Tealizzy

I had two steeps of this tea yesterday too. It was an oolong day! This tea was definitely a dark oolong, with some roastiness, but ever so delicate. I was really surprised at how delicate it was, actually. I could taste a peachy note, but that was slight as well. I also felt like the leaves weren’t big enough. I like it when oolongs have big leaves! It makes it seem like better quality, although I’m not sure if that’s always the case!

I enjoyed 3 steeps of this yesterday. It’s a little floral, but not as strongly floral as I was expecting, given the name. I got mostly a fresh, crisp, veggie taste for all three steeps. Much different than the buttery, creamy oolongs I’ve had. It brewed into a really pretty yellow color. Not bad, but probably not one I’d seek out. I think I prefer my oolongs to be buttery! ;)

Somehow, icing this made it more palatable to me. I think it has something to do with me being more okay with non-black teas iced rather than hot. I do like cookie dough ice cream, so that could be it. Still not my favorite though. I think white teas are better flavored with fruit. They really should have made this a black tea!

In an effort to clear out my cupboard of teas that I wasn’t a fan of hot, I’m trying this one iced. Yuck, still not a fan. I think it has something to do with the walnut. SIPDOWN, though!! ;)

Tried this one out today. I have a bunch of oolong samples I got from Harney’s that I’ve been saving for an afternoon at home. Gotta have my black teas in the morning, ya know!

This oolong is pretty good. I love the creamy, buttery texture. Very thick! I mostly get vegetal and floral notes, but can’t quite discern them. Very relaxing for the afternoon. I think it’s a little similar to other oolongs I’ve had and nothing in particular stands out. Because of that and because it’s pretty darn pricy, I probably won’t order more, but I will enjoy the remainder of my little sample bag. :)

I like this one loads better today! I think it’s because I taste more coconut, and it’s better blended. I steeped it for a minute longer than last time, so maybe that’s why. It seems that Harney’s black teas like a 5 minute steep. I still love the flowers! So pretty! I still can’t say whether I’d buy more of this, but I’m definitely enjoying it!

Better hurry up though cuz we’re going to see Man of Steel for the second time already!!! Yes, we saw it last night, and my husband is a huge superman fan, so we are going AGAIN. I’m actually excited to see it again because after last night I think I’ve developed a bit of a crush on Henry Cavill! So cute! ;)

First tea of the morning and what a comfort! This one really hit the spot today. I love when that happens!! A perfect tea for your mood. Still my favorite earl grey-like tea!

Sipdown!

Ya know, I liked this tea a lot more when I first got into loose leaf. Now, I’ve kinda lost interest. It definitely has a cookie taste to it, but I think I’ll skip restocking it so I can save room for other yummier tea!

Got this tea in the last Lupicia newsletter. It’s a loose leaf sachet, but I like the bags they use. I really thought this was delicious. I was pleasantly surprised. It has a great strawberries and cream flavor, heavy on the cream, although that might’ve been because I added some milk. ;) I wasn’t sure what the rose added to the flavor, if anything, but the petals were pretty! I think I would definitely pick some of this up next time I’m at Lupicia!

This tea reminded me a lot of Florence. It must be Harney’s chocolate flavoring. The flowers are really pretty! I think those should be added to more teas! Not sure if they impart flavor, as I didn’t notice anything particularly floral. In my opinion, this needs more coconut. I think the chocolate overpowered the coconut. I got a little more coconut as it cooled and in the aftertaste, but not as much as I was expecting. To tell you the truth, I didn’t see coconut in the dry leaf, but maybe they just use flavoring? Fortunately, the sample I bought is big enough for multiple cups, so I’ll definitely be trying this one again.

I’m here! Really I am! I haven’t had much time for Steepster because we drove down to San Diego last weekend for a wedding, and then I was just exhausted. The trip back was pretty much a nightmare. Now that I’ve recovered some, I’m back!

While we were down there, we stopped at Downtown Disney to have lunch with a friend, and guess what I got? Alice in Wonderland tea ware! So cute! I got a teapot and two cups with saucers. I was hesitating because I’m pretty frugal, but my husband convinced me. He’s a good husband. ;)

I was going to pick up a tin of loose leaf, but the tea ware came with a ton of bagged tea…the same flavors as the loose leaf, so I didn’t, although the loose leaf might be better. So, my review here is of the bagged version.

This tea turned out to be a pretty good, balanced blend. I definitely tasted the peach, apricot and ginger. I was happy that the ginger wasn’t overpowering. Not amazing, but not bad. And may I say, freaking CUTE packaging!!

Btw, I’ve re-watched the mad tea party scene from the movie on Netflix twice now. :D

Sipdown!

Enjoyed the remainder of this tea iced! It wasn’t bad, but the coffee beans made the tea a little bitter, so I ended up adding double the sugar I usually do. Probably won’t get this again, but it was fun to drink!

In other news, we are still battling ants. I just bought a bunch of waterproof sealed plastic containers to put all my tea in, and I couldn’t believe I filled them all up including some I already had! Time to work on sipdowns!!

I feel like a Steepster slacker! I’ve not been able to keep up my notes on a daily basis, but I’m still here!

I HAD to pick up this tea when I saw it come out. There was no question. I am a big fan of French toast. It’s WAY better than pancakes! ;) Although I have to admit I prefer my French toast with only powdered sugar, no syrup. BUT, I tend to eat it with syrup at restaurants, so that is AOK.

So, this tea comes pretty darn close to the real thing. It’s not perfect, but I think maybe a little aging on the shelf might help. I have already enjoyed this twice, and I have to say I prefer it when I make it in my steeper at home (rather than microwaved at work). I used the same parameters that seem to work best for 52teas black tea blends (185 degrees for 3 minutes). It definitely has complexity…I get the cinnamon, the maple syrup, and some sort of bread-like flavor. I tried it with and without soymilk and I prefer the soymilk…brings out the bread flavor. I add sugar too, cuz why wouldn’t I? Drinking it made me want some real French toast. I also got that aftertaste you get of the syrup after eating real French toast. Ha!

The only thing that might make this better is some additional bread-like puerh. Wouldn’t that be something?!

Man, is it hot outside! Our run this morning was not fun. And hot tea in this weather is a little hard to take. So, I made iced tea! I’ve been meaning to cold brew this one because hot, it’s too coconutty for me. I didn’t have time for cold brew, so I just brewed it hot and then poured it over ice. I didn’t brew it double strength and this turned out to be a good thing. Of course the ice diluted it, but for this tea, that made it more drinkable for me. Yay! I might still try a cold brew, but right now I’m happily sipping my third glass of this tea (third steep iced). The coconut is much more muted, but definitely present. It’s pretty creamy too. Nice! Glad I found a way to enjoy this tea, and cool off too!!

I had this last night. Thanks for the sample, Stephanie! It pretty much delivers. It tastes like piña colada and honeybush! No surprise there! It wasn’t bad, but for some reason I was hoping for something more, something that makes me go “wow.” I didn’t get that.

Woke up with a pounding headache this morning. Laoshan village chai to the rescue!! :)

Btw, my coworker, who I bought a package of this for, really liked it! Yay! I love sharing tea with others (and getting them hooked!) Haha!

I just enjoyed three steeps of this. It really reminds me of Butiki’s 1991 aged oolong, but I think I prefer Butiki’s. There was just more distinct and interesting flavors there. Maybe it’s like wine…the older the better?! This one is similar, in that it’s thick and smooth, but roasty. Overall, enjoyable, but nothing stands out to me.

I have come to accept the fact that this will not taste like the overly sugary (and delicious!) Nutella, and now can enjoy it for what it is! Yay!

Thought I would have a cup of this directly after Nina’s Paris Grand Amour and compare them, cuz they do both contain raspberry and vanilla flavors! I’ve been enjoying this tea for awhile now. It was a little disappointing at first, but has grown on me. It is completely different than Grand Amour, though. The raspberry flavor isn’t the same, and neither is the black tea base. If I had to pick one, I think I prefer Grand Amour (since it also contains red currant and caramel, and you know I like complexity!), but it’s like they say, comparing apples and oranges, even though you’d think it isn’t. Still like this one, though! I can make room for two raspberry teas!

It was a little bit of an unusual morning today. Got up and got dressed for the office. Then I turned on the news while having some toast, as I usually do, and my main mode of transportation was severely delayed. Hmmm. So, fortunately, my boss is flexible, so I decided I would work from home for the morning and maybe go in later. That being the case, I went back to bed for an hour. ;) so tired! Unfortunately, my work laptop was at the office, but I figured I could still log onto my email via the web version on my home laptop, BUT they had stupidly decided to do an update to that last night, and it wasn’t working this morning! Double whammy! I was still able to do work since I had access to some stuff I needed to review, and I was able to phone into a meeting, so it worked out okay. What a morning, though!

Because of all that, I didn’t have my first cup of tea until 8:30am!! Usually I’m on my second cup by then. I decided that I should treat myself with some of this tea, and as usual, it was delicious! Take that, wacko day!!

Sipdown!

This was a really nice tea, once I actually steeped it at a lower temperature. I still think I like Della Terra’s oolong creme de la creme better, and plan to try milk oolongs from other companies, so probably won’t get more of this one.

Went to DavidsTea today during lunch to pick up some loose leaf tea bags to use at work, and ended up leaving with a steeped cup of this tea as well. It smelled like sweet coconut, so I decided to give it a shot. She put a little honey in it too. I was really surprised at how much I liked it. Their coconut oolong is too overwhelmingly coconut for me, but this tea was more my thing, even though it is definitely a coconut tea. Maybe I just don’t really like the combo of coconut and oolong? Maybe white is better, although I’m not sure I really tasted the white tea itself. Looked up the ingredients when I got home and there is some vanilla in there as well…must be why it’s kinda sweet and creamy. Mmmm. Anyway, I’ll probably pick some of this up next time I’m there. :)

My coworker generously gave me pretty much an entire bag of this tea yesterday. When I asked her why she was giving it away, she said although she likes it, her husband doesn’t, and they typically enjoy tea together. They’re so cute! Honestly, this does not look like it was a cheap tea, so I feel a little bad about taking it all. It was harvested in 2009, though, and it appears that Teance has a recent 2013 harvest available, so not sure how long she’s had it. Ha!

I really enjoyed 3 steeps of this today. It’s yummy! And no worries, it doesn’t taste stale. ;) I got buttery, vegetal, and some floral notes. Very smooth and thick. I think the vegetal note is like an artichoke, although I’m still working at refining my palate. Overall, a very enjoyable oolong that I am happy to add to my cupboard! :)

So, I have to admit I went to Starbucks this morning for a white mocha. With all my fabulous tea, I haven’t been there in ages, but I was really groggy this morning and needed something STRONG, so there you go. The white mocha was super sweet…either the barista put lots of syrup in it, or I’m used to less sweet drinks now. Hmmm.

So, after my distraction from tea, I made this one! This tea wasn’t bad. Interesting, with malty and sweet potato notes, and a little sweet. I enjoyed three steeps of it, but I’m not sure I’m in love. I’m starting to think that I’m not fond of black teas with potato notes. Plus, I want them to be good with milk and sugar, and I think that would have ruined this one. Probably not one I’d reach for on a regular basis, but fun to try!!