Lady 0f Spaydes

This is my review of this tea 2 months after (2/24) my initial log:

I am sitting on the floor taking a homework break after I gleefully found my lost (and my only) tea ball. Yay! I chose this tea because I realised that the majority of my collection is Earl Grey and rooibos. What a testament to my preferences, eh?

The scent of this tea makes me think of peaches and almonds and I can feel my muscles relaxing. I didn’t even know that I was stressed. I taste yummy sweet peaches and a vegetal note from the green tea base. I am so please that I chose to drink this tea! I don’t want to store the leaves in the fridge, so I may steep a second pot and bottle it up and try it iced.

Oh tea ball, how I missed you. Don’t ever run away from me again!

I am backlogging my technical log from january and then I will post my revisited review.

Observation 1: The dry leaves remind me of peaches and apricots. There are small peices of leaves, bits of sugar and various unidentifiable bits in the blend.
Observation 2: Naked, the tea is a bright yellow greeen. The taste of peaches is very prominent. There is an apricot aftertaste.
Observation 3: With sugar,there is a nice nuttiness to the tea. I am quite fond of this tea with sugar.
Observation 4: (note: I didn’t know milk + green = blech yet) With milk the flavors are drastically detracted.

I received this tea from Teaequalsbliss and I am backlogging from I want to say Tuesday. This is an excerpt from my tea journal:

After a long day of riding the bus it is finally time for me to settle down and do some homework in well earned quiet. :)

I was torn between two teas, this one and Mount of Olives’ Sweet Apple Spice. I chose the latter, but I guess it did not desire to bue consumed as the bag was rotting through and the staple rusted onto the paper. Poor packaging is often won’t to do so.

The moment I dropped the cozy chamomile into the hot water I was greeted by the oh-so-familiar scent of chamomile. Mmm. :) The packaging suggested sweeterner and although I am not the biggest fan of sweets, I do adore sweet beverages so I oblige with a sprinkle of sugar.

… and I forgot what chamomile tastaes like. The flavoring of this herbal has a nuttiness to it that I am not sure that I am fond of- kind of unpleasant, but I am not one to not finish a cup. Either way, the aroma is pleasant which I think is the majority of the experience of a chamomile anyway.

C’est la vie. :)

Its about time for me to update this log eh?

Before I get into it I shall post a disclaimer:

I am not a doctor, I don’t even have a CPR card. Any testimony or information posted here is of my personal experience and/or the information that I have personally researched. ASK YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE STARTING ANY KIND OF TREATMENT OR REGIMEN, YES EVEN IF IT IS AN HERBAL SUPPLUMENT. Whether your doctor agrees with your lifestyle choices or not they are your most reliable source for health risks and interactions associated with increased intake of ANYTHING in your diet. There is a plethora of drug interactions with SJW or any medication that can range from mildly irritating to life threatening. Take initiative and be the informed patient rather than the bewildered victim.

Alright, let’s start!

So I have been taking tthis consistent for a month now and so far, so good! The tea recommends that you steep 1 to 2 teabags in an 8oz cup 4 times a day, but I lack the patience, funds and time to do so. As a consequence, I make a teapot (32oz) aand use 2 teabags, as I am under the impression that teapots inprove steeping by about 100%. I then pour it into a bottle and measure out exactly 8 oz to drink in the morning (between 7 and 10) afternoon (between 3 and 5) and at night (between 9 and 12).

Rather than making me drowsy as warned, I find this blend notably relaxing more than anything. Thus far I have experienced no physical sideaffects and find myself able to focus more and get up and do what I have to. Behavior changes when I skip a dose are fairly quick and evident however. I am reminded of when I used birth control and how while my body was adjusting I would have outbursts of crazy lady for no reason during the first week of every pill cycle. So it is very beneficial for me to just keep several doses available in advance.

The biggest notable difference to me is that I have regained the ability to just get up and do things. It’s easier to get out of bed and I don’t wake up miserable without any particular reason. When I actiively think of the taste it’s annoying. I like licorice root, but tasting it 3 times a day for god know how long is not my idea of a good time. If I get too sick of it, I may switch over to a pill. It’s not bad cold, but I find my experience drinking the tea is better if it is warm and overall the taste is rather unobtrusive.

My boyfriend notes that I seem significantly less unhappy as well as commenting that I “don’t seem so quick to give up on everything all the time.”

Would I recommend this stuff to anyone for depression? No. What I would recommend is speaking to your doctor about taking it after you’ve done your own research and find out if SJW is the right antidepressant for you.

So far so good! I’m really pleased I deccided to go this route rather than a standard SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) with all their horrible irrepairable side affects and my lack of health insurance.

P.S: I’m not rating this mix because I don’t think a number rating is the important tidbit to gather from this drink, nor would I know how to.

what is the perfect excuse to procrastinate on finishing my homework? The delivery of a surprise tea parcel from teaequalsbliss! Mmm ceylon tea packed full of caffeine, grant me the strength to finish all this stupid statistics homework. Thanks a ton teaequalsbliss!!!

This is one of the first loose leaf teas I purchased, but now I am
drinking my last bit of this tea. Definitely the best chocolate flavored tea I have had yet. Goodbye sweet tea!

I have logging to do from the Victorian Tea Room as well as the Emilie Autumn Tea and Cupcake Social, but I am super exhausted and with school starting this week, I have way too much to do to really spend any time logging.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

nom nom nom. :)

Guess today is a Yogi Tea day. I received this from kittylovestea. Basically a few weeks ago she wanted to clean out her bagged tea selection and I volunteered for one of her mystery parcels. There was also a very pretty hippy necklace that I love and have now attacked my boyfriend with. He doesn’t seem to mind.

This smells spicy! It would appear that the bag ripped in transit, but it has done nothing for or against the strong scent and color.

The taste is not as strong concerning the accent notes I am accustomed to in rooibos, but it is notably strong and equally smooth. I think I can tastee a bit of the paper the company wrapped it in, but overall there is this amazing quality of age and grace, akin to one of those big ancient tome-sized dictionaries that sit on a pedastal. I think a lot of the nuances I am enjoying about this tea have to do with it being god-knows-how-old. I taste rooibost, dust, paper, cinnamon, sweet and old leather almost. More akin to a fine cigar than an herbal tea!

Shame there was only one teabag of this.

I want to be a nurse, so I guess it’s about time that I start saying this:

ASK YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE STARTING ANY HERBAL SUPPLEMENT. TAKE CARE TO READ THE SIDE EFFECTS AND DRUG INTERACTIONS (there’s alot of them) including decreasing the effectiveness of estrogen-based birth control, most pharmaceutical anti-depressant, painkillers and anything else that increases your production of serotonin.

That said, I’ll get into the review!

This is day 1 cup 1 of this tea for me. I do believe the Vicodin is out of my system, but to my dismay my last medication I have to use requires chemical birthcontrol if I plan on being intimate, which is a major drug interaction with SJW. After talking at lengths with my boyfriend, we’ve decided that it is more important to give this medication a try for my mental health than play bump bump…and so another 3 months of abstinence has been added to the 7 months of abstinence we’ve already had. This is going to be the best 1 year of dating mark ever.

Upon investigation, I am not entirely sure of the numbers in this blend. There is only 27mg of SJW extract actually in this tea and then 843 mg of the leaf and flower of which I am unsure what the ratio of whole plant to extract would be, but the normal prescription dose in other countries(the US does not take holistic care seriously)is 300mg/day, waaaay more than this tea asks you to drink.

I prepared this in a 32oz teapot with only 2 teabags and it came out BLACK. The directions stated to use 1 teabag for 8oz of hot water. I suspect that this blend is either going to be ass kicking strong or nowhere near as potent as I need it.

The flavor is of licorice and mint, I am reminded of straight licorice root and those licorice gumdrops, Crows. When I would want an awesome candy that no one else wants to eat, I always went for Crows. Not feeling drowsy yet, but I am still not gonna drive for the rest of the day, maybe the week, until I figure out what exactly this stuff does to me. I’ll log again at the end of the week and I’ll rate again in 30 days.

drinking this complex tasting liquor with my boyfriend tonight. I love how everything is blended into this inseparable experience of taste and scent that can only be described as Jardin Sauvage. It really plays true to its name; I feel transported into a truely wild/overrun garden. :)

Sipping as I unwind for the evening. This is one of my favorite herbals and I hate to see it gone from the shelves (was a holiday tea).

The boyfriend and I went into Long Beach for a nice quiet dinner at this Pakistani restaurant in which we instead got big bold flavors, complimentary chai tea and Pakistani pop music videos- but we discovered that our moods readily welcomed the hub-bub.

After a night of tikka masala, saffron rice and mango lassi, the muted cinnamon and gentle vanilla of this tea both compliment and calm down what otherwise could be a sensory overload.

It’s been a good night. Not saying “good night,” just saying.

Tasting this new addition to my tea collection thanks to HistoryLaced! The girl has a genuine aversion to oolongs. I suspect this aversion stems from the very quality that I and many others adore about them- the nutty creamy taste that comes with a good oolong! She hates nuts, tell her there’s nuts in something and she make that little red face on the end of the tea rating scale.

My boyfriend made a whole teapot for me to sip and think over.

So far, I am on my second cup. I’m not sure if I really like it the way it is yet, I will have to sit down and play with it a bit to figure out how best to drink it. The nutty flavors of the oolong seem to be more prominent when had without sugar. I definitely taste the vanilla, but overall the flavor seems a tad bit weak, and we steeped this for the maximum time recommended. This tea will definitely take some serious re-tastes and contemplation.

On other notes, I am completely done with antibiotics and painkillers! I only have one medication left and that one is a 3x a week medication that I haven’t even picked up yet. Everything is nearly healed, I dont have to sleep sitting up to be comfortable and best of all, as proven by this log, I am back to being able to consume caffeine! Almost back to normal, almost. :)

I found my formal tasting notes!!!

I first tried this sometime right before Christmas with HistoryLaced. This was the day I believe that my boyfriend became the designated “Tea Boy” and HistoryLaced’s boyfriend became the “Ball Boy” (we make him fetch the ball when we knock it out of bounds during ping pong:) ).

Observation 1: This tea was steeped by my lovely boyfriend at boiling for 5 minutes as instructed. The dry leaves have a very fragrant aroma of rum. According to my notes, they smell like “the best rum ever!”

Observation 2: Naked: There is a beautiful orange color to this rooibos! The flavors remind me of butter rum candies, which are some of my favorite candies in the world, by the way.

Observation 3: With sugar, the taste is reminiscent of caramel.

Observation 4: Milk alone drastically detracts from the flavor of this rooibos.

Observation 5: Yummy with milk and sugar! Tastes the way I imagine Hot Buttered Rum or butterbeer to taste!

Overall: A pleasant rooibos, considering it was the 2nd rooibos I had ever had. I am impressed that my impression of this rooibos has not wavered much as my exposure to different types of teas and tisanes has continued to progress. I have noticed consistenly with Lupicia that my opinion of their blends only tend to increase over time as my palate is refined and I taste higher quality samples. Kudos to Lupicia for being friendly to the most novice and the more experienced!

Update: After reading people’s reviews and consulting fellow steepsters, I am pretty sure that this tea had somehow gone rancid. Absolutely horrid. As I complained about it at our last tasting, HistoryLaced dumped it in the trash. I cleaned the jar several times and the top still smells like this tea. Absolutely horrible!

Backlogging: circa 2 months ago. I had nice detailed reviews written out and misplaced them in the boyfriends room! This was before the introduction of a tea journal unfortunately. :S

A sample I received from ZenTea months ago, this was my very first Earl Grey and in retrospect was the best earl grey I have had! The bergamot and citrus are so strong and delicious, with cream and sugar this made the perfect morning blend! The leaves are beautiful and high quality, I have seldom seen a broken leaf from a ZenTea blend. They also resteep very very well- I think I steeped the same bit of this tea 4 times over the course of 3 days, keeping chilled in-between steepings.

I want more more more! I will be buying this tea when I get the chance to do so!

I searched my tea-bag (a medium sized paper department store bag that I’ve filled to the brim with loose leaf tea) to see what rooibos I had left that I hadn’t had in the last few days while convalescing. Tonight I am finishing the last bit of this tea I have with buttered rum seasonings. Yum!

The seasonings really do this delicious rum flavored rooibos justice! My only regret is these painkillers prevent me from adding cinnamon flavored 24K gold schnapps, which would really bring out the warm-and-fuzzies of this tea.

HistoryLaced gave me more tea at our tasting, particularly several packets of oolong (she just hasn’t found one she likes yet. I think my muscat oolong might be of some persuasion to her.) which required me to wash out the preserve (tiny mason jar) container that had that rancid Teavana Ayurvedic chai in it. I bought all these tiny mason jars to lock in my tea flavors, what I didnt expect was the lid to absorb the scent of that rancid tea so much that dousing it in rubbing alcohol did absolutely nothing! Well luckily, those lids come about a dime a dozen- I’ll just replace it. Seriously though, first experience with Teavana and it’s horrifying. :S

Now that I am drinking the last pot of this tea I have, I must ask myself: is this a tea to restock? I think as a cool weather drink, yes it is delicious and I love it; it’s definitely a blend that screams “Comfy!!!” but this is southern California. The weather is beginning to warm up, our rainy season seldom lasts a few weeks and school starts the first week of February. I think “comfy” may be going out of season.

Hopefully I will see this blend in-store next fall/winter right in time for another cool winter break spent indoors with my sweetie. :)

For now though, I think it’s time to stock something bold, spicy and packed with caffeine!

P.S.: I am feeling tons better and can’t wait to be 100% again! I only needed one painkiller at all today. Go me!

Had this earlier this afternoon. Just cuz I have to avoid caffeine doesnt mean I don’t like nice things!

Bought this tea over christmas and are tasting it again for the 3rd time. I am backlogging my initial tasting notes as well.

Observation 1: My boyfriend prepared this tea. It was steeped at boiling for 5 minutes as instructed. The liquor is a pretty rooibos red and I can smell a very sweet woodsy rooibos base.

Observation 2: Naked, this tea has a very smooth orange flavor reminiscent of dark chocolate orange candies. I am reminded of a citrus liquer like lemoncello and orange zest moreso than orange itself. I also notice a bridging flavor between the rooibos and orange that reminds me of olive oil perhaps? Either way it is a wonderful addition and blends these two flavores seamlessly.

Observation 3: With sugar, I am reminded of orange liquer and orange spice candies. Very delicious.

Observation 4: I chose not to add milk or cream for fear of the dairy taste being ridiculously overpowering.

Overall: My favorite rooibos yet, I think. I would love to try this mixed with a chocolate blend, I’ve not had a chocolate rooibos, but it might bode well with a chocolate black tea or something of the sort. Once my antibiotics are over and I can have caffeine again, I shall expeirment!

Boyfriend remarks: Uh… it’s good. I’m running out of stuff to write without more words.
Addendum: Tastes like Orangesickle, I guess. * pointless nervous chuckle *