ashmanra

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.

Needed a tea to go with a quick lunch and it had to be one that hubby would drink. Ceylon Extra Fancy to the rescue! The leaves are quite large and it is a smooth, very drinkable tea. You won’t stay up at night thinking about it, but it is very servicable and better than reaching for the grocery store stuff. Takes additions nicely, even if you feel like adding cinnamon, cloves, or other flavorings to fancy it up some more.

I used this as the base for my London Fog tonight, and hubby – who is very picky about his tea and only likes about three different ones – liked it! I made a pot of this tea and added some Sucanat, vanilla, and milk. Yummy!

A yummy pot of tea with my bagel this cold and rainy morning! It was quite good, but I think Queen Catherine would have been the better choice to go with my asiago bagel. I hadn’t had one before – our Panera is new, always packed, and usually sold out of LOTS of stuff unless you go really early. The asiago bagel tastes almost identical to my homemade cheese bread, so now I really really want to make homemade cheese bread…

I usually like this one, but today it followed Emperor’s Red by Premium Steap, and that is a hard act to follow. Since I was taking my tea without additions, this one was a bit astringent. With milk it would have been much better. A great Ceylon, though, especially if you take your Ceylons with milk and sugar.

Yummy! This was the first tea party tea today, and was very well-liked. So smooth, chocolate-y aroma, and honey notes. Delicious just as it is!

The final tea party tea today! This is always a winner. You could almost call it “Paris Light.” We needed something smooth and flavorful to end the tea tasting. Lovely! I still wish it came in loose leaf. Harney and Sons is considering offering it that way, so if you have tried it and like it, send them a message or post on their facebook page and maybe we will get it!

A good morning, even though my Everything Bagel was stale! If I skip a week or so having this tea I forget that it has a touch of smoke, and when I make it next I fall in love with it all over again. So glad my one pound bag came – I don’t want to be without this one!

So so good! This tea is rich, full-bodied, sweet, and honeyed like no other. What a fabulous tea! Even my guests drank it sans additions today, and they are sugar and milk people. I love my Golden Monkey so much. Can’t run out of this one – must get more on the next order!

Oh my! I LOVE this tea! I think this is the first tea I ever had sans additions. You can not oversteep it – it just won’t get bitter! It is so soothing to my dry throat right now. It rebrews beautifully, which is a good thing because I have one more student to teach!

I want TEA! But it is late, and I want something strong because it is very cold. So I made this but added a bit of ground clove and some freshly ground cinnamon. I couldn’t find any ginger anywhere! I must have used it all. It is a nice, fresh, satisfying cup for after chicken soup!

An everything bagel, a whole 22 oz pot of tea, and a rainy Sunday with the down comforter on the bed ready for my nap. Ahhhhhh….

Ha! Adding a tasting note on someone else’s tasting of this tea! My youngest daughter has been afraid of Catherine for a long time. She tried it once and loved it, but then forgot how much she liked it and was put off by the lightly smokey aroma and would drink it no more. I talked her into trying it again today and she pronounced it, “A really seductive cup of tea.” Now THAT’S good tea!

What a woman! Remember “E” in The Incredibles? When she slaps Elastagirl around and tells her to get hold of herself and remember who she is? That is what Catherine does for me sometimes. And she is well-qualified!

Raised in a strict Catholic family, educated by nuns, and sent to a political marriage in the bawdy English court, she actually fell in love with her husband. He respected her greatly and defended her, but when she failed to produce an heir he openly had mistresses and acknowledged his illegitimate children. And she – Catherine – defended and financially supported those children from her own funds after his death. Because she had loved him. Could you do that? I would be surprised if I could…

So when Catherine tells me to buck up and get going in the morning, I listen. She isn’t harsh, but she is strong, experienced, and compelling. Thank you, Catherine. I am ready to face the day!

This was a smooth, lovely tea. I drank it sans additions and I would like to try it again with a little sugar, and perhaps some milk. It was milder than I thought it would be. The bergamot is not as strong as in most Earl Greys, and I tasted less rose than I thought I would. I think I need to increase the leaves and try it with additions. It wasn’t bad, it was a very nice tea but it didn’t have enough presence to make me seek it out again. The tea is lovely with the pink petals, though, and I hope that my next cup will be a little more stellar when I make the changes….Everyone liked it, but it didn’t draw ooh’s and ah’s.

One of the Wednesday tea party/tasting teas! Reading the description, and seeing that the Germans add CREAM (not milk) and sugar, I was a little afraid to try this! If you need cream in it, surely it must be bitter or astringent.

What a pleasant surprise! The aroma had nice honey notes, and the first sip – as always – was without additions. And the whole cup stayed that way! Though it is a little astringent it was not unpleasantly so, and wasn’t strong at all. This made a nice tea to go with our cookies, but I don’t think it is strong enough for my breakfast tea!

A decent breakfast tea, but nothing earth shaking. I add milk and sugar to this one, but I always do with morning tea. I like the fact that it is prganic, but there is nothing in the flavor that would make me go out of my way to get this one. I would swim shark infested moats for Queen Catherine, Harney and Sons Englsih Breakfast, and Emperor’s Red by Premium Steap!

A good start to the day – the down comforter is out now that we have dropped below freezing twice, and breakfast was cheese toast with mustard and the Queen! How can you have a bad day when it starts like this?

Oh yum! My hubby just shook his head today when I had to get out the new pound bag to refill my tin. I go through this one and Queen Catherine at an impressive rate!

As always, this is 100% Chinese black keemun tea, and as always, it is a delicious morning boost. Today it is going with Hobbit Breakfast. The girls and I cut up apples, carrots, and sometimes cheese cubes and have second breakfast in true hobbit style. First breakfast is just whole wheat toast (from homemade bread and we grind our own wheat into flour fresh each time we make bread) and chocolate milk, so sometimes we like a little extra something to get through Algebra class. Ay-yi-yi! Both of the youngest kids now in algebra!

Last night, late game of Yahtzee at the tea table near the Christmas tree with hubby, son, and youngest daughter and a pot of this. Mmmmmm. And still able to sleep, too!

A whole 22 oz. pot of the Queen this morning. I am now ready to go Christmas shopping.

This is a strong cuppa tea for first thing in the morning, and it is exactly what Mike Harney wanted it to be. The store description is accurate. Remembering that I am NOT a big fan of assams but don’t object to them blended with other teas, I thought I would be hiding under a chair from this one. While it is strong, it is also civil. I added milk and sugar. There is a noticeable fruitiness – like the muscatel of a darjeeling. Not a bad tea, but my brekkie favorites are still Chinese keemun and Fujian province teas! I think I should also try it with a much shorter steep next time.

Nice rose aroma – not sickeningly sweet but definitely right there in front of you. You don’t have to look for it too hard. I did, however, have to look really hard for the tea flavor. Maybe I let this sample get too old, but I just couldn’t taste tea! The rose scent and flavor were both very nice, but I would have liked to detect the base a bit more. Not bad, just didn’t ring any bells for me. Glad to have gotten to try it, though, especially since I ordered a sample of Harney and Sons Sally’s Secret which is rose and bergamot and I want to see how they compare!