JacquelineM

Beautiful, curly greenish brown leaves!

First steep: Woody and nutty. I don’t taste sweetness or bitterness (and I didn’t add anything to this tea) – very even. So enjoyable to sip. I could see this being great with a meal.

Second steep (4min): Sweeter and just as nutty.

Third steep (5 min): Tastes very similar to the 2nd steep!

Fourth steep: (6 min): Just a tad lighter tasting. Incredible! I’ve had enough for this afternoon, but maybe on another day I’ll find myself going for a fifth, sixth, seventh!

I need to take this home with me because I could really see steeping this all day on a day off – how pleasurable!

Oh yum! A very nice full flavored but light assam. I found it slightly…lemony? A reviewer on the Upton site said it tasted almost like a Ceylon, and I have to agree. I really like it. Milk and sugar!

I was arranging my teas at home after getting some samples together for TeaEqualsBliss, and unearthed this! I forgot I even had it after getting so many new teas recently!

This is a super flavorful dessert tea. There are flakes of toasted coconut and hunks of truffle in with Chinese black tea. Once brewed, it tastes like a chocolate liquor (no cocoa about it!) with a very faint coconut in the background. If I didn’t see that it said coconut on the package, I would be hard put to name exactly what that toasty warm background flavor was. I put it right up front in the place of honor in the cupboard – this tea is too delicious to get forgotten about!!!!

Ahhhhh, now that’s more like it :) I brewed it nice and light because I didn’t have any sugar or milk around. My mouth is happy! I do prefer it with a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of milk, but this is still lovely.

Tastes like spinach veering into seaweed territory. More seaweed as it cools. It’s not bitter and I think it is of good quality – it’s just not my thing. (I don’t like sushi and don’t like seaweed at all!) I think this is going into the Traveling Teabox!!!!!! I think I may make some Earl Grey to get this taste out of my mouth!

My husband had a really stressful day at work, so I picked up some chocolate chip cookies and white chocolate macadamia cookies on my way to the train. I made this tea to go with them. The smoky, subtle vanilla went really well with the cookies. I can see this tea standing up to all kinds of desserts and pastries! I’m having some guests for dinner on Sunday – I’ll see if I can talk them out of having coffee with the cannoli I’m serving for dessert, and recommend this instead!

Delightful! I taste peaches!!!!!!! THIS is the taste I remember from the delicious green teas I’ve had at tea houses! Also, the curly snail looking leaves are adorable. :)

2nd steep, resteeping for 4 minutes: No peach, but still very tasty. Almost tastes flowery, like a jasmine. Still very delicious and enjoyable.

3rd steep, resteeping for 5 minutes: Still some good flavor, but I think it’s done after this one.

I like to take a minute out of this review and THANK YOU ALL, Steepster site and Steepster participants! I’ve learned SO MUCH about tea in my short time here, and have really expanded my horizons. I didn’t even know you could resteep tea before joining!!! :)

Yum. Still my favorite-est favorite!!! When I don’t know what I want – I make this. I don’t know if it’s the filtered water or if this portion is just extra scrumptious but the coconut is so fresh and alive! This one always gets a positive comment out of my husband.

You all would be proud of me – I took my tiny cheesemaking thermometer (smaller than a pen!) to work so I could make greens and oolongs! It wasn’t any trouble at all. This was my first one (and I do mean first one – I’ve never brewed green tea myself!).

It brewed to a beautiful golden color. It’s not very vegetal or very smoky. It’s not bitter. It’s a very solid tea :) but it’s not blowing me away. I would drink it again but probably not go out of my way to repurchase. I’ll be able to give better reviews once I’m familiar with more greens.

Just back from seeing Avatar. My heart hurts! I needed something extremely comforting and chose a double portion of this. I love the way you still taste tea as well as the chocolate – I bet it’s not easy to achieve that balance (and something I feel Harney & Sons is particularly good at with all of their teas).

Very fruity and full bodied. I had it plain, but I would have loved some sweetener. I’m not sure if a splash of milk would have made it awful or interesting! I think it would have been nice, like Earl Grey. Maybe next time!

There was a reason for my not using anything but tea – I read my tea leaves!

Here is a photo of the cup that I used (from the Art & Tea blog):

http://artandtea.wordpress.com/2009/07/05/tea-leaf-reading/

My reading had the heart – and the tea leaves were in the shape of a heart over it! “Love and romance are on the menu. This could mean spending time with your partner or the beginning of a new relationship . Your home life is also important to you now, which could signify a move, or making improvements on your current home.”

the sunrise – “A new beginning, a sense of rebirth, or a fresh start are signified by this symbol.”

and Venus – “Love, art, and harmony bring delightful interludes. You should be feeling creative and romantic.”

These make sense to me :) I have plans to go out with my husband tomorrow to see a film, take photographs, and get a bite to eat! I spent the day cooking for the coming week, working on a crochet blanket for my sofa, and thinking about a table runner I want to make. I’m about to start my new semester in school next week!

The book says you should use the symbols on the cup, or look for your own symbols, but unless you are experienced you shouldn’t mix the two. Well, I’m not experienced, but I can’t help but see the shape of the United States in the bottom of my cup, some lines, and a sailboat! I would say that not right away, but sometime this year I’m going to travel!

Another sweet one! I just realized that this is the first week since Thanksgiving that I haven’t been surrounded by baked goods! I think my body is asking, “Where are the cookies?!?!?” Thankfully, the light chocolate and hazelnut flavors are calming my inner cookie monster. I’m enjoying it with some cream and sugar to make it a satisfying dessert tea.

Chose this for my afternoon tea. I was so in the mood for something sweet and fruity. It’s delicious, and this is the first time that my coworkers commented that my tea smelled good :) The only “problem” is that this was my last serving!!

Tonight’s dinner didn’t turn out as well as I hoped :( so I wanted our evening tea to be something special. Mélange de Chamonix to the rescue! This cocoa and spice tea made our palates very happy once again!

You know those days when you are behind before you even started? I came in to work an hour late because of my dental appointment and EVERYTHING needed immediate attention! I was drowning, and my usual response would have been to grab a cup of coffee. I chose this instead. It sure did wake me up, but I don’t feel jittery like I would have after (the third cup of!) coffee. I feel alert, focused, and ready to tackle all of this work! It tasted wonderful too :) Very bold but balanced – cream and sugar lovely. This is now my go-to-instead-of-coffee tea!

Had this again last night. I had an appointment with the accountant previously, and a 7:30 am dentist appointment this morning! I probably could have used something much stronger than rooibos, but, since I have an active imagination, it sufficed! I felt warm, comforted, relaxed, and fell asleep (and stayed asleep!) within a half hour of my last, tasty, sip. I really have to look into some more flavors :)

I was a little bit scared to try this tea! I had it sitting in my cupboard since Feb 2009 (mine is actually called Aristocrat Earl Grey) because the bergamot smell was SO overwhelming when I took it out of the box! I’m sad that I left it sitting so long because I am really enjoying it. The bergamot is bright, sweet, fruity and more lemony? orangey? than many I’ve tried. It’s pretty too :) Does anyone know what kind of flowers the little blue petals are from?

The second day of making tea at work and I already forgot my strainer at home! Mind like a sieve (HA!!!) Don’t worry – necessiTEA is the mother of invention! I got a coworker’s coffee filter, put my loose tea in there, twisted it, and clipped it with a teeny clippy thing (which I washed first!!!). Worked like a charm! By the end of the week I should have my proper paper filters and clips in from Upton, but until then I will use this method.

Today’s tea is very delicious! I am tasting TONS of honey. Lovely, lovely, lovely!

(Can you tell I’m thrilled with my at-work setup?)

Delicious! Super flavorful and not a hint of bitterness or astringency. Very nice with milk and sugar. It’s pretty perfect, but I’m curious to see what 30 more seconds might add to the flavor.

I picked this for today’s afternoon cup. I love the slight but complimentary difference between the bergamot and Darjeeling – I keep playing a guessing game of “Is this the bergamot? Is this the Darjeeling? Ahhh I taste the Darjeeling here!” as I take each sip…

I chose this tea, my favorite, to be the FIRST TEA I PREPARED AT WORK!!!! Yes! The days of takeout tea are behind me, and I couldn’t be more pleased!!!!! I still have a few things to work out (I only have one strainer which I have to carry home each night until I get another, I need to bring in a coaster, a small dish to rest the strainer, etc.) but the tea tastes great – and that is what’s important!!!!! No more overpriced cardboard for me!!! Wheeeeee!!!!!

Flavorful, elegant, unique. I absolutely adore this tea. I just love that touch of tart fruit.

This was good! I was in the mood for some tea, and drinking caffeine at 9:30 pm is pushing it, even for me! I went with this rooibos instead of my usual black. I sweetened it with a little honey and sat and relaxed with it. I feel nice and warm and happy – they say rooibos is calming and I think it’s true :)

One more cup as I read (Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell). Orange Cookie is perfect with this book – sweet and traditional, yet that pepper gives it a little eccentricity – just like the ladies of Cranford! I think even Miss Jenkyns would approve :)