Jaime

Spent my afternoon/early evening at Cuppa (yes, girls, your tea samplers are ordered; I can pick them up Monday!). They’ve got a new tea latte: Blue Moon.

Blueberry Cheesecake, milk, and white chocolate syrup.

This may be why they invented the word “nom”.

Happy Friday Eve!!

Decupboarding this today!! Yay!!

I love, love, love this. Meghann sent it my way, and it’s now taking up residence in my work stash. Where, to be honest, it’s not going to last long.

Found a bag of this lingering in my work stash. Finishing it off…it’s pretty darn good for being as old as it is!

So, basically, if a tea has something like “champagne” or “whiskey” in the name, I’m going to buy it, if for no other reason than I can drink it at work and pretend it’s a lovely cocktail or glass of wine. Buttered Rum? Of course I’m gonna try it!

The smell is fantastic. I was basically huffing the stuff as Chloe was working her tea magic. The taste: rich black tea, with creamy butter, the barest hint of coconut, and rum. Rummy-rum rum. I’m drinking this first cup straight, and will be adding the recommended milk/sugar to the next.

I have plans for this tea, yes I do: the morning of the first snow day (yes, I get snow days: let the envy start), I’m going to brew a big pot o’ this up, spike liberally with rum, sit in front of the window, and simply gaze at the fallen snow.

I got the Plum District deal for Sanctuary T, and used it to get a lot of teasers! This is one that I’ve been interested in for a bit…I’m currently having a mild obsession with different breakfast blends. English, Irish, Scottish, French, New England…I’ve been browsing all kinds of them at various online shops (it’s a miracle I haven’t ordered them all). So, when I was perusing the Sanctuary T site plotting what to get, and saw Soho Breakfast, I couldn’t pass it up.

It’s a good, solid, robust blend. It’s got a creamy, hearty mouthfeel, and I can taste notes of bakiness (is that a real word?), and something almost like vanilla, but kind of citrusy as well. It’s definitely a good first cup o’ the morning. I think that next time, though, I’ll brew at 5 minutes to see what happens. I have a feeling that this would be even better if it were stronger.

So, how do you order from David’s Tea and not get the one named “Oh, Canada”? I didn’t know how, so of course it goes in my cart.

I’m actually a fan of rooibos blends (okay, I’ll admit, I’m a fan of just about anything that you steep in hot water and drink), so I was really excited to try this one. I’m always on the lookout for rooibos/honeybush/herbal blends that are awesome.

So, the scent of this tea has me nervous. Want to know what it smells like? Do you have a bottle of real maple syrup handy? Open it and sniff. That is what this tea smells like. Exactly what this tea smells like. Sweet, maply syrup. It smells so overwhelmingly sweet that I was very concerned about the first sip…

But I shouldn’t have been!! Yes, it tastes like maple syrup, but it’s not syrupy-sweet. In fact, it’s got a bitter-burnt-bakey edge to it that makes me think of pancakes flavored with maple syrup. Oh, Canada…you are a fine tea indeed.

ETA: Second steep is a bit weaker than the first, but by no means has it diminished in flavor. In fact, it might be better.

Another good mail day! My Octavia samples order came (with 4 samples tucked in that I hadn’t ordered!), a wonderful-smelling package from Geoffrey arrived (my whole mailbox smelled like Lapsang Souchong…yum!!), and I got the marshmallow flavoring that I’d ordered ages ago! Having fun stuff in my mailbox has definitely helped me keep my sanity this week!

I have finally gotten around to trying out the sample of this that amandajo sent to me. Love the smell of this honeybush blend! All chocolate and malty…and the taste!! This tea is the one you want to use when trying to convert non-tea drinkers into the fold. Who needs hot chocolate? Oh, nom, nom, nom…

I’ve had two or three cups of this this afternoon…trying to stay calm in spite of all that is going on around me. This tea is perfect for that, though my day is still throwing things at me left and right. Is it naptime yet?

And another tea out of the cupboard!

No notes yet.

I’ve been drinking this one a lot here lately…it’s bright but subtle, and a nice waking-up tea.

Yes, I realize it’s a bit late for a Halloween tea. But really, the zombie apocalypse could happen at anytime. Best to be prepared: keep your cricket bat next to the door and have plenty of tea on hand.

This is a wonderfully sweet green tea blend. The base tea is not drowned out by the apricot or the caramel, though both are fairly strong. Apricot and caramel are two flavors I’d never think to pair (apricot and dark chocolate, yes, and caramel with apples, of course), but it works very, very well. The scent is nearly completely caramel, but the sip balances out and all the flavors can be tasted. Very rich, thick, and creamy mouthfeel. Yum!

Let the zombies come. I’m ready.

Just made my first 52teas order of the month. Whiskey sour tea? This Kentucky girl couldn’t say no to that!

This is another sample from Meghann (it’d kind of be nice if we could actually tag people in these posts) that I’m having in celebration of the new TOTW. I admit, I’m not getting “pie” out of this one. Then again, I’ve never had coconut cream pie. This is, however, very coconutty, and has a creamy quality to it. Black tea base is yummy as always. I’m glad it’s part of the permanent collection…it’s one that I’ll probably invest in in the future.

This getting dark earlier really messes with my internal clock. For about the next two weeks, I’ll be completely sloth-like and will only want to curl up and hibernate at the first hint of darkness in the evenings. Then I’ll get over it, and will resume a regular sleep schedule (hopefully with no insomnia spells). So I’m going to have a big pot of this to soothe me to sleep tonight…it’s definitely perfect for that.

Second steep of leaves not as good, sadly. Still there, but not as strong and flavorful. Have a feeling this one won’t be lasting long in my house.

In my early days on Steepster, I’d browse the teas to see what was out there. I found this, and fell in love with the name. This was before I’d ever even had a green rooibos blend, and it went on my Shopping List.

It’s now in my Cupboard.

The smell is fantastic: all green rooibos and fruity/tangy. Taste is green rooibos with tropical fruits, and just a smidgen of sweetness from the candy sprinkles. Absolutely fantastic!! I’m enjoying it hot right now (it’s 54 F outside, ain’t no way I’m drinking anything cold!), but can easily see myself drinking pitchers of this in the summer. I know it was one of their Summer 2010 teas…will it be back, or do I need to invest in more now?

So, yesterday I got tea packages from Meghann and seykayay.

Today I picked up my order from David’s Tea at the post office, then got home to find my order from Sanctuary T in my mailbox.

So far, it’s been a really good mail week!

You might be asking why I’m having this and not one of my brand new teas. Well, the answer is two-fold: after this pot, I’ve got two bags left until I can decupboard it. And, well…I’ve no idea which of my new teas to start with. Really, absolutely no clue. All I know is that my real-life cupboard is needing rearranging/expanding. Especially since I know of 2 more tea orders that should be working their way towards me…

Down to my last bag of this one! It’s an okay blend, but I doubt I’d purchase again unless I had a Fourth of July party…even then, I’d probably be the only one drinking it (my friends aren’t terribly into tea).

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

Recently, I’ve become a fan of chais, after avoiding them for years. I used to go without tea if all that was available was a chai blend. Meghann sent me a sample of Frank’s Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Chai a while back, and I’ve pretty much been trying every chai since (though I really, really like the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Chai and think a decaf version would be awesome…).

Meghann tucked a sample of this into my box for me to try. Since I’m fairly certain I’ll be placing a 52teas order this week, I wanted to try it out to see if I needed a pouch for myself.

And I do. The spices are front and center, but are by no means overpowering. The vanilla adds a smoothness to the blend, and the apple a crispness. And I can still taste the white tea base. It’s both festive and soothing…gently waking me up (or is it lulling me back to sleep?). Yes, a pouch (or two) of this must be mine. Thanks, Meghann: best box of tea ever!

Another tea out of my box from Meghann. (You’re going to see lots of notes start out like that for a bit!)

Smell of the dry leaf: Dr. Pepper. Now, you may not think that’s a bad thing, but to someone who really, really doesn’t like Dr. Pepper…and the brewed cup smells kind of like Dr. Pepper, too.

Thankfully, it doesn’t taste like Dr. Pepper. More like a really, really strong black tea, with a syrupy cherry flavor. Not sure it’s going to be my cup o’ tea (hehe…I’m so funny at 4:30 in the morning!), but will play around with time/temp and see what comes of it.

And is anyone else stalking 52teas’ website to find out what this awesomeness that Frank alluded to is going to be? Or is it just me?

Meghann sent me the best box of tea ever today!! I can’t believe how much was tucked into it, and I could barely decide what to try first (and, yes, I did the happy, new tea dance whilst I was opening and going through the box). Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Finally decided on this one to have first. It’s my first Adagio (that I can remember having, at least), and it’s decaf. I’ve never had a blend with chamomile and rooibos before, either, so this is an extra-special treat.

Normally I brew chamomiles for 5 minutes, and rooibos blends for 10. So we’re going to go with 5 to start, and take it from there. I also completely ignored the “2 tsps to 8 oz water” instructions on the pack and went with just 1 heaping tsp.

Love the smell…all chamomile and mint. I don’t taste much of the rooibos, but there’s this hint of it at the very beginning and very end of the sip, and I think it gives this tea a robustness that it would lack otherwise. Taste is very similar to Celestial Seasoning’s Vanilla Sleepytime tea, though this one is much stronger on the mint. I think that this could become really overpoweringly minty if steeped for much longer than 5 minutes. As it is, my tongue is tingling rather nicely, and I can feel it warming me up from the inside out. This one will be great for those icky winter nights when you want something warm and soothing. Love it!!