aisling of tea

I am so glad I like this one more than I liked the Aloha Pu-erh. I love the rich berry flavor, the pu-erh keeping it from becoming too sweet or too tart, it’s just…mmm. It’s perfect. I didn’t even mind the hibiscus, and I’m a huge hibiscus hater. But I think I need to stock up on this one.

Add my vote to the "blegh"s. It smells so dang good in the bag, but it tastes like warm, slightly sour, milk with a fruity after taste. Blegh. Saving the rest of my sample bag for the wife, but I don’t think this is one we’ll be adding to our collection any time soon.

Add my vote to the "blegh"s. It smells so dang good in the bag, but it tastes like warm, slightly sour, milk with a fruity after taste. Blegh. Saving the rest of my sample bag for the wife, but I don’t think this is one we’ll be adding to our collection any time soon.

Add my vote to the "blegh"s. It smells so dang good in the bag, but it tastes like warm, slightly sour, milk with a fruity after taste. Blegh. Saving the rest of my sample bag for the wife, but I don’t think this is one we’ll be adding to our collection any time soon.

Today is all about fruits and berries. I’m having this for my morning cuppa to get me ready for work, and then Southern Belle and Prarie Berry (both from DavidsTea) to get me through the day without going nuts.

This is like heaven. Damn it, Della Terra, you are killing me here! We’ve decided that when we get our tax refund, we’re going to do a huge Della Terra order. Yay! But the peachy mango goodness of this is awesome. It’s taking me back to the cruise. My wife’s favorite drink was a Kiss on the Lips, which involved peach and mango purée, so she will love this blend. I can see this being amazing iced.

I’ve got to stop starting out the day with the best teas, the rest of them just don’t measure up!

Forgettable. I wasn’t sure at first if I was drinking this or the Cookie Dough I’d also brought with me to work, so…yeah. I drank the whole travel mug and couldn’t really tell you anything about the taste of it, so there you go.

Meh. As predicted, after the beauty that was Oatmeal Raisin Cookie from Della Terra Teas, this cookie tea just didn’t hold up. The chocolate in it tastes like dark chocolate and it was ultimately forgettable. Meh. It got me through work and that’s about it. It was good, but I’m glad we only got a little of it.

Meh. This blend was good, but not great. The apple was good, but the rest just kind of faded into the background. I got this in a try me pack and this is one of the few I don’t think I’ll be ordering more of. Thank goodness, because I seem to have fallen in love with almost every blend I’ve tried so far >.<

Seriously, this tea company is dangerous. DANGEROUS. Just about everything we’ve had from them, we’ve liked. No, not just liked, ADORED. And if we didn’t fall in love with it, it was still good enough that we had no trouble finishing the cup.

This beauty is no exception. I love cinnamon in my teas in my oatmeal raisin cookies and this blend hits that craving spot on. It’s perfect. I feel like I just ate an entire batch of my wife’s delicious homemade cookies, without all the calories. This is just…guh. Yum. Absolutely perfect. I’ve got DT’s Cookie Dough in my travel mug for work, but I don’t think it’s going to like being compared to this perfect blend.

Homina. Just…guh. This is amazing. I want to sink down into this for the rest of ever. I thought I had found the perfect vanilla black, but I was wrong, they all pale in comparison. Creamy vanilla that just…mmm. Dark deliciousness.

How did I not find out about this perfect tea company before? I am in love and cannot wait to order more!!

Yum yum yum. Yuuuuum. This is awesome. I was a little worried that the chocolate would overpower the blend, but it just mixes right in. The graham gives it a nice base and the marshmallow smooths out the edges and makes everything a creamy dream. And what I love most is that the flavors don’t overshadow the flavor of the tea, rather, they work with it.

I’m on my third steep and the flavor is still going strong! I am mightily impressed with this tea, mightily impressed. Also, I adore my color-changing DavidsTea perfect mug, because I like my teas lukewarm, so by the time my pink trees have faded back to black, I know it’s cool enough to drink! Huzzah! It has been a lovely tea day. I started the first steep at 2 minutes and added a minute for each additional steep, but if I go for four, I might go for 6 minutes instead of 5.

No notes yet.

On the second day of the cruise (New Year’s Eve), the ship held afternoon tea around 3, so of course my wife and I attended with her mom, sister, and grandmother. Cucumber sandwiches and tasty desserts were had by all and they opened a grand tea chest that was unfortunately full of Bigelow teas. Still, I’d rather have Bigelow than Lipton or Red Rose, so I reached for this one and it hit just the right spot. It was perfect for what I was craving and while I would have preferred loose leaf, when it comes to bagged teas, Bigelow is my tea of choice.

Funny side story, in the first port, Saint Thomas, we found a pretty little display of tea in wooden boxes that my sister in law was trying so hard to convince me to buy for our tea collection. The brand of tea? Metropolitan Tea Company…one of the warehouses for which is literally around the corner from our house. >.< Needless to say, it stayed on the shelf XD.

So after we all got together and decided to do a cheap Christmas this year (my brother dealing with a big move this past year, and we had the cruise coming up and down to one income), my sweetheart of a brother not only decided to give us six months of The Whistling Kettle’s tea of the month club, he also sent us two tins of tea, Vanilla Silk Oolong and Orange Ginger Oolong. I’ve already had two cups of this beauty this morning. It’s lighter and creamier than its DavidsTea counterpart. I daresay I like this one better! I’m about to go resteep the leaves for a third time, we’re definitely going to get a lot of use from these leaves. They’d fill up a gaiwan beautifully. The leaves in the tin are whole, not crushed or broken down and I just wanted to watch them uncurl. This was a great gift indeed and the taste is just as it promises, vanilla creaminess with some silky smoothness and a hint of citrus to keep it from becoming too rich. Yum.

No notes yet.

I believe the exact words out of my mouth at first sip were “Whoa momma!” This is one beauty of a blend. Complex and warming and mmm I just wanted to sink down into it forever and ever. Definitely helped me through a rough day at work!!

I had this a day or two ago, it was my first tea upon returning from the dead, and it was the tea I was most excited about. Boy, did it live up to expectations. This is everything I’ve ever wanted in a cinnamon tea. Everything. The spicy cinnamon, the smooth vanilla…guh. This is why I have tins of Hot Lips, Cinnamon Chai Rooibos, and Cinnmon Heart in the house, because I wanted them all to taste like this tea. I need to try all of the other teas in my samplers quickly so I can order a metric ton of this beauty. This is my dream tea.

Finally on the mend from the Cold of Death (also known as a wicked combination of bronchitis and pneumonia) and I can finally dive into the box of teas that arrived a week ago! Is there anything more cruel than having a box of 20 new teas arrive that you cannot smell or taste? GAH. Anyway, I think the proportions were a tad off in this one, the mug it was made in was larger than expected so it didn’t have my usual ratio of sugar in it. Still, I very much enjoyed it. Let me put it this way. I felt it needed a touch more sugar, but not enough to get me off of my lazy duff to get up and add it, ha! I really liked how the earthiness of the pu-erh balanced out the sweetness of the fruit…I definitely need to try this one again.

I return! Work has been overwhelming, but then the death fairy came down and got me a few days off. Yesterday my doctor told me that not only do I have bronchitis, I also have pneumonia (exacerbated by asthma we didn’t know I had) and an ear infection. Yay! But, on the bright side, I’ve been told I’m not allowed to work again until after Christmas, so yay for a holiday on bedrest? As long as I’m better in time for the cruise we leave for on December 30th, I’m good. Also, the ultimate punishment? A shipment of 20 new teas from Della Terra teas that I cannot smell. GAH.

This tea is a life saver. I must have had three pots of it yesterday. It soothes my coughing fits and makes it so I can swallow again. Love, love, love this tea. DavidsTea, where would I be without you?

Oh man, I am in love with this blend. I really am! I bought some when it first came out, tried it cold steeped, and returned the next day to buy a tin. Yum. Iced, this is juicy and melon-y and guh. I wish it weren’t so expensive, but this is worth it to me. I just want to drink it forever. There is a touch of an artifical tang, but not enough to ruin it. It’s just plain lovely.

Yum yum yum. It has been ungodly hot at work lately, so I wanted a fruity matcha to just shake up in cold water, and this is the first one I came across. I had forgotten how good this is! I loved it. It was nice and refreshing. The pineapple flavor is gorgeous. I think I underestimated this one.

Holy cow does this smell strong! Wow. This was a purchase for the wife, who was more than eager to try it out. I make her London Fogs all the time now (equal parts Earl Grey matcha and French Vanilla matcha whisked up with a bit of soy milk) and it’s her favorite way to get going in the morning. When I asked her if she wanted me to order more, the answer was “yes yes yes, please, yes!” and when asked what strength she wanted it, she just grinned. “I’ve always been kinda curious about ’There’s Matcha in There?‘” So super-strong Earl Grey was ordered. I’m a little bit afraid of it, the scent is so, so strong, but I’m not really a fan of Earl Grey. She likes it though. I opened the package and she smelled it from across the room. “Mmmmm, what’s that?” I’m tellin’ ya, she loves her Earl. I’m gonna make her try it straight and let me know what she thinks of it.

She is in love. The taste is indeed strong with this one (found here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/earl-grey-matcha.html). This may have earned a permanent place in our cupboard. For me, the lemon is overwhelming, but for the diehard Earl fan, it’s juuuuust right.

So the last batch of egg nog was good, but not amazing. Tasty, but it didn’t blow my socks off. Of course, my first course of action was to order more and bump up the flavor strength. I’m a little afraid of “There’s Matcha In There?”, so I went for the next one down, Robust. I figured if it’s too strong, I can cut it with the delicate matcha and even it out a bit. I’m excited to try it, though. I am in dire need of some egg nog goodness in my life.

The scent is amazing. Spicy, creamy, custardy goodness. The nutmeg is strong enough to even please my father in law! At first sip, I’m a goner. This is my favorite matcha of all time. It’s too late for me to be drinking it, but oh, I want more. It’s just…it’s heaven in a cup. I can’t wait to share it with everyone I know….soy nog will have no place in my fridge this year! It’s Egg Nog matcha all the way! It’s gonna be a super caffeinated Christmas. Maybe some of my Zombie Gingerbread men will be egg nog flavored. This is one I must stock up on. It can be found here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/eggnog-matcha.html