Mercuryhime

Soo…I probably shouldn’t have made this with vanilla soy milk from the get go. To be fair to the tea, I should have tried it first straight up. But from my past matcha experiences, the ones made with unmilk have always been my favorite. And husband somehow didn’t realize he was buying vanilla soy instead of plain. Oh well.

I’m trying a white matcha base here for the first time! The normal green matcha will always be my favorite but this white one is not bad! To start with, it whisked up like a dream. If you can call it whisking when you’re using a teaspoon… It tastes a bit floral, like a tasty white tea all on it’s own. I’m guessing that’s not the bavarian cream flavor. What is the bavarian cream flavor at work here? Well, it’s the fantastic desserty creamy flavor. Tasty. Especially with a bit of brown rock sugar.

I wasn’t sure what to expect on the caffeine front with this tea. The green matcha makes my head hurt with the potent caffeine punch. Normal non-powdered white tea has been known to give me that same caffeine headache. Whatever bai mu dan Frank uses usually has this quality. Teavivre’s bai mu dan did the same thing. So what about this matchafied white tea I’m drinking? Well I’m happy to report that I’m feeling buzzed and alert but no headache! Either I’m getting better at this caffeine thing or this tea is just not that caffeinated to begin with. Either way, awesome! Let’s see what husband thinks…

Husband: (sniffs the cup) Did you put coconut rum in here?
Me: Nooooo. Figure out what it is.
Husband: (sips it) Coconut.
Me: It’s bavarian cream! Do you like this better or green matcha better?
Husband: The question is: where is my cup?

Success!

Please find this yummy matcha here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/bavarian-cream-matcha.html

Steep 4:
This makes a nice after linner tea. That refreshing mysterious cooling sensation is really awesome and refreshing. Lovely smooth earthy flavor. Tastes more bit more cocoa-y now. It’s helping with my dessert craving. :) This is a puerh I would definitely order again.

Unrelated, but here’s my new favorite thing:
http://dog-shaming.com

I know I’m supposed to steep and toss the first infusion, but this is tasty! I’m keeping it! I can only imagine it will get better and better. :D I love this smell and the smoothness. It really is corny! I love corn! I can’t speak to the nuances of the smell cause I"m making homemade tomato sauce and that smell always permeates the whole apartment. But the taste is rich and somehow leaves a cooling sensation in the back of my throat. And the toucha hasn’t even completely unfurled yet. Weee! And that lingering flavor of toasty fritos. yum!

Steep two!
Alright kids! The toucha has mostly fallen apart now. The liquor is dark and looks like coffee. This infusion is much richer. What a lovely smooth mouthfeel! Brothy and delicious. The frito flavor is less apparent here but still pleasantly a part of the experience. I love this unique cooling sensation! How is this happening? There’s the teeniest hint of bitter cocoa without being bitter. Underneath everything is an earthy untouched forest. This is really great for fall. I have a real love for this season. I chose to get married outdoors in fall. :D Luckily, it was one of those rare sunny days that are neither hot nor cold. Today is not like that day. It’s humid and cloudy and my make up would have been a mess. But it’s ok. This is not my wedding day. It’s just a lazy tea day! And this tea is lovely enough to make up for the weather. (how I do prattle on…) I wonder how corn loving husband will feel about this tea?

Steep 3!
Corn flavor has made a comeback! Yay! Yummy! Deep earthy flavor here. Still smooth, still cooling. How is it doing that?! I don’t think I’ve ever had a puerh I’ve enjoyed so much as this one. Did I mention that I was feeling really blah and tired today? I somehow went to bed around 11 last night and woke up at 8 am today. Then I ate breakfast and managed to fall asleep again from 11am to 1:30pm. I should have had tea earlier! This tea is now making me all perky but without the headache some teas give me! Awesome! I can conquer the world! Maybe dad would like this. He likes strong flavors. :D

Gonna stop drinking tea to have linner (lunch/dinner). More later!

EDIT: I found a piece about Verdant Tea on Serious Eats!
http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2012/09/verdant-tea-organic-chinese-interview-profile.html

I had this yesterday, but I think I used way too little leaf. I’ll have to do better next time before I rate this. I can’t really detect much of interest from these leaves, actually, but I’m hoping to be proved wrong next time I try this. The pouches were no doubt meant to be used all at once. I did discover one useful thing though. I have a bamboo lid that also acts as a stand for my strainer in between steeps. Last week, I had a really spicy chai and the spicy flavor soaked right into the porous bamboo. My second steep of this tea was quite cinnamon-y. At first I was impressed that this oolong could have such a natural cinnamon flavor. But I was suspicious because I did not taste spice of any sort in the first brewing. Then I made the connection. The wet steeper basket had spent a good hour or more soaking up the chai flavor from my bamboo lid. argh! How do I get the spicy flavor out! I need a stainless steel lid. :( On the plus side, cinnamon oolong is tasty!

Thanks for your generous sample Allison!

So I got a couple of sample packs of oolong from the generous Allison Tsui. Unfortunately, I don’t know if there’s a particular brand name or even what farm it may have come from. All I know is that it’s from Taiwan, so we’ll just say it’s the Allison Tsui brand unless she tells me otherwise. :)

This is a really tasty Dong Ding. I remember the first few times I tried dong ding oolongs I was disappointed it was more of a roasted flavor since I preferred green fresh tasting oolongs. However, my tastebuds have grown to appreciate darker more roasted flavors, and as a result, I actually really liked this tea. The first thing I noticed about this tea is the autumnal roasty toasty flavor. Then on the swallow, I’m surprised by the sweet fruitiness that hits the middle of my tongue. That sip was gone too fast for me to really get the flavor down. I held onto the next sip a little longer and tasted that fruitiness again. It was like the juicy sweet flesh of red globe grapes. And peachiness. Mmm, tasty. I really enjoyed this one!

I was also able to steep this tea about 4 times, western style throughout my work day. I probably could have gone more, but it was time to go home. :) Tasty and economical! Thanks Allison!

I’ve got tons and tons of unflavored tea samples to get to. But I also have a couple of unopened pouches from 52 Teas. Since I was in the mood for something flavored, I went ahead and just opened one of my pouches. This particular one looked particularly appealing because the picture on the package featured a steaming mug of tea, and this morning has been quite chilly. This tea tastes absolutely perfect for a chilly morning. It would also be quite comforting for when you have a cold. The warmth of the cinnamon is truly relaxing. I’ve always been a fan of the way Frank does lemon flavor, but this one is a bit …less than ideal. There’s definitely a sense of herbal flavor here because of all the lemon tasting herbs that have been added. Yes, it’s lemon-y, but also herby.

I quite like this. Not my favorite, but definitely good. I can see this really perking up with a dollop of honey and spiked with some grated ginger. Not in the mood for sweet right now, but on the right day, this could be wonderful. :)

I’m really excited for the return of steaming hot cups of tea on chilly days. Love it! Unfortunately, it also means I’ve got to pack away my pretty dresses until next year. :( ah well. Time for cuddly sweaters! and puppies! They are so desperately cuddly when they are cold. hehe

I thought I’d have a nice relaxing gong fu session today but then husband wanted breakfast and mother in law popped in. oh well. It was still good. I had enough attention span to notice that it’s smells amaaaazing! Floral and sweet and toasty.

The first steep after a rinse is more toasty grains than anything. The second was fruity and sweet. Like plums and apricots. Beyond that… well, I was super distracted. Poor Verdant Tea. Deserves better than that. I got the leaves cold brewing in the fridge. I think it’s got more to give still. Until then, I’ve got a pot of gyokuro cold brewed and delicious waiting for me. :)

PS For those in the NYC area, is it humid or what? Ew!

Guys, I’m totally stressed. There’s too much going on. I hope work will not always be like this. I hope I get along better with my boss. Not that we have conflict, but our work styles are so different I feel like she secretly disapproves of me, which makes me really anxious. I have performance anxiety. If I make the tiniest mistake, I’ll feel like I’ve failed everyone. I’ve been told I need to just loosen up. I can’t loosen up! I need to do a good job! Okay…. breathe….

Okay, I really do need to loosen up. It’s hard for me. Tomorrow, I need to have a gong fu session with some of the Verdant Tea that came in for me. That should help. :) It’s too late for caffeineful tea tonight.

I did have some of this tea at work today. To be honest, I was too busy and distracted to notice the taste too much. It’s tasty, as always. The same few leaves stayed faithfully by my side all day. I just filled my cup over and over again. yum. I am grateful for tea because even if I’m not paying attention to it, I know it soothes me just enough so that I know that things will get better.

I’ve been super boring and just drinking familiar old teas lately. I’ve been so busy and tired the past few weeks that I don’t have time to really taste and appreciate a new tea and I really don’t want to waste the experience. However, I miss my Steepster friends so I’m just logging this tea for the sake of checking in. :) It’s the same apple walnut cake flavor as I experienced before. Pretty pink color. Very nice and caffeine free. Which is important because I have barely slept in the last 36 hours. I think I passed out on the way home today and may have drooped onto fellow train passengers. eep.

This weekend, I flew to California for a surprise birthday party for my step father in law. It was fun, but I didn’t return home until this morning. Landed at JFK airport at 5:40 AM. Then I changed into my work clothes in the airport bathroom and went straight to my first day as a permanent employee at my new job. Did I mention that I absolutely cannot sleep on airplanes? Most exhausting day ever. I am also operating in a sort of dreamy haze. I hope I retain all the info they threw at me today. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. I hope it’s only because I’m so sleep deprived.

Good news is, my new group and I went for lunch together and had some ice breaker conversations. We were each supposed to tell a little known fact about ourselves. I mentioned that I’m really into tea of all sorts. More than half my new colleagues said something along the lines of “me too!” I’m hoping to have tea time with my new colleagues! One of them said he would bring in his variable temp kettle. yaay.

I do find my two bosses kind of intimidating, but I hope that will wear off. I think it’s because they seem to demand such a high standard that I’m afraid I won’t measure up.

Anyway, this is a nice tea to end the night. I’m off to bed. Hope you’re all well. :)

I’m also raising the rating because even though it doesn’t taste as expected, it’s still quite nice.

This tea gives and gives! I had this tea cold brewing in the fridge. I’ve been drinking from the pot and just topping it off with more water. I must have had 4 or 5 glasses by now and the leaves are still giving flavor into the water. As a result, my pot of tea is still full! It’s like that magic pot with the unending pasta that floods the whole town with food.

Very nummy tea. I’ve been sort of saving it, but I’d hate for it to go stale and be ruined so I’m drinking some now.

Also, unrelated, but it’s fun so I thought I’d share. I went on a foraging tour this weekend with my family. Lots of fun! If you live in or near NYC or Westchester, I totally recommend going on one of these tours. You learn about the “wild” food growing all around you disguised as weeds! I got a bunch of oyster mushrooms and burdock root! Very tasty!

wildmanstevebrill.com

He even showed us a few plants that would be good as teas with some supposed medicinal value. My friends tell me that I can now be of use during the zombie apocalypse. :D

Oh dear. I drank all of this without writing any notes! Hmm…what can I remember about this…? I remember not being all that impressed, honestly. I threw out the first infusion as a wash, but the following infusions were so weak and watery for a puerh. The leaf seemed to be finely ground so that might explain the rapid loss of flavor. I made it again but drank the first steep. Not too bad. Smells like wet earth tastes a bit like cocoa. It doesn’t fill your senses with flavor like other puerhs I’ve had. I guess I started with the good stuff and now I’m spoiled. :)

Thank you for sharing with me TeaEqualsBliss!

Oh no! I’m running out of this tea! I cold brewed this yesterday. Very fruity and refreshing. When cold brewed, they liquid is less murky and there’s no oily orange ring around the mug. This is fine by me. In fact, the tea turns a charming translucent forest green. I thought it was very pretty. My husband said it looked like radioactive juice. Little did he know, I had served him the same tea in an opaque drinking glass, which he gulped down happily. Muahaha

Hmm…not bad. I was hesitant to try this one because mint and cranberry seemed an odd combination, but it’s really ok. I cold brewed this overnight, which resulted in an amber colored brew. Like beer! The smell is pure cranberry. The taste is a light cranberry, almost like cotton candy, with a rooibos-y finish. Then the mint hits you at the end. Seems like spearmint. Very cooling. This is a great drink for hot days, I would imagine. Right now though, it’s just a drink for this morning while I’m waiting for the first few rinses of my puerh to be completed.

My husband hates mint, but I think the taste is mild enough in here that he might not notice. At least, not at first. :D

Just to remind myself how awesome regular matcha is, I made a cup of this even though it is now 10:30. And I’m exhausted. And I have to work tomorrow. That’s matcha love my friends.

I just love this so much. Green matcha, the original, so tasty. This green apple flavor is pretty alright too. :) I got this matcha for a couple of different reasons. 1) Someone (I forget who) on Steepster had the awesome idea for caramel apple matcha and I totally wanted to try some. 2) My sister loves green apple flavored things. I hung onto to this packet for a while without opening it because I know that matcha can deteriorate quickly once exposed to air and I didn’t have a suitable tin to store this matcha in. I just waited and waited until one day I realized I could use these little plastic containers that Azzrian had actually given to me so that I could send her matcha. We later decided that some other containers were better so I was told to keep these since she never used them anyway. Yeah! Thanks Azzrian! It’s not really the best storage for matcha because the lid doesn’t fit all that snug, but matcha! Best reason for everything. So anyway, I’m trying this matcha now!

The color is a bit dark, like olive green and the powder isn’t a bit gritty like the red matcha. yaay! I can’t have much now. I’m going to chill it for tomorrow morning when matcha makes sense, but I just had to have some before bed.

The green apple flavoring here has something that reminds me of that mango matcha that I really didn’t care for. Something weird like play dough and flowers. But it is not as prominent as it was in the mango. The green apple flavor here is quite nice too. It’s somehow like the candy version of green apple, but the freshness and greenness of matcha makes it less sweet and cloying and more like real apple. If only it weren’t for that odd playdough flavor… It’s pretty good.

I think this would be better sweetened, but we will save that for tomorrow. Drinking matcha reminds me of the beginning of my tea journey. The first teas I drank had to have sugar and/or milk or honey. It just wasn’t good without additions. Then I found teas that were better without additions and now I only rarely add anything to my teas. Matcha though, I find I don’t enjoy them as much unless I add sugar or milk or both. Unflavored matcha is something I can enjoy without additions, but when it’s apple or caramel, I find myself reaching for the sugar. This is odd since I had a apple flavored green not to long ago and enjoyed it thoroughly without additions. I suppose the matcha flavor is stronger and more intense. Then again, if I use less matcha, it tastes watery. I’ll work on weaning myself off the desire to sweeten my matchas. I think I’m getting there already since I’m sipping at this matcha and going, “Mmmm, creamy sweet matcha…” :) Small sips!

Enough rambling! Time for bed!

If you want to have some green apple matcha, you know where it’s at!
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/green-apple-matcha.html

Edit Had this chilled this morning. So refreshing! The flavor is still weird to me but I enjoyed it a lot more cold. Didn’t even want to add any sugar! Raising the rating!

When I first saw this flavor for sale, I worried that it might taste too much like caramel and I’d end up with a duplicate matcha. But hey, the caramel one is awesome and we only live once, so I just went for it. I chose to get this as a red matcha so that I could enjoy this tea for dessert, just as it’s meant to be. :)

Having learned from my first red matcha experience yesterday, I added a generous amount of powder into my mug. No need to be fearful of a bitter and overly caffeine-y cup when you’re working with rooibos! I did it cold again because my apartment has terrible insulation and spent all day soaking up the heat of the sun just for me. And at night it gets so cold! argh. But anyway, love the smell of this. Sweet and candy-like with that smooth rooibos flavor.

I’m beginning to think that the rooibos is just naturally a stronger flavor so that the added flavoring is just overwhelmed because as I’m drinking this, I’m having a really hard time tasting the toffee. I could smell it in the dry tea, but once it’s all mixed with water, I can barely taste that toffee note. A bit of sugar makes this better, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d still think it was just plain red matcha with no flavoring at all. Now, I did go with the basic flavor level, but I think I should be getting some toffee still. :(

In the future, I think I’ll have a few “there’s matcha in there?” level red matchas around for the evenings, but I really enjoy the flavor of the regular green matcha more. I gotta try the white one too since Azzrian makes it sound so tasty. And the black matcha! I wonder what kind of black tea is used. What kind of white? Hmm.

Another thing I noticed with this red matcha base is that it does get a bit gritty and powdery. Yesterday, I was all focused on the deliciousness of the cheesecake flavoring, but today, since I could mostly just taste rooibos, I was able to pay more attention to the quality of the base. The slight grittiness is not too bad, but not that great either.

In the end, just like with regular rooibos, I’m settling for red matcha because I know I can’t have caffeine in the evening. I actually much prefer green matcha.

For those of you who want to try this tea, you can find it here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/english-toffee-matcha.html

I really recommend getting the strongest flavoring possible. The rooibos flavor, while mellow and easy going, is strong and not easily overwhelmed like green matcha.

This is a first for me! First red matcha! I’m not really the hugest fan of rooibos, to be honest, but when you’ve got a craving for tea at 10 PM, your options are limited. I like it well enough but nothing beats the tea from the tea plant. Matcha was especially a problem for me. The main reason I still have most of my delicious caramel matcha is because the caffeine is so intense that it gives me headaches at just a half teaspoon of powder in a mugful of tea. :( Then Red Leaf came to the rescue and started offering red matcha as a base option! Wooooo! The moment he made that announcement I was putting tea into my cart. hah! And of course who could resist cheesecake? No one, that’s who.

First, let’s talk about the tea as I experienced it. The first thing I noticed about this matcha was the smell. The moment I tore open that bag a tangy creamy sweet aroma assaulted my nose. Mmmm…. Then that rooibos smell came in the end. Want. Now. I poured the powder into my tin and noticed that I actually have a tin foil bag of cheesecake flavored Mars dust. It really looks exactly like those pictures I’ve been seeing from Curiosity.

http://www.universetoday.com/96708/curiosity-and-the-mojave-desert-of-mars-panorama-from-gale-crater/

Very cool. I’m drinking the universe! One could argue that I do this daily, but you know what I mean!

Since I had just finished working out, I really was not in the mood for a hot tea. I put a generous scoop of powder into my mug (I can cause it’s caffeine free! Wheee!) and added a bit of cold water, then stirred it up like mad with my spoon. No froth, but it all dissolved nicely. Then top it off with more cold water and drink! It looks a bit like hot chocolate with more red. Like red velvet but not artificial.

Here’s the best part. The taste. Smooth vanilla cheesecake. Delicious flavor. I wish it were stronger. I got distinctive, but I should probably go up a grade next time. The rooibos is pretty tame here. Just a hint of rooibos-ness. Not sure how to describe the flavor.

I wish I had some soy/almond milk cause I really want to try this as a latte. All we have is real milk (lactose intolerant) and chocolate Pure Almond Silk. A chocolate cheesecake latte might be pretty awesome though…. BRB!

I think I added a bit too much cause the chocolate is overpowering the flavor, but it is awesome! Cheesecake chocolate drink!

Thank you, Red Leaf, for making this delicious flavor!
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cheesecake-matcha.html

And with a red matcha option! I can add as much powder as I want without worrying about bitterness or caffeine because it’s red matcha! The possibilities are endless!

For next time, English Toffee matcha! Then combined! Then caramel and cheesecake! This will be awesome!

This is so sweet! Like brown rock sugar! I love the floral aroma. It’s also got the something that reminds me of autumn. I find that this is common in dark oolongs. If you close your eyes to inhale the aroma and then sip, it’s really like being outdoors in the woods when the leaves have mostly fallen to the ground. I’d even say it’s out in the woods during late morning after the dew has dried but before it gets too hot. It’s one of the warm autumn days with chilly mornings and evenings. One of those beautiful clear days where you don’t know if you need a jacket or not. Mmm…makes me long for fall…which is almost here! I know this because even though I have a giant pot of Oriental Beauty in the fridge, I woke up craving hot tea, which is why I brewed this. It was so chilly this morning, my puppies were sticking their cold noses into my armpits and backs of my knees. They’re lucky their cute.

Back to the tea! Where was I? Sweet, autumnal, floral and woodsy (but not woody. Wood is a funny word when you think about it.) Very tasty and warming. The second steep is proving to be as delicious as the first. The first steep was sweeter and more floral, but this second one has a more prominent roasty woodsy taste. I really think I’m starting to enjoy darker oolongs. At least when they are smooth and tasty like this one. :)

I really love hot tea on chilly days. soon…

On an unrelated note, I’ve been playing Magicka with my sister. Are any of you familiar with this game? It’s sort of really hilarious. Especially when it’s me and my sister playing because we have this terrible tendency to accidentally kill each other because we thought we hit the “heal” button when we actually hit the “Fire” button. We both learned the revive spell pretty quick. :)

I bought this tea maybe forever ago when it first came out. Just a sample size. Ever since then, I’ve been thinking about trying it. I’ve never had the opportunity since I think of black teas as morning teas. Having them any later would seriously mess with my sleep. And I keep forgetting to bring it to work and my weekends have been very busy lately. Sigh. There’s a lot going on right now. Today, I’m actually going to take the 3 hour trip to see my parents, so I’m really supposed to be leaving soon. But I need just a bit of time for myself this morning with a cup of tea. So I guess I’ll be arriving later.

This tea smells really great dry. I may have brewed it a little too long. The taste is not really that pleasant to me. It smells like caramel candy and it even tastes like it, but there’s also something weirdly sourish and unpleasant. I don’t think I’ll rate it since it may be because I let it brew for like 10 minutes. I did use a lower steeping temp though. Added a bit of milk and sugar to make it tastier. It’s ok now, but I think I’ll stick it in the fridge for husband to finish.

I also have some good news! Don’t know why it took me so long to let it out here. I was offered a permanent job this week. This means I can finally go to the dentist. weeee! And we can maybe afford husband’s law school without taking on loans. :)

So that last time I got some matcha from Red Leaf, I asked my sister what flavor she’d like. She chose this one. Then, even though I bugged her for one, she never wrote a review so we can have more matcha! I finally bribed her with promises of coconut and English toffee. haha It’s a never ending cycle! So without further ado, my sister’s review:

One summer, at a farmer’s market, my sister and I tasted bee pollen for the first time. The nice man at the stall showed us how he liked to eat it – dusted over some honey. He dipped a toothpick into the honey, and then dipped the toothpick into the bee pollen. We ate the honey and pollen mixture daintily as he told us about the health benefits.

I remember all we could really taste was the delicious honey because it just dominated, but the texture of the pollen was interesting – it felt chewy and looked like little yellow dust balls. It might have tasted better to me because it’s a super food: it contains 40% high-quality protein and a huge list of vitamins and minerals. Vitameatavegamin, anyone?

So I was actually pretty excited about trying the bee pollen matcha, hoping to get a clearer sense of what bee pollen tastes like. The powder is a fine, golden green – I imagine from the natural color of the bee pollen. I added about a half teaspoon to a cup of hot water and stirred it until frothy. It smelled very much like my usual matcha, a bit like the sea, fresh and comforting. The color of the tea was more golden, like it appeared in the container. It reminded me of the color of new spring buds.

My first impression was that the matcha was mild with a very subtle hint of honey. I had wanted to taste the bee pollen more clearly, but the matcha was definitely the dominant flavor here, as it was with the honey at the farmer’s market stall. Still, I imagined that I could taste a little bit of the pollen’s sweetness. At the bottom of the cup, I found the flecks of pollen floating about. I didn’t want to waste something that’s so good for me, so I drank it all up at once, not realizing that it would feel like I was guzzling pollen. Be careful because it can be a bit gritty when you get to the dregs.

All in all, it was a rather pleasing experience, but don’t expect to recognize the flavor of bee pollen distinctly. The bee pollen is probably there more for its health benefits and for the pretty color, than for flavor. Speaking of the health benefits, how much do we need consume to really take advantage of this super food? According to the following site, there are different recommended dosages for maximizing the benefits, but the author consumes just one to two tablespoons a day: http://www.bee-pollen-buzz.com/how-much-bee-pollen.html. This page from the same site talks about some of the possible side effects and reactions someone may have from consuming all the different types of pollen in bee pollen: http://www.bee-pollen-buzz.com/side-effects-of-bee-pollen.html.

Happy sipping!

Bee Pollen Matcha to be found here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/bee-pollen-matcha.html

This is very tasty. I love how green the dry leaves look. Delicious sweet floral flavor. I’m detecting melon and cucumber. There’s something like pastry in this. A sweet bakery aroma. Num. I really love the smell. Very refreshing. I’ll let you know how the caffeine treats me. :D usually whites make me really jittery and headachy. Black give me an alert shakey buzz. funny how different caffeine affects me differently. This tea is worth it though!

Really? No one else has logged this? Hm. Well first, thank you to Azzrian for this sample. Whatever i say about this tea, I am always grateful when people share so generously like Azzrian always does. :) At first I had intended to save this for winter because of the name but I really wanted an herbal and this was the only one I had at the office today.

It tastes exactly like vomit. Vomit all mixed up with bile and stomach acids. How does fruit and spice combine into this horrid flavor? I have no idea. I had to dump this.

Such a pretty tea though! It just wasn’t for me.

I have some of this yummy tea thanks to two very awesome people on Steepster – Amy Oh and MadelineAlyce! Thank you both awesome people! Steepster just seems to attract the most generous people.

My doggies and I went to the vet this morning. Poor things got their annual shots for various things. Vet said that Cali has an abnormally slow heart rate and an unusual rhythm. They want to do some more checking up next week. :( Then she said that we need to find out the closest emergency pet center in case he collapses due to insufficient oxygen. :( It’s so weird because he’s so much more hyper than the other dog. How can someone with boundless energy have an abnormally slow heart rate? :( He seems so normal.

While my mind isn’t completely put at ease, by this particular tea, I find that the bright lemon flavor and cute packaging is sorta helpful. I cold brewed this fantastic smelling tea overnight. I think I used a bit too much leaf, but that’s easily remedied by adding more water. It’s so delightfully refreshing and lemony. It really tastes like lemon! Like lemon zest! There’s also a bit of sweet marshmallow in the end of the sip that really makes this taste like a yummy lemon dessert. Like lemon meringue maybe. Tasty tea base as well! It’s supportive and grounding for the lemon flavoring.

I thought I already tried this one but when I tore open the bag, the strong lemon/orange aroma convinced me otherwise. I must have had this confused with one of their other oolongs. Anyways. I was expecting a subtle citrus with a creamy green oolong and slightly floral jasmine. Instead I got more jasmine flowers than tea and more lemon flavor than a lemon. I was not really a fan of this hot. It had a strong herbal flavor. So I chilled it with added water. Much better. Then I managed to get two cold brews with the same leaves. I’m going for one more overnight.

So this isn’t really the best lemon tea. I wanted to taste the oolong. But it’s alright hot but good cold. and its good for many infusions. So pros and cons. It is a very refreshing cold drink.

Edit: I just re-read this. I make no sense. But I’m tired so I’ll leave it. :P

This doesn’t really remind me of pear so much as it reminds me of apple pear cheesecake. Or cream cheese frosting. It’s unpleasantly tart hot so I let it chill in the fridge for a few hours. Cold, this tastes both refreshing and decadent. It’s like fresh apple/pear juice but there also a creaminess that’s more tangy than just cream. So all combined it’s apple pear cheesecake. I enjoyed it. :)