JoonSusanna

A lazy Saturday and I’m by myself for the weekend – it means lots of time to peruse teas online and of course, make some that I already have.
The smell of this brewed tea is so…cookie-ish. I love it.
I added some honey to this and that seems to compliment the almond taste really well – there is still a nice taste of tea, but it is not the primary flavor….I get that yummy sweet almond cookie dessert taste first and foremost.
A perfect tea for relaxing in solitude.

(Edit: I’m upping this rating – I can’t not- it suddenly very much reminds me of Celestial Seasonings Almond Sunset tea, which was discontinued and left me very heartbroken and without a substitute. I’m so excited that I will now have a loose leaf version of it!!)

Bumping this one up because we tried it iced tonight and…WOW.
I managed to make 8 cups of this iced using 4.5 tsp. tea leaves total. I steeped that amount in 500 ml twice (the second steep was for 2 minutes) and added it to another 500 ml of cold water and it was thoroughly chilled three hours later. I am a poor college student, so don’t judge the frugality!
It’s now four hours later and there’s about 2 cups left. So this was a win for both the boyfriend and myself and definitely discovered just in time for a Southeastern US summer! YAY!

Tried this iced and paired with dinner:
I’m working on my iced technique still – I tried using 50% more leaf than usual and following usual steeping parameters. So, I used 6 heaping tsp. leaves (finishing up my sample from Adagio) with 500 ml water in the Breville and then added another 500 ml. cold water in a pitcher. I think probably one more tsp. would have made it a tad stronger, but as is it was definitely not bad.
This was suuuper refreshing since the temperature was still in the mid-80s by the time I got around to cooking dinner. My boyfriend and I chugged the entire 32 oz (unsweetened) during the meal. It was kind of confusing to my tastebuds since I’ve only drank this hot, but man I’m glad I experimented before summer rolled around for real!

Attempt #2:
I am picking up more on the syrup scent in the brewed tea. There is much more of a potent buttery taste, but it is still more towards the end of the sip and it’s still quite hot. Unfortunately as it cools I think I’m losing the flavor a little more. Even when adding sugar, I just get a sweetened black tea. Maybe the black tea is too strong and overpowering the pancakes? I think the next step is to reduce steeping time to 2 minutes and see if that helps.
I can definitely see the potential in the tea, even moreso now with those first sips…I know I will figure this out yet!

Prepared according to website directions: 20 oz. water to 10 grams tea.
Smooth and neon green in color – a yummy toasty rice flavor that went well the fried rice we ate for dinner. The second steep is just as lovely as the first. It’s funny how even though it’s hot outside and I’m drinking this hot, I can still feel refreshed.
This entire set of samples is definitely encouraging my love for Japan. :)

3 level tsp. to 500 ml water. More leaf than I usually do, just because I wanted something STRONG this morning.
As it cools I get a hint of sweet from the vanilla – this threw me because things do not taste sweet unless there is sugar. Ever. Quite smooth and a dark black tea this morning due to the extra leaf. I may keep these parameters around for awhile. :)

Dry leaf smells like pancakes, mostly syrup, but still yummy.
Steeped the smell is mostly tea with a hint of syrup.
And taste…well, I think boiling water was a mistake :(, because I pretty much just got the tea base.
Next time I’ll lower the temperature and that will likely fix things; and I’ll leave this unrated until then.

Steeped according to the parameters on the Den’s tea website.
The aroma of the tea was quite burnt and a little off putting, to be honest. Despite the scent, though, the taste of the tea was quite smooth. The tea itself brewed up a light brownish, which makes sense given the leaves being roasted.
It was a very smooth tea, and it felt a little nutty in flavor as well, though I think that’s from the roasting. I did a second steep (this time following the recommendation and doing 15 seconds) and the tea tastes much the same as the first time, perhaps just a little lighter and less nutty.
This is only my second of the four loose leaf samples, and I think that the sencha just barely edges it out, but I certainly would not refuse a cup of this; if I had enough money (and enough space) I would definitely order some for my stash…

From the sampler Den’s offers to new customers.
This was super yummy. We used the whole thing on 500 ml of water (per package directions – it’s the one thing about a Breville I wish I could change because Japanese teas just aren’t meant to be made all at once at that kind of volume) and got two steeps out of it.
Now, I love green teas. I think they are just amazing, simple teas that pair well with just about any food. This one was no exception- the leaves smelled so vegetal and fresh, and the tea itself was very smooth and…well, green. I honestly could drink this for dinner every night. So, apparently, could my boyfriend, who seriously gushed over the first infusion.
I steeped the second infusion for longer (1:30) than the first one, which went against the parameters (and I just realized that now, so…too late!). This infusion was bitter in a not-so-nice way, but that was my fault and not the fault of the tea. I still liked it very much, despite the human error.
So this one’s definitely on my shopping list. I wonder how the next three samples are going to be in comparison..

Made as an iced latte – my theme of late since I used Frank’s recipe for the concentrate and now have to use it up before it goes bad. Thank goodness the weather is warm enough that cold tea is a good thing. :)
The latte makes the strawberry just about pop in your mouth – which is such a good thing! It makes all the pie parts of the flavor come out more too. I’m going to bump the rating up a few points since it’s so good cold – and since I live in the south I will be appreciating that come summer!

Mmm.. iced chai latte.
I know I’ve said it before but it bears repeating: this is such a nice blend of spices. I am having fun going through my stash of this…

Ah, coconut cheesecake honeybush. I missed you so.
Mixed this half and half with the french vanilla assam and made a latte using Frank’s way.
This is so amazing hot; I can imagine what it’s going to be like cold. Oh wait, yes I can: it’s going to be awesome.

The smell of the dry leaf and the aroma once brewed are very similar. I get kind of an almond cherry combination – it’s very pleasant.
The taste, freshly brewed and hot, is actually very similar to the aroma, with the added bite of some spices at the beginning of the sip.
As it cools I lose that cherry flavor (which, I’m not sure where it was coming from anyway….) and the coconut comes into the foreground. So far, I have not been itching to add sugar or milk, which is amazing to me, as this is a black tea and I am notoriously unable to resist that.
I think I am going to try this iced – it seems like it would be amazing. But overall, I am really really impressed with this tea hot. I think it is one of the better Teavana blends I’ve tried so far!

I love, love, LOVE this tea with meals. I love that it is savory. I love that I can drink it unsweetened. I love that it smells so rice-y and looks so very springtime green. I just love it.
I really only like drinking this with food; that is the reason I can’t bring myself to bump up the rating higher. But luckily I have plenty of other stand alones to choose from and can use this to pair with lunches and dinners to my hearts’ content!

3 tsp of leaf to 16 oz water.
I have been waiting for the weekend since Tuesday – it was just that kind of week. But I made it through, and even better was the fact that I knew I would have a package of tea waiting for me on Friday when I finally got home from clinicals.
I broke this open this morning to have with cinnamon rolls (mmm..Saturday, I love you so!). Once brewed it smelled mostly like black tea with a cookie/baked goods note in the very background. I drank it plain for about half of the cup and then broke down and added brown sugar as it was starting to get a little astringent on me as it cooled (I’m thinking that’s the almond – but maybe decreasing steep time will avoid that in the future…note to self….)
As for the taste, the black tea is definitely at the forefront, but there is an almond taste that follows immediately behind. I get the “biscotti” more in smell than in flavor, but that’s alright – it’s still quite a pleasant drink.

Got a free sample of this with my teavana order…it came with the sugar and all. I think it was personally too sweet but if it didn’t have rock sugar it would be okay. Maybe I’ll resteep this and try it more au naturel. :)

Study time!

I’m dragging so I need the caffeine and the spice to wake me up a little bit. Also, the stovetop way of making chai provided me with a nice distraction and way to relax.
I made two cups of chai (half milk, half water) and used 2 tsp. of the leaf. It’s the perfect amount of spice and once I tweak the sweetener I will be hard pressed to stop drinking it.
This is such a well-balanced tea – all of the spices blend perfectly and none stick out – it just is.

I actually kind of hope I get a few more cold days so that I can perfect it hot before moving on to iced!

Such a soothing nightcap. This is still my boyfriend’s favorite- I told him we were out after this and he gave me $25 to buy more and then some others for myself. (!!!) That was the icing on the cake of a wonderful day!

Ugh – 5:30 wake ups suck. I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, and this part of clinicals is killing me. Only one more week til we get a week off, though, so I guess I can hang on a bit longer.
Unfortunately, waking up early and collapsing in bed about 9:00 to do it all over again means that there isn’t much time in my life for tea.
So this weekend morning, a rainy, chilly March morning, I decided to break out some more of the French Vanilla Assam – simply because every time I walk by it in my kitchen I have to inhale the scent. I LOVE the smell of this dry leaf.
At a lower temperature I got more of a balance between the vanilla and the tea, and I think I’ll keep it that way. I need sugar in it, but I think that’s more because I just need sugar in most of my black teas.
I will definitely enjoy this one while I’ve got it. :)

Yum!

I prepared this according to their stovetop directions on the package- half water half milk, one tsp. of chai. I think next time I might double that, just to see how spicy I can go.
This is an extremely balanced cup, however – I really like the way all the flavors blend and I can’t wait to try it iced – oh the possibilities!
I am so glad I have a nice sized bag of this to play with!

SO EXCITED to get this tea! I live in an apartment complex and my neighbor downstairs got the package by mistake, and then decided that bringing it up at 11:00 PM was the best idea (I mean, is it just me, 11:00 at night??) so I didn’t get to open this until about midnight yesterday.
I opened up the package right then anyway so I could at least smell the dry leaf, and then I almost died. It smelled like those custard donuts at Krispy Kreme (yes, I am so classy) that I got as a little girl – which, incidentally, were my most FAVORITE from the box. Major, major points for the nostalgia factor alone.
I waited patiently until this morning to fire up the Breville, and am now enjoying the cup. The tea itself smells less custard like once brewed – I get more of the black tea in the scent of it. But the vanilla is definitely there in taste. I may have brewed it too strong for drinking alone, though – the vanilla was extra pungent and milk and sugar helped soften it a bit. Next time I’ll take a minute off the steep time and see what happens.
A fantastic way to begin a Sunday!

Mmm..I got a hankering for this tea out of the blue.
And it was as good as I remembered – I love the bergamot and vanilla combination. I noticed I was getting a little low, though – may have to restock soon.
This is just fine unsweetened, but I think it really would do well with just a tiny bit of milk and sugar…I shall tinker with it and see. :)

This was the last of the four samples in my Adagio sampler – this one tasted more like a chinese green to me – roasted and not as “green.” It was quite smooth and pleasing with food, though.

Brought this down to my parent’s house so that my mom could try it. She liked it, as I knew she would.
I realized am definitely spoiled with my Breville though – I love how easy that makes tea consumption!