Uniquity

I had an unusual desire for this tea this morning. It continues to remind me of peach juice from Timmies and I think it would be perfect for a tea party with my little cousin. Something to consider!

There is a hint of that Kool-Aid aspect to this tea, but I think that is hibiscus more than anything. I don’t mind it the way that many do, but I really would appreciate it if Celestial Seasonings could back off the hibiscus already. It’s starting to scream desperation.

All that said, I really need to bring some loose leaf to work. I had brought it home over the weekend, and now I am living on bags and spearmint, but I try not to drink mint tea when I’ve got heartburn (a terrible stress reaction that I hate!) I think I wish I had some Love Tea #7 right now..

It’s so strange for me to actually pay attention to steep length. I left this in for only 1.5 minutes as I’ve learned I like it best around that point. It seems a shame to throw the bag away when I know it wants to keep on steeping, but this is just the taste I prefer. I’m a wuss! Anyway, I’m enjoying a hot cuppa this morning, while my view is totally obscured (once again!) by snow. I’m contemplating a dash of milk, but that is just an urge for unnecessary fat and this tea tastes lovely on its own.

I poured myself a mug of this last night to sip in bed while watching a show on the laptop with the beau. All seemed innocuous enough until all of a sudden the show is over and I realize I fell asleep almost right away! At least I got a few sips in.

So…I am drinking the rest of it cold right now as my breakfast tea. : )

I wouldn’t like to credit the tea, but I did have some vivid dreams last night. Very weird ones..

Yum. Having this tea in one of my favourite treats – a nice big mug of hot chocolate, with the mint tea kicking it up a notch.

Well, this is the first time I have drank this tea knowing what it is going in. I tried my best to keep an open mind, but I still don’t like it. It has that Kool-Aid flavour that I find typical of Celestial Seasonings’ berry teas, and it might just be my least favourite of the sample pack. So far my only success with CS is in the True Blueberry, and I think i like the Peach one. Only one bag left of this, and I won’t miss it.

If I think long enough and know that it’s supposed to be black cherry, I can taste it, but it’s hidden under the Kool-Aid. I also think it’s only because I know that black cherry is theoretically the flavour.

Still nice. Don’t know why I don’t turn to it more often. It has a good authentic pear taste. I guess pear just isn’t a tea taste I turn to regularily, despite having two good pear teas.

Got this yesterday. The smell is strongly rooibos, with a strawberry jam smell as well. The taste is more rooibos than strawberry, but there is definitely some berry in there. Definitely more like jam than berries, once again. Enjoyable, but it reminds me of something.. anyway. I’ve got enough berry rooibos’ that this one doesn’t stand out enough to rebuy, I think.

Was at the Market today and picked up some new teas from the Tea Brewery. I resisted the urge to buy anything hot….for a little while. They had done up a chai latte today, and I’ve never had a tea latte before. Or any kind of latte. I bought one on impulse and am still enjoying my decision. It tastes like warm liquid gingerbread. It’s amazing. I love it. I’m not sure which of their teas they use as base, but I’m hoping that I can make a comparable item at home sometime with the Country Spice I picked up. I had a little sample of it there and it was delicious…Everything is delicious today! <3 The Tea Brewery!

Had a mug of this at the bridal shower today – Got my grandmother to try it. She wasn’t impressed. I still love it though :)

Still so yummy…Going on a car trip, so brewed up a travel mug with the rest of my beautiful Ruby Red. Definitely doesn’t have all of the components in it, so it will be an interesting steep. As always, I look forward to the arrival of my order!! : )

So yummy. Long standing favourite from Davids Tea. I find the juniper berries come through very strongly, and I often get a slight ginger burn by the end of the cup. Just delish!

I don’t know if this happens to other people but I just really wanted a tea with some cream in it. That means a boring standard black, in my world. I’m tempted to put in some sugar too, not because I need it but because my father always drinks his tea with milk and sugar and it reminds me of childhood. Anyway, this is what I wanted, so huzzah!

I still don’t get mango or passionfruit from this tea. I get an initially sweet taste of some sort with a tart finish on the sip. Not terrible, but not what it claims to be.

I don’t know why I rated this so low before. Maybe I over-steeped it? Nevertheless, today this is a lovely warm cuppa blueberries to get me ready for work. I find the smell and taste to be authentic and seems to be pretty good quality black tea. I don’t know why I don’t reach for this more often, but maybe because it’s a mild sort of tea that doesn’t assert itself into my daily picks. It’s hidden behind the bolder teas!

Wanted a warm cup of comfort today…Found it in my Twinings Black Currant

Have I found the perfect way to make this tea?? Oh my heavens. I think it helps that when I startd into the abyss that is my tea drawer at work I really felt like a good proper tea. By my definition, Lady Grey counts. I steeped it about 1 minute, with the usual water from here and find it really citrusy (orange in particular) and perfect. I haven’t reached the bottom yet, but I see no need to add sugar or cream. Really nice!

Okay, I think I really like this. I’ve smelled it a couple times before but have been put off because I know it’s a heavy tea and wouldn’t make that many cups. I finally bought some a few days ago and had a chance to try it this morning. I accidentally poured too much water into the teapot for the size mugs the beau and I were drinking from, so I ended up with 2 cups, one steeped at 4 or 5 minutes, and one steeped at 15 minutes. The first cup was lovely and mild, reminiscent of an apple crumble or some other yummy dessert. Really good! The second had a much stronger flavour that I can only assume was the beetroot. I also enjoyed this cuppa, but found it a little more tart than the first, the obvious result of leaving the tea in the pot so long. In general, I quite enjoyed this. The beau says it’s not a re-buy, but I think it might be, especially since Night Out has been discontinued (a travesty, by the way).

My other chocolate tea. Purchased last night. I was swept away by the strawberry smells and the very mild chocolate aspect. This evening as I stared at the snow that seems to be 6 feet deep I thought I’d give it a go. The mild chocolate aroma became much stronger when steeped, and really became the front flavour. It reminds me strongly of chocolates with strawberry in them…You know, the strange creamy strawberry chocolates that always disappear from the box right away, along with the caramels. Anyway, it’s quite nice. Probably good to have on hand for the occasion when I want it, but not something I could imagine drinking every day. Maybe only in winter..

In a fit of economy, I brought my smaller teaball to work today. Fair disclosure, I never use my teaballs. I hate them. They’re hopelessly inefficient, and always seem to drop little bits of leaf in my tea because the little metal thing at the bottom that holds the two halves together is always misaligned, leaving a gap between the two halves which lets a LOT of leaf through.

Back to my economical decision – Why use a T-Sac when I’ve got a teaball? What could go wrong? Oh wait. I now have a mug of tea I love full of bits of leaf that I don’t. Economy be damned, I am using my $.07 per use T-Sac. They only let me down if I rip them, and then it’s my fault anyway. Of course, all that aside I bought a teaball last night for the upcoming bridal shower but when you’ve got nothing, you gotta start somewhere : )

Tea making woes aside, I love this tea. I wanted it for a very long time and finally bought a tin a few months ago. I always have to remember it’s a green and steep it accordingly, but it comes with a lovely vanilla/lime combo, It’s sort of a hint of the mojito I so love, without the mint. The lime doesn’t get too sharp, and just works nicely. I find it takes quite a while to really flavour up (maybe because of lower water temps) so I let it sit for 5 minutes, easily. Oftentimes, I’ll leave the tea in for the whole mug.

This poor guy was forgotten for the past week, but I thought a nice energy boost was needed this morning. We’re in the middle of a snowfall dump (no snow right now, but treacherous looking sidewalks) and I need to convince myself to go to work.

Back to the tea.

It has a strange smell – more lemon peel than lemon juice. There is another aspect to the smell that can’t identify, I presume that is the guayusa. The liquor steeps up an ugly deep green/brown. Very much like an olive green. For those who have had it, this tea reminds me (in colour) of David’s Tea’s Swamp Water. The steeped smell is a little more friendly, but I still get a sharp tangy sort of smell.

I don’t know anything about steeping guayusa, so I went with 1.5 solid teaspoons for 2 mugs of tea. I usually under-tea a little bit as I tend to go for longer steeping times. I used water that had cooled for a minute after boiling, and I let it steep about 5 minutes. Partially because I forgot.

I’ve managed to have a few sips so far. It’s very mild, surprisingly. I taste a hint of lemon something. Not nearly what I expected. As for the guayusa, I don’t know what it tastes like, but nothing is leaping out at me. Bigger sips have the same result. Interesting mouth feel at the end of the sip, but might be the brown bread I’m having with it.

This is an interesting tea. Not bad. Not knocking my socks off. Just an interesting option among the others, I think. It seems to remind me more of medicine than any other tea I have, a little reminiscent of neo-citron, only without the terrible medicine punch.

First things first – I do not like the idea of chocolate in tea. That is what hot chocolate is for. That said, I’ve wanted to try this for a little while – I really like mint, and I realize that I have to try chocolate in tea sometime so I took the plunge. Well, really, I bought some of this for an upcoming bridal shower and tried a cup first. Don’t tell the bride!

Anyway, I brought this home, continuing to be unsure of my thoughts. I brewed a cup right away and am now sipping. I am getting a pretty strong mint taste – I like that. The chocolate comes in as well, but in a weird way on the sip. Almost like I had recently eaten some dark chocolate and am having a mug of minty tea afterward, but still have a bit of chocolate flavour. I think I like it. I’m not really sure. I don’t know that I would buy it for myself because I don’t see the point, but I think I will keep a little bit, in case I ever need it. It’s almost like a cocoa with mint in (something I often do) but much milder on the chocolate.

ps – I bought another tea with chocolate in it for myself. When I push my boundaries, I really push, apparently. We’ll see how that goes.

EDIT – The further I get in the cup, the more I think I like it.

Re-steep from yesterday. Despite having used half the appropriate leaf the first time around and adding none the second this cup is still really flavourful. It’s bordering on bubblegum sweet, but I am so impressed to get 2 solid cups out of half the required tea. I can’t wait for my order to arrive and drink proper strength though – get a little bit of everything in my cup. Mmm!

Quite lovely. I had taken a big 52Teas break after my disappointing Peach Cobbler and confusing Cantaloupe Bai Mu Dan, but this tea tipped the balances. I know that rooibos isn’t really tea, but I still love it. The berries sifted nicely into this drink, very sweet. I couldn’t distinguish one berry over another, but I think if I had to pick one it might be blueberry. I don’t even know if there are blueberries in it!

Yum yum yum!

My lovely beau tucked the rest of my sample in my purse…I know I shouldn’t, but I’ve split it into two. I finished Wellness the other day, and I need a bit of emergency Ruby Red to hold me over until my order arrives. I’m so in love with this that I saved my T-Sac for a resteep, despite only having put half as much tea as I ought to have (FYI – still really strong! This is a FLAVOURFUL tea). Hopefully I can get the second steep. : )