Amy oh

Tea of the afternoon here….

My package arrived from Butiki and I couldn’t want to try this! I haven’t had eggnog in ages.

I steeped this according to instructions and it is better than I was hoping. The aroma is very authentic. After tasting I went to go add a wee bit of turbinado sugar and I bet this would also be really good with soymilk. I’m getting the nutmeg, vanilla and the creaminess, even a bit of the booziness.

Ah Stacy, you have created a real winner here, this is delicious. A wonderful treat with a fraction of calories of a real eggnog (and much healthier, I imagine). I think this will be gone rather quickly. ;-)

No notes yet.

Tea of the morning here, I can usually count on a Simpson & Vail tea as a reliable morning cuppa. I’m not getting as much grape flavor this time around but I may not have steeped it for as long as I usually do. I wonder who Duke Cardiff was/is? Couldn’t find anything with a quick search on Google, might be fun to find out. :)

2nd tea of the afternoon here. I ordered a package from Butiki and my greedy little hands were sad I did not get it today! I want to try the eggnog tea.. and the plum pudding… and …

This is a really good oolong and has some tasty flavors going for it. I am partial to drinking this with soymilk, which perhaps makes me a look. :)

I also need to watch my caffeine intake in the afternoon, so this might be my last cup for a while.

I got this one last year, but I think red robes stay good for a while, for at least 5 years.

I’ve had two steeps of this and it’s still as good as I remember. Dark and toasty with an underlying fruitiness. I am slowing down on tea purchasing, does anyone believe it?

Back at work already… sigh

This is a nice cuppa! Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? To drink more tea, perhaps?

Happy New Year afternoon! This is a sipdown as I finally finished a tin of this. It’s vey good when it’s cold brewed with a dash of soymilk.

I’m really not Southern but I’m making a big old pot of black eyed peas and listening to the blues tonight. I just discovered this amazing woman Marcia Ball. Having my tasty creole peas, good tea and lots of good tunes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuZsKmw30HA

Happy New Year’s Steepster!
I thought I’d start my day off with this yummy tea, it’s one of my favorites. Lovely day. :)

I’ve been busy today – made corn muffins that just came out of the oven that I plan to have with the black eyed peas I’ll make tomorrow. I decided to have one of the corn muffins along with this tea. The flavoring isn’t as strong as it used to be, but that’s because it’s taken me a while to drink it. :)

I also wrote a new blog post about tea in Baltimore if anyone wants to read it:

http://sanfrantea.teatra.de/2012/12/31/a-bit-of-boho-in-baltimore/

Thanks to Verdant for sending me a free sample of this tea – sorry I am just getting around to trying it now. Dancongs do not tend to be a favorite of mine but I thought I would try this with an open mind. :)

I did a quick rinse and then dumped the whole sample into my gaiwan, did a quick rinse. The wet leaf smells fruity, a lot like an oolong.

I steeped the tea for around 30 seconds and got a very light colored infusion. Aroma smells a bit of honey and caramel which is very nice. The flavor of the tea is fruity, reminds me of sesame but also has a slightly bittersweet aftertaste that really cleanses the palate. It is quite oolong-y in character as others have mentioned.

2nd steep I think might have been around 45 seconds, but I lost track of time looking up recipes for black eyed peas. :) It’s interesting that the fruity notes are fading and I am getting a bready/malty sort of quality, but the bitterness is too strong here so I think the shorter steep is a better idea.

This has been a fun tea to try and Verdant has some interesting selections.

Tea of the morning here — finishing off this nice sample from Harney and Sons. I think keemun might be growing on me a bit, but I definitely like it better in a blend. This is rich, dark and hefty. This time I am picking up a bit on the slight piney-smoke.

Happy New Year’s Eve! Not sure what I will be doing tonight, in San Francisco NYE is so crowded and it costs a fortune to go anywhere and forget public transportation or trying to get a cab. Might spend a quiet evening with family or at home drinking tea. Have a great one!

I found this tea in Baltimore and couldn’t resist picking it up.

It is brisk but not bitter, I am drinking mine with milk so I think that helps with the briskness. It isn’t my favorite Ceylon but is still pretty good. Slightly woody and earthy. I did try sipping on it plain and it was okay that way but I think I prefer it with soymilk. I also forgot how long I steeped this for so it got pretty strong, might try and steep a little less time in the future because it probably lost a lot of its subtlety.

Back from the East Coast – very tired after an early morning flight but can’t sleep for some reason, so I think it must be time for a nice cuppa. I finished reading this book “The Red Princess” about the tumultuous life of the Russian princess Sofka Dolgorouky. This seemed like a good tea to drink after finishing the book! Nice for a foggy day in SF. Is anyone else on Goodreads? Let me know!

No notes yet.

Tea of the mid-morning here… I got this for Dad last Christmas and he has barely touched it, I don’t know why. I think he likes the cheap stuff in the teabag. :)

Even though this is a year old it is still pretty tasty, broth-like and reminds me of spinach. I like it! See previous notes for more details.

I am drinking this at my parent’s house and don’t have too much to say, it is barely worth writing about. Anyway the weather is yucky, snow/rain so I thought I’d have a cuppa. This seems like a Chinese green tea, mildy vegetal and slightly astringent. Would not recommend but I bet it’s cheap. ;-)

Merry Christmas evening Steepster!

This is the 2nd year I’ve gotten Teavana tea gifts from by brother. It isn’t my favorite place to buy tea, but I will not look a gift horse or a gift tea in the mouth. :-P

This is one I haven’t had before and thought I’d brew some up tonight after a long day filled with food & presents. I am tasting mostly lemon in this with a little bit of strawberry and apple. It’s pretty tart but probably very full of vitamin C. My gift also included a bag of the rock sugar so I threw a few of the little pieces into my cup and that made this more palatable. I actually liked this better than I thought I would but I’m not sure I will need anymore once this supply runs out. I bet it would be good mixed with green tea so I might need to try that.

My gift to myself included a subscription to the BBC History magazine on the Kindle so I might have to curl up later with that and some more tea. :)

Merry Christmas Twitter… I hope everyone is having a nice holiday.

This is one of my favorite bagged teas, it’s pretty mellow and smooth. Perfect with a slash of soymilk. See previous notes for more details.

Tea of the afternoon here. Yesterday I was running around Baltimore having a grand old time in Charm City. This afternoon it started snowing and I’m curled up at home with the latest issue of Lapham’s Quarterly and this tisane. Mildly fruity with lots of rooibos, a bit of mango and the herby/minty flavor of tulsi. This is pretty good…. I think I’ll have a 2nd cup. :-)

This was another tea I got at Wegman’s yesterday. I am surprised to see the reviews of it were so mixed because I actually liked this one, even though it’s a teabag.

Sometimes decaf teas are nice in the afternoon and evening when you don’t want to keep yourself awake all night. I’ve had several pumpkin teas this fall which range from great to downright icky. This has a light pumpkin flavor with a nice mix of spices, none are too prominent and overpowering. Sometimes clove can really make a tea strong. The nutmeg here is nice too. I drank mine with soymilk and it was nice for a chilly afternoon. Overall I thought it was pretty good for a cheap bagged tea… much better than the Celestial Seasonings sweet pumpkin tea IMO.

Well — here I am on the East Coast. My family are not big tea drinkers so I got a couple to try at Wegman’s. For a bagged tea this is pretty good but mine does not say it is decaf. Nice plum and black tea flavor with lots of cinnamon. There is hibiscus in it, which I don’t really care for. Thankfully it isn’t too strong and was tempered a bit with a touch of sugar. I wanted to rate this a bit higher, but I am on the kindle fire and it’s hard to control the little slider.

After lunch tea here… I decided to drink it with the remainder of the soymilk I had because I am about to leave for 10 days due to the holiday. Happy to be getting out of S.F. for a while after the year I have had and hoping that 2013 will be better… :)

see previous notes for more details on the tea!

Tea of the morning, this is definitely a great morning cuppa or for anytime! :)

Finally finishing off this sample, great for an overcast and gloomy day… pretty good but better with soymilk. Wondering what tea I will pack with me on a 10 day trip to the East Coast, perhaps I will bring some of the samples I need to try. :)