Skulleigh

Oh the indignity. To treat a princess like this…

It’s Monday, and I wanted something with a little more kick to it, so I tossed some Anastasia into my tea bottle to bring with me to work.

Arrived, and added some suboptimally heated water to the bottle, let it brew, then poured into a mug with a packet of Splenda and a tub of breakroom coffee creamer.

A true princess rises above these things, and comports herself with grace. As does Anastasia. You can tell she is no common working class tea. She would be much better with sugar and real cream, but she will make do with what is here.

I really do need to start bringing half and half with me to work…

Had a latte of this to accompany my lunch of rice and meatballs. Very good, the citrus was a good match to the beef.

Oh dear. I’m starting to get to the bottom of this tin. I definitely haven’t logged all the times I’ve drank this!

I made some blueberry cheesecake muffins from a mix for an afternoon snack, and this is quite a good match.

It’s my day off, so I’m sitting on the sofa with my jar of oatmeal (I make my oatmeal 5 servings at a time in canning jars on Sunday, and keep it in the fridge. Steel cut oatmeal – yum. Best discovery I have made in awhile.). I opened the cabinet where I keep my tea, wondering what I was in the mood for. One of the Kusmi Russian teas? A chai? No! My eyes spotted the sample bag of Keemun Concerto I got as a freebie in my last Adagio order. I had been waiting for a nice unrushed morning to try it out. It’s time!

I opened the bag and took a sniff. Sweet and cocoa-y. Other people call this tea “malty.” Perhaps that’s really what I mean when I say cocoa-y, but I am not sure. Calling to mind the taste of the inside of milk duds… yes, I think that might be it. I’m still going with cocoa-y though.

The leaves pretty much look like Keemun Rhapsody, and the smell is similar, but it’s less tobacco-y to me. More cocoa/malty but less pipe tobacco-like.

I brewed it in my ingenuiTea and after a short steep, decanted into my mug, added half & half and sugar and whipped it with my milk frother. Yuuuuuuum.

I may change my mind again on the in-case-of-zombies tea stash. This is gooooood. It’s more filling than my oatmeal! I’ve barely touched the oatmeal, but I have already sucked a mug of the tea down while writing this post.

Though I still agree with Hester June that pearls are probably the most efficient zombie stash. I had a sample of black dragon pearls that are probably quite similar in taste. Dang, I think I am out of that though – it would have been nice to do a side-by-side comparison.

I did my second Zombies, Run! mission after dark last night. I didn’t go as far though – not because I was fearful of zombies, but because I was afraid to busting my butt on our uneven sidewalks in the dark. I think I will stick with daylight runs for now.

Decanted the seconds steep into my mug. Trying this straight. It brewed longer, of course. Strong, and smokey. I don’t get the cocoa/malt taste in this cup. I don’t like it straight as much as I like Keemun Rhapsody – it’s heavier. Serious, if you will.

Definitely a thumbs up as a latte though. That was great.

Now to get going and start my day. I need to go bra shopping. Oh joy. :/

Grrrrr… argh…

I am so very sleepy this morning. I even hit snooze too many times and was subsequently late for work. D’oh!

So simplicity is what this morning calls for. Brewed this up in my generic tea bottle, with water out of the dispenser, which technically isn’t hot enough, but, again, simplicity. I was already heating my oatmeal.

This time, I am tasting the cocoa notes of this, which don’t usually come through for me as much. It’s a comforting, dependable tea though, and that’s what counts.

Last night, I downloaded the Zombies, Run! app to my cell phone, and went for a quick walk/occasional sprint with it. It was a lot of fun as I went around my own neighborhood, imagining it as a post-apocolyptic wasteland where I gathered supplies and ran away from hordes of shuffling undead.

I was thinking this morning that I would definitely have to add tea to my must-pick-up supplies in a Zombie invasion. This tea would be on my hoped for list. And Jasmine tea, as well. At some point, you might be reduced to Lipton teabags though. shudder

If you knew a Zombie invasion was coming, what tea would you stockpile? :D

I woke up feeling life should be more magical, and that I want to run away and join the circus. So I went to see the Mermaid.

I still want to run away and join the circus, but at least I have something nice to drink while I grouse.

I wanted a green tea this morning, since the hot water dispenser at work doesn’t get quite hot enough for black tea. I grabbed my little sample tin of this. I have only one more spoonful of the dry leaves left after this, so I might polish it off this afternoon. Hooray for reducing the stash! Brewed in my Lock & Lock tea bottle.

Nice and light, but not the best pairing with my oatmeal with bananas. The oatmeal is really obscuring my ability to taste a green tea. Black tea with my oatmeal is a better plan, and since I have steel cut oats in jars ready for the rest of this week’s breakfasts, I guess I’d better just heat water in the microwave the next two days.

I digress… Emerald Needle: Light, dare I say airy? Not too astringent, but that might be the oatmeal talking. I like it, and I know it works well iced. This might need to go on my shopping list, though I might try another company’s version to expand my experience a bit.

Another workday, another overly large spoonful of Mermaid’s Kiss. My goodness, these leaves E X P A N D ! I have to remember to use less.

Drank 2 brewings from the leaves I brought from home this morning. Just as good as last week!

I made some vanilla ice cubes from almond milk last week to try a recipe from Pinterest. I tried them with my Adagio Masala Chai, and didn’t like it. Today I tried them with this, Kusmi’s Caramel, and it’s quite good! It’s not cold all the way through, but very enjoyable. This is definitely something to play more with. I’ll be writing up more info about it on my blog, and that will probably be up Monday, if I feel like writing tonight.

Zzzzz…

I am glad my weekend starts after work today. I am so very sleepy.
Brewed this up in my generic tea bottle (not my Lock & Lock).
Too lazy to get cream and sweetener from the break room, so I’m drinking it straight.

Hopefully it will wake me up.

After exhausting the Mermaid tea, I needed something else to drink after lunch. Decided that something iced was in order, so I poked around in the drawer and pulled out this sample.

I’d swear I’d logged it before, but it didn’t even show as being in my cupboard. Snort

The leaves definitely smell peachy & sweet. Once brewed it’s mild. Doesn’t kick you in the face, or anything. It’s not something that I am really glad to drink with each sip, but it’s inoffensive for a day at the office.

I think that I need to bring this tin into work – it does really well with the temperature that work’s hot water dispenser spits out, and it was quite good as it cooled, even the batches that sat in the leaves. I drank 3 steepings through the day, discarding the last as it was very weak. But the first 2 were great with the 3rd fading.

I felt like doing something different this morning, so I tossed some of these leaves into my Lock & Lock bottle. Too many leaves! After I brewed my first cup, I pulled some of them out.

I like the light floral scent of this tea. It’s soothing. It doesn’t blow me away like the other tea in this set – Captain Assam – does. There is an aftertaste to it that just doesn’t hit me right, but I think it’s a personal taste foible, not a fault of the tea.

The last time I tried to resteep and drink this through the day, it did not deal well with sitting in its own leaves. This morning I poured it out into a cup, but the second steeping will have to sit in the leaves until I drink the first one, so I am not sure how this is going to go.

Tried to log this the other day and steepster was giving me an error.

Used up my last pouch from the sample I had, so I get to remove it from the cupboard.

Drank it iced. Nothing spectacular. Doesn’t really say Earl Grey to me, and doesn’t say Raspberry either. I won’t bother buying another tin of it.

That’s ok though, I have an empty tin from it from a a few years ago that is pretty, and I use it as a pencil cup at work. I think I just get Zhena teas for the tins!

Oh look, it’s Monday morning. That must mean it’s time for Keemun Rhapsody.

I am not feeling particularly ready to be up and at ’em this morning. Hopefully some tea and oatmeal will assist.

I could use a little more weekend.

I think the water dispenser is not heating as much as usual. It took the tea a long time to steep this morning, and it’s fairly mild. The smokey taste isn’t really as prevalent as usual. It’s still good though.

Drinking it straighted – no sweetener or cream.

Woah. I left this to brew a bit long this morning while I caught up on my email. Still pleasing, but unexpectedly jump-up-and-slap-yo’-mama strong. Not bitter though! A good pairing with my breakfast of steel-cut oatmeal and a hard boiled egg.

I think this is my first cup from my new order of this. It could be that the previous tin was just getting old. I guess I will see with the re-brewing, if it still seems strong. I think I mentioned before, but I tend to rebrew this over the day, let it cool and ice it when at work. It is a very nice no-fuss tea.

Edited to add: Oh! For the first time, I’m getting the chocolate note that the description mentions! Interesting!

I decided to try making myself an iced chai for my dinner drink tonight, and ended up making it for both me and the hubs when he decided that it sounded good. Brewed stronger than normal in my ingenuiTea. Frothed some half & half and added agave nectar for sweetening. Poured together. But when I added the ice to chill it, it watered it down too much. I’ll have to experiment again with making it stronger, or figure out a way to chill it quickly without watering it down.

I was feeling lazy this morning, and I didn’t bring my tea bottle to work with me. So teabags it is. It’s all right tea, but nothing spectacular. It doesn’t even particularly say “chai” to me. I only have 6 bags left, and when I am out I won’t get more.

I do like using their tins as pencil cups though :D

Ok, the verdict is…

Bleargh.

I didn’t like it cold brewed either. The floral note just jumps up and smacks you violently in the face, no matter what.

Soooooo… who wants some Orange Dulce? :D

Back to work. It was such a nice vacation. I’m glad the company is closed for Independence Day – I only have to work 2 days, then I’m off a day, then work 1 day, and then my normal 3 day weekend will be here. I get to ease back into working.

Threw some Jasmine #9 in my tea bottle. It came out pretty astringent this morning on the first steep. The second steeping seems better so far. I will probably do one more steep later, and start throwing ice in either this one or the next.

It’s a dependable tea. I think I’m starting to tire of it a little though. I should package up a couple of samples since I have a pound of it, and do some trades.

My cold-brewed Orange Dulce won’t be ready for awhile yet, and I needed something to drink with my microwave egg roll. I decided to go with this green tea so that I can try and polish it off – it’s one of the sample tins. So I hot brewed it strong, and poured it into a glass of ice.

This makes a pleasant iced tea. It’s grassy and mild. Not much astringency. I’m drinking it straight, with no sweetener. Which reminds me that I keep intending to make a simple syrup, but I always forget. Last time I made some, I made too much and it became a sugar crystal science experiment in my fridge. I need to make a small amount, and then remember to actually use it!

I swear I wrote a review on this previously, but I don’t see it. Maybe I just tried to do it back when the site was having hiccups.

A few years ago, when I discovered I could actually find loose teas, I bought a set of 6 Mighty Leaf sample tins. Orange Dulce was one of them, and I loved it. Flash forward to about 2 months ago, when I had a big tea shopping spree, and I ordered 4 oz of it, based on those memories. When I got it, I eagerly brewed up a cup, and… BLEARGH! It was awful, and bitter. I took some to work, and tried making some there, where the water is cooler, and still it was bitter. I tried giving that small bit at work to the tea drinker in the next cube, and she gave it back because she didn’t like it!

I am discouraged. I tried again at home. I tried it straight and unsweetened. I tried it with sugar and half & half. I tried frothing it as a latte. All disappointed me.

So now, I am trying one last time. I am using Daisy Chubb’s directions for cold-brewing (thanks, Daisy!) and if this doesn’t give me a tea I actually like, I am pouring the tea out of the cute little tin I bought for it, into a zip lock or some little disposable tub, and offering it up here in trade. There are good reviews of it, so someone out there will want it. Hopefully. I hate to see a tea go unloved.

Check back later and I’ll pronounce the verdict. :)

My little sample tin of Prince Vladimir is getting depressingly more empty. I need to be in a Russian fairy tale where the tin magically refills itself each night, and the animals of the forest help me brew it each morning.

I woke this morning with a headache, which is not the way I want to spend my last day of vacation. So I decided to brew some tea and take some ibuprofen. At first I didn’t want to use this tea, as I don’t want to run out! But I decided that a special tea is needed for headaches and mourning the end of vacation time.

I am on my second cup now, and the headache is abating, thankfully.

I haven’t mentioned it here, but I am on a self-imposed Buy Nothing Summer – no purchases except for food, personal care, and experiences (like concert or museum tickets) until after Labor Day, and I started on Memorial Day. So I’m not going to order more of this tea for at least 2 months. I have TONS of other tea anyway… but… I love this tea. I will miss it when it’s gone!

It is soothing and fragrant, not a hint of bitterness. On a lazy morning, it doesn’t slap me rudely awake, it slowly returns me to full consciousness.

As an aside, I have cheated just a bit on my Buy Nothing Summer – I did give myself leave to get some locally spun and dyed yarn when we were up North on vacation. And I replaced the tennis shoes I nearly walked a hole through in DC – the old ones went in the trash. I was going to let myself buy a couple of shirts so that I have more than just T-shirts and tank tops for Project 333 (33 items to wear for 3 months), but do you know, I couldn’t find anything that seemed worthwhile in 3 hours of shopping yesterday? When you distill your wardrobe down to far fewer items, it just doesn’t seem worth it to let in the cheap made-in-a-sweatshop crap I found at the mall.

I wonder if I can convince hubby to go get me a strawberry muffin somewhere when he wakes up. I want one so much I think I can smell it…

I hope everyone is having a pleasant morning (or whatever, where ever you are).

I’m back home, but still on vacation. So this morning, I am relaxing on my couch, drinking a cup of St Petersburg. One spoonful of sugar and some half & half, frothed with my milk frother. I can really taste the citrus this morning. It’s quite good.

What to do today? I could paint, or go take photos, or spin yarn… sometimes, the number of hobbies I have makes me not know what to do! :D