Perennial Tea Room

This was fantastic! And is now one of my favorite Earl Greys. I could smell the lavender before I started brewing my tea, but I could taste the rosemary more when I drank the tea (with milk and sugar). Surprised at how much I enjoyed this; had a lovely rounded taste. I love lavender Earl Greys but the addition of the rosemary worked very well.

A good solid, Earl Grey; wasn’t any more aromatic or than other loose leaf Earl Greys I’ve tried, but a good tea. Recommended steep time was three minutes, but I steeped mine for five (I like my teas a bit stronger). Held up well with milk and sugar.

The tea has that Darjeeling dryness/sharpness at the end. Very smooth for a Darjeeling though. I can get notes of honey. Trying to come up with a word for the other taste at the beginning of the flavor – it’s not roasty but maybe toasted. Slightly creamy and warm.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a Darjeeling and after having this tea (another Seattle souvenir from my lovely SIL), I have to wonder why. Pouring the tea, I got nice whiffs of honey, something that also comes through lightly when I sip. It’s fresh-tasting, smooth, a bit green like a new tree sprout. It’s got that bright sparkle that I associate with Darjeelings but, because of the tea itself or the short steep time and low temp, doesn’t approach the sharp bite that I also associate with Darjeelings. A very nice afternoon cuppa.

ETA: The second steep (at 2:30) is really quite brilliant. Smooth, faintly nutty, almost creamy. I’m bumping up the rating a couple of points.

I thought this was a very odd combination of stout and smooth. Less harsh than other “breakfast” teas but with a lot of body.

The Final Sipdown: Day 17
Decupboarding Total: 34

My prep work on this tea this morning had paid off and I get to decupboard it. Yay!

This one is tasty – a bit foggy, stout, smooth, and best without additives – the flavor is fuller without milk and it doesn’t have any bitterness that needs to be countered with sugar. It’s probably not the end-all-be-all tea blend, but a very respectable one that has been very nice to have around. And it’s a good celebration tea tonight for learning how to sharpen knives with a steel. Yay!

This tea was a gift from my lovely SIL after her trip to Seattle. Given that I am still on my breakfast blend kick, I was pretty excited to try this one! I’ve never been to Seattle but being the land of coffee, I would anticipate any blend made for the city to be a bit stout, maybe a little foggy, too.

When I first sniffed this last night, it smelled liked boiled peanuts. Which was pretty cool ‘cause I’m a Southern girl and do love me some boiled peanuts. But this morning it smelled like straight up Keemun (which is a little disappointing because of my boiled peanut love, but at the same time comforting because I’m not sure if I’d love boiled peanut tea). The first sip, though, was full on Assam. Subsequent sips were predominately Assam-y (with a slight hint of cardboard and fair amount of bake-y) but with a smoothness of a Keemun, though not the smokiness.

The overall taste was something that I could totally associate with Seattle – on the stout end (but not to the point of meanness) and with a nice, dark, fuzzy, comforting taste (I’m calling that one fog, k?). It is somewhat like a smooth and slightly milder Irish Breakfast. If future cups are as tasty as this one, I could totally see myself wanting to keep this in stock.

This is a mild fruity rooibos. I’m enjoying it quite a bit while I recover from my cold.

last cup…and good to the last sip. Sounds like a coffee commercial.

Next to last spoonful…sigh. Time to find something new. As the fragments get smaller, its brewing faster. Probably more tea per teaspoon that way. Did a resteep too…was just as good as the first.

Its getting HOT here and tea just doesn’t appeal when its 80 deg F in the morning. Still, this is such a good tea.

This thing needs a blog to go with it. Disappointed to find out that Serendipity Teas only ship within Canada. I wanted to try some of that Buckingham Palace Garden Party that teaequalbliss wrote about.

An excellent Ceylon. Dark rust red, just a hint of tannins. Good hot, gets better as it cools. I actually like this one when its down to room temp…seems to bring out the tannins a bit more.

VERY expansive when brewed. One teaspoon will expand to fill a 1/3 cup strainer.
An excellent Earl Grey. Decaffination hasn’t seemed to take any of the flavor, and of course double bergamot is never a bad thing, is it?
This is a good late night treat.

Resteep….

made in my two cup teapot with a heaping teaspoon (not the measuring one) and fairly hot water (185-190 F). Steeped the recommened 4-5 minutes for black tea. Nice clean tea w/o much after taste. Mild, not tannic, not acidic.

Nothing new to add….just good tea

resteeped yesterday’s leaves….still good 8-)

first brew of the day…I’m getting hints of the Chai I drank yesterday (I never clean my tea mug…it has a certain patina to it ;-)