MegWesley

It figures that all I want on a blustery winter’s night is a tall glass of iced chai. So, I made one to have with dinner. Instead of doing a long brew time, I tried using a shorter brew time to see if I was just over brewing the tea to make it taste entirely of pepper.

Nope.

To misquote one of my favorite quotes: There is too much pepper in the tea! Black pepper was one of the only spices I could taste. I was getting a little bit of black licorice from the star anise, but not much. I could barely taste the cinnamon or cloves. Just pepper.

Luckily, I gave most of this tea away and I think I have two or three teabags left. So after that is gone, I will not be re-buying this tea.

I haven’t had this for a couple of days, so I had it for lunch.

I like this the best with a little splash of milk.

I decided to do something different with my Irish Breakfast today. I used two tea-bags and brewed it up strong. Then I added my very vanilla soy milk. What do I get? A milk tea that still tastes like Irish Breakfast with the creamy milky goodness with a hint of vanilla. Good for relaxing in the afternoon before my second work shift.

Edit: Ok, apparently I have a massive sweet tooth today. Drank half of my cup then added a full tablespoon of honey to the other half. I’m spoiling myself today apparently.

This is a blast from the past. I was getting tea bags from my teacher’s tea basket for the weekend and I decided to pick up Lady Grey today. I kinda wish I had emptied the tea box of the last four packets now instead of only taking one.

My taste must be developing because instead of being really weak, this was pretty tasty. It was nice and light. I could taste that hint of lemon in the cup along with the citrus from the bergamot. It was very nice and delicate. Lovely for when I want a lighter Earl.

I have learned today that I really need to let my tea cool down some before trying to drink it. It makes it taste better and it makes me relax.

I had this for lunch today. I probably should have had it with something else but it was delicious and I’m so glad I found a whole box for myself. It is my favorite so far.

I have no idea how long I steeped this. I kept the tea bag in the entire time I was drinking it during lunch. All I know is that it was really good and I am going to be really sad when my box runs out.

I had this without any milk and I had to make it strong because the water ran out of the kettle and I only got half a cup. Wow, this tea packs more of a sweet, sweet punch than I remember. I actually don’t really like it that much any more. I’ve had better by just making my own chai strong and adding milk and honey. It isn’t terrible. I’ve just had better now.

I was excited to drink this because it meant I finally got to compare this mate to Guayaki’s chocolate mate. This was dark and earthy and dark cocoa stayed on my tongue. I added a splash of milk to see how it would taste as well, and the vanilla soy completely overwhelmed the tea and mixed with the chocolate to make it taste like coffee. I’m not sure I liked that effect because I don’t really like the taste of coffee.

I am bumping this down a few notches because I don’t think the mate tastes as good as the Guayaki mate. I still love it because it was my introduction to mate, but I think I’m going to find better brands out there.

I woke up late today, but I didn’t want to give up breakfast. So I managed to brew and drink this tea in less than 10 minutes. I think I brewed it weaker, but I put a bit of coffee creamer in it to both cool it down and make it smoother.

Since I am consistently adding stuff to this tea to make it drinkable to me, I’m going to bump it down a couple of notches. It could just be that I don’t like the taste of assam compared to the gentler ceylon.

I actually wanted this tea tonight and I purposely brewed it strong so that I could add my milk and honey. But then I took a sip of this ridiculously strong brew and it isn’t half bad. There is the pepper bite, but it is blending into the background a bit with the other spices. I can’t tell if the tootsie pop I had is cutting into the pepper or not, so I’m still going to reserve my final judgement until I have it without having something sweet in my mouth.

I’m going to put my honey and milk in it anyway because I did like having a sweet hot chai last night. It might be growing on me a little.

I woke up late this morning and in my sleep-haze, I just grabbed a teabag from my group of teas. It turned out to be this one. That has to say something that I grab the yerba mate instead of the Irish Breakfast tea.

This is the first time in a while that I broke out my tea tumbler to bring to work. So far, I’m glad I did because I was only able to get two cinnamon scones for breakfast. Our cafeteria was closing down for the morning. I still say that this is a very spicy chocolate. It reminds me so much of a spicy chai that I really wonder what the chai teabags from this brand tastes like.

So, I’m trying Tazo Chai again. This time I used 3/4 of a mug of water and steeped the bag for 10 minutes. Then I added a teaspoon of clover honey and some very vanilla soy milk.

I love the smell of anise and that is what I smell coming from the undoctored cup. Anise and cinnamon. If this fails, then I’m going to have to remember that combination when I try making my own. The liquid is a nice amber brown. I almost hate to put anything in it because it is such a pretty shade. Even doctored up, I can still smell the anise before I take a sip.

Wow! Pepper. That is almost all that is coming through in the cup. A big dose of black pepper. Now, I do like pepper, but when I think of a chai I think of other spices too. It is a pretty good cup this time, but I wonder if I can do anything different to cut down on the taste of pepper and bring out the other spices.

It is what I was looking for to warm me up though, so I am taking that into account. If I had to choose between this and the other Tazo teas, I would drink this.

It is official. I need a mate gourd and a bombilla to enjoy my mate. This is just so good and I am loving it. I do like it on the stronger side, so I think I would really like it done in the traditional manner. I think I need to get the water a little hotter though because the water is cooling down so fast. I’m still experimenting.

One of my friends just sprung some tea samples on me. She brought this mate to breakfast with her and I was very glad she did so. I had it hot, plain, and kept the tea ball in there the entire time I was drinking so it got stronger as I was drinking.

It was interesting. I think I was tasting the roobios prominently in this blend along with the cinnamon. It spicy. I didn’t really taste any of the other fruit that was supposed to be in there though.

It was tasty and I would have a cup if it was offered to me, but I don’t think that I would run out and get a tin of this for myself.

Since I have been on my mate kick that was spurred on my RoT’s Dark Chocolate Mate, I found where I could pick some of this up. I brewed this for 10 minutes in some quickly nuked water that didn’t really get that hot. Just hot enough to brew tea in.

It reminds me of a slightly spicy chocolate chai. I’m still not sure what real mate tastes like, so the chocolate is nice. I do know that compared to Rot’s chocolate mate, this one is really smooth and does not remind me of coffee at all. I am so glad I got a box because I am going to drink this one down fairly quickly.

It might have to become my morning tea because I feel a little more awake right now. Which is a good thing because I have to write at least half of a story for class tonight.

I don’t think I brewed this one long enough. I was kinda spacey during dinner and all I cared about was getting some sort of tea again. I’m not going to rate this one until I have had it again, because it was pretty boring and meh this time.

Apparently, I can’t bear to think of a Tuesday or a Thursday without having a cup full of this tea. I discovered something very interesting about drinking this cup. I did not taste the mocha this time. Instead I tasted a rich, deep earthiness with just a touch of bitterness that would sound on the back of my tongue. When the steam rose up from the cup, I could smell the chocolate a tiny bit, but it mostly reminded me of petrichor. That smell of rich, damp earth.

I’m going to knock a couple of points off for the loss of chocolate, but I think I fell in love with yerba mate.

English class was a little difficult today because the subject matter hit really close to home for me. By the time it was time to leave, I felt really emotionally drained so I decided it was time to raid my teacher’s tea basket for a different tea than my (becoming) usual morning mate.

The first thing that hit me was that the tea bag was very pretty and I saw a complete jasmine bloom in the full leaf bag! From a place where it is hard to get full leaves in a tea bag, I think this is pretty awesome. I think I steeped this about five to six minutes on my walk from class to my dorm room.

This is the second jasmine tea I have ever had and it stood up really well to a longer steep. There is just a hint of bitterness on the back on my tongue, but I am fully aware that it is my fault for that one. I kinda like the bitterness there. It also doesn’t taste overwhelmingly of flowers. The taste reminds me of honeysuckle that was mixed with jasmine dew.

The best thing about the cup is the smell when it was steeping. I could close my eyes and imagine myself just standing in a middle of a jasmine garden. This was a really good pick and now I feel ready to face the rest of my day.

Hot with milk. Best way to start the morning: a nice tea that can stand up to unsweetened soy milk and a friend to talk to.

I have been looking at this tea ever since I saw it in my teacher’s tea basket this morning. I finally decided to just dive in and brew myself up a cup because it would pick at me until I tried it.

When brewed, it is a very nice light golden color. When I was walking over to my art history class, I thought I would catch the scent of honey. I sniffed it after it was finished brewing (about a five minute walk from my english to my art history class) and it did indeed smell like honey.

The taste itself was interesting. It tasted sweet. The sweetness didn’t overpower the green tea at all. It reminded me of gathering up and drinking dew off of fresh cut grass. Light, sweet, and vegetal. There was a little bit of a tang with the aftertaste, but I didn’t identify it until the very last sip.

I’m not sure if i like it or not. I think it is a tea that would grow on me, but I wouldn’t have it all of the time. I wouldn’t turn it down though.

I had another glass of this in class today. This time, I used boiling water and I think that it made the taste darker. It reminded me much more of a rich deep mocha with the cocoa powder being the aftertaste. It was very delicious.

I played the ring game at my school today. That is a tradition when you announce your engagement to the school. So, I announced that I am engaged today. I fooled my entire class. They didn’t think it was me, so it was a big unveiling. I am so happy.

I have two samples of this. I brought one to school and the other I left at home. The dried leaf smelled just like a red hot candy, but the rest of the tea fell a bit flat for me. I generally like my herbals brewed longer for a lower temperature and it really didn’t do it for me this time.

Since I have another sample of this, I’m going to try boiling water next time and see if that makes a difference.

My roommate loves this tea and she wanted me to try some because she thought I would fall in deep long-lasting love with it too. In reality, it was a mediocre tea. The tea bag smelled a little bit like an apricot to me and the tea itself didn’t really have any flavor.