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One of those days when I open the drawer and rifle through the dozens of sample packets and toss them aside one by one. No, not that one. Had that one recently. Eh, not wanting to steep that many times today. Oh wait, what did I put in this tin? Well hello! I forgot I had this one. What a really nice black tea. No bitterness. Just wonderful flavor. Cup two was even better than one. The only negative thing I can say is this is a sip down. Tunes: The 5678’s I’m Blue, Klaatu – Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft, Joey Ramone – It’s a Wonderful World

ETS adds orange to their bergamot and it gives it a unique flavor. Not like Lady Grey as it has lemon I think. It is just different. This I have had long enough the bergamot has mellowed a lot. That is a good thing as the white tea is really shining through. A good choice. Tunes: Blackfoot – Train, Train, Blue Cheer – Summertime Blues, Billy Thorpe – Children of the Sun.

A blend of white, green, and bergamot. The bergamot is pretty non-existent except as possibly the very faintest citrus note. However the white and green mix is really nice. Tunes: Black Sabbath – War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man.

My second favorite from Zenjala – the first being White Monkey. This one smells so wonderfully smoky. Just a year ago I was whining about half this amount of smoke. This is so good. Right now I am dunking peanut butter cookies stuffed with M&M’s. I would be jealous if I were you. An excellent combination by the way. Pronounced Boo-hee this is apparently a mistranslation of Wuyi. Once an expensive highly prized tea that fell into disrepute after being tossed into the Boston harbor, paving the way for Starbuck’s to make a killing selling overpriced coffee. Tunes: CCR – Bad Moon Rising, Barry McGuire – Eve of Destruction.

Went to vote this morning. I think this was the longest I have ever had to stand in line to vote. At one point my wife says, “I think you are going to be late for work.” To which, I sarcastically replied, “What are they going to do fire me?…. O wait they already did.” She sighed and quietly replied, “Really.” A few moments later I noticed the lady in front of us started acting antsy. She turned, looked at me, and said, “I can’t afford to lose my job.” Then she stepped out of line and quickly left the building. I stepped forward, thinking to myself, “Me too.” Sigh.

Different subject. Like gmathis I am also struggling with daylight savings time. I am waking up at 3:30. I don’t have to be up until 6:00, but I can’t go back to sleep. I am decaffing it in the evenings and it doesn’t seem to be helping. So I grabbed old reliable in an attempt to stay awake this morning.

I drink a lot of cheap teas. Some are better than others. I also get to drink a lot of above average stuff, thanks to Steepster. Some of it is a bit pricey. This one falls into the cheapster Steepster end at about a buck and half and ounce. This is where I go when I just need a good comfort sip. Not overly complex, just tasty. I highly recommend Ahmad to any one looking for a better than average cheap tea.

I am KS and I approve this tasting note.

Yep, its decaf and its a tea bag. I still like it. This morning I grabbed a bag and poked it into a glass bottle, filled with water, put the lid on and put it in the fridge. This afternoon the result was pretty tasty. Cold brewed this doesn’t taste a lot different than brewed. Maybe a little mellower. Mostly this just took no effort to prepare. Yeah, lazy me.

Denny’s just opened in town. So we abandoned our usual Saturday breakfast spot to try the new place. It was ok. Not sure how two $4 breakfasts turns in to almost $15 by adding a cup of coffee and a cup of tea, oh, and some toast. Still seems like too much. Maybe it is because I paid $1.80 for one cup with no offer of refills, and it was a horrible cup of hot tea. I drink this iced at Mom and Dad’s and it is passable. Hot it tasted fishy and just not good. Looking forward to my usual Mother Parkers hot tea next week at Steak ’N Shake.

Back in my heavy tea bag use days, I drank mostly flavored Ceylon or Assam blends. I never really cared much for straight black tea. I still find most breakfast teas to be beige. They have bite. They leave you with bad breath. I usually don’t remember what they taste like. I did really like the Paisley breakfast tea – it was a good different.

I find I really like Chinese black teas. I generally use the same descriptors – cocoa or chocolate, malt, grain, maybe a little smoke. Yet the combinations are different so they all taste different.

This is a lapsang souchong tea. Before I tried it the first time I thought LS always meant BBQ like highly smoked leaf. Nope. This one is not smoky. The wet leaf smells like cocoa toast. The sip is one of the richest malt, grain combination I have tried. It feels thick. No bitterness. No astringency. Kind of like golden monkey but darker. This is what breakfast teas should taste like. The aftertaste is nice too :)

6 pearls and boiling water for two minutes. This makes a lot of leaf whose aroma to me is burnt caramel. This is better than I remember. I think it suffered from over blown expectations. From my perspective, I don’t get the chocolate notes of Bailin Gongfu. I don’t get the richness of Dian Hong Golden Tip, or the robust taste of Golden Monkey. I expected it to be all those things combined. What tea could live up to that? What I do get today is a bit of roasted bite up front that quickly dissolves into a lovely light sweet cup that does have enough cocoa notes to make me think brownies. It has a wonderful aftertaste. The aroma of the wet leaf in the press calls for many resteeps. This is a nice tea that is better than I remember. – Interesting update. I went to lunch leaving a half filled mug on my desk. It was room temperature when I returned. This is excellent cooled down. There is a level of smoke that rises up and fills in all the holes in the flavor. A worthy cup.

My note was eaten. I picked a sample of this up today at Empire Tea Services. I could not find it on their website. This should use a decaf tea. It is a great evening tea. It is not a big bold cup. It starts light milk chocolate. Next I get light peppermint – yum. The aftertaste is vanilla and black tea. I can’t single out the rooibos or fruits. A nice mellow cup