Rabs

I brought in this tea to work since it’s in a nice small tin, and it’s not my favorite (so the at work damage of tea isn’t heartbreaking). Pleasant first steep, and even after forgetting about it on the second steep (maybe 7 minutes) it is still very drinkable. Yes, there’s a bit more astringency, but it’s still hitting the spot. NE

On a side note (since this tea came as a sample with my mom’s gift of a tetsubin): I named that new (and somewhat new favorite) teapot Marsha :)

I also received my bagged tea order from BlueQ today. Egads — packaging is even cuter in person. I’m hoping to try one before I leave today, but if that doesn’t happen, then I’ll for sure try at least one tomorrow.

Uber-ultra-NOM! I spent the whole day yesterday steeping this and just looooved it. TG

On a side note I had fun typing “Holiday Tea Damn” to look this tea up on Steepster. Yes, I have no life ;)

Huh…I might actually have to bump up my rating on this one (maybe) cuz I actually craved this tonight. A full-out tea craving that I wasn’t anticipating.

I messed up the first steep because in my mind I thought “oh it’s an herbal” and steeped it accordingly. It was a bit more bitter, but still very drinkable (and I figured out my mistake). So, I gave a second steep a go which is rare for me ‘n bagged teas. Well, who knew? It’s freakin’ fantastic! I would no longer be able to identify it as “candy cane” but it’s more like a green tea with a minty twist (“with a tweest!”). It’s even cooled to room temp and I like it even more. NE

I so made the right decision to bring this tin home from work: it has to have controlled brewing to bring out its best. Winging it at work made it taste…kinda like a wimpy off-brand of Frosted Flakes. At the right time/temp with filtered water: NOM!

I was also glad that this was my first tea of the new year (Happy New Year Y’all!) since it reminds me of the tea journey I started last year since Golden Moon’s sampler was the first “big” tea purchase I’d made. I’m still a-steepin’ these leaves (adding a minute to each steep). Yuppers. This is good stuff. TG

::contented sigh::

Ah, this tea is one of the few that I’m keeping on hand at work. It’s so forgiving with the inaccurate temps and oversteeping that tend to happen. Just a great basic tea that keeps me going. NE

This was another tea in my “xmas-tea-giftbasket-of-meh.” I guess that I had really really low expectations since I’m not a fan of chamomile since having it straight-up, and I really like my spearmint plain. Well, it wasn’t as “blarg” as I’d feared. AmazonV described this as busy flavor-wise and I think that she nailed it. I’ll probably keep this one and go through the box since it’s an okay herbal, but when it’s over I will not be buying more. M

Ahh…I totally needed this today. This tea just gets me into a zen-like state at work (and I’m having to do a split shift today: blech). So on my extended two hour “lunch break” I’ve had several steeps of this gentle black tea. I’m getting less of the Sandlewood fragrance today, but that’s fine. NE

No notes yet.

This was part of a gift basket full of decaf/chai bagged teas that my good-intentioned sister-in-law put together for my Xmas gift. Bless her heart for trying (even though she has a local tea shop within 5 minutes of her house ::sigh::).

Anywho, this was the one tea that I was like “hey — this has got potential!” And it does. It’s not knocking my socks off, but it’s a rather pleasant pepperminty tea. In a future note I’ll go into detail of flavor/aroma, but I’m absolutely exhausted after watching Monday Night Football (Geaux Saints!) and need to get some sleep. Overall, thumbs-up on this tea from little ole me, and I’d consider getting more. NE

Merry Christmas to all! I received a pretty blue tetsubin teapot from my mom and a free sample of this tea came along with it. I had yet to try anything from Enjoyingtea.com, so I was pretty excited to brew some up in my new teapot (I’m torn between Marsh or Tyres for its name).

The smell of the dry leaf was almost medicinal and had me wrinkling my nose. However, I thought that it had promise. I was right — it’s much much better post-steep. It really reminds me of Republic of Tea’s Blackberry Sage which I haven’t had for years, but it was the only tea that I’d drink quasi-regularly when I was a barista.

I’m not getting any astringency, it’s a nice mellow flavored tea. I’m quite curious to see how a second steep will hold up (and will make note if it’s drastic). I wouldn’t be upset if I had purchased this, but I’m not rushing to place an order for it. However, I am now quite curious to try some of Enjoying Tea’s other wares. NE

I received this tea several days ago and waited until Christmas Eve Day to give it a try. It came with my very first epic A&D order (I purchased several sets — sigh, I’m gonna miss Select) and I wanted to wait until I had a day to thoroughly enjoy this. I was already adoring the packaging (Geek that I am, plus the spray cans and sparkly snowflake sticker and the cool holiday letter enclosed in the box. Thank you A&D for all the wonderful packaging on top of the well-named teas/company). Oh, and that shiny-shiny sticker? It’s kinda mesmerizing to look at while the tea steeps.

Anywho, WOW. I didn’t get to try the Yunnan, but if it’s anywhere near as awesome as this, then damn, am I disappointed that I didn’t get me some before it went away. This is just heavenly. It’s bold with a strong earthiness that I’ve only associated with pu’erhs before. I’m yet to be converted to a pu’erh fan, but for some reason I am truly and deeply digging how rich and earthy this is. It’s like this tea is smirking “all your soul are belong to us” as it sucks my soul.

I may be going a bit overboard since I haven’t taken time to brew a proper cup of tea in months (all of it has been at work or on the run), so this reaction may be a bit of a fall-out from 1. controlled tea-brewing conditions, 2. several days off where I get to decompress before getting back to the grind, 3. the warm-fuzzies of the holidays, and 4. having given blood yesterday afternoon.

But I do believe that if this were crap tea, then I’d know it. I just think that this is marvelous and I’m in tea nirvana right now. TG

I received my order of this (along with their Sugar Caramel Oolong and English Breakfast) yesterday — and I totally did a happy dance. At work. In front of my tea-hating boss who just rolled her eyes.

Ah, just perfect for a chilly gray afternoon. I’m starting to get the tea-warm-fuzzies again. Huzzah! TG

This was part of the single-steep package I bought along with my Kati (which I still love). Um…I’m gonna hold off rating this one right now until I can control the conditions a bit more. It really smelled and tasted medicinal and kinda icky. I got hints of its potential, but I wanna hold off total judgment until I bring some home to try with good water and an accurate kettle. But until then, M.

Yeah, so this truly is very Assamallamadingdong-ish. I was really enjoying it at first, but then it seemed to become too aggressive for me. A line was crossed and I kinda felt “blerg” about it. Also remember: I pretty much drink my tea straight up, so perhaps additives would help this a great deal.

I do have several more single servings of this, so I may try to tweak it a bit steeping-wise. And I do plan on finishing the single servings, but I think that it’ll take me awhile. M

Wow — I get a bit inactive and all this craziness happens in the Steepsterverse! (Okay, so it was a lot inactive). Well, today I brought my newly purchased Kati cup-thingy and single-serving samples from Tea Forte to work (putting the packets in my newly purchased Tardis cookie jar!). Then I chose the Earl Grey to try my first cup in the Kati. Then I steeped. Then I had a small rush of patrons and got back to the cup several minutes later. Yeah. Undrinkable. I think that I may also need to rinse the leaves first since even when I went back and had a second much-shorter steep I was getting the “Pledge-furniture polish” sensation. But I did finish that cup. But I’m able to rate this fairly — so no rating for now.

All that said, I’m really loving this cup. It’s been crazy-cold in our library and the warmth of the cup was a bit of heaven on earth. I realized that with my other mugs I tended to turn the mug so that the handle was facing away from me. So this is the perfect mug to hold like that with no handle in the way.

I also started to get that feeling of “nom — tea is nummy” that I haven’t had for most of the summer. I’m hoping to get back to posting more often, at least between now and when I need to buckle down and focus on getting accepted into the Master’s Program.

I was mourning the fact that I was out of my Jasmine #9, but then realized that I have a sample tin of this still hiding in my cupboard. So I busted it out and have been enjoying it today – it works very well in my JoeMo (unlike the Rosy Earl Grey which is a fail in travel mugs – it tastes like soap). It still has a sweeter taste than I like (a la Tootsie Roll Pops), but ahhh…it’s jasmine. ::contented sigh:: NE

And a quick update: I found out the other day that I got the Assistant Library Director job! So starting in November I’ll have a single full-time job! Woohoo! I’m going to have days off again! :D

Okay, yes, I’m in no way shape or form being consistent on here — but life has continued to be uber-crazy for me (rescinding my resignation, putting in my notice at my new library, and awaiting a possible huge promotion at my original library etc etc). At least the weather’s getting chillier so hot tea has sounded so much more appealing lately.

I ran out of GTC’s perfect-for-summer Weight Loss Tea, have a few scoops left of Adagio’s Jasmine #9, but I have a huge stockpile of this fou-fou joy. So fou-fou joy it is! I’ve been using my JoeMO travel thermos almost non-stop and it did really well with the former teas I mentioned. I think that Rosy has trouble with that sort of confinement and long steeping times. It’s still good and I get my tea fix, but the tea seems more “flat” and almost fakey-frou-frou (like what Barbie would drink if she drank tea). But overall, it still is a great girlie drink to help me get through my hectic 2 part time job days (which may become hectic single full time job days). Overall TG, but in the traveler it’s NE.

I actually tried a new tea last Friday, and it’s only taken me ::counts on fingers:: five days to log it! I guess this shows how out of it I’ve been because when I tried it I thought it was supposed to be smokey, so I was utterly unimpressed. But adding this tea to the database I realized it was just a blend of blacks. Woops. So I feel that I cannot give it a true rating (plus I drank it while having an important meeting with my librarian mentor — so I was even more so distracted). NE

Yes, I live (sort of)! I miss my Steepster and more importantly my Steepsterites, but post-GRE life has gone from crazy to head explodey. I’m out of my nummy GTC Weight Loss Tea (I made my weight goal – huzzah!) so it’s been all about Jasmine #9. I did go wild and finally tried Samovar’s Four Seasons courtesy of JacquelineM, but it was at a librarian retreat and I had no control over water temp — it was good, but I could tell that the water was too hot. Anywho, tea life has been extremely unexciting. Sorry :(

I also want to reassure everyone who was gracious enough to share contact info with me — I do promise that I plan to send out packages! I humbly apologize that none have gone out yet, but if I would have known how insane my life would become in these few months, then I would have held off (I’m still working at both libraries and the library director at one just resigned, and my mom was in the hospital — she’s doing fine). Just know that I do see a light at the end of the tunnel and I’m 90% sure that it isn’t a train.

Well whaddaya know? I’m actually drinking something besides Jasmine #9, Weight Loss, or Rosy Earl Grey and I’m writing a note! It’s gonna be a short one since I’m now T-minus 6 days to the GRE. My mind is swimming with Analogies, Antonyms, and other Quantitative crap (i.e. math stuffs) and I really needed some zen-like tea. I haven’t had this in awhile since the last time I steeped some, one of my brothers was visiting and he compared the smell to a certain type of liquid medicine. I needed some time to not associate it with that — it’s still hovering in the back of my mind, but I’m still enjoying it. ::sigh:: NE

Since the wonderful Morgana called me out of hiding this morning I felt it imperative that I follow through with my statement that I should have some of this tea tonight. And to also log it. I have no clue how long I let this bad boy steep — I’m thinking that it was less than five minutes. It started off just as I remembered (mango lotion), but then got really weak and more reminiscent of rooibos gone stale and sort of ick. I really need to watch the time. I still find it a pretty decent decaf option. NE

On a personal note: I’ve been on survival mode as I transition from one library to another (which equals 6 day workweeks with long commutes), and getting ready for the GRE (which is now officially scheduled for the first week of September). I’ve been on an emotional/mental rollercoaster and I’m really hoping that things calm down soon. Oh, but at the new library there is a core group of tea-drinkers! Huzzah!

I met my college advisor/mentor at a local coffee shop yesterday and was floored to discover that they carry loose leaf tea as well. I plan to go back when I don’t have a meeting to ask the friendly baristas more questions. The one thing that I’m very concerned about is that they have their teas in glass jars. Yes, they’re near the back of the shop, but still I’d like to think that they’re UV resistant. I also want to find out if they’d let me bring in a gaiwan to use instead of their cup and strainer-thingy. And water temps, and yeah, I’m trying to spread out my questions over time so I’m not that customer. ;)

Anywho, I was pleased when one of the guys raised his eyebrow and asked “have you had this tea before?” And I got to explain that I’ve had many lapsangs, but not this specific one (I need to find out who their supplier is as well). He laughed and told me some funny stories about customers’ reactions. The tea itself was fine. It wan’t the best and it wasn’t the worst. Not a lot of depth, but I still got the nice “plantiness” that underlies some lapsangs. It did its job and I enjoyed the cup. NE

I decided that I needed a yummy zen-like tea to get me through the day. Ah yes, this one hits the spot. I really noticed the butteriness of this one starting with the second steep — it almost felt like I’d applied lip balm (bizarre, but true). This tea just makes me happy from the aroma to the taste to the warm fuzzies it imparts. I lost count of the infusions, but there were many. TG

Sweet baby Jesus on a pogostick! I can’t even begin to describe the waking nightmare I had yesterday when I gave my notice to my soon-to-be ex-boss (and it’s continued into today via emails). I’ll leave it at that.

I’m not a chocolate fan, but after the horrendous 48 hours I needed something that felt like a treat (and that wasn’t alcoholic). And here’s my nummy Chocolate Mint tea to the rescue! The mint seems to be almost biting in its aroma today – it could be because my kettle went up to boiling (I’d meant for it to stay just under). And the bonus stress that’s been heaped onto everything else is probably warping my tea experiences again. But lordy, is this hitting the spot. NE

Again, sorry that I’ve been so sporradic in regarding to posting and reading/commenting. Let me assure you that I plan on getting back into the swing of things again — I just need to survive the next several weeks (at least that’s what I’m telling myself). I’ve truly enjoyed escaping into all your notes when I’ve had the time — it’s been a great way to decompress, so thank you all :)