Bonnie

Saturday morning I either make a habit of a big Western Style pot of tea to linger over…taking my time to sip and enjoy without a care in the world. No hurry to run out the door to do anything.

Uh, wait a minute…I’m retired! (Screech of brakes)
I never run out the door anymore anyway! Life is grand!

I tell my grandsons all the time how great it is to be old! So what if I look scruffy! No more hauling off to the job or sitting 4 hours in traffic like I used to. (30 years of stress almost killed me!)
Now I can watch TV late and stay in my jammies in the morning!

Life is grand!

I love the name of this tea! ‘Blackburnian’ (some Scotsman in a kilt should surely have served me tea this morning I think).

Just the look of the chocolate Black Tea leaves mixed with chunkier bits of Oolong and I was so ready for a kick start of caffeine.

The wet leaves plumped up into a mahogany fine bark with a little fruit malty scent. The liquor was honey, medium dark brown.

Taking a big gulpy, slurpy sip, my first conversational comment to myself was, “Wow, this is light. It’s sweet enough and not smoky (got to remember that because this company isn’t afraid of smoke) and this is really light and smooth for a black tea.”

I thought about what the Oolong was bringing to the blend. It had to be sweetness and smoothness.
I could feel some astringency but in such a small amount that it hardly counts.

I know some people really HATE Black Tea. (I don’t ‘get’ that at all)
Blackburnian would be ‘the’ tea for those who are sensitive to strong flavors and want a more muted Black cup. No sugar is needed either, it’s sweet enough left alone.

I experimented with sweetening my tea and adding cream which thankfully worked. There is enough body in the tea to hold additions without bogging down into a watery mess or tasting only like the cream.

Again, this is a VERY light Black/Oolong tea blend but Smooth.

Here’s a little bagpipe stuff from Estes Park,CO about an hour away. In 2 weeks I’m going to the opening Tattoo and 1st day of the Highland Games at over 7000ft in the Rocky’s. This might give some idea. This is the largest they say in North America (I used to go to the ones in Santa Rosa just like my Great Grandfather Duncan Cameron).
http://youtu.be/vzelfQ6KbWg

This was a nice sample included with my recent order and a nice evening dessert for me.
I’m a chocolate lover for sure (anyone else?!)!

I brewed a little pot Western Style and steeped the suggested time
of 5 minutes. Tic Toc….

The wet leaves smelled like raisins and sour bready black tea.
(No chocolate or malt)

I took a big drink of tea, looking forward to the chocolate…my love!
There wasn’t any chocolate flavor, but a medium bodied black tea taste without any malt or cocoa. It’s a nice enough, slightly acidic black tea with tiny hints of smoke (most of Whispering Pines Tea’s I’ve tasted so far have had a some bit of smoke…and I like smokiness).

I added some sweetening and then I added some cream. (These would possibly bring out a cocoa or malty chocolate flavor if there was
some in the tea, I thought.)
But alas, even though the tea was good tasting black tea, I couldn’t taste chocolate let alone Black Chocolate.

Steepsters, I’m not picking on Whispering Pines. I’m rarely critical in my comments about tea and everyone knows this. Maybe when the tea was created the chocolate flavor was stronger and later faded. Possibly a maltier tea would have been better with the nibs.

I have to compliment the creative energy Whispering Pines is putting into their tea’s and the many unique blends. They are listening to their customers also which is what I appreciate when I purchase tea!

Morning tea!
I really wanted a Coconut Chai! The very idea was a flash of lightening calling me…“Bonnie,…(boom, crash) you must order this Chai because it has coconut which you lurv…!”

Short and sweet of it, no coconut in this Chai sad to say. Wah!
Please, please, nice people at Whispering Pines (and you are nice)
the spices have taken over and get strong as the tea sits (which I think is the issue here…a culinary rule about spice).

The cloves especially formed an alliance with the cinnamon and marched into the coconut camp and obliterated all the object of my desire. Wah! No lurv!

Silliness aside. This needs some reworking or a new label that says
CHAI. Just CHAI.

If I review this as a Just Chai, it tastes good but a bit one note.
Yes I did add milk and sweetening and there is a hefty bite from the
CLOVES who own the Chai. I don’t want all clove though.

Sorry. Let me know if this is reworked and I’d like to try again.

Ummm! A new black tea for breakfast!
I ordered several small 1oz. tea’s and some samples from Whispering Pines because their tea blends sounded so interesting especially with Fall and Winter just around the corner.

No fancy brewing this morning for me. I used my Finum basket and a mug, steeped the leaves for 5 minutes and had a very dark brew looking back at me.

The scent was rich and sweet but not malty or smoky.

I took my morning GULP!
For such a dark brew, I expected more punch, more malt or acid but instead the tea tasted smooth and had a different flavor. I had to take some time to ‘think and drink’ about this one.
It wasn’t malty or cocoa, not yammy or peachy, what was that illusive flavor?
I kept coming back to potato. Over and over again, potato. Not just for the flavor, but the thickness of it. There was another taste that came to me later on. A fig newton cookie scent/flavor thing (or maybe it’s what I wanted to eat?!).

I poured in a little cream which added more smoothness to the rich tea. Then I added sweetening which was more delicious!
Now I could taste a bit of malt with the potato and the whole cup was thick, creamy and rich (just short of tea soup in my mouth).

My instinct was to gulp down the tea and make another cup and gulp that down and so on. But, I waited for the first cup to cool just to do the ‘I forgot about my tea’ test. You know. How does the tea hold up when you let it sit for awhile and it cools down? Can you go back to it without gagging?
Yes you can!
(I did notice that it was a little smoky?! How’d that happen?!)

Nice morning tea, not acidic. Smooth. Makes the bed and does the dishes. (Ha, were you paying attention?)

There’s a hint of a thunderstorm in the forecast and a few droplets fell as I watered my mint on the patio (just like it rains when you wash your car it rains when you’ve just watered your plants).

During the Evening News a bleeping and ticker-tape message crossed the bottom of the TV screen announcing…“Residents of Cheyanne County, make your way to a substantial structure due to threat of Heavy Thunderstorms”…
OK, the surrounding Counties are getting the storms so I’m probably in line too.
I made a big pot of Manistee Moonrise Tea…knowing that it was smoky (when I was reading the ingredients of several Whispering Pines Tea’s I noticed that several were on the smoky side) and would be kind of nice on a dark and stormy night.

The dry leaf smelled like a black tea with some smoke and a lot of added earthy things…mint, lemongrass and elderberries… all looking like it would be a welcome choice for a hiker, steeped outdoors over a campfire.

I took a sip from my mug and the tea was lighter and less smoky than I expected (which is better for those who prefer lightly smoked tea’s).
I could taste a little spearmint but not the lemongrass.

My favorite way to drink a smoky tea is sweet, so I added my sweetening and think the flavor was much better this way.
The sweet tea wasn’t rough, harsh or astringent.

There’s something very different about this blend. It’s not just a smoke, black tea and that’s that flat tea.
Those other ingredients in the blend…mint, elderberry and lemongrass bring something that aren’t distinctly separate flavors but they combine tasting very outdoorsy and wild.

It reminds me of something weird…chewing mint gum and drinking black tea while sitting around a campfire.
(Not as disgusting as it sounds…think like a kid)

I’ll drink this tea primarily on cool Wintry days to set a mood, and share cups with the grandsons who will love it! OH! I have some Maple Granulated Sugar, that would be good with this tea too!

I emptied the end of my 1oz packet into my Finum brew basket because today I should be receiving another 4oz. of this super delicious, can’t be without it blend! It’s just what I want for breakfast! Perfect!
(If Verdant discontinues this one I’m heading to their office and having a talk with the boss is all I can say! Watch out Mr. Duckler!)

What I love about luscious Black Tea’s and Verdant Puer’s with a little spice and love…is all here in one nice blend. Like a hug in the morning this cup is so rich and creamy.
I’m too old for Teddy Bears and too vain for fuzzy slippers, but this tea has all the warm comfort I want.

We all know what’s right around the bend. Fall and Winter.
Just a few weeks away and the winds will pick up a chill, then a flurry somewhere around All Hallow’s Eve. I’ll sit on my sofa with a mug of this warm tea with a smile on my face, watching for the first time (I was unable to see when I was mostly blind last year), the first snow come floating down outside my big window.

Note to Verdant. Just cross out Summer and put in Winter!
Imperial Winter Blend by Verdant Tea. ;) (A suggestion)

I love this blend and up goes the rating. I can almost chew on this tea it’s so full of body! Nom nom and so many of you Steepster’s say!

It’s been 5 months since I tasted this Oolong! Wow that’s a long time!
I almost forgot it was in the Happy Lucky’s bin and then…I was looking for a trio of tea’s to share with Fr. Evan today and saw this one. Ah ha, that was the one for sharing with him, I thought!

Since I’m still car-less, Fr. Evan said he’d come by my condo on his way home to the wife and kids for our regular chat. When we visit we go on and on talking about Food and Faith. (His family owns one of the oldest and most famous restaurants in Denver)

I had already warned him to leave lots of time for drinking tea.

First, there would be this Oolong, then a nice malty Black Pearl Tea and last a Shu Pu-erh. (All three his first tastings of those kinds of tea’s ever.)

I set up my wooden gonfu tray, two gaiwans and glass cups (shouldn’t show off but I did anyway).

The Oolong was not what he expected. Fr. Evan likes Black Tea best and grew up drinking Greek Chamomile Tea with lemon and honey.
This was delicate and slightly floral with a little vegital background that he enjoyed. "I like this tea and would drink it which I didn’t expect, " he said. Of course I nodded in a knowing manner. (I thought he’s like it because it’s a very tasty tea!)

Next the Black Pearl delighted him since he loves a malty black tea.

But…the winner was…the Pu-erh! I’m the one who made a convert out of my Priest!!! Ha! (Now I have to buy some Pu-erh as a gift for his Church office tea set-up!)

We had such a lovely time sipping our tea and talking about how tea relaxes you and brings a person into the ‘present’ where you are able to be still with God. He understood why tea has meaning for me and how it is helping shape and heal my life.

He noticed at one point that I have a small beeswax candle on my icon shelf shaped in the form of a beehive.
“Where did you get that?” he said with some excitement in his voice.
“At the honey store by Terry Lake”, I replied.
“Did you know that the architect for Hagia Sophia modeled the great dome of the church after a bee hive…that’s how it was created and why it has remained all these century’s?”
“Wow, I had no idea!”…(I always learn something new from Fr. Evan)
What a kind man.

I think it’s fun to nose around the market and look for locally produced tea products. There are the little mom and pop operations that never make it out of the town or State/Territory you live in.
I’d like to read about your local tea’s.
Here’s one of mine.

This tea comes from an organic fruit tree farm way up in the mountains of Western Colorado in Hotchkiss. I looked up Big B’s and found out that there is a coop of farmers in the area that make goat cheese and honey and other products for Aspen’s Restaurants, Whole Foods and gourmet grocers.

This organic Black Tea was purchased at Whole Foods and is totally organic through and through. Filtered water, 10% organic apple juice, lemon juice and organic cane sugar.

I poured the whole 16oz into a tumbler and it looked like I expected it too with the organic apple juice. Brown sugar spice colored.
The sugar and lemon flavors were just right.
(I can’t stand overdone lemon tea that tastes like pinesol!)

I could taste more tea than juice! Someone likes tea at the farm! They could have gone bonkers with the apple cider but didn’t. You taste black tea and smell black tea! The juice just gives a little tang and sweetness.

Pretty good. I like it better than those brands that are everywhere…blech Snapple Apple Tea things! I hope these become more widely available but someone needs to redesign the label. It’s
ugly!

What’s bottled locally where you live?

Thank you mrmopar for this sample Pu-erh tea!

Fall is in the air. Soon (real soon) the tree branches will begin turning color in a way that I never experienced living in Northern California (only sunny or rainy seasons there).
When the wind flutters the golden leaves of the Aspens you can almost hear them sing. And the radiance at this altitude is amazing!
We have funny shaped clouds. (I remember seeing clouds like this flying over the Andes long ago on my way to Peru) Strange shaped discs like the ‘flying saucers’ people seem to see now and then glimmering in the sunlight. I like them. http://youtu.be/vnyqLc8m41A
This is a youtube sample of clouds and here is a photo I took at Tahoe (I think it looks like a monster…it lasted all day without moving!) http://flic.kr/p/cVLomU
If I were telling tall tales I would make up a story about Angels skipping stones in the sky.

I was drinking this Pu-erh today, and at one point in the sipping, there was a flavor that reminded me of sprouts from the days when sprouts were all the rage in salads and whole grain sandwiches. Organic green bushy bundles like moss. I like watching moss on rocks in a stream…watching water pass over it…pulling at the fronds like wisps of hair.

Pu-erh is especially comforting in the Fall and Winter months. The organic smell and feel of it makes me wish I could be at the tea farm surrounded with lots of bark and furry scent.

I steeped this Pu-er 30 seconds each steep and the liquor was honey brown only on the first steep, then became dark coffee brown on later steepings.
Oh do I love to push my nose into the Gaiwan and smell the wet leaves! (It makes me happy!)
First the leaves were like steaming warm toast! Later, the wet leaves were sourdough baked bread and last an almost cocoa baked bread.

I’ve never likened a tea to drinking wet hot towels but…hum…this is what came to mind. The flavor was barely savory and later on a lightbulb went off in my head and I said, “Alfalfa sprouts!” (Which is where all the previous blubberings came from about moss and all).

The second steeping was pure satin, very smooth and sweet. I couldn’t figure out what the fruity flavor was and sat for a time sipping and rolling the tea around in my mouth.
Burgundy black cherry with a peppery finish. That’s what I got.

My last steeping was smooth, sweet with a dryness on the top of my tongue which wasn’t present previously.
The flavor of the tea was like an unsalted water cracker. Really.
No earthiness at this point. Just a bit savory.

There’s rain in the forecast.
Cooking with tea is fun! Here’s what I did with this Pu-erh…
For dinner I made a 5 Spice chicken with some of this Pu-erh and Tamari Soy Sauce (I sprinkled a little extra ginger and Ponzu on also… and baked it in the oven slowly for an hour. Meanwhile…I made some curried veggies. I steamed rice with chicken broth and a little Pu-erh, added a few smoked peppercorns and a little butter. All three dishes were perfect.
Sweet Spicy Chicken, Curried hot Veggies, Creamy, Buttery Rice (not sticky)just perfectly fluffy and rich.

Another lovely Pu from mrmopar…thank you!

The last few visits to my tea shop I had been told about Water Sprite Tea but for some reason, had gone on to a green tea and an India Oolong.

Today, I remembered.

Granddaughter Schey drove me to Church (I sold my car) and Sunday afternoon is the best time for tea in town.

When we walked in the door of Happy Lucky’s, there were three servers (PRO’S) in their bright red and maroon Cambodian silk shirts grinning widely in a friendly “Hello” as though we were family. (Schey loves tea there as much as I do!)

“I’m ready for the pillow tea today”, I said. "Ah, the Water Sprite. You won’t be disappointed, " said Eric and all agreed.

Sundays are quieter in the shop usually. We sit at the tall bar to chat and watch tea being created for ourselves and others, sharing tips and information about tea. I’m a talker!

In no time a nice big clay pot of Water Sprite Tea was ready.
But first, what was done to prepare the tea?
A tea wrapped pillow is about 1.5 inches by 3 inches (some are a bit smaller) in a square or rectangle shape and wrapped in white paper like a present. One package is unwrapped for tea, placed in a clay pot and steeped in 190F water for 1-3 minutes then the tea is poured into another clay pot for serving (the pillow doesn’t fit into baskets or filters…too big!). (You could brew using 2 mugs at home)

The tea was sweet and floral with a lovely cooling in the mouth which I’ve tasted in Taiwanese Oolong’s but never in Chinese Oolong’s.

This Chinese Oolong was very light with no astringency or dryness at all even when the tea cooled.
Layered under the delicately sweet floral flavor was a hint of vegital green bean that you would normally associate with a green tea.
The flavors were interesting and made me want more and more cups of tea.

I was told that 7 steepings or more were to be expected. We had 4 pots full and there was little fading of flavor.

I purchased some of these dreamy little pillows for sharing with Schey and my other grandchildren.

Thank you mrmopar for this Sample Pu-erh!

Now that the stress of selling my car is over…sigh…I am reasonably clear headed and able to drink Pu-erh’s and
enjoy them without working so hard to find the inner calm that’s
needed to write. It’s been a good lesson.
I’m retired, the rest of you Steepster’s go to work or have kids or school and busy lives. You make time to fit in your own tea reviews and stories. I appreciate your effort more than you know.

Review:

Steep time and 1 wash were 30 seconds for each.

The wet leaf began as a raisin muffin scent and ground walnuts, then a leathery rye bread and finally a bakery scent.

Color for each steeping was red/brown, dark red/brown and very dark golden red/brown liquor with each one absolutely clear.

1. I noticed the energy in the tea before the taste. A powerful feeling from a smooth sweet tea that tasted more like the familiar scent of walking through the redwood forest than the earth underneath. It was that tree bark that I’m familiar with and grew up around. (I have no experience with cedar except small pieces of wood) I noticed a peppery feel in my mouth that was playful, like dappled light bouncing up and around. The finish was silky.

2. Oooh this was a much darker woodsy cedar bark flavor. I could still see the bottom of the Gaiwan through the dark brew, but the taste stopped just shy of becoming a bitter bark. As the tea cooled the mouth-feel was thicker but still bright and a little dry right at the back of the throat.

3. Out of the forest proper and arriving at my daughters cabin/house in a clearing at the corner of Conference and Pine (where the huge redwood tree came crashing down and smashed the car, the camper and all the bikes one Winter), Annalisa would be making bread as always…with bits of seeds or nuts and bread crumbs stuck to the baking stones…still toasting away but not burnt. (I’d be looking for the covered butter dish and Olallieberry Jam!).

The Pu-erh was smelling more like the baking bits on the stone and not like the forest or trees anymore. Third steeping’s often become the best of the best. There was a little flatness to the tea that I thought could use a perking up.
I added 1/4 tsp of raw sugar and the savory quality of the Pu-erh came out in buckets! Wow! I was so pleased! The tea tasted sooo good!

Such a good Pu-erh!
(Listen, purists may scoff…(Bonnie adds sugar to Pu-erh…what a dumb lady!)… but noone scoffs at seasoning food. Salt and sugar are used to draw out hidden flavor so I experiment.)

Meandering thoughts:
My little story is not much today. Just a memory of walking in the forest. My family history with a place in the Coast Redwoods goes back to the 1920’s where there was a little community with Summer cabins and a Conference Center, a big cement pool and row boats on a creek. My Aunt Jessie (born in the 1880’s) had an old cabin there where family gathered.
My parents had their honeymoon there, my daughter was married in the Chapel there, her first home was there. I went to camp and we all have our sweet memories.
The best is walking alone through the floor of the forest with towering trees overhead and dappled sunlight barely able to reach the soft spongy red/brown ground below. If you want to know why I love Pu-erh, it might be because of the aroma of the redwood forest. It looks like a forest of chunky and furry Pu-erh! To hide in a tree hollow, or stand in a natural ring of redwoods and look up at the sky is mystical. The trees lift their hands wiggling their green fingers… far beyond what I am able to do in thanksgiving for such beauty.
One of my regular paths led down to Bean Creek and had a small creeklet of water next to it…lined with ferns (looking quite prehistoric) which ended at an old swinging bridge where I could walk across, then down to a sandy beach and see the former creeklet cascading as a grand waterfall into the the larger Bean Creek in front of me.http://youtu.be/nBLkhNoX9Dc (wow found this later on youtube…the waterfall and creek)
My parents and grandparents, my children and grandchildren all have the memory of this place.

Tea is grand for memories. (now that I read that phrase it sounds
too dumb…Tea is not ‘grand for memories’ it kicks my butt! I have memory problems! I’m a visual thinker who’s thinker is broken and tea helps kick it into the remembering mode…so that’s what I mean!)

Yesterday I sold my car at about the same time that my 3 teenage granddaughters Schey (18), Megan (17) and Kiah (15) set out from their ranch on County Road 15 on foot, walking to town for the exercise. It is 5 miles to town and the plan was to hop on the bus (after stopping for ice cream) for a short ride to my house (another 5 miles).
I was ready for celebrating when they arrived but now I was without a car so I ordered Pizza’s and Root-beer. We watched old House episodes on my big screen TV. (This TREAT is noted because a family with 8 kids doesn’t order pizza delivery because it’s too expensive!)

After awhile I went to the kitchen to fix DESSERT!

Slowly, I brought a large pan of milk up to heat with a mixture of sugar and honey (but not too much) and then added Laoshan Village Chai Tea to steep slowly, swirling it with a spoon now and then.

It smelled really good.

There was just enough for 4 large servings of Chai and I used double
walled glass mugs so that the presentation would be special, showing the creamy light and frothy tea.
Laoshan Village Chai Tea isn’t overly spicy. This was a mellow, chocolaty blend and yummy. My granddaughters would have loved another pot or two to gulp down! Real cooked on the stove and simmered Chai is nothing like a quick cup of tea. It’s so easy to do that I’m going to make it for myself more often! (I bet it would be good cold with a scoop of ice cream in it!)

My buddies at Happy Lucky’s had mentioned that they like to mix types of sweetening when they make Chai. This is why I used both sugar and honey (I didn’t have any agave or I may have used honey and agave instead). I don’t like too much honey because it can overpower tea, but a little honey gives a nice round sweet finish with Chai.

How did I get so blessed that these girls like to spend time with me? It’s so cool!

Life can be grand!

I was drinking this Pu-erh for my morning tea because I was feeling very sad and a really good cup of tea couldn’t help but cheer me up!

My car is up for sale, I had a buyer and we were to meet at the Bank today to complete the transaction but this morning they pulled out of the deal.

WAH! BOO HOO! (There…OK,done!)

Drowning my sorrows with tea was a pretty safe way to get over a disappointment. I know I’m usually cheerful, or I try to be unless I’m sick or there’s a disaster.
Tea has been seen as something offered for comfort. Just look at old movies.
“Here dearie, your whole family was lost at sea, have a cup of tea.” “Oh my Reginald, Lady Margarite has fainted, fetch some tea.”

Maybe it wasn’t quite that bad but almost! Funny and charming.

There’s some truth in the comfort aspect of tea drinking and that’s why I chose a Pu-erh (and a very good one) for my morning tea.

Pu-erh’s are calming and good for the stomach and blood pressure. (Just what Bonnie needs for maintaining a level head.)

It’s important for me to trust that all things will work for good and worry won’t gain me anything.

I made a lovely creamy latte. (Not all Pu-erh’s make excellent latte’s but this one is really good)
Savory turn’s caramel, the rich creamy sweetness soon taking my sad self to a more positive place where everything was sure to turn out fine in the end.

I took a deep breath. I sat thinking…
“Remember what you said just yesterday Bonnie about being grateful (you even wrote about it in a review you ninny). Were you really serious about gratitude only when things are going your way, or can you be grateful when disappointment or hardship is knocking at the door? Oh?!”
That’s not something I wanted to think about but it was true. It’s easy to be thankful when things go my way. I have to work harder on being thankful when they don’t.

See now how taking a break with tea can help settle the mind.
My tasty Pu-erh latte was what I needed to create the right mood and had perked me up!

I may not be able to get to my favorite tea shop for a week or so because I have someone who wants to buy my car tomorrow.
This is a good thing and will lift the burden caused by medical bills off my back.
I’ll find an inexpensive old car to hobble around in and be OK.

In the mean time, off I went to HAPPY LUCKY’S to be HAPPY with some
TEA!
It was just my luck that 3 of my favorite tea server friends were there at the same time! It wasn’t too busy in the shop, so it was like a party for me (maybe not for them though)!

I don’t think the people who work at Happy Lucky’s know just how much they mean to me and other customers as well.

While I was sitting at the bar watching customers wander in and out ordering tea, I noticed a regular customer that I had seen before who comes in for a daily matcha. Andy vigorously whisks the matcha powder with concentration and care until it froths to the perfect consistency…then hands the foamy bowl over and it’s gone in three or four splendid gulps.
Another young woman was matched with a custom Chai Latte…just for her (my server friend laughed and commented to me how he loves to pick out the right tea for the right person).

It was Andy who stood at the tea wall with me today while I sniffed tins of green tea. I picked the most expensive one. It smelled so savory.
He said, “Try the Lu An Gua Pian, it tastes almost the same and costs less…and I like it a lot myself.”
I picked up the tin to sniff and thought it smelled quite similar to the first tea but was just a darker pine green color.
I decided to go with his suggestion and ordered a clay pot full of tea.

When Andy took the basket out of the pot and presented the wet leaves they smelled so good. I kept saying that they smelled like lunch. I know that sounds stupid, but they smelled like something you’d want to eat. SAVORY and salty bright dark green leaves so vegital and spinachy, green bean, artichoke, blah, blah, blah…good that you think of it as a meal!

I took a sip of tea and before the liquor hit my mouth I could taste it from the savory scent. Oh, it was so good! Wet and juicy too! The tea was light and salty but never bitter or acidic.

As the pot of tea cooled down, the feel of the tea became a little dry on the tongue but never bitter or astringent. The aftertaste lingered for a long while. That is as it should be.

Much later, I added a little raw sugar before the pot was empty and the tea was delightful and enchanted with the kind of taste you get from anything you do in a culinary way with sweet and savory dishes. Yum, Yum, Yum!

This was a great pot of afternoon tea.

As I was leaving the shop. I made a comment about how grateful I am.
It wasn’t missed.
I was about to open the door and I heard,
“Thanks for reminding us to be grateful Bonnie, we need to be mindful of that every day.”

(Little do they know that it’s they that made me mindful of being grateful at that moment… by their kindness)

This week I’ve been revisiting some tea’s. A few have been tucked away for awhile and this one was in a little orange tin sitting inside my Teavivre bin (in a closed cupboard).

Lapsang Souchong is usually my culinary tea. I cook with it quite a bit for smoky rubs and steamed veggies. It creates and nice BBQ smell in the house that I like better than cauliflower, broccoli or steaming brussel sprouts.

This morning I thought I’d just drink it as TEA. (What a novel idea)

I made a cup using my Finum basket and steeped the leaves just over a minute which was just right. Not too strong, not bitter and smooth.

My other Lapsang Souchong is stronger and sweeter than this one, but I do like Teavivre’s for how smooth it is to drink. The astringency is low and the smokiness won’t knock you down like some LS’s out there.

I’d keep this one around JUST for drinking. It isn’t strong enough for a culinary LS. Not smoky enough.

I challenge anyone who has never tried a Lapsang Souchong to venture out and try some. Experiment with it. Blend a little with other tea’s to create a smoky blend or add a little to a t-sac when steaming veggies. Read the story of how Lapsang Souchong came about in China…it’s a great little story.

I would think this would be the drink when watching Grimm or Ever After or a Fairy Tale with woods and dark misty marshy things.

Here I go again…Chocolate Review #3 on my Chocolate Tea Day!

I know this is not a ‘strictly chocolate only’ tea. Blah, blah, blah I don’t wanna hear about it.

This is chocolaty enough for fussy about chocolate ME!

Each of the 3 chocolate tea’s have been steeped about the same amount of time (4-5 minutes) and the addition of cream and sweetening has been the same so that I could compare them side by side.
The only other differences have been the base black tea (a standard black, an organic black blend from the Tea Spot, and Laoshan Village Black, Wuyi Black and Oolong from Verdant).
Then the chocolate. The first two companies used artificial chocolate flavoring. Only Verdant used raw cacao nibs. (Verdant is the only one with other natural flavors from mint and flowers which thankfully don’t overpower either the tea or chocolate nibs).

I have an easy time finding tea’s that tease me with maltiness, drawing me into the desire for cocoa. But for some reason, I don’t like to drink chocolate milk or hot chocolate. Seems odd.

I love dark, luscious bittersweet chocolate (prefer the sea salt bars), and natural black chocolaty tea’s with no flavoring added. (I have not reviewed those tea’s here, choosing the flavored ones and the blend instead).

Another reason this has been a favorite Tea is that I like it cold. Most of the time, artificially flavored tea’s go all sour iced or chilled. Not so with Chocolate Chamomile Curiosity Brew. That’s what made me buy a bunch to last the Summer.

I’ve had some good tasting, YES! (And I have a shot glass full of Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips for TV time!)

http://youtu.be/nktOdgyKcAo Video about a Chocolate Master

Chocolate Tea #2 on my Chocolate Tea Day!

So, this is one that I really liked when I sipped it before.
How does it compare to the Spice and Tea Exchange Dark Chocolate Tea that I had for breakfast? It’s not a bitter sweet chocolate taste or as thick tasting, but it definitely tastes like one of my favorite candies of all time…(drum roll)

MALT BALLS!

Ooooooooohhhhhh!
I love to eat Malt Ball candies at the movies. I mean, they are the best yummy cocoa sweeties to eat slowly while watching all the action taking place on the big screen. (I know you can taste them)

Anyway, this is the best tea I’ve had from The Tea Spot! (I did put cream in my cup and sweetened the brew!)

I’m going to have a chocolate day today. I have a couple of chocolate tea’s and since I LUV CHOCOLATE I decided to drink them all in one day! Binge!

This has been my favorite chocolate tea. It’s rich and dark the way I love chocolate bars. The other thing I love about it is that the flavoring isn’t sour. I HATE SOUR FAVORING! But as I said, this tea is dark chocolate GOOD!

There’s a sweet little restaurant in town called The Chocolate Cafe.
I’ve taken the grandsons there one at a time for Italian Soda and Chocolate dessert. Lava Cake, Mousse, Creme Brulee to delight my little Princes http://flic.kr/p/cRDTWS. There is something magical about sitting in a lovely space, having a chocolate dessert served on a white plate that is decorated beautifully with berries or chocolate squiggles or powdered sugar, that’s far removed from picking up a cupcake at Whole Foods.
Flowers on the table, Italian Opera softly playing in the background and my little guys know that they are special to Grandma.

Chocolate is never casual like a cheese sandwich or jelly beans.

I made a pot of this tea for my morning wake-up and steeped it for 4 minutes.
My addition of cream and sweetening to this tea didn’t dilute the dark chocolate flavor but made it creamy and rich. It’s so good. I had forgotten how good. I’m totally out! I’ll have to call my son to send me more from the store at Pier 39!

(I just upped the rating on this one…something I’m not doing much on flavored tea’s these days!)

Today I’m doing my long ago, ancient history tea review revisits.

This bag of tea has not been reviewed for 6 months and was one of my first purchases as a newbie tea drinker. This was before my intro to Teavivre, Butiki or Verdant Tea’s to name a few.
I bought a whopping 16oz bag (which is why I have plenty left) of this heavily flavored Pu-erh tea.

I made a 24oz pot of tea. Gutsy to make that much, but it’s a coolish afternoon and I’ve been catching up on some DVR saved programming.
Being careful not to over steep, (something I’ve learned in the past 6 months is that over steeping increases the sourness of artificial flavoring) I poured a good mug of dark coffee colored liquor and added cream and sweetening. (I did taste the tea first but decided to go for the complete latte route)
It tasted like flavored tea but not like a Pu-erh. I’ll admit that this was a splendid effort by The English Tea Store at covering up the Pu-erh taste. There is lots and lots of toffee and caramel flavor!
After a cup, I began to find that I had enough! It was too heavily flavored. Cloying! Too artifical and still, a tad bit sour.

My taste in tea has changed. I have to admit to it. And with the stroke of the keyboard and one craggy old finger, the rating is coming down too.

An average little tea.

It’s been four months since I reviewed this tea.

I was wondering what I would think after going so long without even tasting it at all.
I’ll admit that I was hoarding the half ounce portion in my stash for some unknown reason. (Am I the only one that has the fear of a tea disappearing forever?) I must have more faith that there are further tea adventures ahead of me and bid this and other hoarded tea’s farewell.

Oh what a beautiful liquor this Jin Jun Mei has! Bright red-orange, golden and clear. Something like looking at a radiant amber topaz in the sunlight.

The flavor is not what I think of as a heavy Winter, stuck in the dark library… malty Black Tea. This one is a Spring morning and the World is waking up from months of frost malt type of tea. It’s flavor is alive and vibrant.

I make a caramelized Italian golden squash dish (Mario Batali’s recipe)using long slices of pumpkin (or squash), butter, brown sugar and a little balsamic vinegar and basil at the end. The squash turns into the most delicious sweet and savory, buttery dish. Oh my!

When I drink this tea, I think of this dish! The yammy, buttery and roasted flavor melting in my mouth are what I taste in this Verdant tea.
You can see why I hoarded it. Why wouldn’t I steal away as much as I could for a treat? But it’s gone.
I will have to look with anticipation for that next tea around the corner and now, after four months of drinking stunning tea’s…I know those tea gems exist. I have confidence.

This was a great cup of tea!

My learning continues, it’s just slow.

I declared today my Butiki Day! I’m being a brave woman and drinking a whole big pot of Guayusa at 4:30pm because the closing ceremony of the Olympics will be on tonight and I intend to stay up and enjoy myself!
(I enjoy myself anyway!)

The Summer Days are beginning to cool finally or so it seems. We had the longest stream of days over 90 degree weather on record! Today, this pot of creamy tea tasted like my childhood Summer’s, listening for the ice cream truck melody…‘All around the mulberry bush the monkey chased the weasel’…playing rickety rack as it slowly came down the street. I could buy a 10 cent creamsicle being careful to eat it JUST SO! (Outside first then the creamy vanilla ice cream last…the reverse of how you eat an Oreo cookie).

Who cares about an energy boost when the flavor is so creamy and delicious. I sweetened mine. There’s even a little tingle that I like. Stacy know’s how to create her flavors well, like a magician with a wand. What I know is that I’ll always be a kid at heart and I love my creamsicles cold or hot like this yummy tea!

This weekend is the big Bohemian Night’s Festival in Fort Collins and I have never gone downtown to see what all the fuss is about. I imagined a nice little downtown affair with some street vendors and a stage with music much like there is every weekend.
I called my granddaughter, picked her up and we went to the event.
Neither of us had any idea that the whole downtown area was blocked off for blocks and blocks and blocks with 7 stages and huge amounts of food, drink and everything else imaginable.
We went for tea of course and Schey had her first Macha Latte, and later we ate bacon, raspberry waffles from the Waffle Lab truck. It was sublime.

This morning, my wake-up tea was a revisit of Butiki’s Premium Chai.
Oodles (great word) of spice just crying for cream and sweetening.
(I happen to think that this Chai is BEST with additions especially some kind of milk!)
Whatever your day will be. Mowing a lawn, paying bills, riding a bike or walking for hours at a community festival, a great spicy Chai wakes you up and kicks your butt with just enough caffeine to get you going without making your stomach angry. This is a nice little Chai from a great lady (Stacy)!

A few weeks ago I was in Boulder for the Tea Festival and I stopped by Ku Cha House of Tea specifically for some Puerh.
I was on the hunt for some Puerh for making morning latte’s to share with my 11 year old grandson who has become a fan of grandma’s yummy tea.

Ku Cha is a beautiful tea house! I could go on and on about the great service (which I will do on reviews from time to time).
This particular day, I was sniffing around the Puerh section (which is quite large) and was interested in one but not sure enough to purchase. An employee offered me the option of a free gonfu tasting to see if I liked the Puerh. “Sure”, I said. (I’m no dummy)
I sat down on a beautiful small teak bench while my tea was prepared at a beautiful large wooden gonfu station with a rock and lizard pet
and built in water heating element.
The server was well trained in picking up my cup with bamboo tongs and doing a wash then pouring the Puerh into a pitcher then my cup.
It was very fluid and beautiful like a dance. I wish I could serve as well.

I didn’t happen to prefer that particular Puerh (it was lighter than I was looking for), but I did find this one that I’m reviewing today.

I wanted extra amounts of tea left over for making chilled Puerh to drink during the day. I add ginger simple syrup or mint now and then when I make this tea for the frig.

I used 3grams tea, 12oz water, steeped 30 seconds on steep 1-3 and 3 minutes on steep 4&5. (Always rinse the leaves first 30 seconds)

The wet leaves never smelled leathery or very earthy. The scent was sweet.
The color of the liquor was always clean and clear, red brown to very dark red brown on the longer steeps.

I usually go into a 1,2,3, type of review on Puerh’s but I don’t want to this time.
I specifically bought this to enjoy sweet or as a latte and that’s how I tasted it this morning which will make this a different kind of review.
I will say that plain and without adding anything to this tea, it is sweet and not very earthy or bready. It was smooth. You can steep the heck out of it and it is not bitter but still sweet and smooth leaving an almost silky feel at the finish.
At one point I picked up cinnamon, tingling on the tongue and a hint of malty cocoa like a black tea (steep 2).
The business at hand was adding milk and sweetening though. How would this Puerh hold up to those additions? Some tea’s fold. The flavor of the tea disappears like a poof of vapor…and all you taste is milk. Not good.
You have to be a little careful not to add too much milk here. This is not a thick and earthy, bready Puerh. With a splash of milk and sweetening, you have a very tasty latte with a malty flavor (which is super good considering that my other latte Puerh’s taste like caramel).

This was a good choice. I’m going to keep drinking this all Fall as the weather changes (which begins next month). Hard to imagine that the first snow will be coming in October!

http://youtu.be/r2HA56_Vnrg This video of Ku Cha shows just how fine a Chinese Tea House can be.

Great Scot I’m a dimwhit about time! My daughter Annalisa came over this morning to help me look over some wordpress blog formats and I forgot all about the tea steeping in the teapot for oh…about 7-8 minutes or more! (most likely 10 minutes!)
So far (and this is the honest truth) I have yet to screw up a Verdant tea steep time and end up with undrinkable tea. Why is that? It could be that the tea is the right kind to screw up. Maybe not though.
Mint and fennel and Puer was on the safer side for long steeping (huge sigh of relief). My daughter doesn’t drink Puer or sweeten her tea or add milk or any dilutants so what would she say?
I poured two big mugs of inky brown tea and snuck a wee sip first to test for bitterness.
Waaaow! Not bitter at all! It tasted sweet, minty and very drinkable without adding anything to it. Amazing!
My daughter drank her mug of tea and liked the flavor (she doesn’t fake it if she doesn’t like it either!).

I added milk and sweetening to make a robust latte…so good!