JacquelineM

32 oz water + 4 tbs River Shannon +1 Tazo Passion full leaf tea sachet + 24 hours + 4 tbs simple syrup = YUM!

This equation brought to you by the fact that I just paid my bills (bill + bill + bill + bill +bill + bill = no money to buy tea until April!)

Ok – I think I now have this down to a science.

4 tsp tea in 1 cup milk, one cup water, simmer 9 minutes, turn it off and let it sit for a minute. Strain into two cups which each have a tsp of honey in them. HEAVEN! Have to nudge this up to 100. Most delicious chai I’ve ever tasted.

First iced tea of the season! I used 4 cups of filtered water and 4 tablespoons of River Shannon into my pitcher, and put it in the refrigerator for 8 hours. I then made simple syrup (1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, put on low to medium heat on stove til combined into clear liquid) and chilled it. When 8 hours elapsed, I strained the tea into a carafe and added 4 tablespoons of simple syrup to sweeten it.

It was really good! I love the cold brew method – no bitterness at all and the tea, which is normally a “puts hair on your chest” strong tea, was mild and delicious. I once made hot brewed iced tea out of a Golden Monkey tea for company (only once because it’s too expensive to use doubled like that!!) and this cold brewed tea reminds me a lot of that!

We have almost drank all 4 cups! I think I’m going to do this again tomorrow and also throw in a bag of the Passion tisane for a fruity variation.

This one courtesy of thequietlife!

Taken with a teaspoon of sugar and splash of half and half.

This tea has a little bit of everything I love in a tea: berry, bergamot, caramel! I am sitting quietly and picking out each delightful flavor. They come in that order – a burst of berries, leading into the citrus, and you end with a faint caramel warmth. The only thing keeping my tea rating out of the 90s is that I would like a little more of a tea taste. Perhaps my next cup should be taken without milk.

I used 3 tsp tisane and 20 oz water, scant tsp tupelo honey in each cup.

WOW! This is the most interesting and delicious rooibos I have ever had the pleasure of drinking! First things first – not for the hibiscus haters. Even though it’s extremely berry tasting, particularly blueberries to my palate, it definitely has the tart hibiscus thing going on. Honey tempers it into a delicious sweet tart flavor. I tasted a dried almost candied fruit flavor, and the rooibos just brought everything down to earth. I didn’t find this tea woody at all. I loved it!! It was a revelation.

I also have to take special note of the tin Samovar used for this! It has a lid, and then has ANOTHER lid inside that lid to keep the tisane extra fresh and I assume keep the aroma of the extremely fragrant berries from filling your entire tea cabinet! I don’t know if they use this style tin for all of their teas, but it’s brilliant design!

Ahhhhh. This is much more in line with what I like in a green tea. Sweet and peachy without a single flavoring or additive. There is a slight vegetal undertone, but it’s very pleasant.

I’m on my second steep now :) Slightly sweeter. Very delightful. It’s funny how tea experiences differ – even within a single tea in a single tin. Although I did what I thought was the same exact thing, this second steep is much sweeter than it was the last time I had this tea. I think that’s one of the reasons I find tea so enjoyable – the unpredictability and the elusiveness. We can try to set the scene just right, but just like life – you never know exactly what is going to happen. Sometimes the same thing is more delightful than at other times. Sometimes you oversteep and it’s forgiving, sometimes a total disaster – cup down the drain. This may make people uncomfortable – I guess they are the soda drinkers, literally and figuratively!

I think I’ll make one more steep :)

Today is an exciting day! My Vanilla Assam is ready for consumption!!!

I took about 3 oz of Very Good but Nothing Earth Shattering Like Dear Thomas Assam (Premium Steap’s Assam Khongea FTGFOP-1) and cut into it a vanilla bean (one Extremely Intoxicating Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Vanilla Bean). Let sit for 3 weeks to a month, shaking whenever you remember, to infuse. When you make your tea, steep the vanilla bean pieces along with the tea leaves.

Ooooooooh it’s FANTASTIC! If you are a vanilla lover, you HAVE to try this! I guess because I used an entire high quality vanilla bean, the tea is just making me swoon with deliciousness! So much vanilla bean flavor and that slight smokiness. BUT – because it has no extract or flavoring, it’s delicate and really lets whatever tea you use shine. It’s old fashioned and home made and just wonderful. It is sublime for drinking and I think it would really be great infused into a vanilla tea buttercream frosting. I’d also like to play around with different vanilla beans with different origins – e.g. Tahitian Vanilla bean instead of Madagascar, and different teas.

After my asparagus trauma I needed a tea that was, well, vanilla! I picked this – the most gentle vanilla in my collection. It did not disappoint. I drank it sitting on my couch with graham crackers like I was 5 years old and never knew there was such a thing as a tea that tasted like asparagus. It is also very forgiving – I oversteeped it a minute too long because I had to wash my cat’s feet* and it tasted just fine – definitely perfect at 4 minutes but very drinkable at 5. Not bitter, just strong.

*My cat Marty is 20 (!!!) years old and is a bit senile and he has the strangest things stuck to him sometimes!

Traveling Tea Box Tea!!!

I am feeling a little adventurous today so I thought I would try this one. There are no steeping directions on the package, so I did a little poking around and decided on a low temperature and short-ish steep.

The tea liquor smells exactly like asparagus! It tastes like asparagus too. Hmm. It’s not really doing it for me to tell you the truth. I’m more of a floral/fruit rather than a vegetal kinda gal. Sip sip sip….grimace grimace grimace! OK. I have determined that I think it’s nasty. I am throwing it down the sink!!!!

If anyone reading this loves vegetal greens and would like to take the remaining tea leaves off my hands (almost an ounce) I will be happy to mail it to you. PM me with your address :)

EDIT: I have a taker!!!!! Thank you!

I had to cobble together a half teaspoon of Golden Moon’s English Breakfast with their French Breakfast for my morning tea, and it made me realize just what a masterful blend the English Breakfast is! My cup was serviceable if a bit bland, and there was no distinguishing the different types of teas like when I had just the English Breakfast. Golden Moon – whatever your proportions are for your English Breakfast? Never change!!! It’s PERFECTLY DELICIOUS!!!

I was craving this one tonight! I just adore it and I can’t go a week without having a cup. I have already logged it 11 times :) So coconutty and delicious.

Traveling Tea Box Tea!!!!

This is a pyramid bag and the leaves look very broken. Pleasant bergamot scent :) I used 8 oz of water since Ricky’s note said the recommended 3.7 oz produced a bitter brew. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting much.

The minute the water hit this, it instantly became dark!! I was preparing myself for a STRONG BREW and I got out my half and half and sugar. I steeped for 4 minutes and after adding my milk and sugar it looked more like coffee than tea! Yikes!

Once I took a sip I was so very pleasantly surprised! No bitterness, very nice tea flavor and the bergamot is soft (I wouldn’t want it any other way in the morning – I save the super bergamot ones for afternoon). I am really enjoying it! if you want to have some tea bags around for portability and convenience, this one from Lupicia is excellent!! This company is definitely going on my radar for future orders – they have some EXTREMELY unique teas! ORZO CIOCCOLATA anyone!?!? (ancient barley from Italy which tastes like hazelnut and chocolate – gotta try it!) and being the froofy lady I am, I squealed over the sugar charms – how nice to have for company!!

I decided this may be a good one for resteeping, so I gave it a shot (another 8 oz water and 5 minutes steeping time). It is weaker tea wise but a little more fruity – still very tasty and enjoyable.

I love when my preconceptions are completely and totally wrong :)

Another one from the quiet life!!!

This tea contains everything but the kitchen sink, yet it doesn’t taste like much more than cinnamon and rooibos! How is that possible!? It was quite enjoyable with a touch of honey, but I just don’t understand where the flavor of the apple pieces, peach pieces, pear pieces, rose buds, mallow flower blossoms, rhubarb bits, red currants, almond slices, and vanilla went to! I used an extra teaspoon and a half of tisane – I was forewarned – but it just made it extra cinnamony. I will certainly enjoy the rest of my sample, but it’s not different enough from plain rooibos where I would seek it out.

I can feel my tea choices lightening up as the weather warms. I’m looking up all kinds of iced tea recipes, fruit teas seem really appealing, and lo and behold, this afternoon I’m curious about this mint tea of all things!

Taken with a half teaspoon of sugar.

sip sip…not bad. Between what I’ve heard about gunpowder and not really caring for mint, I was expecting to want to throw this in the sink, but it’s ok. I’m getting the ashtray thing going on at the tail end of my sip. Nothing I’d ever seek out, but I have half of the sample remaining…I think I may mint it up further with some mint from my garden. That might take this atrocious ashtray aftertaste away (alliteration!)!

So today I feel like I’ve been hit by one of those SUV minivans that seat 8 instead of a bus – I guess that’s an improvement. I still did not hear my alarm but only got up 1 hour late. I thankfully made it to work on time. Ooooh my body hates daylight savings time!!!!

I also remembered my lunch today, which means that I have half and half :)

I am really enjoying this once again. Bold and raisiny. Wholesomely sweet and very satisfying. I am drinking my cup at an alarmingly fast rate!!! That means I love, love, love it! I am really enamored of that raisin molasses taste that is very unique to the Chinese black teas like this one and Panyang Congu.

EDIT: So much for being more together today – I just went into the restroom to wash my teapot and discovered half the buttons on my shirt are unbuttoned!!! OMG!

This one courtesy of the quiet life!!! (you should see the adorable little tins she put the samples in!!!)

This is delicious!!!! It tastes to me like cinnamony amaretto. I didn’t get a lot of ginger, coconut, or pepper and the rooibos was just playing backup for depth. I think it was the nicest caffeine free tea I’ve ever had!

Y’know, a lot of the blends look really good from Teavana, but I’ve heard that the sales associates are really pushy, and the one that is near me is in a mall. I just can’t abide by malls. I think I will have to order online so I can make my choices in a calm, cool and collected manner :)

I was craving this after reading Dan’s tasting note. I arrived home cold, rain soaked and mud splashed (once again!) so this was a perfect antidote :) Strong and brisk, no nonsense, takes milk and sugar beautifully. I’m upping the rating a little – it really is the perfect tea for when you need to get warmed up but quick!! I also want to try it cold brewed for iced tea. I think that method would be great because it will cut down on any astringency.The price of this is so good, you don’t mind using it for cold brewed iced tea which needs a good deal of leaves.

Traveling Tea Box Tea!!!

Today was just not my day. I didn’t hear my alarm and woke up at the time I usually leave for work! I rushed and packed my lunch only to forget it at home. It was (still!!) pouring rain when I left for the train, and the walk left me splattered with mud. I was 35 minutes late for work!

I wanted a strong black tea with milk and sugar but my little container of milk is in my packed lunch at home. Sigh! I remembered that Golden Moon’s Vanilla Jasmine put me in a fantastic mood, but of course the tin is at home! Double sigh! As I was digging through my tea stash at work, I found this one! It’s in a “gourmet bag” – one of those nylon sachets – and has a TON of pearls in it! I thought I’d give it a try – no measuring, no fuss.

Color me very pleasantly surprised (I’m not a huge Adagio fan) – it’s delicious! Flowery but not overwhelming or sickening…almost fruity too? Heady and sensual. I really like the oolong tea base – is that the fruity part I wonder? It’s very peachy/apricot! No bitterness. Absolutely delightful.

A second steep at 6 minutes: Once again, lovely. Softer floral and fruit but very, very delicious. I think it still has more to offer and I am going to try another steep after lunch – I’ll edit this post :)

Thank you Traveling Tea Box!!! You have completely changed the nature of my day – MUCH for the better!

EDIT: 4 lovely steeps, but I’m getting ready to leave for the day and can’t try a fifth – I think this tea could handle it, though!

Creamy vanilla and good tea combined for a comforting sunday evening cup. I feel like I could drink cup after cup of this one (but I limited myself to two!) Delightful with Pepperidge Farm cookies – I can’t decide if Brussels or Geneva is my favorite. :)

Surprisingly very nice!!!!! I snagged a bag of this and Mint Medley (which Sick Husband is drinking and enjoying very much) when I had to go to a work function. The orange and cinnamon are delightful, and the chicory gives it some body. We each got a nice dollop of tupelo honey too :) I am going to pick up a box of this and the mint for late nights and colds. I left the bag in and there is no bitterness or overwhelming flavors.

How do you all rate on the supermarket herbal blends? Are you a Bigelow person or a Celestial Seasonings person or do you have favorites of each? I can’t abide by the supermarket black teas, but I’m finding the herbals a nice cost effective simple option!

Pouring rain, sick husband, paper to write. All things pointing toward choosing an afternoon tea on the sweeter side, and capable of multiple infusions. We are on #2 right now. Both full of gentle white tea flavor with no bitterness, and a light melon deliciousness. I love it! I want to try this iced once it gets hot out.

Oh Thomas, your presence is getting scarcer yet my love for you grows with every pot…with every sip!!! You are PERFECT for me! I think I am going to put a little plea on Discussions to see if anyone does not love you as much as me- I am willing to trade Jackee Muntz or Caravan for you!!! (I’m serious! If you are reading this and are not so crazy for my darling, yet love Jackee or Caravan, let’s trade!!!

Yum. We just can’t seem to get enough of this at night! I used 20 oz water, 2 bags, and 1 teaspoon of honey. I think this is the perfect ratio! It’s real apple-y this way. It is very much helping Sick Husband (he is also covered by a blanket I crocheted and we are about to watch movies – all good medicine).

My poor husband is home sick today (and I have off for spring break) so I wanted to make something special this afternoon. This tea fits the bill :) Full flavored and malty yet not strong. Sweet and perfect. The Goldilocks of tea!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks_Principle