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We are catching up on the new Sailor Moon Crystal series (don’t you judge me, it was my childhood) and I am completely distracted, but loving this tea. Cinnamon, blueberries, what’s not to love!

I live for apple cider in the fall. I drink copious amounts of it, I cook with it, I mull it to make it even better….yum. I even have fake apple cider for my Keurig for when the craving gets too strong in the off season. And like many others, I am on the hunt for a good cider tea to help get me through the off season.

This is not that tea. It smells yummy, and it tastes yummy, but it does not taste like apple cider. Maybe a bit of the spices they used in Yes We Cran would be better suited here. And vanilla….why is there vanilla in an apple cider tea? It’s more like apple pie a la mode than anything. And there’s an artificialness that I just can’t get behind. Like apple and vanilla’s chemically induced offspring. Just a hint of it, though.

I’m glad I tried it, but I will not be buying any more of this, sadly.

This tea made me laugh at myself. The first sip was great. “Ohh, yum, cinnamon and sugar my favor-” and the the bottom dropped out of the flavor and maple slapped me across the face, taking an already delicious cup to a whole other level. It made the flavor deeper, more complex, and I love it. It’s a good thing my wife doesn’t like maple, because she will not be getting any of the sample she brought home last night.

I live! Fall teas brought me back to life ;)

The wifey and I are going to visit my folks in the US for Christmas, and my brother is a huge DT fan, so I sent a note out to everyone saying that if they want any of the fall teas, to let me know and I’ll grab some before it’s gone. Within minutes, my Dad replied, asking for 50 g of Yes We Cran. Candosville, Daddy-o! I was amused at the one he picked, considering this was the same man who once told me that voting for Obama and then moving to Canada was the same as farting in a car and rolling the windows up XD. The wifey just picked up the new fall teas last night, so I thought I better taste test this one soon and report back!

I’m having it hot with two spoons of sugar and the smell of the dry leaves had me drooling. It smells like a really good mulled wine…or cider. I can’t decide. Mulled something. Which I love. The scent carries over to the steeped tea as well, the smell of it filled my kitchen. Awesome. I’m a little scared of the hibiscus.

Surprisingly, the hibiscus mixes well with the cranberry, enhancing the tartness, rather than taking over like hibby tends to. It is a perfect fall drink, in my opinion. Makes me think of fresh cider and orange leaves and all sorts of deliciousness. I could have used less sugar, honestly.

And in the middle of the sip, your tastebuds freak the heck out. Because pumpkin. In a cranberry tea. I don’t get it, I just don’t get it, and if the pumpkin wasn’t there, my rating would be higher, but ugh pumpkin. When I drank coffee, I lived for pumpkin lattes, and I always have to get at least one pumpkin muffin from Tim’s during the season, but that’s about it. I don’t understand the need to shove pumpkin into EVERYTHING once fall hits. Davids already has pumpkin chai, why do they need pumpkin in this too? And did I read something about two more pumpkin teas? Why?

I want a good eggnog tea, dang it.

Regardless, this is a yummy, yummy tea that I think my Dad will love (hi Dad!).

Coldbrewed overnight…and overnight…and overnight.

This was another casualty of my food poisoning, left to coldbrew for three days. Whoops.

But it didn’t really hurt it that much, if at all. I really do love this tea, it’s light and…and fluffy. Yes, fluffy. I almost tastes like cotton candy.

So on Monday I undercooked some fiddleheads and gave myself intense food poisoning. As in, I’m still sick today, three days later. So that means this has been coldbrewing in the fridge for three days. But I’m feeling up to some tea, so I’m working through the cold brews I’ve abused so I can stave off dehydration.

The mint is actually really helping, but the melon…ugh.

I am not sorry to see this go.

Overnight coldbrew

Can someone explain to me how this is different from Peaches and Cream? Or why Davids felt the need to come out with another peach herbal?

It tastes like the peach drink from Tim Horton’s. I’m just…not impressed. Same false peach flavor, different tea. I will say that this has less of the metallic flavor Peaches and Cream gives me, but it’s still there.

Although, I did just get an amazing idea. I bought a tin of peaches and cream and I regret it, but I think I’m going to use it to make Fuzzy Peaches martinis.

Overnight Coldbrew

And the verdict is in! This is not a tea I need to have in my cupboard.

It is hot in my condo, and I do mean hot. They haven’t turned the AC on yet and while I love the huge windows in every room, I’m essentially living in a green house. Curtains are no help at all.

So I’m sprawled out in front of two fans and I’m chugging my iced teas to try and beat the heat. Even the cats, who don’t always get alone, have called a truce to all be sprawled out in the coolest room in the house with me.

So a cooling, refreshing tea is just the ticket, right? Wrong, This is just not the tea for me. It tastes like a melony toothpaste and it’s not a sensation that I enjoy. When I’m hot, I get nauseous, and this tea is only making things worse. It’s not cooling me down at all and the taste is off-putting.

I put the rest of my sample in the fridge to coldbrew for tomorrow, and then that will be the end of it.

Overnight coldbrew

The smell of this made my mouth water and I couldn’t wait to try it. My wife took one sip and gave me the rest of hers, but I was so excited that I was happy to have the whole pitcher to myself.

You definitely get a starfruit flavor, and the white does come out to play…it reminded me of a fruitier Buddha’s Blend. At first, I was all for using my rewards to get a free 50 g of this in July. But as the pitcher wore on (all 64 ounces of it), I grew less and less impressed. Luckily, I pawned some off on my sister in law, and she put it best. “I like it, but it’s not my favorite.”

The day ended with me chugging the last 24 ounces right before bed and then eating a good two cups of watermelon >.<. But it had turned into a chore to finish it. It is definitely not something I plan to stock, especially not at 9.50 for 50 grams. It’s a very heavy white and very expensive…I feel like this could have been done just fine as an herbal, but they don’t ask me ;).

So…meh. It was alright, but the price definitely affect my rating in this case.

I love this pitcher. I love it. I want to use it for everything. I love that the infuser is average size (my issue with the Mason Jar infusers is that they’re so long that it’s hard to clean the bottom of them), and I love that it reaches to the bottom of the pitcher, so if I only want to make half a pitcher, it’s entirely possible. The chill core is amazing, this is definitely a pitcher I’ll be using to take sangria to my in-laws, who live about an hour away, and I can trust that it will still be cold when I get there.

And it holds so much! Even just filled to the fill line, which is just over half of the pitcher, it makes enough for me to fill my Carry Travel Mug four times. It’s great for helping my wife and I decide if we want to purchase more of a tea, because if we’re not sick of it by the end of the pitcher, it’s a winner!

Finally, I love that it is plastic. Glass and I are not friends, my wife doesn’t like me to even have it in the house because I have a terrible habit of dropping glass things and then instinctually trying to catch them just as they shatter. D’oh.

I love this pitcher.