Uniquity

Big mug of this to get to work today. Unfortunately it didn’t stand up to the hour l;ong steep as well as I’d hoped and is a bit odd. Not going to change the rating because it is a brave tea that can last an hour long steep. Maybe a bit less tea and it could handle it better. Still yummy, grapefruit flavour at the end. Lemongrass is pretty strong and I am getting a bit of spiciness.

This was my breakfast tea today. My furst cup was under-steeped (I poured too early!) but my second cup had that full gingery lemony junipery flavour that I so love. Yummy yum yum.

It’s been a while for this one. Not a favourite, but I bought it and most tea deserves to be drank. I steeped for a shorter time today hoping to avoid hibiscus (just not in the mood for it) and the flavour has come out very light. not really a whole lot of anything, just a light flavoured bright yellow herbal. Meh.

Hm, this one is not quite right this morning. Maybe I still have mouthwash taste going on from brushing my teeth, but it’s been a while. It’s surprisingly oversweet at the end of the sip, with the tartness of the hibiscus coming in right away but then fading off. Still yummy, but not my best mug of it. Maybe because it’s been steeping for an hour in my travel mug, but I do that often. Hm.

This was my breakfast tea today…in usual morning style I poured, thought about only steeping it for 3.5 minutes and then steeped it for 5.5 without thinking. Oh, where does the time go in the morning? I was a bit concerned about over-steeping, but today it hasn’t hurt the tea at all. There is a yummy apple taste at the front of the sip, maybe sort of like a baked apple and the tea is there at the end of the sip. It is leaning toward bitter at the very end because of my over-steepage, but that’s my own fault. I’ve also never figured out what astringency means tastewise, so I don’t know how that is. It’s so strange to be totally unsure about what a word means…

Finally, a cup of tea! This is the first one that I have had time to ake so far today. The lovely beau tucked out 50 g bag of Zing Me into my purse so that I could have some of this today. I might need to try to get a bit more of this delight before it’s all gone, since it’s been discontinued. However, I do have a new peach apricot from Sawadee to try – Maybe it will live up to my Zing Me standards : )

I’ve opted for a shorter steep today, and will probably get to enjoy 2 or 3 cups. This (the first) infusion is very sweet – peachy, apricotty. Delicious. There is a slight ginger burn at the end, and the base tea is there underneath it all more in smell than anything, but it is there. Almost reminiscent of Cloud Nine right now, only with that juicy peach as well.

EDIT: Second steep came out quite nice. Still peachy, not much there by way of ginger or tea. Surprisingly sweet, but that could be the absence of tea and ginger. I didn’t realize how much they do to temper the sweetness of the fruit! This cup was steeped 5 minutes or do…I forgot about it. D’oh!

Hello, yummy. I’m actually using this to sooth my mind rather than my tummy, and it’s working quite nicely. These familiar flavours are delicious and relaxing. Good traits to enjoy in an afternoon tea!

My work tea! I’ve been having bad dreams for a few weeks so I figured that today I would just drink soothing favourite teas to try to knock the ghosties away. The best part is that I don’t think I’m upset about anything! Stupid subconscious…

The tea is lovely. i continue to get a blueberry-esque flavour, with delicious fruit. not heavy on the rooibos, great to sit in a travel mug for ages.

Had a steaming pot of this for breakfast this morning. We established that the beau prefers his with a splash of milk – He found it a lovely improvement. I left mine “black” as I tend to do. The dry smell is amazing, as always. Reminiscent of caramel, vanilla, marshmallows and maybe even syrup. Steeped, I lose a lot of that depth (I find this tea does best with a bit of extra leaf – Though I never remember that until it’s too late). Good base, good flavours, good tea!

De-cupboarding! With my volume of tea, it’s probably for the best to get a few items finished off. I’ve left the bag in this cup far longer than intended but it hasn’t hurt it any. This is a perfectly pleasant peach tea but I had the good fortune to try Sawadee’s peack apricot black last week adn think that I have finally found my favourite peach tea – loose leaf!

EDIT: Had a bit of a funky taste, realized after looking at the ingredients that it’s that soapy flowery chamomile taste I hate. It’s trying to overtake the peach – Scratch what I said earlier about not being hurt by an oversteep. Chamomile is blech!

I opted to bring a travel mug full of this to work today…Didn’t know what I wanted, but this sounded good – and was it ever! I never really get that caramel hit, but I’m noticing pieces of it in the rooibos as I get lower in the tin so I think it might have all settled being the heaviest ingredient. The pear is very forward and quite juicy, with the rooibos and the caramel taking a backseat. I still don’t turn to this one regularly but it’s nice to have in my cupboard!

Well, prepared this with my favourite mad scientist approach as a stovetop chai. Threw in some milk, then some water, 1 tsp or so of this and a pinch of highland chai mix to kick it up a notch (I was concerned this wouldn’t stand up to the stovetop treatment).

The smell is unusual – almost pumpkin-like, probably more of a ginger smell than anything but my brain associates it with pumpkin pie. I don’t really like pumpkin. Time to overcome weird smell aversions! I know I like this tea, we’ll see how I feel about it with the heated milk, etc.

First sips: Too milky. Darn. I don’t really like milk at all, haven’t ever (apparently). I thought I had used little enough that it would bother me, but the milk UGH is still there. This might get poured out just because I don’t have it in me to drink anything milk-like right now. I’ve had a delicious chai latte at the market – maybe the key is to have steamed milk? (as opposed to just heating it on the stove with the water). I won’t be adjusting the rating for this tea because it’s not the tea’s fault that I drowned it in milk. : (

When I first smelled this in store, I thought it smelled like Joy’s Teaspoon’s Wellness. It also looks like it, since they share a number of ingredients. Nonetheless, the beau bought a tin of this yesterday, and we’re giving it a go. It still smells like Wellness, but with additional grapefruit smell. I really like the smell, and if it tastes anything at all like Wellness, I will probably love the taste. As soon as I poured the water, this turned bright pink. Definitely hibiscus and beetroot!

This tea from the Spring collection is actually far lighter than I expected. 100 g filled the tin almost to the brim, so that sort of makes up for the suggestion that 2 tsp of tea are required for 1 mug of water. As usual, I’ve thrown that out the window and used 2 tsp of tea for 20 oz(ish) of water. Since this has no proper tea in it, I’ll just leave it steeping longer to really flavour up.

The steeped smell is slightly grapefruit, even more slightly hibiscus (can I say more slightly??) The colour is deep pink to purple. I don’t really know how long I steeped it..I should really try playing by the rules someday.

First sips are tart and sweet, if that’s possible. I don’t get as much grapefruit not, but definite citrus. There is an extremely pleasant aftertaste. I get the impression this isn’t fully flavoured thanks to my screwy steep times, btu I like it and that’s what counts. Definitely reminiscent of Wellness (as expected). Between the two I would pick Wellness for strength and flavour, great price and re-steepability. But, this is lovely and will be enjoyed until it’s gone. I might try steeping properly sometime and see if I get that hardcore grapefruit flavour that others do.

This was a new buy today (one of 6, gah!). We accidentally over-steeped it so for now it’s just okay, but I think it has great potential. Definitely lemon (of the tart kind! More like lemon rinds..) but there is tea underneath it.

Had a cup of this at Sawadee today. I am slowly becoming less enamoured with rooibos, but was in the mood for a caramel tea after a very cold walk in my birkenstocks. Darn you winter!!

This was a nice cuppa – Definitely rooibos, definitely caramel. Not much else to say!

Spent the second half of my lunch-hour enjoying a mug of this and the newest Dan Brown novel. I know, I’m behind the times in my “literature” but I really enjoy him and my mother gave me this for Christmas. The tea was delicious (juicy, solid black currant flavour, as always) and a lovely pairing to my book and day. A nice upper on this grey sleepy day.

I’m now enjoying a second mug of this delicious treat – I find I can always get two solid cups out of one teabag, and sometimes three. I’m running low on my stock at work, I might have to bring some in from home soon..

What’s that I spy? A cup of wellness on my desk? oh my! After yesterday mornings disaster with Ruby Red I opted to prepare my own tea (though the beau also refused to, so that sort of forced the issue. Luckily, this came out exactly as intended. Today, it is very sweet with a sort of vanilla cream flavour mingled in with the fruity and berry flavours. The lemongrass is always there in the background, playing with the other flavours, as well.

Delicious!

Yummy yum. I got the usual ginger and juniper, with a hint of lemongrass. A favourite ’round here, though we have so many teas that apparently we go a month without drinking it quite easily. Filled the pot this morning and sipped a few cups before work.

Had a delicious pot of this with some friends this evening after a foray in the sun outside. Fantastic!

Re-steep. I like this tea, I really do. I don’t find myself turning to it very often, but I think that is the unassuming nature of this tea. It is solid and dependable, and will be there for you when things are strange, but it doesn’t demand your attention all the time. It’s relaxing, it’s mild, it’s lovely and comforting. I’m enjoying it.

This steep actually has the faintest of smells that suggests it is over-steeped, but none of that comes through in the taste. I love that it retains that vanilla flavour over the black tea base in multiple steepings…I could go to a third, but I think I’d lose all the vanilla at that point. It’s not the richest of teas, I find, but a splash of cream would be lovely in here, if I had some.

Tea attempt #2:

First cup of water had to be dumped because someone somehow got coffee grinds IN the hot water spout. Second cup came out clean. Progress. Obviously, i decided to go with Vanilla Comoro, hoping to get the sickly sweet taste of basically boiled fruit out of my mouth.

Once it’s coooled, I’m happy. Yes, vanilla Comoro is sweet but nothing like my travel mug disaster. The vanilla is nice but not too forward and I can actually taste the tea. I’ve saved the bag for another steep (this is one of the last two pre-bagged vanilla comoro I got from Meghann M). This is nice. Thank you, tea gods.

This is not a good day for tea, apparently. Woke up late for the third time this week and had no time for breakfast tea. The beau did up my travel mug with Ruby Red to take me to work, but I get here and taste it and it tastes wrong. I don’t know what the problem is, but it does not taste like the Ruby Red I know and love. It’s too sweet (way too sweet!) and just..not right. Don’t think I’ll make it through this.

The travel mug was cleaned after the last tea I had in it, but this one, I’ve found, holds onto smells like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Hopefully that isn’t the problem, because there’s nothing I can do about that. My last travel mug was plastic, but I did NOT have problems like this with leftover tea smells. I want my proper Ruby Red back! : (

EDIT: I think the problem is that the tin wasn’t shaken up and rather than getting a teaspoon of Ruby Red there is a teaspon of fruit bits with a light hint of rooibos. That would explain the crazy sweet taste. After five brave sips, I’m pouring this out. Terrible morning.

Sipping Moroccan Madness out of my teacup from Sawadee Tea House while sitting in the remains of the sun. I’ve got nearly half an hour left worth of sun to come in my window, and I intend to sit here and enjoy that, my tea and a book the whole time.

This is the first time I’ve brewed this tea, which I picked up last week at Sawadee. I was waiting for the all clear on their peppermint and since it was declared safe earlier in the week I feel that it’s time to test out the Moroccan Madness. The Sawadee Peppermint is extremely bold and in your face…Something I appreciate, but not what I was looking for at the moment. Luckily, the Moroccan Madness seems to only have a smattering of peppermint amongst the black tea. The smell is mild but minty, and refreshing.

Steeped, I am excited. The smell is a bit more of mint candies (you know, sweets!) than of mint leaves. This is a big departure from the peppermint, but that’s what I’m looking for. First sips are lovely and soothing. The mint is there, I can taste it and feel it in the coolness of my mouth, but it’s not hitting me over the head. It’s dominating the black tea base, but I still know the tea is there. At the end of the sip I get a hint of that ever familiar orange pekoe flavour. This is, for me, excellently blended. The mix is perfect, and really refreshing. I might add more mint to this on days when I’m looking for more of a kick, but this is fantastic right now. Just what I’d hoped for.

I never turn to this tea. I never have an urge to drink this tea…but prior tasting notes suggest I quite like it once I finally make it. I can’t even use the excuse that it’s bagged, because I drink baggd teas at work pretty frequenty. I do tend to turn to the ones with the strings, so I don’t have to use a yucky popsicle stick to get the bag out, but that’s probably just convenience.

Anyway, I find myself here with a mug of this tea, because nohting else in my drawer appealed to me. Once again, I need to stock up. I didn’t even bring my travel mug today, so I’ve got nothing to throw some of my loose tea in…though I still only have mojito and spearmint here at work. I keep meaning to bring more in, but I never get anywhere with that.

The smell of the tea is, as always, pretty pear. I know it’s a weird thing to say, but something about the smell makes my teeth hurt. It might be the popsicle stick thing (I hate the feel of popsicle sticks against my tongue, it does that nails on a chalboard thing to me). Anyway, it is really tasty. I just have some weird mental issue. With the tea, that is : )