JacquelineM

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!!!

Thank you SimplyJenW for this tea!!!!

This is delicious. If you put a blindfold on me, I would tell you that this is a medium-ly scented rose tea! I would probably even be pretty insistent about it. I had no idea lychee tea tasted like this. Wonderful sans additions, but I can see how a little sugar might be nice with this – especially if you have it iced.

Oh Mr. Harney(s), you offer yet another completely enjoyable tea to put on my shopping list! I could see this one being a haven for hectic days.

Thanks again Jen! I love it!!!!

Another one of my amazon.com 2 pack specials ;) I originally got it to make classic iced tea with, but I thought I’d try it hot today since I was in the mood for an afternoon cuppa with milk and sugar. It was really lovely that way. Light, and I imagine it would go lovely with a pastry, as it had a bready quality. It didn’t taste bright or lemony to me at all, which is making me wonder if it will be suitable for iced tea after all! In any event, I’ll have no trouble drinking it hot in the afternoon. It’s perfect that way.

I also have to note how nice the tin is. Double lidded, and the inner lid has a wee knob which helps to remove it (and looks adorable). There is ribbon on the tin – just a very pleasing package!

Oh my goodness! I’m getting quite a bit of rose on the mid to end of these sips. Rich, grainy, roasty, chocolatey… then rose. Musky earthy true rose, too. I’m in love. If I could put my best loved flavors together and wish for a tea, this would be IT! Fancy that it also has a rich history, winning awards all the way back in 1915 and everything! Millions of hearts to this one.

Just…mmmmmmmmmmmm. The most wonderful, gentle, golden, can’t go wrong tea in my stash :) I’ve been drinking lots of favorites this past week, and this has been the highlight. Smooth, honeyed, somehow milky.

It pains me to remove this tea from my cupboard. Made the last of it for my husband’s morning pot. I know that freshness-wise, it’s a good thing, but oh! I just have not found such a smooth bready malty raisiny wonder like Thomas. I’m also a little nostalgic because it is one of the first teas I fell in love with directly because of my involvement in Steepster – I don’t know if I would have found out about Andrews & Dunham on my own.

Sniff sniff – I love you Thomas, I love you Andrews & Dunham, and I love you Steepsterites!!!

I usually have no idea what tea I’m in the mood for until I sift through my tea drawer at work, but this morning I woke up craving Earl Grey de la Creme! It’s been super humid, which explains the Earl Grey part, and the creamy vanilla? I needed some comfort. A little less than a teaspoon of sugar ups the comfort factor as well.

Delicious (this tea is almost two years old but it still tastes fresh, creamy, bergamot-y and vital. Yay good tins!) and yes, comforting. My poor Beni Beagle died last week (almost 15! He had a good long life, and we were with him for 3 nights and days during his final illness) and I’ve been so overcome with grief I haven’t even been able to share it with you guys. It was just too fresh. The shock is wearing off and now I’m just so sad and missing him. Expect to see me review lots and lots of vanilla infused teas for awhile.

Now…adjectives! :)

This is a magnificent tea. It reminds me of Harney’s Keemun Mao Feng without any smoke. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be RICH. It has that same intense richness that I love in KMF. That magical fruity/floral on the end of the sip. I am on my second steep and it still remains completely powerful and delicious!

To me, it tastes like an entirely different beast than Tan Yang Te Ji! Not like a more refined version but rather a smokeless Keemun Mao Feng.

YUM. I love, love, love it.

This is a review-by-proxy. I made a pot of this for my husband this morning. He loooo-oooo-oooooved it. It’s hard to get lots of words out of anyone in the morning, but I can tell you that he groaned, and said it was soooo good, and amazing. I’ll have to try it in order to get…more adjectives. :)

He’s been having tea instead of coffee in the morning and he has almost finished off Thomas Sampson! I had three tins of him before this tea-in-the-morning business!

Delicious. Everything I expected, and more. An extremely fine example of a Gong Fu black with all the roasty, chocolatey, tangy wonderment that implies.

Mmmmmmmmmmm!

Another tea which makes me say, “Is this REAL!?” How can this other plant produce sweet chocolate!?!?!?

Treating myself to this magical tea today. The touch of smoke. The chocolate notes. The richness. The inexplicably fruity note on the end of the sip. This is a wonderful, wonderful miracle of nature that always stops me in my tracks whenever I brew a cup. I love all of my teas, but this one I treasure.

Oh, you delicious bundle of dark, smooth, molasses-y tea! I will admit it – I am hoarding these puffs. I have 6 left. I’m getting nervous. They’re so so so good!

One of the things I like most about this tea is that it resteeps so beautifully. One puff has me drinking all day. I’m on the ridiculously rich second steep right now and I’m pretty much in heaven. Mmmmmm!

I made this as an iced tea with the remaining tablespoon of the Harney Earl Grey Supreme /Teavana Orange Youthberry and the Kitchen Sink ;) It’s just ok in my opinion (my husband likes it more than I do). I think it’s a little too bitter, even though I brewed the iced tea with water around 195 and only for 3 minutes. I love a touch of bitterness in an iced tea – I think it’s really refreshing – but this was more than a touch.

I am not going to give up on the idea of using this in an iced tea, though. Instead of using two parts of this Darjeeling and one part of another tea, I’m going to reverse the proportions. Upton has this interesting looking Ceylon Darjeeling blend they say makes good iced tea. I think I’ll get a Ceylon from them, and add this Darjeeling to be a copy cat, 2 parts Ceylon, one part Darjeeling.

I also forgot to put in a pinch of baking soda, and it’s cloudy.

Some days are better tea days than others!

My last bag! I did enjoy this, even though I could have used just a wee bit less pepper in this tisane. I’m not going to replace this one – I’ve already bought some organic ginger root from Upton for the nights when I’m in the mood for ginger :)

Magnificent concoction indeed! White tea, Darjeeling tea, Ceylon tea all together – who knew this would be so delicious?! I think this might be my favorite new-ish tea I’ve tried in awhile. It makes me want to pirouette and shout “Spring! Spring! Spring!” in a field of …tulips. Or something!

Yay! I finally have this back in my cupboard. Love those Amazon.com 3 pack deals :) Creamy, lightly spiced. I actually find this one nuttier tasting than the hazelnut one – go figure! Comforting as can be. So good with a splash of milk and a little honey.