Terri HarpLady

This tea has come up a few times recently on here, & so I decided today was the day to bring it out of hiding & enjoy it.

“No MOAR hoarding!” I can hear Sil shouting all the way from Toronto.
“My Preciousssss….” Bonnie calls out from Colorado.
Ah, but this IS the exception, Sil.
Sorry Bonnie, this is my Birthday Present.

I’ve been sipping from these leaves for hours. I kept sipping while a few students came & went, tea & music go so nicely together.
I took a break from the leaves & worked in my Blackberry patch, pulling weeds, repairing trellis, training the canes, & inhaling the aroma of the mulched leaves & such that cover the ground beneath my berry bushes. The aroma reminded me of this tea. It reminded me that this tea was waiting for me. I finished my work & returned to the leaves, & I’ve been sipping ever since.
I’m still fairly new to Puerhs. This is the oldest Shu I’ve had. This is also the best Shu I’ve had. I love this tea.

Sipdown!
An earthy, musky, mouth filling cup!

I got home from the PO to discover that my Adagio order has arrived!
This was the first tea I wanted to sample, which is silly because I’m not a huge fan of flavored teas & especially not berry flavored stuff, and
this is a blend of blackberry (black tea), raspberry patch, & wild strawberry. So why did I buy it? LOL, cuz I loved the name & the description. How could I not?
It brews up to a deep red, resembling thin blood, LOL.
I made a small pot, which was shared with Drew & one of my students. Everyone agreed it was tasty, resembling a mixed berry jello in flavor (with stevia added). I think it will be especially good over ice!
@ Sil: Of course! I’ve started a new box for you, BTW. It may be awhile before I send it, but I’m just gonna throw samples in there as I try new things until it’s full enough to ship. :D

Sipdown!
Bright & fruity, & the rest has been sent on a journey.
Onward!

Sipdown!
Gradually working my way through the smaller quantities of tea. I got this one at the farmer’s market from the booth of a local tea company. It’s nicely bold, with a little maltiness.
The rest of this tea is on it’s way to Israel!

Sometimes when I need to get some things done, I’ll pick one thing, set an alarm for an hour, & just work until the alarm goes off. I get a 15 minute break, & start again. That’s what I’ve been doing today. I started with the kitchen & then moved on to my sun room. My sunroom houses a variety of plants, & over the winter it becomes especially crowded when I bring in my 3 dwarf citrus trees: A Kumquat, a Meyer Lemon, & a Key Lime. I ate the lemons & limes in the fall, & I’ve been enjoying a kumquat once or twice a week for a few months now. I moved all 3 plants to their summer location the other day, & now I’m cleaning up their mess. The floor in that room, which is really just an enclosed porch with lots of windows, is littered with leaves & flower petals. Break time came, & so I have enjoyed the sipdown of this tea.
According to Teavana, this is the same tea they use for their Black Dragon Pearls, which they are no longer carrying. The reason they are no longer carrying it is because they can’t find it at ‘a high enough quality anymore’. That’s what they told me. I loved those pearls. They say this is the tea they are made from, but quite honestly, it’s not the same, IMO. However, it’s not a bad cup, but like all things Teavana, there are much better teas out there in the world, especially for the price.
Timer just went off as I was taking my last sip, so back to work for me!

This morning I fixed & enjoyed breakfast with my son Drew (24). We had sweet potatoes & a frittata, & he picked out Bolder Breakfast for a large pot of tea to share. His tea tastes are beginning to change from sweet to savory. This is one of his current favorites, a somewhat malty deep & earthy cup with a dark chocolate essence. Previously he liked it sweet, now he likes it as is. Gotta smile :)
As a parent, I’m really enjoying the metamorphosis of all 4 of my children. When you’re 18 you think you’re an adult, but in most cases throughout your 20’s (and 30’s sometimes) you’re really just crossing that bridge from childhood to adulthood. Sure, you have all the legal rights to drink, vote, take out loans, etc, but for the most part, those are just rights to screw up so that you can learn from your experiences. (I know this from my own experience).
Both of my sons are in college. They were raised in a fairly progressive liberal household by an organic gardening (now formerly) vegan old hippy recovering addict semi-buddhist yogi musician mom.
So when your kid comes home from college & says, “I guess we’re slow food locavores, eh?”, you just have to smile. “Pretty much, except for tea”. I’ve never believed in cramming dogma down my kids throats. I’m a free-thinker, & I want them to be free thinkers too. And they are. It’s extremely gratifying watching them develop adult minds, as the wheels in their minds begin to turn & they figure out what they believe, who they are, who they want to be.
This pot of tea with my son made my day!

A good tea to start my week with!
I’m feeling highly unmotivated, like a few others on here today, I’ve noticed. I drank a few steepings of this while fixing breakfast, & I love every sip. That’s all I’m going to say, because I’ve written quite a bit about this tea, & we all know by now how wonderful it is. :)

Mystery Sample #3 from Sil

I fully expected this to be a green tea, since the wrapper was green, but then again, one never knows, right?
It’s a decent green, with the flavor of spring peas & a nice thick almost resinous mouth.

Thanks again Sil :)

Mystery sample #2 from Sil.
This one is a nice green oolong with a lovely floral fragrance. The flavor is mellow & comforting.
I love the picture on these samples :)

Sipdown! I’m playing a little game of ‘name that tea’ today.
This is one of 3 mystery tea samples from my trade with Sil. The majority of the writing on the red envelope is in Chinese, however in fine print on the back I found Beijing Wuyutai Tea Company. In even finer print there is a website listed, with an english translated version at en.wuyutai.com. The history of the company is available on the site, along with their selection of teas.
I took one whiff of this package & knew it to be a Shu. It has the characteristic earthy musty haylike flavors & aromas, & was a nice cup for a rainy day.

First Sipdown of the day!
Tony & I just finished breakfast, & now we’re hanging around in our PJs waiting for the Cardinals game to start. There’s a 1 hour rain delay, so we have the sound turned off & Tony is serenading me on guitar. He is not a professional musician (meaning he doesn’t play gigs), & he will try to tell you that he is not very good, but that would be total BS, because he is an awesome drummer, with an amazing drum set. He used to play with people when he was young, but he doesn’t really like performing much, & really hates hauling his equipment around, so he just turns on music & plays for fun & enjoyment at home. Of course, that’s the most important reason to play anyway! He’s also a very good guitarist, and I enjoy listening to him. He’s also a fair blues pianist (thanks to yours truly, who taught him everything he knows).

This Assam is bold & beautiful, from the box Sil sent me. This was a very generous sample. This is the 4th time I’ve reviewed it, & I’m sad to see it go. Thanks again Sil!

I’m starting the day with a cup of this, which will include resteeping as well. We’ve all written tons of favorable reviews regarding this wonderful tea, so I feel there is nothing I can add this morning (plus it’s early…for me, anyway). Delicious, malty, chocolate & spice.

Sipdown Sample from Sil. Thanks again!
This was tasty enough, but Pineapple upside down cake is definitely the best tea I’ve had from Della Terra so far.

Thanks again to Sil for this sample.
This is an interesting tea, an earthy woody Shu puerh with the addition of caramel. The flavor is rustic & kind of wild, but as it cools it becomes very smooth & sweeter. An interesting tea to sample, a sweet & savory dessert.
Excuse me, my tea & I are headed to the bubble bath. :)

This is a sample sent to me by IndigoBloom in Sil’s Super Awesome Sample Box. Thanks girls!!

Admittedly, I was having trouble visualizing cilantro in any tea blend. I do enjoy cilantro, & I grow it in my garden. During the winter I grow it in my Aerogarden too. It’s great in salads, sprinkled on chili, eggs, etc., but I’ve never considered it in tea. I haven’t tried the pineapple cilantro yet either, but maybe I should, cuz this is good!
It’s unusually tasty, with the sweetness of mango, the creaminess of the white tea, a pinch of tart hibiscus, & very refreshing from the cilantro. Indigo, you’re a visionary! It’s so awesome that Stacy has the amazing talent of making dreams come true!

No notes yet.

It’s been a nice day! I made an awesome breakfast, we ran a few errands, then we went to the pool hall. We played 9 ball, I won 3, Tony won 6. I’ve been shooting pool since I was young & I’m a pretty good player, but Tony is amazing. He shoots more than I do. I will continue to strive to be a worthy opponent.

Now we’re home, watching Cardinals baseball & working on fixing dinner.
I’ve been putting off sampling this tea, sent to me by SIL because I though it would be a potent Lapsang Souchong type, & although I have grown to enjoy some smokiness, I thought it would be really smokey, & I’m more of a light smoke person. The funny thing is, it isn’t really smokey! It’s a nice bold blend of teas…Keemun, Darjeeling, & maybe some Oolong. A nice full flavor & mouth, if you know what I mean.

Enjoying this cup after a freestyle mix of Taichi/Quigong.
Such a lovely contrast to the Keemun.
So completely different.
Bright, sweet, vanilla & honey & cream. Tingling tongue, nice Chaqi.
They have 2 things in common, no, make that three:
- They both have a hint of mushroom in their bassnotes
- They are both Tea
- They are both from China

(To be sung to the tune of ‘A Thousand years’ by Katie Perri, because I played that song at a wedding Friday evening, along with Halo, Fireflies, Dog Days are Over, Don’t Stop Believing, & a few others. I can’t get it out of my head, & admittedly, these lyrIcs are not a perfect match, but it’s early, so forgive me.)

First cup of the day.
I don’t really have much to say that hasn’t already been said before…
This is a pleasant earthy cup
And now that I’ve drank it up I know I’ll reach for something more.

Earthy, fruity, a little peat moss
Slightly floral, hint of play dough
Oh we love these things
Yes we love these things
Wafting incense, subtle nuance,
Much less smokey than other Keemuns
We all love our teas
How we love our teas….
…sigh…

I don’t usually drink a lot of ‘decaf’ teas, but it is getting late, so here it is. This is a rather tasty blend, with lychee being the predominant flavor, followed by strawberries & peach. Another tea from Sil, thanks!

I’m still working on Sil’s Super Stash of Sipping Splendor
This one has a label that says, “Smokey Black Tea from China”. There’s no company listed, so it ends up here in the Random Steepings heading.
I remember the first time I tried a smokey tea…it totally freaked me out! Now that smokey flavor has grown on me.
This tea has a nice Keemun-type profile, a moderate amount of smoke, a caramelized brown sugar sweetness, and a smooth & creamy vanilla-like mouth feel. A pleasure to drink. Thanks Sil!

Sipdown from Sil’s Sample Box
This is nice, bold, malty, & naturally sweet. There’s a little bitterness, but I’m finding that appealing today. I’m near the end of the cup, & I just noticed an almost beer-like aftertaste, as if there were hops in there. I haven’t had a beer (or any alcohol) for about 30 years, but don’t worry, the flavor isn’t gonna cause me to go out on a bender or anything. :D

Leif & I also shared a pot of this Almond Oolong, which we sweetened with stevia. It’s rather like an almond cookie, although the flavor is a little too ‘almond extract’, but still tasty. It also really tasted almost like it had cinnamon in it, which is probably just my imagination. The formosan oolong base on both this & the Vanilla oolong is nice. Nothing fancy, but pleasant tasting.
Leif & I both preferred the vanilla oolong, however we agreed that this week we should do a sipdown on both, combining them into one teapot to share.