JacquelineM

Yum! My go-to rooibos when I want something chocolate in the evening. A little agave nectar complimented the chocolatey goodness. I served it with what I think are now my holy grail chocolate chip cookies:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Big-Fat-Chewy-Chocolate-Chip-Cookie/Detail.aspx

and it was rich enough to stand up to the baked good. Gotta bump this rating up a bit!!

I was visiting my mom today, which meant coffee, coffee, coffee!! Now that I’m home, I wanted to relax with a cup of tea, but I’m already climbing-up-the-walls-caffeinated. I thought this sweet and mellow tea would fit the bill. Ahhhhhh. Exotic elixir! Where are the peeled grapes ;) I just love the melon flavor mixed with the almost buttery white tea. A real afternoon treat.

I have to hustle on to some chores after this hot cup, so I put the used leaves in my pitcher with a pinch of fresh leaves and some water for a cold brewed iced tea. I know this one is good for multiple infusions and I just hate to waste em! I think I’ll give it a wee bit of honey when it’s ready to drink.

The last two sachets in the tin (sad!) for our evening tea! Delicious with a little local raw cream honey I picked up this weekend! I enjoyed every apple pie-ish sip. I think this one is a bit Fall and Winter, so I am going to hold off on purchasing another tin until the weather gets cool.

I am having a big day today…

-Yearly performance appraisal meeting at work
-My big 13 page paper gets returned at school

Eeee! I need a happy tea, a comforting tea, and caffeine!!!! This tea fulfills all of my prerequisites!! Jasmine = happy, vanilla = comfort, black/green tea blend = caffeine!

I simply adore this tea. I love the flavor, I love that it’s perfect without any additions now that I lowered the water temperature a notch, and I love that I’ve never found any tea flavored quite like it. Three steeps of happiness, comfort, and energy :) I’m ready to face my big day!

My husband and I ate these huge breakfast sandwiches out at a restaurant this morning. I didn’t feel so hot afterwards (and I have an iron stomach) but he felt full on awful. He has finally emerged from the sickbed! I thought this would be a good one to serve – I find both mint and rooibos stomach settling and good for digestion. It is really hitting the spot – for both of us!

I made some cold brewed iced tea with this and the last of my River Shannon (sniff!). I forgot to make simple syrup, so I put a nice squeeze of agave nectar in for a little sweetness.

Delicious!!! I am not crazy about hot Darjeeling teas, but I adore them iced. This one made a very complex fruity and floral brew. Distinctive. I’ve not had a Darjeeling quite like this one. I would actually get a tin of this just for iced tea.

Happy May Day :)

I was craving this one tonight. It’s the gentlest, quietest of the vanilla teas in my collection. The tea itself is very mellow, and the vanilla is creamy and sweet. The tiniest splash of milk and a scant half teaspoon of sugar makes it dreamy. I find it delightful, especially in the evening, surrounded by books, a cat and a dog :)

Prepared stovetop with milk and honey. A great treat after one of those weeks. I can feel my shoulders dropping as I sip. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

The tree murderers are here and my nerves are shot from the incessant chainsaw sounds coupled with the wood chipper! I also saw some fallen branches on my rose bushes! They may look puny to a tree murderer but I fuss over those roses sometimes twice a day! I hope they are not damaged.

I thought a nice French flavored tea with some half and half and sugar would be calming so I made a pot of this. I am tasting a chewy slightly burnt caramel/smoky Yunnan and figs. At one point I actually felt around my mouth with my tongue for the little seeds you find in fig preserves! I definitely taste cooked figs not fresh ones. I think milk and sugar are the way to go with this one – I’m getting a really nice pastry like flavor as well. The clementines come as an addition in the fig preserves (of my imagination ;) and not a distinct, separate taste. I don’t taste any of the other flavors listed.

This is another one that brings me back to my childhood. Around the holidays we always had dried figs and cookies with fig preserves inside. Barely sweet and very delicious. Not like Fig Newtons at all. This tea reminds me once again of holidays as a child.

What a strange morning! I went to the train station only to find it completely black! No power! I waited around for a half hour, but no trains and no plans for shuttle buses. Well, I guess I’ll go back home! I called work to tell them what was up, and walked home through the park, thinking about what tea I would make when I got home.

I knew I wanted a good plain black tea…and Thomas came to mind! What could be better on a totally unplanned day off than some time spent with your main (tea) man?!? So biscuty bready malty good. This is another tea that is filling, but filling like a meal, not a dessert. Is it terribly selfish that I tend to make Thomas only when I’m alone?

One more late night cup. Very satisfying and unique blood orange and cranberry combination! Such a beautiful color. It manages to be both pleasantly tart/bitter and thirst quenching at the same time, like an Italian soda or Campari.

When I was out with the tree doctor today, I noticed that my spearmint was going crazy! I decided to make some fresh mint tea with honey as my evening tea. I’ve never done it before! I searched the internet for recipes, then I settled on:

1/2 cup fresh spearmint leaves (some recipes say you can leave the stems and leaves together, but I didn’t because I wanted to take a measure of how many leaves I used)
2 cups of water

Wash you leaves well. Mash/tear them a bit so they release their oils. In a saucepan, boil 2 cups of water. Throw in your mint leaves, stir and cover. I infused them for 4 minutes because some recipes said 3 minutes and some said 5 :) Strain into your cup(s). I am having a GIANT 16 oz mug!

If you’d like it sweetened, you can use whatever sweetener you’d like. I chose honey, and used a teaspoon for the big mug of tea.

I love it!!! The spearmint is so soothing. It tastes minty, of course, but also green. Fresh. Alive! I can’t wait to make it again and again!! I can see adding a slice of lemon, or a little ginger, or both! I can also see mixing multiple herbs. My coworker gave me some lemon balm seeds and some chamomile seeds – got to get to planting!

If you make fresh mint tea I would love to hear how you make it!

I am home today because the tree doctor had to come, and I am sad to say it is bad news. Maple is very sick and rotted. It’s time for her to go. Between her and Wild Cherry that is growing crookedly over the house and could fall and wreak havoc – it’s a terrible, terrible day for old trees and a horrible, horrible day for our bank account (I love trees and there is no way I would ever get one cut down unless it was dire. We had our landscaper alert us to the problem and tell us do it NOW rather then later, and the tree expert echoed his opinion). I don’t think I’l be buying tea for quite awhile after this out of the blue expense!

I needed a surefire pick me up this afternoon, and realized that I have not tried this one yet! Vanilla – my comfort. Ooooooh and this one is gooooooood. So rich and a bit like a liqueur! I used some half and half and sugar and you would think I went and got one of those $10 hot toddy things with whipped cream on it and everything. I feel like I had a very decadent and heavy dessert. I actually feel FULL from this tea!

Thank you, Colonille! You really picked me up this afternoon :)

Tried this in a cold brewed iced tea. Half Paris and half River Shannon. Perfumey and soapy! I was really surprised. A little berry-ish but mostly just odd. I actually threw away the remaining iced tea after one glass – and it takes ALOT for me to waste something.

I gave some to my husband in his packed lunch and asked him what he thought – he didn’t like it either. He said it tasted like perfume.

Crazy – because it’s soooooo good hot!

Sample courtesy of Tea Bird!

Delicious and beautiful!!! I’m tasting all kinds of sweet berries and interesting flavors which I can’t put my finger on – I think I’m tasting some lavender but it’s so harmonious with the rest of the flavors that it’s hard to pin down! Very unique – I love it! Thank you Tea Bird!!!

Very delicious oolong. I got 3 very flavorful steeps! The first one was a bit woody and one dimensional, and I was a little dissapointed! But the second and the third more than made up for the first – very sweet/honeyed, ever so slightly floral, very TEA ish. I dare say tea with a little lemon!

The package called for a much lower temperature than I’m used to using for oolongs, but it seemed to have worked well – not a hint of bitterness or astringency.

I also suspect this one would be great iced. I have to try a cold brew of this!

I have reached a real turning point in my tea drinking. I love a once in awhile special treat of a robust black tea with milk and sugar, or a flavored black dessert tea with milk and sugar, but my every day craving has turned toward any tea that can be taken plain. Ch-ch-ch-ch- changes!

Out at a funeral today. Despite all of my practice, I just don’t seem to get better at dealing with death. Each one wounds, then seems to pick off the scabs of all the ones that went before it. This is my version of coming home and having a good, stiff drink.

Mmmm. So good on this rainy chilly night. Taken with a scant teaspoon of honey. I always think of “herbal apple pie” when I drink this one.

This tea is MAKING my Monday morning. Thank you Doulton!

Taken with a scant half teaspoon of sugar.

I know this is supposed to be black tea and flowers, but what it tastes like to me is some lemon grapefruit St. Germain hybrid flower :) I would say there were elderflowers in here but they are not listed. I don’t taste hibiscus like it tastes in the various herbals I’ve had at all. I find it in the same vein of an Earl Grey (citrusy but without bergamot, if that makes any sense). It is absolutely delightful! Very elegant. Very special.

I made a second steep at 5 minutes, no sugar, and it’s very tasty, floral/citrus.

I NEED a tin of this :) I think it would make a great iced tea for a very special occasion too!

YUM! I had this with a little agave nectar and it was so good. I have a theory that honey overwhelms chocolate notes in teas, and was very curious to try this one a little sweetened but not with honey. Yep – it had more chocolate flavor with an alternative sweetener. Now I want to try all of my chocolatey tisanes with it!

I finally tried this as an iced tea (3 tablespoons of this, 3 tablespoons of River Shannon, 6 cups of water cold brewed for 12 hours, then an addition of some simple syrup and juice of half a lime).

It was really good, but not at all suitable as a refreshing drink with a meal or by itself. We had it with some noodles and we were underwhelmed…it practically screamed “I need some rum in me!!!” It shines as a base for an unusual tea based mixed drink! A sort of “Pirate’s Hard Iced Tea” if you will. I will definitely make some of this for a summer barbeque or similar casual summer party.

Another ridiculous in the best way possible tea from the Simple Leaf! Malty, bready, bold. So delicious with a little half and half and sugar. It has a classic Assam like profile, but there is a little twist in there that gives it character. I’m not sure what it is – I have to drink some more of it to try and put my finger on it – but there is an interesting flavor thing going on with each sip and it’s delightful! I love this tea.

Drove for hours, completely lost half the day, and came home so late and tired that all I could do is plop teabags in mugs. Funny how emotions play with your perceptions of taste; last night this tea that I enjoyed previously tasted watery and bland. A hint of orange, a hint of something bitter. I noticed my husband only finished half his mug! I’ll hold off on lowering the rating due to my pre existing exhaustion and frustration, but last night had me saying “NO TEABAGS. EVER!!” in my best Mommie Dearest voice.

I put this in with some River Shannon for cold brewed iced tea. It made it extra special and delicious. It added a very sweet, honeyed note. Excellent.