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I am drinking this cold today. The heat index is supposed to hit 115F so staying hydrated and cool is the theme of the day!

This is quite nice as an iced tea. I steeped this yesterday, hot, and made a resteep right away. I put about 40 ounces in a glass pitcher and stirred in a little less than 2 Tablespoons of sugar while it was still piping hot and let it cool briefly on the counter. It has been refrigerated since then, and if my tea is already cold I do not add ice.

The tea is beautiful, not cloudy at all, and even though there is some black tea in this blend, the color is a medium orange – really lovely! The fruity part of this is subtle and just adds a really nice touch to the tea. It is great by itself, and would be good with a meal as well.

Nice blend, TIn Roof Teas!

This is tied with the Pou Chong for favorite sample from Fong Mong Tea!. Thank you, Fong Mong!

I made this gong fu style this morning. A quick rinse, maybe five seconds, released buttery aromas, and the scent of sweet green veggies.

I kept the steeps fairly short and made five so far, tasting a sip in my tiny cup as I first poured it, then adding the remaining tea in the pitcher to my tetsubin to meld each steep together so that I will have an impression of the flavor western style as well.

The liquor is a soft golden color. The aroma is buttery sweet greens, and there is a slight astringency, not unpleasant and quite possibly due to my steeping. This is excellent and very enjoyable.

There is a sweet fruit flavor that rises in the throat after drinking this. Delicious!

Thank you again for the opportunity to sample your tea, Fong Mong Teas!

My friend bought this today on our trip to Raleigh. She left enough for me to make a pot of tea, so I decided to make it several different ways.

First I tried it absolutely plain, and it tastes like a very nice, subtly orange flavored oolong. The orange tasted natural. I thought it was quite good. My friend was really wanting a total Creamsicle experience, so I played with it a little.

I added a little whipped cream and a tiny bit of sugar to one tiny cup of the tea. At this point, I would really have preferred it natural. I take almost all my tea with no additions so this didn’t do anything for me. Then we added a serious amount of sugar, and WOW did we have a sweet cup of tea, worthy of any Southern lady’s refrigerator. And that was really good.

The next stage of the experiment is underway. I resteeped the leaves and got a nicely colored liquor and pretty nice strength for a resteep. I combined the remainder of the first steep and the all of the second in a glass pitcher and put it in the refrigerator to cool and meld for another scorcher tomorrow. The heat index is supposed to be 115F here, so a cold, refreshing citrus-flavored tea will be very welcome.

Hubby drank this sample last night, and happily it smelled far less like butt than Kava Stress Relief! In fact, my sip tasted almost identical to the Celestial Seasonings throat soothing tea, or Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat. It was VERY sweet. Hubby didn’t get ready for bed right away but when he did go to bed, he slept. And he slept through my tossing and turning because the puppy got on our bed and left me no room. And he slept through me getting up at 5:30 am even though I didn’t fall asleep until after midnight.

He said he felt rested this morning and that he had slept well. I will probably keep giving him Get Some Zzz’s, but if I do change his sleepy tea it will probably be this one or CS Sleepytime Extra. I think I may make the dog go back to sleeping with his “sisters” and have a cup myself now and then!

My daughter signed up for a free sample from Yogi tea and got the stress relief sample for me. This tea and Bedtime were the two included.

Last night my hubby, who has had a cold for about a week and hasn’t slept well, said he couldn’t sleep even though his cold was better. He said his mind would not stop spinning as he mulled lots of work related issues, most of them positive but still keeping his mind busy.

I suggested he try this. To quote Missy’s daughter, it smelled like butt. So much so, in fact, that I took a sip just to make sure this tea was not going to traumatize him like Evening in Missoula did. It didn’t taste too bad. There was a bit of cinnamon taste and licorice root, of course.

Did it work? He says he went to sleep pretty quickly and wants more tonight. Since I am out of this one, I will give him Bedtime tonight, and I will stock up on whichever one works best for him.

This tea from my cupboard came in last today in my four way Moroccan Mint face off.

The gunpowder base is harsher, the mint lighter. It may be more authentic since in Morocco they really do boil the tea until bitter, but for my money I will take the Tin Roof Teas version, please!

After reading Dylan’s paeans to Moroccan Mint, I broke down and bought some at Tin Roof Teas. He was right about how indispensible it is for summertime! After trying it, I began a quest to find the one I would love best.

Today I had a face off between four teas from four different companies. Tin Roof Teas won for me because the gunpowder green base is smooth, not smokey, and supports the fresh, tingling spearmint flavor so beautifully. Perhaps there is something about the addition of Egyptian Mint that makes it sing for me, too. I do not really enjoy peppermint in tea. Much as spearmint, so that is a big factor in my choosing this one. If you love peppermint more, you would want to go with the Market Spice version. Serendipitea was next, and very close, while Teavana lagged seriously far behind.

This tea was provided for my four tea face off today by Missy. Thank you!

I’m with Dylan and Missy on this one! The Market Spice version is definitely mintier. You can see the fluffy bits of mint leaf before, during, and after steeping in Market Spice. This was good and came in third in the face off today, with Tin Roof Teas coming in first for me, followed by Market Spice, then this one, and lastly the Teavana version.

This is good, it really is, but if you want lots of fresh mint flavor you might want to get one of the other two.

Yay! I finally got my Moroccan glasses today, so at last I can do the tea face off between four types of Moroccan Mint. The Serendipitea version and this one were provided generously by Missy. Thank you, Missy!

I noticed that this tea had the most fluffy little “bits” and I thought briefly that it might be a lower grade of gunpowder green. Then I realized that the bits were mint, not tea! This tea came in second for me in the taste off, behind Tin Roof Teas. The peppermint in the mix doesn’t appeal to me as much, but the green base is nice, not smokey, and the spearmint is refreshing! This is very minty and good! All of the teas were tasted both unsweetened and sweetened.

Thank you, Missy! :D

This was a free sample from Russel Allyn and Harney and Sons.

The last time I tried this tea – which was also my first time trying it – I used the parameters suggested on their site. Honestly, I wasn’t that taken with this, but I thought the instructions a bit odd for a green and white tea. Also, I haven’t been drinking greens that long and perhaps I am a bit of a wimp! The first steep that time was a bit sour and not too floral, while the second was very astringent. I put it off to user error and decided to try again, this time using steeping parameters that made more sense for ME and what I like. I thought perhaps the higher temp was to facilitate the unfurling of the pearls, but they unfurl just fine at a much lower temp.

The website says 195F for 4 to 5 minutes. This time I gave it 2 minutes at 175F. MUCH BETTER! For me, at least. The liquor was the color of pale champagne or cream soda and the texture of the tea was creamy, the flavor sweet. The jasmine is not very pronounced this way. Nice! Very nice!
No soapiness.

Second steep, I got bolder and used hotter water and added a minute, so still well below their suggestion. The color is much deeper. Now it is astringent again, but not undrinkable. My tongue is tingling and a light sour taste is present. Not my thing, but some people like it.

I combine the two steeps. The color of the second steep was so much deeper than the first that it deepens the whole glass pitcher to its color. I like this better than the second steep alone, less than the first steep, though with a meal i might want it to be this strong. Again, the jasmine is more subtle than in Teavivre’s while the green tea is more prominent. It is a little more reminiscent of Grace Rare Tea Flowery Jasmine Before the Rain, which is a pouchong.

I think I will continue to steep this one my way – keeping the water temp low, and the time shorter. (Ah! Here it is! It hits! My beloved late rising plum sweetness that follows some greens!)