A Southern Season

I am decupboarding this one as I finished it today! I was experimenting, and I am hoping someone on here can help me because it was NOT a success.

I made a big batch of this tea, added cinnamon, cloves, and a tiny bit of nutmeg, squeezed a Clementine orange over it, and threw the peel and fruit in to simmer. I also added sugar.

This is very nearly good, yet almost undrinkable at the same time. It smells good and the sip is almost good but there is a really weird aftertaste. It was somewhat drinkable other than that while it was hot but as it cooled it was pretty terrible!

I wondered if this is bitterness coming from the orange peel?

Does anyone have a great recipe for a mulled tea that can be simmered low and slow in a crockpot? Other than the old standby of instant tea, Tang, and cinnamon?

It felt a little chilly this morning when hubby and I went out to pick up a few things for a home improvement project. When I came home I saw that it is actually in the low sixties, but hey. Everything is relative.

The cool temp made me want a plain black tea with my breakfast when we got home. I picked this one mostly because I don’t want it to get old and stale and I haven’t had it in a long time.

It was a great tea to choose because it is doing everything I wanted it to do. I can drink this one plain because it is such a mild Irish Breakfast. It does still taste with milk and sugar if you want to add it. It probably wouldn’t satisfy someone who likes a nice, strong Assam to kick them in the tuckus in the mornings, but it is a great strength for me.

The name of this tea kind of jumped out at me, and then when I read the ingredients and smelled the dry leaves I knew I had to purchase a sample pack. It is a perfect black fruity tea. There is an overtone of lemony flavor that is refreshing, but an undertone of maltiness from the black tea that makes it a deep-flavored tea as well. I know this is one tea that I will be going back to again and again!

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves with small yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell like raspberry and lemon. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet lemon.
-Tea liquor is a clear reddish brown color.
-Malty lemon flavor with a sweet fruity raspberry finish. Slight creamy vanilla aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Excellent tea. Refreshing flavor.

I was a little hesitant about this one, until I smelled it. I enjoy pecan desserts (like pecan pie and sugar/cinnamon-coated pecans), but I don’t necessarily love pecans just by themselves. The name of this tea interested me at first, then I decided against it because I was afraid it would be too much like the true pecan nut flavor. Right before checking out I came back to this tea and opened the bag for a smell and I was hooked (on the aroma at least). I steeped a cup this morning for breakfast in case I didn’t like it and I could make something else instead. Luckily I was very pleased with it! It has more of a sweet-dessert like flavor (although faint, not too strong) as opposed to the strong purely nut flavor that I was hesitantly anticipating. There are little chips of maybe white chocolate? in the dry leaves that I think add to the sweet flavor of the tea. Maybe not one that I would reach for every day, but one that would be a pleasant treat every once in a while.

-Dry blend has large tea leaves with yellow petals, pieces of pecan and small white chocolate chips.
-Dry leaves smell like caramel and pecans. Tea liquor aroma is like pecan pie.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color.
-Pecan nut flavor with a lightly sweet and nutty finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Nice authentic pecan flavor.

This is one of many teas that I picked out from Southern Season when I visited the store for the first time on Saturday. The dry leaves smell amazing, very strongly of vanilla and caramel. The tea liquor was a little bland at first, but once I added a little sweetener it became a wonderfully smooth tea with a nice, strong caramel finish. Perfect for a cold and rainy night!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves with caramel cubes and yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smells like caramel and vanilla. Tea liquor aroma is of creamy caramel.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark golden yellow color.
-Light caramel toffee flavor and finish. Smooth texture.
-Best with sweetener. Milk optional.
-Good tea. A simple, smooth and sweet cup. Flavor becomes richer as cup cools.

My tasting notes are all over the place on this one, mostly because I started drinking it back in the milk and sugar days. Now that I take my tea plain, this is just meh. I think I may even add milk and sugar this morning just so I will enjoy this tea more, but I definitely won’t be repurchasing it when it is gone. There are too many really great teas to bother with meh tea.

I had originally purchased this hoping my girls would love it for their breakfast/school tea. They liked it the first time they drank it, then decided they wanted to stick with what they were already drinking. This is getting old, so I wanted to use it up quickly, and that means a pitcher of iced tea! I lightly sweetened it so hubby would (hopefully) drink it.

I tried it today with a friend. We drank it as is, lightly sweetened and my friend liked it and said it as plenty sweet enough for her. Daughter said she couldn’t detect any sugar. Uh-oh, Dad likely will not enjoy it, then! I added home made cherry simple syrup just for kicks, and thought that was pretty good, too, so maybe that is how I will entice the hubster to drink it.

I wish I had more information on this tea, because I really think it must have some hibiscus in it. The first steep was very red/purple. The second steep was very pale. I added 2 1/2 tablespoons of German rock sugar to the pitcher, poured in the hot tea, stirred, and set a timer for about thirty minutes. After letting it cool on the counter I put it in the refrigerator. We drank this as the last tea of tea party today.

It was good and certainly has a nice fruity taste that isn’t soapy as flavored tea can sometimes be, especially iced, but at the same time, it didn’t rock my world. I enjoyed it, but I am not lamenting that I am down to about one teaspoon of it, nor am I planning to rush to buy more. If it goes on sale again, I might.

Hubby didn’t care for it, but there is yet to be an iced tea that he does like, except for the traditional super syrupy sweet Southern Style plain black tea.

This is a sip down, and wow, did I ever need to finish this! I bought it two years ago. At first I didn’t drink it much because it was be of my first fine teas from SS, and then I just kept buying and trying more and more tea and not drinking my stash. There was just enough for one pot.

This was the first tea I tried that tasted like sweet potato, and it was JacquelineM who nailed down that reference for me when she tried it. For some reason, her review of this is no longer here.

This tastes a lot like Teavivre’s Yunnan Dian Hong Golden Tip. Smooth, sweet, baked potatoes with the skin on, even the slight orangey overtone. Very yummy!

My friend wanted to try more oolongs as she mostly drinks black tea and puerh. This is the one she chose from my stash.

The plum is very strong in this, and is reminding me of black currant flavor. We liked it pretty well, but drinking it hot, it really is all about the tart fruity flavor and not about the oolong base. I thought it was just pleading to be iced, so I added a teaspoon of sugar, stirred, and poured the rest into a glass over ice. A-ha! Now it has found its raison d’être! This is how I will be enjoying the rest of this tea!

I made this to be the first tea for our tea time today. We had White Chocolate Meyer Lemon Tart, thanks to gmathis describing Meyer lemons last year so enticingly that I had to try them and find recipes to use them! I wanted a good, strongish, unflavored black tea to accompany the tart and this was a delicious choice. This Hao Ya A is very mild compared to others I have tried but we enjoy it and it is especially good paired with food. It can definitely hold its own.

I decided to try one iced and lightly sweetened with my lunch. It made me change my mind about what is in this blend. This actually tasted like I had added lemon to it, so I am guessing that Ceylon must be a big component in this. I thought it was great iced but youngest said it was too astringent for her. I think she was picking the lemon actually, plus I put very little sugar and she likes a lot! I will definitely be drinking this iced from now until the tin is empty!

I haven’t been having tea at breakfast lately, as I have been wanting to savor it by itself or with a small snack. Today I wanted a little boost, and I want to reduce my tea inventory. This one drew the short straw.

It is good, but not great. I don’t ooo and ahhh when I drink it, but it serves its purpose. It was inexpensive, on sale, and organic. I probably will not repurchase but I won’t be terribly bothered about having to finish this tin. With milk and sugar it makes an adequate breakfast tea, with a very mild Assam that has light cinnamon notes mixed with a Chinese black if I am guessing correctly. Therre is almost none of the smokiness kne finds in many keemuns. It is a great deal weaker than Harney’s Supreme Breakfast or even their English Breakfast.

Since I really want to reduce the number of tins I have I am eyeballing a lot of these teas as candidates for making iced tea. That will reduce the inventory quickly! The rest of this tin just might turn into a big pitcher of iced tea.

My kids are hovering over my nearly empty tins hoping to claim them for holding their Magic the Gathering cards. I have given up six tins already. They are making specialty and themed decks and decorating the tins to match the decks. LOL! This means they are pilfering two of my hobby areas…tea and papercrafts!

I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed this before, but when I searched this tea there was no listing.

This has been in my cupboard for about two years. When I bought it, it was my first Pu-erh and I didn’t know that a little air circulation benefits them, so I kept it in its tightly closed foil bag. When I opened it for the first time in about year, there was a very fishy smell. I took the last three tuo cha out and set them on the shelf for about a week or so. The fishy aroma is greatly decreased, but I wondered if I went too far and the flavor was also gone.

I made this for my son, his girlfriend, and myself to drink after our pizza lunch today. They loved the Teavivre puerh, didn’t care for the Rishi loose Classic Puerh, and liked this one somewhere in between. (They wouldn’t even take a second 2 ounce cup of the Rishi.)

The first steep had the barest hint of fishy aroma, so slight it may have been my imagination. The taste was just good, earthy puerh, though. I gave it about two minutes after the initial rinse, and the color was dark orange. The next steep was darker. By the fourth steep i saw a definitely lightening of the color, but the flavor was little diminished. We took this to six steeps and the last one was getting weak, but was still pretty good. For the price, this is an inexpensive shu with enough flavor to be interesting. I still prefer Teavivre for shu puerh mini tuo cha, but this one is very similar.

My bad. I bought this a long time ago when I was a tea newbie. It was the first green I really liked. Then in the frenzy of collecting more and more, it was laid aside and forgotten. Now it is too old. It made an okay cup of tea, but nothing to write home about. I thought I would give it a try since I loved the DragonWell from Teavivre but I think I will just toss it, and remind myself to drink my greens faster!

This is a decent, mid-grade Keemun tea with good chocolate notes. It is not very expensive, and I got it on sale, so it was a good buy, but the next time I order something like tis it will be from Teavivre. Their black teas are higher grade and more affordable. Youngest daughter loves this one.

Sip down. The dry leaf is soft and fluffy. 2m steep w/ boiling water. The aroma coming out of the press is intoxicating. Ok, not literally, even though it has a bit of a hard drink aroma. It just smells really good. This is CTC which is typical of black tea but this is not typical black tea. This is very rich and malty. To my tastes this smooth tea has no sharp edges, meaning I don’t find it what I would call brisk, bitter, or astringent. It kind of reminds me of the one Yunnan I have had, with a hint of Darjeeling like wine notes without the bite, and baked yeasty bread, with a fruity aftertaste. My description does not do this justice. I find black tea promises so much and usually leaves me feeling meh. This is one of a handful of black teas that I think deliver on the promise. 2nd steep was as delicious as the first. Thank you again Ashmanra for this tea.

This was initially a nice cuppa, very chocolate-y and great with our food. A while later I reheated the remaining tea and found it had gone quite bitter. Bleh. Which is much worse than meh.

A Surprise gift from Ashmanra! Thank you for sharing this.

The dry leaf is fluffy and oh so soft. It is a pretty mix of tan and dark browns. It does resemble a dark version of Bi Lo Chun. The dry scent is a bit cocoa to my nose. I steeped a healthy scoop for 2 ½ minutes in below boiling water. This is just a hunch since it works so well with Teavivre blacks.

The brew is dark but not too dark and has honey/caramel notes. The wet leaf is small torn pieces and chocolate in color.

The aroma in the cup is very similar to golden tips. Fruity – winelike. The sip images sweet dried hay. The aftertaste is mildly honeyed. Absolutely no hint of bitterness or astringency. From beginning to end this is a very good cuppa.

Second cup, full roiling boil for 4 minutes. This is very similar to the first cup. No bitterness or astringency. Just good sipping.

We had this with lunch today. With our food, it was rich and chocolate-y, but after the meal the remaining tea seemed to get a tad bitter. I was drinking it plain and youngest added milk and sugar. It could have been my imagination, or just being really sensitive to the change in taste once it was no longer paired with food. I have a hard time with this tea. Sometimes I really like it, sometimes I find it weak, sometimes it is too strong. It is one of the few teas that have that chameleon effect for me.

I made a pot of this for tea time with my girls today because I wanted to compare it to the Premium Keemun Hao Ya from Teavivre that we drank yesterday. This is weaker than Hao Ya A from Harney and Sons which, to be honest, is too strong for me. Maybe I need to make it differently.

This Keemun has less delicacy than Teavivre’s. I didn’t like it plain and added milk and sugar. Once we started our snacks I had a second cup with just a splash of milk. It is certainly chocolate-y and a little smokey, but for the price difference and the taste I think I prefer Teavivire’s. This one from SS is $4.75 an ounce. Teavivre’s works out to $3.20 an ounce, resteeps well, and tastes good without having to be tamed by additions, at least for me. If you love bold, brash keemuns, you might prefer this one, and Harney and Sons more so. I prefer Teavivre’s.

No notes yet.

The girls and I had tea lunch today, not to be confused with rat lunch which is grilled cheese sandwich and tea! Tea lunch is when we have a fancy lunch together at the tea table!

Since we always did Ceylons with such a meal because that was the one tea that everyone in the family liked, I revisited this one. Unfortunately, I lost track of the steep time amidst all the cooking, but it still came out fairly well. The dry leaves are much smaller than the leaves of Ceylon Extra Fancy from the same company.

The aroma is lemony, very lemony. The cup has all the roundness of a Ceylon but this is also very malty. With food when it was piping hot, it was perfect, but as it cooled and I was sipping it by itself the maltiness took on a bitter edge. I added milk to combat that effect.

This pot of tea was less than stellar, but next time I will not only set a timer but perhaps cut back on the steep time a little, due to the small size of the broken leaves. It can be a very good tea when made properly!

I am celebrating the New Year by bringing out a tea I adore, but alas, don’t know another source for right now. Once upon a time, I could get this by the ounce from Southern Season, but now you have to order a whole pound, and that would be hard to justify with about 100 teas in the kitchen. Sandy mentioned that perhaps we should split a pound. I may have to look into that, because this tea is just as amazing as I remembered it.

This is a medium bodied tea with full dark flavor. Like JacquelineM, I find hints of ancient pines and resin, but an amazing follow up of flowers…deep, forest wildflowers the memory of which stays with you. This is a treasure. I used my new little Yixing pot that just completed three whole days of seasoning. I hope I get to see what it looks like after decades of use!