Skulleigh

Dangit. I really should have converted the Celcius on the package to Fahrenheit. I used water too hot for this tea. It shows. It’s astringent and not tasty.

I want to like rose tea, but I never seem to have good luck with it.

I just have the one teabag that was sent as a sample with one of my Kusmi orders, so I can’t even try again.

I need something to wake me up slowly this morning, so this tea, of the ones in my stash at work, this fit the bill. I like that it’s pretty subtle for a Christmas tea, so I don’t really feel weird drinking it “out of season.”

My throat is kind of sore after last night’s drinking and talking loudly with friends. So I thought I would give this a try. I have a small tin of it from Kusmi’s wellness sampler.

I get what another reviewer said about it having a cigarette flavor/smell. It’s not overwhelming in my cup though. I think I might try steeping for a shorter time next pot – I set it to steep and then folded a load of clothes, so it is a bit strong. I was unsure of the water temp since green tea wants cooler vs boiling for herbs. I went with 190. As a result, I think the mate is overwhelming everything else. I get just a hint of lemongrass.

So shorter time, cooler water next time I think, and I want to try it iced.

Woof. Do NOT let this stuff oversteep. I got my cup together to steep and got distracted – now it’s bitter. Blergh. Even added more splenda and it’s not helping.

I made bad tea :( I’m still drinking it, slowly and unhappily.

Grandpa style tea time, now that my first cup of the day was consumed.
Grabbed this tea to bring to work this morning since I didn’t have time to refill my mini-tins with other stuff.

Got this with the spring collection I ordered a bit ago – in April, I think.

I want to like coconut, but I think I’ve been a non-fan too long. The leaves unfurl big and beautifully, and from what I can taste of them, I think they’d taste quite nice on their own. But the coconut flavor just overwhelms everything.

This makes for a nice, gentle, breakfast tea. It doesn’t overwhelm you, it’s not astringent, and has a slightly malty scent.

I think I need to explore more Assams more intentionally now – I’ve had a few now – this one, another from Adagio, and one from Andrews & Dunham, and I quite like them. So after my summer buying fast, I’ll probably look for some ordering ideas.

Yay! An empty envelope! I am polishing this sample off today.

It’s an interesting tea, and I am glad that I tried it, but it’s not something that I will be ordering.

My morning tea was Prince Vlad + 2 Splenda + a Mini-Moo (single serve tub of half&half)

My stock at work needs replenishing. I need to sort out the cupboard at home and bring some more in.

I made this a little weak, and not as sweet as I would have preferred. Still pretty good, and I am liking Almond Coconut milk with it.

I’m eyeing the spaces developing in my tea cupboard warily. Tomorrow, I start my 3rd Annual Buy Nothing summer (see my blog, evilwidgets.com for details) which means I can’t buy anything except living basics from Memorial Day to Labor Day. A little over 3 months.

It’s good for me to start a steepdown and use up all those sample packs and tins I currently have. But there are a few things I’m low on that I love – this tea, Prince Vladimir. Yeeks.

But I know from the last 2 years that I can do this! clutches her cup nervously

I didn’t really like this Chai too much, and didn’t even log any except the first cup.

I tried brewing up the last bit of it today, and it just wouldn’t do much – it looked watered down. So I added some Andrews & Dunham Assam and that gave it much more body.

But now I’m out of the Phoenix. But that’s a little more room in my cupboard.

Decided to go for a second cup, and I’m glad I went with a plain tea instead of a blend.

Eh. I don’t know if I’m losing my taste for Earl Grey teas, or if this one is just kinda meh. Like the other DavidsTeas I picked up recently, with the exception of a milky Oolong and a pu’er, it’s too candy-like.

I may gift it to someone.

I have not had many oolongs that were not bagged teas. I have been wanting to try more, so when I made my first ever order to DavidsTea, I included this, and I am glad I did.

It’s so very creamy and light, and smells wonderful, both as dry leaf and brewed. It’s just the thing today when I’m not feeling my usual energetic self.

I am glad I got this tea, as I’ve been a little disappointed at the “candy-ish” nature of the other teas I ordered from Davids.

Backlogging from yesterday.

Hubs and I whipped up a psuedo-Indian dinner last night – I made calrose rice as sticky rice, we had lentil soup and chicken cooked with sweet curry powder over it, with sticky rice and mango for dessert. I decided that I wanted some chai to go along with it, and brought out this sample. I’d tried it once before, but for some reason I remembered incorrectly, and thought I hadn’t liked it before. I figured I would give it another try and if I “still” didn’t like it I’d bring it to work and foist it off on a coworker.

Brewed it up and before decanting it from my ingenuiTea into my cup I frothed some Almond and Coconut milk with some Splenda and it made an awesome cup. I had my hubby (who I have only been able to get to like Twinings loose leaf Earl Grey so far) to taste it. He liked it! He ASKED FOR A CUP! :D

The almond & coconut milk really complemented the spices. I’m looking forward to having the rest of the sample!

Blargh. Not enough sleep. We had storms roll through DFW early this morning, and it woke me up.

Been drinking this tea at work all week, it’s a really good blend for that. Makes a nice morning cup.

PS – give to the Red Cross if you can please – between storm season and the fertilizer plant explosion in West last night, they are going to need the resources!

Mmmmm. Good tea for my late breakfast. Tempted to take this to work.

This! This is the tea I wanted and didn’t know I wanted today. Got a set of Kusmi’s woo-ey well-being teas in mini-tins, and this is one of them.

It’s kind of like a very light chai, with a bit of licorice which is blended really well. I really like it, though I think it would be easy to over-do it. This is maybe a once-in-a-while tea, not an everyday tea.

Made it as a latte, with splenda & half&half.

Eeeeeh. Not so much.

First, I totally messed up in reading, and thought it was TWO cha bonbons. So I got more than I thought I was getting. Whoops.

Ok, next, brewed it up in my gaiwan, and oh, there’s the fishy smell. Ick.

Poured the first batch, and saw a hair in my teacup. Ok, I know these are made by human beings (almost typed OF, hehe – Soylent Cha is made of people!) and I’m sure there’s worse but in small pieces I can’t see. I just can’t handle seeing that. So I took a small sip and dumped it, because it just didn’t really impress me. I guess I am just not a Pu’erh person. Don’t know what I’m going to do with the rest of the bon-bons.

Bear with me Steepsterites, I’m logging a teaful day. Got lots of teas recently, so I’m going through and trying them all.

I love A&D’s design sense, and adore the Mt Gray magnet that came with the tea. Even though I had a hard time finding the tea on here since as far as I’m concerned, they spelled Grey wrong :D

I made a latte with Mt Gray this morning, and it was all right. I think I’m kind of tired of Earl Greys, there’s so much else to explore. It’s decent though. But I have so many other EGs and love my Kusmis, so I kind of wish I’d gotten the trio with Russian Caravan instead of this.

I’m sure I’ll drink it though, and probably make a few for my hubby.

Got a sample of this with my DAVIDsTEA order last week. Brought it to work with me to start off the morning. Unfortunately, it’s just too frou-frou for me. At least to start off this morning. I wish I had something more basic but malty, instead of this.

Maybe I’m “growing out” of flavoured teas? I’d rather have a really good plain black than something with all kind of stuff added to it.

Got a sample of this with my recent order.
Not bad, I enjoyed it with a little bit of sweetening.
I don’t know that I would order it for myself, but wouldn’t turn it down if offered it.

Hmmm, I was hoping I’d like this for an after yoga, non-caffeinated drink. But no, not really. I think I’d rather have a decaf green over this. I’ll keep searching though.

Minty, not tasting the apple or the licorice. I might try it with a sweetener next time, and it might be nice iced for an after run drink.

Backlog from the night before last.

Decent basic green tea. This was a sample bag I got with one of my previous orders from Kusmi. I am pretty low on good green teas in my stockpile, so this might be a candidate for a future order. Goes well with sushi. I think it would go well with some peppermint, so I’d like to try their Moroccan as well.

Hm.

I got a teabag of this as a sample with the Kusmi order I received in the mail yesterday. I thought at first “Yay, chocolate!” but after brewing and adding in a packet of splenda and some half & half, it seems pretty watered down. The black tea didn’t have enough umph to make a good cup. It’s almost like perhaps I got an old teabag, or someone swapped it out for leaves from a grocery store teabag.

I expect way more quality out of Kusmi, so I am surprised. Definitely won’t order more.