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Sipdown no. 31 of 2016 (no. 242 total). The rest of the sample.

I steeped the last of this to accompany me as I schlepp kids this morning. I find jasmine pearls incredibly calming so good for running around, or meeting new challenges.

Such as just finishing the second week at work. Time is flying by. Lots to learn, lots to do, and I’m still having a blast. I hope the honeymoon phase lasts forever, but that’s probably not realistic. At least I know myself well enough to know that I start to get disenchanted with work the minute I feel as though it is keeping me from the other things in my life that are important to me. Keeping that in mind, I plan to give myself me-time doses whenever I start to feel that way and see if I can keep the good times rolling.

But this tea. Oh but it’s sad when a jasmine pearls dies, but knowing how much I love them, there are sure to be others. This was a good solid one. Not the best, but by far not the worst I’ve had. The original note captures my feelings on this one pretty well.

Sipdown no. 30 of 2016 (no. 241 total). Backlog from a couple of days ago.

Thank you, jasmine pearls, for many pleasant tea-drinking experiences while you lasted. In particular, thanks for being there during week 1 of work at my new job, in which I was thrown into an emergency transaction on day 1 and by day 5, the deal had been inked. I’m told this isn’t typical of first weeks or the new place in general, but honestly, I had a blast and couldn’t be happier.

It’s a sad thing in my world when jasmine pearls of any kind are sipped down, but it’s comforting to know that there will be others.

Sipdown no. 29 of 2016 (no. 240 total). The rest of the sample.

I have been noteless for the last 24 hours because I haven’t had much tea. I’ve been caffeineating with coffee the last few mornings to fuel the energy level needed to keep up with the new job. I did take some tea with me in the Timolino all three days, but it’s a jasmine pearls I’ve written about a few times already so I didn’t take notes.

But here I am, home, tired, and the BF and kids are out to dinner, so I made a big pot of this. It’s more vanilla flavored than last time but definitely raspberry. Last time I said I thought the raspberry flavor was too light, almost watery. Not so this time.

Bumping the rating.

Sipdown no. 28 of 2016 (no. 239 total). The rest of the sample.

The BF was disappointed in the small amount of Pear Helene in the pot, so I made four cups worth of this, which was what was left in the sample pouch.

Not the best of the Todd & Holland tisanes, but a nice orange. I agree with my initial assessment that it isn’t fakey fakey in flavor or a weird orange like baby aspirin.

Sipdown no. 27 of 2016 (no. 238 total). The rest of the sample.

Started the new job today! I didn’t have much tea today because I haven’t brought any into the office yet, but it’s on the agenda.

This is my after dinner drink tonight. I didn’t mention in my previous note that I have never had Pear Helene (the dessert) to my knowledge, so I can’t say whether this is true to its name.

I can, however, say that I quite like it.

I haven’t had that many pear teas or tisanes, but this seems to me a very true pear flavor. The blend has some things in it that look like chocolate chards. It is pretty much all chocolate and pear all the time, from the smell of the dry tisane, to the smell of the steeped tisane to the taste.

If I make a Todd & Holland order, this will definitely be a part of it.

Sipdown no. 26 of 2016 (no. 237 total).

It’s getting harder to find herbals in my stash, which is both good and bad. This was a great lemon, so I’m sorry to see it go. But as I’ve had it for quite a while, it was time to say goodbye. I don’t have a lot to add to my original note about the actual tisane, just a little memento of the experience of saying goodbye to it.

I made a big pot for the entire family. It’s been raining all day, pretty much, and though we really can’t complain here given what’s happening on the East Coast, it’s still a sort of dreary winter day. After pretty much finishing the family room clean up project, in which we rediscovered we had a fire place (that had been blocked by bins of toys for way too long), and the kids rediscovering that they had sketch pads and pencils, they’re now sitting in front of a fire drawing.

This is how I had always imagined and hoped being a mother would be, and had sort of figured was a pipe dream once they discovered television and video games. I’m all gooey inside.

A nice memory to send this tisane out with.

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I made this into a cold brew sort of accidentally. I didn’t remember what the tea was like when I decided to use it, and later read my original note which mentioned smokiness. I was worried that wouldn’t translate well into a cold tea but it did.

It’s actually pretty nice. The smoke is present but not very strong and just gives some additional interest to a tasty cold tea. I noticed that I detected some sharp notes in the hot version. I don’t get the same thing in the cold. It’s a smooth iced tea.

Sometimes I feel like I’m having to try to read my own mind, which sounds easy but is surprisingly complicated. Particularly when the mind reading has to occur retroactively.

In sorting the stash I came across several non-blended, non-flavored Kusmi teas. This is one of them. I can’t remember what I was thinking when I ordered them. Kusmi’s plain teas haven’t been much discussed on Steepster, so I can only surmise that I was curious about them and decided to order a few.

This is a pretty typical darjeeling, with winey notes in the dry leaves and steeped tea aroma and flavor. What I like about this one is that the notes aren’t overly sharp. The tea is smooth and easy to drink. It’s slightly astringent.

There’s also another note, less typical of the darjeelings I’ve experienced. Something that is reminiscent of cocoa. A deeper, rounder, sweeter aroma and flavor than some of the very Muscatel-y ones.

I’ve had at least one other Makaibari tea, a second flush from Todd & Holland. Steepster says that this Kusmi one is a first flush, but I can’t find the Makaibari on the Kusmi US site anymore so I can’t get more information.

I don’t know whether the difference in flavor is because of the first flush vs. second flush thing or something else, but I like this one better.

Earlier this week, I wrote a rather quick note about this one and said I’d come back to it when I had more time. In particular I had a really hard time figuring out what I was smelling in the aroma of the steeped tea.

I now know what I’m smelling. You won’t believe it.

Spaghetti! With marinara sauce!

I checked in with no. 1 who was sitting next to me at breakfast and he agreed. I was worried I might be going crazy, but he smelled it, too.

There’s a sharp fruity note like cooked tomato, and a bready pasta note underneath that.

Wouldn’t you know, spaghetti, pasta, tomato, marinara-none are available as flavor options. I can’t say it’s surprising, just a little frustrating.

To add to my previous note, the tea is a sort of light maple color after steeping. Now that I have spaghetti with marina in my head, I’m tasting that more than the hot praline of the other day, but it’s remarkably tasty.

This may be one of those teas that changes in flavor from cup to cup, which is always fun.