Veronica

Oy. After feeling like I had the black death for a few days I’m beginning to feel semi-human again. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, autumn and I do not get along. Anyway, I received several samples while I was sick, and I am excited to try them.

This is a nice Irish Breakfast. Stronger than some, but nothing too over the top. It uses tea leaves that have gone through the CTC process, so it’s difficult to pick out nuances in the tea. Still, it gives the caffeine kick I want in the morning, and there is no bitterness to be had. Just a smooth steady cup of tea. I added sugar to my second cup but ignored the milk. I did like it more with sugar, but that could be my sweet tooth talking.

Thanks Zen Tea for the sample! Trying new teas is always fun. :)

Thank you Zen Tea for this sample!

This tea is fabulous. When I opened the bag I was struck by the fact that the tea smelled creamy. There was the classic Earl Grey scent, of course, but the vanilla was present in a very pleasing way. The dry leaves with the blue cornflowers are also very pretty , which I appreciated.

I really like this tea because it is well balanced. The bergamot is not over done, and the vanilla blends in with the other flavors beautifully. In the past I have stayed away from Earl Grey Creams because the vanilla usually taste fake. Not here. It is smooth, and there is no weird artificial aftertaste. Yay! Half way through the cup I added a bit of sugar which intensified both the bergamot and the vanilla a little more. I expected it to play up the vanilla, but the flavors stayed in balance. The tea is exceptionally creamy and taste like a treat. A cup of this tea, a blanket, and good mystery novel would make me a very happy girl!

Thanks again Zen Tea. Your tea is lovely!

This is my afternoon tea of the week.

See previous notes for my thoughts on this tea.

Another tea from last night. To be honest, my hopes were not high with this one. It smelled too much like rooibos and nothing like apple or cinnamon. I made sure to put a few more apple pieces into my infuser, and I let it steep for six minutes.

The tea was sweet and pleasant, and while it tasted nothing like apple pie it was entirely drinkable. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it tasted like. There was just a general sweetness with the taste of the rooibos underneath.

Not my favorite, but I can see my daughter really liking it.

There was a time when I could drink caffiene any time and still sleep like a baby. Apparently those days are over, so I’m drinking more tisanes in the evening. Since I am not a fan of decaf coffee I have stayed away from decaf teas, but I might give those a try as well. At any rate, I bought a few new herbals and tisanes and gave a couple a try last night.

I really wanted to like this one, but I’m just not feelin’ it. There was a bitterness that tasted like the pith of an orange rather than the peel. The strength of it made my jaw clench. I added a bit of sugar, and, while it did bring out more of the orange flavor, the bitterness was still there. I checked out the ingredients: orange peel, apples, rosehips, hibiscus, cranberry, rooibos, and natural flavor. Maybe it was the cranberry that did me in?

I can’t see myself drinking this one, so if anyone would like to try it let me know. It’s not a bad tisane, it’s just not for me.

I was in a cinnamon mood, and this is most definitely a cinnamon tea. While the cinnamon is the main flavor there are notes of orange and clove as well which give a bit of balance at the end of the sip. Love it!

This is a happy tea for me. I don’t drink it to re-energize or relax. I drink it because it makes me smile. Every. Single. Time. (Side Note: I can’t believe I’ve only logged this tea three times. I’ve used one and a half canisters since joining Steepster!)

Afternoon tea. For fun I dropped a piece of candied ginger in the bottom of my cup. The tea takes the flavor of the ginger so well that I might have to do this more often.

The dry leaves smell spicy. I’m thinking allspice and white pepper. This is not what I was expecting, but I like it. After brewing for three minutes the liquid is indeed a copper color. Very pretty. The tea is creamy, almost buttery but… blah. It’s alright, but definitely nothing to write home about.

I won’t have a problem finishing this, but it is not a tea I’ll go out of my way to find and purchase.

I really like this tea, and I can can see it becoming part of the regular rotation in my house. It’s everything a chocolate chai should be: sweet, spicy, chocolate-y, and, when milk is added, smooth and creamy. Yum.

Every summer a dear friend of mine goes on a family vacation to Ocean City, NJ. While she is away I tend her garden, take care of her pets, and a few other little things. In return I get to eat anything from her garden that happens to be ripe. Given that her family’s vacation is in August, when her garden is in full bloom, I consider this a very generous payment. However, she always brings me back some little treasures. This year one of my gifts was five bags of loose leaf tea. She did the same thing for me last year, and I think she could see how happy it made me just to look at the little bags!

This is a nice tea. I’m not sure what the base tea is, but it is smooth and not at all bitter. The flavor of the tea is not so much peach or apricot as it is orchard. It’s like walking in a fruit orchard and taking a deep breath. The smell of the bark, the grass, the leaves, and the fruit all combines to create a clean, fresh flavor. I like this much more than I would if it were just peach and apricot.

This is definitely a tea begging to be ice brewed, so I’ll probably do that this weekend. I’m also thinking about using it as part of a glaze for a roasted chicken. How yummy would that be?!?

Today is the first full day of school for both of my kids, and I am enjoying the quiet (and attempting to not worry about them too much) with one of my favorite teas. I don’t think I can adequately describe how much I love the smokiness of the green tea and the flavor of the mint combined. Although I am usually more of a peppermint fan I think the spearmint here is perfect. It lends a sweetness that plays well against the gunpowder green tea.

If there is a downside it’s that I’ve used the last of my stash, so I’ll need to make a trip to the mall (ugh.) to get more.

This is one of those days when I’m feeling blah (sinus infection), and I want something soothing but simple. The Honey Vanilla Chamomile is perfect. It’s warm, comforting, and is an herbal, so hopefully I can be in bed a sleeping sooner rather than later.

As much as I love autumn (and I do) I hate what it does to my respiratory system!

I love the smell of this. The smell is strong (really, really strong) and reminds me of a chocolate cinnamon cake that I used to enjoy at a little coffee house in Utah. The taste is significantly more mellow than the smell of the dry tea, but it is still good. Warm and spicy with with taste of chocolate from start to finish.

This tea might stop me from snitching my some of my son’s M&Ms. Maybe.

Goodness, it has been a while since I’ve logged anything. My summer tea drinking has been banal to say the least. Pitchers and pitchers of iced tea, and most of them have been made from Teavana’s English Breakfast.

I tried this tea hot and found it disappointing because it tasted rather bland. However, as an iced tea it’s nice. It takes on other flavors such as mint or lemon very well, but it is also good on its own. When cold brewed it is smooth. When hot brewed it has the tiniest hint of an edge. It’s not bitter, but the smoothness that comes out in the cold brew is missing. Adding a bit of simple syrup or a lemon wedge helps to balance things out. That and sitting on the porch in the evening watching my son catch fireflies. Somehow that always makes iced tea taste better.

I have been cold brewing this tea and drinking it with a touch of honey water. It is absolutely enjoyable. Perfect on hot days when my air conditioner can’t keep up with the heat outside. Cold brewing keeps the dry taste of the rooibos at bay and allows the peach flavor to shine.

It looks like this tea was discontinued form Teavana which is a bummer. I like having an iced tea I can drink in the evening that won’t keep me up until the wee hours of the morning.

I was visiting with a friend, and she served this tea. It smelled amazing as she was preparing it. If I didn’t know she was making tea I would have looked around for a bouquet of flowers. I was expecting the tea to be overly flowery, but it wasn’t. In fact, the tea is easily robust enough to handle milk. I did not add any to my cup, but if I were to buy some for myself (a real possibility) it is something I would try. The base tea and flowers combine to make a great tea. Perfect for an afternoon cup, and I’m thinking it would be lovely iced.

Simple and delicious. The blueberry is not subtle, but it does not overpower the green tea. The two just blend together beautifully. I loved it hot, and I’m looking forward to trying it iced. Now if I could find a peach tea that tasted as good…..

This is a good herbal tea, but it’s not my favorite. The tartness is there from the cranberry and (sigh) hibiscus. The orange is not as pronounced as I wish it were, and it is more of a flowery orange than the citrus note I was looking for. Still, it wasn’t bad. It steeps into a beautiful pink liquid, and I think it would be fairly tasty iced with a few orange slices thrown in for good measure.

I received this sample from Camiah. Thank you so much for sharing!

What a fun tea! The warm, rich smell, the bready taste of the pancake, the hint of butter, the sweetness of the syrup – it is all delicious. I did two steepings from my sample, and they were both great. The first had more of the pancake flavor with the syrup begin most pronounced at the end of the sip. With the second cup the sweetness of the syrup was not as strong, but it was there at the beginning of the sip and constant throughout. Both cups were thoroughly enjoyed!

I have decided to start working my way through a stash of samples that have been hiding in my cupboard. I am starting with this one a) because I have had no caffeine today, b) most of my samples happen to be herbals, and c) I am on the hunt for some good basic black teas to (possibly) replace my morning coffee.

The dry leaves smelled like hay. Clean and crisp. When I infused the tea I was shocked at how dark it was. At this point I had already mentally check this one off my list, but then I tasted it. I think I actually looked down at my cup and smiled. It was so good. So. Good. Strong, yes, but also wonderfully malty and smooth. After a few more sips I added milk and sugar. Even better. It cuts the tiniest bit of bitterness that sits on the back of the tongue. I may have done a happy dance in my kitchen.

So glad I tried this. Shanti, you’ll be hearing form me very soon.

Another trip to the bookstore and another cup of this tea. Just as delicious as last time. I’m really liking the coconut in this. I think I’m going to have to explore more coconut teas. That is not something I ever thought I would say (or write!).

Yesterday was grocery shopping day. While shopping is not my favorite thing, I do like that the Wegman’s I go to has its own little tea section. It’s always fun to look around and see if any new teas have been added. This tea, however, was in the coffee section tucked in a small shelf under the flavored syrups. Odd. Still, I was glad to see it and snapped it up even though I had already put two other teas in my cart.

So you know, I’m drinking the bagged version of this tea. It is a nice green tea. Pineapple is the dominant flavor with the grassy notes of the green tea being very subtle underneath. It’s sweet, but not overly so. Definitely did not feel the need to add sugar. I think I might add a bit of mint to my cup next time. I’m a sucker for mint and pineapple together.

Last night all I wanted to do was curl up with my book (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall), my blanket and my cat. I made myself a cup of Honey Vanilla Chamomile because I didn’t want to pay close attention to preparing my tea. Is that bad? Anyway, it was a decent herbal tea. It was sweet and comforting, and it smelled lovely. Between my tea, my book (which is really, really good) and my cat curled up next to me it was a nice relaxing evening.

I’ve been cold all day and wanted something to warm me. As soon as I saw this in my cupboard I knew it was exactly what I needed. Warm cinnamon-y goodness. One cup took away the chill. I’m thinking a second cup will warm me completely.