The Purrfect Cup

Many thanks to Sonia at Revolution Tea for this sample. As you all know I do try green teas, but we never seem to hit it off. Which is why I was putting off trying this tea from Revolution Tea. But I have to admit I’m surprised! Maybe the Italian Bergamot? Maybe my palate is expanding? Whatever it is…I like it!

For some reason with the bergamot mixed with the green tea the citrus flavor is somewhat toned down. More than I have found in those EG’s made with black tea. Both the tea and flavoring go hand in hand with this tea. Which leaves me with a clean fresh finish. It also leaves me happy to have another sample to try iced!

Tea of the early (ok its 9am) morning. This is another from World Tea East and Rishi. I was interested in this one because I love pu-erh and ginger. But mixing ginger into anything is a tricky business. At least I’ve always found it to be. So I was a little unsure of how this was going to work out.

The dry leaf smells very much of ginger and earthy pu-erh…a good sign. But will it steep up the same way? The smell is more of the ginger and earthy pu-erh I smelled with the dry leaf, my hopes are up. I must say I was not let down the flavor is very earthy and rich, but with the nice bite of the ginger at the finish. This one is a winner in my book!

Tea from last night.

I picked up this sample from the folks at Rishi while at World Tea East and I figured why not try it before bed last night. Well, I hardly got the package open before the smell of blueberries filled my senses! I enjoy blueberries and trust me the scent was there in a big way. So much that I wondered if I would get any of the rooibos in my tea.

The tea smelled a bit like the old Boo Berry cereal from way back. Which had my hopes up for a great cup as I used to love that cereal. But I was a bit disappointed in the taste. It tasted a little tart, but the blueberry flavor still seemed to get lost or not mix well with the rooibos. My husband tried it and he liked it…another first for him. But this one is not for me.

I’m just back from World Tea East so you’ll be seeing quite a few tea reviews from that here and on the blog. But I also had the pleasure of meeting Stacy, owner of Butiki Teas there. She was even a sweetheart and brought me some samples. This one caught my eye when I openend her bag this afternoon. I love anything that has maple flavor to it and I really like oolongs. So I was hoping this would be as good as it sounded.

The dry leaf smells very much of maple and I loved the large pieces of pecan too. Yes I ate a piece too, yum! I followed the directions Stacy gave me which listed the temp for the water to be 170…I’ve always done mine higher, but I went with her suggestions. I waited the time suggested (4 minutes), removed my steeping basket, gave it a small hit of vanilla sugar, a stir and a first sip.

Let me back up a moment. The smell of the steeped leaves brings out a little bit of a citrus flavor that does play nice with the other flavors (to my surprise). Now to the first sip…wow! She mentioned it would taste a little like pecan pie, I’m not a fan of that, but if it tasted like this I could turn into one. Slightly sweet, with the citrus, plus the slightly maybe woodsy flavor of the oolong (odd maybe but that’s what I’m getting) and I am loving it.

I wish I was getting more from the pecans, but that is really my only complaint here.

Thank you very much for the sample!!

Thank you Angel for the sample. I actually forgot I had this and some other samples to try until last night when I was looking for something to drink before bed. I was thrilled to see this in the samples as I do love Black Dragon Pearl (see the note from yesterday).

The dry leaf smells slightly malty. Actually smells the same as the other companies tea I was drinking yesterday. But what about the taste? MALTY CHOCOLATE goodness!! Now I see and taste what all the talk was about. This is mighty good tea! I’m going to need to place an order when I get low on the other tea I have like this. Def. one for the perm. collection.

I also wanted to add there seems to be a sweetness on the end like honey or something. I don’t know what it is, but I love it! I also love that a few pearls will probably get me a few more steeps today. :)

So I tested the guy helping me out at Teavana yesterday as I asked for this tea. I asked about the flavor of this tea waiting to see if he’d mention the chocolate and malty notes…no he told me there was nothing to this tea as it was a straight black tea…um WHAT? Of course he then offered me the Golden Monkey starting at $18.50 per two ounces…because that’s the one that had the coco flavors I was thinking of.

Yes it does (I’ve had it to go – because I like being married and the price is WAY to high) have chocolate/coco notes. But the Black Dragon Pearl does too. I’d say it even has MORE. Anyway this was my all day tea today. In fact I got close to 5 steeps out of 5 pearls! I was impressed to say the least. This is a favorite of mine, but I think I need to look into getting it a little cheaper in the future. Sure I’ll get a lot of steeps out of it but there has to be another place to get something similar. Help me Steepsterites you are my only hope! :)

I picked up some of this on the shopping trip yesterday. It was my first loose tea and I was out and had been for a while. I really noticed the cinnamon A LOT this time around…almost two much this time. :( I may have steeped it a little too long. But will give it another go this evening before bed and see if there is any difference (I do like it as a night time tea).

I stopped into my local Teavana today while out shopping with friends. They wanted to go in and I had been looking for a new travel mug. I must say I do like their travel mugs. Anyway after another interesting trip that will be documented someplace else we all walked away with a free cup to go. I chose this. I got a lot of the mint flavors and only hints here and there of the many other ingredients in this tea.

I did purchase some to take home and mess around with. For example I think adding more rooibos might help cut the mint flavors a little. Heck maybe adding some gunpowder green tea could even make this awesome. Right now it’s ok, but I feel like it needs a little help.

My second cup of tea today…second of many. I opted for this one as I find it pretty calming and I needed that today on my lovely (and now super rainy) day off. I spent the morning doing a little laundry and watching episode one of season 2 of Sherlock. Thank you Netflix! I also needed the sweet calming vanilla tea to remind me that not all the Sherlock fandom is off their rocker. Sherlock didn’t win a thing at the Emmy’s last night and that seemed to set 95% of the fandom off on a rip…YIKES!

I was bummed out, but they were nominated…so that is something! ANYWAY this tea is a lovely vanilla flavor that always seems to settle and relax me. Perfect for rainy day lounging. Now off to shop!

So apparently I’ve never rated this one…even if I’ve had it several times… Amy oh’s review from yesterday reminded me I had this tea. I knew it was going to be my tea of the morning. I had planned to get up at my usual time (even on my surprise day off – due to an excellent conference) but I eased into my day and slept a half an hour later (living the life I know).

But I took my time getting ready for the day = internet. Then I gathered the laundry to start, showered, etc. FINALLY I got the kettle going and had to do a little digging to find this one. I have to say it reminds me of coffee in both smell and taste. But not in a bad way. More like welcome back to a better way to have that caffeine kick. I did add a little soy creamer to this one and some of the amazing Vanilla Sugar from Penzey’s – which is mine and mine alone in the house!

I do get a lot of the pu-erh in this tea even with the additions to it. BUT I think the suger is finally allowing the caramel toffee flavor to shine here. I seem to taste the pu-erh more on the finish this time around rather than right from the start. A really nice way to start my lovely day off.

I’ve had this in my tea cupboard a while now waiting for the cool weather to turn up. Boy did it today. I dug out some of my long sleeved tops and jeans on this chilly second day of Fall (I think). The apple and cinnamon play so nice together and with the oolong. I’m loving the smell and taste of this one so much. It really does smell as though an apple pie is baking somewhere in the house.

Sweet, fragrant, and fall are the words that come to mind as I sip this one. While I enjoy the light breeze coming in through a few open windows while a cat snoozes nearby. Perfect Fall day!

I’m just back from a (nearly) week long conference for work. I forgot my tea at home (I usually take a few along for fear of Lipton turning up). So I drank coffee each morning gasp I know. But for me it was better to drinking Lipton. So now that I’ve returned home to my teas this one was the first I grabbed this morning. This time I’m enjoying it with a little of Penzey’s Vanilla Sugar and I have to say it really adds a bit of YUM to the taste without masking the Darjeeling. Next time I travel I’m packing the tea first, everything else just isn’t that important. ;)

Again thanks to Sonia for the sample! This one is a winner in my book. Really sweet and full of caramel flavor! Best part there was no need to add anything extra to this one. It really has it all! Plus it also happens to be caffeine free….which now makes me wish I had tried this one tonight before bed and not first on my list of teas to try today. Ah well live and learn. :)

Many thanks to Sonia at Revolution Tea for the sample:
I had this tea the morning of my little sister’s wedding and I have to say I wasn’t super impressed. It was good, but not “wow” enough for me. However, the chamomile and mint with the hint of honey in the tea did help with the tickle in my throat that I woke up with. So it did have that going for it. Perhaps some more mint needed to be added to this one? Like I said not bad, but not one I’ll be adding to the cupboard.

I had this tea tonight while I was working (thank goodness I also have some melatonin to knock me out!). I had to be on a video conference call…but thankfully did not need to be seen on this call…b/c I was in my pj’s!

I was starting to feel sleepy before the call started at 7pm so I made a cup of this to wake me up a little. Boy did it! Made my note taking go pretty darn quick! :) This is a really robust tea with a lot of flavor to boot. I did add a little half and half as well as sweetener to cut it a little. But that didn’t make any difference. This tea was still very strong and so full of a malty kind of flavor I had a few moments where I found it hard to concentrate on the call!

But I pulled through and now need a cup of sleepy time tea to come down from the caffeine.

Another…this one from Monday… The last time I had this it didn’t taste anything like pumpkin chai. So I wonder if I somehow got a bad batch. But this time around the pumpkin really came out to play. I even made a cup for my cousin who (news to me) a tea drinker (her mom too)! What can I say my grandma raised her kids right and she also taught her grandchildren well too. :) I really enjoy the rich pumpkin flavor and the hints of cinnamon, and maybe nutmeg I think? The next time I do this I’m going to try it as a latte and rim the mug with cinnamon and sugar….I think that would really make the flavors pop! Also upping the rating.

Another from this weekend. It was a sample from my recent order (odd considering I ordered the Fall Collection). This really did smell like banana nut bread as a dry leaf and while steeping. But sadly it didn’t taste like much when I drank it. Then again I did make it at work..so I won’t rate it until I can make it again at home.

So begins the backlogging of tea. I was a little busy this weekend with my sisters wedding. This was a sample with my latest order. It smelled super sweet. It tasted to me even sweeter and I LOVE chocolate. But there just seemed to be too much chocolate for me. I know too much, but there really was even for my tastes. It wasn’t bad but not something I’d keep on hand all the time.

This was ordered along with the Fall Collection. I’d been meaning to order it since i had a sample of it months ago, but for some reason I just didn’t get around to ordering it until now. This weekend is a busy one for our family. My little sister is getting married tomorrow. So there’s the rehearsal and dinner thing tonight (I’m in the wedding). Then sleeping over at my parents house (hubs is coming along or he might turn up late for the wedding tomorrow). Hair to get done tomorrow and wedding! Whew!

So I wanted something really nice to kick my day off with. The dry leaf is indeed a nice woodsy flavor. I wish David’s had a candle version of the dry leaf I could light in my kitchen…wouldn’t that be something!? The tea itself does have a bit of an astringent taste to it. But it isn’t bad or super bitter. Plus I will admit to adding a little sweetener and half and half to my tea. But not enough to change the color of the liquid. This is really great and I see my cup is empty so time for a refill!

My DAVIDsTEA order arrived today. I have to first say this is the fastest I think I’ve ever gotten my order and I didn’t pay for speedy shipping either! I had to rip right into this one as it was one of the top in the Fall Collection that made me order.

The dry lead smells pretty sweet with hints of cinnamon and all spice flavors going on there. And yes I may have picked out a small marshmallow or three to eat on the spot. While the tea was steeping the flavors that came out reminded me of camping and camp fires. All warm and smokey and the smell was amazing….more cinnamon and spice and light on the sweet.

The taste for me is more of the same with a hint of almost a s’more like quality. Seriously this is some pretty awesome stuff! Good think I thought ahead and added another 50g bag of it to my order! :)

Thank you Angel at Teavivre for the sample. I’ve had a few milk oolongs before. But this one was a little different, more milky and that is awesome. There is a sweet note to this tea too. Really all kinds of great flavors are coming out of this tea and I really love it! So much that I made a small pot of it for myself. I’m hoping to get another infusion out of it later tonight!

After sitting with it and enjoying it a little more (MIL was over offering her advice ‘sigh’) it has helped to calm me down a bit and center myself so I can enjoy the rest of my day.

This drinking experience did not start off as love at first sip. It took a little half and half, plus sweetener to get this to be amazing. I really enjoyed that there seemed to be rooibos with a hint of citrus. Both flavors played really nice with one another. There was a little something extra on the finish with this one and I’m guessing it was the blue cornflower. I might have to pick up more than just a sample the next time I visit.

My Grandma came over this afternoon to see my house and I offered to make us some tea. I set out three including this one and let her pick. This is what she chose. She loved it! She said it reminded her of her typical Orange Pekoe with just a little something else…I’ll learn her one of these days. ;) Considering the US blend has five different teas in it. But we had a nice time enjoying our tea together.

I was digging into my tea cupboard this morning cleaning it up a bit when I came across a small sample of this. Well, I knew I had my first cup of the day then and there! I did add in a hint of half and half and a pinch of sweetener. I didn’t think it was possible but those additions really brought out the chocolate notes…yum! I found this to be a nice mellow cup of black tea to ease me into my very busy Sunday.