Terri HarpLady

(To be chanted by a group of cheerleaders, shaking pompoms…or maybe a rapper?)

“Guess who finished their taxes??
Me, myself, & I!
Guess who gets a refund
Terri, Theresa, & Me
We rocked it!
We rolled it!
We slapped that ℬÎ✞₵Ḧ & owned it!
YEAH!”

Hopefully I haven’t offended anyone with the above rhyme :D
This is what happens when I suffer from sleep deprivation.
Tony will tell you to never take a road trip with me, as I have a variety of rock album lyrics memorized & like to sing them in the car, sometimes changing the words to fit my mood. The last time we went to chicago I sang pretty much all the way home.

So my taxes are done. I drank 2 more cups of Tiger Assam, the final cup with Stevia & creamer, & it was oh, so good! I usually drink my blacks straight, but there are exceptions to all rules.

Double knit is also quite tasty with stevia & creamer, it really brings out the caramel flavors that come with the hint of smoke.
I’m going to celebrate with Second Breakfast! And more tea!

I will finish my taxes!
Taxes are a bitch when you’re self-employed!
My office looks like a cross between a hoarders episode & a game show that requires you to balance random things in precarious piles, we’ll call it, “How High can you stack it?”. My filing methods will probably end up in the Smithsonian some day as a display of “most insane filing system ever”.
Amazingly, I do have a system for keeping track of my receipts & such. I’ve been doing my own taxes for a long time, & although some years have been rather traumatic (mainly because I didn’t know what I was doing), this isn’t one of them.
The hard part is just getting myself to sit at my desk & do it.
I worked last night from 10 til 4am, & probably would have finished, but I needed a form from my son’s college, which luckily he had.
I got up at 8:30, got the form, & I’m almost done. Just taking a breakfast break (cooked by my other son), & drinking my 2nd cup of awesome boldness.

OK…looks like I’m gonna stay up & try to finish these damn taxes, plus I’m really craving chocolate right now, so this was needed.
mmMMMMmmm

Another sipdown!
This chai is acceptable if:
1. You aren’t drinking REAL chai because you’re avoiding caffeine
2. You use more than recommended
3. Add sweetener of choice, & some kind of creamer is nice too

Another Sipdown, this one from a sample sent to me by Threewhales.
I’ve decided I like this, mainly because I can drink it in the evening & not get all jazzed up. But also, it’s grown on me a bit.
Originally when I tried it, it was kind of meehhh.
I’ve discovered that if I make it double strenth, I like it better.
Now…on with my taxes…oh wait…I just finished this cup of tea already…I need something else to drink!

Sipdown!
This is the last of a sample sent to me quite some time ago from Angel @ Teavivre. Thanks again, Angel!

SO…the dry smell is like sweet dried berries
I preheated the Gaiwan & dropped the leaf in there, & the aroma was even sweeter, like strawberries & dark chocolate, with a floral ‘after’ smell that lingered in my sinuses.
I went with really short steepings 4 secs for starters
The wet leaf smelled of apricots & caramelized brown sugar
The early steepings were lightly peachy, with a perfumey lingering aftertaste, & there was also a camphor. And roastedness.
Later a ‘rock’ flavor predominated.
Sometimes I really enjoy this kind of tea, and I did enjoy it, but I feel unsatisfied.

Trying to get around to reviewing things that I’ve neglected lately, so I finally opened this sampler package. Delicate looking fluffy greens, aroma of sweet clover.
I just took the last sip.
Mild taste of alfalfa, slightly sweet, very bland compared to the other greens I’ve been drinking of late.
Now my mouth is dry.

I’m trying to work my way through my tea collection, especially making a point to drink a few of the more remote teas that I have, with this being one of them. It’s earthy, soothing, & loaded with healing herbs.
Here’s the link to my original post, if you’d like to read it.
http://steepster.com/Terri%20HarpLady/posts/133120#likes

This is such a lovely tea to look at. so fairy-like, with a gentle floral & creamy vanilla aroma. It also looks beautiful in the cup while brewing.
The resulting tea in also very gentle, very mildly flavored florals, vanilla, & lightly sweet.

There is just enough of this left to also do a cold brew, & since Verdant has recently re-added it to their page (along with Laoshan Bergamot Rose), I’m gonna use it up!

Sipdown!
This is a nice one that I think I’ll eventually add to my cupboard. It was sent as a sample from Laurent, so thanks to Laurent @ Nina’s.

I’ve never had a candied Chestnut, but I want to!
I like chestnuts, and I like this tea. It’s delicious.
Thank you, Ysaurella!

So here’s the story:
I spent the weekend at Tony’s, bringing all of my newly arrived Damn Fine Teas with me, which I thoroughly enjoyed sampling. As I was packing my bag to make the 5 minute drive back home (yes, we each own our own homes, 5 minutes away from each other), I dropped the tin of this tea, the lid popped off, & roughly 1/4 cup spilled out onto the floor.

At my house we have what is called the ‘5 second rule’, meaning if you pick it up quickly & dust it off, no harm done. At Tony’s house, the floors are immaculate & you could probably leave it there for a week, & still pick it up clean & drink it. BUT because I’m doing a trade with Sil, I put the ‘floor tea’ in a separate container (Tony had an empty Ahmad tin). So Sil, you can rest assured that the tea I am sending you did not come off the floor.
This also means I can drink the tea from the Ahmad container with wild abandon until it’s gone.
I made a whole pot to drink while teaching this morning. It’s pretty nice! :)

Started a cup of this, drank a few sips, then students arrived & it got cold. It has a nice boldness, a brightness, a fruitiness. A little more astringent than I usually like, but not bad!

I’m back to the top of my black tea list!
I sipped down one last week & added 2, so now I’m at 19 unflavored blacks, with a few more on their way. As far as breakfast teas go, I’m enjoying this one today. It’s bold enough, & there’s a bit of a sweet fruity aftertaste I didn’t notice before.
Did Colin Farrell wink at me from across the table & ask for a sip? No…sigh…
So, I’m on the lookout for other Irish breakfasts (scottish, canadian) that people really love. What are your favorites?

Just spent the afternoon watching back to back episodes of the Walking Dead, a show I had not gotten into up until friday night when Tony wanted to check it out on Netflix. We’ve been watching it on & off all weekend, sitting around in our PJs, drinking tea. Tony fixed amazing steaks for dinner, we had asparagus, & now were settling down with cups of licorice root tea to watch The Game of Thrones. Between last season & the one that starts tonight, I read the entire series of books, so there’s a little confusion in my mind as to where the story is, but I’m sure I’ll get over it.
I really enjoy this tea. It’s spicey & good.

I drank the resteep of tiger assam with breakfast, & an awesome breakfast it was. Almond flour pancakes, which I have down to an art form now, were perfect with a strong cup of Assam.

Now I wanted something different, & I remembered that I had some Fo Shou in my purse!
Oh chocolate!
Oh caramel!
Oh Yeah!

“Oh, I would love to love you…pigs might fly…”

I have not had a passion for smokey teas. The first few I tasted freaked me out. I’m still surprised that I bought this, to be quite honest. But I’ll try anything, at least once.

I DO like smoked foods: salmon, bacon, etc.

Anyway, I drank a cup of this while I was cooking breakfast. One thing I’ve discovered with smokey teas is that when they are sweet they take on a caramel-like flavor, or maybe its the taste of brown sugar that’s been given the flambe treatment. It wasn’t bad…

First cup of the Day!
Tony just left for the gym, I’m suppose to be making breakfast:
paleo pancakes, maple syrup, bacon, eggs, & more tea, of course!
I gotta time it so it isn’t ready too soon…

I used to enjoy an occasional Earl Grey over ice.
Then I didn’t.
I didn’t really like it hot either.
The bergamot seemed acidic, I don’t know what happened, really.
For a long time I didn’t like any earls…maybe they were just crappy ones that I was sampling.
But Tony loves Earl Grey, so I started picking up samples for him to try, to support his addiction. I took a sip of them here & there.
Then I started maybe enjoying them a little.
It started with the Earl of Grey by The Tea Spot, which Tony didn’t like. It tasted like lemon bars (think lemon curd on a pastry crust…delicious).
Then it was Jubilee from London Tea Room, his favorite, which is heavily laced with Orange, as well as bergamot. I didn’t like this one at first, it seemed really harsh to me, but then I started kind of liking it a little.
Some of them I still don’t really like. Maybe the bergamot is artificial or something.
So that brings me to Mount Gray.
I wasn’t sure if I should buy it. There’s 3 oz or so in the tin it comes in, that’s a lot of tea for something I might not like.
I bought it for Tony to sample. If I didn’t like it, he could have the whole tin.
He doesn’t get to have it. This tea is delicious. I will share it with him, of course, but the truth is, I love it.
The tea base is sufficiently bold & worthy, the bergamot is strong but not acidic, and not fake tasting, & there is a lingering aftertaste that I haven’t quite identified yet, but I like it.
Yay!

This is some Damn Fine Tea!
Bold, malty, slightly sweet with a hint of smoke & a ray of sunshine!

My Damn Fine Tea order arrived yesterday evening! YEAH!
I got home from my gig at 9:00 or so to find the box awaiting me!
Before I even took my harp out of the car & changed out of my gig-clothes, I was heating water. I knew this Tiger Assam was the first one I wanted to try. LiberTEAS had written favorably about it monthes ago, & I kept visiting the A&D website, but for some reason I kept putting it off (could it be because I already have way more tea than any one woman should be allowed to own?)

Anyways, I used to drink alot of Assam, but lately I’ve been really heavy into the Yunnans. A few weeks ago I started craving Assam teas again, & wanted to build my collection back up. This is the start, & this one does NOT disappoint! It’s delightfully bold, smooth, & malty, with a little sweetness as well. I had another cup this morning, & just drank the resteep of those leaves, which was still suitably potent!

Thanks LiberTEAS for the great review. Thanks Andrews & Dunham for the Damn Fine Tea!

This is a Reserve TOMC tea for March.
After reading the tasting notes that came with the tea, I was almost ready to buy another oz, just because it sounded so amazing!
I saved it to be the last tea I sampled from the box, because of the awesomeness of the description. Also, I’ve been pretty busy, & I really wanted to have time to fully experience this tea.

So yesterday was the day. My grandkids were visiting, & since they are old enough to not be high maintainance, I had time to just sit around & relax. I opened the package & the dry tea smelled of chocolate & roasted dried fruit.
I preheated my Gaiwan, then dumped in the recommended 7oz, putting the lid back on to warm the tea. When I opened the lid, the aroma was amazing! Chocolate, roastiness, berries, and an ’after’aroma that lingered in my sinuses that was undescribable: floral, fruity, & I don’t know what else, but it was ‘thick’, & I continued to smell it, high in my sinus on the exhale. I was blown away. I sat there huffing the aromas from my Gaiwan for awhile.

Then I did the rinse, which I drank…duh! It was interesting…
I kept the steeps to 4 secs: they were strong at first, but I like my tea strong. Lots of roastiness, made me think of Big Red Robe.

I am at Tony’s, & my tea notes are at my house, so I don’t really have a lot of detail to share. I made it through maybe 7 steepings, & then my afternoon suddenly became complicated, causing my steeping sessions to end abruptly. Then I had to shower & go play a gig, so I put the leaves in a jar in the fridge. They will be there until Monday. This is the first time I’ve left damp leaves for this long, although I sometimes leave them overnight…maybe I should have dried them out? I’m open to advice here…

I’d like an opportunity to steep these out a little longer, & there is also enough in the sample for me to try again. I have to admit, although this was a nice roasty oolong, I didn’t experience all the flavors that the aromas hinted at. I got some of the chocolate, & some floral, but the raspberry never really came forward for me.

I think next week I’d like to compare this tea, the big red robe sample I have, and verdant’s Shui Jin Gui Wuyi.

The sipdown of this tea is complete.
A day or 2 ago I put the last of it in the frig for a coldbrew.
Interesting…definitely refreshing…I’m definitely getting the chocolate mintyness, & there is an undercurrent of banana, which is really the chamomile, but somehow it’s translating as a banana cream type taste.
So…it’s not something I’d reach for, but an interesting refreshing tea, with some really unique flavors in the background that I can’t even begin to describe!

Yesterday my daughter Jess turned 30! That’s SO unbelievable to me!
Today her kids are off school, so they are hanging out with me while she goes shopping with my Kohl’s card.
This was Julianna’s tea selection, & she loves it! I’m having a small cup too, & it is tasty!