Sip Herbals

Cold Brew!

I enjoyed the nostalgia of the iced latte/cold brew of this I made last week so much, so I made it again but this time with the Caramel Apple Pie coffee creamer I’ve been enjoying the last few days instead of milk. It was so good! I mean, I guzzled it. Definitely roasty with chocolate notes still, but also that Autumnal kind of vibe to it and with a little creamy sweetness. Still has the nostalgia to me of the sort of Tim Horton’s drinks we’d get in high school, even though there’s no way I ever ordered something like this during highschool (with the coffee, caramel apple, and chocolate).

Iced Latte!

Cold brewed a concentrate of this in the fridge and then topped it up with some fresh milk. It definitely had a strong mocha flavour, but in the way that makes me think of the Iced Mocha Frappuccinos I used to get in highschool from Tim Horton’s because it was the cool, trendy thing to do. So, in that way it was very nostalgic!

The penultimate day of mugtober!

The mug for this one was a super weird, sculptural tabby cat mug where you’re kind of drinking out of the body of the cat. It has a head/face, tail, and all four legs. Very polarizing. People seem to love it or hate it.

I probably could have found a better pairing, but with it being so close to Halloween I just wanted something in than vein. So, I chose this very rich and dark coffee replacement tea that steeped up a brown colour almost the same shade as the mug itself. I added a splash of gingerbread flavoured creamer, and the resulting cup was just highly roasty with cozy notes of aromatic pumpkin spices (cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg) and just a bit of a molasses-y edge.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kynJlTq1sBo

My social feeds are SATURATED with people advertising their new seasonal fall releases, and so many of them are pumpkin spice related that it got to me and I pulled out this blend over the weekend for a little pumpkin spice of my own. This is probably my least favourite of the Faux Joe blends I own, but when a cravings strikes you can’t ignore it. It’s thick, slick and super bold tasting with a deep, deep roasted earthiness. However, it also has notes of ginger, allspice, clove, and cinnamon that convey that autumnal mood pretty solidly.

Not unpleasant, but definitely my least favourite of the Faux Joe blends so far. In part that’s probably because I’m just not personally a big Pumpkin Spice person. I mean, I don’t dislike it but I will very rarely go out of my way for it either. Mostly the ginger came through for me, but also the clove and cinnamon to lesser extents. I thought it just brought out more of the earthiness of the blend though and the sharper/more bitter dandelion root notes making for a more savory leaning cup without some of the sweeter, dense undertones I typically enjoy.

That said, I bet with some milk and sweetener this would be pretty dang similar to a PSL.

Iced Latte!

Made this one yesterday afternoon and it was delicious! Very, very intense and roasty tasting with a bold, in your face sort of earthiness. Not sweet at all, despite the creaminess of the milk. I really found it refreshing, and that thick and mineral sort of flavour with all the roasted root notes was exactly what I’d been looking for when I steeped it up.

After starting with one of the more “fun” flavours from this company I thought it was only fair to try their Signature Roast next to get a sense of what their baseline product they use for the different blends is like…

Honestly, it was very similar to the Salted Maple Blondie which does make a lot of sense. They have a regular formula that, for their other teas, they just add things into or “blend on top of”. It’s very much like Teeccino in that regard. Small differences that I do notice (other than, obviously, the lack of maple flavour) was that this was a little more bitter and overtly woody and “sharp” tasting in its top notes. Perhaps a little more chicory or dandelion in the formulation? Also, in general, just less sweet but not by a super large amount. I kind of like that because it makes this more true to black coffee where people can then make whatever customization best suits their tastes. Milk, creamer, sugar, and that sort of thing.

Two more to try – but so far I’m a fan.

Hot cuppa from a few nights back!

Very thick liquor with that amazingly deep, rich roasted earthy flavour balanced by just a hint of darkly sweet maple. Less distinctly flavoured than I remembered, but I love that base blend so it’s more than alright. Last few sips of the mug did have a bit of a salty punch though – which I think I remember from last time I had this too? Maybe I have to swirl the mug a bit better for flavour distribution next time I brew this.

A coworker who was recently travelling brought be back a bunch of these “Faux Joe” loose leaf blends since she knows how much I love the darker, roasty flavours they often have. Plus, no mushrooms in this line which is a big bonus for me since it’s becoming increasingly tough to find good coffee replacement teas that don’t have them.

(Nothing against mushroom coffees – I just personally can’t have them since I’m allergic.)

The smartest thing probably would have been to try their “original” first but the idea of this one was just too damn appealing, so I’m starting with one of the fun flavour variations. Firstly, the herbal base which is mostly roasted chicory dandelion roots is really nice. There’s a bit of that initial coffee-like acidity/sharpness to the top notes emulated from the chicory, but it’s not aggressive or unpleasant as chicory is sometimes want to do. I found this very, very rich and earthy with a lot of very pleasantly thick, grizzly roasted flavours that were immediately comforting to me. Just a bit bitter in the way you’d want a coffee replacement tea to be, but balanced by some dense “brown sweetness.”

Now, since this is maple flavoured, it’s a little tough to tell how much of that sweetness balance is coming from the date inclusion and how much is the maple. I taste both though neither are aggressively present. I could maybe use just a hint more maple as I find the flavour really brief on the palate before being blanketed with that roasty, earthy root taste. My biggest question mark is whether I would be happy with the sweetness level were there no maple since, with both inclusions, this does feel well balanced. Would they up the date to account for the loss of maple flavour? Guess I need to taste more of their blends to see…

The salt I could take or leave. It mostly comes through right at the end of the sip, but it’s modest. I wouldn’t want more of it because I think that would be distinctively saline tasting, but I also wonder if the tea even needs any salt in the first place? I guess, since salt is a flavour carrier, it might be modestly lifting some of those flavours up a bit but it’s such a tiny amount that I can’t imagine it’s significant?? But, there is something very appetizing sounding about Salted Maple Blondies. Like the new “salted caramel”. So I guess I get it.

Overall, I liked this a lot and I’m excited to see their other flavours.