Jaime

Another sample from Rachel! Such a fantastic box of samples!!

This one is sweet and creamy. Definitely a great tea to cuddle up with on a chilly morning!

With Thanksgiving weekend coming to a close, the Christmas season can officially commence. Rachel sent me some of this to try (thank you!!!).

I’m not sure it says “Christmas” to me. There’s a hint of spice, but nothing that you’d be able to point at and say “this is xx spice”. The white tea is nice, and there’s also notes of vanilla and almond. And the chamomile is there as well…but its kind of unsure of its role in the blend. Its okay, but it’s not really anything to write home about. And it certainly doesn’t live up to its name.

When Meghann posted about this tea a while back, I knew I had to try it. On my next visit to Cuppa, I mentioned it to the owner. Lisa ordered some, and it came with her most recent delivery. I was going to buy an ounce, since I like playing with the steeping parameters on puerhs, but then I smelled it. I got two ounces, because I know this is going to be grand once I find that magical time/temp combination.

Seriously, this is one of those teas that has to be sniffed to be believed. Smells awesome dry, and the scent of the brewed cup is just as good. It smells like something baking…chocolate and coconut and sweet. No hint of that rather distinct puerh scent.

Still need to work on getting the time/temp right. This cup seems a bit watered down to me. Very sweet, and coconut is in the fore. The cacao is more in the background and aftertaste, and I’m not really getting any puerh taste. Will steep for 5 minutes next time around…not sure if I’ll resteep these leaves or not. But I can tell from this cup that it really is going to be mind-blowing once I find the time/temp that’s just right! For now, I’ll give it an 80…but that very well may change.

Another sample from Rachel!! Yet another one of Frank’s blends that I missed the first time around.

It tastes just like the blueberry filling that’s in danishes. The cream cheese flavor is really prominent when I add milk…and I found that I actually prefer this one with milk! It’s decadent and full-bodied, definitely a special morning treat. This is another one that should be made permanent so that I don’t have to be without it…especially since the entire pot is now in my belly.

Oh, and Frank…any chance a peanut butter fudge tea could be in the works? Maybe with a honeybush base?

Rachel sent this to me (can you tell which swap box I grabbed when I left town?). I still can’t believe how many of Frank’s great blends I missed before I found out about 52teas!

Okay, let’s just get this out in the open: eggnog is disgusting. Disgusting. Regardless of the amount of liquor that you put in one, it’s gross. I mean, seriously, who drinks raw eggs? But nutmeg, cinnamon, and rooibos are so very intriguing…

Thank heavens this doesn’t taste like eggnog. Instead, it’s a cinnamony, spiced rooibos that’s creamy and not too woodsy. I do think that it’d be good with a bit of milk, but I’m really enjoying it like this and am afraid the milk might ruin the cup.

Okay, I sucked it up and added some milk. It’s very nice this way, more eggnog-like, but not to the point of yuck.

Thanks, Rachel, for sending this my way! I really like it and am a little sad that this is my only pot. Yummy!!

Rachel sent me a pot’s worth of this. Thanks, darling! I’ve been wanting to try it for a while now. I’m always looking for new Earl blends to try, and cheesecake? Anything with cheesecake is better (just found a recipe for red velvet cheesecake…that’s definitely going to be made soon!).

This is definitely a great Earl blend. Smooth, creamy, strong on the bergamot. Yum!!

LiberTEAS sent me this sample a while ago…I can’t believe I’m just now trying it! This is fantastic. The mate is almost hidden by the spices, but the spices are well-balanced and not overpowering at all. I’m very impressed; this is definitely the best yerba mate that I’ve had yet!

Thanks so much, LiberTEAS, for sending me this to try. I love it!!

Ah, the day after Thanksgiving. If ever there was a day to try this tea, this is it. Especially since Round 2 is tonight.

I can taste the vanilla and cream mainly here, along with the oolong. The chai spices are there but seem to be more background notes, though there’s one that I can’t identify that’s trying to take over the entire show.

Overall, it’s pretty good, but somehow I doubt this one little pot is going to undo the pecan pie from yesterday!

I love Dr. Who, and was so excited to try this tea. Rachel sent me some! Thank you so much!

I can’t help but think our favorite Time Lord would not approve. I taste no pomegranate, nor tangerine. I taste tea and bitter citrus pith.

I can’t help but think that the Daleks would have only one word to say to this tea: Exterminate!!

No notes yet.

I’ve already been kicked out of the kitchen. Can’t say that my feelings are hurt. I’ll just have to sneak in the kitchen from the other side to make more tea.

The lovely Rachel sent me some of this blend. The smell is fantastic. I love the taste as well: smooth vanilla with the spiced apple chai. This is definitely great for a fall morning (though the current temperature is anything but fall-like). I think this would be good steeped for longer as well without harm.

It’s about 6 am, and I’ve been awake for over an hour. No, I’m not carefully stuffing a turkey for our Thanksgiving meal (I’ll frost the cake later today, but that’s probably as far as my contributions to the meal will go). I simply lack the ability to sleep in when I’m allowed to sleep in.

So, as quietly as I could in my parents’ sleep-filled house, I rummaged through my bag o’ tea to make my morning cuppa. This is one of the new teas that Cuppa started carrying, and rather than just having a cup there to try it, I went ahead and got an ounce.

Brewed up, it smells of tea and honeysuckle and earth. Taste is actually much, much weaker than the color suggests (it’s a dark amber). It’s very sweet, as though honey has been poured liberally into it. And really, that’s kinda all I’m tasting. There’s a slight tea taste, as though it were trying to over come the honey. Next time around, we’ll try a 5 minute steep. I’ll hold off on rating it until then.

So I tried to make a tea soda out of this. I failed.

To make things better, I brewed up the last bags into a pot of hot tea. And am trying to come to terms with the fact that all I’m really capable of making tea-wise is a pot of hot neat tea, and iced sweet tea. The second of which I don’t even like and only make for my mother. My lattes are sad, and my other experiments just leave me empty inside.

Oh, well. I still love my tea hot and neat.

Oh, my beloved Raspberry & Vanilla, how it pains me to see you go. You are so fantastic and wonderful. Until my next Jungle Jim’s excursion, I shall miss you…but I shall enjoy my cupboard space.

Slight backlog…brewed up a big pot of this before starting my Thanksgiving contribution: Chocolate Blackberry Spice cake. It’s now in the oven, and I’ll frost it in the morning. Here’s hoping it turns out well!

And now, my teapot is empty and I have to clean the kitchen. ^sigh

Am finally decupboarding this. It’s definitely nothing to gush about, and this final cup has a strange ginger taste to it. Hate to say it, but I’m kinda glad to see it go.

Ah, my lovely sour friend. I am so sad that this is goodbye. So, so sad. And you’re now lost to me forever…

A perfect tea for a lazy, starting-the-long-weekend morning. And my David’s order came yesterday, so I’ve got a big tin full to keep me warm!

Making a to-go cup for the drive home…and decupboarding at the same time. Hopefully this will help me to wake up and not be sleepy on the drive!!

Ladies and Gents, being a lunch lady ain’t easy sometimes. We had the annual Thanksgiving bash at one of my schools today, and while it went surprisingly well, it’s always a crazy-busy-happy day that leaves you wanting to sit back and have a beer.

So, instead, I went to Cuppa and grabbed a chocolate strawberry latte with extra chocolate on my way back to the main office. Now to finish up this paperwork and start a long weekend!!

Backlog from this morning…had this on my way in to work today. Decupboarding!

seykayay sent me some of this tea. I didn’t realize it was an herbal until after I was already sipping it…which is probably not a bad thing, since I’ve already had 2 pots with caffeine since I’ve woken up.

This is different, but good. It’s earthy, and vegetal, but slightly sweet. On the finish, it’s a bit like cocao nibs blended with steamed, buttered veggies. Sounds gross, yes, but it actually works!!

Thanks, seykayay, for this sample! I’ll definitely have to check the international sections of my grocery stores for this, or the Vietnamese section of Jungle Jim’s.

I’ve had this before, but for some reason never made a note on it. Why? Who knows?

So, with my semi-new chai obsession, I had to get some of this when I ordered from Sanctuary T. They didn’t have it in a teaser, so I took the plunge and got a full tin. I’m so glad I did. The tin itself is very nice; brushed metal and short, it’s very classy. The dry leaf smells almost exceedingly spicy, but has a hint of sweetness.

Brewed up, this makes a dark, rich cuppa. The spices are strong but not overpowering, and I can’t single out just one. Rather, they meld to form a single taste that can only be described as “chai”. And the vanilla really, really makes this blend. It gives it a cookie-like quality; it tastes more like a dessert tea than an early morning blend. I’ve not tried it with milk yet, but I think it’d be very good that way as well.

A perfect cup to have whilst cuddled on the couch, listening to the rain and the thunder.

Jillian kindly sent me some bags of this blend…ever since I read her note about “the citrus and hibiscus forming an unholy alliance” in her mouth, I’ve been intriqued. I adore tart things…my lemonade, for example, should lock your jaw it’s so tart, and I brew hibiscus-based blends at 10 minutes or longer.

So, on to this. It’s definitely pink, and definitely smells like hibiscus. I can kinda smell the yerba mate underneath that, but in scent, it’s definitely not the star player.

It’s really not as tart as I was expecting. Actually, I really don’t find it tart at all. The hibiscus is in the fore, and there’s lemon-like notes, but the yerba mate taste still comes through for me as herbal/woodsy. Sweet without having anything added; I think adding anything would be a bad idea. Probably the best yerba mate blend that I’ve had, to be honest (I’ve tasted all of three, and the other two were blended with chocolate flavors, so please take that statement with a grain of salt). I think this’d be fantastic iced in the summer as well.

Jillian, thanks for sending this one to me!! I’m definitely enjoying it!