gmathis

Thanks to people in the neighborhood who decided to present a rock concert akin to Oompa Loompas playing AC/DC late, late, late last night (oops, early, early, early, early this morning)—and because I wrestled myself into a sleepless puddle attempting to call down blessings and not curses upon mine enemies—-I need a shot of coffee-kick energy this morning. Hoping that the mate induces a steady morning-long supply.

This treat and review comes courtesy of ashmanra and it made my week! I adore (and there’s a vocabulary word I don’t throw loosely or often) coconut in tea, and with the almond and rosebuds to sweeten the deal, this definitely takes the wedding cake! I was so entranced with the fumes while it was steeping, I think I took it a little over the edge (almonds can go bitter quickly) … but I hope to rectify that with an encore cup soon.

I think this tea was brought by elves — found a 24-pack on top of my microwave and neither my husband nor I purchased it, but can’t remember for the life of us how it made it into the house.

A fair bagged green, not very strong, stereotypical middle-of-the-road vegetable garden taste to it.

This one keeps getting relegated to the back, back, back of the cabinet. My previous note wasn’t very complimentary, but either it has mellowed or I have over the past few months. Just a short steep came up with a sweet raisiny flavor this morning that isn’t half bad.

In today’s pairing of fine tea with a junk food breakfast, we’ll select Pear Cream Supreme (which, if anything, just keeps getting better and better in my estimation) to go with Pillsbury lemon cinnamon rolls out of a tube. Not too bad! The cream flavor is such a mellowing agent to the fruit … mmm!

May just be me, but the cloves in this mix make it a little bitter and I walked off without sweetening it this morning. However, paired with a brown sugar-cinnamon Pop-Tart, it makes for a nice breakfast!

Happy Easter! This morning’s mental a.m. soundtrack was the muted trumpet quartet playing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” to intro “Davey and Goliath” and Goliath’s laid-back bass, “Davey … Davey … wake up! It’s Easter morning!” And since I was reminded to wake up and rejoice (uh-oh, here comes another soundtrack … “You ask me how I KNOW He lives, He LI-VVVVVVVEEEEESSSSSS with-INN my HEARRRRRRT!”), I decided to do so over a cup of something special.

And perhaps it’s just my morning mindset, but when I opened the pouch—courtesy of www.chinesetea-shop.com—I smelled jelly beans! Well, maybe not, but a sweet/floral/candy thing was definitely going on. The leaves were huge.

Package description calls it an orange tea, but in my cup, it’s more of a peachy-golden. And wow! The flavor reminds me more of a really fine Darjeeling than an oolong—puckery with honeysuckle.

Allegedly, this will go for nine steeps. Looking forward to spending the rest of the day with it. May your day bring you joy.

I was given a sample of Kusmi Spicy Chocolate, which didn’t exactly trip my trigger (seemed bland/no recognizable chocolate), but I dumped the spoonful or so I had left into my sample of this chocolate chai and made an experimental pot. Wow—it has a kick now! Warmish on the tongue long after you swallow and I’m getting a good bit of cocoa, too. Good for a stormy Saturday morning.

We’re in the middle of huge April warm front/cold front temperature swings, and hit with the warm front today, tried icing down the rest of the pot I made this morning. I believe I like this variety cold better than I do hot. Just a good, stiffish, versatile pantry tea.

Review up: http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/2117/tea-review-tea-forte-hazelnut-truffle/
If one has to do without chocolate, this is a good placebo!

Nice, gentle, smooth, a little sweet. Enjoying mine without milk. It’s been a while since I’ve had Charleston Tea Plantation’s American Classic, but I think this is the better of the two—less of a sharp tang on the tongue.

P.S. Ices down nicely, too.

Many cherry teas are either tart enough to burn off half your taste buds or taste really artificial like cough syrup. This one’s a nice happy medium with a believable fruit flavor. Unsweet cherry pie.

This was served with lunch at a local noodle and curry place in an old-fashioned light-bulb shaped decanter like they served diner coffee in when I was a kid. (Sort of clashed with the elegant rectangular platters.) Anyway, for a bagged oolong, it wasn’t bad. No subtlety, just warm and a little nutty.

Was able to connect briefly with my best tea drinking buddy while on the road and she brought me a do-it-yourself kit with this blend and several packets of turbinado sugar.

Tasted it straight up, then after adding the sugar crystals, and couldn’t taste much difference.

I do like this better than most chai blends because of its naturally sweet personality…most chais to me taste like somebody randomly emptied the contents of their spice cabinets into a tin. Not getting any citrus from the Samurai Chai part of the mix; but plenty of the cinnamon and pepper from the Ayurvedic half.

Had this on an American Airlines flight. While it had the potential of being a nice, smooth Ceylon, it was hard to tell—-when you travel, it all tastes like hotel water and the styrofoam cup :(

Sampled this one for www.itsallabouttheleaf.com; review pending. I need to do a little research about which, if any, of the ingredients have a diuretic effect (could have been coincidence), but drinking this before bedtime resulted in a much-interrupted night’s sleep, and it wasn’t because of any caffeine :)

Made a big pot this morning specifically for the purpose of icing down after an afternoon of pending yard work. My tin is beginning to remind me of the widow’s jar of flour (if you’re a prophet Elijah fan, you’ll get it :) … every time I think I’m getting to the last scoop, there’s just enough for one more…

First iced tea of the season. (Yay, spring!) Hadn’t had this for a while; it’s pleasantly light but still enough blueberry that after icing it down there’s some taste on your tongue.

The write up of my first clumsy, but not entirely successful experience with pu-erh is up:

http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/2070/tea-review-grand-tea-year-2000-7542-green-pu-erh/

A treat—-was able to pick up an experimental ounce bulk at my getting-better-all-the-time favorite little health food store. Looks just like PG tips—ground fine, but used in the same proportions, seems to be just a tetch lighter and brighter in flavor (not in appearance). Would have to do a side-by-side comparison to be sure, and tea geeky as I am, I’d love to do that, but time is going to be a tight commodity this week. (Sigh. Not a great thought for an early Monday morning.)

This one’s in the queue at www.itsallabouttheleaf.com, but it’s good—really good! The word ambrosia was used in the review. And rightfully so. :)

Hooray for inexpensive bulk buys! This smells great dry and has huge leaves—all leafy and lawn clippingy. The tangerine is light and pleasant. Had my trial-run straight up, but I’m thinking I might actually toss in a little sugar to see if the citrus kicks up a little.

Another inexpensive bulk buy from favorite health food hangout. “Robust” and “astringent” in Frontier’s product description about gets it. It’s dry enough to make me lick my lips after each sip. A little milk may be in order.

Hard to get started this morning; so I treated myself to a morning cup of something really good. This is a yummy liquid illustration of “God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” Surely Paul had a cup of this in front of him when he was writing 1 Timothy!

(Actually, probably not … try as I might to verify it, I don’t think tea hit that part of the Mediterranean until much, much later.)