Auggy

Today is going to be a long day. I set the thermostat on 70 because the heater in my office is way too powerful for the small room. And yet the heater is still going even though it is 74 in here. Someone just came to visit me and complained about how stuffy it is. I can’t help it! It won’t stop! I feel like I’m suffocating. On top of that, I don’t feel good – my stomach isn’t happy. Which made me bring this tea out of the recess of my pantry.

This is just a 50/50 mix of Adagio’s spearmint and cream. I only break this out when I don’t feel too hot, so today. It gives me tea but the mint adds a little gentleness that makes my stomach, if not happy then at least not mean(er) to me. This is my feel bad tea.

So now my stomach is still unhappy (though not worse – yay mint!) and I feel like someone is trying to smother me with a heavy duvet straight from the dryer. And that is making me very whiny. Meh.

All this talk about girlie, lovely jasmine teas lately! It has sounded so tempting! So when I was digging around in the pantry to figure out what to have and saw this sample, I thought I’d bust it out again.

The jasmine smell is nice. But to me, good jasmine tea is light and fluffy and sort of dances around happily. This one stomps more than dances and has a total lack of grace. The jasmine is just too heavy and unnatural seeming. Or maybe it is the other flavors doing it. I can’t get any almond, but I taste a hint of the orange, I think. But ultimately, I think the quality of the jasmine flavoring is not all that high – nor all that natural.

Regardless, it’s not a bad tea. It’s pretty okay. But compared to the type of jasmine tea I wanted, it is a total miss.

I always get this one and SerendipiTea’s Colonille mixed up because in my pantry I have them labeled as “Vanilla Orchid” (this one) and “Vietnamese Vanilla” (Colonille) and then I have to remember which one is which by reading the descriptions on here. I really should make this easier on myself and label the teas in my pantry correctly. But yeah, I probably won’t.

Ultimately, though, it’s not a bad thing getting these two teas confused because they are both really good. This one has the addition of orchid scenting which softens it just a little, reminding me of Cadbury Creme Egg. Not so much the insane sweet taste of the eggs, but more like that creamy “ah” you get right after you swallow it and right before the super sweet aftertaste of sugar kicks in.

Of course, maybe I am remembering incorrectly since it has been forever since I’ve had one of those eggs because it has corn syrup and I’m allergic to corn products. But to me this tea is my Cadbury Creme Egg.

My mom made this for me once. It was horrible. So I was a bit scared to try this. I did 2.5g/8oz and I think I made it pretty weak, but it kept it from being overpowering and tart. Didn’t even need sugar and that makes me happy. An herbal that doesn’t gross me out! And even better – one I’d drink again!

Thanks to Lena for sharing some of this! I’ve had this before, but it was right when I first started drinking tea and I didn’t appreciated it so I’m glad to have a chance to try this again now that I like Yunnan.

Teance’s Yunnan Gold is the only Yunnan I’ve had recently but I think this one is a little better. It’s still smooth and tastes (what I think of as) peppery. But I think the overall taste of this one is richer than Teance’s version by a hair. I might break out some of the other stuff later today to test for sure.

Okay, I don’t know what I did differently this time (perhaps brewed it longer?) because I liked it today. Still don’t know what a currant is supposed to taste like but I got sort of a light black cherry/berry vibe coming from it today. Of course, lower expectations also might have played a hefty roll in my liking it today. Yay lower expectations!

This is going to sound weird, but I’m having trouble being excited by this tea. It is a really good quality tea – smoky, smooth, great flavor. In fact, it is the only Keemun that hubby has actually said he likes and that’s HUGE.

But I’ve had really good Keemun before. Adagio’s Keemun Rhapsody is my favorite and I think quality-wise the two are very comparable. So having this is just “Mmm, good Keemun”. No angels sing, no epiphanies occur. Just the acknowledgment that yes, this IS damned fine tea.

Part of the reason, too, could be that TS sorta knocked my socks off. Like, a lot. But then, my experience with Assam is very limited and Thomas Sampson was a huge quality jump compared to what I have had before. And I just didn’t get that jump with Jackee but I admit, I was kind of hoping for it even though I acknowledge the expectation was unreasonable.

But the lack of quality jump is not Jackee’s fault. If I hadn’t had Adagio’s Keemun and had just stuck to the ones I’d had from SpecialTea’s and Rishi, I think this one would have knocked my socks of in comparison. As it is, it’s just now competing with Adagio to find out which Keemun reigns supreme. (This needs to be said in a Chairman Kaga voice… Was there ever an Iron Chef tea battle?)

Randomly, am I late to the party in seeing the jac’KEE MUN’tz and thom’AS SAM’pson bit? That’s so neat but I feel like I’m probably the dorky child that takes 20 minutes to get the punchline.

Mmmm, this hits the spot tonight. I’m getting a good butter taste from it and the floral bit is coming through nicely as well – it’s actually pretty strong for a floral flavor. But it isn’t a light, rose floral or anything that would be sickening, but a richer floral flavor. Orchid I assume but can’t say for sure given I’ve never eaten any flowers (my dad once made me eat a cattail but I don’t think that is the same thing – that was more green leaf/stalk, not floral).

This is quite a nice little tea and something I was apparently totally in the mood for tonight. That makes me happy.

Drinking yesterday’s 3rd steep iced. The flavor seems a little milder. Not really weaker, so I don’t think it is the fact that it is the 3rd steep but maybe the extra oolong I added is showing through a tiny bit? Or maybe not. Regardless, it is pleasant and feels very refreshing.

I was kind of in a Fruity Pebbles type of mood tonight, so I decided to give this one another go. I added a bit of Forever Spring oolong in there to see if I could get some actual tea taste in there with the citrus. Don’t think it really worked. I think green oolong has too delicate of a flavor to come through this strong citrus taste.

That being said, since I was expecting and in the mood for an insane sweet citrus smell and taste experience, I’m enjoying this tea tonight. This is certainly something I have to be in the mood for but eh, sometimes you need those types of teas, right?

Thanks to Lena for sharing this with me!

First off, the dry leaves (balls) smell like someone sprinkled cocoa on them… not my cat but rather the baking powder. Really surprising. I had a little trouble getting the right amount for my cup because I weigh my tea. I had to shuffle around a combination of 5 different balls (ahem) to get my 2.3g for 6oz that I wanted. The large and irregular ball size could be a problem for me. Or else I need to relax. (Probably that last one).

Once I got them in the pot, I was good to go. I was also way too entertained by watching the balls open. How do they get the leaves to stick like that? Anyone? Way too easily entertained.

The smell of the tea post-brewing is much earthier than the smell of the dry leaves. And I don’t get the strong cocoa flavor/smell anymore except as a bit of the aftertaste. It does have a little bitterness to it that reminds me of cocoa, though. Not a bad bitterness, just an unsweetened chocolate bitterness. But without the chocolate.

All in all, I like it. It’s smooth and has a good, complex flavor. Not really knock my socks off with flavor or anything but I think this is probably something I’d get to have every so often as part of a black tea rotation. Not a have to have on hand at all times kind of thing but something to bring in occasionally, use up, then move on to a couple more before ordering it again.

And if I haven’t babbled enough – my next door neighbor is trying to start the motor on his sail boat. Yes, it has been raining all day, but it isn’t that bad yet.

I’m a sucker for anything orange, so of course I got some of this to try. I have no clue who makes this tea but after drinking it, I don’t really care.

Maybe I’m just moody because it’s wet and rainy and traffic was a bear. But this tea? Not so great. It brewed up decently dark but had little flavor other than sweet. And not even a good sweet. More of a sickly, artificial sweet. I couldn’t pick out any apricot or orange flavor. (It was kind of like trying to figure out what flavor the Runts candies are as you eat them. You don’t really know because they don’t actually taste like fruit but they are pretending to be some sort of fruit so you just have to go with it.) But if hard pressed, I would have said this tasted like mango. Not good mango, mind you. Runts mango (they do make a candy in that flavor actually).

And if that wasn’t enough, it left a nasty taste in my mouth, not dissimilar to the aftertaste I get when I have something with Splenda or (worse) Sweet n Low.

Bottom line: not a fan.

Thanks to Lena for the ‘krab’ tea!

3g/6oz/175/2:30 – Smelling this and thinking of sea food, I can totally see the crab comparison. Or maybe lobster tank – that sort of salt + crustacean smell? Something like that. The initial taste has that same flavor, too, but while I can see it, it’s probably not my first thought. My first thought is “oh, Chinese green”.

My description for a lot of the Chinese greens I’ve tried includes briny. This one gets it a tiny bit but as it cools but what really surprises me about this is that as it cools, instead of the brine taste getting stronger, there’s a delicate sweetness to it, especially in the tail, that shows up more. And that pretty much makes me love it because I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a Chinese green. So woo hoo!

And thanks Lena!!!

Why did the leaf smell fruity when I opened it? Seriously fruity. That’s so weird. Tastes fine though. Maybe a little sweet. I wonder if it was sitting next to a flavored tea in the pantry – this is one that I just have a small sample of so it is in a plastic bag. Weirdness.

It’s good though. Because of the weird sweetness (which maybe is aftertase from my gum? Would Extra spearmint do that?) I’m getting a bit of a chocolate taste. It’s a tiny bit flatter in flavor than when I’m at home but that’s because I either use bottled water at work or nasty nasty tap water. I’ll choose flat tea over undrinkable nasty tea any day.

In my world, rooibos = cardboard. Even flavored rooibos makes me gag. But, I’ve never had green rooibos. I’ve heard of it but never had any deisre to try it. However, this Lupicia sample came in at just the right time for me to actually try this tea instead of just letting it camp out in my pantry on my tea shelf for months and months. I needed another tea tonight because I needed a little comfort and also in my world, tea = comfort.

I wasn’t expecting to like this. Rooibos, you know. I hate it. But this? This was pretty awesome. The fruit flavor wasn’t strong mango or citrus – it was almost sweet melon or starfruit-like. Sweet, light… not knock-you-back strong but definitely the dominate flavor.

After trying this tea, I don’t know what green rooibos tastes like but I’m willing to not lump it in with normal rooibos and hate it. I’d even go out on a limb and say I’d like to try it plain.

Some flavored teas have a nasty aftertaste that make me need to chew a piece of gum afterwards. But this one, like most Lupicia flavored teas I’ve had, doesn’t have that ickiness.

So yeah, this whole babble has the bottom line of not all rooibos is evil and a prime example of that is this tea.

I needed to either take a nap or have tea. I selected tea. I normally have Keemun at work which is where I keep my tin of Rishi so I was really expecting the same taste when I took my first sip. But then I remembered why I love this one so much. Smooth, flavorful, so yummy. Just perfect.

I’m feeling uninspired by this tea today. It has a light flavor, not overwhelmingly lemon (which is good) but just seems to be missing a little something (which is bad). It needs to be treated as a more delicate black (because it is) but I keep forgetting that (because I’m not awake first thing in the morning).

Drinking this straight after brewing for 4 minutes is punishment.

Drinking this with a little milk and sugar after brewing for 4 minutes is yummy!

Does that make me a wuss? Eh, it’s good so who care!

Today started off bad. Things just weren’t clicking and every indication pointed to a bad, bad day. And bad days don’t do well with happy, fruity teas for me. So I pulled this one out as a better fit for my mood.

The morning continued to suck. Then my tea cooled enough to drink. Because of the smell, I expect a flat taste that sort of kicks me in the teeth. But it doesn’t. Yes, it’s strong and really stands up to milk. But it has a really great depth of flavor that sort of plays around in my mouth as I drink it. A definite improvement to the day.

And then I saw this and the day got even better. http://tinyurl.com/lobstercar

Must. Order. More. Tea.

I have such a small hand full of oolongs and greens now which is sad because that’s pretty much what I’m going to have in the evening. In fact, I have enough leaf to do one, maybe two more cups of this tea.

So the big question: do I order more Rishi so I can get more of this only Chinese green I love? Or do I go somewhere else to get new teas and just suck it up for a while and be Jade Cloud-less?

These are the tough choices in my life.

But on the plus side, kitty-girl is happy and drugged up and the lump wasn’t a tumor. Woo!

Holy monkeys. My first sip and the fruit just smacks me upside the head. Which is really mean first thing in the morning, especially when I’m in such a not-happy mood. I think if I were in a better mood, I might have enjoyed the overpowering fruit aspect of this (though maybe not), but as it is, I just wanted to dig through the liquid to find actual tea. I think there was some tea taste at the end but it could just be the result of my taste buds being beaten into submission.

I wasn’t sure what fruits exactly were included while I was drinking it and if pushed to guess, would have gone with peach (which is in it). Which is so incredibly NOT what I think of when I see a name like Lili’uokalani. Peach is not a tropic fruit.

The only flavored tea from SerendipiTea that has disappointing.

Iced from yesterday. Disappointingly bland. Not sure if it is the tea or me, but considering how yummy this tea is hot, I’m guessing I didn’t steep long enough before icing.

That makes me feel like I’ve put it on a cake. Which I didn’t. Though now that I think about it, I’m intrigued by the thought of tea-flavored icing.

ETA: Hmm, maybe it isn’t me because as the tea warms up a bit, more of the yummy flavor comes out. So I think this is a tea that is best hot.

Did half milk/half water + sugar and tea and brought it to a boil. It’s like chai with a splash of creamsicle. Or if I made a light masala chai using my orange milk instead of normal milk. (Yes, I have orange milk – it is gooooood).

Very fruity. And that’s pretty much all I can say about it. Very fruity. Maybe a little too fruity to be something I truly love, but still good. Oddly though, I taste blueberries, but there are no blueberries. So either blackberry + mango + peach = blueberries or I’m nuts. Either is possible.