LENA

Smells like a cleaner
Did I eat a vitamin?
Tart, sour, orange-y.

Yep, that about sums it up.

Another wonderful sample from Takgoti. Mmmm…I love it! And my cats seem to love it too. Both Sarge and Mr. Mouse had their little heads hovering above my cup. They were doing that odd open mouth smelling thing that cats tend to do when they really dig a smell. It’s cute. My husband and I make the Predator sound if we see them doing the open mouth smell. You know that mix of snarl/snore that the Predator aliens make? Riiight…I’m guessing not. Just a small glimpse into my life.

On to the tea. It’s great. No…it’s Wonderful for a mint tea. And fairly complex. The obvious peppermint taste, then the cardamom and ginger take hold. Mmmm! All held together by a simple, tasty green tea. It’s yum. It’s just YUM! I highly encourage everyone to try it. Especially if you like mint teas. I’m feeling perfectly well (knock on wood) but if I was feeling ill, I would want this on standby. Go Samovar!

It’s yum! :)

After seeing Auggy’s post about this tea, I knew a RoT catalog was on the way. When I got home from work, it was there waiting for me. Yay! I usually do not order anything from RoT, but I do look forward to the tea sample they include with the catalog.

Let me start out by saying that this is the best sample I’ve received from them thus far. OF COURSE it contains Rooibos…I would be shocked if it didn’t. This is what I taste – in order:
-a little zing of strawberry (very nice)
-the oncoming taste of mild chocolate (good)
-ROOIBOS!!! (loud and proud – Ehh…)

I understand that Rooibos is a good filler and that sometimes tea blends need that little extra something (the cowbell – see Steepster Dictionary thread). But this would be so good with a nice black tea base. Why can’t they push the freakin’ Rooibos aside just once and see if their sales don’t improve. The Rooibos takes over the aftertaste with that sawdust/woody/straw-like taste. I like Rooibos…and for some reason I do not taste the negative aspects when I drink it plain. But in blends, it’s there…and obvious.

Rant over. This is a big victory for RoT, but in the tea world, it’s just slightly above average.

I think this is a love or hate tea. Personally, I love it. Eight at the Fort is very complex tasting…smoky, malty, robust, earthy, slightly sweet. I could go on on and on. The mix of leaves is interesting and pretty to look at. This tea also holds up to milk and sugar very well. Super tasty! The caffeine content must be fairly high, because this is one of the few teas that I get a little jolt out of.
A HUGE thank you goes out to Takgoti for including this little gem in one of our swaps. She just exudes awesomeness. :)
If you like black teas with a little meat on the ribs, than this one is perfect. Nothing sissy ‘bout Eight at the Fort. He’ll smack ya around. Plus, the name is really cool. My husband appreciated the story behind the name and I think he felt special drinking it. And that’s cool. A big win…and a place on my shopping list for Eight at the Fort.

Picked this up on my lunch break. Ehh. There is an off tasting ingredient…I’m guessing it is the citric acid. The only other ingredients are black teas and cane sugar. The citric acid really screwed this up. It’s that sour, artificial taste. Ick. I should have known better.
The glass bottle and top are pretty cool though.

As my sample size shrinks, the more I feel this tea will be missed. I’ve finally nailed the temp and steeping time, and it’s oh so good. I’m sure that I will eventually order some more, but I’m hoping 2010 will be the year of trying “new” teas. I foresee lots of samples!

Have I ruined my palette by drinking black teas and chais for the last month or so?

I’m having a little trouble adjusting to the MUCH lighter tastes of this tea. It’s good. It’s very good. But subtle. I even steeped it a bit longer than the recommended 2 minutes because the liquor was almost totally clear. The smell is that of a lightly floral green tea. I do not taste the apple notes, but the honeysuckle is there…and proud. I love the smell of honeysuckle. It flashes me back to when my Pop (grandfather) taught me how to extract that one magical drop of honey from the flower. It’s a good memory. Maybe that’s why I keep honeysuckle on my back yard’s fence line. If a tea can help envoke a happy memory like that, then I’m all for it.

Drinking a cup of #40 before heading out to lunch. And where am I going…

http://www.worldcupoftea.com/

I took my mom here for her birthday and we did the Royal-tea lunch. It was pretty cool, and their teas were mostly tasty. I was not impressed with their staff, however. I think I was expecting a true tea sommelier or Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast or something. Instead, it was mostly a hippy staff. I’m not saying that being a hippy is bad (I’ve been known to hug a few trees)…just odd in a tea establishment that is known for their British High Tea ceremony. That, and the fact that when my mom asked about a certain tea, the hippy dude said, and I quote, “It’s a green tea…so umm, ya know…you might like it…if you like green tea.” Nice. Their tea menu is online, so I’ve been writing a few teas down to give the smell test when I get there.

As for this tea, I find my self saying, “It’s not bad…(insert long pause)…for Adagio.” After close to a year of all Adagio, all the time, I’m waiving goodbye. I thank them for helping me tune my tastes but I think it’s time to move on. Also, tea swaps are fantastic for finding new companies and teas to try out. I thank all of my tea swap buddies this year for all of the teas, funny emails, and general awesomeness. I hope everyone has a fantastic, tea-filled 2010.

Made a quick cup as I’m getting ready to leave the office. Apple-licious…and tastes even better considering I’m about to be off work for 4 days in a row. Sweet!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!

I’ll be back after the break to post and read about all of the teas we will be getting for Christmas. crosses fingers

Yep, I’ve got this one down pat. Yummy Yunnan goodness. It’s a nice breakfast blend and hits the spot with a little milk and sugar. Still not enough to change the rating though.

I enjoyed a few cups of this throughout the day. My stomach was a little upset from last night’s Thai food binge. Oh man, I love Thai food! The family that owns the Thai joint that I go to uses a spicy scale of 1-5, five being “ethnic”. Of course I’m all about eating as authentic and ethnic as possible, so I went for the big 5. The server smiled.

My husband and I go to this restaurant once every 1-2 weeks, so they know us well. Well enough to send us a Christmas card in the mail, as a matter of fact. (We’re good customers.) It was totally worth the burn…and this tea did help soothe. At least I think it helped…maybe I’m developing a cast iron “ethnic” stomach.

I finally got the right mix on this one. I think it has a 5 minute max steep time. Anything over 5 minutes (at least on the 1st steep) will yield some crazy bitterness. Taken with milk and a teensy bit of sugar, this ended up being a really nice cup of tea. I wasn’t blown away like I thought I would be, considering this is a 2009 award winning tea. But, it’s good.

I’ll tell ya what DID make this tea better. Dunking in a tea cake cookie. Since my husband’s knee surgery, he has taken up baking to avoid extreme boredom while he is off work. I highly support his baking hobby…both because the holiday goodies are made AND given out…and as it turns out, he is a VERY good at it! Yay for hidden talents.

Off to make another cup…and grab another tea cake.

Drank one of these this morning from Starbucks. It’s way too cold for it to be iced, so I drank it hot. I expected to hate it, but it ended up being ok. Pretty sweet, but not bad considering it was from a concentrate. Since giving up coffee, I haven’t been to a Starbucks in probably 3 years or more. It’s nice to know I have something decent to drink (other than a tea bag) the next time I go with friends.

I just. don’t. know.

It’s STOUT! As dark as black coffee and a little bitter. My 1st cup was super bitter, but then again, I left it to steep for WAY too long. I’m drinking the 2nd steep now, and it has calmed down quite a bit. I’m still unsure about this one. I need to tinker around with it. I’d like to add some milk to it, but my milk at the office is all gross-ified and I refuse to use powder creamer. Ick!

In the wise words of Tim Gunn, I will “Make it work”.

Needed a quick cup of something good. This didn’t disappoint.

I’m really liking Ceylon teas. Does anyone have a favorite vendor? I know this is a pretty basic black tea, but sometimes that’s exactly what I need.

Just returned from a hard day of Christmas shopping. It’s pouring rain. My shoes and socks were soaked through. I HATE having wet feet. It’s just one of those things with me. It will ruin my whole day. As this was steeping, I put on some warm socks and a pair of slippers…yes, very glamorous, I know. I go to the fridge…no milk. I really like this tea with a little milk and sugar, or honey. Looks like I’ll be making a trip to Publix…in the rain.

Crap.

I’ve been on a black tea kick as of late, so I thought I’ve give one of my past favorite oolongs a try. I still like it, but after getting caught up in office mumbo jumbo, my cup was cold and yucky. I still drank what was left, but it was consumed with a little snarl on my face. Tea shouldn’t make you snarl.

Received a free sample of this in my RoT catalog. I LOVE how this tea smells. It smells like my mom’s Christmas cider. Apple, clove and cinnamon always smell comforting to me, so I guess this tea lives up to at least half of its name.

Unfortunately, the tea’s taste did not match its wonderful smell. The spice is there, it’s just really weak and watered down tasting. I steeped the full amount of time…probably a smidge more, so I think it was at its boldest. Perhaps RoT needs to cram a little more tea into their “environmentally-friendly, round, unbleached tea bag – free of wasteful stings, staples and tags”. Just sayin’…

Very floral in smell, taste and aftertaste. Natural and lightly sweet, but I do pick up some bitterness as the cup cools. Not a bad cup at all.

I don’t hate it, but I don’t think I “get it” either. Other than the smell, and instant the tea touches your tongue, this is just kind of plain to me. It steeps very quickly and fairly dark. I’m just not getting a lot of sweet potato action. Maybe regular potato, like some others have mentioned, but not so much a yummy sweet potato flavor. I drank this plain…and the flavors are changing now that the cup is cooling off. The natural sweetness is coming out. Still not a sweet potato in my book….but maybe….if you are willing yourself to taste a sweet potato, you will taste it.

I threw in a little Irish Breakfast on top of yesterday’s leftover Keemun Concerto. Yum. This tea is comforting and heavy…malty and smokey. Fantastic for a cold, rainy and generally yucky day. Taken with milk and a little Truvia. Does anyone else have an opinion on this Truvia stuff? I came across it by way of my local tea shop. They have packets out on their tables with the Splenda, raw sugar, etc. Just curious if this is the latest and greatest in the world of sweeteners.

Time to try the hair-free tin!

I accidentally steeped the heck out of the cup but it doesn’t seem to matter. Moderately malty, middle of the road keemun. Just “so-so” in my book. I’ll probably blend it in with my Irish Breakfast or add mint just to spruce it up.

Received a free sample of this in the mail. My husband chortles and shakes his head each time he sees a catalog or free sample in the mail. I’ll admit the combos of Rishi Tea, Women’s Health, and the latest in concealment holsters and Kevlar isn’t your everyday mix.

Anyway, I didn’t hate this as much as I thought I was going to. It is pretty sickenly sweet and I had to constantly stir my cup due the mix settling between each sip. I smell the spices more than I taste them. I’d much rather make my own chai (but it is time consuming to do it properly). Right now Adagio’s Thai Chai reigns supreme in my book. This isn’t bad if you are seriously craving some chai.

Light and mildly grassy. I can understand those who say that this tastes buttery to them. I’m not talking about a stick of butter here, but it is a little creamy and has depth. Not an everyday tea for me…but then again, I think I’m on a black tea kick right now.