Tea Trader Maverick Black Tea

Maverick Black Tea is a fruity blend of blood orange, peaches, apricots, and vanilla. Another Tea Trader special this tea is almost the flavour opposite of the Calgary Welsh Breakfast. It's smooth and fruity with a delicate aroma. If you like a sweeter tea then this is for you. The fruit flavours all blend nicely together though I can't say I can really differentiate the peach and apricot flavours. The blood orange is a softer, sweeter citrus note. It's like fruit punch tea but in a good way, not in a red dye #5 way.

Maverick Black Tea is a great compliment to breakfast and added to my enjoyment of the last few episodes of Time Squad which I finally got around to watching.

Recommended.

For more info follow the link: http://www.teatrader.com/

David's Tea Nutty Granola Crunch Rooibos

Next up from our newest haul of tea Nutty Granola Crunch.  Will this be hippy dippy nonsense or will it make your tastebuds go nuts?

David's Tea Caramel Corn Fruit Infusion

Caramel Corn is a delicious treat but should it be tea? Let's find out! Mrs. ISMOTU picked this up after trying it iced but on this rainy day I thought drinking it hot would be more apropos. 

David's Tea Dark Chocolate Delight Black Tea

A rare black tea review for this blog. Mrs. ISMOTU needed a boost to catch up on some work so I decided to tempt fate and join her in a cup of black tea after noon.   This tea has "spiced" dark chocolate, blueberries, cocoa shells, and natural chocolate flavouring. The chocolate scent is nice and similar to other teas with chocolate I've tried from David's Tea. Flavour-wise this is exactly what you might expect, sweet and chocolatey. I don't really taste the blueberries that much, not like in the Rooibos de Provence, the "spiced" aspect of the dark chocolate is very slight also.  On the whole this is a nicely flavoured tea and perfect for all the chocolate fans out there.
Recommended. 

I'm going to add some milk to it now and continue catching up on season 3 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I know I'm quite behind but it took me a bit to come to terms with the somewhat jarring voice change in Leonardo from Jason Biggs to Seth Green, plus I was on more of a Japanese kick for a while there.

I've quite enjoyed this latest iteration of the heroes in a half shell particularly the running gag the turtles watching a different corny old cartoon each season that homages some of the great cartoons the preceded the original TMNT on the airwaves of the 80's. This time it's "Crognard the Barbarian" a mash-up of Thundarr the Barbarian and Masters of the Universe, with shades of the Herculoids. I might have to do a whole post on the topic sometime.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/our-teas/dark-chocolate-delight

Good Cartoons Made When I Wasn't Looking

I love cartoons. I've always loved cartoons and I was lucky enough to have some really great shows to watch as a kid on Saturday mornings (when that was still a thing) and some that are greater in my memory than they are upon rewatching. Today though I'm not going to talk about The Real Ghostbusters, The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, or any of the extensive list of cartoons from my youth that I love. No, today I'm going to talk about some shows that sprang up seemingly from nowhere but in reality just at a time when cartoons particularly new cartoons were not on my radar.

To be fair, almost none of these are all that recent but they are new discoveries to me. Without further ado and in no particular order:

David's Tea Apple Custard Fruit Infusion

Another "back of the cupboard" review while I watch the finale to the excellent revival of "the X-Files" that I can only hope will lead to more. I may have overlooked this tisane due to its similar name to the "Sweet Apple Cider" I reviewed back in the fall.

The Apple Custard contains apples, golden raisins, coriander, chamomile, and vanilla flavouring. The vanilla and apple flavours predominate giving this tea a mild sweet taste.  I think this bag was sitting for a while and as such the flavour has faded over time.

Overall this tea has not left me wanting more, unlike the latest adventure of Scully and Mulder.

Not Recommended.

David's Tea Buchu Superfruit Rooibos

Another new one from David's Tea that is based around a "superfruit" this time a "detox remedy" from South Africa. Other ingredients include black current, blackberry leaves, goji berry, strawberry, blueberry, açai, stevia, and natural açai and raspberry flavouring.  I find the smell of this tea very unappealing. I think it's mostly the esters used for the natural flavours, I like raspberries but not usually raspberry flavouring.

This tea is almost a checklist of trendy exotic ingredients, açai, goji, buchu, even blueberries are considered fancy now. Of the new teas we bought this was the one I was probably the least interested in which may have biased me a little bit but Mrs. ISMOTU didn't love this one either.

It's tart mostly with a hint of sweetness to prevent it from being considered sour. I wouldn't say it's bad but definitely not for me.
Not Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/buchu-superfruit-organic-3

Luckily a disappointing tea did not impede my enjoyment of the latest episode of "Legends of Tomorrow" which despite having a terrible name has quickly become my new favourite of the current stable of DC Comics TV series we're lucky enough to be able to watch.  This episode's trek to the Cold War got us a look into the Eighties without repeating the funkalicious vibe from the team's inaugural trip to the Seventies. Plus we got to see some characters and callbacks to John Ostrander's run on "Fury of Firestorm" which is always a good thing in my books. I'll have to write either a Firestorm-centric post one of these days or an examination of my favourite comics written by Mr. Ostrander. Or maybe I should just do both.

David's Tea Ginger Peach Moringa Herbal Infusion

Ginger Peach Moringa, I know two out three of those words. So the ginger and peach are what drew me to try this tea but what's a moringa? According to the tin moringa is a "wonder-plant used for everything from detoxing to immune boosting" blech. I drink tea because I enjoy it I don't look at it as alternative medicine. I also just like to try new things. I don't need to be sold on a new tea because of some kind of magic plant. It's a beverage not a potion.  Ok, rant over. How's the tea?

Pretty decent actually. The peach flavour predominates and the ginger is in perfect harmony with it. A bit of spice to cut the sweetness of the peach. This tisane also contains moringa leaves, blackberry leaves, and lemongrass, but they are all in the background.  This was a nice accompaniment to the latest episode of Supergirl where we are introduced to Bizarro in an episode that plays with the classic secret identity dating issues trope.

Despite my annoyance with the marketing I did really enjoy this tea.
Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/ginger-peach-moringa-4

David's Tea Organic Mango Turmeric Herbal Infusion

The next of the brand new teas we picked up over the weekend is the Mango Turmeric, which is accompanying my trek through the X-Files. I'm over halfway through season 8 and thus nearly ready to check out the new series.

This bright yellow tea has a complex, savoury flavour. Anchored around the yellow root indigenous to India this infusion also contains ginger, mango, pineapple, lemongrass, lemon verbena with some natural orange and mango flavouring.  The smell of this tea was the first thing that hit me. The scent of the turmeric is strong and distinctive. It elicits the notion of a memory in my mind but I can't quite place it. The ginger adds a spiciness to the savoury punch of the turmeric (which is a great example of the fluidity of English pronunciations) while the fruit flavours are all but lost in the mix. I can detect a hint of citrus but nothing really of the mango and pineapple (Mrs. ISMOTU says she gets a hint of the mango sweetness but it's faint).  As such it does not pair well with the cheesecake I had for dessert but that's more poor planning on my part than any real criticism toward the tea.

I like it, it's quite different from many of the other flavours I've tried but it is enjoyable. I don't think it'll become a favourite but would probably go nicely with some Indian food.
Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/mango-turmeric-organic-5

David's Tea Orange Blossom Rooibos

Orange Blossom Rooibos flavours the tea with currants, orange peel, orange blossoms, vanilla, marigold, and safflower.  The gentle flavour is wonderfully smooth. It's not as strong or bitter as Earl Grey and the hint of vanilla adds a creaminess to the mix. Tonight it's paired well with discount Belgian chocolate biscuits and the latest episode of Agent Carter. She's still kicking butt and wearing amazing dresses whilst doing so. The comic book science was out in full force and Howard Stark stole some scenes.
Highly Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/orange-blossom

David's Tea Banana Nut Bread Fruit Infusion

Banana bread is a delicious treat that I should really make more often. When we were in the frigid North I would toss bananas in the freezer when they started to turn, with the notion that I'd make delicious banana bread. It never happened. So far this year my wife has made a super yummy banana bread twice and I've reaped the benefits.

This fruit infusion captures the flavour surprisingly well by using a mix of dates, currants, almonds, banana, and some added flavouring. I think it's the dates that are the secret ingredient here. I would never have thought to use dates in a tea but they work really well.

Banana Nut Bread fruit infusion is complimenting nicely my evening watching the latest episode of Supergirl, a show I'm enjoying far more than I thought I would.

Highly Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/banana-nut-bread-5

Toku-WHAT-su?

In the beginning there was Ultraman...

Specium Ray

Japan is a place that has fascinated me for a big chunk of my life now. My initial interest came through my study of Isshinryu Karate which began when I was 10. As a teenager I had friends who were really into anime but I was more into American comics at that point. Plus I had seen Ninja Scoll late one night on Teletoon at an age where I probably wasn't ready for it and it kind of turned me off anime for a while. I have been lucky enough to visit Japan twice in my travels. The first time was a 5 day trip to Okinawa which was awesome and probably the initial spark toward today's post. The second time was a bit over a year later as we (me and the at-the-time-soon-to-be Mrs. ISMOTU) left China for the final time we decided to turn our layover in Tokyo into a week-long holiday which probably cemented or at least furthered my fascination.  At the time I had just rediscovered Transformers in the form of Transformers: Prime and that led to spending too much money and suitcase space on fun Asian exclusive toys that I'd never see again.

But that's not what I want to focus on today. Boy do I have rambling, slightly askew openings to these posts. Well if you've read this far, thanks for sticking with me hopefully it'll be worth it.

Kate Loves a Mystery Too

Mysteries abound in this great world of ours and the ones on television can be a fun diversion that's not always as mindless as other genres.  In this post I'm going to blab on about a few more of my favourite TV mystery shows, for organization's sake I'm going to stick with older "classic" shows, which I'm going to arbitrarily define as pre-90's just to make room for part three of this series.

David's Tea Oh Canada! Rooibos

Sitting down to watch the first episode of season two of Agent Carter (with a great opening sequence reminding us why this show is awesome), enjoying a hot cup of Oh Canada! Pure typical Canadiana means that the Oh Canada! rooibos must be flavoured with maple.  It's got red and green rooibos blended with tons of sweetness from honeybush, caramel, toffee, candy maple leaves, and other flavouring. This is one of the sweetest teas I've had from David's Tea and as such I sample it somewhat sparingly. The maple flavour is sure to warm your glowing hearts as you stand on guard for the true north strong and free. There I got all the O Canada lyric references out in a single sentence. Seriously though, Oh Canada! rooibos is a sweet treat that brings the heat and is a lovely accompaniment to after dinner dessert.
Recommended.

For more info follow the link: https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/oh-canada-2

David's Tea Pure Vanilla Rooibos

Rooibos is a favourite in our house. I like it because there's no caffeine and my wife just enjoys it all together.  The Pure Vanilla Rooibos is a simple blend of rooibos, vanilla beans, and marigold and it certainly lives up to its name. The vanilla scent is soft and subtle and the flavour compliments the rooibos nicely.  I'm enjoying a nice hot cup while watching some of my favourite Christmas episodes of various TV shows, and it's the perfect accessory to cuddle up on the couch with Mrs. ISMOTU and laugh at Robot Santa's antics on Futurama.

Simple, classic, delicious. Pure Vanilla Rooibos from David's Tea is a winner.
Recommended.

For more info follow the link:https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/pure-vanilla

Kate Loves a Mystery

Detective fiction has a big place in my heart. I love all kinds of mystery stories, tv shows, and comic books. I probably started my "Journey into Mystery" not with the Mighty Thor (terrible comics joke) but with the Hardy Boys. Those inquisitive teen brothers sparked an interest in solving mysteries. From there I discovered Eric Wilson's Tom and Liz Austen mysteries which appealed to more because they were so firmly Canadian despite my not having visited most of the settings at that time in my life though I've been fortunate to travel across much of the Great White North since then. I seem to remember a few "Encyclopedia Brown" books and probably other less memorable mysteries for kids but soon I'd graduated to the grand-daddy of all detectives Sherlock Holmes. I still have the three volume set I purchased (or more accurately my mother purchased for me) where I first worked my way through every single adventure of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous creation.