Cofftea

Mom bought Cafe Latte creamer (Coffee Mate brand) and I don’t like it in my coffee cuz it’s too plain for me (I prefer flavored creamers… this is even more bland than vanilla) so I decided to try it in my chai which I use regular milk for. Blech. Still flat. And the texture is that of REALLY watery milk. Do yourself a favor and use milk for the health benefits, mouth feel, and flavor.

No notes yet.

Whoa… ok, can I give this a 200? Against my prior experience, I decided to have this cold (16oz, 2 bags) so I could swallow a couple of my pills. And I was REALLY surprised. This is the very 1st chai I have ever liked neat, cold. And it’s a bagged tea I steeped for 8 min. WOW! This would be an absolutely perfect tea for those who live in climates where they are able to enjoy iced tea in the fall w/o fear of passing out.

Wanted a little some thing special last night watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition since it was filmed 15 min from my house.

2oz cold brewed coffee
6oz water
1tsp rum extract (I’ve gotta find rum flavored syrup…)
1 TB pumpkin flavored ice cream (I used some of a pumpkin pie blizzard I had left over in the freezer)
1TB Marshmellow Mocha creamer
1tsp instant chai

Really freakin good.

I was shocked to see that a company other than Adagio would think up something as crazy as this… and even more shocked they beat Frank to it.

WHOA!!! The aroma… Granted I’ve never smelled sweet potato pie… but this is weird! And incredibly strong.

I know Lupicia doesn’t use the standard water volumes, but I wanted to compare this as closely as possible to Adagio’s version so I’m going w/ 1 bag for a full 5 min (yikes!) in 8oz of just below boiling water.

Whoa… um… HELLO!… Well this certainly isn’t a weak cuppa. While I’ve only had sweet potato fries (nasty…), It’s my best guess that they pretty much nailed this. I’m greatful for the light creamyness of the marshmellow because I think it would be way too strong and harsh w/o it. There’s a bit of the starchy potatoe texture to the tea, but not as much as Adagio’s. This one is more sweet potatoey while Adagios is moreso just potatoey… and I prefer that one, I can barely finish the cup. There are some things (like beets) that I only like in tea… well, I guess I don’t even like sweet potato tea. You could do this in latTEA form, but I think it would be best neat topped w/ mini marshmellows.

Marshmellow Mocha Chai! The marshmellow mocha creamer doesn’t quite scream “MARSHMELLOW!”, but I do almost immediately think “yummm… tastes like a s’more!” And for both of the flavors to be so out in front of this VERY spicy chai (although it’s a bit easier since I made this w/ milk and not water) is pretty impressive. I (heart) holidy creamers. Can’t wait to add this to Twinings Pumpkin Spiced Chai.

Ok, I admit these terrify me because I HATE red rooibos. It tastes like licorice to me. But I just had to try these cookies, because… well… their tea cookies and any food w/ tea in it is amazing. And yes, I’m having these for breakfast.

HOLY CRAP! I love when I’m wrong in situations like this! These are so yummy. The lemon and orange hit me right away, then a smooth sweetness from the vanilla and honey combo. And there’s no tea grit and no licorice flavor. The cookie itself is also more moist than the chai ones. I had this w/ a cup of their blackberry black (that doesn’t taste like blackberry) and the two went very well. I could easily shovel in the whole bag. These may be the best cookies not containing chocolate I’ve had. Although they would be better dipped in chocolate… maybe a chocolate made w/ Tipu’s instant chai?

From Jaime!

I do not like banana flavored teas and I’m not a fan of coconut- but since a really under-ripe banana takes like cucumber, I’m hoping that’s what plantain tastes like in tea.

1 bag/8oz water/11min

Nope I was wrong. A strong banana type flavor w/ coconut coming in second w/ a solid but smooth green bush base. I personal “meh…” to me, but a must try for anyone that enjoys banana and/or coconut teas. Would probably be good as a latTEA.

This tea is from Jaime, but it was Meghann that suggested I have it w/ lunch. A large Mission Carb Balance whole wheat tortilla spread w/ hummus and topped w/ ham, shreaded cheese, and banana peppers, heated for 20 sec and then rolled. I only heated the wrap so it was easier to roll. It was cold when I ate it cuz I made it while the tea was steeping.

1 bag/8oz water/11 min

The raw leaf smells mostly of orange. The aroma was so strong it got my dog’s attention when I took it out of the bag lol.

The steeped liquor has a lighter aroma and looks very much like a combo of carrot and beet juice except it’s much more translucent and more pink than red.

Ok, I can no longer say that I don’t like anything w/ beet in it. This is a very smooth balance of fruit and savoryness from the carrot. It reminds me of a tea version of V8 V-Fusion. It went great w/ my sandwhich and I bet would go great w/ borscht!:)

This is amazing and based on my liking I’d give it a 100, but flavors would have to be stronger to earn it for accuracy, which is what I rate based on.

I’m too cold to make match a this morning. I’m afraid my shivering will send my precious matcha powder all over myself and the kitchen, so I just nuked 16oz of this to have w/ breakfast. Still no change.

HELLO! Yeah, I’m awake now… probably not so good for 7pm. Good thing I’m planning on having a glass of wine later.

Dirty Chai Misto:
1 cup drip coffee
1 cup Fat Free Smart Balance Milk
2tsp chai

…Absolutely AMAZINGLY good! But I’m so glad this was half-caff coffee. Between the caffeine and the spices (and the need to drink it rather quickly so it doesn’t settle too much inspite of constant stirring), I’m a bit zombie-ish.

I think only I would think matcha OJ goes well w/ a ham & hummus sandwhich.

My sample was the perfect size to make a gallon iced. After I made my gallon, I heated up a 16oz mug. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE blackberries. They are the one fruit I will buy all year round if I can manage to find them and will even pay more for organic.

What a complete disappointment! For a person that doesn’t really like fruit flavored blacks; however, it’s a pretty good tea if you ignore the fact that it’s supposed to be blackberry. But I can’t. The base is smooth and medium bodied w/ just a hint of astringency that plays my tongue. Every once in a while I get a berry tartness, but as Suzi said, it’s not the focus here and I’m sure I couldn’t identify or even tell you it was there if I didn’t see the tin.

Hmm… my 1st tasting note disappeared. To restate, this is from Jaime!=D

(Steeped for 11 min)

Had this w/ a ham, banana pepper, mozzarella, and roasted red pepper hummus (hummus was homemade- even the peppers were home roasted) on homemade whole grain pita. It actually went surprisingly well! The sweet mango balanced the spice and the chili paired well w/ the peppers. So yummy!

Tall 2 pump mocha 2 pump peppermint non fat no water green tea latte w/ whip and mocha drizzle. The only way I like a green tea latte… if only they wouldn’t sweeten the matcha! And it’d be a lot easier if they’d just put “Green Tea Peppermint Hot Chocolate” on the menu:) The barista I normally have is great though.

Lazy man’s dirty turtle chai. 1/2TB each dark chocolate and caramel creamers and 1tsp chai in a cup of drip coffee. But at least I didn’t use instant coffee:)

1tsp in coffee is becoming one of my favorite ways of having this is… which is funny cuz it wasn’t what I intended it for.

Steeped for 8min then added a TB of caramel coffee creamer… WHOA! The apple and chai spices both stand up to the caramel which is amazing since this creamer is insanely sweet. This definitely confirms it’s worthy of the 100 rating.

Twinings order 7/27

My 1st Lady Grey! I needed something to go w/ lunch (left over spaghetti) and thought this would work. I originally set the timer for 6 min, but based on how quickly the liquor darkened I decided to pull it out at 3. After 3 short min the liquor is very dark brown, but I’m surprised at how light the aroma is. It smells of a smooth black tea w/ a hint of bergamot.

I’m continually amazed by their bagged teas. The base is rather strong, but very smooth. The bergamot is a lot lighter than the Earls I’ve had, but is definitely there. Between the smoothness of the base and the bergamont I’m almost getting an Earl Dreamsicle type flavor. Very good. I’m tempted to give this a 100, but I want to compare it to others 1st.

Twinings order 6/27

I LOVE making apple cider w/ chai, but hot apple juice is sticky and messy so I’m on my search for a good apple chai. The only other one I’ve tried is Adagio’s but I couldn’t get any apple from it.

As soon as I open the box I can tell this will be different… inspite of the bags being individually wrapped, I smell apple. I can smell chai spices as well, but my brain just screams “APPLE”. When I open the wrapper, it only gets better… the chai spice aroma is stronger, but so is the apple.

As it steeps, the aroma fills my kitchen- that doesn’t happen w/ every tea. WHOA… This tastes exactly like you’d sprinkled finely ground chai spices over a sliced apple. And I’m getting an apple trifecta… there’s the sweetness of the apple, a tartness that you’d get from a granny smith (my fave), and even a hint of green apple hard candy. This is amazing. One of the suggestions is to sweeten, but if you do- I’d only go w/ brown or raw sugar. I’m not seeing white sugar, stevia, or agave being a good match for this. Honey possibly. The only thing I can’t figure out is why they don’t suggest milk or creamer… I have vanilla caramel creamer so I’ll try that next.

Steeped 1TB of leaves (this is a 2nd infusion) in 2oz water and added it to 6oz of coffee for extra warmth. Yum!

My neighbor swears by this stuff so she made me a big jug of it. As directed, except she didn’t sweeten it. I admit I’m a bit nervous, only because this isn’t my prefered water:milk ratio- but here it goes. My fears of it tasting like massively watery spiced milk are instantly gone as soon as it hits my tounge. It’s thick, spicy, and oh so good. It still won’t damage my relationship w/ Mayan Chocolate Chai though.

Another Jamie tea! I admit, rose teas are growing on me. And this is my very 1st Tulsi tisane so I had to try it.

I bumped up the suggested steeping time a min since I like my teas in a 6oz cuppa but I decided to make an 8oz cup today.

This reminds me a lot of RoT’s Get Relaxed! Except there’s no rooibos- a personal yay for me. The rose is strong, w/o tasting like grandma’s perfume and it is slightly sweet- although not anything close to being dessert like,. juice like, or artificially sweet. I’d definitely drink this again- maybe blended w/ Adagio’s vanilla or cocomint green.

Pouch 2/2

W/ milk. Still quite chocolatey w/ a smooth, light spicyness. Less sweet than w/ coffee (yay!), but there’s also the hint of an odd taste I’m picking up on… although I can’t identify it. It might be the dumb anise… or one of the countless ingredients I can’t pronounce.