MaddHatter

32oz tea pot ~ Check
Nepal Black ~ Check
An hour to myself ~ Check!

I only put two perfect scoops into the basket this time, because last night I noticed that when I put three scoops of black tea in to the basket I ended up with a brew that is “too much tea” that I had an espresso black liqueur.

I could have used maybe a half perfect scoop more? Or maybe not? Right now it is perfect enough with 2 perfect scoops to not need any milk or cream. I should have bought a pot long ago because I am finding that I am brewing delicious pots, this tea has gone up a few points for me.

So, I know that I mentioned the last of the Watermelon tea was mixed with this one… as a result, and because the Luscious Watermelon was a donated tea to my Summer Camp site, I brought the Goji Pop/Luscious Watermelon mix with me to work.

Again we used the Rubbermaid pitchers, and again we used 3 T-sacs per pitcher (this nearly drained me of Goji Pop and I will have to make sure I head into a DAVIDs soon for more.

The children preferred the “pucker power” of the Goji berries, and some of the children who have been drinking herbal teas with me all year, noticed: “HEY! Hey Erin! You can taste the watermelon on the (varying parts of the mouth)”

And quite a few of the children left begging their parents to take them to DAVIDs again, for some more yummy teas!

I tried a sip of this when I was in the store to find out why another tea is no longer doing what it is supposed to do. And found this to be an enjoyable green. Enjoyable enough to take home 10g to see if I really care enough for this tea to add it to my cupboard.

I ended up using the entire 10g in my new tea pot, I brewed this up and this morning it is GONE! So at least I know either my husband woke up incredibly thirsty and downed the entire 1lt of tea in one shot, or he just did not realise he was drinking MY TEA! He can have his “poisons” but seriously he should leave mine alone!

sigh so sad that I did not get to try this one at home!

Oh, Oh WOW!

This tea was in my to-go cup yesterday and WOW! I must’ve steeped this one perfectly because it was so good, so-good! That I did not have to add milk or cream or anything to it really. And I actually finished the entire cup! When I get to work the kids are so busy that I usually forget my tea and end up sipping it cold and if it is black I make a “sour pinchy face” (or what the kids call the: we’re not eating that for snack face")… No I clutched this travel mug to my body until the last drop!

I don’t remember what it tasted like, but oh dear God, I just know that if it was good enough for me to hold on to until the last drop, I know it is good enough to take the next empty tin into DAVIDs and ask for 100g of this!

This note is based on what happened at my Kids Klub Site while making Sun Steeped tea with the children in my care.

Again we used the Rubbermaid containers, which I filled with hot tap water, and we placed three T-sacs full of tea into these containers.

The children were more taken with the scent of this tea, unsteeped to the point they were willing to try and slip the watermelon chunks into their mouths. “Kids, if you eat the watermelon it will just be a red apple tea…” – “But it smells like melon bubblegum!”

We used the same steeping process again, leaving the tea outside in direct sun light between 8am and 1pm, then placed the tea into the fridge and not removing the T-sacs until it was snack time (the tea still steeps a little as it cools in the fridge)

This time the children did not ask for juice because I brought my Agave and added 1 perfect scoop to each pitcher.

This one got rave reviews to the point that children were begging their parents to take them to DAVIDs for more tea. There were some eyes that glazed over, but I told parents the fruit and herbal teas at DAVIDs are really fool proof and with the help of their knowledgeable staff they’ll be able to make perfect pitchers at home.

I went to Walmart and purchased two clear plastic Rubbermaid pitchers with black lids for my Site almost as soon as I was given the tea from DAVIDs. (I can’t Thank DAVIDs enough for their generosity, I am sure they are happy because their generosity has made 5 new DAVIDs customers, WHOLE FAMILY customers!) and I bought a clear glass botum.

I had the children help me to fill T-sacs with tea, and gasp! tea was spilt, but that’s life, at least we did not loose the whole 100g tin in one go! They helped to fold the bag over, and we tucked them into the top; as I snapped on the lid children were already screaming excitement: “Look! LOOK ERIN!! Yellow!! IS THAT THE TEA?!”(I purposely used hot tap water to start the steeping process) We placed the pitchers on the front step of our site and I explained to the kids: "If we leave the tea until after lunch it will make a perfect pitcher of tea. (please note only 3 T-sacs full of tea were used for each pitcher)

The children screamed out to the playground and played the morning away, when they came back to observe the tea before lunch they noted the vivid yellow colour of the tea. “Look that colour is the same as my Granny’s birthstone!” I asked: “Oh so Granny was born in November?” – “No just a long time-a-go”

At this point I put the pitchers into the fridge and told the kids we needed to cool the tea down so that it was “iced tea” and also let them know that when the tea was served they could ask for a taste first, if they were not sure, as well as “a splash of juice to sweeten” if they needed.

When snack time came this tea disappeared faster than the veggies and dip! I love that I am creating “little tea monsters” – It is my master plan for ruling the world! (insert terrible mockery of evil laughter here)

Needless to say the children want more of this tea next Summer Camp!

Oh! When I went to DAVIDs this evening to buy my lime green Nordic tea pot! (FIRST TEA POT EVER!! SO EXCITED) I purchased more of this since it has been discontinued!

I think I messed up with the tea pot though, I put three “perfect scoops” into the basket, and I am thinking that I only needed two “perfect scoops”. (Does anyone know exactly how much tea DAVIDs “perfect scoops” holds?)

I can still smell apricots and peaches, with a “slight” zing of ginger! I am so settling in for the night with my Kobo and a pot of this!

I can finally say POT!! hahaha!

What’s in your tea cup first thing in the morning?

Today? THIS ONE!

I am not a fan of rose petals in my tea, (though I will eat them with day lily petals on a bagel with cream cheese) but I must say they add a little something special to this tea, I think when I get my new (and first) teapot today, I will be enjoying me the last of this while I sit at home reading tonight!

But I digress, I am still not able to discern astringency and all those other notes that are in tea, unless I over steep it and today I (oops! sigh) over steeped this one, but a little cream and this will go down easy and in just enough time to choose another tea to put in my to-go cup and head to work!

I cannot believe I have never logged this tea! I have had so much of it this Summer. Both at Camp and at home! (Thanks again DAVIDs for your generous donation of herbal teas for these children to enjoy Sun Steeped tea at Summer Camp!!)

I’ll be back tonight to post the children’s reviews as well as my own. It was a great love affair while it lasted!

Oops! I think the water was too hot, so I gave this a short steep!

I’ll be back to discuss the taste later as well as how the second steep fared.

Later….
Mmmmmmm, ’nough said! But I am biased I love peaches and apricots in my tea!

I bought 10g of this today…

I can really smell the mushroom as it steeps and my poor gag-reflex is working over time, but I will prevail! I will taste this! and worst comes to worst I know a co-worker who would kick ass for what is left of this bag. So blessedly I am not worried about waste!

I think I may have over steeped this, by accident… The flavour is such a “superman punch” to the face I almost lost some teeth on impact! That being said….: I LIKEY!! I think I just might have to add this one to my list of blacks that are must have on shelves!!

It is good and defiantly a “treat” tea since it is only a once a year thing.

ummm, Lemon grass, need I say more?

I love all things citrus, but lemon grass, a no! a thank-you! I should have paid more attention when I purchased 10g of this, but I am glad that it is only 10g and not a whole bag or whole tin.

But all is not lost, mixed with a little “green and fruity” and it is saved.

One would think that 10g would go a long way…

Nope! I already know that I will have to get more of this tea and FAST, despite all these little samples I have that should be getting tasted and drunk and enjoyed, I am stuck like glue to this one! I carted my little basket of leaves around all day and steeped, steeped, steeped, when possible.

I love the lemon scent, followed by a mellow taste of oolong tea. I can’t describe the flavour past “mellow”, so-SO good though!

I forgot I had this tea on my shelf, and I am glad it jumped out at me tonight, because after the day I had I needed some “love”

I did not have any coconut milk to bring out the subtle coconut that is in this tea, but the creamer I had on hand added an almost vanilla-e tone. This is defiantly more of a “fall or winter” tea, but when in the shoes I am in today, it is a much needed treat!

3rd and 4th steep…

Still delish, the lemon-y and citrus-y flavours are starting to dissipate. I wish it was not so late I would try to get more steeps out of these leaves.

It is wonderful to know that 2tsp would yield a full 8 cup bodum of tea!

Oh wow, can you smell that?! Refreshing, it is time to finish this cup and get me to bed.

It is too late for me to be critical about this tea, but I must say: “I LIKEY!!”

The lemon seems to get stronger as I steep it more and more, and the finish, though astringent is really refreshing. I am on the second steep, and I can’t wait for the third.

second steep

Umm, full oolong flavour (mostly green tea-esque) that subtle, hard to find vanilla flavouring is now GONE! (pout) but that is life I guess.

It’s still good and I will enjoy the rest of my 10g pouch but, this is not one I will buy, in larger sums, when vanilla is suggested, one expects vanilla!

I bought 10g of this the other day and was so excited to bring it home. The flavour in this oolong is subtle, not exactly what I was going for on a Sunday morning, but against the scent of simmering peaches, apricots and red plums this guy is TASTY!

side note: This one does taste more like my osanthmus oolong, rather than vanilla

NOPE, this is the 4th steep and I checked my kettle temp its fine, there is something wrong with this tea!

WHAT HAPPENED!?!

I have steeped this three times, with no luck! The leaves are not steeping!

Maybe my water is not hot enough! Is it possible that I need a new kettle? It’s one is only a year old! This is an OUTRAGE!!

Ummm, where is the mint? When I smelled this tea I thought of grasshopper pie. The kind you make in the heat of summer that is served from the freezer so cold and creamy you melt into your chair as you savour the cool refreshing taste. Ummm, not so much!

This is not a tea that makes me feel luxuriously decadent, nor does it have any mint flavour. And all that lovely Madagascar vanilla, I can see it floating in this tea, but that is about it. Licorice? Sip-sip; nope. Cinnamon? sip-sip; a little in the finish of the taste…

This a pu’erh I am happy I only bought 10g of, because once it is gone I am not looking back!

I think there was only 1 cherry in the bag I bought, and a staff got to this tea first; so no more cherry’s in the bag for me when I got to it yesterday.

The children (in my care at Summer Camp) love the smell of this tea, and I think if the caffeine count is low enough for this tea, it might be worth while getting 50g more to make a pitcher of sun tea for the kids to enjoy.

I will admit the leaves smell like cherry hubba-bubba, and even the kids were asking who was chewing gum almost as soon as I opened the bag. (intense scent? I think so) When steeped this tea has a orangey-red colour and starts to smell more like unsweetened Koolaid, and tastes just as bitter. This tea would need a lot of sweetening for the kids to enjoy, and I think for myself once this was poured over ice it was thinned out enough for me to enjoy the flavour more.

It is not a tea I will purchase again, unless I get some for the kids at Summer Camp and then I will use up whatever is left.

I was able to steep this tea twice and get the same intensity for each steep.

I could go nutty for this tea!

It tastes like liquid apple pie, but summer sweet apples and it smells like apple crumble, Mmmmmm!!

This needs to go on the “treat” shopping list. ’Though I was no impressed that the sales girl put agave in it – it really did not need it.

Sometimes things are better when the experienced co-worker makes the tea, and this afternoon she made the tea! Mmmmm!!

I have been struggling with this tea and flopping each time! eep! but today’s was perfect, Thank-you Lyndsey!!