Janefan

got this in a swap on http://swap-bot.com/

Very nice – I love that it’s just black tea and pomegranate, without any hibiscus! Most fruit flavoured Twinings blends all come out purple-red and tasting the same. This has the juicy sweet-tart flavor of pomegranate and the expected natural red-brown color. A nice relaxing fruit tea.

drank last week – 2 oz Firefly mixed with equal parts Reed’s Ginger Ale (which has much more bite and complexity than the oversweetened name brand stuff). Added a couple ice cubes, and once they melted everything mellowed out into a very drinkable cocktail.

original recipe here, as seen on Tastespotting:
http://cocktails365.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/ginger-glow/

I am borrowing JacquelineM ’s idea and scraping/chopping half a vanilla bean into my 1oz sample tin: http://steepster.com/JacquelineM/posts/33130

Should be drinkable in 3-4 weeks. I was looking for something creative to do with this tea to give it a new lease on life!

I am cold-brewing 8 Tbs in 48oz water for 8 hrs. Had a scant teaspoon left, so made a (rather weak) cup hot, with a bit of sugar.

Brewed a half cup then iced it down. Poured it into a blender with one container plain greek yogurt, one sliced peach, 1 tablespoon orange blossom honey, and about 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk to make a rather thin but yummy smoothie. Served in a tall glass with a few cubes of ice.

iced matcha latte with Silk vanilla almond milk – aka “the usual” :D

it is in fact “lightly sweetened” – just the right amount, in my opinion. The lemon is also just right, and fairly fresh tasting. Not artificial or overpowering.

I would certainly rather drink this than most take-out/restaurant teas (especially here in the south) but don’t see myself buying it often, as it’s not crave-worthy like their peach green.

the perfect breakfast tea, if your breakfast consists of eggs and toast like mine does today. A teaspoon of good maple syrup is the perfect sweetener!

eating a scone, drinking Lady Grey, dreaming of London…

Smooth, with a strong jasmine finish that is floral, but tastes more fresh than fake/perfumey. Probably not the best choice with my lunch of roast beef and welsh rarebit over rye toast, but enjoyable nonetheless.

brewed 1 tsp in 6oz boiling water for 5 min, then added about 2 oz vanilla almond milk. Mmmm tastes much like coffee to me – roasty, a bit nutty, but also with a hint more sweetness than the burnt/bitter flavor that often comes with coffee. I’m so glad to finally try this!

I’ve had this tea an awful lot in the past few months! I made a cup hot today while also brewing some for a pitcher of iced. So I’ll be drinking some more this week!

The first time I made this (last month) I followed the directions – basically dumped the powder into milk, stirred with a spoon, heated, stirred again… and got an almost undrinkable cup of hot milk, lightly flavored, with green clumps.

This second time, I went a bit overboard the other way on prep, but it worked. First I sifted the powder into my mug of Silk vanilla almond milk. HOWEVER, there is granulated sugar in the mix, which is too big to go through the holes. So after the powder was sifted through, I dumped the leftover sugar in after it (there were no tea clumps to worry about.) I whisked with a metal whisk to get the big stuff, then my chasen (bamboo matcha whisk) for a much finer result. Then I heated in microwave as directed, and whisked again afterwards. Finally, as an extra, I frothed about 2oz of 2% milk and poured it over top for a very luxurious drink indeed!

Next time I will forgo the sifting and use the chasen to whisk the powder into about 3-4 oz milk, then mix in the rest of the milk, heat, and stir. I think that will minimize the prep while still delivering a well-blended cup. The frothed milk on top really is nice, so I’ll probably keep that! :-)

Flavor-wise, I agree with Suzi – it’s slightly salty, but creamy and sweet too in my opinion. It does not taste like cherry or even flowers. It’s ok, and seems really to go well with the vanilla almond milk, but really it’s just lower grade matcha with sugar added. I’m looking forward to trying the strawberry and caramel which I hope will have a more intense flavor.

Meh. I was expecting this to wow me. Or at least to taste more brisk and fresh than Twinings IB teabags. It did not. :-(

tasted ok for the first few hot sips, then got a weird (artificial?) aftertaste as it cooled. Will try it iced before dumping it out…

drinking it hot and unsweet. I like it better iced and sweet.

No notes yet.

surprisingly flavorful. I probably had my water a little too hot, but there’s only a trace of bitterness on the finish. Adding some sugar, honey, or agave would probably smooth that out. This is another tea that’s probably better iced. It’s pretty full-bodied, for a flavored white.

mixed 1.5 tsp with 1 bag Red Chai & Rooibos Red Tea Blend by World Classics in a big mug to create a spiced cranberry rooibos drink. Nice for a grey, rainy day. Would be good in winter!

mixed 1 bag with 1.5 tsp Cruising Cranberry by Boca Java in a big mug to create a spiced cranberry rooibos drink. Nice for a grey, rainy day. Would be good in winter!

It is in fact very refreshing and yummy iced. However I steeped it too hot, so I’m not ready to give a rating yet.

No notes yet.

backlogging last nite’s smoothie – matcha, vanilla silk almond milk, chobani strawberry greek yogurt. MMMmmmm.

fruity and refreshing with a buttery green base, would be great iced