Missy

I made this one up for watching Priest. Dylan hates the dialog in that movie. I agree it’s boring and not a bit creative. I don’t really demand a good dialog in my action movies. I need to see a good CGI team and good choreography. Priest has those two things so I’m happy. Good dialog belongs in drama and I tend to avoid that genre.

This is much like Buccaneer with out coconut. I think the black tea in Buccaneer adds some depth that the green tea in this misses. You won’t be able to miss the vanilla and chocolate notes. The yogurt bits seem to just make it very creamy. Woodsy rooibos ends the show, with the green tea getting lost some where in the mix. A good dessert tea if you are looking for some thing with less caffeine, but I really like the black tea version better.

I have bad dreams. I don’t go back to sleep those nights. Some nights are good. Those nights I dream other things. ( the hated dialog) :D

We got our goldenmoon sampler box today. We are swimming in samples at the moment. I totally understand having a ton of different teas in your cupboard. The more variety you have, the more you want, or some thing. I think I’ll have to do some thing like pick a sample blind some time soon.

I brewed this one up straight. I think it would be good with milk though. It’s gentle due to the lack of pepper for that extra zip. Pepper need not apply. I taste cinnamon, clove and cardamom. I love that word cardamom. I’m waiting to shout it out at a female checking out with alcohol or smokes. I probably wouldn’t shout it out, but I’d think it really loudly. I do get a bit of tea taste here. It’s pretty mild, just enough to know that I am, indeed, drinking tea. If you are looking for a gentle chai this is a good place to start.

Le sigh! Why must they only be made once a week!? What’s worse is it’s one that my daughter actually would like to have around too.

Vanilla and mint are two of my favorite flavors right after chocolate. I think they are easier to get right in tea though. I feel like the vanilla and mints are all mixed together perfectly. Smooth and refreshing with out losing one flavor or another. Roasted mate is splendid! I get a toasted green taste from it. All these flavors mix so well which each other to make another wonderful tea.

I decided to try this iced and it was an awesome idea. I think I prefer it iced to hot. I still get the creamy vanilla and orange flavors. However, I feel the iced tea helps the association with the popsicles I used to eat. That association is the reason I was interested in this tea in the first place. I’ll have to remember to get more of this next summer.

Another sample from SerendipiTea.

This is like orange creme sickle from market spice, except for the chocolate. Blood orange is apparently much more tart than regular orange flavoring. I really like contrast of the vanilla and chocolate against the blood orange.

It’s a nice tisane for late night tea. I also think it would be great iced.

We got our samples from SerendipiTea today. Yay! I was surprised that the samples appeared to be bigger than what I expected. They also tossed in another sample I didn’t order. SerendipiTea also employs Santa’s reindeer to deliver tea. They were incredibly fast. I’m quite impressed with my experience.

So I put this on my shopping list a long time ago. I looked at the name while we were deciding what to get for samples this month, and though that this would be a spicy, chocolate chai. I was wrong! It happens once or twice a year. It’s a chocolate chai for sure, but no peppers. It’s still pretty good but I have other chai that are good as well. I think of it as a sweet, creamy chai really. Vanilla, mint, ginger, chocolate and yogurt all combine to make it sweet and creamy with out the addition of milk. The other chai spices seem to be a bit overwhelmed by the sweeter spices. Rooibos shows up, but the black tea is hiding.

It’s a dessert tea, but I think I like Buccaneer more.

Thank you Ashmanra for your generous sample! We just got this in the mail today so we had to try it out after dinner.

I taste fruit but Dylan and I decided it wasn’t mango but pear. The same pear you get in those tiny fruit cups from the store. I don’t think this pear is that sweet though. It could have some thing to do with not loading the tea pot with as much sugar as I would get in a fruit cup. I get the spice on the actually swallow, while it’s going down my throat I can taste the pepper there and then. Does that make sense at all? I don’t really taste the green tea much but that could be my lack of experience with green teas.

Not a bad tea, but more cowbell please.

Yesterday I made a pitcher of this iced. I think it’s way better iced. Maybe I just don’t care much for hot blueberries. Again mostly what I get is blueberry. Rooibos is very timid in this tea. Just a hint of it at the end of the sip. A good addition to the summer tea collection. All though I just can’t get over Teavivre’s blueberry fruit tea. I love that stuff!

I let my daughter taste this tea and she said, “hmm, it’s okay. I mean it’s pretty good.” Seven times out of ten her response is, “tastes like butt.” I’m pretty sure it just got the okay comment because I don’t take as much sugar in my tea as she likes in hers.

I liked this one better as it cooled down. I felt the flavors came out a little better. Perhaps an icing is in the future. Smooth and a bit malty are my first impressions. Maybe the chocolate makes it malty like. The mint is very natural, naked mint. I keep pushing my tongue up to the roof of my mouth, where I taste the mint the most.

Chocolate and mint, where can you go wrong?

I looked in my Indian Tea tin and it’s low. Oh noes! I decided I should try it iced. It’s excellent iced. I brewed 12 perfect teaspoons in a pot with 32 ounces of water. I then filled my pitcher with ice. Pour brew over ice and voila!

Cinnamon, cardamom and clove are all present in the iced version. Since they are balanced rather well no one flavor takes center stage here. I’m not sure what they use as a base tea. It’s strong enough to show up but maintains a secondary presence to the spices.

I tend to think of those spices to be used in the cooler months, but this is rather good as an iced tea. It’s refreshing in a different way than mint or lemon. I’ll have to try this again some time soon when it’s warmer outside.

We got our 52teas order today! I really have to give them points for adding allure to tea buying. Getting your tea is pretty exciting too. I have high expectations for their teas and so far they’ve met them every time. On to the tea.

Love this tea. I’m not a big fan of cherry flavoring since it’s typically very artificial tasting. In this tea it is perfect! I think the gen mai cha adds to the cheesecake flavor. It almost sounds like I’m getting separate flavors here. That isn’t accurate. I feel like I have accidentally dropped some cherry cheesecake into my gen mai cha. Best oops ever. At the tag end of my sip I taste the green tea, but then my cherry cheesecake comes back to play. Lovely tea again 52teas!

We got the cutest little sample tins in the mail today. Think Geek is an awesome site. I love these tins. Today we tried Pirate Chai! Argh! Okay now that’s out of my system.

On to the tea. Cinnamon and clove are quite apparent at first. Though they are the most apparent flavors they are very well balanced. They also taste very natural. I know for sure I seen the actual clove sticks in there. The tea base feels a bit malty to me. It’s very mellow though, only showing up towards the end of the sip. I find an acceptable astringency here as well. The sip ends with a bit of cardamom. Not a bad chai especially since it’s Pirate chai! Now I’m going to feel the need to run around yelling avast, ahoy there matey, and shiver me timbers.

I’m not sure this one is a clear winner but it’s definitely a good solid chai.

Thought I would try this since I slept really well last night. I’m not really feeling groggy. I think Guayusa is supposed to be a bit more stimulating than my typical black breakfast blend. I’ve been eyeballing the package since it came it and I just don’t want to wait any longer.
It seems like there is a definite green category of tea with diverse flavors. For example some of the green teas are a fresh, crisp green flavor. The oolong I tried was a sweet, heavy green taste. This is green like grass that just been cut. Yet it is still sweet. A funny toasty like taste has shown up. It’s very faint. Ghost toasted tea. Who ya gonna call?!
I like it but I think I’d like a flavored guayusa just as well.

Since I really like chai and I have yet to find my favorite sleepy time tea, I decided a mash up of the two could work well. This is pretty satisfying in both respects. I taste the appropriate chai spices and a bit of vanilla. I’m not sure I’m a big fan of the nutmeg in here though. Honeybush is definitely present. In my head it should be pretty bitter because of the Valerian root, but that’s not the case this time. I get a faint medicinal taste in here. It’s not a bad tea if you should be looking for sleepy time tea.

Another yummy tea. I’m pretty impressed with 52teas. Looking at the name, I expect a complex tea. I also have to wonder how you get those flavors in there. How do you get scone flavoring?! I wonder if he could do a chocolate scone tea. Any ways on to the tea.

I really enjoy honeybush, so I am glad to see it showing up in this flavor profile. I can taste the cranberry and orange. They compliment each other well. The butter is very smooth and creamy. The tea feels smooth and creamy but that may just be the buttery taste. I’m getting a different flavor instead of the baked good here. Let me just say I may be totally insane first. I taste bubble gum. So I have cranberry-orange-butter-honeybush-bubblegum tea. It tastes like I just started chewing on some bubblegum as I take a sip of tea.

Despite my taste bud mutiny, I really like this tea. I think I’ll let it set for a week and try it again. Perhaps I’ll have hanged the problem taste bud.

I love this tea. I hope to see it again.

When I smelled the dried leaf, I was thinking whoa, that’s pretty strong mint. It’s a nice smelling mint though. Teavana’s Cacao Mint smells pretty strong too, but it leaves me feeling like I just had some mint flavored cough syrup. I was a bit anxious while brewing because I really wanted to avoid that. I was also worried I wouldn’t get my fair share of vanilla. Many times vanilla just doesn’t seem to be strong enough for me. I want to taste it with out having to search for it. I hear so many good things about 52teas. This being my first tea from them, it just had to live up to the reputation.

This is really wonderful! I love the fresh spearmint flavor. Mint is a funny thing. It can be invigorating or soothing. Definitely feeling more of a pick me up from the mint today. Vanilla seems to ride the end of the spearmint, like a tag along sibling. You totally notice that it’s there, but it doesn’t get to decide what the day’s activities will be. A refreshing, smooth blend. Excellent job!

This was my first try at a oolong. I believe I understand “washing” the tea better. I took a sip of the first steep and went, “hmm, that tastes like tea colored water.” I tossed it out and tried for another steep. That went better.

I find this one a bit vegetal, but in a good way, like green alfalfa. A hint of some thing floral in the middle. It’s odd that I like it. Here lately I’ve been put off of floral things. We have a couple of teas I swear I could wear in an infuser necklace as perfume. Last but not least a hint of some thing sweet but not honey-ish. It reminds me more of sugar.

Over all a mellow fellow. I may have brewed it wrong and totally missed out on what oolong is supposed to taste like. I’ll have to play with it for a while.

This is a sample from Azzrian, Thanks! Brewed this up as the first cup of the day. Not a bad cup of tea, but not my favorite either.

It’s a very grainy, malty tea. It really reminds me of the smell a friend’s house had while he was making beer. The end of the sip is sweet, reminding me of honey. Very thick mouth feel to it. It isn’t bitter or astringent at all, good marks for that.

So I totally didn’t look up this tea before I steeped it. Le sigh… I still really like it. Vanilla and mint happen to be two of my favorite flavors so I can’t really go wrong here.

The mint is nice pick me up right off the bat. Once the mint tires, the vanilla pops in, lingering for a bit. I get a hint of what I think is green tea. Towards the very end of my sip I can taste a hint of black tea. I agree with Dylan that it’s probably a mellow fellow tea. It reminds me of the Nonsuch estate that I had the other night.

Overall a great dessert tea, especially for lovers of vanilla and mint.

Yummy Yummy Yummy! Notice those are all capitalized. This one has to stay in the tea cupboard.

I was really surprised that the cinnamon and clove didn’t over power the vanilla. Nice medium tea base here. I wondered if a vanilla chai was truly out of reach for me. Vanilla seems to hide when other flavors are used. I’ve tried several just vanilla teas where the tea over shadowed the vanilla. I thought the chai spices were going to be too strong for vanilla to show through. However this is a wonderful balance of flavors.

I enjoyed this tea hot the first time I tried it, but I thought it might be better as an iced tea. I like it more iced.

As a hot tea, the grenadine is pretty strong, allowing the vanilla to just peak through a bit. Just enough vanilla to make the tea creamy. So you have sweet, tart and creamy mixture that does pretty well by my palate.

As an iced tea I find the vanilla makes a stronger presence. Vanilla always seems to show up better for me the colder my tea is. Now I have a creamy, sweet tea with just a hint of tart at the end. I think I’ll stick with my monk’s blend as an iced tea.

So I brewed up a pot of Samurai Chai earlier but I had to toss it. I have a spider on a porch that likes to try to use my cup as base for her web. This time she got my cup pretty good as I was tooling around on amazon. I think this episode is the final installment. It sure looked like I had a little bug body in my cup when I tossed it out. So on to the tea I actually get to drink.

I call this one Nosuck tea and it lives up to it’s name! I find it very smooth and mellow. I see that the description uses coppery and bright. I agree with these two assessments. I find a sweet taste at the end reminiscent of honeysuckle. Not even a hint of astringency so far. I’m quite happy with this purchase.

An interesting tea with an interesting name. Dylan says the name isn’t interesting so I had to shout out the name. Pretty fun to say.

Nice light woodsy tea coming through the floral scent. I’m not so good with flowers so I can’t point out which flowers. They aren’t perfume-y though, I think they add a sweet touch. Very nice blend so far. Tropical fruit I can agree with. I think maybe pineapple, mango or papaya. There is a citrus note so maybe just the pineapple. Maybe it has a hint of lemon. Scooby doo where are you!?

I like this one except for the picture it conjures up, me with silver hair. Perhaps I’ll shave my hair off before I get to that point.

The rooibos is a lighter color in this one than my other two and that seems to make for a different taste. It’s still woody like redwood smells and reminiscent of tobacco. It’s not as sweet and seems to be missing the raisin note, but ends with a high spice like note. The vanilla is also weaker than my other teas but very creamy. It’s still done rather well as it competes strongly with the rooibos but drowns out the almond a bit. This almond is pretty subtle and mostly comes through more as an after taste.