gmathis

Last full cup of the sample, managed to sneak it in before our first really hot and humid day of the season kicked in. (When you live in southwest Missouri, anything above 85 before Memorial Day spells trouble. There’s a giant National Weather Service bulls-eye over our entire corner of the state.)

But I digress. This black tea is stout enough to please heavy-duty Assam-ites, light enough to accommodate those who don’t want a black eye from the punch of the drink, and versatile enough to come out just right no matter how little care you pay to time and temp. Good, good stuff.

This is not a substitute for a box of Russell Stover cream centers. It’s tasty; you can pick up on the chocolate and coconut, but it’s still light enough your chocolate cravings know you’re trying to put one over on them.

(The only chocolatey tea I can think of that has the “heft” to be a plausible candy bar substitute is 52teas Malted ChocoMate.)

Still, a nice treat and change of pace.

No, I don’t know why I’ve been hoarding my last two cuppas’ worth of this delectable, pastry-like decaf. As good as dessert. This could well make the Hall of Decaf Fame.

Upton excels at unflavored black tea and black tea blends. Not so much, based on my experience, with flavored teas. The cherry in this one is a Coke-syrupy cherry. Drinkable if you’re light on leaf and steep time. Still haven’t iced it down, but I think that’s when this one would be best.

What about you? Is there a flavored Upton tea that’s actually tasty?

Grabbed a (cheap!) couple ounces of this at favorite Fox Farm Whole Food store. It exceeded expectations—no particular flavor comparison, but it has a bright, sharp, crisp personality. A good, plain-brown-wrapper pantry tea.

This jar of looseleaf had been so woefully neglected I figured it wouldn’t be good for much but iced tea. First time I’d ever tried sun tea with looseleaf, but it worked pretty well—steep, then strain. Made a nice, deep drink with that wet burlap/grainy flavor typical of Keemuns.

Azzrian’s review of molasses-y Sinjahara yesterday inspired me, so I heated some of the cold brew and added a half-teaspoon of molasses to it. Tasted a little stewed after all the mistreatment, but in a good way. Keemun and molasses are a good pairing if you need a stick-to-your ribby cup.

Celestial Seasonings Sweet Apple Chamomile + a second steep of Shang Tea’s honeysuckle white = one fragrant, sweet cup of fruit-and-flower tastiness. Delicious. Even more so looking at a freshly mowed backyard with a scrappy, perky little cat lounging in the scraps of late afternoon sun.

Couldn’t you just use a month of moments like this?

Life lately hasn’t been conducive to lingering, reflective cups of tea or notes about them. After a day in jet-engine adrenaline overdrive, I grabbed this hoping that a cup of something delicate and elegant will help crank down the blood pressure.

I was going to write that the flavor is spot on, but that’s stating the obvious—it is honeysuckle, rather than honeysuckle flavored. The scent is wonderful and I keep wondering where the bees are.

No notes yet.

As a lover of teas that whop you upside the head, I probably miss all the lovely subtlety that many of you pick up when you drink delicate stuff.

So there may be something really notable about this that I have breezed right by, even after half a box of the little sachets. It is fun to steep—the color is definitely pinky. And there’s no bitterness or vegetable taste if you steep properly. It is not assertive in the least, which makes it an OK evening tea.

Surprise—a fraction of a pouch had lodged itself in the bottom of my bits n’ pieces basket. This particular sample is elderly, but hasn’t lost its gentle vanilla sweetness, even on a second steep. Reminds me of one of those little crisp tea cookies. A good Adagio.

At any rate, it’s keeping me warm on what is still a coolish afternoon—upper 50’s and cloudy. But I promised Tazo a cuddle and a pet in the patio glider and he is very purr-sistent when I don’t pay up. You can hear a very cold crowd cheering at the school ball field a couple blocks away.

Tazo Calm + Shang Tea Chrysanthemum = sweet little bouquet to assure me that it IS spring. Really.

The chrysanthemum is thick and silky; the goodies in the Tazo sweeten it a bit; the fresh planty-ness of the chrysanthemum overcomes the annoying sweetness of the licorice. Warm cuppa in my hand; warm laptop on my shivering legs. Everybody’s getting along.

Today’s tin was orange in honor of the orange-cranberry bread currently in the oven. (I am soon going to run out of things to bake to keep the kitchen warm!) Since it’s a cheapie, tossed two bags in my oversized mug, and instead of strengthening the orange as hoped, it made the cheap green tea base bitter. A little squooze of honey resolved that.

Not my favorite out of the batch, but again, I think it will be a good cheapster Steepster iced IF the weather ever gets warm.

Second morning in a row. Big ol’ snowflakes (MAY 4!!) the size of your thumb falling in lazy 3-D on my recently mowed lawn.

We survived the night with space heaters and long johns, baked cinnamon Grands for breakfast, and put on the kettle.

This strong breakfast blend will knock the ice off your ears and probably unclog your drain, too, as stout as I steeped it this morning. With a little milk to take the edge off, it has a dark rye or pumpernickel feel to it.

Two bags in a single cup. There’s the chocolate, finally!

Last thing I need is more caffeine to make me more cranky and jittery than I already am, but it’s COLD. SNOW IN MAY IN SOUTH MISSOURI. And the blower motor on the central heat/AC chose last night to quit working.

So this works. Heavier on the ginger than the lemon. I still don’t think it tastes much like a cookie, but it’s still a favorite. Too bad it’s just a seasonal.

Informal inventory of my decaf stuff reveals I’m way overstocked on rooibos/chocolate and rooibos/vanilla blends. Not a problem; drinking up the inequity will hurt no feelings here.

This particular blend smells luscious. (Yankee Candle, are you listening?) Thick, rich chocolate orange. Double up on the teaspoons, drop in a few extra cocoa nibs, walk away for 10 minutes…dessert!

Several of you have made mention in various posts about the Tin of Tea that Never Goes Away - by some mystical multiplication means, there’s always just enough for one more cuppa.

That’s Tower of London at my house. But in this case, I am grateful for the Never Goes Away properties. It’s so fruity and luscious and stands up to absentminded morning preparation it is welcome here for a long, long time.

Keeping a date with Tazo the cat. I promised that when I got home from the nursing home run this afternoon, we’d have a cuddle in the patio glider. Hardship, let me tell you…about 75 degrees, not a bit of breeze or dampness, just warm quiet afternoon sun. A blessing.

The date actually started a little later than intended…getting the truck stuck in 6" of mud behind my dad’s barn slowed down the drive home a bit. Tell you about it when my spouse is ready to look back on the adventure and laugh :)

I still don’t think this is particularly chocolatey, still just used 1 bag, but in a much smaller cup and left it in the whole time. Still a fair rooibos.

Believe this one deserves a position on the “can’t ruin it, good no matter how you steep it” list. Hardcore Assam/PG Tips lovers may argue it isn’t stout enough for breakfast (the golden monkey adds a little gentleness), but if you’ve got one eye open already, or aren’t in a tearing hurry, it’s a nice morning tea.

Ti kuan yin tastes like Juicy Fruit to me, so I have a predisposition to taste that flavor, whether it’s present or not. In this case, it was strong and pronounced when this cup was fresh. After it cooled, not so much. More like sweet cereal now, but it has a heavy, silky feel in the mouth.

I broke into the Mango tin this evening. Not being a mango connoisseur (if you can spell that correctly without Googling, I salute you!) I can’t tell you how accurate the flavor is. I’ve always thought mangoes tasted like darker, overripe peaches. But for a little tin of bagged gift tea with a green tea base of unknown and inexpensive origin, it’s not bad! Wasn’t bitter, didn’t taste artificial; might be tasty iced. If spring ever gets here some decade.

Funny story goes with this one: I think I told you we’ve been adopted by a cat? Turns out he was the semi-pet of a lady down the street who feeds any feline that shows up in her yard; when I apologized profusely and professed that I wasn’t a cat burglar, she laughed and said she wasn’t surprised; “Jellybean” wasn’t getting along with his kitty comrades.

I told her that “Tazo” was good therapy … so yesterday evening she showed up at my door with a grin, a bag of Meow Mix, and this box of tea. Guess it’s official.

This isn’t a bad herbal blend; the rose petals give it a sweet and delicate scent. Don’t care for licorice, but it isn’t annoyingly present. Wonder how this would do paired with something fruity and berry.

Ever have one of those weeks where you feel like you’ve been tied with a bungee to the back of an emotional roller coaster car and drug up and down the tracks?

Yeah.

Then you know what a blessing a full, deep night’s sleep can be. So for a change, a full-strength, industrial grade morning cuppa wasn’t necessary. Instead, opted for something with a little “refresh” in its personality. This is; a little astringent (makes me keep licking my lips) and the apple-peel bitterness that makes this tea distinct.

Anybody try this sweetened? I keep forgetting.