denisend

The combination of ginger and orange is very… interesting. There are other ingredients/flavors listed (like hibiscus, which is definitely showing up in the color) but they aren’t coming out in the taste.

I’ll probably try this one cold before making my final decision on it. The ginger could make it very refreshing… but right now it’s a “will not purchase”.

I made this over the weekend while at my sister’s house. I boiled milk, water, and sugar together with the tea, then let the tea steep for several minutes before straining the leaves out and drinking (what I could remember of takgoti’s chai method posted on Steepster earlier).

It’s okay, but I didn’t get a ginger flavor, just a spiced tea flavor. Rather dissappointing.

Taken hot, with splenda.

An alright spiced tea. Nothing earthshattering here.

(backlogging from this morning)

So, the cold brewed strawberry lemonade was MUCH better this morning after brewing in the fridge overnight. Yum. I refilled the pitcher and am curious to see how long I can keep it going for.

So I bought Rishi’s Hario glass pitcher. One of the interesting suggestions that they had was cold brewed tea – I hadn’t thought of it (hot brewed and sun brewed, but not cold brewed). Essentially, add 10-12 grams of tea to 1 L of water and refrigerate for several hours. I decided to try this with something that I was familiar with (instead of one of the new Rishi teas).

It is milder than hot brewed, but it’s still good (at least, with this fruit tisane). The flavor is milder (the strawberry is barely present). It reminds me of fruit water more than tea.

I wonder what kinds of tea they suggest for cold brewed tea?

Chamomile? I was not expecting chamomile from the name of this one. Hibiscus wasn’t expected, either, but not totally unexpected, since raspberry is tart, so they could have thrown it in there for tartness… but chamomile? I really don’t like chamomile.

I’m not getting any green tea flavor (even though it says that there’s green tea and matcha in there).

The front is chamomile, and the back… It’s fruity – pomegrante, hibiscus, and raspberry. Maybe a tiny bit of green tea at the VERY back end as it cools.

Drinkable, as long as I don’t breathe in the front. I don’t like chamomile.

A random teabag that I picked up from I-don’t-know-where….

The aroma here is of jasmine, but the taste is of green tea. It’s okay, but I wouldn’t buy this one. The leaves in the teabag aren’t quite dust, but they’re aren’t whole leaf, either.

Entirely drinkable, moderately enjoyable.

Okay, I overbrewed this one a bit since a coworker came in to talk to me while it was brewing, but it’s still REALLY WEAK. I have one more bag and I’m going to take it home and see if using hotter water helps.

I’m tasting spices, but no tea and no pumpkin. Bleh.

Today I went through my “cupboard” to see what I had at work that I hadn’t logged yet, and settled on this one.

(taken with Splenda)

This tea is a dark gorgeous ruby red. The taste is mostly of the tart hibiscus, so I do have to be in the right mood for this tea. It’s dark and mysterious and hard to describe the back notes… I’m not sure what rose hips and cassius taste like, so that may be why I’m struggling to seperate the flavors out.

But, overall, when I’m in the right mood for it, it’s a fantastic tea.

So my husband gave me the look that means “Friday is video game night… quit goofing off in the kitchen!” I knew I had to make something to take with me upstairs and those GM samplers are just too small.

I mixed up a mug that was half Teavana’s Mate Lemon Blast and half Teavana’s Raspberry Riot Lemon Mate.

I believe next time I try this I’ll decrease the amount of Lemon Blast, since the smoky mate flavor is still coming through (it’s present in the LB but not in the Raspberry Riot, that I’ve noticed).

The blend does tone down the tartness of the RR, which is a nice change. Sometimes I like the tart, but some days I’m just not up for it.

So my husband gave me the look that means “Friday is video game night… quit goofing off in the kitchen!” I knew I had to make something to take with me upstairs and those GM samplers are just too small.

I mixed up a mug that was half Teavana’s Mate Lemon Blast and half Teavana’s Raspberry Riot Lemon Mate.

I believe next time I try this I’ll decrease the amount of Lemon Blast, since the smoky mate flavor is still coming through (it’s present in the LB but not in the Raspberry Riot, that I’ve noticed).

The blend does tone down the tartness of the RR, which is a nice change. Sometimes I like the tart, but some days I’m just not up for it.

Taken with rock sugar.

I don’t taste any jasmine (Nathaniel says I put too much sugar in and overpowered it… then he said the vanilla masks it…. I’m not sure if it’s my fault or GM’s fault).

An okay vanilla tea, but I’m not terribly fond of vanilla teas.

Taken unsweetened.

My husband is a fan of all things caramel, so I gave this sample to him. I’m snagging sips now as he’s on the phone.

I taste a bit of the oolong, but mostly burnt sugar caramel taste. It’s interesting, but I’m not so much of a fan of it that I would buy it. We’ll see what he thinks of it.

I might like it better if it was sweetened, but it’s his cup, and he doesn’t sweeten. :-(

Here are his words (until I can get him to get his own account):
It’s a very mellow oolong. The sweetness of the caramel is present but there’s not a lot of burnt sugar. It’s subtle and pleasant.

I’d drink it again, but am not impressed enough with it to buy it. It’s probably a good afternoon home from work, relax tea. Due to the caffeine content it would have to be early, though.

(sweetened with rock sugar)

So I wanted a tea to drink tonight, and I started digging through my Golden Moon sampler…. but everything had caffeine! Troublesome.

I had picked up this one as a sampler from Adagio, but had been ignoring my Adagio samplers after a series of disappointments. Well, you’ll never know if you don’t try!

It certainly smells like apples when dry, and the teas that I didn’t like from Adagio were flavored blacks, and this actually has apple CHUNKS in it. That’s a promising sign!

The taste is surprisingly well balanced. WOW. It’s not too sweet or too tart, it’s just right. I know some folks don’t like hibiscus, and it’s there, but just as a background note. The melody is certainly the apple and cranberry (pretty equally).

I think the apple is one of the milder apple varieties and not the super tart Granny Smith, but it’s a good compliment to the cranberry and hibiscus. It’s a very good blend!

I’m definitely going to reorder this one!

Second steep.

Still desperate for more caffiene.

The spices are more mild on the second steep.

It’s a TRAGEDY! I always start my morning with 2 cups of coffee, but there’s no creamer here at work! So I went straight to tea, but there’s just not enough caffiene. whimpers

Anyway… I consoled myself with this tea, which is one of my favorite blacks. I’m tasting the oranges strongly this morning.

I dunno, a pretty standard black, in my mind. Perhaps the water isn’t hot enough to get all of the flavor out (I try not to drink blacks at work, since I brew out of a water cooler and the water is only 190°).

backlogging from the weekend…

I’m thinking that perhaps I need to ask the hubby to cut back on the sugar a touch (gasp!). I know we’re from South Carolina, but it was just Too Sweet. I think I’ve been living in Maryland too long.

Still loving this blend, though. It’s awesome.

Okay, so this is the only tea that I’m going to log from my trip. We found a tea stand in the China area in Epcot’s World Showcase. As an adult, the joke among my family is that we’re supposed to “drink around the world” as you go through the world showcase. I had just talked my husband out of trying a flight of tequila in Mexico (there was standing room only and my feet HURT), so we had to start with the alcoholic tea.

The drink was a mango green tea bao bing (which is an asian slushie), and they add plum wine to it. I love mango green tea, I like slushies, and I LOVE plum wine. Sounds like a winner! My husband and I technically split it (because they do wine tasting in Germany and we didn’t want to get too drunk), but I don’t know that he got to drink much of it. I couldn’t stop drinking it.

So, I didn’t really get that earthy green tea taste, but I got a TON of sweet mango and plum taste. I couldn’t taste the alcohol because of the sugar.

Oh boy, though, it was excellent.

I almost bought a Yixing tea pot in China for $90. I’m glad I didn’t, since I found the same set online for $50. Wow, don’t buy teaware in Epcot!
http://www.mrslinskitchen.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=17820

We found another tea stand in Animal Kingdom (in Asia). We bought chai slushies from there (it was hot and we couldn’t stand hot drinks). They were average.

So, I’ve been in Orlando, FL with my family all week. I’m not going to bother trying to log the tea I drank while I was gone. I took some bags with me (Lupicia and Stash), but nothing that I only had a bag or two of, just stuff that I have plenty of so it’ll get logged at another time.

My Mom also bought me a cute tea ball that she found. Here’s a picture I found online of it: http://www.yourwdwstore.net/Disney-Tea-Ball—Mickey-Mouse_p_8196.html

So, I’m back in the office today, and congested and not feeling well from the travel. This tea sounded like it could help me feel better – peppermint for the headache and ginger for the upset stomach.

I taste peppermint, but not ginger. That’s fine, I wasn’t sure how they would mix. Perhaps there’s a bit of ginger right at the end.

It’s a nice tea, but more something that my husband would drink than me, I think.

Zarafina: black, loose, medium
sweetened with rock sugar

There’s a strong musky honey note dominating this tea. Detecting the pear taste is difficult, and I’m realizing that I much prefer teas flavored with actual bits of whatever rather than flavor oils.

I got this as part of Golden Moon’s sampler set, but I won’t buy it.

After several FAILS this morning, I went to an old friend. I love how fragrant and light this tea is. It’s very delicate, and just wonderful.

I only have 2 more bags and then I have to switch to the non-special grade for a bit. Not sure what the difference is there, but that’s what they had last time I placed an order.

Design a Tea’s Pumpkin Chestnut was so awful I ended up throwing it out. I figured that I might as well try the other sample I ordered from them and get it over with.

When I opened the package, the bright smell of pear hit me… hmm, this one might be better than the last. It’s rooibos, so I’m not sure what I was thinking mixing rooibos with apple and pear. Oh well, let’s see how it tastes.

The aroma is very sweet and fruity. The taste is also fruity, but not obviously pear or apple. Just sorta sweet.

It’s a middle of the road tea. Not bad, but not really good either.

Edited: It’s developing a strange aroma as it’s cooling. I think I’m headed for the kitchen sink with this one, too. Bleh.

No pumpkin flavor. Just black tea and (I suppose) chestnuts. sigh