The Purrfect Cup

This is pretty tart. It isn’t as good as I thought it would be on its own. Thankfully I plan to pair it with Adagio’s cream and ceylon Sonata teas down the road! We’re having a Whovian Christmas gathering at the tea shop I used to sell my teas in and I said I would mix something up for the event. :) Excited for this, even if not so excited for this one on its own.

Ok I’m a Leo and curious as all Leo’s are. So when I saw this at World Tea East I knew I’d be ordering some soon. So soon turned into almost two months later. But I’m on a budget! Plus when I order from Adagio I always try to make it a big order. I also had some requests to make a tea for a Doctor Who party next month. :) Adagio teas are super fun to mix around with!

Right on to the tea! It certainly is interesting. I would never have guessed to pair oolong and rooibos together in a blend! Let alone adding the rest of it vanilla, orange peel, and chamomile?! This is pretty good hot. It isn’t knock my socks off amazing…but it is good. I think making this one iced with a touch of honey would really make this awesome. I’ll report back later on that one.

I started NaNoWriMo this evening after returning from the doctors with a diagnosis of…the flu. I told my husband that was what was wrong. But he wouldn’t listen. “It doesn’t last that long!” Men! Anyway I’ve been home all week sleeping off and on with kitty snuggles. So this is day one of actually using my laptop. I needed to crank out some words even if they didn’t make sense! Plus my doctor told me to crack into it…could help me feel better. I really lik my doc. Plus she told me to drink all the tea I wanted! Woo!

Right so my NaNoWriMo story is a Sherlock (BBC version) based fan fiction. I’d say more but I’d have to hurt you…not really. I can hardly get off the couch. Anyway I managed to make myself a cup of this and I’m happy to report I could smell the lapsang over everything else. The tasted was a muted bold flavor. But that’s because of all the stuffiness….yuck. If none of this makes sense…um sorry. :)

I will say this certainly had a lovely chamomile smell to it once steeped. That was after a full boil on the water and waiting 4 (er 6) minutes for the tisane to steep. I had a pretty busy/slightly stressful day at work. Which meant chamomile and peppermint were in order. Most of what I can taste in this tea is the chamomile, peppermint, and perhaps the lemon balm. If the other flavors are there well then they must be shy on taste. But I can tell you I can feel the soothing properties of the valerian and rose hips.

By soothing I mean it is or should be nap time! That’s what I look for in a good sleepy time tea. Something not super medicinal smelling, big on taste, and even bigger on the ability to make me want to go down for the count. Well, this tea certainly makes me want to call it a day, four hours early! So it looks like trying out their Organic Tamayokucha or even the Organic Assam (also from the sampler) might be in order. That is if I WANT to make it to my 10pm bed time.

For the full review please visit: http://thepurrfectcup.com/2012/10/24/organic-better-rest-blend-two-leaves-tea-review/

I grabbed this one when I arrived home from work today. I’d been wanting a straight Keemun for a few days now and totally forgot I had this sample! :) This is super smooth and mellow too. Plus unlike previous experience with some Keemun teas not bitter as the cup cools!

I’m busy at work on organizing and researching things for my novel for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) entry this year. I needed something with a little kick to keep me awake and focused. So I reached for this. Dry the leaf smells malty. But I wasn’t going to get my hopes up that it would be awesome due to my run in with another of their blends this morning.

BUT I was wrong this is very malty with just a hint of bitter which leads me to think there is Darjeeling in this as well as perhaps Assam and Ceylon teas. It sure is doing what it can to keep me awake on this weird weather day (it poured here for 5 minutes and now nothing and the sun is coming back out). This might be one to consider keeping on a regular basis.

This sample was included with my recent order. I’m impressed by this because I ordered via Amazon. But it looks as though the order was filled by the fine folks at Simpson and Vail. I’m glad they included this sample as it was one I had in and out of my cart while looking at what to order.

So dry the leaves smell super hearty and robust. I’m already in love. But the same taste doesn’t carry over like I thought it would when it came time to try the tea. But then again I had it straight up with nothing in it. Thankfully I have enough for another sample where I will try milk and sugar perhaps that will help. I won’t rate until I give that a shot.

Holy roasty toasty awesome in my cup! I’ve had this for a while now and this is the first time I’ve had it since I purchased it way back when Tony was closing shop. But half of it is off to a friend of mine from New Zealand who was very interested in this tea. So I’m just getting around to enjoy this. This is just a damn good cup of tea. The smell is slightly vegital with hints of a toasted flavor. The taste is just amazing. Glad I can get multiple infusions out of this one!

Tried this today as a tea latte. Which kinda threw the owner of the cafe for a loop. She hadn’t heard of a tea latte before! So I talked her through it and it turned out awesome!! She added a little honey to the mix, whole frothed milk, and yum! This tastes like liquid Fruit Loops! Might sound gross to some, but it is so good!!

I love a good spicy chai. The bad news was there wasn’t much spice that I could smell in the loose tea (even if it was in a sachet). This made me a little sad…like I said I love a good spicy tea. More when I’m feeling a bit stuffy.

BUT I was willing to wait to give it some redemption while it steeped. I thought for sure the spices would come out to play then. I was half right. I could smell the cinnamon and ginger and that was about all. Still it was better than nothing, right? Of course right! After the four minutes were up (it was suggested to give this tea 3-4 minutes) I gave it a little stir and took a sip. Everything the package promised was there…but muted. This wasn’t good.

So I added a few shakes of vanilla sugar and a bit of soy milk. Let me tell you those two additions kicked this Chai up! I tasted everything and I couldn’t drink this tea down fast enough after my additions were made!

For the full review visit thepurrfectcup.com. :)

Many thanks to Pekko Teas for the sample. I have to say I am not a huge fan of hibiscus (and it seems I am not alone here on Steepster) in general. So I had been putting off trying this tea because of the dreaded ‘H’! But I broke down tonight because it’s cold and rainy here and I’m starting to feel under the weather (joy).

The dry leaf smells super fruity. Which I think were the apple pieces. So I fired up the kettle and waited. The moment I put water to the tea the liquid went right to red…which had to be the ‘H’. But I waited about 5 minutes as there was no time given on the packaging to prepare this with. The smell and taste are both VERY tart. I like tart, but not when I’m trying to relax and calm down for the evening. I think this one would be better suited to being served cold and over ice with a little bit of sweetener.

I purchased this two weeks ago at The Whistling Kettle’s tea tasting event. I liked it so much I took home a sample (taking home more than that would have broken the bank). I still noticed the heavy earthy tones of this tea when trying it again today. I also got more of the seaweed taste again. Which most of my table companions didn’t care for. But to me that’s a pu-erh…earthy! This time around I did add a little half and half plus some vanilla sugar. Just to give it a little something else. And you know what? It didn’t do a thing to this pu-erh!

On a side note the owner of The Whistling Kettle said he was playing around with this one and some bourbon in their testing room. I’m hoping he’ll share with his customers whatever it is he comes up with!

I can’t believe this is a decaf tea! My husband can’t believe there really aren’t cookies baking at 11pm at night! Silly hubbins. But this time around I really, really smell the vanilla and it does smell a little like yummy vanilla sugar cookies! The taste is rich and sweet. But not too sweet. It just has a really nice balance between the black tea and vanilla. Perfect end to one of the first real Fall days we’ve had here in NY.

Brrr! It is a chilly night here in Albany and I wanted something different tea-wise while I worked on a few things in the home office. I opted for this one it arrived earlier this week and I’ve been itching to try it since Thursday. Milk chocolate sweet – check! Fruity raspberry – double check! This is yummy! I really like that these two flavors really bring out the flavor of the black tea used as a base. The result really is like drinking a raspberry truffle without the guilt! A new Fall favorite.

This is like having Fall in my cup! I love the spices I’m tasting here. I’m really picking up on the nutmeg and something else that is giving this a big creme brulee flavor with just a hint of pumpkin. Let me tell you that hint is amazing. The finish of this tea tastes like a big slice of pumpkin pie goodness. Yum all around!

This was my first cup of the day around noon. I know! I was moving slow today. I tried more vanilla comoro this time and it didn’t seem to work as well as I would have hoped it would. It was ok…kind of a funky flavor that I can’t put a finger on. Oh well back to the drawing board and on to another tea.

Rain, rain go away! It is pouring down buckets here this morning. Making my office more and more like a cave. Yuck! Thanks to the rain (stupid cane/aircast) I couldn’t stop for my usual cup and conversation at a local cafe. But thankfully I had a sachet of this in my desk.

I’m really liking the fruity flavors of this black tea and the bergamot. Oddly enough I did like bergamot much in the past. But these days I truly enjoy it in my teas (when the flavoring works). Now if the sun would just come out even for a moment!

I received this sample from Stacy when we met last week and I finally tried it tonight! Which might come back to bite me later tonight when it comes time for bed. But you know what? It was SO worth it!

I made up this cup in my tasting set. I don’t use them enough and really should. Sometimes it is the best tool for the job. So I set the timer for three minutes and let the tea steep. While I waited I sniffed the dry leaf. It smelled a little of maple and I worried that I had left it too close to the Maple Pecan…but then I also picked up some earthy scent to the tea and relaxed a bit.

When the timer went off I was ready for my first sip! But first a sniff of the wet leaf. Now THAT smelled of mushrooms. I was getting excited. I also noted a malty smell to the leaf too. Ok we were getting somewhere. The taste? A mix of malt, earth, and of mushrooms. Yes, mushrooms…amazing! There are a lot of things going on with this tea and they all work together really well.

This tea really came alive with the dark chocolate cocoa roasted almonds I was snacking on. The chocolate from the almonds added a new and interesting dimension to the tea, bringing out a fruity flavor to the tea I hadn’t noticed with my first few sips (before eating the almonds)! Like I said there is a lot going on here.

For the whole review visit: http://thepurrfectcup.com/2012/10/11/review-congou-keemun/

Eh the sun is apparently out here in Albany….but from my office cave your wouldn’t know it (lots of vines + huge garage blocking view = gloom) from where I am sitting. Right now I’m trying to stay awake at work. I REALLY need a nap. So I plucked this out of my World Tea East samples I brought to work. I picked it because I wanted something familiar and comforting this afternoon as I plug through very boring things at work.

This cup brewed up a nice autumn orange/brown color. This time I’m really getting a nice mix of the sweet/spicy and I am loving it. I had forgotten about this tea all summer. But now it’s time to dig it out of the back of the tea cabinet. :)

Enjoyed this one at lunch today. This time it smelled and tasted pretty piney which is a new one for me with this tea. But I liked it! Nice and strong…just what I needed to help mw stay awake this afternoon.

I’ve learned I do like Earl Grey. This is not my usual go to EG in the morning. But we were running late. Plus I forgot what a pain it was to try and get even sneakers on around an aircast! So I stopped on the way into work for this and a gluten free breakfast sammich. This EG has a hint of bergamot to it and not the usual slap in the face I’m used to and have come to love.

I added a little half and half, sweetener, and honey to my cup this morning. It really brought out the flavors and is currently making my morning on this dreary day.

Needed this uplift of lapsang, darjeeling, and keemun after my appointment. The verdict a level/grade 2 sprain of the knee and ankle. So an air cast it is for at least three weeks. Could have been much worse. Anyway I wanted something comforting and familiar when I got home this afternoon and reached for this. I love the smokey lapsang and how it plays so well with the other two teas. Now off to elevate the leg and relax with this cup.

I forgot my tea this morning on the way into work. I know what was I thinking? Honestly I was probably thinking about my orthopedic appt. this afternoon. Where hopefully I will hear I only have a level three sprain in ankle/knee and not a fracture or worse in my ankle! “sigh”

So thankfully my favorite cafe has a nice selection of teas on tap. I chose this one and it has a nice flavor like most EB’s. My guess would be that this is a blend of Assam and Ceylon. It has some malty notes in it and it pretty smooth. I added milk and sweetener to this one (like always). It is just a nice start to my day. :)

Thank you Geoffrey Norman for the sample! This is so smokey! I love it. Dare I call it a hearty tea? It is. Who would have thought Assam and Ooolong would go so well together? Not me. But this cup is so complex (to me). One minute I’m getting the malt of the Assam, the next the easy going Oolong. This might be one to add to the list of “want” down the line. Thanks again for sending it my way!