Tea & Cards Traveling Tea Box! Signups: CLOSED
The box came today! There is so much stuff in here, I’m amazed. Most of it I’ve never seen or tried before, so I’m excited!
first, pictures:
first opened: http://imgur.com/q1UIukB
Nicole’s recipe: http://imgur.com/Rsl1x8H
all spread out: http://imgur.com/6QvTTwj
second, the recipe Nicole sent! Chocolate Earl Grey Cake, mm
ingredients:
2 tsp or two bags EG
1 cup hot water
1 cup softened butter (no margarine!)
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 oz melted unsweetened chocolate
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 or Bundt pan and dust with flour or cocoa powder. Steep tea 3-7 minutes. Beat eggs, sugar, and butter until fluffy. Blend in cooled chocolate. Mix dry ingredients together and add to creamed mixture alternately with tea, yogurt, and vanilla. Mix just until combined. Pour into prepared pan. Bake one hour if in Bundt pan or 35-40 minutes if in 9×13 pan, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan at least five minutes. Turn out onto cooling rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
I’ll do a thorough inventory once I’ve tried some teas/removed some/put some back in because it makes sense to do that all at once. I will say that as of right now there are 25 different teas in here, and I hope to pass at least as many on to the next person.
I’m so excited for this! The box looks super awesome and I’m really curious as to what everyone is going to swap out as it moves along. :)
What a nice thing to post the recipes! That way everyone can enjoy whatever gets shared. Thanks, bluebelle!
I have updated the first post with the shipping order. Woohoo! :)
Okay, here is an update to say I’m done trying teas! Or I guess more accurately I’m enjoying my final cup now. I decided to try 18/25 in the box. I’ve marked all of them in my tealog with T&C Box #/18 if you want to check out my comments!
Here is what was in the box when it came to me:
Butiki Teas Caramel Vanilla Assam, Flowery Pineapple Oolong, Oriental Beauty, Rose Violet Calendula Oolong
Capital Teas Summer Cherry Fig, Yoga
Della Terra Teas Coconut Trees & Vanilla Fields, Holiday Festival
Harney & Sons Tower of London
Justea Earl Grey
Kilimanjaro Tea English Breakfast
Kusmi Teas Green Rose
Maison Des Trois Thès Xihu Long Jing
New Mexico Tea Company Casablanca
Republic of Tea Açai Green
Shang Tea Bai Lin Kung Fu, Tangerine Blossom
Steven Smith Teamaker Lord Bergamot, Mao Feng Shui, Meadow
Tazo Chai
Teavana Maharaja Chai/Samurai Chai Maté Blend
Verdant Tea Zhu Rong Yunnan
Zen Tea Earl Grey Cream, Phoenix Pearl Tea
what I removed:
Kusmi Teas Green Rose
Steven Smith Teamaker Meadow
…and I think that’s all. I tried not to use up too much in case people down the line wanted to try all the great black tea in this box!
what I’m adding:
Della Terra Teas Pineapple Upside Down Cake (4-6 cups)
Den’s Tea Karigane Houjicha (2-3 cups)
Fortnum & Mason Elderflower Green (2-3 cups)
Golden Moon Teas Coconut Pouchong, Sugar Caramel Oolong, Irish Breakfast, English Breakfast, and White Persian Melon (1-2 cups each)
Harrods Vanilla Excellence (2-3 cups)
Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice (1 sachet)
Temple of Heaven Special Gunpowder Green (2-3 cups)
The Tea Merchant Silk Dragon Oolong (2-3 cups)
I want to add some things that aren’t black tea, and I especially wanted to share some of mine that are unusual or hard to find. I hope everyone enjoys them!
That looks great, I already see a lot of awesomeness that I can’t wait to try :)
Also, I read a bunch of your tasting notes, thanks for all the logs, very interesting and they just make me even more excited about the package.
@Kat_Maria I’m glad you enjoyed my notes! I figured letting everyone know what I thought about the teas was the least I could do since I got it first. :)
Also, the box may be slightly later than I anticipated going out, but it should definitely in the mail by mid-next week.
Boy, bluebelle, you are fast! And everything reviewed already – I’m pretty impressed. :)
I’m glad you are adding some non-blacks. That’s where my cupboard is pretty lacking, as I’m sure you noticed. :)
I made the Chocolate Earl Grey Cake, yum. I like trying new things and never had Earl Grey and chocolate together, so it scared me a bit but it was delicious. It was very moist, not too sweet and the earl was noticeable but not over powering. Thanks for the recipe.
So glad you liked it!
If you wanted to try more EG with chocolate, steep it strong in 1/2 cup of hot cream, pour over 1 1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons butter; stir till melted. Put in fridge and stir every so often until it thickens up enough to roll into balls. Then roll the balls in cocoa powder, finely chopped nuts, or dip in coating chocolate of some kind. Earl Grey Truffles! :) The EG is more noticeable in this type of recipe but I think bergamot & chocolate go together fantastically! :) Flavored blacks of many kinds actually make for wonderful infusions for truffles. I have never tried a flavored green or white this way, though.
Okay, the box is on the move! I’m shipping it out sometime in the next half-hour.
I also snuck in two breakfast tea samples from Golden Moon; I can’t stand most breakfast blends so I’m sure someone else will appreciate them more than I could!
I got the package! It is so wonderful, I want to try all of these teas right now!!! Alas, I just came back from work like an hour ago (12.50 am) so the teas will have to wait until tomorrow. I didn’t take any pictures of the contents yet for the same reason. But I will do my best to take care of it tomorrow :)
The cool thing about me getting the package now is that I have birthday Saturday, so it’s like a gift :) Unfortunately, my weekend celebrations will get in the way of tasting the teas as well. Next entire week should belong to them though, and hopefully I can send it along on its way by the end of this next week.
Yay!
Hooray! I’m glad to hear it got to you safe. Take your time to enjoy the teas, and more importantly your birthday (happy birthday!).
Happy early birthday! Like bluebelle said, take time to enjoy the teas – and write some tasting notes for those of us who are patiently waiting. :D
Here’s the pictures! I am sorry for their quality though, the natural lighting is supposed to be the best, except it didn’t come out right in my pictures ;D But that makes it all the more mysterious for the next person, right?
Tea spread out pt. 1 http://imgur.com/zoRGsQT
Tea spread out pt. 2 http://imgur.com/lEwqRWQ
Cards http://imgur.com/zfm2U19
Card from bluebelle front http://imgur.com/C85HMag
Card from bluebelle back http://imgur.com/chcVARm
BTW, bluebelle, this restaurant looks like an awesome place :D I will have to remember about it once my husband, friends and I decide to travel through a bunch of states :)
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