Michelle

Eh. It’s decent. Vaguely fruity-flavored tea.

I don’t have any milk so it’s giving me an excuse to sipdown my fruity Adagios.

No notes yet.

I think I’ve figured out how to enjoy my Almond Happiness.

This morning I gave it one last ditch effort. 12oz travel mug, 1.5tsp Almond Happiness by 52 teas and 1 tsp Vanilla Cream by NMTC.

The Vanilla Cream had been one-note and bland, and the Almond Happiness was all-around disappointing, so I figured that I’d at least have a bit of a creamy vanilla tea, if nothing more.

Well, those two teas plus a bit of agave and half-and-half make a nice chocolatey, almondy brew, with a hint of vanilla and coconut. I don’t love either tea on their own, but I’m pretty happy with the two of them together!

Meh.

This was my first 52 Teas order. Everything I’ve heard about Frank’s blends has been wonderful. I was excited to try this one because I love all of the ingredients in it.

But it was just mediocre. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. It’s fairly flavorless, and the black tea is a bit bitter. I’ve tried 1-2 tsp at 180 and 212 degree water, with milk and agave and without. Perhaps it’s just not for me?

Saturday Sample Sipdown!

I’ve had this one since I got it in the Connoisseur’s Collection last spring. It’s okay. I don’t know if I’m not a big Darj fan or if I’ve just never had a good one. I definitely plan on ordering a sweep of estates this spring when they come out.

My friend and I went to Dallywater’s for lunch today. If you’re in the Syracuse/Rochester area, you need to take a trip down here. It’s the most adorable little teahouse/cafe. The food is incredible and there are a bunch of really delicious smelling teas.

I know it’s after Christmas, but this tea smelled especially appealing to me today. Black tea, with what tasted like a mixture of orange, cinnamon and nutmeg. It was delicious with milk and sugar.

Smells more strawberry than it tastes. Very broken. Still, sencha is silky smooth and sweet, and the strawberry provides a nice compliment to the “buttergrass” flavor. Pale yellowgreen liquor.

Brought this one to my Shakespearean Acting class today. We’re all sitting at the table, and my professor pauses in his lecture, looks at me and goes “Is that wine?”

The class turns to stare at me… I raise my eyebrows at my professor like “Come on. Please.” and he goes “Oh no, this is you, that’s tea.”

“I have wine-flavored tea,” I say. “Oolong Chardonnay’s my jam!”

It’s his turn to roll his eyes at me. “I have wine flavored… wine,” he says.

“What are those… things… floating in your drink?” one of the other kids asks.

“Leaves!”

“What, you mean, like, tea leaves?”

“Yup!”

“Woahhhhh.”

“If any of you ever want tea… Michelle can hook you up,” says my professor.

#shakespearestories

Love this tea, love it. Creamy and sweet and oolongy goodness. Ah. So good. Doesn’t get bitter either!

This came as a gift from Azzrian, I’m reasonably certain! (I hope?)

Anyway, in my sample sipdown, I tossed this into my pot. The peach is beautifully sweet, and there’s also a nice hint of the spice – not overwhelming, but a good base for it.

Subsequent steeps lose the peachy flavor, but I’ve had three steeps and the oolong is nice and roasty! Thanks Azz!

This is the third tea I ordered from NMTC last week – I was on such a vanilla/cream kick. Still looking for a good one. Right now the Copley Square Vanilla from Tealuxe and the Black Jasmine Cream from NMTC are vying to be my favorites.

Today was not a good day – one of those days where little things just add up until it seems like the universe is conspiring against you. I was locked out of my room all day, and when I finally got back in around 6, I wanted a creamy sweet tea.

This was, sadly, a bit disappointing. Brewed according to the parameters on the website (1tsp/cup, 4min at 212), the black tea was a bit bitter. Fine, I expected to add milk and agave. So I did, and it was okay, but a bit one-note, and not as heavy as I had wanted it to be.

Ah well. I’ll probably send some of it out as gifts and drink the rest.

Song of the night – The Stowaway by Murray Gold… on repeat!

No notes yet.

Another wonderful tea from TassieTeaGirl!

I love how I can taste the raspberry here first and foremost… and not the hibiscus! There’s a bit of bite from that, but it really isn’t the primary flavor. The lime is super interesting too. I’m drinking this hot, and it’s a little odd – I think it needs to be cold-brewed, so I’ve started a pitcher. But it’s a good berry blend that isn’t overwhelmed by hibiscus. What a thought!

Interesting! There’s a cool fruity smell in this, and I love the dried jasmine flowers.

The jasmine itself is strong, but it mixes well with the cream, which gives it a little bit of “juiciness” back and keeps it from being too perfumey. I missed the note that it’s a black/green blend, so I used boiling water and it’s a bit harsher than I would like, but I’ll have to try it with a lower temp. I really like it so far though, and I’m impressed with NMTC.

I like this one! My order from NMTC came in today – three cream teas. This one, their Vanilla Cream, and a sample of their Black Jasmine Cream. That one interests me the most, but the EGC just smelled so good!

Nice black base, not astringent. A bit of agave, a bit of milk. Not quite enough bergamot for my taste, but it’s still good. Ended up adding /too/ much agave, made it too sweet, but still finished the pot. I don’t regret buying 2oz of this!

This came in my sample box from Tassie Tea Girl!

Smooth buttery sencha, with hints of rose and cornflower. It’s delicate and light but smooth, and the additions don’t overpower the tea. Lovely!

Eh. This is decent. I wanted a morning tea, and when I think “morning tea,” it’s not a straight black. I want something with a little flavor. Best with sweetener (I use agave) and a little milk.

I’m finally getting around to opening up this sample so graciously provided by Angel at Teavivre.

It’s really cold outside, and I was looking for a tea that would be clean and clear and very light. I’ve had this one for awhile, so I decided to try it.

Upon opening the package, the leaves are very thin, long and twisted. They have a strong dark green scent, like that of spinach or kale, and they’re the dark grey-green of kale as well.

I put ~2tsp into my 20oz Amsterdam pot, steeped at 180 for 2 minutes.

The liquor is transparent. It looks like nothing more than water. The smell is similar to the kale smell of the leaves, but it is very faint.

The flavor, however, isn’t. It’s not a strong, punch-you-in-the-face kind of flavor, but this definitely isn’t water I’m drinking. It has that sweet grassy sort of taste I like in green teas, with a little bit of natural vegetal sweetness that sparkles towards the end of the sip. It’s a little bit like seaweed, to be honest.

I wanted an Earl Grey Cream tea.
I have no Earl Grey Cream tea.

I was searching through my stash for something that would get that rich, heavy sweetness across, and I stumbled upon the Copley Square Vanilla by Tealuxe. “I can make an EGC,” I thought to myself. “Too bad I don’t have any EG.”

I did have one EG – the Lavender Earl Grey by Epi Tea.

I figured I would try it. Couldn’t hurt. So I steeped 1 heaping tsp of the Vanilla with 1 sachet of the EG for ~3 min.

Meh. It’s not that rich creamy taste I wanted. I got a bit of bitterness, which could have been from oversteeping – I didn’t time at all – but there was also an uncomfortable dryness that I think was the lavender. It took away from the richness of the vanilla I wanted.

Ah well. Off to the tea shop…?

This came as a gift from Terri HarpLady – thanks!

I’ve had these sachets for awhile, but I haven’t been the biggest fan of RoT in the past. Today I was feeling lazy and cold, though. And I’m in the middle of cataloguing my teas (only done blacks and greens and I’m already at 106… yeesh), so old samples have gotten stirred up. GOOD.

I tossed two satchets into my 20oz pot. It actually smells delicious – really beautifully cherry sweet, without that sharp sort of hibiscus-cough medicine flavor it could have. The taste is a bit bland, but I attribute that to it sitting in my drawer for a couple of months.

It’s good. I liked it a lot more than I expected to. Thanks!

My stomach feels so much better after drinking this. Sadly, I now feel like I want to go to sleep. Mate time!

The Bai Mu Dan is strong with this one.

//bad Star Wars reference.//

I’m not a big Bai Mu Dan fan. Too earthy, too woodsy. The blueberry in the smell is beautiful, but it’s overpowered in the cup.

It’s okay. It came as a gift from my friend. I’m open to swapping.

Edit: Second steep better. Not as fuzzy. More blueberry.

Elizabeth brought me some of this back from NYC!

Just used it to make honey crinkle cookies- so good. Also a hit at the last tea party, especially with milk and, well, honey.

(iPod note, so super short)

Prebagged impulse by at the David’s store.

Hum.

Interesting. Strong smell of coffee and chocolate. Brew is a little bit weak but I’ve been finding that David’s are better with more tea, so that might have something to do with it.

I don’t dislike it, but it’s not a huge favorite.

Ooh, I love this one. One smell and I was entranced. I SO wish I’d bought more than an ounce of this. At this rate it’ll be gone tomorrow.

Incredibly rich, pure vanilla smell comes through in the dry leaf. The orchid is predominant in the first steep, and it’s more of a vanilla-smelling oolong, but on later steeps the floral dryness backs off and there’s more of that sweet, sweet vanilla. Delicious. Definitely a new must-have.