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Have I mentioned how much I hate being sick. My head cold has turned into nausea and upset stomach. It’s 10:00 PM and I haven’t had any tea yet today. Went digging though my stash looking for something herbal, wellness, lemon – and have decided that I don’t have much along those lines. OK I don’t usually do well with lemon teas so that would be the reason, but think I should get a couple for days like today.
I’m the tea freak at work. I always have tea at work, but I normally drink straight black or oolong while I’m at work. I’ve started taking fun flavors in on Fridays and just leaving them in the coffee room. A few people have started to notice and bring tea balls to try what I leave lying around. One of those people brought me a mixed flavored sample package of these Tstix. Really sweet and a nice gesture – I don’t think they understand how much tea I really have.
This goes against almost everything I believe/know about steeping tea. I really don’t respect any company that tells me to pour boiling water over green tea. The instructions on EVERY package is the same – put stick in cup, pour boiling water, stir to infuse to taste. Can’t be more vague than that.
I actually thought this was going to be a lemon tisane, it’s a rooibos – oh well. How bad can it be?
It’s citrus, it’s medicinal rooibos, it’s a bit creamy, it’s not at all what I was looking for tonight. This is not making me happy. It did infuse pretty well. I only stirred it for a couple of minutes, and I think I got quite a bit of flavor. I can see people liking the convenience of them. They aren’t soggy and don’t really drip the way tea bags do.

It has been brutal cold here today. Wind chill warnings for most of the day, was -50 C earlier. The wind has gone down and it’s now a balmy -36C.
I’m still not feeling 100% and from the sounds of it there are lots of us suffering from colds and flues – hope everyone is feeling better soon.
I was suppose to go out for dinner/drinks with friends, but based on sick and weather, I bailed on those plans. Snuggled in at home with a blankie, the cat, and the hockey game (winning 2-0 after 2nd).

In the spirit of the evening, it’s out with the old. This is by far the oldest tea I have in my house. Well over a year old, so that’s what I’m drinking tonight. It’s some sort of de-stress wellness herbal something. I don’t really like it, but maybe will get some benefits from it.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year – wishing you all the best in 2014!!

It has been suggested that maybe I need some booze. This is fabulous with Hazelnut Kahlua!!!

Spent the weekend doing nothing other than moving from bed to couch, couch to bed. Even making tea seemed to take more energy than I had.
Dragged my sorry butt into work this morning, and have pretty much accomplished nothing – and it’s fiscal year end, I have TONS that needs to be done.
Went digging through the stash in my purse and pulled this out. Sounded like something to perk me up. This is a tea that I should really like.
I’m not sure if it’s my bad attitude, or the fact that I can’t breathe – but this is nasty for me. It tastes like cheap, watered down powdered hot chocolate. I’m not going to rate it, and I’m going to put the rest of the sample back into the sample box and try it again another day. (Thanks Sil – I thought this would be a good choice for me today – guess not). I’m going to go back to Lipton Lemon tea bags with real lemon and honey until I feel better – no sense wasting good tea.

Was hoping some ginger would help clear sinuses, unclog my head. Ummmm nope.
I can’t even taste this. Maybe it’s not very ginger. Dunno. Will write proper tasting note once I can “taste” it. For now this did not have the desired effect. :((

It’s a little creamy, it’s a little bakery (not sure about actual sponge cake), it’s some sweet, and a lot raspberry.

I like it, it’s good, not sure it will make the cut for permanent place in my cupboard, but enjoyed what I had.

Thanks Sil for another interesting sample.
This one is interesting, but more of a miss for me. I was expecting a bold breakfast blend, and this is more gentle and subtle. I don’t think it’s really bad…. just not what I was expecting. It’s ok, but nothing special for me. I don’t think the flavors are jumping out at me. It’s just too mild for my tastes. That’s ok, can’t love all of em… :))

This is another tea that Sil sent me, and so far I’ve been liking the Yunnan Sourcing blacks. (I’m a little concerned about avoiding a Yunnan Sourcing order before I get my stash under control.)
This is a little strange to me, but strange in a good way. It’s really sweet and a bit earthy – not pu’erh earthy, but heading in that direction. It’s really smooth, no astringency (even with sporadic steep times at work). This is a good tea. I really like it, and would be more than happy to have more of it in my cupboard.

Yet another tea that Sil sent me, this time a black – had enough oolong for tonight. Thank you for sending this my way.

I don’t know what to say about this. I like it, I really like it, but I’m not sure why. In general I’m a fan of Yunnan black teas, and this is a pretty good one. It’s really Yunnany – ok that’s not a word, but what ever it is that I like about Yunnan teas – this one has lots of that. It’s almost yeasty, or bready, or something. Yeah a little honey, yeah a little malty, but lots of whatever that other thing is. Ultimately I guess it really doesn’t matter, but thumbs up – this is a good one.

This one also came from Sil – thank you very much.

I think I like this oolong better than the one I was drinking earlier. This is also dark and roasted, but I think it’s more “oolong” and less “charcoal”. Don’t get me wrong this is a dark roasted oolong, but it seems like the charcoal supports the oolong rather than taking over from it. For my tastes this one is a better balance between the oolong and the smoke.