JacquelineM

I am so happy – this tea is scrumptious at 200 degrees and three minutes without any additions (I had it with creme and sugar at the tea house). I purchased it in a wax covered paper bag like you would buy coffee in, sitting on a shelf, which worried me a bit (the devil on my shoulder adds “sitting for who knows how long! That’s not proper loose tea storage!” but the angel on my shoulder adds “Shush devil! She brought it home and immediately put it into tins. Calm down!”) but it does not seem to have suffered at all!

A strong tea taste, that creamy dreamy vanilla, and a bit more than a hint of bergamot makes for a very satisfying and just-up-my alley cup! New obsession!

Today we went to the Talking Teacup as part of my birthday celebration, and I had this tea! I don’t know where it is from, as the shop rebranded all of their teas as their own, but my guess? SpecialTeas! It seemed like many of the teas there either had exact names of SpecialTeas teas and Harney & Sons teas…and I think this was a SpecialTeas. The photo on the SpecialTeas site also looks exactly like the leaves, blue flowers, and off white petal looking things of the loose tea.

Anyway – wherever it is from – it is delicious. It is my first Earl Grey Creme and I lo-o-o-oved it! That touch of vanilla in the Earl Grey was wonderful. It took the edge off the bergamot in the most delicious way. It was so perfect with my “high tea” meal of scones with currant jelly and Devonshire cream, corn chowder, a variety of tea sandwiches, and vanilla cake with buttercream, a brownie and a cookie for dessert!

I liked it so much that I picked up some of the rebranded stuff they were selling in their own 4oz packages. I can’t wait to make some more at work tomorrow!

I only took a few photos at the tea restaurant, but a set of my day is at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackiemania/sets/72157624531586464/

One of the many things I love about weekends – the caffeinated dessert teas come out to play! I have been craving this one recently, so I prepared it for this evening’s enjoyment. Mmmmmm – good coconut flavor, smooth tea. Milk and sugar brings it over the edge.

Now that I’ve been experimenting with taking teas plain with lower steeping temps, I’m curious to bring some of this to work to see how I like it without milk.

I can’t believe how little of this tea is left in my cupboard – I did just buy an 8oz bag in January!

It is so dreadfully humid in our area today! When I was on the train, all I could think about (as my glasses were fogging up from the change in temperature) was coming in, and having some of this tea.

The lemony flavors blended in are so refreshing, especially my beloved lemon verbena! I am sipping my second steep right now, and it couldn’t be more perfect. A great help in waking up (had a little too much Pouilly-Fuissé for my birthday last night!) and feeling some relief from this humidity!

Tea related birthday aside: my coworkers gave me a gift certificate to TBar!

http://steepster.com/places/1188-tbar-philadelphia-pennsylvania

I decided to use my Concoction of Divine Decadence on this tisane last night:

Squeeze of agave, squeeze of chocolate syrup in a cup, prepare and pour tisane into cup, top with splash of half and half…

I was a little nervous because of the mint, but there was nothing to be worried about. Think of chocolate chip mint ice cream! Think of thin mint girl scout cookies! and you will get the gist of this treat.

I love discovering new ways to enjoy things in my cupboard!

I am completely, utterly, and delightfully shocked how good this tea is without any cream and just a half teaspoon of sugar! My coworkers brought in sweets for my birthday today (awwwwwww!) and I wanted to drink this tea with them, but didn’t have any milk! So, I said “Oh throw caution to the wind! You are now aged enough to be considered an eccentric old bat – do something wacky!!!”

I lowered the temperature and steep time and voilà! Delicious, vanilla tinged, excellent with pastry breakfast tea. Yay! I think this eccentric old bat time of life suits me!

Today I decided to enjoy my Golden Monkey that Tastes like a Golden Monkey :) I am on the second steep, and I love that creamy mouthfeel that becomes evident on steeps two and three. Such an enjoyable tea to sip and sip throughout the day. Mellow and, yes, golden. If a color has a flavor, this is it.

I made my squeezes of agave & chocolate syrup and this tisane concoction – topped with a splash of half and half – and OHHHHH it was good. I am the kind of person who needs a chocolatey treat every couple of days, and this one is super satisfying.

I like this one even better at 195. So sweet and raisiny! Again, if they blindfolded me and asked me what kind of tea this was, I’d say “Oh! Panyang Congu, for certain!” I actually wrote on the label of my tin “Golden Monkey That Tastes Like Panyang Congu” :) YUM! Absolute perfection, sans additions.

EDIT: I was able to enjoy FOUR steeps of this :)

Ooooooh! We have a winner here!!!! It’s not exactly like my beloved Silk Road Tea’s Imperial Red, but it is close enough. It is a little less roasty, and not nut buttery, but chocolatey. Smooth as anything. I love it! I could seriously drink this tea every day. I let my coworker taste it and she said “Woooooooooow!”

I again completely ignored the steeping directions from the shop, and steeped it like Imperial Red. I thought it worked like a charm! No bitterness or astringency at all.

♥ ♥ ♥

Stressful work week, capped off with the craziest day yet yesterday. Oooooh I needed some Thomas! I made a nice pot to share with my husband :) We had digestive biscuits topped with chocolate, this honeyed, malty, bready wonder tea, and an engaging film to take our minds off the mundane. Just what I needed. Thank you Thomas!

Also – fascinating. I saw this article because it was a link on Arts & Letters Daily (http://www.aldaily.com/) best website after Steepster – tied with Cute Overload ;) Anyway – here’s the article:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.gravois.html

Look, it’s Arunachal Pradesh! That’s where the Simple Leaf’s Dawn comes from!

Leaves are much greener than I was expecting. They smell really good, too. Earthy and sweet.

WOW. I was not expecting to like this one as much as I am! I have only had one single estate Darjeeling (but it was a second flush) and I was underwhelmed. THIS, though! Fruity, complex grape like wine, oh so delicious. This took me totally by surprise. I am intoxicated!

I prepared it a little cooler and for less time than the shop recommended, and I like it very much this way. I can see it being a bit too astringent brewed for longer or with hotter water.

I did take it with a little sugar like the Germans :) Delicious!

I’m so excited! I have another type of tea which I love!

I made a second cup with these leaves and the leftover water in my kettle, and it was less muscatel-ish but even fruitier.

I have to get back to my LTS (Local Tea Store) and get a nice sized pouch of this!!!

Oh, Vanilla Rooibos, how I’ve missed you! I said I was going to wait til Fall for you, but after enjoying that other apple cinnamon tea the other night, I realized our love is seasonless. You are a sweet apple pie delight- summer, fall, winter, and spring! I’m so glad you are in my cupboard again. Welcome home, baby!

Boy, is this a delightful summer tea! Even though I’m drinking it hot, and even though it has spice in it, it is so refreshing. It’s that magic lemon verbena!! ♥

Also, have I mentioned how much I love my FORLIFE cup recently!!?!?!? It is so much more convenient to use at work it’s not even funny. I love a convoluted tea ritual as much as the next person, but not at work. Now all I have to do is figure out which is the best travel mug for me, and I will be totally in the 21st century in my outward world doings. Home is totally another story ;)

Trying to ease into a post-sick and post-vacation work week. Oh, it’s hard. The Golden Monkey is helping. I was so busy earlier that I oversteeped my first steep by three minutes, and I still had a good cup – the subtleties were lost, but it was still a nice cup to drink. My second steep was milky golden heaven. I am hoping for a third steep this afternoon. Can this tea do any wrong? Sheesh!

I’ve been under the weather, but well enough to still crave cookies! I wasn’t up to baking, so I purchased some of those little schoolboy biscuits.

http://www.lubiscuitsna.com/

Mmmm! I thought this tea would be perfect for them, because it’s so delicious with chocolate. Berries and caramel and good tea, perfectly blended. I feel like I had the most wonderful, transporting treat. I could be sitting in a little tea house in Europe in a dress and pearls, and not sick on my sofa in my pajamas!

I think it would be a good idea to stick a few of these packages of biscuits in my cupboard for surprise guests. They would feel welcome and treated well at a minute’s notice!

Oh! Before I forget – my latest flickr set

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackiemania/sets/72157624294962481/

has a bunch of things I’ve been talking about lately like my trip to get shortbread and PG tips, my tea themed cloth napkins, the tea cup cloth that my swap partner on Ravelry made for me, the print of Thomas Sampson that Doulton so kindly sent me (and Doulton – there is a picture of my cat Marty in there!!) etc etc etc if you would like to take a look :)

I’ve managed to wake up with a fever and cold this morning – yuk! I wanted something that would remind me of the plain cups of tea made for me when I was sick when I was little, only a thousand times better :) This one is perfect – quintessentially TEA like, flavorful, comforting.

Two bags of this tea was included as part of a swap I did on Ravelry, the online knitting community. I received the most beautiful purple knitted teacup cloth! My partner really took the time to see what I liked :)

Good apple flavor! It reminds me a little of apple cider. The spice is light, and I can’t really taste pomegranate but I do taste a sweetness. I’m doing the whole leave the bag in the cup thing, and it is staying enjoyable throughout my sipping. I’ve never seen this brand in my local stores, but it has inspired me to get a Celestial Seasonings or Bigelow herbal apple spice once the weather turns for lazy, chilly nights.

Today we went to a new place two towns over called the British Chip Shop – I can’t resist a place that serves chips with HP sauce and malt vinegar! They serve all the best loved British foods – bangers and mash, fish and chips, mushy peas, rarebit, pasties, you name it! We had a delicious meal followed by a pot of PG Tips and shortbread with lemon curd and berries.

It was an enjoyable pot of tea, but nothing mind blowing. Much better than the everyday teas served in the average American restaurant like Lipton or Tetley, but sort of in that same, nondescript family. I’m used to drinking way better tea :)

I would definitely get a pot again if (WHEN!!! I loved it there!!) I return to the restaurant, as part of the whole experience. I was not inspired in the least bit to take some leaves home with me (across the street is the English Gardener shop which is run by the restaurant owner’s parents! They sell PG Tips, Yorkshire tea, Barry’s, Taylors of Harrogate, etc as well as all the British specialty foods.).

Still, very nice, especially with shortbread. I’m not complaining :)

This tea is absolutely intoxicating – raisiny, chocolatey – so rich and full bodied. I love it. BUT! it does not taste anything like any kind of Golden Monkey!!!! It reminds me of Harney & Sons Panyang Congu to tell you the truth! The leaves don’t even look Golden Monkey-ish. I will give this a high score for an amazing black tea which is delicious with nary an addition (but I bet it can stand up to milk and sugar!), but Golden or Monkeyish it ain’t. Even though I’m trying not to do too much online ordering, Teas Etc.’s Golden Monkey is still my gold (har!) standard for this tea.

Now, it’s story time!

The Wandering Tea Drinker has returned home! I haven’t visited my local tea shop since JANUARY because of all the online ordering I’ve been doing (and I feel TERRIBLE about that – our shop is a treasure as far as I’m concerned!). I had decided that I could do better than my little teapot with disposable filter bag for work use – I was almost out of filter bags, and didn’t really want to keep buying them, and my teapot sure did leak when I poured if I didn’t have the top on just so. I thought that a brewer mug would be much more convenient for work, and I could use my little tea for one pot at home when I wanted a cup but my husband didn’t.

Premium Steap had a great selection of mugs, and I decided to get this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Asian-Style-Tea-12oz-Marine/dp/B003F6MO3C

The color is more purpley blue in person. The things that sold me on it: I love the super fine mesh infuser basket, the fact that the lid acts like a saucer for the basket, and the little rubber section in the middle – makes for a good grip, and helps with the heat. I am sipping from it now – and it is working great!

I also had a really fun time in the store. The owner and I had a nice conversation. Here is the tea talk we had:

-She was all out of the Royal Golden Yunnan (that’s what I originally wanted instead of the Golden Monkey) and has not finalized her order yet because the droughts were so bad in China. She feels this year’s is not going to be so good, and wants to do further tastings before buying. (How nice to have someone so particular about her stock)

-She recommended to me the Emperor’s Red. My brain said Ding ding ding – this must be in the same vein as the Imperial Red that I love from Silk Road Teas! So I got some :) I’ll review it next week. She said the food editor from our city’s major newspaper is nuts for this one :)

-I told her how much I’ve been enjoying teas that don’t need milk, so she threw in some Margaret’s Hope FTGFOP 1 CH SPL Darjeeling 1st flush, Spring 2010 for free. She said it’s good plain, but “the Germans love it with a little sugar!”

I won’t repeat the talk about my job and the weather ;)

Now that was a fun lunch hour!!!!

EDIT: Three delicious steeps, just so I know for future reference, each one a minute longer than the previous.

I’m sitting here in Philadelphia enjoying a little bit of Florence, Italy. Two lovely, nostalgic, delicious steeps. I’m surprised more people don’t like this one! I am always the oddball :) I’m so glad this one is part of 52teas permanent collection because I’ve never tasted anything like it, and want to keep it in my cupboard continuously!

I feel like I am really starting to get in my groove as far as the teas I absolutely adore. I’ve done a lot of experimenting over the last 6 months, and have come to a few realizations:

-I love unadorned Chinese black teas!!!!!
-I continue to love Assam teas.
-I will always have a weakness for flavored teas with milk and sugar, but they are no longer my main focus. Give me a good Chinese tea that I can take plain, or a flavored tea that I can take without additions, such as this tea or Kusmi’s St. Petersburg, and I’m as happy as a clam!
-Earl Grey = ♥ Jasmine = ♥ Earl Grey, jasmine and rose together?? ♥ times 100!!!!!
-I love oolongs, both darker and greener!
-I have not fallen in love with green tea, no matter how I try. I adore the French greens that are flavored as a once in awhile afternoon treat, but if I never had another plain green tea I have to be honest – I really wouldn’t be all that put out!!! I will continue to try them hoping for some magic, but…
-I think 52teas Black Currant Bai Mu Dan is the only white tea I have flipped for.
-I am so surprised how much I am loving the herbals and the rooibos and honeybush tisanes. About 10 years ago I declared that if I couldn’t have a caffeine tea, I would not drink tea!!! My husband starting to not be able to sleep because of the teas this year (ah! Aging!) changed my mind real quick. I am delighted by so many of the flavors I’ve been experiencing. The key for me is NOT to compare them to TEAS and just think of them as their own flavored beverage things.

Evening Taste Sensation: brew as usual, strain into a cup that holds a squeeze of chocolate syrup and squeeze of agave nectar, and pour in a splash of half and half. Chocolatey, creamy and delicious…and you can sleep afterwards!

I am excited to see if my temperature tweak improves this tea. I am making it 10 degrees cooler than last time, but keeping the steep time the same as last time. I was having trouble with bitterness.

sip, sip, sip…

Yes – it is definitely less bitter. It also has a little less flavor than I remember – but I’ll take it rather than have bitterness.

The second steep is more of the same. I am disappointed because these were not cheap.

I don’t know – I think these plain ole jasmine pearls stuck a few feathers and scales on themselves and are masquerading as jasmine dragon phoenix pearls!!! I have definitely had better. I will drink my little tin up, but I will not repurchase. Rating downward! I still think Adagio’s Jasmine #12 were the best I’ve ever had!!!!

EDIT: I have one more tweak to try before I get tooooo mopey – making them in my lil oolong pot sans paper filters (maybe they couldn’t unfurl properly with the paper and that is why I’m not getting great flavor?). In any case I’m getting some bitterness as it cools, so I’m not getting my hopes sky high… ah, ya can’t win em all.

EDITAGAIN: Ooooooooh the end of this second steep is so bitter I just can’t even finish it. How very sad. I think this tea is going to have to hit the highway!

EDITONCEAGAIN: I gave it to my coworker for his partner who loves tea – bleh bleh bleh! Life is too short.

Oooooh don’t mind me. I’m just sitting here drinking my Golden Monkey. Again!