ashmanra

Snowy morning, fire blazing, and tea waiting! The starter tea for today is Irish Breakfast. This is the youngest daughter’s favorite, next to Golden Monkey by Harney and Sons. She has tried other IB teas but finds them a bit too strong. With milk and sugar, this one is just right. Round and a little bit fruity, without the “bite” than some IB’s have. A lovely tea, this one is a little milder than the one by Harney and Sons, my all-time favorite tea company.

Still has delightful honey notes and a nice, light flavor. I like this tea sans additions. This is not as flavorful as Golden Monkey but is still a very nice tea. We love the little hand-tied wreaths of leaves. This one is sold out at present on Harney and Sons.

No notes yet.

This cup had a bold tea aroma, but not scary like SOME bold teas I have tried. This is a lovely mix of four teas and the blend has a nice balance. It is mildly astringent but not so much as to require milk, it is interesting enough to be drunk without sugar. I am nearly out of this one, and when the tin is empty I will buy Eight At the Fort in its place, I think. A nice change, but not one I absolutely MUST keep on hand. Glad to have had it and may someday put it back in the rotation. If you love assams I think this tea will appeal to you even more than it does to me.

One of the tea party teas today – it has become a requisite. We may have others we taste and sample, but this one is almost always on the table now because EVERYONE loves it. I actually gasped today when I took my first sip. It was that good. We were having Pepperidge Farm Sanibel Snickerdoodle cookies and something about the combination was magical. We had homemade blueberry scones with whipped cream as well. Ah, what a tea time today! I needed the distraction, because tomorrow is the appointment where I get the news on whether I have to have any more surgery or chemo….

Very nice tea with my asiago bagel! This is a great English breakfast, though milder than some if you are accustomed to the newer British style breakfast teas that have a lot of assam in the mix. It has just a bare hint of smoke that is just right for me in the morning, and when I need a little more “oomph” to my tea I reach for Queen Catherine!

I am registering this a la Ricky’s instructions! (Blush – Jason guessed who the culprit was!) My hubby ordered the Bamboo Tea Tray from www.purepuer.com as a Christmas gift for me. When he called the number listed on their website he was impressed with how very helpful they were, and when he chose the tea tray he wanted, it got here LIGHTNING fast! We were very happy with the service. I haven’t tried their teas yet, but after the good experience ordering this item from them, we may have to give them a try!

I love this blend! I wish they sold it at Barnes and Noble with the other Royal Palace teas but the only way to get it is online from Harney and Sons. That’s okay – it bumps up my order so I get that free shipping! This is a lot like Paris, but several people who have tried both at my house say they prefer this one. Delcious, sans additions if you like tea that way, but also good with sugar.

Lovely, as always. I drank it first with no additions this morning, then had a cup to finish off breakfast with milk and sugar. A delightful tea!

Woke up early and had breakfast with a friend who was on her way home from working night shift at the hospital. Bagels, Queen Catherine, Marco Polo, and a great friend. Who could ask for anything more?

Delicious pot of tea with hubby this morning. I do find that this tea must be drunk up right away or the last cup is bitter from sediment. That is not a hard task as good as it is! As always on this one, milk and sugar.

I haven’t had teabag tea in quite a while, but since I did I am glad it was this one! I have been longing for something flavorful and this fit the bill. Sweet, spicy but not too spicy, this has mostly clove flavor to me but that hint of rum flavor comes through. A very nice tea, and this is my first ever Stash tea.

Who else could I possibly drink today?

My first impression – not as good as Harney and Sons Golden Monkey but twice the price. Sticking with Harney and Sons. It does have some of the character of Harney’s GM, but I don’t think it is quite as caramel-y or honeyed. The aroma is very nice. I will try resteeping soon. They recommend 2 to 3 minutes steeping time, while I give Harney’s 4 to 5 minutes and get no bitterness. I have read that this one gets bitter if you leave it longer. We’ll see how the experiments pan out. Sweet hubby bought this for me on his lunch hour while at a class in another city! Mmmmmmwah!

Another tea that ranks as “just okay” and fits the need for tea with a meal. Not bad, but nothing I would rush to place another order if it ran low. In fact, I probably won’t replace it! There are soooo many really yummy teas!

A decent tea to go with a meal. Strong enough to stand up to red meat, but not so spectacular that I wish I was drinking it by itself. Not bad, and organic to boot.

I am so glad I made a pot of this to go with my Everything Bagel today. (Well, just half a bagel because I was splitting with hubby.) We spent FOUR HOURS in the surgical office and diagnostic center for preparations for Thursday’s surgery and my tea and bagel had run out well before we left. I was threatening to eat the plant on the corner table, figuring if it was a poisonous one I was in the right place….a good tea to start the day.

So lovely and rich for Christmas Eve! Had this instead of the Ferraro Rochers – good girl!
Milk and sugar made it decadent.

When JacquelineM sent me a sample tin of this a while ago, hubby would pick up the tin and sniff appreciately now and then but he was too busy at work to have tea with me and taste it. I finally got him to try it a few days ago and he LOVES it. This is a big deal since up to now he would only drink varying forms of mild Ceylon teas!

He drank a WHOLE POT with his half of the toasted Everything Bagel for lunch. How fortunate that I am getting TWO tins of it for Christmas! :) I was a little deflated, however, when he said, “Mmmm, tastes like Crunchberries.” Not exactly a high falutin’ description of a premium tea, but he DOES love Crunchberries so I supposed it is high praise!

Thank you to JacquelineM for this tea! I didn’t realize I hadn’t added it to my cupboard until I sign on to add a tasting note.

Hubby and I split a toasted Everything Bagel with cream cheese for lunch today, and this was my lovely, lovely, chocolately roasty tea to go with! I drank the whole pot by myself, and fixed a pot of Marco Polo for hubby (I am adding a tasting note from him for that tea) since that is his new favorite. Merry Christmas to all the Steepsterites!

Breakfast with hubby today – he’s off work! Yay! Made a liter pot ( with the Jungle Love cozy!) of this to go with cheese toast and toasted buttermilk bread with blackberry preserves. It was good, but had begun to get bitter at the end as it cooled. Added milk to counteract but still ended up with heartburn. Not a bad tea usually, though. Note to self: drink it faster!

One of my students who has tea with me each week brought a tin of this as a Christmas gift! EEEEE! I made a pot of it today and hubby tried it for the first time and guess what? HE LIKED IT! He is a man who commits to few teas, so this is an important event! Delicious, of course.

Two steeps of this today – the second is surprisingly good. There are few teas I really like on the resteep, but some of the best teas take it very well. This was a tea party tea, and today we were joined by an 8 year old boy! He liked it very well. Amazing mom exposing her kids to good tea from a very young age! This went with freshly made bread and blackberry jam, and marshmallow snowmen covered in chocolate!

Needed a strong woman beside me today. Went for my biopsy results – not so good, but not the worst it could be. Tea is good. Breast cancer sucks.