiffon by Della Terra but with cranberries. I will try this again at a later date with a longer steeping time, as I still have enough for a few cups in my sample. A bit disappointing, but still happy to have tried it, and works well with my alternating of caffeinated/non caffeinated teas so that I don’t get caffeine crazed :)

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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82

Travel mug SIPDOWN! Can’t wait to try my new teas tonight haha so I had to finish this one off first. This tastes like a Tootsie Roll in my travel mug today. Delicious! Might consider re purchasing some of this just because it fares so well in my mug!! See previous notes on this tea :)

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec
Bonnie

Good taste but an odd name for a tea company isn’t it? I mean, it implies that you have to belly up and get used to the taste of the tea, that most people wouldn’t like it.

mrs.stenhouse12

Yes it is a bit of a strange name, but I’ll forgive them as their teas, or at least the ones I’ve tried, have been pretty good :) it might be referring to how coffee is more of a common hot beverage currently and you have to acquire a taste for tea or something, I should ask next time I’m there!

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82

Had a cup of this along with one of dulce and banana, nice compliment! This one is super chocolatey and dark, while the banana one is light and caramelly. Both yummy teas, both have one cup left. Hoping for sipdowns tonight or tomorrow! See previous notes on this yummy tea!

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82

Darn steepster ate my first note on this! Ugh, anyways, this one was a sample I picked up at the local tea shop, the dry smell is like dark chocolate and fruit. Steeped for 2 mins, it smells similar to Butiki’s Mi Xian black, fruit and sweet notes are very present! As for the flavor, the sales girl said it tastes like Tootsie rolls, and amazingly, it really does!! So strange for a tea with currants in it! Definitely pleased I picked up a sample of this intriguing tea, and it’s nice on a cloudy day like today :)

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec

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89

Ok so I am finally not too busy to write a tasting note!! Ok, first of all, news

If you just want to read about the tea, skip to the last paragraph

So this weekend has been hectic, well the last few weeks anyways..as we have been..house shopping! Yes, me and the guy have been looking at houses, searching online, etc etc..and we finally found it! Our house! And, WE GOT IT! For less than we budgeted too! I am sooo excited! It’s been super busy, and now the guy is off to work up north for 10 days, so I will have a fair amount to do this week, but it’s ours, and it’s beautiful! A big garden and fruit trees too, in the city!

and a tea related part!

The wonderful couple we bought it from lived there for over 40 years, and there were tons of teapots in the house! Beautiful ones! Well, we went on the weekend when they were there, and got talking tea! Haha what are the chances! They brought out a bunch of tins for me to smell and everything, and even recommended me a new company based in Vancouver! Crazy haha, tea brings about the randomest things sometimes!

So yes, that is my news. First house! So excited :D

So now..onto this tea..

I have been drinking tea as of late but too busy to log, but tonight I am relaxing and having a wonderful cup of this with a splash of skim milk. Skim doesn’t seem to upset my stomach, so a very good cup tonight! Creamy, tart, a bit astringent, but it’s lemon haha, so it’s ok. I might have steeped it a bit over 2 mins as well, so that could be contributing. Yummy and good on a Monday night! See previous notes.

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec
Yvonne

Wow! Congratulations! I really hope you enjoy your new house :) This is so exciting!

yyz

Congrats!

mrs.stenhouse12

Thanks!! Ahh it’s so exciting, it’s just the one we wanted! It even has shelves and lit cupboards for my teaware :D the cat won’t break any of it again haha

keychange

Congratulations! You must be over the moon!

Kamyria

Oh wow, congratulations!! It sounds like a lovely house. I like the part about the big garden with fruit trees.. and place for your teaware!! :D

Fjellrev

Wow, congrats! If I were to buy one there, it would be south side or nothing haha.

OMGsrsly

Congratulations! That’s so awesome. :) (I have to ask though, where did they recommend? I want to visit!)

Kat_Maria

Congratulations! I can’t wait for that moment to come for my hub and me… someday.

__Morgana__

Congrats on the house!

mrs.stenhouse12

Thanks everyone!! Yes the fruit trees and garden, which is actually a bunch of raised flowerbeds, will be awesome! And room for teaware of course haha! And Fjellrev don’t worry it’s on the south side of the river haha :D

And @OMGsrsly – they recommended Murchie’s, I looked at a few of their reviews on here and I will definitely have to place an order in the next few months! Looks tasty!

Fjellrev

I am SO glad to hear that!

OMGsrsly

Oh yes! A friend got me (more) Murchie’s for Christmas. :) Their stuff can be quite nice!

Sil

That’s amazing news! Congratulations!

Meliboum

Congratulations !!!!! :)

Nicole

Congrats!

mrs.stenhouse12

Thanks all! Yeah Murchie’s has a huge selection, in Feb I will probably place a small order :)

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89

I finally tried this local tea company! I have been meaning to for ages, and finally stopped there last Friday. After smelling various teas and liking quite a few of them, I asked the clerk for a suggestion for a creamy tea. She showed me this one, and I had to get it. The dry smell is soo lemony and creamy, wow, I have only smelled one tea on par with it, Lemon Chiffon by Della Terra. The smallest sizes they offered were 50 g (eep) but I got it anyways, and one other 50 g tea, a 26 gram oolong (higher grade = smaller quantities available) and she put in two free samples of my choosing :D. I made a cup of this last week, but with being away in BC all weekend didn’t get a chance to log it, but I will now, as I’m having a cup at work in a valiant yet not triumphant effort to wake up.

So yes, the dry smell is amazing, I steeped a little over 2 minutes today, and there is a touch of bitterness, but not unpleasantly so. Oh and the steeped smell is also a yummy lemon flavor. Last week when it was 2 minutes on the nose, I was amazed at the flavor. So much lemony goodness…this almost rivals Lemon Chiffon in my opinion, but I can’t fully compare the two as one is a black base while the other rooibos. Regardless, even with a longer steeping time, this tea is holding up quite well. Still tons of lemon cream flavor, a little bit like H&S Paris as well lol.

Overall, I am super impressed with this tea. I can’t wait to try my other one from them (Grapefruit EG!) and I should also write a note on my sample I tried last week at some point (Maple and Cream) but later haha. This tea is so far the best of the ones I purchased. Definitely will be heading back to try more of their cream teas!! I mean, they also have an apricot cream, I need to try that one too haha. A good find!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec
Fjellrev

You’re in Edmonton? I know what you mean! I’ve been meaning to check out their store for years but I almost never go downtown, especially where it’s located. I was only sent samples by them. I’m so glad to hear that it’s a worthwhile place to drop your money haha.

mrs.stenhouse12

Yeppers I’m in Edmonton :) pretty close to the downtown so I’m surprised I haven’t been there sooner! Are you in Edmonton too? So far the lemon tea is good, I am hoping they are all pretty decent :D reasonably priced too I think, but the 50 g minimum is the one downfall, that’s a lot of tea to get at once haha, you can only really try like 2 kinds

Fjellrev

I grew up in a village around there and did my undergrad at U of A. Still go back to visit but I rarely leave the southside! Kudos to taking the plunge and buying something there. Sometimes it’s hard to commit yourself to 50g when you have no idea what you’re facing. That’s another reason why I kept putting it off too.

Not sure if you heard me freaking out about it before, but have you ever gone to Remedy cafe? Best chai on this planet.

mrs.stenhouse12

Haha I’m from a small town too actually, and did the same thing, undergrad at the U haha. Yeah it’s kind of tough to get that much tea without trying it, did that in Jasper and now I have 50g of EG that smells like perfume haha, but I thought I’d try it out, the clerk was super helpful and knew her stuff too! I haven’t gone to Remedy yet actually, not sure why I haven’t lol I’ll definitely have to check it out!

Fjellrev

Back when Tea Desire was at Southgate, I used to go nuts and get five different flavours at a time, but of course, just because something smells amazing, it doesn’t mean it’ll taste amazing. After doing that for two years, the whole 50g minimum makes me nervous haha.

Maybe mix the Earl Grey with something else to tone it down? I hope it wasn’t too pricey at least.

Let me know if/when you check out Remedy. There’s one on 109th street across Garneau/Metro theatre, and they expanded downtown at 102 Jasper ave. My favourite is the Kashmiri chai. Drooool.

mrs.stenhouse12

Haha yeah I did the 50g of tea in my first DavidsTea order and when I first went to the store..yeah, I’m still not done them lol. But then there’s other teas (A&D) that I splurged on the tins and I drink it so often! I guess if it’s good, it’s good!

I will definitely try to mix the EG, it wasn’t expensive luckily haha so if worse come to worse I will just toss it haha. I’ll probably hit up the downtown Remedy since I’m close, but I go to near Garneau a bit too, so maybe that one! I checked out their drink menu, they do look tasty :D

Sil

I miss my hometown :(

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drank Angel's Dream by Acquired Taste Tea Co.
15006 tasting notes

Yeesh…I probably used water that was a little hot for this one. I wasn’t thinking when i made it that it’s a black and green blend. There’s a bit of bitterness behind it, that may very well be my fault so I’ll hold off rating this tea. I suspect that if this was brewed properly it would sit in about the 75 range. I like the blackberry taste, but i’m not getting a sense of the maple.

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72

SIDOWN! I’m glad i had enough of this sample to try this again because this time i am getting a MUCH nicer blueberry cream taste instead of just “rooibos.” That being said i must have steeped it for more than 10 mins. That being said, i’m not sure how much i want to keep a tea in my cupboard that requires me to steep it forever to get the flavour :)

A decent enough tea, so i’ll be open to trying other teas from this company if i get back to edmonton for a visit. :)

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more
Fjellrev

Me too, the samples they sent me have definitely piqued my curiosity.

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72

I tried the last sample i received from this company today and needless to day i have a bit left over for another round of it. From this one, i’m getting mostly a rooibos taste, which i don’t mind but is clearly lacking the blueberry piece of the tea :) Holding off rating this though since i was at work and not paying much attention to how long i steeped it. That being said, wouldn’t it be nice if the website had SOME information on the tea? lol sigh

Fjellrev

Yeah, their website is a little frustrating. I kept missing out on visiting their store the last couple times I was in town since it’s out of the way. Seems to be the best way to do things with them.

Sil

Yep. I’m curious what their website USED to look like lol. I may just ask a friend to send some my way from edmonton. Since i likely won’t make it back for a bit.

Fjellrev

I just checked the site and it looked the same when I got my samples a year ago. Hmm. I was supposed to go home for Reading Week this upcoming week but have too much work to do. Too bad, I could have sent some! Maybe I’ll make a trip in May. :)

Sil

haha well let me know! :)

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80
drank Toffee by Acquired Taste Tea Co.
15006 tasting notes

So in my many searches through the internet, I came across this company from my old home town and discovered they will send you two free samples if you email them. So I did what any sane tea lover would do, and requested a sample since the descriptions of their teas sounded lovely. Note: one complaint i have about tea companies? No pictures and No steeping parameters…drives me crazy! But i digress…

I popped open this sample first when my package arrived yesterday since I’ve had a few other toffee teas and I wanted to see how they stack up with a tea that many other companies provide. The verdict? Not too shabby indeed. I actually prefer their version, which maybe be the result of the sample itself, or the tea’s proclivity, because i can still taste the base through the toffee and it’s a stronger base than i’m used to in this sort of tea. Woah run on sentence/thought batman. heh oopsy. Well anyway…looking forward to trying the other samples and then possibly placing an order from these folks if i can find some others to go in on the larger sizes. I wish all companies offered samples sizes…i’d rather purchase 50 sample sizes than a single 1oz bag of something when trying a new company. I’m also much more inclined to come back.

Anyway, as i enjoyed this offering from this company, i’m looking forward to trying the sample that is a tea that I haven’t seen nearly everywhere :)

Indigobloom

looks like I’ll be emailing a certain Edmonton based company soon!!

Sil

haha

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75

This was the other free sample that I chose. In the pouch, it’s hard to differentiate the spices from each other. Everything has been chopped up and the only ingredients I can distinguish are the orange peels and cinnamon bark. Alright, let’s give this a whirl on the stove.

I let this simmer on the stove for about twenty minutes, then added not quite a teaspoon of brown sugar. The colour of the steeped tea looks wonderfully dark and rich. I microwaved around half a cup of 2% milk and filled up the rest with the chai.

I know this doesn’t sound helpful, but it basically tastes like all other chai teas that I’ve had at Indian restaurants. The spices are there but none of them have a voice. I guess I’m not being fair because I always compare every chai to the ones made at this chai bar in Edmonton called Remedy. Seriously the best chai ever. Nothing like it. They import all their spices from India and use around 30 different spices in their blends. So yeah, almost all chai teas pale in comparison.

I normally drink my tea plain, without any milk or sugar, so I’m sorry to say that this was a waste of calories. But! The other tea that I’ve tried from this company is fabulous, so don’t let this discourage you from checking them out. I’m just picky little chai freak.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more

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84

Coming home meant sipping this down! Acquired Taste kindly sent a sample last year. It’s pretty good, but not sure if I’d actually buy it The peppercorns are there giving off a little heat and the chocolate isn’t overly artificial. It just seems a little 2D to me though?

Oh well, more room in my virtual cupboard.

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84

Right now, Acquired Taste Tea Co. are offering to send two samples free, so I decided to jump on that. I’m all into spicy chocolate, so this one was automatically the first choice.

When I open the pouch, the beautiful aroma of cocoa and spice fills the air. It sounds weird, but it actually reminds me of a rich, spicy bath product I once had. It smells very fresh too. The dry leaf is speckled with red peppercorns.

Steeped, it smells the same as it does in the pouch. Maybe a little more chocolatey. When it comes to taste, this is definitely a harmonious blend of cocoa and peppercorns. I can feel the heat from the peppercorns at the back of my mouth, but it’s not overwhelming at all. The cocoa doesn’t come out as much as I would have liked taste-wise, but it’s still a pleasurable sip.

One great thing about this tea is you can leave it steeping for upwards of ten minutes and it won’t even get bitter. That’s a bonus for me because I love bringing out the heat in this even more. I’ve steeped this with the same leaves thrice and as long as you steep it longer than the time before, it tastes nearly the same.

I think Acquired Taste Tea Co. acquired another customer! Too bad I didn’t know about them sooner despite the fact that they used to be in my backyard. Will definitely be making a purchase of this and trying out more.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 30 sec
Sil

oh man…you’re from E-town too? :)

Fjellrev

“Too” eh? Didn’t know you were from there! Do you miss Edmonton at all?

Sil

I do! Actually I miss Alberta more than I miss Edmonton specifically if that makes sense. I didn’t think I’d be in Ontario as long as I have when I headed over here with the parents (13 yrs ago…) I’ve still lived in Alberta longer than Ontario though! Haha

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95

My absolute favorite tea, very light and sweet.

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18

Tasted rather floral, which is weird as there isn’t anything floral in it. Didn’t taste of berries at all.

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80

A taste unlike any tea I’ve ever known. The aroma is for all the world like Rolo candies, and as you drink it, the caramel smell translates into a smooth, milky drinking experience. I think even tea haters would like this one!

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80

Surprisingly neon green liquor, flowery aroma ( a lot like lilacs), and pleasantly astringent, refreshing flavor. Like sticking your nose in a fresh bouquet!

Ben Livingstone

With the second infusion, this tea seems to get sweeter, and perhaps more flowery, although there are more levels to explore.

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