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Had this one as a latte last night while randomly watching Golden Girls, ha. I was a little disappointed, but not too surprised given it seems figs are super hard to do well in tea. Dry it smells super sweet, almost chemical-y, like pink bubble gum. Once in the cup a more genuine specifically fig flavor comes out, dried only, but that distracting chemicaly sweet smell never completely dissipates. It wasn’t undrinkable or anything—I reckon I will use it to make protein shakes—but so far I like Caramel Popcorn much more.

Ack, that candied cinnamon a la Big Red gum (complete with that powdery plastic xantham gum evocation going on) is in this. Alas, definitely not my thing. Otherwise the other spices are ok though.

Burning through my sample chais because it’s creeping up to 70F this week. :( I am not looking forward to a return to humid, sweltering endless southern summer. Winter, you have your hardships but they make being cozy all the sweeter. Not gonna lie, I will kind of miss you, the first one here since I moved that felt like a real one.

Whoa, I was not expecting to like this as much as I do. Had for afternoon tea with R over king cake. I was a bit wary because of its description as a fruity black tea, but it’s delicious. I don’t know exactly what fruit(s) they allude to, but I get kind of a peach (or is it apricot?) and pineapple vibe, very aromatic. And the peppercorn tinge is perfect, giving the dizzying fruity fragrance and juiciness a little sharpened, edgy zip to adhere to. It reminds me slightly of the sweet-savory-fresh peach, tomato, fresh herb, and pepper salads I like to make on summer’s hottest evenings. I have a feeling this would make fantastic coldsteeped tea once the weather warms up. As is, it’s wonderfully refreshing, interesting, and balanced uniquely between juicy sweet and tart and spicy, a little like some Indian pickles and salads (as others mention, the peppercorn gives the fruit a uniquely yummy savory edge). I really dig it and am glad I gave it a chance. Would restock!

I got my first ever Red Leaf order (and hence first flavored matcha) today! It’s funny it’s taken me so long—they were a wishlist company as soon as I joined Steepster, and I’ve knocked out just about every interesting company I’ve encountered in the year since (with a few exceptions, but the others far more recently discovered such as Todd and Holland, Tea Hawaii, The O Dor, Naivetea, Shang, Silk Road, Red Blossom, and Yunnan Sourcing). I think I was a little afraid of matcha, and my early unflavored forays with a few different companies’ promotions while not the worst thing ever didn’t really appeal to me (too bitter without a lot of sweetener, which to my mind defeats the purpose, and also made me WAY JITTERY). But I’d like a new morning ritual to make getting out of bed less crappy once the weather warms up (strong breakfast blends have been my savior this winter), and it can’t always be gyokuro. I was a little worried I’d find flavored matcha too chemical seeming or even strong, kind of similar to the way 52teas is often so hit or miss for me. And while this certainly isn’t traditional or whatever, it’s quite good! It feels more like a snack in a cup than tea as I’m used to it. The smell is definitely sweet caramely buttered popcorn, complete with the roasty sweet corn element. It was a delicious afternoon snack (I couldn’t wait ‘til tomorrow, whee). And I don’t feel any harsh green burn in my mouth afterward, and so far so good in terms of feeling energized but not jittery. (I have a feeling I’m only ever going to consume matcha with milk, to keep the jitters down…bonus, it gets me to drink milk, which I need to be doing a lot more than I have been lately.)

My method:

In my white 16oz wide round mug (I prefer these as matcha bowls because they show off the color and are the right size and shape for foam or whatever, plus there’s a handle):

1/2 teaspoon matcha, sifted (I’m going slow with amounts in hopes of minimizing ultimate measures to save money and prevent jitteriness!)
2 oz hot water (~180F, just because that’s what was on hand in my set water heater at the time)

whisked with a cute little bamboo chasen (glad I’m finally using it…it was a promo thing the first go-round when unflavored matcha didn’t really take) until nice n’ bubbly.

Meanwhile, 1 cup of milk heated around 1 minute in the microwave. When I’m done whisking the matcha with water and the milk’s finished heating, I pour most of the milk in the mug but reserve a little and use my wand frother to foam it up and top the mug off.

Delicious! I ordered all Basic, Robust and was a little nervous the flavor’d be too strong at that level but so far so good as a subtaster, hee. I did the “buy 3, get 1 free” deal on Red Leaf’s site but one of my matchas was missing, hope that gets sorted quickly. Otherwise though, I think I’m going to enjoy this flavored matcha venture this spring (I’m also curious about making cold protein shakes with it post-weightlifting)! Yay. They even threw in a free sample of the eggnog one, which is pretty awesome as I was eyeing it anyway.

Now I’m curious how many 1/2 teaspoon servings are in the 30g packets. Hm…

For an apple tea (I have a well established general loathing for fresh apple tartness in tea) this is decent/good, evokes baked pie well, not just the standard fruit and sugar elements. A touch tart and bitter, only at the end of the sip, but that could be remedied with a shorter steep time I’m sure (and also isn’t amiss as part of a true-apple-pie flavor). I wish I could say more but this was yet another late last night tea. My tea schedule of late works a treat for my personal utility but is a blight for accurate tasting notes the next day, alas.

Mucked this one up yesterday latteing it too—if I’d seen ahead of time online (or just assumed based on TTL’s tendencies, which by the way often jive with my preferences) that the tea base was a starring player I’d have though twice about diluting that with milk. Alas, I know a lot of the charms of this tea were lost in a sea of foam, and I don’t have any of my sample left to give this its proper tasting. Even mishandled though, this was ok. Not remarkable, but fine. Whoops.

This is smooth, indeed rum-y, and relatively subtle, which I kind of liked for its novelty. It tastes real, not so much steeped as perfumed, so not like extract. It got a little lost in a froth of milk (I am addicted to that thing! And it’s helping me make up for some horrendous milk-drinking deficiency the last year or so, egads) but I still enjoyed it that way too.

Vanilla’s tricky. Too strong or carelessly done and it’s harsh, with an unpleasant burn that doesn’t meld well with other elements including the tea. Subtle like this, I think to myself, “this is nice, subtly sexy really, but I’m not sure how often I’d reach for this particular experience”. Heavy creamy and it just becomes one of a million rich dessert bombs. I begin to think nothing explicitly labeled vanilla and vanilla only will ever really suit me as cupboard staple, no matter how well done. It’s neat rolling my taste experiences over in the palm of my hand, still smoothing and sorting it all out, learning what works and what doesn’t for me and why. Often it’s through no fault of a tea on its own really.

Been latte-ing it up after dinner lately thanks to the frother. Had this (finally!) last night. It smells good, which wasn’t surprising given Florence and Chocolate. But maybe I’m just crazy but I think I might prefer the straight up Chocolate tea from Harney more, both plain and latted. Weird. And not this tea’s fault exactly; it’s good, it just has the same combined profile as so many others I’ve tried my tastebuds sort of glaze over so to speak. I guess I’d rather just have strong, straightforward thin mint coating chocolate, and if I want something more blended like this I’d reach for something else or they’re all interchangeable to me or…something. Huhm.

Took with me to do errands post-V Day haze yesterday morning (we slept in—oh so glorious!—after Friday’s fun of drinking really good chai, napping, exchanging presents which excited me greatly ‘cause R gave me two UPress books on Buffy, one on gender natch and the other on the notion of chosen families, very thoughtful as a lot of my best undergrad work was on adoption theory, having a blast at the cat vid party laughing our tails off and making cat art including our own origami grumpy cats and business cat night lights and Warhol cat portraits, talking over figure skating footage and martini and manhattans, chowing down on nachos and watching silly TV, plus the usual makin’ out…woke up and cuddled, then spontaneously went to Elwood’s Shack for smoked slider and steelhead trout taco lunch before our usual running around, and the weather was the kindest it’s been in over a month, sunny with blue skies, in the 60s). Today we head to the Dali exhibit, find some hanging rods for all the tenugui art I want to hang in the living room tea nook, finish Elementary, and eat king cake. It’s been a great weekend, even if we did skip out of last night’s board game marathon at our friends’.

I am usually a bit skeptical of Lady Greys as I like the “masculine” type of bergamot, not the floral aspect but the soapy-clean one, and I often find Lady Greys too brightly fruity or floral in the ways I don’t care for. But this one intrigued me because I love lavender and hoped it’d lend a soapy cleanness like the bergamot I love. It surprised me. It is very “feminine”—R said it was nice and soft—and even looks the part, brewing up a pretty clear gold instead of brown—but it isn’t too brightly fruity sweet for my tastes. There’s a mysterious edge of creaminess, like a delicate Cream Earl Grey, and the lavender and bergamot is definitely present but never overpoweringly heady, instead light to fit the body and other aspects of the tea. It’s just right, very well balanced. I would drink it again! My favorite non-floral-heady-explosion blend so far. Would be excellent in the springtime.

I love how savory this one is, yet it’s not hair-rising or hard to drink at all, smooth like all the other Devoteas. I could totally drink this one again. I’ve said that for practically all of the ones in the sampler I’ve tried! I have enough to try it again some time with a raw sugarcube, but without it’s just dandy.