JacquelineM

I was really excited to make this today at home so I could have a cup with my husband. I knew he would love this one. I wish you could have seen his face when he tasted it! He thought it was a revelation. I showed him the story of the way the tea was produced on thesimpleleaf.com and we marveled over this natural wonder!!!!

So good. So unique. He compared it to a chai/not chai. I explained my coffee/chicory/chocolate/caramel/ not coffee/chicory/chocolate/caramel theory and he thought I nailed it :) He just yelled from the other room “I think this is my favorite tea!!!”

I’m telling you – a revelation! <3

Ohhhhhh my day only got worse! Work was insane, my lady time arrived, and in the afternoon my mother called me hysterical – they were rushing her to the hospital because she was passing kidney stones. I knew I needed a cup of tea as soon as I could sit at home, but in my sick state nothing seemed appealing…until I came upon Thomas!!

I brewed up a big mug and if this is not the most delicious, hearty, robust cup of tea I don’t know what is. It is a meal in a cup, not only because of the malty bready goodness, but because I can’t bear to eat food yet. I never really saw Thomas as a nurturer until tonight! I like this side of him :) Thank you Thomas for helping me keep calm and carry on!

Finishing up my sample today :( My poor husband is home with some kind of virus (at least I think it’s a virus because he feels so feverish and is queasy and his head is killing him) and I am feeling like I am not too far behind in the queasy department. My new friend mint to the rescue! (the running joke in my house is that next I’m going to start liking sushi! The three things I hated were coconut, mint and sushi, and here I am CRAZY about coconut and now mint!!!). ANYWAY!

This tea is really hitting the spot today. I can’t even think about the idea of milk without my stomach churning, and this combination of green and black teas with a touch of comforting vanilla and tum soothing mint? Absolutely ideal and very, very delicious. I am so sad that I don’t have any more leaves left, but will definitely be making another steep for medicinal purposes. whimper!!

Back late from a photography lecture and to see work at a gallery – not work that I found interesting. Ugh. I had just enough energy left to pop teabags in mugs with some honey before bed. This is the one I chose because I am hoping that the chamomile will knock me out! It’s not super flavorful, but you can leave the bag in your cup with no fear of bitterness. I mainly taste mint and the honey I put in. But the main attraction to this tea is not flavor but warmth and ease. I’m glad I have it and some other bagged herbals around for lazy late nights when I don’t want to measure, fuss, wait, or clean a teapot!

This tea courtesy of Doulton!

I am very excited because I’ve been wanting to try this tea ever since I read about it. The leaves are absolutely GORGEOUS! Long, dark and handsome! It’s so hard to believe they are not blended with chocolate!!

This tea is ridiculous, and I mean that in the most highly complimentary way possible! It’s deliciously tea-ish and a chocolatey roasty flavor. Not hot chocolate, not coffee, not chicory although all these things come to mind. It’s something all it’s own and simply sublime!!! I want to wander the streets and go up to random strangers and say “Taste this tea! It is simply pure camellia sinensis, but have you EVER tasted anything like it!?!?!?!?”

!!!!

Now that it is cooling a bit I am tasting a caramel note joining in with the tea/chocolate/coffee/chicory. Wow. This is one of the highlights of my tea tasting experiences thus far!!!! THANK YOU DOULTON!!!!!

EDIT: Great resteep! 6 minutes, more roasty chicory chocolate. Lighter but so delicious. Better than many teas first steep! but steep #1 is the best one.

I think I can now add mint to the list of things that I thought I didn’t like, but actually really quite like!! I thoroughly enjoyed this tea! It’s so simple, but so good. It’s an ideal after dinner tea taken with some honey – sweet and refreshing.

My husband was REALLY crazy for this tea and begged me to order some!

Thank you so much Doulton for this sample! You’ve created quite a hit in our household!

And honestly – a tea company that names one of their teas after one of my favorite directors?! :) :) :)

This is my last teaspoon of leaves from the Tiger. It’s very bittersweet, literally and figuratively! That chewy smoky sweet flavor is so delicious, and I am going to miss it. I feel like I’m chewing on a caramel candy. Harney & Sons, in their tea book, says Yunnan teas are (and I paraphrase) the happy but poor cousin tea (to the Keemun aristocrat tea) so I imagine it as a caramel that you could have found in the neighborhood corner store in the 1940s (with all the high fructose corn syrup you just don’t get good common candy anymore. I probably am one of the few people here who was old enough to still have the corner candy store where you could bring pennies and nickels and get little brown paper bags of sweets – this was in the 70s – I’m not sure if they were filled with HFCS but I do know from my grandparents that they did not taste the same as in the 40s and 50s (you see, not only candy but the whole world went to hell in the 60s as far as they were concerned, but I digress!)

I’m lightening up my choices for the spring and summer, but once Fall rolls around, I’m going to be experimenting with some other Yunnan teas to see if I can find one I like as much as this guy!!!! Suggestions appreciated!

Second infusion: Even sweeter and lighter caramel tea goodness. Just a hint of smoky chewy. Very enjoyable, but it’s the first infusion that knocks my socks off!

Farewell Tiger!!! Ricky – I will love you forever for sending this to me!!!!!

Mmmmm! Tonight’s tea tasted of Amaretto with apple and ginger. A teaspoon of honey sweetened it. Perfect on this chilly rainy night – especially the ginger was welcome! I am sad that the sample the quiet life sent is now all gone! I plan to pick some of this up in the Fall for future chilly rainy nights where a caffeine free tea is welcome.

We are having another dreary, rainy day, so I had to pull out something jasmine from my stash; it has a magical property which puts me in a good mood!

Beautiful rolled leaves striped with jasmine flowers. A real treat to look at.

First infusion: Sweet, light, and delightful! I had it in my mind that I preferred jasmine oolongs, but I see that I once again put myself into an incorrect box! I love this tea!

Second infusion (4 min): Slightly darker in color. A slightly more green taste and slightly less jasmine taste make it a very harmonious, delicious cup. Totally in a better mood!

Third infusion (5 min): This tea has had it – I am sipping slightly jasmine tasting warm water. I will finish it because I’m freezing!!! but if I had more of this tea I would only make two infusions.

To me, the second infusion is the better of the two, but both are very enjoyable.

I would call “TIN!” but I have a tin of A+D Jasmine Green in my stash, plus I really, really want to try Samovar’s Jasmine Pearl Green Tea first. It looks exquisite!

Jasmine tea is my happy tea!!!

Made this for a second night in a row. Yup, must mean I really, really like it! I love how it still has the same sort of Florence like flavor, only intensified.

Very delicious Rainy Monday Morning tea :) I love the natural sweetness. It’s so sweet dried fruit to me! I would think that it had some sort of addition to it if I didn’t know any better. Enjoying it with half and half and sugar.

I decided to do another steep (rainy! monday!) which does not work with all black teas, but this one was very flavorful – it’s no second steep of Jackee or Tiger, but it’s good!

Which leads me to ask – do you drink a black tea which has a really fantastic second steep? Do share :)

So as I was straightening my cupboard this morning, I noticed that my tins of both Florence and Chocolate Tea from Harney and Sons were less than half full, and the wheels started to turn…I wondered what would happen if I combined them, and then added some mini chocolate chips like Adagio does with their Chocolate chip tea…

Success! I was afraid that the chocolate chips might overwhelm the tea and especially the hazelnut flavor, but not to worry – each taste comes through. I’m really pleased with this one!!! It is working to satisfy my chocolate craving AND it made a little much needed room in my cupboard!

I was trying to arrange my tea tins into some semblance of order, and my husband came over to sniff at the tins. He loved the smell of this one, so I made a pot. Mmmmmm. Yummy oolong and burnt sugar. In no way cloying. I usually have this one at work, but I’m finding it’s a great lazy sunday tea. I am going to keep the leaves in my teapot and keep brewing throughout the day!

EDIT: After writing this tasting note, I realized that I had two papers to finish – no way was I having a lazy sunday! So I threw some water over the leaves and cold brewed it until dinner time. It’s very tasty cold! Sweet and a little nutty, a little floral. I prefer it hot, but if I ever get busy and can’t do more hot steeps, I will certainly do this again! This tea is too good to not take advantage of the multiple steeps :)

I’ve had SUCH a crazy busy week. I know it’s Saturday night, but all I could think about all day was that I wanted to take a looooooong soak in the tub, make myself a cup of this tea, then crawl into bed with the Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens!

Well, I just got out of the most relaxing warm bath, and I am happily sipping my tea. It’s so wonderfully TEA- ish. Smooth and flavorful. So nice with a little half and half and sugar. It is also worth noting how beautiful, golden tipped, and long the leaves are. Ahhh – just one of my favorites.

I am thinking about trying my hand at a tea infused vodka, and this will be my first choice for infusing! It’s just so perfectly TEA-y!

OK – I’m ready to join the Pickwickians upstairs! Goodnight!

WOW. I made a cold brewed iced tea with this and it is amazing! It really is like St. Germain liquor iced tea because of the Darjeeling. I am really impressed. Very sweet and fruity with that almost grapefruit edge. Very sophisticated! I’m going to save this one for hot summer evening dinner parties :) It’s too good for every day!

I just drank two cups of this tea as fast as I could make them! There is something about me and vanilla tea – I just can’t seem to get enough! I baked black bottom cupcakes (chocolate cupcake with the top third a sort of cheesecake, and mini chocolate chips to decorate), and brought some into work (the rest are for a Tupperware party I am going to tonight. Everyone that I mention it to says “They still HAVE Tupperware parties!?!?” and I am here to say, yes, they do, and my niece is having one. I think the “2010” part is that it’s being held in a bar (!).

Anyway! The combination of these cupcakes and the Vanilla Assam is great! The tea tastes really caramel-y (perhaps the mixing of the malty Assam and vanilla with the rich chocolate and cheesecake?) and very decadent. Tupperware parties at bars, blackbottom cupcakes and vanilla tea at 10am – what can I say – I am a wild, wild woman.

I must preface this tasting note by saying that I am forever spoiled by the Oriental Beauty I had at Radiance, and I hold all teas of this type up to that one.

That being said – this tastes good but very average to me. I’m getting woody/nutty but very little sweetness.

2nd steep: The beginning of some sweeter floral notes. I do prefer this steep compared to the first one.

3rd steep: a little weaker, but ok.

Certainly not a bad tea, but it lacks the amazing deliciousness and honeyed, flowery pizazz of the One True Oriental Beauty of Radiance Tea Room. This one does not rate a tin for me..

ALSO!!

This was my first tea made with my new Breville variable temperature kettle! I set it to French Press (200 degrees) and let it do it’s thing. It is able to hold water temperature so I didn’t have to go crazy reboiling ad nauseam. It was very easy to use (especially since my coworkers broke it in when I was at school yesterday (!!!). I love it!

My husband is out taking photographs, so tonight it’s me and 12 ounces of Thomas. Scandalous (amount of caffeine for evening tea!)! ;)

In all seriousness – so malty and delicious. Assam perfection.

Tea from Tea Bird!!

This one is in the pyramid bag. As fussy as I am, I really enjoy just popping in one of these things at work :) I really like the lemongrass flavor, followed by a hint of coconuty gingery yum on the tail end. The green tea is there as more of a support rather than a super green tea flavor.

I’m going to have to make this again in order to give it a numerical rating because when I went to make this tea, I found much of my water leaking out of the bottom of my hot pot! I mean, a river! I had to drink this poor tea in a state of anger and frustration! When I googled this problem, it seems that many people experience this issue after a few months with the Rival Hot Pot. Leaking water and electricity are clearly not an option so it looks like I’m in the market for a work friendly electric tea kettle. I’m going to start the research, but if you have one you love, let me know!!!!

Why do they make things so poorly these days!?!? I just had to re-sew the pocket on my coat today and now this.

I needed my fix!!! :)

In your opinion, if you like coconut, do you think a black tea with coconut like this would make a good iced tea? Part of me thinks it will be thai iced tea-ish and part of me is thinking it may be not so good. I guess there is only one way to find out!

I am drinking the best iced tea that I have ever had in my life!!! 4 tsp of this tea for 8 hours in 4 cups of water cold brewed in the refrigerator…and the best part? The tea resteeps beautifully! I added 4 more cups of water to the leaves and left them to cold brew for 12 hours. It’s a shade lighter in color and just a little less amazing white tea and currant flavor. I may have to buy out 52teas stock of this tea!

I have been very remiss in the brewing of this tea because I am working on three (!!!) papers, but even though I have been throwing in the water when it’s somewhere around 190, and pouring the tea when I’m between thoughts, it is still delicious. Sweet date that tastes like a special treat and good tea flavor. No need to mess with sweeteners or milk which would take me from my work. I’m already on infusion #3 and it’s still enjoyable and helping me think :) OK, back to the grindstone for me!

Just in from hearing Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida. We were craving a cup of tea before bed. This one is perfect and soothing. Vanilla, apple. Taken with honey to help my scratchy springtime allergy throat. Nighty night! Or as the Bard wrote in one of his much more famous plays:

Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

Deeeeeeeee-licious!!!!!! If you are a black currant fan (I am! I am!) you will love this tea. I never knew I liked black currants so much until I tasted Angrboda’s Raspberry Oolong, and for that I will be forever grateful!!! I kind of feel like they are grown-up sophisticated little raspberries. I am now always seeking them out!

The white tea is delicate and without bitterness, and the black currant addition is just perfect. In the description, it says that twice the amount of currant has been used, which to me tastes exactly right!! It’s fruity but I can still taste tea AND fruit. I didn’t think any sweetener was needed. Wonderful! I think this would be great iced, and I am going to make it for my next iced tea!!!

Steep 2: upped the steeping time to 3 minutes. Very similar to steep #1 (which means it’s still delightfully fruity! YES!

Steep 3: did 3 minutes again. A little less fruity but the tea tastes great!

I am now full of tea but I’m going to save the leaves incase I feel like a post lunch cuppa. Will edit this post!