Cuppa Geek

Sangria it is not. But strawberry? Strawberry it is. This is my last tea of the night today as I wrap up tasting notes, and I’m enjoying the simple tart strawberry notes – not too much, but just the right about a juicy tart bite to remind me of an actual just ripe strawberry.

Cold Brew!

This isn’t my favourite tea that I’ve tried from Cuppa Geek, but it was alright overall. The strawberry is nice and very natural tasting – it has a bit of that tarty bite that slightly underripe strawberries have that seems to lean into the natural quality of it. There was something in this that felt almost medicinal though, and it really stuck to my palate after each sip. I’m thinking it might have been from the base teas, but I’m not actually totally sure. It was unexpected, and I thought it detracted from what was otherwise a nice strawberry note.

I think this gets four March scavenger stars and the last couple check marks on my list: woman-owned company, sleepytime, not currently available, and floral (chamomile). Despite the hint of pumpkin, it’s still got a cheerful enough flavor profile to be acceptable for early spring and it’s a nice break from minty sleepyteas.

It’s high time for pumpkins. We’ve had a brutishly selfish summer that refused to leave, and Fall finally booted it out the door with some storms earlier in the week. Finally. Sweater and blankie weather.

I’ve been saving my packet of Spiced Fall Evenings for this first nippy night of the season. I’m getting pumpkin first, then the apple, chamomile, and just enough spice in the background to keep it from being bland. Some of you reviewers mentioned adding a little milk. That sounds like a good plan for the next cup.

Happy mail! My Cuppa Geek advent calendar arrived today—-lovely little packets with stickers over the labels so every day can be a surprise! I cheated and de-stickered them, as I’m keeping some for myself and sending the ones I’ve already tried as a Christmas box tuck-in for a friend. I won’t share spoilers, however, for those of you who are going through yours honestly.

Oh, my stars and garters, Spiced Fall Evenings was a perfect wind-down for Thanksgiving Eve. Everything that is good about pumpkins and apples and chai, with a very gentle creaminess that meshes it all together. Expertly blended.

Sipdown (207)

We have a joke in the house that I am simultaneously the smartest and dumbest person living here. That could explain why I did something really stupid and picked up my light box, fully forgetting that the mug of this tea was still inside. I remembered quickly enough that I didn’t lose too much of the tea nor make too much of a mess but it was a dumb plan.

As for this tea, it’s a cloudy pink color and that’s cute. I don’t love it tastewise though. It’s got lots of marshmallows which in this much sort of just make everything sweet with a slight berry tinge. It’s thick and sweet but doesn’t have much else going on. I want to like it but this isn’t for me.

P is for…Princess Punch

I cold brewed this one overnight. It had a whole bunch of marshmallows and that comes through in sweetness, which this is, but mostly it just has a slight fruitiness to it. Reminds me of the strawberry, banana, apple juiceboxes I used to have as a kid. Not sure why but that is what comes to mind.

This was my tea that I picked for the She-Ra episode of Geek Steep. It could be a cop out or it could be a glittery pink princess tea like Glimmer. You decide :P. If I am being honest, it didn’t feel right since She-Ra is more than a bubble-gum pop type princess show but it worked well enough that it could be tangentially related to the show.

As for the tea, it is lacking flavor but that is my fault. I made it iced in my iced tea press. and pushed down the ice far earlier than I was supposed to. So this is like drinking pink water with a touch of green rooibos flavor and marshmallow flavor.

I am indeed sad to call it SIPDOWN 31, because I really enjoy this blend!

Thank you ashmanra and derk I could try this tea and Nichole for blending, it’s something I will order one day for sure!

It’s perfect for cold evenings, when everything you want to, is actual cup of warming tea; with mellow, lightly sweet flavour of baked apples and aroma of fall season! This tea delivers all of those. It’s great being filled with chamomile, which is supposed to have calming qualities, and honestly I don’t even mind it in the blend. That’s quite unlikely for me.

I really liked that this tea let me relax myself; and bring me back to my childhood somehow. Maybe it’s flavour profile, maybe it’s just sweet note of this tea.

And as today is last day of January; my stats for this month:
Tea types (primary):
Black 37
Herbal 20
Green 13
White 7
Fruit 6
Oolong 4
Puerh 3
Rooibos 2 — considering this as rooibos, though it’s honeybush.
Total: 92 teas

55 loose teas, 37 teas weren’t loose.

I wrote 57 tasting notes. 31 sipdowns. Average rating 72.81.

I got 10 grams from derk, thank you and ashmanra maybe? Or not? I am again confused.

While I am writing those lines, Steepster is down again. Dashboard is stuck. I hope it will work correctly during Advent calendar period! And I can’t wait for my Advent calendar from this company. Based on tracking, it seems it’s in Chicago already! That means it could be delivered quite fast maybe?

Anyway, to the tea. I saw big chamomile buds in pouch and, well, I am not fan of chamomile. I actually dislike pure chamomile teas. But on the bottom there is something like rooibos? Something else than just chamomile? Sounds better.

I have opened the pouch. I notice maple? Apples? Spices? That indeed seems better!
The pouch weight is 10 grams. How much I should use? I have decided for half.
I brewed for 5 minutes and I immidiately start to inhale the aroma and felt cozy.

The taste is good to. Maybe the aroma hyped me maybe bit too much, because it’s mostly chamomile in tate. Yep, I know it is chamomile based blend, so what I was expecting, right? But beneath the chamomile, there is more. I am not really sure what is it, as there shouldn’t be any apples, but I think my mind is only playing with me because it reminds me rather apple-cinnamon blends that my mother loves and we had tried a several blends. I like the full-body flavour; it’s not watery at all. Actually rather thick.

Certainly cinnamon is present, some sweetness as well. Not that sure about pumpkin as label suggests, but I don’t mind :)

Oh well, an amazing tea for grey day as today with rain showers. I went to post-office to send few postcards (postcrossing) again. Two to US (east coast), Russia (far east part), Belarus and Germany. I didn’t mind the rain, I really needed to get out of my house as I am usually going to the store and back… only.

Another tea sipped on today! I added a little coconut milk as well which I felt really bumped up the richness of the flavours and made the mouthfeel so luxe and creamy. As expected for a tea named after the Eggo Waffle loving character, this is a very maple heavy flavour. However, I love that it isn’t only maple and that syrupy quality is balanced by cinnamon and ginger as well. The subtle heat and earthiness of the ginger in particular does a strong job of cutting through that coating sweetness!

…drank this one totally cold because I forgot about the mug.

Definitely a little more flat than I think it would have been hot since some of those spices really come to life when they’re warm – but not the worst cold cup of tea I’ve drank by a longshot. Mix of cinnamon, ginger, nuttier and mineral oolong and a light kiss of dark maple. Not sweet – just right.

This is honestly the perfect Eleven/Stranger Things tea concept, so I was obviously massively excited to try it – even if I am always dubious of maple teas coming from American companies. Unless your company is based in Vermont, and then you get a pass…

I messed up my steeping for this and forgot I was steeping it, so unfortunately my cup was tannic as all hell and oversteeped. However, despite all of that I got a very rich and sweet gooey maple syrup note that forced its way through all the bitterness and astringency – so I feel like with more care and attention this would probably be a really delicious tea! Excited to eventually do my cup over again, and get a proper read on it.

Sipdown (290)

So this is my tea in today’s March Madness sipdown tournament and it is going up against Fantasy Island by DAVIDsTEA. Alas, it seems I had less of this than I thought so I guess Fantasy Island is winning by default before I even try the teas.

I got a bit distracted before drinking these cups so they have both cooled to a luke warm temperature. Unfortunately, that seems to not be the best temperature for this particular tea as it has brought out a slight astringency. It’s like a sharp and drying metallic note from the black base tea. The top note is strawberry/berry, sort of like strawberry gummies, but it is getting drowned out by the base.

Check out the tasting note for Fantasy Island here: https://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/416278

SIPDOWN 13
Slightly slowed the pace with my sipdowns, but it’s true that I had yesterday only 2 teas. There are days when I prepare myself even 5 cups, but not recently.

This tea is supposed to be creamy Earl Grey and I notice only lavender black tea. Not much of citrusy at all, especially no bergamot.

That said, it’s not that I have hoped, but it is tasty nevertheless. Just a bit bland. It was a nice full-bodied tea; with hints of light lavender. There wasn’t vanilla in my cup.

Not a bad tea… but leaves me wanting more. But this tea is for a good cause and I can see others liking it a bit more than I do.

Thank you ashmanra via derk :)

Well, it is a nice tea for sure. A nice body from the base and strongly lavneder in taste. I admire lavender mostly for the aroma and that was very nice as well. I expected more creamy taste though, but it’s not a big complaint! That said; it is interesting I haven’t found it that creamy as derk did. I noticed way more lavender notes, those were nice.

Not sure as well about bergamot. Yes, it was somehow citrusy, but I expected bit more probably. Can’t tell much about the vanilla as I have paired it with organic chocolate cookies, so that “killed” other flavours a bit. I guess, I need to try it again (I got about 4 tea spoons, I have used two), and multiple steeping as well.

SIPDOWN and note lost because my Internet provider, but not having hard feelings; it’s rather my fault that I haven’t noticed I lost Wi-Fi connection. It was too long anyway.

I did 3 steeps, as ashmanra suggested to me last time. Three minutes first and adding a minute each next one.

First was certainly most flavourful, sweet cinnamon, dough, waffles, pastries, maple syrup; much better than 4 minutes session last time. Strong aroma of roasted almonds and other nuts filled my 20 sq. m. room very quickly and it made me cozy. The only bad note was it was now and then bit bark-like; but some sugar or other sweetener would make it disappear I guess. I have highly enjoyed it, though it WAS too sweet for me.

Second steep was weaker and I noticed quite similar flavour profile though weaker and certainly less sweet. Something was missing the point though.

Third? That was dismal, but expected. It was clove water with hints of cinnamon. The tea was just washed out. Two steeps? Yes, not bad. Three? Way too much!

I will keep 54, but as I said: too sweet for me. Can be tasty for sweet tea drinkers. Thank you though derk and ashmanra. I just hope this won’t be in my Advent :P

I took two teaspoons this morning and since I have opened the box from derk, this tea was “screaming” I am here, though it was wrapped carefully to don’t contamine flavour to other teas.

That said, pouch was closed carefully, but it is indeed very aromatic tea. The cinnamon is very strong, as well the pastry, dough, whatever “Waffles” note. As well the maple syrup was very prominent.

I have decided to make two steeps, one 3 minute long. That was very on the sweet side, and although I like sweet things, this was maybe too strong for me. I had one whole white piece of apple (probably) in te tea bag. That was quite funny in the bag, as all other tea ingredients where black or dark at least. The flavour indeed reminded me waffles, though having them only once and… it is very old memory. I think it could be about 15 years, but now and then I go next to stand where they are made, so it is very similar. Or it’s bit simlar to not-Czech Trdelník. Anyway, it was tasty, waffle like, but too sweet for me. I completely agree with derk’s statement: “This one is for those lovers of sweet thangs.”

I decided to try second steep, though not suggested by vendor. I prolonged the steep to 5 minute mark and it was still quite flavorful. The waffle note shadowed a bit, and it became more woody and bark than cinnamony. While it wasn’t another steep of sweet waffles with maplesyrup, it was still quite drinkable. But I won’t recommend doing it.

To be honest, I am not sure how to rate it. It was tasty and well executed to name, but I am not that friend of this blend as it is sweet for me. I think I won’t go that low as derk, but it is around average for me. Not a fan, but I think I can finish that small pouch.

Cold Brew Sipdown (222)

V is not for…Peach Mint Julep

I tried this cold brewed the other day and it was really nice. So I cold brewed the last of it again today. The peach is smooth and light and provides the base. Mint makes up most of the sip but there is also a very smooth cocktail quality that comes in mid sip and sort of takes over and lingers in the aftertaste. It’s really quite lovely as a cold brew.

P is for…Peach Mint Julep

I have had this (originally iced) tea next to me since last night and have just been toting it with me back and forth but not drinking it. The mint comes through most clearly. Mint and fruity. It does have a cocktail quality to it as well.

A tea I got from derk and when she wrote that this got green rooibos in I knew I want to try it as soon as possible. Prepared in French press for family, so 4 tsp — 1000 ml. Not sure if good ratio; but I have one or two tea spoons left for preapring my own cup later.

I really enjoy the visual of this tea. Long lemongrass pieces, green rooibos looks great as well, blue pieces of cornflowers, nice rosehip/cranberry pieces. Everything seems nice and fresh, not old at all.

The scent is amazing and I understand why derk’s housemate liked it. It seems freshly citrusy, lemongrass and hints of blueberry jam. The blueberries are indeed on the sweet-jammy note, which I don’t mind and I prefer that in tea though. There is some mild sourness and nice lemongrass note. The blueberries fall behind though a bit. Maybe they will appear with colder tea?

Thank you derk!
Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5h6cNXgakw