Michelle

Ooh! A nice mellow chai!

It may be that this TARDIS mug actually IS bigger on the inside… It says 16oz, but I fill up the ingenuiTEA all the way to the top and there’s still lots of space. I knew I was going to be adding milk to this, so I brewed about 12oz, and I may have added a bit more milk than expected.

BUT THAT’S GOOD. Because I don’t particularly like chais – too spicy.

Although now that I think of it, my problem might have been that I was leery of adding milk to tea (don’t know why, really).

But yum. 2tsp/12oz, 1tsp German rock sugar and a liberal splash of whole milk. I think I’ll add more tea next time, since I’d actually like it a bit spicier!

Dry leaf smells really warm. Lots of cinnamon and clove, ginger and cardamon… smells like a typical chai to me. Steeped, it’s got an yellowy-orange taste that sort of fades into darker orange towards the sides, surrounding my taste buds. It’s very warm. It smells fairly spicy, but doesn’t have any of the bite.

This just came in, along with my TARDIS mug (http://teatime—at—221b.tumblr.com/post/24204571395/i-have-a-tea-mug-now-tea-mugs-are-cool-you)

I’m so excited. I’m also such a fangirl.

Um. Right.

The directions on this tea say to steep at 212 for 5 minutes. I was a bit skeptical, as this is a green, so I did 180 for however long it took me to brush my teeth and let the dog in… so probably a minute or two? The next time I make this, I’m going to try it the way it says, because it’s weak. It’s not bad, just weak. The green tea is really nicely smooth with that little bit of sweetness towards the end of the sip / tip of the tongue that I really love, and the jasmine isn’t overpowering (which I’m usually wary of).

Does anyone know if this is the same Jasmine Green as I can order on Adagio? I don’t want to buy the sampler again, since it’s expensive and the tins are small and I’m not totally enamored with the other flavors… but I do like this one.

Update: Went to work, boss told me he had a cover for me (I’d been looking for one so I could hang out with my sister, but couldn’t find one) and that he didn’t need me, so I went home and made another cup of this.

Second steep: I steeped 4min/about 195

The jasmine comes out more predominately, and the green is a bit more vegetal this time. Also, I think it’s funny that I’m drinking 1 Up tea out of a TARDIS mug. (cough) Okay. I’m done now.

This is the second genmaicha I’ve tried, and this is the second time I’ve tried this one.

Every once in awhile, I get this strange craving for genmaicha, so I brew up a cup (in this case, a small pot), and then as I’m drinking it, I really don’t like it.

But I drink it anyway since it satisfies the craving… and it’s better than actual popcorn loaded with butter!

I’m on my second steeping of this one, and I think I prefer it to Teavana’s Gyokuro Genmaicha. The bancha green is smooth and there’s a bit of caramelly taste toward the beginning of the sip. The rice is toasty but it doesn’t overpower the tea, and it’s very earthy. Not necessarily earthy in the sense that a pu’erh is earthy, but maybe grounded or solid is the word I’m looking for.

I can’t see myself ordering this again, but I’ll get around to drinking genmaichas if people give them to me :)

First off, I should mention that I won this from Teavana in one of their giveaways on Twitter!

And right now I’m listening to the King’s Singers (a virtuoso group from England) singing about being trains. “Look at me, I’m a train, I’m a train, I’m a choo-choo train…” oh, it’s so great.

On to the tea! It’s definitely a strong Earl Grey. It’s much stronger than DAVIDs. That being said, it’s not bad. I certainly have to add milk and sugar to make it drinkable, since I don’t particularly like bergamot, but it’s a lot better than Teavana’s straight Earl Grey. I don’t think I’ll get it again, since Earl Greys aren’t really my thing, but it’s not something I just want to throw out.

Also My tea cupboard is getting a bit boring, but I don’t really have the money to go out and shop. Does anyone want to do a swap for a few samples? :)

I got this in a swap from a girl (not on here) a few months ago. It’s a good bai mudan. I was waiting until I finished the one I still had from Virtuous before trying this, and I have to say, I like this more. It looks like a higher quality tea, with more of the fuzzy buds in the dry mixture, and it tastes smooth and crisp. There are little notes of honey and cucumber in here. I’m a bit sad that the Tea Lulu website isn’t up yet so I can’t buy more!

DOOMSDAY – DOCTOR WHO SERIES

Ingredients: Jasmine-scented silver needles, rose petal, lavender, chamomile, spearmint.

Thanks to a lovely friend of mine, I’ve sort of become enamored with Doctor Who… It’s delightfully nerdy, and following Cara McGee’s lead with her Sherlock teas on Adagio, I am blending my own Who teas. This was my first, and may still be my favorite.

It’s a little bit floral, minty and cool, but still very very soothing. Doomsday is a terribly sad episode, and I basically just blended together some of my favorite flavors. This tea is wonderfully comforting.

Ah. I have to be up in approximately four hours to take my sister to school, and then to get myself off to the wonderful world of office supplies for a seven hour shift… And I can’t sleep. At all. Chamomile tea time?

This is chamomile. It’s not my favorite flavor, but it does the trick. Mixed in a bit of lavender and rose to give it a bit of depth.

Hm. Finishing up the sample they sent me. Eyeballed the infuser basket in my mini teapot.

Very sweet. Doesn’t taste as much like smoke as Adagio’s gunpowder does, but that’s okay with me. I love sweet greens. There’s a bit of the smoky aftertaste, and I love how it sort of follows the flavor instead of dominating it. Sad to see this one go.

Last year, I never went into the cafeteria… It was too loud and too noisy, and I never really liked the people I’d end up sitting with. Instead, I went to my locker in the back hallway of the English department with a friend or two or by myself, and I had a tea stash in my locker. This is one of the ones I drank a lot, and I had a cup of it today… flashback!

It’s a a light green, with little grassy notes. It’s not remarkable. It’s not anything that I haven’t tried before. It’s not as good as the China Green that I’ve been getting lately. All in all, meh. It’s one of the better teas offered at Starbucks, but I won’t buy it for home.

Almost four hours later and I’m still feeling sick from that tarragon/licorice tea earlier. Blech. So, I’m having a cup of this along with some fresh sourdough bread (SO GOOD.)

In other news, I’m so excited to be singing Mozart’s Coronation Mass in less than 20 hours! I still have to buy a dress to wear tonight (since, seeing as I graduated, I don’t have to wear that horrid concert dress anymore… So I’m going out to buy a pretty one!) It’s a beautiful piece, though. I cannot wait.

My Starbucks was all out of the China Green I usually get when I’m there, so I decided to try something new. I was under the impression that this was a mint green; but I found out when I tasted it that it definitely was not. First whiff: the sharp, cold smell of peppermint. My Starbucks has the full-leaf satchets, and the leaf pieces were small but uniformly cut, bright green and very fragrant.

Brew: mid-range, green/brown, very warm.

Taste: the peppermint hits first, and then there’s the licorice flavor from the tarragon, and then its followed by the coolness of the mint.

I really don’t like licorice – it just upsets m stomach. It was palatable when hot, but as it cooled, the licorice flavor became much stronger and I couldn’t finish the cup. I won’t be trying it again, I don’t think, but at least I tried it.

Working through a bunch of old samples. I got this in a sampler pack and was wary of trying it because I haven’t had a sencha that I liked before. I do like this one though. It’s very light with just a hint of the vegetal, not overwhelmingly spinach-like as with some of them I’ve tried. All in all, it’s decent. I preferred their Sencha Ashikubo, but this was a good pot of tea!

Yum. Upping the rating a bit now. I’m really loving the second steep of this: that’s when the smoke really comes out! Definitely a palate cleanser. It’s great at night, and fabulous iced with a teaspoon of lavender honey!

Right. So. I officially hate the “Undo” button on my tablet keyboard. Also, I REALLY miss having an actual keyboard. Something about typing essays on a piece of glass leaves a lot to be desired. I haven’t hit that button in almost the whole year I’ve owned this tablet, and I’ve hit it three times while typing this review.

So. I’m SO flat that Sherlock season 2 is currently airing in the US. I’m currently without a computer, stuck using this tablet, and while it’s a cool toy, it’s not really meant for typing essays on. It also means that I can’t watch anything stored on my computer that isn’t in in iTunes. I watched Reichenbach when it aired on PBS earlier this evening, and of COURSE my dad comes in at the MOST dramatic moment and talks / theorizes all the way through. Not that he’s ever seen the show before! Fortunately, it’s airing again right after… Sooo… Three hour Sherlock marathon. Right.

TEA.

I have to admit, I’m not actually drinking this tea. BUT. I have the components and I know the ratios so I’ve blended up an approximation of it, using Earl Grey Cream from DAVIDs instead of the Earl Grey Bravo. It really is good. It’s warm and full-bodied, nutty in just the right places and the caramel gives it a sort of sweetness that flows over it without overpowering it. Next time I order from Adagio, I’m definitely adding some of this.

God, Benedict Cumberbatch just looks like a little boy and I just want to hug him.

Malty and strong, without being overly astringent. This is my go-to when I want black tea iced. Drinking right now – three tsp/8oz, iced with a bit of whole milk. Super creamy, very rich. Definitely not a high quality tea, not something I’ll drink straight, but it’s good like this!

I swear, I didn’t think I would like this when I first bought it. Because really… Citrus, lavender and sage? But it’s actually really good. The citrus is a bright counterpoint to the more herby lavender and sage. I’m drinking it iced right now with some dehydrated raspberries, oranges and strawberries thrown in, and it’s just to die for.

I have to admit, one of the good things about being home is getting to raid my dad’s tea – my dad, who got tricked by the Teavana employees into buying lots of tea… XD
And, seeing as I can’t justify the price of this tea myself, I’m just drinking his! (he said I could. And he can drink whatever of mine he wants haha)

Smooth and a little flowery on a first steep, and then on a second steep, the butter comes out. It’s not my favorite. I don’t love it. But I will definitely drink it as long as its around!

Backlogging from a couple of days ago. I really don’t like being home. I have nothing to do so I drive around for hours and go to different coffee shops. Sometimes I’ll hit up the Starbucks in my town, drive for a couple hours, finish my drink, and stop at another one three towns over. I’m bored. I’m so, so bored.

But. Saw someone drank this on here, decided to try it.

Ick. Maybe I need to try it again, but I couldn’t handle this. It was like a wash of sweet sugar syrup at first, followed by the matcha – all vegetal and seaweed-like. I could see drinking the matcha on its own, I could see drinking the frappuccino on its own, but together… Just a sickly sweet, syrupy mess.

Backlog from earlier today/yesterday – I’ve drank it a lot lately. I spent this afternoon driving around the countryside, around Concord and Lexington – they’re full of old fields and historical markers blocking off stone-walked pastures. I haven’t beet here in so long – used to go walk around the Old North Bridge all the time as a kid, but I never cared about the history then. (The first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired across the bridge.) I’m not huge on history, but it’s beautiful country – all green and clean-scented, narrow roads and old wooden fences and weathered houses sitting on hills overlooking rolling fields bounded by stone walls.

Tomorrow I’m going to go walk around, I think. I have four months off. Four months. And work is so tight on payroll that I’m hardly likely to get hours this summer. But. I have an empty sourcebook and a play to write. Although today I read about 60pg of the novel, pulled about four pages of quotes, and then just wrote for ten pages. I needed to. I’ve just been haunted by this image, this little scene that showed up in my head a couple days ago and won’t go away. So of course I write three sentences of that scene and go into the backstory forever. I haven’t been able to get rid of that moment. I haven’t been able to forget.

Sorry.

Why do you read these? I just ramble. On to the tea.

I’ve had this a few time sover the past few days. The first time I tried it, last year or something, I didn’t understand about green teas and oversleeping and all. So obviously I didn’t like it much, but I do now. Not sure exactly on the temp/time details – just steeped the cup at Starbucks until it tasted good, and then pulled out the pyramid bag. Maybe 2 minutes or so?

It’s light and clean and grassy. I think I definitely have a preference floor Chinese greens, because even when they’re vegetal like this, they don’t seem to venture into spinich/seaweed territory, like some of the Japanese ones do. Also, it’s a lot cheaper ($2.30) for a grande versus $4something for a latte… Although I do like lattes, and followed this with a caramel macchiato… It was a marathon writing session.

So now that I’ve talked for about a sentence about the tea, and six paragraphs about other stuff, feel free to unfollow me :)

Received this in sample form from Adagio. Didn’t love it the first time I tried it – that was hot, steeped 9+ minutes because I forgot about it… This, I’ve iced with a bit of sugar and added a splash of seltzer for a little fizz. It’s good. Not something I want to buy – the hibiscus is a bit too overwhelming, and I’ve tried better teas which are similar – the Turkish Apple Vanilla from Fusion Tea Room comes to mind. But you know, it’s good. I’ll drink the tea, but I won’t order more.

Hum. I’m perplexed by this tea. I used to like Rooibos a lot, especially the Teavana blends, but now finding that I really don’t care for it. Still, I don’t know if it was all the fruit in the Teavana blends that made me like it, so I’m trying other blends – I don’t want to write off a whole category just yet. Anyway, I really like coconut, and mint, and I’ve never tried a chocolate tea before. This one is okay.

I smell the chocolate primarily, followed by the coconut. When I taste it, the chocolate rolls over my tongue and then there’s an aftertaste of mint. I don’t taste too much of the coconut, but there’s an oddly “clear” sort of taste as well that I’ve identified as rooibos. I really don’t know how to describe it, only that it’s cool and clean. I don’t think it’s the mint though, since it follows after the mint. I guess m main problem with this tea is that instead of tasting “Rooibos Cocomint,” I literally taste “Cocoa, Mint, Rooibos”

I know I’ve reviewed this before, but I just really really love it. I know a lot f people here think that Teavana is the spawn of the devil, but I just think you need to approach it a certain way and take it for what it is. I had a lovely conversation with a worker there the other day, despite the store being super busy, and sure, he showed me products, but he knew I was only looking and didn’t push too hard.

I love this tea. I really do. It’s warm and sweet and nutty and buttery all in one. I love Dragonwells in general, I’m finding, but I’ve never found one as good as this, especially on the second steep – its like drinking liquid butter (but not in a gross way).

This s the first pot I tried while I was there. I was looking for a lighter, sort of malty black tea to accompany my Dostoevsky, and not having tried any of Tealuxe’s teas before, I took a guess on this one.

It wasn’t bad, per se, but I don’t think it was prepared properly. It was far too astringent for me, and I think that was due either to a longer steep time than necessary or too many leaves in the pot. They provided me with a timer, but I didn’t ask how long it steeped for, and I neglected to taste the tea as it was brewing. I also didn’t see the milk counter until it was too late.

Not to say this is a bad tea, just a bit too astringent for my taste. I may try it again in the future, but I think for now I’m going to explore some of their other offerings!

Starting off, sorry for the huge mass of backlogs coming up. I’m currently without a computer – or, I have a computer, but I have no idea where the charger is, seeing as I can’t find it anywhere in the bags and boxes currently sitting out in the garage. If this is what I bring home from college, I’m a bit frightened for when I ACTUALLY move into a house or something. All the stuff!

So anyway, I’ve been sitting on my copy of The Idiot for awhile now, and I really have to start reading it, because I’m coauthoring a stage adaptation of it, and, well, there’s a lot of work to be done. I wasn’t getting anything done at home, so I took a trip into Harvard Square – been meaning to give Tealuxe a try for awhile now.

Anyway. On to the tea. This was actually the second pot I had, since I was unsatisfied with the first (and because the pots are tiny). I really like how it’s just a little more grassy than some of the other Dragonwells I’ve had, while still retaining the sweetness. I wanted to ask for more water to try a second steep, but I didn’t see a bathroom anywhere…so maybe next time :)