Gal In The Grey Hat

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Well, my order arrived yesterday all 500g of it! That’s right I now have 100+ pieces of this in my house. My husband asked in a sarcastic tone “Think you have enough?” Maybe, maybe not…it is so good! It does in fact smell like sticky rice as it steeps! My niece was visiting and came running into the kitchen in the hopes I was making rice but was sad to see it was “just tea”. What is wrong with my family??

The funny thing is to me this tea tasted like mushrooms and of course very earthy. But I loved it! I did add ice to chill it as it has been in the 90’s here for a few days. But I really did enjoy it and I’m glad I got it while I could.

I had this tea again today, but I was only able to pick up the honey notes…I recall there being more there the first time I had it. Maybe I’m coming down with something.

Many thanks to D. Chew for sending me this and other samples of their tea to try and review. They were delivered to work right after a HUGE lunch so this was a perfect way to settle my tummy and unwind. There is a distinct sweetness to this tea and a slight light maybe spinach quality to it. I won’t rate yet becasue I want to give this tea proper attention later.

Thanks Rachel (iHeartTeas) for the sample. I smell the chocolate in this one and it is nice, but the almond in showing through as the big player in this cup. It certainly is a mini alluring moment in my work day.

I haven’t ventured much into the realm of Darjeeling teas. But I happened to grabbed a handful of sample sized teas today on my way out the door and this was one of them. It smells like well like I’m in the woods and NOT at my desk…for one. This one is not as astringent as the other (maybe two) Darjeeling teas I’ve had. Which is good I’m not a fan of that at all.

It almost reminds me of a stout, heavy, rich, etc. Which is great considering I can’t have beer anymore (stupid gluten). I fear there may be a David’s order in the future. That is the only “problem” with trying new teas…you risk liking them and wanting more and more of it!

This might be another one of those teas I’ve just had in my cupboard way too long. But I am only getting the slightest hint of raspberry and the rest is just hot water….yuck! One to another tea for me today!

Today has felt like a Monday ALL day. Thankfully it was Thursday, as work days go it was the usual frantic phone calls and putting out fires here and there. Until my mom called and in a very curt voice told me I needed to come over as soon as possible to move anything I was storing in the apartment storage out. Longer story short…my brother and his girlfriend live in the apartment and want to expand it for more space into the storage area (which is huge). Of course he apparently wants to do this now. Awesome.

So now my dear husband and I will be driving an hour out and packing all this stuff up to try and find a place for it in our basement. This wouldn’t be so bad had my inlaws not dropped off massive amount of their items as they try to sell their house. SO as you can see I’ve had a heck of a day!

When I got home I went to work making room in the basement and when I was done I was determined to have some tea…this tea. I haven’t really had manny Keemun teas. So I thought I’d throw a sample of this with my order earlier this weel. Wel, it smelled chocolaty enough when I opened the package so I opted to have a brownie (gluten free) ok two brownies! Let me tell you the brownie only brought out the chocolate even more! Yum! I also noted the toasty flavor promised in the description.

It is very different from the Assam teas I am used to and I have to say I like different, I like it a lot. I’m not sure I’d drink it very often. Maybe a “break into in case of emergency” supply of sample sizes is in order? Yes I already have another Harney order building in my head. I’m so bad. :) I’m glad I opted to pick this one up….thankfully you CAN pick your tea even if you can’t pick your family.

*Note I’m not mad at my mother…she was feeling pressure from my very impatient brother and let it out in my direction…an apology came 10 minutes later.

Another sample from Harney & Sons with my recent order. It isn’t horrible, but I’m not sure it is a green tea for me. The Earl Grey Supreme I had this morning had just the right amount of citrus flavor to it, but this tastes like it has too much. I’m weird I know or my taste buds are off. I would drink it again in a pinch, but I don’t think I’d order it.

A sample of this arrived with my recent Harney order. I thought I’d give it a go this morning. I’m not a huge Earl Grey fan…I like it, but it’s a case of I like what I like and don’t often branch out. Well, I may have to branch out after drinking half the cup! It actually reminded me of Fruity Pebbles in taste which in this case is not a bad thing. I really used to love Fruity Pebbles when I was little so this brought me back to a more carefree time in my life. That is one thing I love with Harney & Sons teas, they always and I do mean ALWAYS evoke a memory of some kind for me. The Bergamot was a little stronger in this tea, but it was mighty tasty. I did add a hint of sweetener to this one, but not too much so as to take away from the tea. Look out only other earl grey in my cabinet there is a new sheriff coming to town!

I wanted to give this a try as soon as it arrived yesterday. But I was worried I’d be up all night as this is billed as their strongest tea! So I waited to try it on this cool (for now) July 4th morning. At first sniff of the dry leaf I worried that it was too similar to their Irish Breakfast, so much so that I took out my tin of that for comparison. Well, let me tell you they are two very different teas. This one is made from two very VERY dark black tea leaves. It says a Ceylon black tea and a strong black from India. I’m guessing Ceylon and Assam. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.

Wow is it strong! But it is good. There is a tiny hint of astringency (or I over steeped – which might be true) with my first few sips. Even that isn’t bad, usually I find to be a huge turn off. I have to say it is bold, rich, and slightly oaky to taste and I like it a lot. I didn’t add anything to this tea and I usually don’t. I’m sure this would take milk and sweetener if you were so inclined to add it. I’m glad I bought the tin…would have been very sad had I only ordered the sample size!

Lunch tea (from an hour or so ago). I’ve had it before (last October maybe) and I think this is better suited to fall drinking. I was only getting the pumpkin smell but not the taste (or any other flavors for that matter) in this one. sigh…maybe it’s past it’s prime. I’ll try again in a few months.

I love pu-erh tea! So I was thrilled to see I had tossed this sample in my lunch bag this morning. The dry leaf smells very minty and chocolaty the perfect after lunch treat. When the leaves are steeping the smell of the pu-erh comes out to play with a very earthy but not overpowering smell and taste. All three flavors pu-erh, peppermint and spearmint play very nice together. I know I didn’t say chocolate in the ingredient list. I’m thinking (and what I’m tasting) is the peppermint and spearmint brings out the chocolate notes of this pu-erh, love it!

No description on the website yet…but this was a sample with an order from Teas Etc. not too long ago. It is a strong cup of tea! I can’t quite put my finger on the flavor…whatever tanzanian black is supposed to taste like is my guess. (Helpful I know) I like it. It has a nice kick in the pants I need to get moving this morning at work. Always hard getting and staying going the day before a day off.

Thanks to Fong Mong for the sample. I steeped it for a little less than the time suggested as it seemed like a long time for an oolong. There was a slight vegetal smell to the dry and steeping leaves as well as something flowery too. The taste as others have noted was slightly sweet and floral. I enjoyed it. It was also very smooth (I had it iced since we are “enjoying” quite the heatwave in Upstate, NY! I have enough left (I hope) for a hot cup of this that I will need to enjoy in my basement!

Stopped off at the market on the way out to celebrate my momma’s birthday and noted I forgot to pack tea. So I picked this up to give it a try. I’m not a great judge of green teas, but this one didn’t jump out as being any different from most green teas I’ve had. I would think it was a Sencha green, but it didn’t say on the package…but it wasn’t terrible…very veggie!

This is GOOD, it is one from my sampler and we’ll chalk this up to another good green! I get a nice toasted flavor to this tea from the toasted rice. But I think its the matcha bringing the hint of sweet the cup. There isn’t much veggie to this tea for me and I am liking that. I did get the pouch variety with the sample, but if/when I order I would get loose. Really who knew I could actually learn to like green tea?

Well, I went into my local Teavana for the last time yesterday. I really wanted a cup of tea so I stopped in while my husband and I were shopping and I wanted to try this tea to go. Well, from the start they were on me about buying it. I passed, to go would be fine.

I’ll save the rest of the story for a blog post later…I’m still steamed over the whole trip and it had nothing to do with me, but another customer. Anyway, this tea is probably one of the few straight teas they still carry. I had it iced and found it to have the usual veggie taste to it that most greens have (I’m growing to like them), but there was also a natural sweetness to this one too which I enjoyed. I would get this tea again from another source in the future.

So I followed the directions as I now I’m not a big fan of this type of tea. I will tell you it smells fantastic, a little flowery. Which is interesting to me as I’ve never noticed that with any other Darjeeling teas I’ve tried. The first sip went straight to bitter town. Which did not make me a happy tea drinker. I’m already having a bitter day (lots to do at work).

So I added a little milk and sweetener and that seemed to do the trick to cure the bitters. Now I’m getting more of a sweet (not all from the sugar) taste to this tea! Which turned my frown around. :)

A breakfast tea in the afternoon? You betcha! This is the perfect way to get me through the afternoon at work. Better still my cup has gone cold, but my tea has not gone bitter! Double bonus to this already nice cup of tea. See my other note. :)

Tea of the moment at work. I do like this one. It makes for a nice light cup of tea in the morning with just enough of a kick to get me through to lunch! I also like that the Bergamot isn’t the scene stealer here…sure it is there, but not in your face. Bring it morning! :)

Made another smoothie this morning, this time added in some agave and WOW did it make all the flavors pop! I’m really enjoying this matcha. It is very smooth and to me not super veggie tasting. I could really get in the habbit of drinking one of these every morning.

Afternoon tea at work. I love that this is a “forgiving” green tea…meaning it responds well to folks who leave it steeping too long (like I just did). It doesn’t get bitter it just seems to come out perfect no matter how I prep it! Toasty comes to mind with this one and I love it…yes I love a green tea…let Steeperites rejoice. ;)

Tea from this morning. This one is pretty bold (I picked it up at The Whistling Kettle – who I know gets there tea from MTC)! Very smokey and all around oaky flavor to it, really nice. I really like it as one of my morning kickstarters once I get to work. Thankfully I learned my lesson that one cup is enough…when I had it at WK yesterday I had a small stump pot which was WAY too much! I’m going to try it in the potato soup recipe I’m making tonight…I got the recipe from the lovely Bigelow (aisling of tea) any Lapsang adds a nice smoke/bacon flavor so we’ll see what this one brings.