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This is a delicious example of a Fujian Black tea as a type. Bready and caramelly and just very nice. Took half of my pot to work in a tumbler (stands up to that treatment very well) and drank the other half in the morning while taking meds (deserves better than that treatment). Just a really good tea.

Made correctly this time with 3 teaspoons (1 tbsp) per 500 ml (2 cups).

ETA: Second steep was just as good, though I’m not going for a 3rd.

Was trying to clear a bit off of my limited counter space and had 2 boxes of this taking up space so I used 8 tea bags (7 in one box and opened the other) to make iced tea in my 2 quart pitcher. Set the kitchen timer for 8 hours since I didn’t do it overnight this time and let it cold steep. Was pretty good about taking it out in time, added one spoonful of sugar (using my sugar spoon, not the tea spoon) for each cup in it (8) and shook it up. Then I let it sit because I was drinking hot tea and I didn’t want the sweetness to screw up my Elderwood.

This morning/afternoon, I tried it out. It’s a bit strong, so I’m letting the ice cubes melt a bit, but otherwise, the tea to sugar ratio is pretty good and it isn’t bad tasting, so I’ll consider this a successful iced tea. I’m historically terrible at iced tea so I take my victories where I can. This is older tea too, I generally keep it around for my mother but she hasn’t visited in the last year and a half or so (I visited her and then we went on a joint trip to London and the family reunion in the summer so it’s not like I didn’t see her at all, plus I call her almost every night), so it was getting old. Not that almost all of my tea collection isn’t super old, but I was justifying.

Anyway, a bit sleep deprived still. Just woke up from a nap and realized that I’d sacrificed half of my second Elderwood steep to a travel mug that was still a bit soapy so had to pour that out. Bleh. Today is full of chores and veterinarian visits (preventative) because tomorrow I go back to work for the first time in more than 5 weeks. Yay successful surgery.

So I like to stack my activities on my ‘get up from the couch and computer’ periods because evicting the cats from my lap is a time consuming and guilt inducing process and I try to limit that. So this period involved (in order): bathroom, panning for gold in los rios gatos, trash (including bathroom trash and the big stupid plastic bags in the bedroom that the cats keep licking in the middle of the night, I hate that noise), setting up the laundry, making tea, going for a 15 minute walk on the demon hill, coming back to made tea (yay!) and then sitting down again.

I told you this so you would understand why I keep coughing. It is below 50F right now (which is ridiculously warm compared to the rest of the US, but still cold when I only sort of put a coat on and then go for a walk in the dark). During my walk, which was a bit more strenuous than I’ve been doing in my surgery recovery process, I was breathing through my mouth and since then I haven’t been able to stop coughing :(

Anyway, this tea is helping with the coughing a bit, since it’s a warm liquid on my poor throat. I’m glad I read the reviews before sipping for the first time because I was expecting a bit more vanilla in this vanilla tea but the third review down, WP put in a comment that he blends to accentuate the notes present in the base tea rather than attempting a face-punch vanilla flavour. I prefer the latter, usually, but this is definitely the former and it’s none the worse for it because it DOES, in fact, accomplish that goal. The base tea is definitely a really really nice black tea and the milder vanilla is really very nice with it and makes it seem like there isn’t a vanilla ingredient at all, but just that it’s a really vanilla-y black tea, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I’ve figured out how to enjoy the first cup of my pots of WP tea now, which is to ignore the instructions on the bag and add approximately a teaspoon per 250 ml instead of half that. Perhaps once I acclimate my tastebuds again, I’ll be able to go back to the milder flavours, but right now they’re used to soda again and I haven’t had much tea these last few months.

tl;dr: this is a good mild vanilla-y black tea. Approved.

Tasty. Fruity. Possibly one of the better fruity blacks I’ve had in a while. Inoffensive base with a fruity overlayer, though I’m not sure I could pick which better off the lineup that it was by taste. Good though. This came free in my Republic of Tea catalogue a few months ago.

Still good, despite it’s age. Made exactly as directed for cold matcha with no extra additives.

Possibly due to the fact that I haven’t had any tea in 4-5 months except bad restaurant iced tea, but this tastes thinner than I was expecting.

Still good though. Because I am going to have to readjust to bitterness levels of tea, I added more sweetener than normal but otherwise enjoyed.

Definitely vanilla with chocolate and I’m enjoying the fujian notes I’m getting. Weird taste in the back of my throat after swallowing though.

Roswell Strange sent me a bit of this in trade and I have to say that it is pretty amazing. There’s a bit of a bite to the end of the sip that I can’t quite track down the reason for but the tropical feeling of coconut and pineapple are very delicious together. I added milk and sugar because I do that for black tea and it’s become a sweet dessert.

I have no idea if this is my first tasting note for this tea and I can’t be bothered to look through the more than 200 notes on this already. So. Here we go.

This is the base of my delicious Golden Earl that I’m getting more of (whoo) so I am pre-disposed to liking it but it’s actually more bready and spicy than I expected, like there’s a hint of cinnamon in the brew.

I am enjoying this, at least. I think this is the 2013 harvest rather than 2014 because it came from an old old order that got lost and I just opened recently (and was very confused about). Still, quite good.

Forgot and oversteeped this but I think what this experience has reminded me is that if I’m not in the exact mood for oolong, I shouldn’t drink any. And I am very rarely in the mood for oolong. :(

I managed to pick some of the full leaf sachets up before they disappeared. Put 2 into a large mug and steeped this morning.

Refreshingly minty and nice. I enjoy the little bit that the tarragon puts in the flavour though I couldn’t describe it.

I don’t like Mondays.