gmathis

A reversal of my review of another Bentley’s tea (pomegranate). This one doesn’t smell very impressive—-kind of woody and stemmy, but it’s surprisnig pleasant. Candy cane sort of mint.

My experience with sencha is very limited, other than I knew it looks like lawn clippings. But the sweet and nutty flavor—really sweet for a green—surprised me. Thanks to Tea Bird for broadening my horizons!

Co-worker surprised me with a 3-tin pack of Bentley’s green teas; this was my first test run. Nice fruity aroma, but I think I left the bag in too long; the green went bitter on me. C’est la vie…I have 49 more bags to get it right.

Most definitely a coffee analog. Sweet on its own, but will try the next cuppa with some cream. It’s getting the eyes open this morning, for sure!

Light, tasty, and smooth; not heavily green or vegetable-y.

Pretty to watch it unfold in a glass mug…light without being too jasmine-y floral…was enjoying the whole aesthetic experience in my backyard with a book (Hood by Stephen Lawhead…quite good so far) … and then a bug flew in it and died. Sigh.

I think I finally got the proportions right so I can actually taste this again. About 1 1/2 t. where you’d normally use a single teaspoon. Still smooth, still mild, but I can taste something besides water now.

Earthy? How about “eau de farmyard?” But that’s not a bad thing. The aroma sort of put me off, but if you hold your breath when you sip, the flavor itself is just nice and dark. A dig-in-the-flowerbed kind of dark.

I oversteeped a little …. can’t be very precise at work, but this does work iced. The cold brings out a little bit of a floral essence.

I’m getting more ginger than lemon. Which isn’t bad; it’s nearly the flavor equivalent of Bigelow’s Ginger Snappish holiday tea. And now I need a cookie to go with it…

My stereotype of orange pekoe either leans toward plain ol’ Lipton bagged or something a little sharp and acidic. This nice tea beats both of those preconceived notions back into the bushes. It’s nice, smooth, liquid amber—a little sweetness in the background like buttered toast or a Lender’s bagel. Probably not a kick-it-into-gear tea for the morning, but pleasant otherwise.

Thanks to Jocelyn Rama, I have a whole care package of Teaopia samples to play with and it’s been so long since I had a really good Assam, I pulled this one first.

It is a lovely red-gold color in my cup and has a nice, thick, substantial feel in the mouth. Flavor is smooth, not sharp, not flat…right on key.

Well, at least I THINK it was Monk’s blend … I have room for just one biscuit tin of teabags on my desk, and I had made some little fill-it-yourself sachets and stuck them in a baggie and they filtered down to the bottom of the tin and I’m not sure how long they were there. Some cheapie mint foil bags have seemed to permeate the whole mess …

…but if it was what it was, despite gross neglect and mistreatment, the aroma was still quite pleasant and it was a gentle little un-tea for a cloudy lunch hour.

…and the moral to this little cautionary tale is…

Happy Easter! What I’d LIKE to do is throw open my windows and belt out “Up From the Grave He Arose” at full Ethel Merman volume, but the sleeping 2/3 of my family wouldn’t look very kindly on that this morning.

So instead, I made a cup of this blend, which is a great chocolatey cherry substitute for a hollow chocolate bunny and will be decorously and quietly grateful with a little mischief around the edges. May joy find you all today.

(Second steep addendum: this is GREAT with Hot Fudge Sundae Pop Tarts! Chocolate craving got the better of me.)

I think I’ve worked out the formula to brew three “varieties” of this one in one pot: just under three minutes for me, another minute for my husband, yet another minute for what he’ll ice down at work (he likes the bitter bite of oversteeped green…go figure). At the three-minute point this morning, anyway, I’m catching a little bit of nutty-sweet to balance the greenness.

Did a cup about double strength, then iced it down. Co-worker said it smelled like suntan lotion…I know I could use a day on the beach!

One of the great joys of being happily married nearly 25 years is getting to walk up, stick something under my husband’s nose, and say, “Smell that!” Which is what I did with this little sample because I couldn’t quite place the scent. I’m a teetotaler, so I couldn’t accurately place whether it was a beer smell or not. It wasn’t. One whiff and he said, “Honeysuckle!”

Which is intriguing, since there’s not a bit o’honey or suckle in this. But that’s IT. Nice, sweet, plant-y. Pretty gold color. Nice spring sort of flavor. Doesn’t get bitter after it’s set a while. Perfect for sipping under the cherry blossoms—-if I only had some to sit under.

You need to like rooibos to like this one. But if you do, it’s a nice, mellow treat. Really does have the caramel apple thing going (more caramel than apple; more in the fragrance than flavor). Let some go cold at my desk and iced it down—wasn’t bad, either.

This one comes, with my great appreciation, from Meghann.

This is a blend (half-and half?) that smells so good I just wanted to stick my nose in the bag and keep it there. Just like Walgreens no-name brand Christmas cherry chocolates.

The Azteca chocolate/strawberry cancels out any sour in the cherry, which is fine by me. I brewed this first experimental cup according to package directions — 195 for 2-3 minutes, closer to 2 just in case … but it could stand to be stronger to get all the chocolatey, fruity potential out of it. Looking forward to trying again.

This has been a week of major personal stress. As I was heating water in the microwave at work (not my preferred method, but any port in a storm), I put the bag up to my nose and inhaled all the minty, lemongrassy goodness and meditated, not on Zen, but on my favorite paraphrased Bible verse: Lord, you are my portion and my [cuppa]. (Psalm 16:3, spelling adapted to suit myself.)

The flavor, steeped, isn’t quite as strong as the bag scent. I may have sniffed all the smell out! It’s more minty than green, for sure, but still very calming and would be good on a sore dry throat. Nice aftertaste on your tongue.

Husband has been reading about the health benefits of green tea for … uh, things that ail guys his age … and ordered this hoping to find something that isn’t quite so vegetabley. Out of the pouch, it smells very close to a traditional Assam, maybe just a touch lighter. Fresh brewed, the green hits you before the maltiness, and is a touch bitter. Which hubby likes. I need to experiment a little more with proportions, but will do so willingly to be able to share a pot of tea with my spouse!

I was all primed, since the title contains “pan fired,” to be assaulted with smoke from the first sip. Not the case, though. It’s nice and gentle and a little grapey in the background. Baked golden raisins, maybe.

There are those who would say tea concentrate is sacrilege, but you just can’t beat this one for good ol’fashioned Ozark mountain sentimentality. Flat unsweet root beer, that’s all there is to it, and since I think root beer is often way too sweet, this is great. A tablespoon or so in a hot cuppa; or about double strength iced.

A bulk buy at favorite local health food store. I marked it as a rooibos simply because of the visual resemblance; I don’t know that for a fact. It does have a thick, rich red tea base, but smells more like Dr. Pepper with cinnamon, and does have a flat Coke taste. Still a nice change for the transition between heavy tea season and lighter spring flavors.