Lady 0f Spaydes

Thank you to oOTeaOo for sending me this tea in our christmas swap!!!

Observation 1:My first honeybush! The boyfriend prepared this tea, he steeped it at boiling for 5 minutes. This liquuor steeps a pretty amber color. Was steeped loose in the teapot.

Observation 2: Naked, this tea has sweet notes with a prominent apple taste. Beneath that I can taste what I assume is the honeybush base followed by a light aftertaste of caramel.

Observation 3: With sugar to taste, I can mainly taste caramel, the bright apple flavor seems to get thrown to the background under sugar. The honeybush base is still prominently. best preparation for me

Observation 4: With milk, the honeybush runs the show with just a few drops of milk. Apple lingers above the flavors of the base.

Observation 5: With milk and sugar the honey bush and caramel are definitely prominent. I taste nuances indicative of apple.

Overall: I enjoyed this honeybush, I don’t think it will take precedence over rooibos for me, but it is very good and drawn my attention to 52Teas. I think the balance of the flavors needs to be adjusted a bit. It tastes like caramel and tastes like apple, but not at the same time. I would add more apple and maybe something nutty. Caramel apples are often covered in nuts and I think it would have been a nice touch.

Boyfriend review: Needs sugar, but very good with it.

Backlogging:

Thanks History Laced for letting me try this tea with you in another wonderful tea tasting.

I tried this tea 1/9/13. I have a little journal that I make tasting notes in and try to put one in every time I remember to do so. I have been in bed all day and finally mustered the strength to get up and grab my journal. I am unsure as to whether this is a sample or something that she ordered online. At this tasting, this was the only tea my boyfriend got to brew before having to leave and handle school matters and consequently the only boyfriend review. Sorry everyone!

Observation 1: My boyfriend prepared this tea, steeping at boiling for 6 minutes. The dry leaves have plum and peach notes with a small hint of floral-ness.

Observation 2: Naked this tea is a bit astringent, but I suspect the kettle was too hot. This tastes sweet and vegetal with jasmine and rose as an afterthought and the black tea base dominating on the palate.

Observation 3: With raw sugar, I am reminded of perfume. The rose water dominates this blend once sweetened. The bitterness of the green tea is more noticeable.

Observation 4: I did not try this with milk or creme due to the green tea in its base, I am not fond of green tea with milk.

Observation 5: After a little while of mulling over this blend, I suffered a perfume headache.

Overall,I just seem to not like black/green blends. It is very hard to steep at the right temperature and requires too much experimentation just to be palatable for me. I think this would be an excellent green tea or an excellent black tea, but not at the same time.

Boyfriend remarks: Tastes like a flowertastic flowerific explosion! wiggles hands wildly

Feeling like crap. Nauseous from vicodin. I’m drinking this and watching hamlet.

Sipping this while watching Louis C.K.‘s tv sitcom Louie. I love this show so much, its all awkward and I love Louis CK’s sense of humor. I’m watching this as my boyfriend makes a batch of muscato iced tea.

This is my favorite Jasmine tea, it packs such a lovely explosion of jasmine with a yummy vegetal green tea undertone. One of my favorites with and without sugar. One of the bags exploded, but that has never happened before, I think the water may have been a bit too hot and caused the teabag to break up.

Ran around working at a convention all weekend and this stayed in my cup! I ended up drinking it iced because I had a metal thermos and couldn’t warm it, but yum! It tastes soooo good iced, like grape drink mixes but better! I think this is my favorite tea yet!

This is my first EVER teavana tea from my first EVER swap from oOTeaOo!!! First swap note. Yay! Thank you for giving me all these neat teas I can’t wait to try!

Observation 1: I prepared this tea myself. This tea was steep at 150 degrees F for 2 minutes as instructed. The blend is very pretty and smells a lot like cinnamon. The liquor is a deep amber color and also smells of nothing but cinnamon.

Observation 2: Naked, I taste the cinnamonn and white tea. It is very spicy and clean tasting. I suspect I should steep slightly longer than instructed or perhaps add more tea.

Observation 3: With sugar, this tea is very light. Somehow, the sugar seems to detract from the spice. I cannot taste any of the green tea; still just white tea and cinnamon.

Observation 4: With milk, I don’t even knnow how to tastefully describe this. Its gross. It tastes like milk aand something funky… like blue cheese maybe?

Observation 5: With milk and sugar: Just don’t do it. Trust me. I thought my milk was stale, I went to the fridge to investigat and my milk doesn’t expire for 10 more days.

I resteeped this later in the afternoon. It cam out very light. The cinnamon scent was still very prominent, but the taste wasn’t. It now has an after-tase reminiscent of spoiled milk..

Overall, blegh. I never say that about a tea, not even that horrid raspberry herbal of doom deserved a “blegh.” Will not buy and do not want to drink. Shame to see a tea go to waste.

Boyfriend review: Interesting combination…

Another tea I had with History Laced, either one of her Christmas swap or that she ordered herself, my memory fails me. I love these little tea tastings, I always end up taking home something new.

Observation 1: My lovely boyfriend prepared the tea for us. The tea was prepared as instructed at 93 degrees Celsius for 4 minutes. Leaves were placed loose in the teapot.

Observation 2: Naked, this tea is very sweet. There is a chocolatey taste with lots of icing.

Observation 3: With sugar, the flavor is very artificially cake-like, more like the dye on sprinkles than actual cake. I can taste the black tea base very strong and clear.

Observation 4: With milk the taste is akin to cream cheese.

Observation 5: with milk and sugar it tastes the closest to red velvet cake; not only am I tasting the chocolate cake, but also the cream cheese icing flavor. This tea clearly tastes the way it was intended.

Overall: A very fun blend for tea tastings. I am not a fan, but this tea was a decent representation of a red velvet cake. History Laced even noted there were sprinkles in the tea blend. :P I am not a big sweet eater and over the course of recent years cream cheese icing has made itself the bane of my existence; so I think that I would drink this tea on very rare occasions in very small doses. I seem to be having bad luck with David Teas, maybe because they use artificial flavoring that throws off the experience on my palate? I am not seeming to be a fan of Davids Teas. Such a shame; I want to like them.

Boyfriend Remarks: With milk and sugar, tastes like cake.

^^ He REALLY likes cake. I think he would dump me for a cake my size. (After reading this, he replied: “I would not dump you for a cake your size; it would go bad.”)

Listening to: Amanda Palmer- Astronaut (A Short History of Nearly Nothing)

Had another tea tasting with History Laced and this was something she ordered online.

Observation 1: My boyfriend prepared this tea for me. This tea was steeped in boiling water loose for 5 minutes. The blend has an aroma that reminds me greatly of cinnamon.

Observation 2: Naked, this tea tastes just like cinnamon with a hint of sweetness.

Observation 3: Skimpily clad (with sugar) This tea gets very sweet and the cinnamon seems to stand out more. I don’t taste any marshmallow.

Observation 4: Robed (with milk) alot is taken away from the taste.

Observation 5: Fully dressed (with sugar and milk) the taste is again detracted from, but I get a better sense of where they were trying to get the marshmallow flavor from.

Overall: I don’t taste any marshmallow, but I imagine marshmallow is difficult to replicate. For what it is, I think its a very weakly flavored cinnamon tea for my preferences. If I’m looking for a cinnamon tea, I would go for Cinnamon Vanilla by Stash Teas instead.

Boyfriend remarks: It was okay; nothing to write home about.

Listening to : Regina Spektor- Ne Me Quitte Pas

I remember Lindsay Gaardens teas from my childhood! The boyfriend and I found this at the dollar store and it sounded interesting, so we had to get it!

Observation 1: Packaging is blagh. Inside the box is this thin plastic with perforations on one edge for easy oppening. The tea bags are square and flat, with two attached to each other and no string, making them useless (lets face it, no string =useless). I made the tea. Yes, I MADE TEA. Boyfriend was mowing the lawn. >.> I took boiling water, cut the bags open and put them in myinfuser and steeped for 5 minutes as instructed. This tea is super fine, dusty almost.

Observation 2: Naked, this tea steeps a murky brown. The particles are so fine that there were little bits in the bottom of my teacup. I taste black tea and citrus and the fragrance is primarily black tea and a hint of coconut. This tea is a bit bitter. Maybe the water was too hot???

Observation 3: With sugar (scantilly clad): I only taste black tea. There’s no real outstanding tropical notes.

Observation 4: With milk (robed): Tastes like bitter black tea.

Observation 5: With milk and sugar (fully dressed): I taste very little coconut. Best taste for this tea yet.

Overall: its the instant coffee of tea, what can I say? I ended up finishing the pot by drowning it in sugar. Its a low grade black tea, but it did bring a lot of memories for me. After all the teas I’ve been enjoying, I’m sad that this was a chore to finish. But c’est la vie. By the way, no boyfriend review this time. He really was mowing the lawn and now he’s in the shower.

No notes yet.

Listening to: Crass- Bloody Revolutions

So I had this tea again today, aboout a week since my initial tasting. It is a tea I went halfsies on with History Laced, but she didn’t like it and gave me the entire packet.

It was prepared by my boyfriend again. This time we were at home, so we used an infuser. He also let the kettle cool a few minutes before steeping as usual.

Wow! What a big difference. I think the water was too hot during our initial test, which made the tea a bit astringent. This time it was very smooth with fruity and floral at the same time, I am in love. I’m not sure quite what I think about it as an oolong yet; I am still learning about oolongs, but definitely a very yummy tea. I will definitely be buying this again, but I have a good 50 g of it to myself so it may be a while! <3

Listening to: Crass- Banned From the Roxy

It’s one of those nights. Apparently I more than woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I kind of woke up nearly glued to the wall. So its been a blargh day. I have tried this tea twice so far, this first post will be my detailed review from the other day and then I will post another on my thoughts on this tea today. :)

Observation 1:
The boyfriend made the tea. He steeped loose leaves for 2 minutes in boiling water. The liquor is a very bright yellow and there is a fruity scent about the tea.
Observation 2:
Tea without additives: The tea has a very clean bright taste. Not like any other oolong I have tried thus far.
Observation 3:
Tea with sugar to taste: Its kind of nutty and fruity. This tea is very easy to sweeten. I am reminded of fruitcake.
Observation 4: I hate fruitcake.
Observation 5: Considering the delicateness of this blend, I decided that milk was absolutely out of the question.

Overall, a very bright fruity tasting tea that I would like to try as an iced tea, I think it would really shine in that spotlight.

Boyfriend remarks:
“Blardablarg.”

Before I get into my tasting notes, I would like to thank my good friend History Laced for going halfsies on tea with me! This is my first puer. It was a freebie given to us for making a purchase over $30 at the Lupicia tea store near us. I also want to publicly thank her for very cool journal she bought me for Christmas to write my tea notes in; I never get anything for Christmas, so I am super giddy about this. :D

Observation 1: As usual, I am at the kitchen table gossiping shamelessly as my boyfriend prepares the tea. He steeped the tea for 2 minutes in boiling water. The tea was not placed in an infuser, we used a tea strainer instead. It is a very pretty deep amber liquor.

Observation 2: The tea straight is very light flavor that I am assuming is the puer with the merest hints of a strawberry aftertaste. I do not taste any of the black tea in this blend, nor do I taste any chocolate.

Observation 3: With sugar to taste, I now begin to notice chocolate notes in the forefront. To me, it tastes as though I just had a cup of chocolate milk and followed it with a cup of strawberry milk.

Observation 4: With milk only, the chocolate and strawberry flavors are very muted; I only taste what I my brain is logically deducing as the puer.

Observation 5: With milk and sugar, there is a very light taste of chocolate with a much stronger strawberry presence. It is very smooth with no bitterness detected.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience. A fan of boisterous flavors, I am not sure whether or not the delicate notes of a puer is really my cup of tea. Next, I think I would like to try a puer without any extra bells and whistles and really figure out what puer itself tastes like. There’s still so much to learn and try and with my handy dandy journal, I should be belting these out like rapid fire, that is unless I end up turning it into a rant-book like I do every other miscellaneous scrap of paper that accidentally crosses my path. :)

Boyfriend review: Goes good with milk and sugar, it is very light otherwise.

WARNING: another non-detailed review.

This is becoming a late night favorite in the small but growing world of herbal teas that I like. Get some scones, butter em up and add some jam, we’ll see how it goes. :D

Tried to resteep a rose tea that I fogot to store properly. FAIL! Not wanting to waste perfectly good water I threw in what was left of my Bossa Nova Zen Tea sample and Oh My God everytime I drink this tea it is so delicious. I am an oolong fan for life. Its so nutty and vanillaliscious! Some might be wondering why this isn’t a technical review, well a few reasons:

1. I wrote one already and it’s at my boyfriend’s waiting to be posted, bf review and all!
2. It was a spur of the moment and I am just enjoying this the way I like it, no scientific tasting today!
3. Its finals week next week and I am giving my boyfriend the week to cram so I wouldnt/couldn’t pick up my notes if I wanted to.

Im sitting here on my mom’s laptop trying to get into the zone to work on my novel and failing. I try to make a bit of ambiance by listening to a Pandora station I made inspired by Portishead but the obnoxiously loud television my dad is watching and the noise my brothers are making (they make music blargh!) manage to only foster an ambiance of environmental schizophrenia. Im also out of cigarettes and trying to keep it that way. Soooo I’m not in the greatest mood, but I will aim to be unbiased.

Observation 1: More borrowed tea. I am drinking this because I have a little tasting party to attend with my good friend and boyfriend on Saturday and I wan’t to not devour my tea samples and whats left of what I bought from Jupicia (50 grams does not go a long way… its like 3 or 4 days of tea; still cheaper than buying a pack of cigarettes every other day) so that I can bring them with me.

Observation 2: I did not notice a scent at all when I opened the package. I frowned a bit, I wanted a tea not an herbal, but you know the whole beggars and choosers… It was individually wrapped so yay freshness!

Observation 3: I steeped 2 teabags for 6 minutes in a 32oz teapot. The color is very pretty, a deep red orange, the kind of colors that make me long for the color changes of leaves that we don’t experience here in California. There is a heavy sweet scent with a light hint of raspberry. I wish there were more raspberry aroma.

Observation 4: I tried it first with sugar. There is an explosion of raspberry and then an aftertaste that I cannot describe as anything other than sucralose. That has always been a nuisance to me concerning fruity teas. I don’t know if it is something they put in them or what, but there’s always an artificial sugar aftertaste.

Observation 5: I tried it again without sugar. It tastes like not-quite-ripe raspberries; it is mildly tangy.

Overall, it’s not my cup of tea, but I am making due with what I’ve got. I have never been the biggest fan of fruity blends myself, but it tastes pretty standard. I probably would purchase this for tiny guests to have something to drink that isn’t a soda, but I doubt I would drink this again myself (unless I run out of tea again. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen).

No notes yet.

Observation 1: The tea is individually wrapped. Yay freshness!

Observation 2: My boyfriend made the tea, not I, so I have no notes on the uncooked tea. To my knowledge, 2 bags were steep for 3 minutes in a 32oz tea pot with boiling water.

Observation 3: Once steeped, the tea has a very spicy pear scent and is a clear deep tawny solution.

Observation 4: My first cup of tea was with sugar. There is a very spicy pear flavor and the tea tastes very bright. It definitely perks me up at first sip.My second cup was without sugar. Alone the tea is very spicy and the pear is very subtle. This tea is all about the ginger.

Overall: I love this tea. Its ginger and pear and a great morning pick-me-up. I will be repurchasing this tea.

boyfriend review:
“I liked it. I put too much sugar but that was fixed with more tea creepy giggle”

It’s GINGER AND PEAR in a WHITE TEA!!!! What more could you ask?! :D

Seriously, I’ll post a thorough review when I make my next pot of this tea. I will be buying this tea again soon, I am running out.

Observation 1: The tea is individually wrapped. Yay freshness!

Observation 2: I did not brew it, my boyfriend did. I did not get to check for initial aroma. To my knowledge, 2 tea bags were brewed in a 32 oz Amsterdam teapot for at least 3 minutes, resulting in a clear tawny solution.

Observation 3: Post brewing. I was greeted with the gentlest sweetest jasmine aroma I have crossed paths with in a very long time. Like the old friend and guardian of the evening I used to smell on nights when I could not sleep, I felt myself smile and immediately relax.

Observation 4: My first cup I prepared my favorite way, with “Irish” cream and sugar and the tea did not stand out very well with the cream (I am noticing that green teas do not stand well against whiskey). Still yummy and sweet, I enjoyed my cup. My second cup of tea, I only added sugar and was presented with a very smooth and moderately intense green tea flavor with not much jasmine taste detectable. My third cup was tea without sugar or cream. There was the smooth green tea taste I mentioned before along with a much stronger jasmine presence.

Overall: What a delightful green tea! I would not drink this tea if I desired a jasmine tea, but as far as green tea is concerned I daresay it is one of the most agreeable green teas I have had.

Boyfriend’s remarks
“I thought that it was a little too much green tea, but not enough jasmine for my taste. I would have liked for it to have a bit more jasmine taste.”

1st observation: I drank the very last of my jasmine tea and really wanted tea so I asked my aunt for tea. She gave me 2 bags of Ambiance’s orange jasmine green tea and 2 bags of Ambiance’s caffeine free raspberry tea. I was craving jasmine so I gave the jasmine tea a shot. After all, beggars cannot be choosers.

2nd observation: The packaging is aluminum and individually wrapped, so yay freshness! Upon opening, I was greeted with a very interesting scent, the tang of citrus along with the sweet scent of jasmine lightly intertwined. My first scent-sation was that of dread. It did not smell nice.

3rd observation: I steeped the tea in a teapot, 32 oz with 2 tea bags for 3 minutes. After steeping, the tea was a clear amber color and smelled only of jasmine.

4th observation: Still apprehensive, I added cream and sugar. My first taste impression was that of both releif and dissapointment. It tastes just like any standard run-of-the-mill jasmine tea. I was hoping for something to blow my mind. It did have a tangy aftertaste that reminds me of orange zest.

5th observation: I cleared my palette and tasted the tea again without sugar or cream. It tastes like a bitter jasmine tea and I will not be drinking this without cream and/or sugar at all.

Overall: I was hoping for something a bit interesting and ended up with a fairly plain yet drinkable tea. If I want a jasmine green tea, I think I’ll find a better blend.

No notes yet.

I like the taste and this tea does relax me and help falling asleep, but I keep having these horrible nightmares when I go to bed at night and nap in the afternoon. I’ve had this tea 3 days in a row, steeping two bags in my 32 oz teapot for about 3 minutes and everytime I go to sleep I’m dreaming of the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. Does anyone else respond like this? And if so do you know what is causing it?