ashmanra

This tea had to grow on me. I used to dislike hazelnut, and it is definitely here in this tea. But the chocolate is so good, strengthened by a splash of milk and a little sugar! I had it once, liked a sip or two, and thought I wouldn’t drink it again. Then…cravings began. I would want it, make it, and be put off by the hazelnut smell, then want it again. Now, I LOVE it! My youngest made our tea time today – honeydew melon with fresh cherries, Petit Ecolier cookies, Waffeletten, and Florence. Aaaaaah. I don’t even mind that I won’t be getting off work until 6…..

Twenty-two ounces, count them, twenty-two! Consumed with milk and sugar, accompanied by gingerbread biscotti ensconced in my wall of jasmine vines that curtains the back patio! A great way to start the day.

A great tea! I think I like this one better than Harney and Sons. And best of all, Southern Season is having an inventory clearance sale right now and I think this one was about half price! Too good to pass up. I have to keep this one stocked as my youngest daughter drinks it every day. Don’t worry – the caffeine won’t stunt her growth. She is already my height and her tea drinking sister is 6 inches taller than I am! By the way, tea is full of flouride, and my two tea drinkers have never had a cavity, my two non-tea drinkers have, unfortunately.

I am only just learning to drink green teas. They used to taste like hot water to me! I prefer the buttery ones so far, but I decided to try this flavored green today. The pomegranate aroma is strong in the package, strong while brewing, but not at all overpowering when steeped. It adds nice flavor and interest to this tea. I think non-green drinkers would enjoy it!

Oh boy, was this ever good today! Added milk and sugar as is my wont with breakfast teas. After having to do without the good stuff for 18 days (ARGH! Can you believe it? Eighteen days!) this went down like water in the desert. Ahhhhh. And Southern Season now has a Facebook page if anyone wants to check them out!

Finally off my antibiotic that separated me from my beloved caffeinated teas! I broke the fast with this one – an excellent tea full of the fuzziest golden bits I have ever seen. Smells like you have poured a big glop of honey in it, but doesn’t taste like it. Just tastes GOOD! A little bit like Golden Monkey, and you can resteep the leaves!

Still not supposed to drink caffeine for another two days, but I REALLY wanted some tea so I tried this one. The blend itself is beautiful. It brewed up a pale yellow and I mainly smell chamomile. There is a fresh minty-ness to this tea. I added no sweetener. It is a nice contemplative cup, delicate. Unfortunately, what I really need to help me finish out this afternoon is a good strong cup to kick my behind into gear!

Not a favorite. I have been spoiled by Earl Grey Supreme from Harney and Sons! I had a kidney stone a week ago and I am not allowed to have caffeine until I stop the meds for it, so I tried this one. It just didn’t scratch the itch, though! The bergamot oil was too strong in this one for me.

Adding a tasting note when it was someone else tasting! My mother-in-law is a coffee drinker and up to now we haven’t been able to get her to try our tea. I took Florence today and asked her to smell it, then told her what it was. She agreed to try it. She said she smelled only hazelnut but no chocolate, but VOILA! When she sipped it she said she could taste the chocolate, too! I think she REALLY liked it! This just might open the door to new teas….. :)

On my way to my daughter’s college graduation! I needed a rich, comforting tea on a day like this. This one feels just right for a special occasion….I like this one with milk and sugar to bring the chocolate out of the hazelnut a little.

A nice Ceylon – I tried it unsweetened, sweetened, and with milk and sugar. I loved it unsweetened but it lost something with sugar. I added milk and drank it Brit style and all was well again!

I must be growing up! I tried this one again today, and I really liked it. I was bothered the first two times by the fact that I smelled honey so strongly but didn’t taste honey. Maybe I am using less and less sugar, maybe I am appreciating the tea more, but I drank this today with no sugar at all and found it quite good. I had just had two cups of pu-erh, also without sugar, so maybe that helped. Before, I drank it on the heels of flavored, sweetened tea. The bottom line – my friend said it was one of her favorites EVER that I have given her (she takes everything with no sugar!) and I really enjoyed it.

This is from the Fine Tea list at Southern Season. It is a loose leaf pu-erh. The taste is what you expect a pu-erh to be…earthy and horse-y. This smells just like the air when I take my daughter to horse camp! Don’t get me wrong – I LIKE pu-erh, but that is what it smells like to me! Horses and freshly plowed earth. The taste is purely earthy, no horse-y flavor…I guess, since I can’t say exactly what horse-y would TASTE like.

This one is lighter in color, body, and flavor than the Pu-erh mini tuo cha that I bought from the same source. This would be a good way to ease into pu-erh if you are afraid! Personally, I think I like the stronger one better. I take it without sugar or milk. It really does make me feel better if I have indulged in a meal that is too fatty to digest comfortably. It soothes the tummy. I have read that it is because this tea helps block fat absorption in the intestines and it may contain pro-biotics. Perhaps pu-erh tea was drunk by the Tibetans because their altitude makes veggie growing difficult and they eat a lot of meat? I know they add yak butter and salt to replace calories and sodium lost in the high, cold mountains near Everest as they climb in their heavy clothing. Maybe I should find a local source for yak butter (or just find an unattended yak at a petting zoo – LOL!) to try it the authentic way! You can steep it longer if you wish, I drank it from a gaiwan and it did not get bitter as the leaves stayed in the cup.

Made this one out of curiosity because I wanted to see the pretty color. I sipped it and tasted…lavender, just like bubble bath, just like Watkins Dry Oil, just like a sachet. It wasn’t as deep a color as I had expected but I had read that lemon would deepen the blue. It didn’t. It turned it a beautiful pink. Beautiful. We took pictures of it. I sipped it. I will hide under the bed prepared to bite ankles if anyone brews this tea and adds lemon to it in this house again. EVER.

Needed a lift this morning. Got it from Queen Catherine. Very light smokiness and good tea flavor. Thank you, Catherine! Having now finished my yoga it is time to move on to a nice green….

Gotta love this one!

I want to begin this tasting note by apologizing to the entire tea drinking world. Apparently I am the only person ANYWHERE who doesn’t care for this tea! I have never liked red hots, the candy one sees ubiquitously around Valentine’s Day, and that is all I taste when I drink this. I respect all of you who love it, I just can’t bring myself to do so. And get this….I have somehow ended up with three tins of it! One was bought as a gift for a friend whom I haven’t seen to deliver it (I already know it is her favorite so I am not giving away something I don’t like just to be rid of it!), one I bought for myself to try, the other came in the tea chest and I wanted the chest and the other three teas but not this one! I do like to make tea and grind my own cinnamon in it, but that is MUCH milder. A friend says that the organic cinnamon tea from A Southern Season is milder than this one and, in her opinion, therefore better than this one. We’ll see. I may give it a try.

Haven’t had this one in a long time. I asked my random tea generator (my twelve year old daughter) what I should drink today and she said, “Uva Highlands!” So here we are.

This is a rotovaned tea, so I figured it could only withstand a short steeping. I pulled the leaves out at three minutes and I think that was just right for me. It is described by Harney and Sons as a bright, brisk tea, and I would have to say that is accurate. This is a pick me up tea, not like a bold and well-muscled breakfast tea, but it is NOT a sit-and-sip-and-meditate soothing cup…to me. It is an eye-opener. My tongue is tingling. I thought I wasn’t getting the wintergreen aspect, but it really came on as a long-lasting aftertaste. A fun cup for this morning, but not a favorite. I like teas that wrestle me out of bed and into my day, or that pat me on the hand and say, “There, there” when I need it.

I am not too familiar with herbals tisanes, but I liked African Autumn which is also rooibos based and a friend gave me this one to try, so I thought “why not?” I like it! There is a unique taste in there that I have only experienced once before, and that was in Throat Coat or Throat Tamer, not sure which. I think it must be the licorice root. Very tasty.

I just had this one for the first time from….my BRAND NEW GAIWAN that my son gave to me for Mother’s Day! Thank you, sweetie! This is a great green tea. I added no sugar or sweetener of any kind. I would resteep the leaves, but it is so late and I need to get some sleep tonight!

My husband dislikes flowery teas and won’t drink many herbals, but he likes this tea. He was having trouble sleeping due to stress at work, but this tea helps him sleep like a baby! He doesn’t feel groggy and it doesn’t put him out, but when he falls asleep he said he sleeps deeply and awakens feeling rested.

Tried this one both with and without sugar today. I usually add a little sugar to my tea and liked this tea better with, though even without it the jasmine adds a sweetness as the aroma fills your head. The jasmine is not too strong to me, though the dry leaves would make you think this tea could knock you down and take your lunch money! My big disappointment is that I couldn’t taste TEA. If someone had told me this was JUST jasmine I would have believed them. Probably won’t buy this one again, but I will enjoy playing with it a bit and trying it iced and with more sugar.

I am not a big green tea drinker….yet. I tried this one hoping for lots of cherry flavor but didn’t get it. I gave a sachet to a student of mine who drinks only flavored greens and no black teas, and she said it was the best tea she ever had! So I guess I will give it high points as a great tea to serve to my green tea loving guests. As green teas go to my tastebuds, this one was good and as flavorful as any green I have had so far.

This tea made my morning! I woke up stiff and sore and drank some Irish Breakfast but it wasn’t quite strong enough to perk me up. But oh Catherine! You didn’t let me down! Liking you more and more……