ashmanra

A neighbor has decided she wants to have a tea party, and she wants my youngest daughter to be her “barista”, if that is the correct term. (Daughter suggested geisha and I told her no, no, altogether different!) The neighbor drinks coffee, doesn’t like flavored coffee, but likes flavored creamers. She thought she wanted all black teas and has only had grocery store black and green teas, but I thought that for a GROUP of ladies at a tea party a wide assortment of different teas would be fun.

After hearing her preferences, I decided that Tower of London would be a good starting place. It is similar to Paris, but not as strong. The berry flavor is a little more forward, the honey is sweet, and the bergamot is a bit milder. She liked it! Hey, she drank three cups of it! And she didn’t even sweeten it even though she said she always sweetens everything. I think we may have another convert!

I told her we have only 48 teas to go to taste them all before June 10th. Nooooo problem.

This was the first “good” tea we ever bought. It was purchased at Barnes and Noble because my youngest daughter pleaded with me for hot tea since we hadn’t had any in a long time and we decided to try something better than the grocery store stuff.

Back when I first bought it, I always took tea with milk and sugar. Every tea. No matter what. Now I still add milk and sugar at breakfast, but that is the only time.

Today I decided to see if I could like a breakfast tea taken plain. I did! I did! Note that Royal English Breakfast is not the same as Harney’s English Breakfast at all. They are very different teas, and if I had to compare this one to another of their teas, I would compare it to Supreme Breakfast, which is really good and a bit heartier on the assam. This was a brunch treat with 72% dark chocolate.

Thank you, Jen, for this very generous sample! I came home from the beach and this was one of the first things in the mountain of mail to be opened.

I looked up my review from a while back when I sampled the tea because my memory of it was really fuzzy. The last time I tried this tea I took it plain, so I decided to add a sprinkle of sugar this time. My tastebuds were a wee bit seared by some salsa that I ate as a quick and easy supper (still not done unpacking) so I got some little cubes of Swiss cheese to cool my mouth. Now that my tastebuds have revived, this is good! I am reminded more of Rose Congou by Upton than of Rose Scented by Harney and Sons as I drink this, but mainly in the base. The rose is not nearly as forward in this one, though, and the bergamot is stronger than I remembered. I like this very much! Thank you, again, Jen! Having new tea waiting was a nice “Welcome home!”

This is a guess, once again. The tea I bought at the Calabash Tea Room was labeled Orange Grove Vanilla, and I think this is it.

I have very few tisanes, and am not a big fan of them but was hoping this one would “Wow” me. Tomorrow we pack up and leave for home, so though I wanted a cup of tea I didn’t think I should have caffeine so late. I opted for my new herbal.

When I first started drinking good loose leaf tea I didn’t know how to describe it, how to rate it, how to appreciate it fully. It took time. Maybe it is the same way with herbals. This one isn’t bad but it isn’t doing any more for me than a bag of Celestial Seasonings tea would have done. After my first sip or two, I decided it was a little plain for me so I added a sprinkle of sugar. I think with honey, and iced, I might like this more. I don’t dislike it, but again, it isn’t doing an awful lot for me.

Although the tea wasn’t labeled Adagio and was repackaged, I have no doubt this is what I purchased. I knew when I tasted it that this was a Ceylon base, and I am pretty sure it is a high grown Ceylon because it has a slight astringency, but not unpleasantly so. Also, there are some odd looking leaves, and when I saw this picture I knew this was my tea. The tearoom where I bought this was reviewed many times on teamap.com which is hosted by Adagio, so I figured many of their teas would be from there. About half of their tea was from Harney and Sons.

I have to agree with other reviewers. The caramel flavor is nice though has a slightly burnt taste. I took this with no additions, and I bet that with a little milk or milk and sugar it would be a good dessert tea. I like it, I will drink it, it is a step up from the Twinings I have had this week, but I don’t see myself buying more.

Another beautiful morning at Sunset Beach! Yesterday we got to see not only the woodstorks of Vereen Park (have only sighted them once before in about 6 visits) but we saw their babies, too! They still had that awful baby bird hairdo that is so cute, but were old enough to walk around and fish with Mama, and Daddy awed us by flying over. Magnificent!

As for the tea, it was just so-so. It is a basic cup of tea, not offensive but not ringing any bells for me. I did a shorter steep because I thought that it might get bitter quickly being a bagged tea. Perhaps a little more time would have made a more robust tea.

There is a tea room nearby. Hope to get there later today and see if there is something delicious to report!

I am drinking this tea courtesy of a lovely couple we just met in a stained glass shop. They live in Ireland (he is Irish, she is British) and vacation here every year, and bring their tea with them! They shared several sachets of Typhoo when I mentioned that I like tea.

I only steeped this for a couple of minutes due to my experience with Clipper Gold, which needs merely to be shown the hot water and then whisked away. I think it is a little on the weak side, so next time I will steep longer. It is not a tea full of nuance, but rather a very standard tea – not nearly as strong as the English breakfast teas I have had. Still, it is good to taste a new tea on the trip, and the best part was meeting sweet new people!

We’re at the beach for a week, and I don’t have my usual teas, teapots, kettle, etc. I almost brought them but thought I shouldn’t risk my teapots and didn’t want to use up so much room! I settled for buying the Twinings assortment at a grocery store, with a promise to myself that anywhere and everywhere we go to shop I will look for some special .tea.

This Lady Grey isn’t bad! I added a little sugar. It will do in a pinch, until I get home to my favorites!

Woke up with a sore back and much to do – get the van in for new tires and servicing before vacation starts tomorrow, have a radiation check-up at 9 am. It is time for…CATHERINE! The tea that gives you the strength to meet your day while consoling you at the same time!

I talked my youngest into sharing this pot with me. She likes Queen Catherine, but sometimes feels it is a little strong for her. Today she downed her cup! Milk and sugar with this one in the mornings, as usual.

Well, this is different….I wanted iced tea and I wanted it right away, and it had to be sweet tea because I was trying to create a real Southern meal such as would be served after a funeral.

Food is of utmost importance at Southern funerals. Now, there wasn’t a funeral but there was a burial as I finally got around to burying my eldest brother who was old enough to be my dad and who died in 1984. My daughters and I had to find his box and dig it up when my mother’s property was sold after her death, which wasn’t easy because Dad never told us EXACTLY where he had buried the ashes. I wasn’t even sure they were in a box, but thankfully, they were. (Are you horrified? Or amused? Bet you’re wishing you coulda been there!)

SO – I promised the kids real fried chicken and fixins’ because I don’t fry ANYTHING EVER but that is what you eat after a burial. By the time we got home from the cemetary and buying the food we were so hungry! I couldn’t wait long enough to brew a pot of tea, but I had a pot of Keemun Mao Feng left over from yesterday. I heated it a bit in the microwave, added a little sugar and poured it over ice! Ta-dah! The best iced tea I have ever had, I think. It had a lovely rich edge that grocery store bags just don’t give you – a little something extra in the flavor profile. Bravo, Keemun Mao Feng! Rest in peace, big brother. I hope he heard us playing the 50’s and 60’s stations on satellite radio in his honor today!

I wanted lots of really smooth teas today, so this was in the line-up for tea party. We served fudge brownies with freshlightly-sugared strawberries. Vanilla Black is not as sweet as its decaf counterpart, Vanilla Comoro, but is a delicious vanilla tea. A friend just switched to this one from Mariages Freres and really likes it, and the bonus is that it is so much less expensive! Smooth, sweet, no additions needed.

One of today’s tea party teas. Still as good as ever!

If ever I found that it was impossible to get Harney and Sons Golden Monkey again, this would be a really close second that I would be happy to buy. Golden Mudan has the sweetness and honey notes of Golden Monkey, but lighter and not as full-bodied. I don’t really get roasty or toasty from it, but it has delightful charms of its own. It is still absolutely delicious! It was particularly good today with the fudgy brownies we baked and served with sugared strawberries from a local farm. Yummy!

Taken with milk and sugar, though this is one of the few breakfast teas that I find palatable without. I am trying to enjoy a pot of this pure keemun this morning in spite of realizing that I haven’t heard “my” birdies today and I can’t remember hearing them yesterday.

Oh, Canada! Must you take them ALL back in the summer? The little white-throated sparrows make me smile every morning with their sweet, breathy, reedy song as they scratch the ground ’neath my feeders and toss leaves about. Their adorable little striped heads and yellow lores will be sorely missed, but their return is one of the few things I look forward to about winter. They have rescued many a low morning just by singing outside my window.

Meanwhile, my pot of English Breakfast will have to brace me for this busy day. Hmmmm. Maybe I should have made Queen Catherine. She is the most consoling and bracing!

Drinking Golden Snail has had me thinking about Emperor’s Red! I hadn’t had any in a while and wanted some today. Yes, it is just as good as ever. It is a milder tea than Golden Snail, but still roasty toasty delicious!

A friend and I shared a pot of this today. It was her first time tasting it, and she really liked it. She said that as a former coffee drinker, she likes the depth of flavor this kind of tea has. Although it was advertised as a replacement for Mao Feng when it sells out each year, it has more of the character of Hao Ya A to me, but at less cost. This is a staple for us now! So smooth, so flavorful, no milk or sugar needed!

I made a pot of this yesterday but was trying another tea at the time and got aalllll full of tea and drank only one cup. That’s okay. That means I have a pot to warm up today.

I drink this with no milk or sugar and it is so smooth, with wonderful cocoa flavors. It has nice body, but isn’t strong like Keemun Hao Ya A, which I like very much. This is just…different. More elegant and refined, I think!

Many thanks to Harney and Sons and their fabulous customer service! I wanted my daughter to try this as a replacement for her breakfast tea that we are having trouble finding, and this doesn’t come in a sample – just a 50 count sachet bag. I added the note “Do you have a sample of Dorchester Breakfast?” at the bottom of my internet order, and when my order arrived they had sent a loose leaf pouch of this at no charge!This is a very good breakfast tea if you like modern-British style breakfast teas as opposed to the earlier pure keemuns or smokey Dutch teas. It is most decidely made to be taken with milk and sugar. It is more astringent than the teas I usually drink, but the addition of milk smooths it out completely. This is a true eye-opening breakfast cup! I agree that you can compare it to PG Tips that grew up in a better boarding school. All that said, I still prefer English Breakfast 100% keemun, Queen Catherine, Royal English Breakfast, and Supreme Breakfast (yum!) for my breakfast teas.

This is what it says it is. Organic. And breakfast. When I opened the tin I smelled the assam right away. (I am accustomed to Harney’s English Breakfast, which is 100% keemun.)
With milk and sugar, this is a very drinkable tea, but nothing out of the ordinary. It doesn’t really have any of the light smoke you get from a keemun, but it has sufficient heft to make me happy. I enjoyed my pot of it this morning well enough as I really just wanted a sturdy pot of tea beside me while I read.

Thank you, Paul M Tracy, for this sample!

This tisane has a wonderful aroma. Slow down and enjoy it, because even though it is bright and tropical it is mellow, smooth, and relaxing. I agree with Paul, let it cool a bit, too, so you don’t miss anything – but that is a good idea with any tea or tisane. I think banana and lemon were the forefront aromas to me, but there is a mellow, vanilla-like note that keeps the lemon from being jarring or overly bright. This is a nice relaxing cup between walking the dogs (Hi, Sandy!) and more yard work!

This is my youngest child’s favorite tea! We shared a pot at tea party today, and it was smooth and rich as always. I drank it plain, she adds milk and sugar. I think I like it better than Mariages Freres Vanille des Iles.

This was one of the four tea party teas today. I was very surprised that it wasn’t my guest’s favorite, though she liked it. She loves loves coconut so I thought it would be the hands down winner, but the smooth sweetness of Rose Scented Black by Harney won her heart. Right now it is a tie for me. This is a great white tea, and the coconut, vanilla, and almond flavors balance nicely. It is smooth and sweet, needs no additions to be enjoyed, and goes well with food.

Of the four teas we had at tea party, this was the winner for my guest. She liked how smooth and sweet the tea base is. There is no astringency or bitterness to the tea base. The rose scent is elegant and light, the taste of rose is even lighter. My opinion was tied – I liked Rose Scented and Royal Wedding equally well. Royal Wedding may just edge out over Rose Scented, though!

Today at tea party we compared Rose Congou and Harney’s Rose Scented Black side by side. My guest preferred Rose Scented Black, I think because she never adds sugar or milk and likes a naturally sweet and smooth tea. Rose Congou has a peppery aroma, so I am guessing the base is Yunnan tea. You get more tea flavor from this one, less rose.