momo

This has to be the weakest blooming tea I’ve ever had, on multiple levels.

It has less flavor than the jasmine green ones I have from Teavivre. They make me feel like this is a tea I can drink and not just look at. You’d think with adding pineapple flavoring, there might be something here.

And the second weak note, this isn’t even a flowering tea I want to look at. It was very unimpressive. And this comes from someone who absolutely loves lilies, that’s the reason I picked this up (beyond that it was on sale).

I steeped it for far longer than they suggest. It’s faintly pineapple, but that’s it. Four different flowers in here, including jasmine, and I got nothing.

I can’t believe they sell you 7 of these for $18 normally. Good god.

Are you only supposed to use 8 oz of water for theirs for some reason? I have no idea since not a single blooming tea is on the website anymore. The back of the package indicates that…what a waste.

Resteeped with just 8 oz of water it isn’t any better.
Well at least they have lilies.

No just kidding this is a waste of lilies >:[

I actually got distracted drinking this because someone was interested in buying my Keurig brewer from me. I listed it last night around 9 and had it gone at 7 tonight. Only got $90 with all the cups I had but whatever, COUNTER SPACE!!!!

Even now when it’s cold, it smells like cinnamon raisin bagels in the cup. I don’t want to dump it just because of that.

This is really cinnamony, that’s what I taste overall. There’s a hint of sweetness that I suppose is raisin, not strongly, and it keeps the cinnamon from being too spicy.

Actually I’m still drinking it even though it’s cold. I can taste the toast, cold toast might be weird but it’s working for me! And it’s pretty buttery too.

Next time I won’t get distracted. I think I’m done selling stuff for the time being.

I think I converted a Facebook friend to a tea drinker last night LOL

Thank you for this tea, Jackie T! I think I should have stuck with my initial thought to steep it for 3 minutes because 3 1/2 was a bit astringent.

This is definitely banana, not really cakey at all but still definitely feels like a caffeinated kick. It does have yerba mate in there too so that’ll help.

The banana flavor is pretty subtle, and a little sweet. I left a bit in my cup and now it’s cooled off. At first it diddn’t taste like banana at all but it’s very sweet in the aftertaste, and almost tastes more like pancakes this way.

I meant to take this one with me to Tennessee for Christmas but I completely forgot it. I’ve been thinking about it since then especially because I thought maybe there might be coconut milk nog still at the grocery store…nope :(

The first steep kind of got ruined by me eating super spicy salsa right before making this tea but I couldn’t resist. I added agave to this cup and it became really vanilla tasting.

So I had to make a second steep! But I don’t think it worked at all because it tastes like hot water. Well crap. I’m sorry for not doing you justice today, Creamy Eggnog.

First tea of 2013…woooo.

I’m still afraid of being food poisoned, I can’t tell what’s due to last night’s champagne or what could be a result of the bad fajitas so I am erring on the side of caution and not drinking any caffeine.

Spearmint seemed like the obvious herbal to go to. Hasn’t really helped but it’s something that isn’t gatorade.

Also I diluted a little bit and offered it up to Sebastian. He didn’t drink any at first but I did get a drop on his beak, which he ended up tasting. His reaction to that was to close his eyes and make sure he got all of it in his little beak, so I offered it to him again and he drank a bit himself then. I don’t think I have many good bird-friendly herbals but hey, if he likes spearmint then we’re set.

My precioussssss.

We decided we’d try a new-to-us place for lunch today, and got fajitas there. I did not realize until I was nearly done eating that some of my chicken was massively undercooked. They comped it and apologized profusely but my stomach really, really hurts. So if this doesn’t take care of it, I’m going to cry because we have my favorite “champagne” for tonight and I got the awesome avocado kale salad Whole Foods has and I WANT TO EAT IT.

Well if there was any further sign that I should try eating mostly ovo-vegetarian like I was thinking about in the new year, being served undercooked chicken did it for me. BLEH.

This one will always and forever be my favorite flavor. I considered getting the new earth one but when watermelon and blueberry are involved I really can’t change.

I wish they had this one on tap at my Whole Foods but then I’d probably drink the entire growler in a day.

Tried once more, just not a fan of this one.

Thanks for the sample, Azzrian! Forgot that before.

I think I am just weird about plum flavors. Though I believe I steeped this for less time today, so I am actually kind of getting black currant too, but the plum and grape is not suitable for my tastes.

Starting to like this a bit better, though for some reason it’s almost too sweet to me. And I love love love marshmallows so that’s kind of silly.

I’m not sure what to continue to adjust to get it to taste better to me. At 3 1/2 min, that melted down the marshmallows entirely so it did taste more of marshmallow, but I wasn’t really getting caramel and that almost creme brûlée flavor from last time. I like 200 instead of boiling water for sure for the tea itself. Just not sure if I should go to 4 minutes or what.

My electric kettle is still set up next to my bed from the shu nuggets the other day. I almost don’t want to move it to the kitchen because Sebastian loves the thing. When the kettle starts to make that “whoooooosh” kind of noise, he starts chirping. Every time. Sorry, Sebastian, you can’t have chocolate or caffeine.

I started on my gingerbread house (yeah I know) and so this is my cup of tea while it dries, as I get together all my Black Bear Lab orders from the past couple of days (almost $40! yay)

So this is from last year’s 12 teas of Christmas and it’s still pretty cashew and caramel tasting, not so much chocolate. I possibly should have added a bit more tea to it, but I’m quite impressed with the flavor anyway since it hasn’t been kept in the best container.

It’s still pretty good but it also wasn’t really a favorite to begin with. I’ll finish everything I have of it though!

Awww yiss, sipdown!

Yesterday I drank far less tea than I thought I would. My friend came over to my boyfriend’s cause her car’s sunroof has a leaky spot and it ended up taking way longer because she partially opened it and it would not close again. In the midst of all this, I have my laptop off the charger and at 28% battery I decide it’s time to recharge…but the wires inside have completely snapped off so there’s no power. COOL.

Thankfully my mom flat out bought the new one because she had $25 in gift certificates to Best Buy, but buying a new charger for a Macbook is a scam. The thing only lasted 16 1/2 months. And I am still kind of irritated even today because that came out of NOWHERE.

I did have a bubble tea so that’s something.

Since I just had this earlier this week, I have nothing remarkable to add. I believe this ended up with closer to 2 tsp of tea than 1 1/2 for 12 oz, so it’s a bit more astringent, but totally drinkable still without adding milk.

Probably wouldn’t buy it in the future, but it’s not a bad choice for an English Breakfast.

Teaopia Strawberry Fields + Whispering Pines Coconut White

I only had 1 tsp of the Teaopia tea, and 8 oz requires 1.5 tsp…and I was using a 12 oz perfect tea mug. What’s close to the top of this shoebox that I can add? Coconut!

I love coconut and strawberry together. I was worried this coconut tea might be too old to really be really coconutty because I completely forgot about it (this is the first time I’m drinking it) but it’s very balanced with the strawberry flavor.

It’s very sweet, almost like frosting. And I finished a sample of a tea!!!! Amazing.

I can’t believe I’ve just been hoarding this one. I’ve set up my kettle and gaiwan on my nightstand because today has been OBNOXIOUS. It took me over 2 1/2 hours to get home because of a major accident. I got off the interstate about 15 miles from the accident, because the sign back there was mentioning the accident I figured get out quick. So this US highway parallels the interstate…but of course, halfway there everyone else has found out the secret and so the 45mph highway crawled to 20-25mph. And then I got home and some jerk had their U-haul truck completely blocking 5 parking spaces and the stupid office wouldn’t help me out and ask this jerk to move it out of the way. The entire time I was getting my stuff to my apartment, nobody was putting stuff in the truck. As I’m bringing the last of my stuff in, someone comes and shuts the back. SERIOUSLY??? Good riddance.

So I didn’t feel like tea. I felt like taking a nap. And now it is finally tea time. Sebastian agrees, as the water started bubbling, he started chirping and now he’s sitting on one foot, which I’ve never seen him do at home before (he does it while at my parents’ house constantly for some reason though).

I did the usual two rinses on this one…I also dumped part of the third because it went on way too long, I don’t entirely get this kettle so I wanted it to turn off and it was being difficult, so only part of it made it to my cup. And then I steeped again.

This issue is making this very hay tasting instead immediately instead of in later steepings like I noticed before. As it cools, there’s more of the semolina flour notes though.

I have no idea what to call the next steep then. Threeve? Now the vanilla and cinnamon are coming out a bit. Not sweet enough for angel food cake, but a bit like all the components for baking in a new, weird combination.

Next steep: definitely getting sweeter. More cinnamon too!

Actual fifth steep – even sweeter, definitely has that rock sugar taste to it again like it did at the beginning. This puerh is so much fun. I can’t believe how sweet it is, it’s definitely more like cake after I let it cool a bit again.

I kept telling myself only one more steep, but I think I have steeped this now a total of ten times. I can’t stop because it tastes so sweet and cinnamony, but also because my bird seriously chirps while the kettle heats up and it’s hilarious. I would have thought it’d scare him!
I think 10 steeps is fair for a day with this one. I would like to sleep at some point today so it is time to stop, even if it tastes amazing.

I’ll update this when Dryad’s shop is back up from vacation mode.

I totally did not realize the owner of the shop is part of this band called Pandora Celtica and that some of the teas in the Dryad Tea shop are based on their music. How cool! Admittedly I probably should have caught that from the shop banner but you know what, all the teas had my attention.

This one is okay, I don’t taste much apple. It tastes more like a sweet mint tea rather than apple mint with a hint of floral notes.

I think I may like it better iced, so I will save the rest of my sample for that purpose.

Trying to finish up this sample, looks like I have one cup left after this one!

Still tasty, steeped it for 3 minutes this time around and definitely had no need to add any milk! This is pretty sweet and malty by itself. But sadly not enough to keep me awake, I had to take a nap already (thanks brother’s girlfriend for being a nutcase).

Would I get more of this? Not anytime soon after I added up all my teas and samples. Jeeeeeez.

6 oz water, 6 oz milk, and a heaping tablespoon of this tea, simmered on the stove for about 10 minutes. Melt that chocolate! Definitely reminiscent of hot chocolate but less like drinking sugar. MUCH better this way than just made with water…it needs a heavier liquid to hold up to all the stuff in here.

Tried this with 195* water like Kusmi suggests and I have to say I like it much better with boiling water. It doesn’t have that same violet candy taste to it.

It just feels like the violet isn’t as sweet with the lower temperature, and maybe it’s better for the flavor of the black tea. Everything seems less pronounced this way, at least for me.

Yesssss 200 degrees makes Assam so good. Four minutes and 200 degree water, so sweet and tasty! Every other Assam I’ve had so far, I’ve had to only steep it for 3 minutes, add milk, or wait for it to cool way down. This is life changing.

So this is sweet, and malty, and actually helping me to wake up with its big burst of flavor. I am finishing it then for some reason going to Target, mostly because I got a stamping kit for my nails yesterday and really want to use it…but I only brought one bottle of nail polish with me. Oh well.

Ok, now for the first cup I can drink with the use of the kettle!

This is quite a shock to drink at first because the pop rocks make it so sweet. And then once you get used to that, the cinnamon tastes like it’s really spicy!

Not sure if I like it. But I may have made it a bit strong for my tastes, so maybe 1 1/2 tsp would be better than 2 1/2.

So I got an electric kettle and was curious how it could compare to the kettle on the stove here. It wasn’t much faster…which now makes me feel like it was kind of dumb to get because I have a gas stove at home. Then again, I can set the temperature so I guess that works. Or I can sit in bed and make tea. (I got the Cuisinart kettle because every year since I’ve moved out I seem to be expanding on Cuisinart things…immersion hand blender, food processor, griddler, and this year kettle. None of it has broken so I’ll stick with them!)

So because I was testing boiling water I thought I’d make something, and this seemed fitting. I used two bags because I was going to make a full mug, so roughly 12 oz of tea, and steeped it for only 3 minutes to make up for it.

This is totally undrinkable for me, it’s a nice plum flavor but it’s too sweet, and the aftertaste is not good. My mom was able to tolerate it for a few more sips than I could, so I tried diluting it, getting it more to the right level and while better, it still met the sink drain.

I will give it another chance, maybe 1 bag for the 12 oz and a 4 min steep, and see if that’s tolerable. Otherwise, onto the swapping sled it goes.

I’d love to know what the other flavors are in here, but I drank it this morning (with like, french toast meets a bloomin’ onion). I got the coolest hat ever from my boyfriend: http://instagram.com/p/Tqmfe-pa6P/

This is a bit like a candy cane tea to me…maybe with chocolate? Not sure if that’s the tea or a flavor. I was kind of hoping for candy cane white chocolate, aka the best combination ever, but maybe not. It’s pepperminty and creamy, but in that department I definitely have a favorite already there, so this would have to be REALLY AMAZING.

It’s good, but I’m still on the fence if I will get more of it. Maybe. It was really good this morning!

Merry Christmas!

This is a backlog from yesterday. Since my mom never drinks this, I decided I’d have myself a big cup. But I took a nap while waiting for it to cool, so instead I drank it cold. And it was really good that way…though I think the last time I had it we had it chilled too. It’s fruity and not too spiced, and I may just take it home with me because she’ll never notice it’s gone…

Butterbeer! I have given so much of you to people that I have been hoarding you and not drinking much of you. Guess I could get a new bag now right?

I knew this was Butterbeer as soon as I could smell it.

I had it this morning with pancakes, and it was fantastic. It seemed a lot more butterscotch tasting today, with all sorts of other notes of root beer and spice. Very easy sipping today, and I love how it almost tastes effervescent despite it being hot tea.

I’m not really a fan of Merlot, so while this was a good tea, it didn’t wow me. I definitely got plum and grape from it. I love the purple flower petals, too.

Definitely would have no idea just by drinking this that it has black currant and licorice.

I was able to steep this for 4 minutes with no astringency or bitterness, impressive. It was a very smooth, full bodied tea that went along well with the fruity notes. But it’s just not a wine I go for at all.

So far the Puerh Cabernet has been my favorite, I still have the rooibos pinot noir to try and I do not have any of the green tea one, but maybe I’ll feel compelled to buy it sometime.

10th day of Christmas~

I decided to give this a shot of cold brewing. Not so sure about it that way, for some reason I was getting notes that reminded me of genmaicha.

It might need a longer steep or I just don’t like it this way. I may have to do a flash chill on it instead. It just didn’t come off sweet like candy.

I need to try it again soon but with a far lower temp too.