Steam Tea House

26/28 sipdowns

omgsrsly this is great as a latte! i wanted a change of pace so i dug this one out to make as a latte. it’s really nice this way. I like this straight but as a latte it’s just a creamier delicious black current creamy drink. NOMS!

this one is super uber nice. omgsrsly sent this my way and because of work i don’t have much time for saying a lot. is this black currant? yes! is it tasty? YES! am i glad i have a little more? YES! :) thank you omgsrsly!

backlog

I had this as a latte last night and it was deeelicious! thanks for the thought ombsrsly this is a tea that i would consider stocking as part of my few flavoured puerhs tha ti enjoy, though it’s not my all time favourite. I do relaly like the combination they have going on here though. Thanks for letting me try this one out omg!

Final Count yesterday: 169 because of the awesomeness of Dexter…i’ll forgive you this time! ;)

must remember to have the last of this as a latte. Another sample from OMGSRSLY?!?!?! because i have to get my drink on! Not a sipdown but it’s one step closer to one…and a step closer to getting rid of the boxes of samples in my house at the moment lol I’m not sure what a hazelberry is…but this is tasty and delicious and i will be enjoying more!

thank you omgsrsly this one isn’t bad. it’s still not the pear tea i want it to be… somewhere between 5-9 mins is the sweet spot. 5 mins isn’t enough pear and 9+ mins is too rooibosy. but it’s been fun to try this one. The rest of this is off to dexter to try out whenever her box fills up on this end heh

thank you omgsrsly for braving the PEAR to pick this upt for me (and i think dexter?) I am actually really enjoying this one, though i think i’ll let it steep a little longer next time as the rooibos is coming through but not enough of the pear is. This is pear juice. like the juice from fruit cups…except mixed with the rooibos it’s not nearly as sweet or intense…it’s tasty delicious. i just want.moar.pear. :)

Every time I saw this reviewed, I would get really excited about it because everyone makes it sound so good but when I read the ingredients I lose interest because it is filled with a whole bunch of things I tend to avoid. However, when I was visiting Sil, she have me a sample so I could finally try it for myself. Sipping it now, I want to love it. I really, really do but I am getting a whole lot of cardamom, a little but of dark chocolate, and not much else. It’s not bad but it’s not something I personally would stock. Nonetheless, thank you Sil for the opportunity to see for myself what this tea is all about and I am especially grateful because I know how much of a fan you are :)

Aw crap. I guess I lied when I said the last note was my last note.
I forgot I drank the rest of this sample from Courtney earlier tonight while my hubby and I were watching the making of Diagon Alley special to ramp up our excitement for our trip to Florida in the fall.

I was also working on a banner for my mom’s surprise birthday/retirement party this weekend.

That is to say, I was majorly distracted as I drank this.

I addd milk. It was a comforting cup. But not nearly as mapley as I’d like a maple tea to be.
Probably if you would just give me pure maple syrup to drink, that would maybe be mapley enough.

I’m a tough Canadian to please!

Thanks for sending this for me to try, Courtney, I can cross it off my list now! :)

I think something must be wrong with my tastebuds, because I was so excited for maple but really got a total lack of flavour from my cup.

Sad!

I think that’s because coming from New Brunswick I know how delicious real maple is, so I expect a maple tea at the very least should taste like it would with real maple syrup added to it. This was so faint!

I will try again later with the rest of my sample, maybe with the addition of some real syrup :)

Thank you for sending it my way to try, Courtney!

Why am I trying this tea? Because Sil and Anna are mean, that’s why. They should know that I have to try almost all the teas (almost because there are some things that are just “no’s”).

So it’s pear. Ripe jelly bean pear. And rooibos. Yep.

It’s not terrible, but I really dislike ripe pears. Please give them to me when they are hard and crunchy. Thanks.

:)

I’ve heard good things about this one.
It IS good.
I’m so glad I asked Sil to snag some for me when she was in BC.

Sipdown #2 for today. 5 may be pushing it believe it or not. lol This was again from courney and i have to say i really like this one. it’s not one that i could drink every day given it’s a green tea, but when in the mood for a fruity strawberry tea, this one would hit the spot!

huh. courtney sent this one my way and as a brand new tea! i figured it was worth the pleasure of being tasting note 4200…which isn’t meant so much as a brag, because we all use steepster differently, but more of a way of checking in with myself on how my tea journey is progressing. It will be interesting to see where i land at my steepsterversary in a few months :) I’ve logged nearly 1800 different teas tried, so i figure i’m a little up on that since there are teas that remain unlogged i’m sure.

This tea? A pleasant surprise from courtney and one that i quite like. I’m not generally a fan of green teas, but this one works for me. It’s not really what i’d call a mint tea….strawberry and fruity yes…but the mint (i assume it’s there..) is seriously muted. I feel like the mint is there, because of the way the strawberry is coming through, but i don’t really feel like there’s enough there for me to call this a mint tea. There’s strawberry and orange and bamboo…and a hint of what i’m guessing is the mint. Overall, i really like this! thanks courtney!

You know how you can have the exact same life you had yesterday, and somehow yesterday you were happy to be you and have your life and your choices and your tentative future, and then today you wonder why the hell you chose what you did, where everything went wrong, and what on earth will become of you and why is there so much misery?

It’s one of those days (the latter, I mean). No good reason-nothing momentous has happened; in fact, the plans for our wedding are coming together nicely, and we’re about to book our honeymoon—but I can’t shake this general sense of hopelessness. I’m also really tired, which never ever helps. Anyway, I’ll be fine, but it is what it is at the moment. Perspective is everything and all that jazz.

Anyway, this sample came to me from VariaTea, who so thoughtfully included it in our swap package that was filled to the brim with things on my wishlist! I brewed it up without reading any reviews, so may have botched it a bit, but still really enjoyed the cup. The maple taste is slightly weaker than the smell might have you believe, but it’s still there, supported by a fairly hefty black base, which I like. I brewed for three minutes and added a small amount of sugar and some cream. I can’t decide if I should add a touch more sugar to draw out the maple next time or if I should brew it for a touch longer, but either way there will be a next time thanks to variatea’s generosity!

My house is freezing, and I’m over it. Thank goodness for hot tea. And Suits.

I’m not usually in the mood for greens, but I have a ton of this one, and I do love a good real strawberry flavour. I don’t really get any mint, but the strawberry green here is nice and fresh.

This tea came my way from OMGsrsly. She was awesome and sent a ton of samples from Steam.

This one smells great!

Generally greens don’t do it for me, with very few exceptions. The fruitiness in this one is delightful. It’s somewhat reminiscent of H&S Tropical Green, which I’ve been meaning to get more of. There is a subtle buttery-ness to the green base, but it’s very minimal. The fruit flavours aren’t overwhelming, in fact they’re also subtle. The scent is stronger than the flavours. I’m not getting any mint, but it may be because I just had cold noodle salad. I think I would consider picking some of this up.

Thanks OMGsrsly!

So I checked out Sil’s cupboard only to realize she is kicking my butt, as in she has almost 30 fewer teas than I do (congrats on being so close to 140 btw!). That put me in a little bit of a sipdown mode. However, I still wanted to try new teas and work on getting through some of my swaps. Luckily, this tea filled all three requirements. Thus, this is a

Sipdown!! (171)

Thank you MissB for sending some my way in a generous surprise package. It is a nice tea. Great grapefruit flavor that is reminiscent of Nina’s Paris The de Vendome, which I enjoyed. Though, at the end of the day, I just don’t ever reach for citrus tea often enough to warrant stocking a tea like this. It was still fun to try something new so thank you MissB.

Lastly, I know I said this yesterday but since I am once again writing about a surprise tea, I thought it is worth mentioning again… I AM MOVING IN LESS THAN A MONTH! The reason I mention this is because I know how generous everyone is on steepster. I never expect them but you guys have surprised me with packages time and time again. However, since MY ADDRESS WILL BE CHANGING, I would hate for someone to generously send tea that would just get lost in the world :(. Thus it is probably best that you DON’T SEND ME TEA to my Montreal address (except for the swaps I already arranged) as I don’t think I will receive it.

This is a pretty old one in my cupboard – thank heavens things take an age to go stale in AB. :P

This one is always delicious, with a hint of maple that isn’t abrasive at all. Really tasty – thanks Steam!

I had a phase away from this tea, but decided to steep it up on a whim this afternoon. I’m glad I took some time away, because it’s back to it’s delicious maple-y goodness.

The black base is great in the few Steam teas I’ve tried, and the maple flavour here is the best I’ve had to date. Not too cloying, nor too subtle. Just maple.

I’ve now been here a few hours and ahh freedom!

Now I’m sitting here, catching up on all my internet things. This tea is delicious and mapley and all things good. I picked up 100g, but I can’t decide if I should pick up more, because more than likely I won’t be back again until next summer. Hmm, decisions, decisions.

Also, I took a picture for you, Cavo: http://s770.photobucket.com/user/courtneyns/media/Steepster/photo_zps5f4e89e7.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

I cold brewed this one for six hours last night. I should’ve done it for more but it was six or fourteen type thing – and I didn’t want to risk overdoing it. OMGsrsly suggested condensed milk, but I really, really do not like milk in my tea so I just opted for cold brewed. The maple flavour is still lovely and apparent. Maybe one day I will get over my milk in tea thing, but for now I love this tea hot.

I can’t wait to pick up more! Under three weeks now!

Thanks again OMGsrsly!

This tea is delicious. That is all.

Thanks OMGsrsly!

Update: I added a wee dollop (~1/2 tsp) of maple syrup to the resteep and it’s just as tasty as the first.

I had this for my first morning cup and my last evening cup yesterday, and I chose this again for my morning cup today. I didn’t realize I’d enjoy this one so much. Thank goodness I picked up 100g in Vancouver, I’m nearly halfway through it already.

I love that it’s a straight black that’s bold and smooth all in one. It’s not super fancy, but it is super tasty. It even tastes great after I’ve forgotten about it and it’s cooled on my desk.