JacquelineM

I prepared this with a little honey and a slice of lemon, and it sparkled! I love it this way. A bit of sweet/tart bitey goodness on a cold night. I now understand why ginger, honey, and lemon is such a classic combination. Delicious.

Happy first day of Spring! Sure it’s cold, and they are forecasting flurries tomorrow. But the light is different, I’m seeing birds that I haven’t seen all winter, and my moth orchid burst into bloom this morning!

Golden Monkey is a perfect tea for today. It’s lighter and sweeter than what I’ve been drinking, but still hefty enough to address this chill in the air. It goes steep after steep after steep too, sweeter and milkier each time. Excellent.

Another sample from DAVIDsTEA which didn’t appeal to me in the slightest, but wound up being quite delicious! Creamy banana! I said banana creme pie and my husband said fried bananas. In any case, it should give you the picture: sweet, decadent, dessert-y. I put a little honey in our cups but I don’t think it was needed. I’d be quite happy with two oz of this in my cupboard, yes indeed.

It’s dreary, rainy, and cold, but what do I care?! I’m on Mount Gray!

As soon as I saw this offered, I knew I had to jump on it — I’m am Earl Grey Fiend and I loved what A&D did with their last Earl. As always, it came lickety-split (with an AWESOME Mount Gray magnet. Thank you! I love the little clever extras A&D include with their teas!).

I think this might be my favorite A&D tin yet. The hand catching the plane! The bear on the top! The wood grain! The color (or mostly lack thereof) scheme! Well done, well done.

Ok, the tea. It’s supremely bergamot-y. The tea base is good and robust. I wanted to take it plain, so I only steeped it for three minutes. Perfect. I can see this one at 4 minutes with milk and sugar if I was in the mood for that, but I wouldn’t take it over three minutes if you are going to drink it plain. It resteeps beautifully. Lighter on the bergamot, but the tea is still completely flavorful and similar to many teas first steeps.

I don’t want to get embroiled in gender politics, but this is a manly Earl Gray if I ever tasted one. I love my delicate Earls, but for those times that you want to cut through exhaustion and fog — this is your man. This is an Earl at 11 :) Great for work, great for school. Love, love, love.

Home for spring break, and I’m doing some spring cleaning! Need to put my feet up and have some tea :) I chose this because it’s stout, delicious, and in a sachet – easy when tired. I love how bold yet smooth it is. A little chocolatey too.

I have these in the tag along tin, and please tell me I’m not the only one who didn’t know that you press the top to release the little tongs. I accidentally hit the top and the lid opened and you could actually see the lightbulb going on over my head. AH-HA! For months I’ve been prying those little tongs open on my tag along tins, then puuuushing them down to reseal, wondering why Harney and Sons used such a strange package! I win The Biggest Dodo Bird on Steepster Award :)

Phew! THAT was the quickest I’ve EVER went through two ounces of tea! So full of flavor. Not only cinnamon, but GOOD cinnamon. A tiny bit of orange. Sweet. Spicy. Ahhhhh. Perfect with honey and a splash of milk. I’ve got to get this one back in my life as soon as possible. And lots of it! Come to mama, big bag of cinnamon goodness!

Ever notice how some teas taste really, really wonderful just as you are finishing your pouch? It’s like they know that you are weighing the pros and cons of ordering them again, so they get all of their sparkle and flair together to dazzle you into pushing that button!?

That’s what this tea is doing to me right now. I just had the loveliest, nuttiest, floral on the end of the sip cup. What a temptress!

Oh my goodness gracious me! I have never, ever tasted a Tie Guan Yin like this! It is INTENSELY sweet. I mean, candy sweet. Cantaloupe candy. The little card I got with it says lilacs dipped in honey, but I am sticking with cantaloupe candy since I have never tasted a lilac. I am sincerely astonished how fantastic this is.

I steeped it kinda crazy, too: 1 perfect teaspoon, about a minute, 8 oz water. Increasing a minute each steep. I’m on my third right now and it’s still SO sweet. Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow.

My coworker gave me her pouch of this — she didn’t like it! I am absolutely crazy for it, though. The caramel does such wonderful things with the rooibos base — it adds sweetness, heft, and such a delicious flavor. Authentic caramel and no fake-y drinking a Yankee candle business! A very tea-like caffeine free evening cuppa with a little milk and sugar.

Sooooooo sleepy. Just submitted a research paper that had me staying up late, getting up early, and taxing my little pea brain to the max for the past week! I brewed this tea now that I’m done — the mint is acting like a teeny slap each time I sip it to keep me awake, and the chocolate is my reward for hard work. And RED LIPS! Eee. Cute. I almost shouldn’t separate the flavors out like this because they are so smooth and of a piece. Delicious.

I decided to do a little nice thing for myself and join the Insider Tea Club at Golden Moon Tea. You get a delivery each month of a rare, not usually imported to the USA tea. It’s a surprise (fun!) and I also thought it would expand my horizons a bit — left to my own devices I tend to choose black, black, and more black tea, and the previous selections for the club were of a great variety.

This may have been the best decision I made in 2013! I am drinking the second selection today (the first is a beautiful looking Tie Guan Yin that I’m saving for slightly warmer weather) and it is astonishingly good. Pale greenish yellow. Slightly floral. Gorgeously present mouthfeel. Buttery. nutty. I’m brewing it Western style and am on the second steep — rumor has it that it is wonderful through steep 12 Western Style (through steep 20 gong fu!) so I have quite a day ahead of me! Next time I’ll try it gong fu and bring in a glass cup because the color is truly something to behold.

I also must give kudos for the packaging (screw top tin), informational postcard with brewing instructions, and just general all around attention to detail. My little $20 a month spurge is making me feel like a millionaire! An INSIDER millionaire! ;)

If ever there was a day to drink a chocolatey tea with wee red sugar lips in it, I think this would be the day! I’m not a big celebrator of Valentine’s Day, but I do love tea, chocolate, and wee red sugar lips. We had a spider in the office (!) so I lost track of my brewing time and it went two minutes over what I usually do, but no worries — it’s perfectly delicious. Must be that nice Chinese tea base.

I admit it – I was entranced by the idea of gold sugar balls and sparkly tea. I couldn’t help myself!

My brewed tea isn’t sparkly but it does taste nice. I think it tastes like maple syrup and only a leeeeetle like a Yankee Candle! I was thinking it was going to taste like Hot Cinnamon Spice but it does not in the least. This is a sweet, completely different treat but one that I will likely not repurchase. That veering toward Yankee Candle territory is troublesome and will make me only drink this every now and again until it is gone.

Another delicious tea from DAVIDsTEA! I did my homework and read some comments about this tea’s propensity for bitterness so I steeped it for 3 minutes and added a little demerara sugar. LOVE! Think Paris but with black currant predominant instead of berry (this has berry too, but it’s not the first thing I taste). Not bergamot-y but it’s in there somewhere like Paris, too.

A fine addition to my fruity blacks. We are having the most miserable rainy Monday, and this is bringing a smile to my face!

I recently joined a book group, and we had our first meeting yesterday at Le Pain Quotidien (we discussed the first half of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantle). . Talk about like minds – we are all tea drinkers, and all ordered Earl Grey at the cafe! It is served in a personal teapot and of course I had to peek IN the teapot — there was a silken sachet with lots of full leaf tea inside, and the paper at the end of the string said Le Pain Quotidien, and no other brand or purveyor. A handless cup is provided for drinking.

I took the tea with no additions, and it was quite delicious! Good tea, very mild on the bergamot. I was worried that the tea would be rough or strong since I was too busy concentrating on the discussion to time the brewing, but there was nothing to worry about. The waiter took our pots for more hot water two more times. The first resteep was delicious, the next very weak and I wouldn’t go for a third again.

When I asked if we wanted to meet again at this venue or change, it was unanimous that we stay, so I think everyone enjoyed the tea and kind service! They offer a handful of tea choices, but the Earl was so delightful I would get it again next time without a doubt!

I tried a perfect teaspoon of this with a perfect teaspoon of Mountain Rose Herb’s Firefly chai (a rooibos chai) and it was quite delicious. I liked it much better than the creme brulee alone. I could have used a wee bit more spice, and I wonder if a three (chai) to one (creme brulee) ratio might be even better. I’ll have to give that a whirl next.

OMG! OMG! OMG! Roasty tangy unsweetened nut butter-esqe Fujian amazingness! Emphasis on the roasty! Stone fruit on the end of the sip. Everything I hoped for, and more (and it’s organic!). I’m thrilled. I want 12794902840928490 pounds of this.

This is another free sample that made me say – “Eech! We won’t like this!” and here we are greedily slurping our tea. Peachy! Passion fruit! I am not sure I’ve had green rooibos before but I sure love it in this blend. This tea is a breath of fresh air — so different than anything currently residing in my cupboard. I’d definitely order 50g of this.

This is SPECTACULAR! Very sweetly cinnamon-y, spicy (but not peppery), round and robust! With honey and a splash of milk, I feel like I’m having black tea! This is my new favorite herbal chai. I’m a cinnamon fanatic, so this is pretty much heaven in a cup to me. I don’t do number ratings, but pssssst – this is a 100!

This was one of my free samples from my DAVIDsTEA order. I looked at the completely bizarre list of ingredients, and said “Ech! We’ll never like this!” but at the same time was uber-curious to give it a whirl. So, I made it for our evening tisane.

Guess what!? It’s completely delicious. It’s very hard to describe – maybe a lightly spicy, slightly… anise-y? cider-y? kinda tart but sweet, popcorn-y? delight. Truly different than anything I’ve tasted…ever!

Bravo, DAVIDsTEA! I’d order this in a heartbeat!

Delicious! Just the right amount of chocolate and mint — neither overpowers. I’m not sure what else is going on in there (i.e. what role the pink peppercorns play? Depth and gravitas?) but OH did I enjoy my tea this morning!!!

I may tell you that I got this because I was out of the generous amount of Harney’s chocolate peppermint black that ashmanra sent me, and I missed the flavor profile. I may tell you that I got this because it is so well-liked here on Steepster. I may tell you that I got this because it has a Chinese tea base. But make no mistake. I got this because of the WEE RED SUGAR LIPS!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIQMTo6ryh8

(swoon)

They are also very Robert Smith-esque, but I’ll quit it with the 80s references (I can point to “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” too, but I said I’d be quiet now!). I wonder if the person who created this blend is about my age, and swirled and twirled to the post-punk that I still hold near and dear to my heart?

My very first order ever from DAVIDsTEA arrived on my porch this evening! Hooray!

This is a creamy, burnt sugar-esqe rooibos dessert tea. There is definitely something artificial about it – almost like one of those flavored creamers (which is actually a flavor I kinda like every now and again).

I wanted to try this as-is first, but in the back of my mind I planned to use this as a mixer with my rooibos chai to make a vanilla/caramel chai. I think it will be better suited to that purpose than straight drinking. Don’t get me wrong — it’s satisfying by itself — but I think it will be fantabulous with chai spices. I used to do this with a slightly fakey creme roobois from Teavana and it was one of my favorite caffeine-free things in the world. I’ll post another review when I make a mix with this to tell you if it lives up to my dreams :)

I must have been in super magpie mode (shiiiiiiiny!) the day I placed my order because I got some crazy stuff. Look for gold balls, tiny sugar lips, and all kinds of nonsense in my upcoming reviews!

Some Golden Monkey paired with a Philadelphia Soft Pretzel. I had a feeling it would be a good pairing – bready, salty with good, medium bodied honey sweet tea with its own bready notes – but it was even better than I expected.

Here’s to unexpected pairings!

I got the cranberry notes back today! My measuring cup was in the dishwasher, so I sort of eyeballed the water amount. It must have been a bit low because I had less than my usual amount of tea, but it had a wonderful strength and flavor! Now I know to use a little extra tea with this one.