JacquelineM

I’ve had a Rough Tea Week. I’ve been so busy at work, and my good perfect reliable tea brewer is broken! I brought to work my lil Beehouse tea pot and one of my new glass cups to make tea. It seemed silly to buy a new tea brewer when I have this lovely little pot from Doulton which I don’t get to use nearly enough because I make large pots at home.

First day, I hated it. Fussy, wrong amount of water, wrong amount of tea, wrong wrong wrong (god forbid I stop a second and do a little math to figure out the ratios)! Each day, it got a little better. I’m still learning the quirks of my new set up, but FINALLY on Friday I made a delicious pot of Rose Congou. P-H-E-W. It was pastry-ish, rosy, and I swear it was sweeter than usual. I am really digging my glass cup, and seeing all the gorgeous, varied shades of each tea I brew. Rose Congou has a particularly beautiful reddish hue.

Look at me – I am embracing change :)

This tea is very delicious, green, sage-y, and wonderous, especially with my new Perfect Teaspoon!

I have some sad news, though. I noticed my desk was wet and … why was my brewer cup making water beads all over it, and … hmmm, there’s a puddle around my cup and… this is so weird! and… imagine this going on for THREE HOURS!!!! and then I finally figured out my cup is cracked! I remember bashing it when I washed it but didn’t see any cracks at the time. Silly, silly me.

I think I’m going to use it as a planter.

Wahhhhh!

Fare thee well, ye delicious tea! My last heaping perfect teaspoon was brewed this morning. Spicy, fruity – in many ways the perfect chai to drink in the summer months with all that delightful lemongrass.

I’ll miss you! Maybe we’ll meet again when I run out of Black Dragon Pearls and do another Teavana order ;)

We just finished our first tin of this (I buy 3 packs from amazon). Yum. I still taste “sweet and delicious” rather than “nutty” but that’s ok. It makes me feel like I just have loads of the caramel chai, which is not a bad thing at all. I served it with a little cinnamon spiced everyday cake with walnuts, and it paired so nicely.

Well, I have found out (and it took me years and years and years) that my vintage teaspoons from my Aunt Rosie are teaspoons in name only. I expected as much. Now that I have my Perfect Teaspoon and have begun making tea with it, WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Vintage Teaspoon is a stingy little thing and I always tried to compensate but you know. Some days you are in a rush and you just expect your teaspoon to measure a spoon of tea and not be all chintzy about it!

I made Golden Monkey with Perfect Teaspoon and it has taken my enjoyment up … at least three notches! So rich and honeyed. I was close, but I wasn’t using quite enough tea. Just that little bit extra is making one of my favorite teas even more delicious!

Now I feel like I have all new teas because I will be making them for the first time with my Perfect Teaspoon! I wonder how Keemun Mao Feng and Tan Yang Te Ji will taste when made with the Perfect Teaspoon? I shiver with anticipation!!!!

(…and maybe in 5 or 10 years I’ll get a Tea Scale and …)

I have so few of these puffs left :( They are so molasses-y and excellent resteepers. It’s very interesting picking out the nuances in the teas that I love – they all share a similar flavor profile, but those little differences! Molasses instead of honey. Cocoa instead of chocolate. Thick instead of thin. Amber instead of golden (yes, those are flavors ;) My kinda fun.

This is one of those teas that I knew I’d like before I tried it. It was rumored to be very smooth and have chocolatey undertones – just what I love in a tea. It is also in little round pearls. Love pearls, poofs, and any other traditional, hand made tea shapes!

I was not in the least disappointed. I used 4 pearls for my 10oz brew mug and it’s perfect. Unsweetened chocolate and so, so, so smooth. Elixir of the Tea Gods smooth. This is actually my second time having it, and the last time I got 4 steeps out of these babies! Yes, the tea is exorbitant ($15 for 2oz) but since I can have so many steeps with them, it makes for a totally reasonable indulgence. I’d buy these again in less than a heartbeat!

Another one from my birthday Teavana order. Candied violets, rose, almonds, cinnamon, saffron!?!? All flavors I love, but I wasn’t sure how they would go together. I decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a try!

I taste….Mmmmmm, nutty cookie! … Pow, fruity sweet rose! It’s just like that – pause and all. Completely different experience from one of the subtle French everything-but-the-kitchen-sink teas where all the flavors dance together, but good in its exuberant disjointed American manner :)

Again, I think I could have used just a touch more tea. I think these blended teas are heavy on the stuff, and light on the tea for my tastes. I am going to have to use an extremely heaping perfect teaspoon (yes! I finally got two – one for work and one for home!) when I drink these blends.

My coworkers gave me a gift certificate to Teavana for my birthday! This was one of my choices when I spent it (online, of course ;).

I like it. It’s nutty and chocolatey and roasty. Honestly, not coffee like or tea like in my opinion. Sweet treat like, maybe nutty hot chocolate like?!

I think I have to play around with the amount and time a little to my taste. It can definitely go more than 5 minutes, and I used 1.5 teaspoons in my 10oz brew mug, but I could have used two easily.

I am curious if this will grow on me if I make it stronger. I think it has potential.

I recently did something I’ve wanted to do since I joined Steepster – I got my PersonaliTea done! http://www.madpotsoftea.com/index.php/personalitea/

You answer a variety of questions, and Madam Potts does her magic. Three weeks later your PersonaliTea arrives at your door with a lovely card explaining the tea, where she drew her inspiration from in your questionnaire, and some brewing instructions.

My tea was beautiful! Flower petals and fruit galore! It smelled wonderful and unusual. I was surprised to see Savory as an ingredient! Once I brewed the tea, it made sense, though. It was the ingredient that gave the blend gravitas, and dare I say its unique personality! I was a little freaked out because yes, I love Rose and Violet, fig and spice, (i.e. the pretty and exotic) but I do have a deep core of seriousness running through me, and Madame totally got that! I’m so pleased! The allspice/cinnamon/fig/Darjeeling (I would say a second flush) synergy? Off the charts delicious. Like spiced apple figs soaked in port or maybe brandy. Like something your French grandmother might have a secret recipe for. The rooibos gives it depth but it doesn’t taste roiboos-y. And one more thing – the color! It’s this gorgeous golden not quite amber. I wish I had a glass tea cup for this one! (I think I need to invest in a glass tea cup for this one!)

I am pretty amazed that Madam Potts was able to capture so many nuances of my personality in a tea! It’s definitely one that everyone might not like, a little strange and unexpected, a little old-fashioned and European, a little flowery.

I highly enjoyed my experience, and I look forward to many, many cups of this tea!

Y-U-M! I am tasting a lemon drop Earl Grey Supreme. I know this is supposed to be grapefruit essence, but I taste a sweet, delightful lemony flavor plus all the flavors I know and love from EGS. I’m crazy for it! The extra bit of citrus definitely gives this tea pizazz, and the usual quality tea leaves from EGS are always a welcome treat. I love those silver tips!

I got the sachets for the beauteous tin, but if Harney starts offering this in the one pound bag size, that is the way I will purchase it. I have no complaints about the sachets, though.

I’m on my second steep, and it’s still flavorful and citrusy. I think I’ll make a third one and cool it for an afternoon iced tea.

Ohhhhhhh this is good. Nutty. Pastry. Good tea, present but swirling in with the other flavors. Some sips, I think I taste chocolate, others I don’t. Some sips I taste rose or some other sweet floral flavor! But, nutty, creamy pastry predominates (I added milk and sugar because I was in need of comfort, and it’s delightfully desserty this way).

I would like to try this plain some afternoon. The tea base is part Chinese so I bet it would be a great treat.

Many thanks to ashmanra for this tea!

(Why needing comfort? My 22 year old cat died recently, then the stray cat we’ve been feeding hobbled in with what turned out to be an abscessed bite on his leg. Vet and antibiotics later, it looks like we’re going to keep him in the house now, try and get him healed up, neutered, and on the way to being a spoiled indoor prince. Wish us luck!)

I’m one of the few people on Steepster that enjoy plain-ish rooibos. I do put a little sugar or honey and a splash of milk to make it more tea-like. The slightly tobacco-y vanilla flavor (which I enhanced with a cut up vanilla bean) is a comforting evening cuppa. I always turn to this one when I’m in the mood for a plain cup of tea, but can’t have any because it’s too late in the day.

In my ongoing “pretend it’s October” theme—I chose this one today. It’s nice and cloudy for a change which is helping with the pretending. I think I overshot my goal because my coworker walked in and said “WOW! It smells like Christmas in here!” Oops. I didn’t quite want it to be December yet!

Spicy and ORANGE. Orange oil, orange peel. Good tea flavor, not bitter or weak. Constant Comment on steroids (and you know Constant Comment pushes all my Leonard Cohen/nostalgia buttons :)

Many, many thanks to Kayshap for this tea. I enjoy it so much!

Oh my friend! Long time no drink!!!

Why, I do not know, because Rose Congou is one of the most delightful teas in my stash! Whilst I do of course taste a lovely, musky rose, the most prominent impressions are Sweet, and Pastry. (How to describe Pastry? Bready and merest hint of vanilla and cinnamon. Maybe nutmeg. Like eating a croissant that was sitting next to a cinnamon bun in the pastry case.).

:)

Made a carrot cake for my mom’s birthday, and brought a thermos of this to go with. Mmmmmmmm. I drink rooibos chai several times and week, and love it,

BUT

tasting the black tea in this one with those spices made my heart sing. The black tea chai is my favorite. I will continue to drink my herbal chai so I can sleep at night, but gosh. This was so good (and it was just brewed like regular tea – not even stovetop simmered).

Love the copious cardamom in this one. So chock-full of pods!!

Many thanks to Douton for this tea. (I miss your posts, Doulton! I’ve been reading a lot of Barbara Pym and her writing always makes me think of you.)

We are experiencing such a heat wave here! I was out doing errands for less than an hour, and felt completely sick and nauseous by the end. After I was home awhile and cooled off in the air conditioning, I decided to play “Pretend it’s October.”

If you would like to play, make a pot of your favorite tea that you like with milk and sugar (that would be Thomas for me!), grab your favorite pastry (that would be a pain au chocolat for me!) and sit on the sofa eating and drinking and pretending and say things like, “Good thing we made a pot of tea! It sure is getting nippy, it being October and all!” and “Oh! I may need the blanket! I am chilled in this October air!” and “I just love tea and pastry when the weather is turning cold!”

If you are impressionable, like me, it will work for awhile :)

Thank you once again ashmanra for this extra magical tin of Thomas.

I used the last of this tea to make some iced tea, along with Samovar’s Yunnan Golden Buds. Even though I used a tablespoon of this tea with three tablespoons of the Golden buds, this tea asserted itself and made an iced tea which was rough around the edges and still had a fake peachy taste. Needless to say I was not sad to decupboard this one!

I apologize, poor Yunnan Golden Buds, to have had you mingle with such an uncouth tea. It will not happen again!

So delicious! Light but rich. Sweet potatoes and a hint of orange peel. I’m enjoying the second steep right now, and it’s actually MORE sweet potato-y and orangey than the first. I am looking forward to many steeps today :)

Another tea which is supremely lovely in the summer.

I have Nutella at home. This is a very good thing, because gosh, I love Nutella. This is also a very bad thing because all I can think about is Nutella! I can’t wait to go home and eat Nutella!!! (!!!!) But, alas, I’m at work, Nutella-less.

I had some Tan Yang Te Ji this morning for the tangy chocolate notes, but I wanted more. Out comes Chocolate Mint for the afternoon! What a lifesaver. I’m getting a nice chocolate flavor, and the mint is refreshing and stimulating. What a nice afternoon cup.

(NUTELLA!)

Thank you ashmanra. This wee tin of Chocolate Mint has helped me out on quite a few chocaholic breakdowns!!!!

I didn’t have quite enough for another cup, so I mixed this with some Earl Grey de la creme. Mmmmmmmm. Fruityrosycreamy! Very refreshing on a day when we arrived to the office to find our air conditioning was off because of a power failure!

Thanks again SimplyJenW for this tea. A Lychee tea is now on my radar for sure. Maybe for next spring since I have quite a few light fruity and/or flowery delights in my cupboard at present!

A note of continued appreciation for this one. It has been one of my summer go-to teas. Even though my office is air conditioned, I am still craving lighter, fruitier teas to sip during my work day. This one is soooooooo good. Grapey, a little sweet (sans additions!) a little floral, but not wimpy in any respect.

I want to make a special iced tea for my birthday (it’s not until mid-July, but planning is half the fun!) and I can’t make up my mind between this one, Golden Monkey, or Earl Grey. I’m planning to make a cheese plate, some kind of nice bread, and chicken Waldorf salad for our meal (followed by home made vanilla ice cream on a chocolate brownie home made waffle as my “cake”). What would you choose? I was thinking this might be nice because the salad has grapes in it too, but maybe the Golden Monkey for the neutral tea flavor (or maybe the Earl Grey because it’s so refreshing and the citrus would contrast with the salad?).

I went camping to stargaze: http://www.astrohbg.org/CSSP/Information.html
& this was the tea I brought along. I wasn’t getting my hopes up for outstanding flavor, but guess what? This was really good! I don’t know if it was because I was cold and surrounded by a zillion stars and the Milky Way above me, or if it was a truly outstanding bagged tea, but either way…I enjoyed every sip! Good, classic tea flavor with milk and sugar, and one bag made a flavorful cup even in my 10 oz mug. I have no idea how long I steeped it for, but I must have hit a sweet spot because it was not bitter at all.

I would not hesitate to drink this if I was feeling lazy at home, and I will definitely bring them on future trips!

It’s magic! (No, actually it’s ashmanra, which is pretty much the same thing when you get right down to it!)! I got an amazing surprise in the mail – a tin of this very loved tea from Ms. Magic herself. Not only am I over the moon with happiness, but so is my husband. I made him a great big pot this morning, and he oooohed and ahhhed and smiled and slurped and even took it into his bath to enjoy!

I will admit I’m going to be slightly stingy with this tin. I really want at least a pot or two when the leaves turn in the fall!

Thank you once again ashmanra! I never thought I’d have more Thomas!!!