MissLena12

I had a smooth, buttery, citrusy cup of this earlier today, and tonight I am having another cup. It’s a bit more citrus and not as smooth, but still rather good. I am close to sipping this down :( I will possibly have to order a bit more of this, it’s a very good cheer up cup with its bright flavor and buttery tieguanyin in there. See previous notes :)

Having a cup of this this morning, I’m hoping that if I finish off this and my Snow Fairy, I will be out of samples and able to justify ordering 3 more try me packs, and maybe a mystery box….hehehe. Anyways, this is tasting mostly green tea to me today, with a small hint of mint and a smaller bit of jasmine. Not as good as when I first tried it, I don’t think. It’s a nice mild cup, but I don’t think I will keep this one stocked in my cupboard. Good for a zen like day though, which unfortunately will not be today, with homework and the superbowl. See previous notes on this tea :)

This tea is delicious in a travel mug! Laoshan Black, you are amazing. This is chocolatey, spicy, and decadent. I have been working on a lab for approx. 3 hrs now and this has been a wonderful companion to keep me from going crazy. I think I will have to order another few oz of this tea….I can see myself drinking this quite often, especially since its robust enough to handle my Timolino! See previous notes on this awesome tea!

Today I once again made this just with hot water and sugar, this is becoming my preferred way to have this matcha mostly because when I make it with milk, it sometimes bothers my stomach (lactose issues, not the matcha lol) and with just hot water, this tastes so fresh and yummy!

And I finally decided on my matcha order with my gift cert! I got 30 g robust of caramel, cheesecake, french vanilla, and black cherry!! So excited for them to arrive :D Thanks to Sil and ashmanra for the flavor suggestions!

I was looking through my mounds of tea tonight, and my boyfriend asked if any more was on its way. I told him no, there actually aren’t any orders in transit, and he was like “we should mark this day!” Haha, so I think I will have to place an order either tomorrow or this weekend :P

Anyways, so looking through my tea tonight, I was indecisive. This was the blend that caught my eye, although I have been hoarding it ever since it went out of stock on Verdant’s site. But man, tonight this is rather excellent! This smells like jasmine white tea and blueberries to me tonight! And it tastes very good, a lot more going on I think than I remember it being the first time. Either the elderberries or juniper are making this taste very berry-like, with the Yabao a nice balance underneath with its tree-ness and maple sugar flavor. However, there’s also a nice creamy aftertaste going on, and the jasmine is also mixed in there. I am really enjoying this tonight! I have enough left in my bag for one more cup, although it will be a measly one as I don’t think there’s quite 2 tsps in there. I will have to hoard it some more, as this is really enjoyable and I don’t like sipping down really awesome teas! See previous notes on this one as well :)

ETA – What is this!! There’s some crazy kind of creamy sweetness in the second steeping! Like sugar and good things! Maybe the vanilla is coming out a little more? Or the Yabao is mixing with something to make some AWESOME MAPLE SUGAR GOODNESS!! Yum! This is great, I want to drink this all night haha, caffeine may cut my steepings short though.

So this week has been rather terrible so far. Busy, frustrating labs, job applications, homework..just busy like crazy. I am feeling burnt out and hoping I do not get sick from stress/overtiredness. Anyways, I digress.

This tea is one that I just felt like having tonight, maybe because I haven’t in a while, and it makes me feel warm and…loved? Haha, it reminds me of romance and far away places..sigh. Anyways, this was a lovely fruity cuppa to help me wind down for bed, not that I needed much help, I’m very tired. And I steeped it almost perfectly tonight, not sure if it was 4 minutes or 5, but it was just right. See previous notes on this tea :)

Mini sipdown, as this is another tea I ordered an oz of that just came in my order yesterday, meh, it still counts! I’m making this gongfu in my glass teapot as there are soo many bits at the bottom of the bag I think short steeps will be tastier. This still smells amazingly fragrant. I am so happy my new bag of this came, I don’t want to run short of this tea! Although I saw it is low stock on Verdant’s site :( hoping David comes out with another one in the spring! See previous notes on this beauty of a tea.

Mwahaha so as my new 2 oz of this showed up yesterday, I can finally stop hoarding my last 2 cups of this and finish it off! I made this in my timolino today and didn’t let it cool off, so I slightly fried my mouth on it first sip haha. I think I like this with honey the best, and i didn’t put any in today, so it’s still delicious but missing that honey to make it epic. But still my favorite, and it is making me warm today. So only 1 cup left in the bag, then sipdown! (although it doesn’t really count since I have another 2 oz lol.

My Verdant order came! Woot woot! Only a week late haha, silly Canada Post, I’m very pleased it came today, as I had an email all typed up to send out to find out the status of this glorious package. But it is here! And my car started so I was able to go get it! Happiness :)

So as it’s sooo cold here and I will be having another late night, this was the tea I needed to have first, without a second thought. I brewed it up for 4 minutes with boiling water. The dry smell is nice and gingery and CLOVES. Yumm. Very chai smelling.

The wet smell – oh my goodness. I thought my other chai tea smelled like ginger snaps. THIS smells like ginger snaps! SOOO YUMMMYYYY. AND! I can actually smell that Laoshan Black in there! Yes, I haven’t had it in ages, but that distinctive rich chocolate scent is mingling with the ginger snappiness. This smells heavenly!

THIS, my friends, is a CHAI. YES. This is a VERY GOOD CHAI. It is spicy, it is warming, and that awesome Laoshan Black makes it rich, decadent, chocolatey underneath the spices. This is excellent. Yet another Verdant win. I’m so happy I decided to get an oz right off the bat of this :D oh, and let me add, this excellent taste is without anything added. No milk, no honey, and it’s done western style. I can’t imagine the amazingness if this is done on the stove. Mmmmm I might add some honey to the end of this cup to see what happens, but this can definitely hold it’s own.

Overall, a delicious spicy blend of decadence and warmth. How David blends these, I will never know.

ETA: As this cools, it tastes more ginger snap like, and the Laoshan Black continues to show itself and man oh man, this is excellent. I wonder if it holds up to resteeping..

ETA again: yes, you definitely can get another steeping out of this, and it is still going strong! Even a bit spicier I think! Excellent tea :)

With wind chill, it’s – 43 C here today. Not a day I wanted to even step outside, let alone walk 10 mins to the train for class! So I was between making this and coco chai, but the spicy ginger won out. I added some honey and am drinking this and sneezing in class, i saw a giant black pepper ball when I steeped it lol. This hopefully will keep me a bit warm, i dont get to go home until dinnertime! A long, cold day ahead..hopefully I don’t get frostbite at any point. See previous notes on this tea, thank goodness for hot tea!

Ginger and oranges, and a bit of caffeine :) got most of my work done! This was nice and warming, and I’ve decided I need more orange teas, they are cheery! See previous notes :)

Backlog – this is totally becoming my new morning tea. It’s very nice and fruity, and it’s starting to taste yummier in my travel mug. Maybe because it’s a new travel mug hehe. Anyways, this kept me going through the day. See previous notes :)

Ahh I have had a rather busy day :/ having a yummy cup of this tonight as I need to stay up and get lots of homework done and I need to NOT FALL ASLEEP. And it’s also like -25 C here with windchill, brrr…probably will make some sort of chai or ginger tea soon to warm up as well. Anyways, this is hitting the spot wonderfully, 3 minutes is perfect for steeping for me with this one! See previous notes on this tea :)

Having trouble sleeping tonight, too much on my mind and probably too much caffeine earlier. So I am waiting for this to cool then going to hopefully crash, I need to sleep so I’m not tired for class tomorrow! So hopefully good night steepster! Oh, and see previous notes on this tea!

I’m having a frustrating day due to school, so I needed a break to destress. So I took out my yixing for a well needed session. This tea is my favorite dark oolong. It tastes like honey, citrus, flowers, and everything good. It’s helping to calm me down. I love tea. See previous notes on this excellent tea.

Having this with hot water and sugar this morning! I also had in the evening last night, forgot to log it. This is so good, and I’m very excited, I got a bunch of gift credit for Red Leaf’s matcha referral program, so now I have to decide on at least 4 new flavors!! Any suggestions? I have been looking on Steepster and have an idea of the ones I will pick, but feedback is appreciated!

I’m watching Ted with the boyfriend, so I wanted a fun, sweet tea, as the movie is pretty funny :) this fits the bill. See previous notes on this tea :)

I have been craving black teas lately O.o this is a rather different occurrence for me, considering I rarely drink them. I also do not have a large selection of them, so it is somewhat difficult to satisfy the craving! Haha, so I made a cup of this as my morning cuppa. I steeped for 4 minutes this time, and hmm I prefer 3 minutes for a steeping time, it brought out a bit more of the creamy flavor. I think I will add a bit of milk to this cup though, if I remember before I drink it all! See previous notes on this creamy tea :)

ETA: As soon as I typed I should add milk before I forget, I went and added some milk. The creaminess was brought out, but it still seemed to need something for the flavors, so I added a tiny bit of sugar. This helped the bergamot and the creaminess popped! This is pretty darn delicious! I might try steeping for 5 minutes next time if I’m adding milk though, as it is a little bit weaker just from diluting. But this is yum!

Ahhh I just had to have this creamy wonder of a tea today. The weather is in another weird funk, up to +1 today and it was -12 C or lower all week and windy and snowing. Yeah, now bright sunshine and warm. So this called for a spring tea!

I don’t drink this tea enough. I really want to try the fall version of Verdant’s tieguanyin soon! This is pure, creamy, delicious light greens. Perfection. Buttery. There’s some later sweetness in the sip, definitely a bit of orchid. I’m brewing this in my gong fu glass pot, and it definitely is making a difference than using the brew basket. Space for the leaves to expand! Ahh, I will savor this for a while before dinner. Oh, and I did a quick rinse as well. Anyways, please see previous notes on this lovely tea :)

This tea! I bought it because I LOVE Verdant’s Mi Lan Dancong oolong, and wanted to see what it would taste like in a black tea. I decided to brew it in my gongfu teapot, and have no idea how much leaf I used, I have only a 7 g sample, so I used about half the bag for this brewing.

I did 2 rinses, then steeped for about 4 seconds ish. Oh, and this has that amazing honey smell of the Mi Lan oolong which I LOVE! Mmm this makes me want to have a Yixing session after this, I haven’t in quite some time :( anyways, onto the taste!

The first steeping tastes like pure honey! Even more than the oolong did I think! The dancong taste is still there, but SMOTHERED in honey! I love this! Oh, and I thought this would brew up a darker color, it’s a lovely golden color. Wasn’t expecting that!

Second steep – yes, more honey, not quite as potent, but as I was sipping and reading the discussion boards, I randomly got some of the avocado!!! YES! It’s in the aftertaste, and not overly intense, it’s more almost a textural thing? Anyways, it’s good! Not a whole lot of chocolate yet, still tastes mostly like a bit stronger oolong to me. Bah, my untrained palate :P

I mixed a bit of the second and third steeps before I will have just the third steep, yes, there it is, the black tea taste. It was a little while coming, but now I can taste a bit of that chocolate malt, not overpowering, but just a nice hint of it to remind me this is not an oolong. And the honey is still there. YES!

This is probably my favorite black tea from Verdant so far. I have only tried this and Laoshan Black, but I think I currently prefer this one, it’s more honey and not as chocolatey (maybe I’m crazy for not liking too much chocolate lol). This is really, really good.

Oh, and on a sad, and angering note, I think Canada Post lost my Verdant order. Not impressed. It’s almost a week late, if it’s not here by tomorrow, I will have to call them and figure out what to do..not looking forward to that.

First tea in my new timolino! It still doesn’t taste as good as when in a cup, but it’s maybe not as bland, and there’s no weird smell of previous tea emanating from the rubber on the lid. And the blue color of my new tim makes me happy :). Anyways, back to tea, i love this in the morning, and this probably will be a repurchase, if my bf ever lets me go into davidstea again :p he said if I drink all my teas, i can get more :( but i do have a red leaf gift cert that I will have to use up….. Anyways, sorry for the small tangent, see previous notes on this tea :)

I have been wanting to try this tea for AGES, aka since it came out. Finally, I picked up a bit today without the bf being there to say noo it’s too coconut, it smells weird, you don’t need another herbal tea..mwahaha.

The dry smell is minty and creamy, but there is also apple in it, which surprised me the first time I smelled it because I hadn’t looked at the ingredients thoroughly. Steeped, I get mainly mint, with a hint of creaminess.

Now for the taste, pow!! If mint shortbread exists, this tastes like it! Haha, it has the buttery coconut flavor melded quite nicely with the peppermint. I love mint and coconut, so win-win. The apple is not really there to me, maybe it’s adding a small amount of a punch to the middle of the taste? Meh, this is primarily a yummy coconutty cookie of some sort. With mint. Huzzah!

Overall, this is another one of those very sweet teas that I will drink in moderation. However, it is quite tasty, and it will hit the spot when I am craving something sweet before bed. In fact, it will probably battle with Jessie’s tea to be my coconut tea of choice now! Tea battle commence!(another night though, I have my sweet fill for now)

Yay for tea! This is a backlog from earlier today – I took this tea on my way to my interview 2 hrs away, caught a ride with my mom at least, and after we went to DAVIDsTEA and I got her to get some of this awesome tea! I put a lot of honey in it today for my nerves though, so not a whole lot of ginger. Also suffered a bit from travel mug syndrome, but I got a NEW Timolino today so hopefully it will taste more like tea and not like old icky thermos. Yay!

So I went to my local DAVIDsTEA store….AGAIN….haha, I took my mom and she picked up 3 teas, and I decided to get a bit too (obviously! :D ). So this is my first purchase of a black tea from DAVIDsTEA I think! I did have this particular tea once at my aunt’s, but as I didn’t know her steeping parameters I didn’t review it. I didn’t look up any tips on how to brew on here, so I just did 3 mins with boiling water.

Oh, and the dry smell is delicious!! Creamy and bergamoty and yummmmmyy. I haven’t drank that many Earl Greys to be honest, and even fewer Earl Grey creams, but this one smells quite delicious. The steeped smell is nice and creamy as well, with a light touch of the bergamot. Also, love the pretty little flowers in this :)

So for taste, this is pretty decent, considering I don’t have a whole lot to compare it to. It’s very creamy and quite light for a black tea, although the aftertaste has a predominantly black tea taste with it, a wee bit bitter maybe. The bergamot is also not very strong, at least, I remember tasting it a lot more in other EGs. But for a cream, this is rather yummy! I would like to try a splash of milk next time I brew this, just to see what it does to the creaminess!

Overall, I’m so far pleased with my impulse black tea purchase. It’s a nice change to have a different base on a flavored tea, even though I probably shouldn’t be having this this late in the evening haha. But quite creamy and good! I may experiment with steep times to see which ones make the flavors pop. Oh, I also think I like EG creams a bit more than EG themselves, even though I have barely any experience with both, but that could be because I lovee vanilla, and cream = vanilla. :D