Rabs

I had tea fail this morning.

I had picked up a small packet of those powdered sugar doughnuts on my way home from work yesterday as a treat for this morning (I had barely survived my first week of the Summer Reading Program). I had actually forgotten about them until after I had started steeping this tea. So I had several very yummy sips and then started in on the mini-doughnuts. It tasted great, but on the third mini-doughnut the pairing suddenly became a bad one. My super-yummy tea morphed into (parents, cover your children’s eyes) CHICKEN BROTH!

::bursts into tears::

I went and brushed my teeth knowing that the mint toothpaste would also be a bad tea combo, but I felt that it was the lesser of two evils. I made it through the very cooled first steep and had high hopes for the second. I can sense how yummy this tea is, but I keep getting flashes of “chicken broth.” Thus I shall hold off on giving this tea an official rating. Based on the first few marvelous sips I’d say that this tea’s baseline rating for myself is probably 85.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

NOM! NOM! NOM!

That is all.

I just finished my Shakespeare sample of this ::tear:: and it was just as yummy as the first time around for me. I got the same beignet sweetness and smoke-filled oomph. The smoke this time around reminded me of when I’d clean out my fireplace in Colorado: the remnants of a cozy fire. I also got a bit more of an almost metallic-like taste — it wasn’t unpleasant, but it was worth noting since I can’t say that I’ve had that experience with a lapsang before. Just a great smokey tea. TG

::happy dance::

I cold brewed this puppy and finally tasted the fruits of my Frank’s labor tonight. Thus the dance of happiness.

I smiled when I was scooping the tea into my pitcher since I think that from any other company I would’ve freaked out at the sight of a ginourmous hunk-o-something amongst the chippies. But since it’s a 52teas blend I figured that it had to be pineapple (it was).

It’s been years since I’ve had a pina colada, but most of me says that this tea captures a non-alcoholic version. But then I start second-guessing myself. I think the solution is that I need to find a real pina colada in the near future to compare it to ;)

What I can say for sure is that this is one of the best honeybush blends that I’ve had so far. It’s also one of the best iced teas that I’ve had so far. TG

Doulton’s Shakespeare: A Tasting Note in 5 Acts
Act IV scene 7

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.
Sonnet 130

As Act IV closes on the Shakespeare box I hate to admit it, but what I have remaining are the teas that I kept shuffling out of the way of the other teas that caught my eye. There are only a few more teabags and chais left (sorry chai lovers! I’m rather wary of chai as a loose leaf tea since I’m too lazy to do anything with it beyond steep it. Hopefully this box changes my mind in this area). The upside is that because I’m less excited about the final teas it means that my pace of writing notes will slow, thus I can stretch out the joy of writing these notes a while longer.

It was mainly for this reason that I dubbed Mighty Leaf’s Organic Earl Grey one of Shakespeare’s great sonnets. I had lower expectations, but my first Mighty Leaf experience was a pleasant surprise. The tea itself was a nice Earl Grey, but nothing remarkable. It was smooth, didn’t taste “Pledgey” to me, and was one of the better bagged teas that I’ve experienced thus far. This tea gave me pause to think about trying to experience more bagged teas on my tea journey. Even though I don’t “look down on” teabags I realized that I have almost exclusively focused on loose leaf teas.

I may not wax poetic about this or other bagged teas, but they definitely have a place in my cupboard. NE

This has become my first ever “go to” tea when it comes to the tea I drink for commutes and throughout my workday. Today I’m tasting more of the tea and it’s still wonderful. It’s just a giant-thermos-o-soothing.

::contented sigh::

^Rawr!

Eh, there’s nothing the matter with this tea. It’s orangey and oolongey, it gets a smiley face, but… It’s nice and orangey — smells fresh and good. The oolong seems more earthy. It’s a good balance. I had three nice steeps (adding a minute per steep). I guess that for the most part I’m not a huge fan of flavors added to oolongs. I just want amazing oolongs that show off all by themselves. I’ll happily finish off the generous sample that Daniel Mann sent me when I feel like having a fruity tea, but it won’t be on my reorder list. NE

No notes yet.

Oh yes — this is even nummy in my JOEmo mug. It’s brightening a quasi-dreary day :)

This tea called to me this morning after reading Doulton’s fabulous write-up on it the other day. I think it was pre-Shakespeare box when I had this last, so I was quite curious to see what I now thought of it. While it steeped I looked at the back of the tea packet where a somewhat lengthier description was written. It was a somewhat vindicating moment in that is mentions Keemun and Lapsang Souchong. The Tea Guys’ website mentions only Keemun and Darjeeling! I thought that I was going crazy as I tried to taste Darjeeling in my earlier cups and kept thinking, “but it tastes more like a Lapsang — maybe it’s how Keemun and Darjeeling interact that makes it smokey?”

With my mind no longer distracted by trying to find things that weren’t in the blend I found this more enjoyable. I think that it’s my favorite Keemun blend by far, and a decent Lapsang Souchong blend. I want to try this tea at boiling next time since I’m getting a dryness at the back of my throat. Bumped up the rating from a 78. NE

ETA: Oh, just remembered the Rose Keemun blend that I loved from the Shakespeare box — so this would be my second-most favorite Keemun blend :)

It was the first day of our Summer Reading Program at the library, so I needed something both yummy and sanity-saving. Earl Grey Cream to the rescue! I now know the secret ingredient (mwahahaaaa!) and I have to say that it truly is the right amount for optimum numminess. I’m dying for another Steepsterite to try this and put in their 2 cents. I’m also dying for Daniel to make this available for sale (hint-hint), because I’m not going to place my order until this is available ;) Bumping the rating up by a point! TG

I also have found the right equation for my JOEmo thermos:
1 tsp and 165 degrees.

What an amazingly nice surprise! I knew that I wanted something with caffeine this evening, and preferably something from Georgiea Tea Company (I want to place an order soon, so I need to try all my samples STAT!). This one was labeled “oolong” so I went with it. Mmmmm…oolong… I thought I recalled that TeaEqualsBliss had reviewed this positively, but part of me still went “erm, anything named ‘weight loss’ isn’t going to taste too nummy.” For once I love being wrong.

The leaves (both dry and wet) smelled…planty? I couldn’t even say. I noticed some things non-plantlike in the mix, but couldn’t identify what the little nuggets were. I forgot about the nuggets until I finally looked this tea up on my second steep.

The taste? I don’t know if I can do this justice. What I kept thinking as I drank my first cup was “this is like drinking the happiest plant on the planet!” It’s like a subtly sweet plant — perfectly delightful. Happy plant = happy tea = happy me

The second steep is just as great (added a minute). I finally broke down and looked this tea up and saw there was green tea along with oolong, mango, and papaya. I can hardly believe it! I also read TEB’s note and have to completely agree with her. This tea is greater than its parts — it’s beautifully blended. This is going on my “must buy” list. TG

NOM! There’s just something wonderful about starting a grey drizzly day with a fantastic smoky tea. This is the last pot of Georgia Tea Company’s smoky teas (I have enought LS for a travel mug) until I place an order ::sniffles:: TG

Usually when I receive samples it’s the Lapsang Souchongs and other smokey teas that I usually separate from the rest of the teas. With the Georgia Tea Company samples it was this tea that I immediately separated from the rest. This puppy is fra-grant! This is also the most confetti-like tisane that I’ve ever seen. I had a moment of panic when I scooped the tea thinking that a metal shaving had somehow gotten into the mix! But no — it’s some sort of uber-shiney petal. And I agree with Kristin that it looks like there are carrots in there.

The smell? It really reminds me of Twizzlers. Strange, but true! The taste is like a healthy, more tart version of Twizzlers. I think that the tartness would probably fade with some sort of additive (like Kristin did with the agave nectar). I also think that this could be amazing iced. I’ve never been a big fan of fruit tisanes, but this was a pleasant surprise. NE

I’ve been meaning to try this one since I received the sample, and today’s Steepster Select was a great reminder. The smell and taste of this tea really reminded me of the Tea Guys’ Mango Rose without the Mango (the tea I was all “Nerds!” about and therefore think that the mango aspect pushed it further into the candy category than this tea).

It’s a really pleasant floral tea. My second steep has cooled off completely and it’s still nice. I will definitely order this one when I finally place another TeaFrog order, but I’m more of a “Nerds!” girl and if I had to chose between the two, then this one wouldn’t make the cut. NE

ANGEL FOOD CAKE!!!!!

I’m not even 1/3 of the way through my huge mug-o-tea, but I couldn’t help myself because from the moment I smelled this tea I was transported to childhood when my mother would make angel food cake from an old family recipe (including homemade cherry frosting). The only difference would be if you substituted coconut frosting for the cherry and toned down the sweetness.

The cup is more coconutty, but the flavors still blend beautifully. I think that perhaps I may be transforming into a coconut fan. I think that the other flavors may come out more prominently as the cup cools, but I’m having trouble putting my cup down so it might not get a chance to cool off much before it’s all in mah tummy. I will edit if anything else needs noting, but oh my lordy: yum! TG

ETA: I think that I finished off my first cup in record time! The fragrance was pretty intense throughout all of it. I’m having my second steep now and I think that I like it even more than the first. The flavors are all meshed beautifully and I’m getting more of the tea base. I love the second steep of this tea. Another big thank you to Daniel Mann for this sample!

What a great way to start my day! I actually slept in past 10am (gone are the days where I could sleep ‘til 1 or 2 in the afternoon ::sigh::). I’m getting a lot more of the sweetness in the first steep this time around. I also drank most of my first cup while having pizza and it paired really well with it. I only have enough left for one more pot so I need to get crackin’ and really try the rest of my Georgia Tea Company samples that the generous Daniel Mann sent to me because there will be an order as soon as I get my mid-month paycheck. TG

I had three rather pleasant steeps of this tea this afternoon/evening using my huge mug. I don’t think that I’ve had a plain “Formosa” oolong. I tried doing some research (i.e. I looked at two sites and then gave up), but I came up no more wise. My brain just sort of glazes over when I start trying to figure out locales/types of oolongs. I was really feeling impressed with myself when I could go “oh, that’s gotta be a Wuyi.” And then I visited Life in Teacup’s site and my head ’sploded a little.

All this is to say I can’t really grade this as an oolong. It has a great peachy smell both with the dry leaf and steeped cup. I got hints of “planty” oolongishness (as opposed to “veggie” or “earthy”). It’s a really pleasant tea but I prefer a bit more “oomph.” I’m quite curious to try it iced. NE

My first 52teas order arrived yesterday — woohoo!!!!! I was too pooped from work and had so many other things to catch up on that I decided to wait until today to start steepin’ (but you can bet your sweet bippy that I opened them all last night and sniffed the leaves). Yummy!

So, I bet you’re looking at the tea that I’m rating and giving me the hairy eyeball. I know what y’all must be thinking: “but she goes on and on about how she doesn’t like chocolate, and yet she buys a big honkin’ 4 oz tin of this?!?! She cray-zay!” Yes, I am, as I think you’re thinking “cray-zay.” I actually really like Girl Scout Thin Mints — they’re sort of in their own realm of chocolate. But then again they’re not available year round, so that makes them more of a treat. I generally prefer my chocolate mixed with other things such as peanut butter, mint, cookies, caramel, etc (never chunky nuts — blech). But even then I can only do a little at a time and then I’m good for at least a month or more in regard to consuming chocolate. So, I think that my tin of this should last well over a year. Well, unless my Mom steals it from me.

This tea truly is like a liquid Thin Mint. It’s sort of like having a smooth black tea while eating a box of those cookies. Like you’ve just swallowed your cookie and then quickly taken a sip of tea. NOM!

This tea also helped me stop crying after a second mystery Samovar package showed up today. It turned out to be my original order that had been mis-handled. I thought that the original package would be sent to me — apparently not. This original box that I received today (2 days after sending out the Geek Prizes almost a week late) has the super-special prize for the Geek Pride grand prize winner placed in a nice gift box whereas the replacement shipment had everything thrown in and individually wrapped up in TONS of bubble wrap (you’ll eventually see Cait — again I apologize). The boxed item takes up about a third of the space of what I sent out to Cait. I was moved to angry tears because I was so very excited to place my first Samovar order and it has turned into such a nightmare. I don’t plan on ever repeating this nightmare ever again — I didn’t spend this much money to get so much grief. I’m awaiting a response from Samovar to see what on earth I’m supposed to do with this box that I don’t want and I’m angry that I have to deal with it. At least I wasn’t double-charged because I couldn’t afford that (my car payment would have bounced). If that had happened, then you would’ve seen Rabs really really mad.

Sorry for the venting, but it does come back around to my conclusion:

All of this frustration seemed to melt away once I sent off my email to Samovar and I was able to concentrate on this wonderful tea. I’m definitely tickled pink with Frank’s customer service and free shipping. The thought of spending my money (and knowing how much further it’ll go) at places like 52teas gives me hope in my tea future. TG