atuinsails

After tonight’s cup, I’m upping my score to 100. This was a lovely addition to my dinner meal. I’m beginning to think that green or white tea will be my tea of choice at dinner from now on. There is just something about the way the cantaloupe starts the sip, then the white tea comes through as you swallow that is just mellow. Very relaxing.

I don’t think chais are a good morning thing for me. This was nice, but a little too rich once I put in creamer and honey. Definitely an evening tea.

I bought some instant creamer today at the grocery store. I really dislike milk, so I coudln’t wait to see how my chais would taste with the creamer. It was delicious. This was the closest this has tasted to chocolate for me. I say closest, but really, it is still got that bitterness I associate with coffee.

Still I liked the chai with milk and honey, but with the instant creamer and honey, it was fabuous. The creamer did a much better job at smoothing out the excess cardamon. Also, the shortbread made it the best ever.

I’m adjusting my rating just a bit, because I think I like the vanilla chai I have better. I might adjust it back later after I have some of that.

Funny thing happened to me this morning after I drank this. My sinus headache was so much better that the lack of caffeine didn’t register until after I fell back asleep sitting up at the table. My husband woke me and sent me back to bed :D.

I’ve kind of given up tasting the chocolate in this. Not to say I don’t enjoy the peppermint, but this is the fourth time I’ve brewed this, and I’ve changed the steeping time, the temperature, dug around with the teaspoon to try and make sure I get a good mix.

I guess I really don’t have whatever it takes to taste the chocolate in this. I’m going to give it another month to see if it grows on me regardless. If not, I might put it forward to trade.

Tastes delicious, but I seem to be falling into a bit of a rut.

Hmm, made a big three cup pot for dinner. It was so yummy. Definitely one of my favorites.

I’m bumping up my rating of this. For some reason this morning I really hit it off well with this tea. Two lovely infusions, and my mind started to play around with ideas for a nice marinade for a mild fish, maybe tilapia. I’ll figure it out eventually.

Had this around dinner time and for some reason added a tsp of honey. It didn’t ruin the taste, but it defintely took on a different character, more orange, less everything else. Did not like it as well.

Had two infusions of this first thing this morning. Defintely a nice wake up, I just wished it had a better spicy citrus flavor.

This really hit the spot this morning. I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed this tea.

This is still the best chai I’ve every tasted. However, if you dunk a shortbread cookie into it, it becomes the best thing ever.

I am not exactly sure who I was following that first suggested this, but I am so glad it was in stock when I placed my order. This is delicious. A lot of people in our area farm cantaloupes, so when they are in season, I must eat at least two a week. After my disappointment in the chocolate mint tea I was ambivalent about this one. However, the people at 52teas really hit this nail on the head. I felt like I was drinking summer.

Thanks again to every one who suggested this. I will definitely be trying to keep this in my cupboard.

I’m beginning to think I don’t have the palate to taste the chocolate in this tea. I like it. It is tasty. I will drink it again and enjoy it a great deal. But it just doesn’t have a chocolate taste to me.

I’ll probably still experiment with it some more, but for now, I’m reducing my score a bit because it isn’t quite what it’s supposed to be.

So tried a heaping tsp this time, and I think I might have gotten a little more chocolate flavor, but it keeps becoming more coffee like closer to the bottom of the cup I get. I still really like it; it just doesn’t taste the way it smells. I’m going to try two tsp next time, but that might be awhile. I’m starting to miss some of the other teas I have :D.

This is the first chai I coudl drink without reaching for milk and honey. However, I’m beginning to think I’m not using enough tea. Some of the other tasting notes talk about using two tsps, and I used 1 tsp for both this and the Chocolate Mint. I’m going to have to try both with 2 tsps.

That aside, this was a very yummy tea. Kind of heavy on the cardamon and ginger, but that didn’t detract from the whole. Still wasn’t really tasting the chocolate, but I am blaming that less on tea and more on the fact I was almost through the cup of tea before realizing I hadn’t put any milk in it.

The taste was so interesting that I just kept sipping. I definitely have to try this with milk and honey, but I could see drinking this without. I might look into more chais once I decide if I enjoy it as much as I find it interesting.

I’m a bit ambivalent about this tea. To be honest I’m not sure I I like it or not. I certainly don’t hate it. The smell fo the loose tea reminds me of Black Jack gum for some reason, and the taste of the tea is fine. When hot, there isn’t really a taste of spice or citrus to me, just a generic tea taste. As it cools, the spice seems to show up first. I kind of felt like I was drinking spicy water, so I put in a teaspoon of honey, which seemed to perk up those spicy notes, but I really didn’t taste the citrus until the last couple of swallows.

It isn’t unpleasant, but unless further cups impress, I may be bumping my rating down. I figure I might play around with the steeping time just too see if maybe the tea is drowning out the rest of the taste.

So I had this again this morning. Still having problems getting that chocolate taste I keep smelling. I only brewed it for four minutes this time, and for some reason the tea taste was even more astringent. I think it was because I kind of rooted around in the bag with my teaspoon to make sure I got a balanced spoonful.

Once I added a bit of milk, the astringency was gone and that coffee flavor showed up. It’s not a bad flavor, and I kind of like it, even if I don’t like coffee all that much. The mint flavor comes through perfectly, and there is already a natural sweetness there, or I would be reaching for the honey (cause I find coffee to be more bitter than tea).

The website doesn’t have any instructions on brewing, so if anyone out there would like to relate their favorite brewing instructions for this tea, I would be grateful. I looked over some of the other entries for this, but aside from brewing at 4 minutes for a few, I couldn’t find much information.

Maybe I’m not looking carefully enough.

I just got this in the mail today with three other 52 teas, and I couldn’t wait. Brewed it and sat down to drink and was a little ambivalent. It isn’t a bad tea. I liked it, but I didn’t get much in the way of a chocolate flavor.

In the bag, the smell was overwhelming. Very chocolating, very minty. My husband said it reminded him of mint ice cream.

But the chocolate flavor just didn’t stand up to the brewing. I’m not sure if I just didn’t get much of the chocolate goodness in that first teaspoon or if boiling water was inappropriate. Adding milk gave it a faintly coffee aftertaste. It wasn’t bitter, it just sort of tasted like mint coffee.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hmm, tried to go half an half between tea and milk, and it was too milky. Still yummy, just not what I wanted. I’m going to have to experiment a bit to get what I got last time.

Turned out a bit strong this morning, but this could become my usual morning cup of tea.

Hmm, it has been awhile since I’ve drank this, and really just wanted to try it again. It is very lemony, and was a fabulous addition to the fish I cooked for dinner tonight. There was also a sweetness that I didn’t remember from before. I think it is because I steeped it for two minutes this time. I’m continually impressed by how much just a minute of steeping time effects the taste of tea.

Defnitely yummy with my lunch. Today was also a slight variation of what I’m used too. I guess as I get closer to the bottom of the sample bag that will happen more often. I should see about buying more eventually.

I made my usual three cup pot, and I have to say that it was better than actually taking echinacia pills. I hate taking the pills. There was hint of a flavor that I associate with that raw, cabbage like taste of the loose chamomile I tried recently. But just a hint and not nearly as over powering. I’m wondering if that is the taste of the echinnacea itself.

I couldn’t taste the eucalyptus, but there was definitely a mintyness that I liked. It definitely opened up my sinuses, and honey helped that vaguely bitter flavor.

Not really sure about the rating. It may not taste amazing, but it certainly seems to do the job.