ashmanra

It has dropped to 70 degrees F in the house and youngest thinks we need to light the fire. She has been “absolutely freezing” for a couple of weeks now, but I had to admit to chilly toes this morning.

I wanted the warmth of the spices in this tea. It is really lovely. I love the gingerbread flavor, and I am not even a fan of gingerbread, at first I just took it with a little sugar, but then I added milk to the last cup from the pot because it was getting a tiny bit bitter as it cooled. The milk really changed the profile so it tastes much more like a chai and not just a spiced tea. I love it both ways! I may have to purchase this for this winter. I am waiting until I have a chance to make some Harney Holiday tea to see if I would rather order that instead.

I liked this one so much that I have bundled up a bit of it to send to my daughter’s boyfriend in Northern Ireland. He loves tea, loves chai, so this should be a hit!

Oldest daughter – living with grandma. Check.
Son – moved to Chapel Hill. Check.
Two youngest daughters – having a sleepover with Sandy’s dogs at Sandy’s house. Check.
HALLELUJAH! First an evening alone with hubby and now Saturday morning with the house to myself! Bagel with chive and onion cream cheese, and a whole pot of this to myself in the stillness and quiet. Happy sigh! Roasty and bold without being bitter or brash, this is lovely with any breakfast foods and very fortifying.

I adore adore adore my family but twenty years of homeschooling means one is rarely ever alone! I relish these moments!

I was given a whole bag of this tea, minus one teaspoon, by a friend who ordered it but loved their Chocolate Delight too much to cheat on it with any other tea. What a great thing for me!

We were awed by the aroma. Great coconut aroma and flavor, nice and smooth, and it didn’t get bitter as it cooled. I am glad I have a whole bag of this! I really have to try more from the Tea Guys. Both of their offerings that I have tried so far are quite addicting!

This was our first tea for tea party today and it was truly arresting. This is a complex and delicious tea, rich and flavorful, great without additions even if you are used to additions. My guest loved this!

This was a sample from SimplyJenW – thank you, Jen!

I had Harney and Sons English breakfast yesterday, and it is a 100% Keemun tea. I love it! It is so fortifying. I do take it with milk and sugar. I was curious to see how this one would compare.

The dry leaves smell almost identical to Harney’s. The steeped tea…also very comparable. The sip- I agree with Jen. This has a bit of a bite, a little more astringency than I like, but if you love breakfast blend teas that include Indian tea I think you would like this. We added milk and sugar. Youngest thought it didn’t differ significantly from the Harney tea, but she didn’t try it without milk and sugar. The milk smooths the bite!

Thank you, Jen! We enjoyed having something new to try today!

This was one of the three tea party teas today and it was an absolute delight! Even though it isn’t cold here yet, the unmistakable autumn light is here and it feels like it is the perfect time to drink this tea. It is smooth, light, and so fruity, no sugar needed. Our main snack today was Thomas’ Bagel Thins, the plain ones, toasted and smeared with Nutella. Yum!

This tea is so fortifying when you don’t feel the greatest! My cup….well, um, whole pot…..was so good this morning. It really helps one to “get hold of oneself”. I must always have the Queen on hand!

Rat lunch today with youngest. She chose the tea, and this is one of her favorites. Thank you, DOULTON! When this is gone, she will definitely have me on the phone ordering more.

I decided to make good old Southern chicken and pastry tonight with the noodles being made from freshly ground Southern white wheat. I had made the stock two days ago while I had two chicken carcasses handy. For some reason, this meal is forever associated with tea for me, though I grew up drinking iced tea with it.

Since it was the evening meal and hubby was dining with me, I needed to choose a decaf that we both like. That narrowed it down to two teas! I chose this one and I don’t regret it. In fact, we drank the 22 ounce pot and I was longingly tipping it in hopes of another drop or two. This is one of the few black decaf teas that really taste like tea to me. When I first bought the Harney version it was almost too strong for us! We were used to one from Southern Season that we still like but it is noticeably weaker than the Harney decaf. Now we love it, and I am thankful to have a plain black tea that I can drink at night.

SimpyJenW sent some roasted Yerba mate for me to try in my tea! Since caffeine can have a pretty significant affect on me, I have been fearful to try it past noon and had not gotten around to drinking it yet. It didn’t help that tea friend and neighbor Sandy, who is a doctor, decided to drink a cup of Yerba mate one night on call at the hospital and ended up shaking for eight hours! LOL!

With great respect (okay, FEAR) I approached this cup. The mate does not make a huge difference in the taste of the tea, but it does pleasantly deepen and darken the flavor. It FEELS like a stronger cup. Or is that all in my mind?

I may report back later on whether the caffeine gave us a boost, as middle daughter is using it to get through her advanced math lesson and youngest is having it to keep awake through her history…or so she says. I think she really just wants to finish school extra fast so she can play those bongo drums.

I think this is the first tea of which I bought a whole pound, and that was at hubby’s insistence.

I should be in bed by now, but I am somewhat hyped up because a series of events led me to start my girls studying the beatniks, coffee bars, and Kerouac! Once we got started, naturally we decided tp put together our own Beat Poetry set for next writer’s group and youngest is going to provide the background music, though I may throw in hubby’s old Gibson Ripper for the bass lines. LOL! So all this has me too excited to sleep, and I thought a cuppa Vanilla Comoro was just the thing to help me wind down tonight, along with Traffic and The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys for some bass line inspiration!

This is wonderfully comforting tea. I can scarcely believe that there are only about two ounces of the pound left, but three of us drink it so there it goes!

This benefits from the addition of a little more leaf than you would usually put in order to offset the fact that it is decaf, but the vanilla caramel flavor is so full bodied that it won’t hurt to make it by usual black tea parameters. Great cuppa! Drinking it sans additions, and it is still sweet and satisfying.

I don’t know what happened the first time I tried this. I found all sorts of notes in the aroma and flavor that reminded me of teas I love, yet there was something I couldn’t put my finger on that bothered me about it. I wasn’t sure that I really liked it as much as I had hoped to like it.

There was definitely something different today! Last time youngest didn’t even like it, today she thought it was very good. My guest and i felt that it compared favorably with Yunnan Royal Gold from A Southern Season, having those same sweet potato notes only darker and stronger.

This tea did develop a wee bit of astringency as it cooled, but not too much. We were not even motivated to add milk to mitigate the effect. We just didn’t pick it up at all on the first cup, and noticed on the last.

Our second tea party tea today! I bought this to drink it iced, but I am really enjoying it hot. Smooth and delicious, nice tea flavor in the base doesn’t get hidden by the passion fruit.

I can’t believe I haven’t had this one in seven months! My two tasting notes seem to be at war with one another, one saying the tea is delicious, the other proclaiming it to be good but weak. Today I decided to be extra careful with this tea from the Fine Tea wall at Southern Season. I weighed the leaves instead of using a teaspoon because they are so long and light and fluffy that I might misjudge even when trying to be generous with the leaves. It took quite a pile to get the weight right!

My guest loved this one. She was especially enamored of the aroma of cooked sweet potato. Like most Chinese black tea, it was very smooth, and like most golden tip teas it was very sweet. I am glad we revisited this one today!

Youngest chose Baker Street for today, and I chose this one! This was the first good loose tea I ever purchased, and it is still a favorite. (My early Harney purchases were all sachets.). This is excellent tea, a Keemun that has a little less of chocolate/smoky aroma and flavor, and a little more of the burgundy grape taste. So good! I had never heard of this tea and only bought it because the company has the same name as my tea loving daughter and the tin is beautiful! I display it with two others from Grace Rare Tea on a shelf in the living room. This one is a favorite with guests.

Youngest picked this one for today. Tea courtesy of DOULTON and accompanying Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty thanks to teawing. I threw in Right Down the line for good measure!

Served with Rich Tea Biscuits and Nutella, and Cadbury Crunchie bars which are yummy! Just discovered them Friday at A Southern Season.

Gray and cloudy out the window again, Rich Tea Biscuits and Nutella on the table, Alasdare Fraser radio on Pandora, and Keemun Mao Feng in our cups. I wanted to compare this back to back with Zhi Gong Fu Black. Both are excellent examples of the best Chinese tea. it has been a good tea day, and now there is a chance that we are going out of town and I may get to stop at the tea shop! What a good day this is shaping up to be!

Many, many thanks to SimplyJenW for this nice surprise tea! Youngest and I decided to try it with our lunch today, which I’ll momentarily be followed by Rich Tea Biscuits with Nutella and MORE TEA! Whee!

Youngest said to put as her review, “Total win!”

Mine…this smells wonderful. It has lovely chocolate notes with honey sweetness over the top. The taste is smooth and sweet, there is no hint of bitterness, medium body, and everything a Chinese black tea should be. YUM! I took mine sans additions, youngest with milk and sugar.

Thank you, Jen!

This tea came today courtesy of SimplyJenW, many thanks!

This is indeed a beautiful tea to look at, even after steeping. The deep pink roses are beautiful. I steeped this one for three and a half minutes and do not find it too strong or bitter. The Assam base has a brightness that is reminding me of some Ceylons I’ve had. I taste more rose than vanilla. I really feel like I am drinking a French tea. The marzipan or honey flavors so common in French teas seem to be making an appearance here, though these flavors are not mentioned in the description. This reminds me of a fuller bodied version of Harney’s lychee. This tea is sophisticated enough for any tea party you could throw its way.

I first received this from Quiltguppy. Isn’t that the way so many of us have been introduced to new favorite teas? I had to place my own order!

I served this at tea party today, and this was the winner for me, though my guest liked the Lychee tea best. I took this with no sugar or milk, and hot this time instead of iced. Comparing the two teas, lychee was lightly citrusy, floral, and bright – overall very mild.
The peach flavor is a slightly darker, heavier flavor and I found that I preferred it today, though a different tea mood could easily have me preferring the lychee. Since we were serving home made brownies made with freshly ground wheat and topped with a small amount of whipped cream, I think the peach flavor was just coming through better. Having a cuppa with something lighter or just having a cup of tea by itself, I can see myself preferring the lychee at times.

I am pretty sure this sample came from SimplyJenW. If I am right, many thanks! Several people are now using QuiltGuppy’s type of packaging so it is hard to keep track!

I did not expect to like this tea. I did not expect my guest at tea today to like it. When my eldest daughter came home from Hong Kong she wanted us to try Lychee fruit and in addition to looking like eyeballs I thought it tasted like strong bathroom cleaner. Maybe we had bad ones…

This tea….not so! In fact, I really felt like I was drinking Harney’s Rose Scented Tea, easy on the rose and with a touch of lemon. It was truly delightful and light and very, very smooth. Surely this is a Ceylon base? This is probably going on a future shopping list.
This was my guest’s favorite tea today, and I enjoyed it very much!

I have wanted this ever since Quiltguppy sent a sample! I drank the sample hot, but I really wanted to try this iced. FINALLY! My order is here, and I have a little pot made up! I usually have a cup hot and then ice the rest, but I changed it up a little and had it iced first tonight. I am so excited to be drinking delicious iced tea and not having to worry that it will keep me up all night. This is delicious. I had purchased this for a friend who loves it several times, but hadn’t tried it myself. Thank you, QG!

Upper back stiff and painful. Drinking this until I can get on floor with heating pad. Quite bracing. Oh so thankful for Keemun tea!

I love this one iced! This is the main reason I wanted to try this tea…since I can’t get any more of Frank’s Mango Black iced tea. I added a wee bit of sweetener. This was steeped the normal way, not cold brewed, as I wasnt sure if the real tea flavor would come through in this one if I cold steeped it. It is nice and fruity. I have ordered the decaf iced tea version to see if it is much different, and also so I can have it at night if I wish.