gmathis

In celebration of sending a fistful of finished files to my editor (finito! fantastic! fwhew!) I made myself a celebratory cuppa—with 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint and a daub of chamomile. Faux foxtrot!

No notes yet.

Weather has been such that I’ve been keeping a warm cup in hand constantly, and as a result, caffeinated myself into a fizz over the weekend. Trying to scale it down a bit, and this is a nice, office-friendly, error-resistant departure from full black caffeinated.

Saying goodbye to this one…klutzily knocked over the tin last night, which left me just enough for a farewell mug this morning. By far the nicest, gentlest ginger-peach combo I’ve sampled. One more thanks to TeaBird, who originally sent me this treat.

Full review up at http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1816/tea-review-lochan-tea-glenburn-estate-2010-first-flush-darjeeling/ So far I am wholly impressed by the quality of the Lochan samples I’ve had the opportunity to try. Good stuff.

Very nice Assam…review’s up at http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1634/tea-review-teafrog-organic-assam-banaspaty-ftgfop/

Many of the chocolate-based teas I’ve experienced lose their chocolate-iness after they sit very long. Took me a while to get through my sample cup because I was trying to wax poetic over it for www.itsallabouttheleaf.com, and even after it was stone cold, it still smelled like a really good box of chocolates.

Sticking with my previous opinion…there’s nothing absolutely outstanding about this purchase-in-bulk tea, but its cheap, basic, and goof-resistant. A solid pantry tea.

Judging from the package design, what I’m currently drinking must be old (but the whole thing was still shrink wrapped). It’s gentle mint, not sharp, but what I need for a no-caffeine midafternoon perk-up.

Dinked around with my own blend last night and added an equal proportion of chamomile … not until I’d imbibed half the cup did I realize that I’m two thirds of the way to my own faux Foxtrot! Further experimentation pending.

A good, thick choice for a cold day. Like some of the other reviews I’m seeing, you have to let it set quite a while to get pronounced caramel and apple (and then it has to go back in the microwave to warm up since our building is like an igloo).

Bitter cold, sub-zero wind chill, and the general January mopes are driving me to swig copious quantities of every chocolate based tea in my pantry. Added a sloppy teaspoon of caramel syrup and not regretting it a bit. This is still the coffee-ist tea I’ve ever had, but I prefer the gentle caffeine buzz to the slam-you-up-against-the-wall a.m. jolt.

Another update leading to a full review: http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1678/tea-review-teafrog-kalahari-rooibos-2/
(Nice change-of-pace if you need something to remind you spring’s coming … someday …)

Cold enough that flavor takes a backseat to temperature; I don’t care as long as it’s hot. Thus, a good day to drink this no-name addition to a Hickory Farms gift basket. Nothing to write home about, but it’s not terrible. First adjective that came to mind was “tawny.” I’m not sure I’ve ever had tawny tea before, but if I did, this would be it.

Updating … full review’s now up at www.itsallabouttheleaf.com.

I waited till I had a whole afternoon to play with this one, primarily because I wanted to prep a decent review for www.itsallabouttheleaf.com, and secondarily because I understand that pu-erhs keep going and going and going and going …. will be writing about it more gracefully elsewhere, but it surprised me that it wasn’t as peat-moss tasting as I had expected.

All the traditional chai spices were there, but pretty weak. May try again and double up the bags.

Found a lookalike recipe for Starbucks Gingerbread online and actually attempted it yesterday (mind you, this requires measuring flour and “creaming till fluffy” — techniques which are the outer limits of my cooking ability) and this just seemed like the appropriate accompaniment. With a little honey, t’wasn’t bad.

The gingerbread wasn’t an exact copy, but again, t’wasn’t bad, either. It only collapsed a little in the middle.

To be truthful, I no longer remember what brand this is - hubby bought it several winters back and it got dumped in a generic tin. Proof that old tea never dies, it just fades away. Now it’s just black tea with a hint of a suggestion of a memory that there might have been some butterscotchy flavor to it. But still…not bad!

Chamomile pretty much tastes like chamomile with little variation. This one’s good and strong and sweet.

I’m always intrigued by herbal blends that don’t lead with lemon and chamomile. The cocoa and almond in this one is a nice touch.

Used as a base for some of the strongest bulk peppermint leaves I think I’ve ever tasted. Wow (mint fumes making eyes water)! I’m awake now, anyway…

Review’s up at www.itsallabouttheleaf.com. Starts something like this:

Many lemon-mint based herbal blends are pretty nondescript. It can be difficult to tell where one ingredient ends and the other begins. On the other hand, the ingredient line-up for Chamomile Citron is like a bunch of feisty schoolkids competing for your attention.

The one thing about being a tea junkie … you turn into the dumping ground (ahem! recipient!) of all kinds of teas that co-workers and non-teaists don’t drink. In this case, some little packets of gift basket teas that evidently were part of a Hickory Farms goodie assortment.

This isn’t bad; the vanilla flavor is strong enough to counter the fact that the tea itself is a meh no-name black tea. A little creamer next time will probably make it palatable for office use.