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This is the third tea from Michelle that I have tried, and it is a surprise KAPOW thumbs up for me. Thank you, Michelle!

I liked the name and found it intriguing that an oolong was being marked as a morning tea when usually strong black tea gets that designation. The website (and I found it at The Tea Kitchen as well) says to enjoy it in the afternoon and if I had a bunch (which I think I eventually will) I most certainly would because this is low caffeine!

It is a fairly light oolong that is not smoky at all but also doesn’t lean toward green. The wow factor is the lemon and basil. The lemon flavor reminds me of Fortnum’s Black Tea with Lemon. It is not at all tart and puckery. Before looking the tea up to see what was in it, I initially thought I was smelling freshly peeled orange with the little spritz of orange that kisses your face as you peel it. The taste was dead on like Fortnum’s lemon, though.

This would definitely be an awesome afternoon sipper if you are caffeine sensitive and I bet it is fabulous iced as well.

This is another tea from Michelle! Many thanks!

I had this with lunch today because I have felt like staying cozy today. This is a good tea for cozy time. The vanilla seems much lighter than Harney’s Vanilla Black, but overall this is a really comfortable, drinkable tea. This is the sort you can sip lots and lots of while enjoying a book. It isn’t flashy, more immediately familiar and undemanding like an old friend. I think I found this one to be more of a cozy comfort than the tea of that name.

Thank you, Michelle!

I received a generous package of tea from Michelle yesterday, and immediately picked one out for my chilly morning breakfast!

This has cinnamon, orange blossom, and black walnut flavor. I am not familiar enough with black walnut to know which part of the flavor comes from that and I do not find this particularly nutty. If asked what I was drinking without knowing, I would have sworn this was a black tea with cinnamon and just a hint of clove, but there is no clove listed. There is a briskness that could also come from orange peel but not from orange blossom. So I would have failed a test of my taste perceptions!

Nevertheless, it brought cozy comfort this morning! The black tea is a little drying so it goes great with breakfast but is a tad too drying for me as a stand alone cup.

Thank you, Michelle!

Sipdown!

This seems to be the same tea as Grizzly Brown, and I would have reviewed it there but it was in my cupboard the way the flake came labeled….as Grizzly Bear. One tasting note under Grizzly Brown does refer to this tea as Grizzly Bear so I think they must be the same.

A twenty second rinse yielded really pale color. Making this western style, the thirty second steep was much darker but not inky black like a lot of shu can get.

The aroma is so clean and fresh. Color is now much like any black tea. Fills the mouth with a menthol or camphor coolness, fresh clean dirt, under-the-house crawlspace vibes, not much of the heavy barn manure and horse tack aroma. Lots of mineral.

I had my usual half serving of oatmeal with honey and cardamom for breakfast and was starving already at 9:30 am, so I am having a slice of pound cake and this tea. I am pretending that the tea is so healthy that it will whisk away all the calories and consequences and erase all traces of this cake from my upcoming bloodwork. I can dream, can’t I?

Welp, I guess the first piece of cake was too small. Still peckish so I cut an even smaller slice and resteeped, again about thirty seconds, maybe less.

I am steeping in a Stump pot and decanting into a sterling pot that is under a chandelier. As I pour, the color changes from orange to ruby red to deep blood red as the light reflects from the bottom of the pot. That color was worth the price of admission right there.

The tea in my cup looks dark brown, though! Now the earthiness has amplified and the mineral taste has faded. Now we are in an open barn where my grandfather stored hay and had a stall for a mule that grandmother used for ploughing the corn fields. The manure and barn scents are there, but there is a fresh breeze blowing through the barn. As the tea cools in the cup, the fresh minty lift of menthol is back.

I will steep again later because these leaves clearly have more to give.

This is less oily and mouth-coating than my beloved Mengku Palace but very nice. It isn’t super comolex but it is very enjoyable and I think this tea would be a great introduction to shu puerh. I often use puerh as an introduction to tea for people who say they really only drink coffee, and it has failed to capture them.

Thanks to looseTman for inspiring me to get out some shu and thanks to White Antlers who sent me this tea. (I think, and if I am wrong about where it came from, please forgive me!)

*October Sipdown Prompt – a tea that relaxes you”

Once again, this is not a sipdown and not even close to one, but this is the tea I reach for now when I want a cup of hot tea late at night, all alone in the quiet.

The first time I had it, I got mostly lavender with a touch of mint and lemongrass. Last night, there was lot of cinnamon in the aroma but the taste was still lavender forward. I don’t know why I didn’t get the cinnamon as much the first time I drank this, but it was very welcome last night. This makes a cozy quiet cuppa.

Sipdown

A delicious tea that I mostly enjoyed cold since the mint is so sweet and refreshing in the summer. I have had it both sweetened and unsweetened and thought it was great both ways. This last bit became sweet iced tea for Ashman to take to work.

Sipdown!

I probably shouldn’t log this sipdown because the new one is on the way. I hoarded and parceled out so this would last all year.

I noticed a Decaf Apple tea when I was ordering this one and bought it to try so my cupboard will be going up by one tea but since I have made two sipdowns today I don’t feel too bad about that.

Sipdown!

I only bought the small packet of this matcha, but when I place another 3 Leaf Tea order (you know, that mythical time when my cupboard is smaller) I would be happy to get the large packet. If I remember correctly, this is one I also sent to Superanna and she liked it very much.

I only used it in smoothies. I don’t really do flavored matcha traditional whisked style but I use it for iced matcha, lattes, or smoothies like this. It adds such a blast of coconut flavor. This would be awesome with a pineapple smoothie in summer but alas, I never thought of it then. Maybe next year.

October Sipdown Challenge – a tea that makes you feel posh

This is one of the first teas I ever got in a swap, and is probably the first French tea I ever tried. The flavoring was also the most exotic I had tried at that point. When I raved about it all those years ago, Superanna was quietly taking notes and ordered a tin and a few others from Dammann as a surprise for me, probably at Christmas.

This batch came from Youngest who went to Paris a few months ago and offered to pick up tea for me! This is one I specifically asked for but there were several others as well added to my cupboard as a gift, too. Oh, I think I also requested Miss Dammann by name and have already finished all of that one. In fact, this is probably the only tea I have left from that batch but that is because there was the most of it plus I am hoarding it.

This is as delicious and delightful as I remember from twelve years ago when I first had it. How, how, how do they get the “biscuit” flavor so perfect? This tea drips sophistication. There is no bitterness. The base is full bodied. The almond is perfection – not too sharp and candy-like but warm and lovely. I am enjoying it with toast accompanied by the forbidden Fortnum “Shingo Okada Blood Orange With Orange Liquer Marmalade – Medium Cut.”

As my dear father used to say…”That’s fittin’!”

Many thanks to Youngest!

Sipdown

Ashman enjoys oolongs so this has been his morning breakfast tea for the past few weeks. It is roasty and nutty has good body, and has enough flavor to go well with whatever he chooses for breakfast. It has that bit of heft flavor-wise that makes it awesome at breakfast to me, or for whenever I just need a boost from my cuppa.