Mercuryhime

Oh boy did I have too much caffeine today! 4-5 large cups of black tea. Last sip at around 5pm. I am still feeling shaky. Why didn’t someone stop me! So what to drink tonight? Thankfully, Angel sent me a sample of this lovely herbal! I’m always up for caffeine free stuff! But what the heck is a camellia anyway? Camellia sinensis is the tea plant, so is this tea its flowers?
Wikipedia to the rescue!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia
I can’t believe I used to go to the library to use Encyclopedias and books to do research.
So from what I gather, this may not necessarily be the flower of Camellia Sinensis but any of genus Camellia’s many species. In any case, it’s a beautiful flower.

The dried buds are light as feathers and smelled like sun dried hay and honey. The brew is sweet and reminds me of chrysanthemum, but less herby. I actually like this a whole lot. I can see the dried persimmon after taste Teavivre is describing here. Nice.

Now let’s hope this helps me push the caffeine out of my system so that I can sleep tonight. :(

This tea is lovely! It looks and smells beautiful before you even add the hot water. Rose chocolate and orange. I can smell the orange more than the bergamot though both are definitely present. Dark bread crust and chocolate from the base, sweet nectar from the rose, and a lively citrus zest. It’s so balanced and well conceived! I would expect no less from a Verdant blend. I’m glad I got a sample of this. The next time I order, I’m getting a few ounces if this.

This tea is pretty delicious. Sweet savory greens. Rich green leaves. Beautiful tea. So fresh! I think I’d enjoy this iced. I’m always looking for iced these day. :9

I quite enjoyed this! I got a sample at the NYC Coffee and Tea festival back in March and am only trying it. I’m not really a fan of coffee though so it probably wouldn’t satisfy a coffee drinker as a substitute. However, this is easy to enjoy purely on its on merits. It tastes roasty and robust. Probably not as robust as real coffee. Maybe. Eh, what do I know? It’s also a bit malty from the roasted barley. I had mine with a splash of almond milk and agave. delicious dessert drink. I looked into buying some but this stuff is pricy! I think I’ll stick with tea for now. :)

Bit nervous about drinking this 2013 spring picked version. It smells like dreams come true. Dark chocolate ice cream. Fresh baked brownies. Wow.

The smell when hot water is added is kinda really roasty. Uh oh.

Taste is…really roasted. :( I guess the magical Laoshan black from my sample pack a while back is gone for good. It leaves a charcoal after taste in the back of my throat. I do get some dark chocolate flavor but the heavy roastiness is just not my thing. Sadness. Maybe I’m just crazy and it never tasted like I remembered it tasting.

This is still a good tea though, don’t get me wrong. It’s just not magical.

I’m adding this to my cupboard even though I actually only have it in alive form in the garden. I go out and pluck leaves for tea every now and then. It’s the first thing that comes out of the ground in the spring (that and the chives) and it’s the last thing to die or go dormant in the fall (plus the chives again). I’ve taken to pouring boiling water over a good handful of fresh leaves and then chilling for iced tea. Delicious and refreshing. :) I love having this herb. I still remember the day I bought the little sprout at the Farmers’ Market. :)

This tastes amazing cold brewed. Citrus and vanilla. Sweet and refreshing. It tastes cleansing and pure. This might actually be my favorite green tea.

It is, again, the time of year when I NEED a pitcher (or two) of cold brewed tea in my fridge at all times. This particular tea is starting to show its age, but is still muy delicious. It tastes fabulous cold brewed but not so good hot. I’ll miss it when it’s gone.

On an unrelated note, I am grateful that, as a woman, I am allowed to wear skirts and dresses to work. My poor fellow male coworkers come to work in full business formal suits everyday. I am so sorry, fellas. I do get cold in the hyper AC environment, but that just means I get to enjoy hot tea all year so I don’t really mind. I honestly get peeved when an organization dictates that females must wear skirts (some schools I’ve worked in) and males must wear pants. I find it unfair and gender biased. Why should a girl have to suffer cold and snow in a skirt? Why should a boy get hot and sweaty in pants? Let the girls wear pants! It’s pretty common these days. We don’t live the 16th century anymore. And while our culture might not be ready for boys to wear skirts (though I wish we were all a little more accepting and welcoming of diversity) at least let them wear shorts in hot weather. End rant.

So the last time I had this, it was brewed in a gaiwan. I think I prefer this western style and gong fu made it a bit too intense. It’s deliciously fruity. I still get honeyed prunes with just a hint of cocoa. A wonderful black tea.

Mmm, oh my. This is good. I knew the quality would be good, but I didn’t expect to enjoy it this much. The mouthfeel of this is almost syrupy smooth. And speaking of smooth…the taste of this tea! Super smooth. Just a bare hint of astringency so that you know this is tea. And the flavors! Creamy and malty. Not very malty, but discernibly malty and mouthwatering. Faint aftertaste of milk chocolate. All tied together with a sense of savoriness so common in Chinese teas.

This is nearly good enough to make me forget how dreadful the weather has been of late. Thankfully, my nasturtium sprouts seem to have survived the flash flooding we had a couple nights ago. In fact, a new sprout showed up this morning! Yay! I can’t wait for the beautiful/tasty flowers and mini lily pad leaves.
In other plant news, my indoor succulent garden has a case of mealy bugs. :( My poor little plant babies. Will it get better once I move it outdoors in the warmer weather?

I got a sample of this tasty treat from Sil. Thanks for sharing!

This tea is juicy and jammy and yummy. The hibiscus provides a refreshing tartness and nothing more. Balanced and tasty. Great iced!

I had these a while back and didn’t log. I’ve been neglectful. :(

In any case, I found these pearls to be disappointing. The jasmine was pretty mild and the base none too exciting. I think my expectations were a bit high. I love the look of the pearls, but the taste was not memorable. It was a tad malty with a honeyed flavor. Nice but I won’t be buying again.

I received a bit of this from my swap with Josie Jade. Thanks a lot! This one is unexpectedly tasty! I’ve been having a lot of lackluster experiences with earl greys lately and I sort of thought of this tea as a fancied up earl. Not to mention that I’ve not been enjoying black teas so much lately in general. So I wasn’t expecting too much. I was totally surprised to like this one a lot.

First of all the dry tea is interesting. Black CTC leaves with a few long silver needle leaves scattered in. I didn’t know there would be white tea in this. The fresh citrusy scent is also super appealing. None of that fakey furniture polish smelling stuff that I had been drinking. It’s lighter than just bergamot, which I will attribute to the lemon and grapefruit. The tea itself is brisk and medium bodied. Just very enjoyable all around. I had wanted to try using coconut milk as a creamer in this tea, but it tastes so good plain that I didn’t want to add anything. But then I reasoned that I could add coconut milk to my first steep and have the second steep plain. And I have to say, coconut milk, while giving less of a thick texture, is perfectly tasty, if a bit distracting.

In conclusion, this is a blended black tea I would not mind having more of. Which is highly unusual for me as I prefer chinese blacks. British style teas tend to be interchangeable for me. I’m glad I’ve found the exception.

I actually really like this! My coworker introduced this to me. I probably would not have purchased this if left to my own devices. There’s definitely a nice lemony brightness and lots of spicy ginger. There’s also a bit of hibiscus in this, but it works here. This an example of hibiscus done right. A perfection of taste and convenience. Not to mention that its good for a variety of ills. :)

I’ve been doing a lot of drinking without logging lately. There’s too much going on. :( And I fear my obsession is waning. Though I do still crave a tasty cup and tons of variety. Maybe I just don’t have time to sit down and really appreciate a cup anymore.

Anyways, lets try and get backs the boat! I had a cup of this a few days ago. Sweet vanilla nuttiness! It was like a liquid cookie! Tasted best with a splash of cream. A great dessert tea! Thanks for sharing Josie Jade!

I’ve been spending a lot more time outdoors with my pups, exercising and gardening lately. I’ve started a miniature container garden! We had a few days of fantastic rare sunny warm/cool days here. Now it looks like we’re going back to the usual disappointing weather in the NYC area. I hate humidity. And work days have been busy. This weekend, unfortunately, is busy as well. I’ve signed myself up for a party today, and then it’s Mother’s Day tomorrow. I’m going to enjoy some tea while I can.

I’ve tried a variety of puers in my life. I’ve decided that I’m not really a fan. While I can drink the cups down quite easily, I never find myself craving them as I do for oolongs, greens and blacks. I’d drink more white but they often make me shaky. But Mandala has a great puer rep so I thought I’d give this a try. I received this sample when I ordered a bunch of puers for my dad’s birthday. I decided to keep this to educate myself. Two months later, I’m finally diving in.

My first thought is that I’m shocked at the smokiness. I didn’t read any descriptions before trying so I was not expecting this aspect. It’s also lighter than expected. Oddly fresh, which is not something I’d expect from a puer. But maybe that’s just because I don’t have much experience with shengs. This is tasty. I don’t think I’ll be craving it ever, but I am enjoying this current cup.

This tea smells amazing. I got some from AlphaKitty from our meet up swap a while back. I decided to go with a paper filter for this tea since I didn’t feel like cleaning sprinkle gunk off my filter basket today.
The resulting brew is okay, which is a bit of a let down after the amazing scent. I don’t really get chocolate but the marshmallow and caramel are totally there! It has a weird bit of latex aftertaste. And the black base isn’t my favorite, but it’s good enough. Needs a spot of cream to smooth the slight harshness over.

Very tasty Dragon Well! Fresh, crisp and sweet. Savory and vegetal. This is the ideal Chinese green. Well, to me anyway. :) And I’m getting in some greens again. I’ve missed my green teas. Blacks were starting to take over my life! Next, I must rekindle my love for white teas.

Holy cow is this tasty! Sweet roasted chestnuts! Exactly like chestnuts! Amazing! I keep expecting a mouthful of actual chestnut when I sip this, but all I get is tea. Working with this luscious chestnut taste is the lightly grassy green tea that balances out the richness of the flavor. Absolutely wonderful! I love chestnuts, but they are so very seasonal. Now I can have chestnuts whenever I want! weeeee!

Fake chocolate scent and flavor :( otherwise a nice EG. I’m going to have trouble getting past the fake flavor though. Maybe my friend might like it …

Tastyyyy! It’s smells like cereal. And tastes like the toasty rice at the bottom of the pot. The longer this soaked, the better it tasted. I also ate a few grains before adding water. Tasty crunchy snack! I could totally see this as being delicious served as a hot cereal with cream and sugar. It’s also deliciously pure and satisfying as a tea. I want more of this. Moooooore! Where do we find this in the US? :(

Thank you for sharing this with me Sil!!

Am I allowed to write about Matcha Pocky on here? Cause I found some in China Town yesterday and I’m eating some now and they are delicious. Even the biscuit part has matcha in it! Anything made with matcha is just so pretty. That green. :)

Anyways, I’m having this Sweet Harvest Pumpkin thanks to Josie Jade. I’m just tearing through that box of samples from her today. :) Plus I really have a craving for buttermilk pumpkin soup, but I don’t have any pumpkin. :( I do have buttermilk though. I think I’ll make a pudding with it later today.

I saw a lot of negative reviews about this due to the stevia. I actually don’t much mind stevia. It’s not as tasty as sugar or honey, but it’s better than Equal or Splenda. So I added a splash or almond milk to this since spiced teas really do taste better milked up. This particular tea tastes like the inside of a pumpkin pie. A bit of that delicious orange squash flavor. Lightly spiced with cinnamon and ginger. brown sugar? Not too bad. It’s a bit thin though. Next time, I might have to use two bags per cup.

EDIT: Husband just came by and made off with my cup of this. haha I think I’ll leave the rest of these tea bags to him. :)

I’m agreeing with Josie Jade on this one. Needs more coconut flavor. The sencha in this is thick and grassy. Is it really Japanese sencha? Maybe I’m just spoiled from Den’s because this is not what good Japanese sencha tastes like to me. This reminds me more of the cheap Chinese sencha that I really don’t like. It doesn’t seem to get astringent, which is good, but neither is it fresh and springy like a quality sencha should taste like. This is overall, a pretty meh tea.

Unless you’re not picky about green tea quality and don’t mind a weaker coconut flavor.

I’ve been wanting to try this for a while now. I’ve read so many rave reviews about this blend. Thankfully, my book club swap buddy Josie Jade had some to share. :)

Heavy and earthy. Reminds me a bit of keemun and yunnan. Smokey and sweet. Like rock sugar and raisins. Savory umami flavor as well. This is an intriguing blend indeed. I have to say though, I don’t like it all too much. Too much savory for me. I’m still learning so much about black tea. :)