The Tea Girl

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Thank you for sharing this one with me, Sil!

Also hi steepster! I miss you a lot. My exam is next Friday and then I have July off before starting work in August. I have fun plans like reading my many new books, learning an instrument and a language, but tea will be a lot more apart of my life again so I’ll be back here too!

Today I literally made tea for the caffeine. I’m at the tax law part of my material and in addition to it basically being a different language despite looking like English, it made me super sleepy yesterday. So I am procrastinating getting back into it today and also arming myself with tea.

I picked this one because I wanted a strawberry black tea to go with my strawberry (/raspberry) tart breakfast bowl. The bowl was delicious. This tea isn’t bad. However, unlike the Tea Girl’s vanilla flavor – which is super strong and lovely – this tea is rather bland. Mostly just a fruit black tea. Not bad but nothing special either. Still fun to try though!

V is for… Vanilla Fluff!

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Thank you to Sil/VariaTEA for sending this sample along!

This didn’t really smell like vanilla and visually was very fruit heavy so my expectations were low, but I liked it a lot – it’s more of a fruit blend for sure but there’s something unique happening with the way the very thick creamy vanilla flavour is playing alongside those fruit notes. As best I can describe it, this reminded me of a “Dole Whip” – tropical, sweet and tangy crushed pineapple meets vanilla ice cream/whipped cream. However, then you need to take that Dole Whip comparison and shove in some hibiscus and a boozier “marshmallow vodka” type note into the mix too.

Big, big flavour blast – but surprisingly some complexity there too.

I wish I had more of it because I found it very interesting – but I’m honestly just grateful to have tried a new tea regardless! I’ll have to see what I think of the other Tea Girl samples – maybe enough will pique my interest for an order.

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V is for…Vanilla Chai

I am with Sil on this one that there is just too much anise for my tastes. I am still grateful for the chance to try it so thank you Sil for sharing!! In fairness, I had 4 of this company’s vanilla teas today and this is my first miss so all in all pretty successful!

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V is for…Vanilla Coconut

Sil, I am the others that finds this delightful. You were not a fan of the coconut but personally I am really enjoying it so thank you for the share!

It’s reminding me of sweetened coconut desserts. My sister used to make hello dollies with shredded coconut, chocolate chips, and condensed milk. This is tasting like the shredded coconut mixed with the condensed milk and I am a fan.

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V is for…Vanilla Orchid Oolong

Another from Sil. Thank you!!

This is so similar to the DAVIDsTEA tea of the same name. Are they the same tea? They are super similar which means this is awesome vanilla pudding deliciousness. So if the DAVIDsTEA one is unavailable, this is great alternative.

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V is for…Vanilla Bean

A lot of the “V” teas are vanilla teas by The Tea Girl that Sil was super kind to share with me. Thank you, Sil!! So I figured if I was going to try a number of vanilla teas by the same company, I should start with just the straight vanilla and go from there.

I was taking my pictures of the steeped tea and it smelled so good. That had me all sorts of excited for the cup. That and the fact that Sil enjoys the vanilla from this company and she has tried a lot of vanilla before and tends to enjoy the ones I enjoy.

Drinking it now, I am so happy it delivers a great vanilla taste. This vanilla is somehow both creamy and floral. It also has a pretty full black tea base that is present but doesn’t interfere with the vanilla at all. So far, so good.

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Q is for…Queen’s Blend

Thank you, Sil! I didn’t realize this was a black/green blend with lavender when I was preparing what to send to Roswell Strange in the Strange VariaTea TTB. If I had, I likely would have passed this along for her to try since there is a better chance of her appreciating it than me. However, I had it and decided to give it a try, but I went in with low expectations.

The low expectations paid off I guess because it ended up being better than expected. The black/green base blend doesn’t really do anything in a positive or negative light so I guess that’s fine. The lavender is the real culprit since I am definitely getting the regular lavender soapiness here. However, the savior of this blend is the vanilla that is trying (and while the battle is close, failing) to overpower the lavender. I think if the lavender was gone, this would be a good blend but I also know that’s my personal preference and likely wouldn’t be the case for others.

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P is for…Pineapple Express

Thank you for the sample, Sil!

This is basically a pineapple genmaicha based on the ingredients list. That’s accurate of the taste too. It’s got a lot more of the green tea base than I would like though. The rice comes through as a secondary thought and after the base comes through strongly and a touch bitter. The pineapple pops up in the aftertaste more than anything. I wish it was the reverse where the pineapple was the main flavour.

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I is for…Indigo Sky

…and only Indigo Sky since this is the only “I” tea I own/owned. Thank you Sil for sending it my way – both because its been fun to try and because it helped me get more of my alphabet.

This is meant to be a blueberry tea so I was thrown when the first sip was all vanilla. Is there even vanilla in this?! I don’t think so. Also, it was just the first sip. All subsequent sips have been a blueberry flavor that is pretty true to the fruit. It’s not overly sweet. Just a simple blueberry black tea. Nice but I don’t reach for blueberry often enough to justify wanting more of this – plus if I were to want blueberry, I am with Sil in that I would likely want a 52 Teas blueberry offering.

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This one smells like a creamsicle but tastes like EmergenC. Not my favorite but still fun to try so thank you Sil for the share.

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Made this hot and it’s not nearly as good as the cold brew. Everything is a lot more artificial and it’s much note tart. Thank you again Sil! The rest is off to Roswell Strange and I definitely recommend it cold brewed.

I cold brewed this and quite liked it. I’m getting a lot of really creamy coconut notes and some pineapple that is balanced between sweet and tart. It can be a touch waxy at times but not overly so. Thank you Sil for the share!

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Another sample from Sil with puerh. Yesterday’s cup was my test and if it tasted like pu’erh I intended to just pass this on. Since I didn’t get any puerh there, I decided to give this a try – with a slight amount of puerh fear. I also thought I set a timer but didn’t so I have fear I oversteeped this.

Again, this isn’t a strong puerh flavor, thankfully. It actually is pretty spot on for a chocolate dipped strawberry, nailing both the chocolate and strawberry flavor. I’m surprised that I’m enjoying it like I am.

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Thank you for sharing Sil! I took my first sip and immediately thought of Unicorn Fluff by DAVIDsTEA. It’s more vanilla than marshmallow though. It’s a little waxy but also makes me think of sprinkles. Fun but I don’t know if I need more.

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I noticed in Sil’s note she thought this would be better as a cold brew so with the cup worth of leaf she sent over, I did that. This tea is surprisingly clear and has a sort of smooth berry flavor but not much of it. It’s a lot lighter both in color and taste then I expected from a cold brew that steeped for 6+ hours. Nice but light and not anything I am writing home about. Still fun to try though so thank you for sharing Sil!

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Puerh…my nemesis…I see you in that ingredient list and I fear you. However, that seems unnecessary since I am not getting much puerh flavor. It’s mostly a mediocre chocolate tea. Not bad but not worth fearing the puerh. Thank you Sil for sharing though and the rest is off to Roswell Strange

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In my head I kept calling this Maple Pumpkin Marshmallow. There is no marshmallow here, and there isn’t supposed to be. I guess that is just wishful thinking on my part because I like marshmallow flavoring in my teas. Weird though.

Anyways, this is one of the samples that Sil very kindly dropped off for me yesterday. Thank you!! I was adding her teas into my steepster cupboard and thinking I had a lot of tea drinking to do in order to divide up some of the samples between me and Roswell Strange. However, I am trying to make sure that I am getting enough water and hydration – for me that has meant drinking at least 2 litres of water before drinking any tea. I had a late night last night though and started my day later than usual so I decided today I would allow that 2 litres to be made up of both water and tea, as long as the tea was caffeine free. Hence why this rooibos caught my attention.

It is very good. It is not rooibos forward at all, which I like. Instead it has a nice amount of ginger and cinnamon. Its supposed to have cocoa pieces but I am not getting that at all. Instead I am getting more a maple-y, cinnamon, ginger, and apple concoction. I wouldn’t label it Maple Pumpkin Rooibos from the taste given that but I am enjoying it nonetheless.

love this smooth, fragrant blend. lovely when i want a really solid breakfast tea with a little more flavour and spice but nothing too overwhelming.

mmmmmmm yeah i was a fan of this one. Just like the vanilla flavouring that tea girl uses :)

this was a nice blueberry tea. I think i prefer the versions from 52 teas, but overall this was a nice tea. The base is a nice ceylon, though it’s not me preferred base/tea.

Too much anise in this, and it’s broken up in to little pieces so not easily pulled out if it was in the star format. I love the vanilla and the other spices, but the anise is just too much for me.

Sipdown! Rest of this is off to roswll and variaTEA though i’m hoping there’s enough. I never really wrote a note about this one but i like it haha