two leaves and a bud

I acquired a few more bags of this and wanted a quick last cup before leaving my desk! This did the trick! See previous notes :)

Randomly pull this one from my stash and am drinking it now. My last cuppa left a funky aftertaste so I had to do something QUICK.

See my previous review notes for this one…

Bagged but bold!

This is a creamy malty not an overly-bold or strong manly malty. It’s still of good strength so we will go with a medium strength bold and malty description. It ‘brews’ quickly and is rather good. I’m very pleased with this morning cuppa.

I’ve been on the road a good part of the day and went to a little restaurant before heading home. They had a selection of 2 leaves and a bud teas right there out in the open on my way out so I asked if I could buy a few individual bags since I haven’t tried any tea from this brand yet. I brought 4 home and this is my first one.

It looks and smells like a typical green tea and upon first sip it seems to be a peppery tasting green tea.

I think I might go outside my comfort zone on this one and add some Agave Nectar just for the hell of it.

Are you shocked? I am.

It’s actually not too shabby. It cuts back on the pepper taste I was getting and it is quite enjoyable. I may try this Agave Nectar method every once and a while but I will certainly report with my normal way first…which is naked. :P

This tea naked I would give about a 70 – this with agave nectar I will go between 75 and 78ish.

I think I need to give this one another try. I originally purchased it thinking it would work well for that ‘morning caffeine stimulation’ but I soon realized it was a white tea and not that strong. I have tried it one other time, but it didn’t really do me well. I am going to give it one more try during an afternoon.

I’m trying to like jasmine tea. This one is okay it’s not that it’s bad it’s just boring. Maybe jasmine is just not my thing. Sorry LiberTEAS I am trying. :)

Picked this up from Whole Foods. The kind I purchased is loose leaf, not bagged. It’s probably the best green tea I’ve ever had. I just love the floral flavor; it isn’t overpowering at all. It’s also looks beautiful while steeping.

Backlogging.

Fruity and tart the next night before bed.

Backlogging.

Alpine Berry Herbal in my cup,
late at night I drink it up.

Backlogging. Before bed, two Saturdays ago.

Fruity, berry, tart, good.

I made up a cup of Alpine Berry last night planning to head into bed and read a Fine Cooking magazine I hadn’t finished. Then I realized I needed to load and start the dishwasher. Then I realized I needed to make the husband lunch to take to work the next day. About 45 minutes later, my tea was barely warm. I heated it in the micro and headed to bed. It’s harder to read a magazine and drink tea in bed than it is with a book. Tea went fast and I don’t remember much about it.

Third time in a row, I drank this herbal as my reading-in-bed cup last night. Still yummy, but not quite as enjoyable as the previous two nights. Perhaps it is time to move on to a different tea tonight.

I finished House Rules last night too. It was a good book and I liked it. But I didn’t like it a lot the way others in my book clubs did. I figured out the ending/mystery before the mid-point of the book and it was frustrating that the whole book no one ever asked the main character exactly what happen, and they should have. The more interesting aspect of the read was reading about a child with Asperger’s Syndrome both from his point of view and what it was like living with him for his family.

So tonight I’ll be starting a different book as well. Most likely Beautiful Creatures by Kami Gracia and Margaret Stohl, a YA supernatural novel, for another online book group. I’m thinking not my usual cup of tea, but I’ll give it a try. It is set in a fictional town in South Carolina.

The Alpine Berry was so good the previous night as a reading-in-bed tea, that I had it again last night as a reading-in-bed tea. (Currently reading: House Rules by Jodi Picoult)

I drank Alpine Berry last night as my reading-in-bed tea. This tea is growing on me more. Steeping it at 4 minutes has definitely improved the taste and provides a much more enjoyable cup. More flavor, a bit tart. I drank it up pretty quickly. I think I might have this again tonight.

Backlogging. Last night.
I increased the steep time by another minute because increasing it to 3 minutes the last time I made it was a vast improvement over the 2 minutes that is recommended on the box and I thought it could be stronger without becoming oversteeped. A bolder and, I think, more pleasant taste of apple, blackberry, and raspberry with some tartness. I could try steeping it longer but do not think it needs to go any longer.

Good 1st steep. 3 min was fine too. Need to retry. But I think around 4 min will do.

As this tea tasted watery-tart-appley the first time I drank it, I upped the steeping time 1 minute. And there was the berry. Mostly it tasted like warm blackberries with some warm raspberries and a bit of warm strawberries, all with a tart finish. Much better cup this time. I will bump the rating accordingly. Next time I might try steeping it an additional minute to see what happens.

I didn’t think this would take a 2nd steep. But I decided to try resteeping it last night. Appley. Tart? Tart? No. Watery! This no can do a 2nd steep.

I always check out the tea sales when I’m at Earth Fare. A couple of weeks ago, two leaves and a bud were on sale. Since I was in need of more caffeine-free teas for evening consumption, I picked Alpine Berry. This is my first two leaves and a bud tea.

Sight
Dry leaves: Small green leaf pieces, orange peel pieces, dark pink-red pieces, pink-brown pieces.
Wet leaves: Larger green leaf pieces, larger orange peel pieces, muddied pink-red pieces.
Tea: Immediately began turning a rich mulberry, which ended as a black mulberry.

Smell
Dry leaves: Apple, rose, orange, generic berry – perhaps blackberry and strawberry.
Wet leaves: Warm apple, tart.
Tea: Apple, strawberry.

Taste
Weaker than I expected. Watery. Apple. Tart. No berry. I smell berry but no berry taste.

I am going to try steeping this longer next time, in hopes to get stronger flavor and less watery. Drinkable but not something I’d buy again unless it improves with experimentation. I’m going with a 50 rating (decent) for now but will probably lower it if I cannot improve the strength.

Too light for my taste. I do get a very faint presence of orange & green tea, but it tastes very watered down even steeping for 6 minutes at 185F. Pairs nicely with shortbread cookies.

So here I sit sipping a cup of … " Cabochard? “Boss?”
“Thé Vert au jasmin” by L’Occitane? Matthew Williamson’s “Sheer?”

I associate Jasmine so strongly with perfumes that I don’t think I’ll ever enjoy drinking jasmine with any frequencly. But yet I wanted to try this, thanks to the great Travelling Tea Box. Pearls are fun to watch. I wonder if there’s a very slow film of them unfurling anywhere? I watched these little pearls unwind and slowly get bigger. I won’t call it an agony exactly. They looked more like that were transitioning from nap time to recess at a little nursery school for tea.

This tea smells very nice, but I have just not conditioned myself to tasting this odor. The great thing about the Travelling Tea Box is that I’ve been able to try things that I might have hesitated to spend money on. You make new friends with teas you have not tried before; you find new tea companies and race to the internet to place an order; your prejudices are either confirmed or toppled.

Jasmine, for me, is a nice middle-note or top-note for perfumes. I’ve never liked it as a base-note. I don’t think I can ever accustom myself to drinking it but I suspect it’s a taste once acquired that does pay dividends. I’m in no hurry to run and spray Clinique “Aromatics” into my mouth but I also don’t feel a need to rinse out my mouth. The aftertaste is pleasant.

Adieu, Jasmine Pearls! You’re moving on to your next destination!

yo man i just had this tea tonight and it is the bawm dawt cawm. i am not mad at this tea at ALL. i dont know wat jasmin is but on a scale of one (1) to ten (10) its a tastesplosion yeah. it was like i had a dang like there was a flower garden in my mouth it was great. im kind of a tea noob but this kinda stuff the reason id heat my water ya feel me

I don’t think I’ve had a berry tea that I’ve ever liked. Needless to say, I didn’t have high expectations. I expected it to be bitter, overpowering, and harsh; this tea was none of those things. It reminded me of very mellow red wine. Since I only had a sample, I will definitely be going out to buy a box.