momo

I need this right now a lot. I have an 8 page paper due tomorrow and I’ve written almost 3 pages so far at this point. I’m starting to reach the point of being easily distracted. It’s cold and really windy outside so at least I don’t have this urge to go driving around. I’ve seen that at least two trees have fallen and blocked roads near me today alone so I’ll pass.

So hopefully this cup gets me doing more than just giving myself a basic structure to add to. I always do that and then it becomes such a pain to elaborate on everything. But hey, last assignment for this class. I’m done with half my classes as of tomorrow.

I used boiling water this time and didn’t pay attention to how long I steeped it. It doesn’t seem to me that the temperature makes a difference, in fact I might prefer it with boiling water instead of the cooler water I used before.

I love how the citrus mixes with the mate and guayusa. I still have to try something that’s got guayusa only, since I’ve tried a flavored mate already. But I like how this tastes. This time hopefully I won’t just fall asleep after drinking it. I kind of fell asleep in the middle of reading part of the book for this paper last night.

This is like, my favorite bagged tea. I love these flavored whites Nordqvist makes so much that when I finally run out again I am going to find someone in Finland to hook me up again.

This one seriously tastes like a blueberry muffin. It has everything. It’s kind of amazing, because it really has this aftertaste that is exactly like a muffin. And the blueberry tastes pretty good too.

Of course it’s so highly flavored it’s kind of tough to taste the white tea, but I wasn’t drinking this for the white tea. I was drinking it because it’s blueberry muffin.

No notes yet.

After seeing tasting notes on this, I HAD to have it myself. Since I can’t fall back asleep, might as well get started on infusing it all day long.

This is the second puerh I’ve ever had, and the first to not be chocolate orange flavored. I have some of the tuochas from Teavivre but I’m still scared to use them, so when I see “angel food cake” I find a good starting point to stop being afraid. At least that’s what I hoped for, and I’m pretty sure it’s working.

I like to mix infusions when I steep in my gaiwan, so I’ll be putting 3 in a mug probably each time.

This is kind of ridiculous. How is this even real? It seriously tastes like cake. First I get the clear taste of flour, almost like if you took uncooked pasta and put it in your mouth. There’s also malty tones to it. But then it’s sweet.

Since I am trying to teach myself French for the 38295th time (I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since I was there, where has time gone?! I took 2 years of Latin and 2 semesters of Italian, plus I speak English… how hard can this really be if I try.) I already know the word for this. Délicieux!

Now on the 4th through 6th infusions, tastes more like hay. It’s still a bit sweet, but now I am tasting some cinnamon and kind of getting a cooling sensation.

Ok, finally to 7-9…I did finally fall asleep for way too long in the afternoon. I should be working on a paper. It’s tasting more like cake, this time with maybe a caramel glaze. It just tastes so good I don’t know how to describe it. Hay notes have kind of dropped off now. I get a bit more cinnamon now.

I’m going to 18. I am. Just you wait.

I asked for this with my most recent order, and I’m so glad to get to try it! It smells very raspberry from the raspberry leaf, but once steeped, the mint takes center stage. The juniper berries were the next most obvious smell in the bag, and the same goes in the steeped tea.

I ate too much so something with peppermint in it was just what I was looking for. Future note to self: if you have buy one, get one free on soft pretzels, save the other pretzel or risk earlier death.

As it cools, the sweetness from the apple starts to come into play, which is nice. It feels weird to have the cooling sensation of the mint mix with the apple. I don’t think that’s something I’ve ever really had together before.

This is really good, I think in the future I would maybe get more of it. I’m going to have to make a cup of it iced too.

And now I am going to go celebrate that the Predators knocked the Red Wings out with the rest of this tea.

My 300th tasting note! Yay!

So I finally retook the test I missed 2 weeks ago today, and it had a lot to do with Brazil, China, and India, and I found myself really wanting tea in the middle of it. Then I got home and I’m faced with the decision of Chinese or Indian tea. Since I had some kind of jasmine tea ginger ale with lunch (they had a couple other bottled Harney & Sons drinks but this sounded awesome and it was), I went Darjeeling.

I think after this one I only have two more to try from my Upton order, yay. I’m on the fence about tasting everything I haven’t had or finishing what’s there. And now I feel like I’m making poor decisions but this is in the name of 300.

Autumnal Darjeelings are not my favorite I think. They’re good but I prefer just second flush ones. They’re bold and astringent, which I like but I’m not getting much else. Maybe it’s a bit buttery, but mostly it’s just kind of just…tea. I miss that muscatel taste that’s more prevalent in the earlier flushes.

This is nice right now though because it’s way cooler than I thought it was going to be today, so a more hearty tasting Darjeeling works out after all!

This tea piqued my curiosity so much that I decided to try it first form my Verdant order.

I steeped it following the directions on the site. I used about 6.5 ounces, knowing by the time I spilled it I’d have 2/3 of a cup. Worked out. I sprinkled a teaspoon of leaves into the cup, swirled it, let it steep for 20 seconds and poured it into a mug through a strainer.

The first few sips were creamy, and gave me like a sparkling wine impression. It was light, but something was there. Now it’s cooled a bit, and it smells and tastes like buttery green vegetables.

Onto the second steep! This is really like the green tea ice cream mentioned on the page! It’s so sweet and creamy. And it’s leaving a feeling similar to carbonation on my tongue.

Third is similar, less sparkling and maybe like a bit of citrus mixed with edamame. And for now I am going to stop because I am supposed to study, not keep playing with tea. But I don’t want toooooo…

I prefer this iced with milk more than hot. I needed something good after I just went off on a commenter on a Formula 1 blog.

Don’t mix sports and politics. Of course first of all because it looks like sport is a pawn, but also because someone has to take the situation and one up it with stupid. Someone will always drag Obama into it, and in this case it was comparing “a disregard for the constitution” and also the healthcare act to human rights violations in Bahrain. Last night there was a petrol bomb incident involving some mechanics from a team. So you’re telling me that not governing a country based on a document from the 18th century is comparable to surprise petrol bombs and tear gas. RIGHT. Sometimes I think studying political science and economics is the worst decision I have ever made because now I want to slap so many people.

To stop myself from wanting to slap people (until I move to Paris with my job with the OECD because at 3am this morning I decided that’s what I am doing with my life), I made an iced matcha latte. I also always want to type matte latte. Actually, given the color of the drink, that might work.

I still love this so much. I pretty much only drink coconut milk, but when I use half a teaspoon of matcha, I don’t get the coconut taste. In fact, with this, I’d be pretty fooled that I hadn’t put cream in here just like if I was making caramel.

I am trying to think of a way I could work this into a caramel candy recipe that’s in the Baked Explorations cookbook. I think maybe a visit to Super H Mart is in order to see if there are any matcha caramels there to try out first! But I think that would be amazing.

Also the Atlantic like, insulted corgis in an article so I would also like to slap them. KEEP SIPPING, AMANDA, KEEP SIPPING.

No notes yet.

This is my first time having tulsi, so I looked it up on Wikipedia and was pleased by this sentence: Recent studies suggest tulsi may be a COX-2 inhibitor, like many modern painkillers, due to its high concentration of eugenol.

A painkiller is just what I need right now after trying to find out how I could get in-state tuition despite living in Georgia for nearly 3 years now. You’re supposed to make a “self-sufficient” amount of money in order to get non-ridiculous tuition rates. Not sure how you might do that with no college degree, so congratulations on your continued failures, Georgia.

So at this point I’m probably not graduating until I’m 30. I should get three degrees at this point it feels like.

So, lots of pain.

In the bag, this tea smelled like apple pie. Steeped, it smells like lollipops that have been sitting around some cloves.

I actually really like it a lot. The herbal taste of the tulsi is a nice aftertaste from the sweet, fruity flavor. I can taste both the apple and the pear, but it is still somewhat reminiscent of apple cider. Not a bad thing, though.

As this was steeping, it really smelled like a pie was baking. But I can barely taste any strawberry. It tastes very much of vanilla, cinnamon, and clove, though. Something about it reminds me of something from when I was a kid but I cannot pinpoint it exactly. It’s driving me crazy!

I’m going to try to steep it less and see if that helps. It just feels like the crust overtook the pie. That’s kind of how I would describe the tarte tatin I made for Easter, actually.

And now that I’m at the bottom of the cup I just feel like I got hit in the mouth with strawberry. Though I must say even as just crust, it was enjoyable.

I’m usually not that into teas where the additions are mostly floral, but I am enjoying this. I guess it’s probably all in the flavoring, because there is a bit of fruit to it. The flowers alone would make it rose, which I can definitely smell in the tea, but something citrusy makes it far more palatable for me.

Or I might like rose. I have no idea.

This is really easy to drink, but as it cools it starts to taste more of all the flavoring rather than the tea. I could taste the green before, but now it’s more like fruit and flowers.

So, next time I will use something that retains heat better, because I like this a good bit.

Thanks for sending me this, brandy3392!

I made my own pad see ew for dinner last night (which I had again tonight and will make again tomorrow as I’m OBSESSED) so this is really reminding me of Thai…especially of tom kha gai soup. And some spiced cookies. And an orange with cloves in it. Jeez, this tea is complex.

I love love love companies that give out samples because I really would never think to try this.

It’s very lemongrass tasting, of course, but it’s actually sweeter than I thought it would be. I had a massive chunk of pineapple for this cup, so that probably helped…and I also ate it as soon as I was done steeping.

I don’t even know how to describe this but I really enjoy it. After the citrusy taste, there’s spice, there’s fruity sweetness, it’s just really kind of awesome. Who knew!

I DEFINITELY do not need anymore tea right now but one day…one day I will get more of this.

Chocolate cake tea that actually tastes like chocolate! And it even has a cakey feel to it, which I’m gonna blame on the carob powder. This is not nearly as amazing as Ice Cream Cake, but it’s still good.

I can get a bit of the stevia in the aftertaste in this one though. But really, it tastes like a more cake-like chocolate milk. It doesn’t come off as creamy enough to be chocolate ice cream at least for me.

Now I am thinking, what if you used this tea in place of the water in some drinking chocolate? :O

Basically this tea makes me want to smash keys at random because I lose the ability to do anything else after taking a sip. OH. MY. GAAAAAAAAH.

It’s so creamy and I get a lot of strawberry and vanilla. That’s fine by me because like I used to love Neapolitan ice cream but I’d skip out on the chocolate when possible. omg I can’t even care about all the ~ artificial ~ flavors in here because it’s better than any ice cream cake I can go out and buy right now.

And 50g costs the same as a pint of my favorite ice cream sooooo TEA IT IS. Now I regret not getting 100g. I should just move to Canada already before I get questioned about why I get so many things from here, hahahaha.

Anyway it does remind me a lot of the Neapolitan Honeybush but it’s different in a good way, so I definitely see myself enjoying both.

I cannot wait to try this iced. In fact I may convince myself to stop drinking it for the time being so I can do so now instead of later. AHHH.

I drank this a couple hours ago but I have been soooo distracted. I’m supposed to read this book and instead I’m on Omegle basically getting made fun of because my favorite hockey team is terrible.

SOON.

This is a good Darjeeling. It says “oolong style” but I didn’t think it was very oolong. In fact, I think it was one of the bolder Darjeelings I’ve had.

The flavor is really rich, with a good bit of nutty taste. I don’t typically feel much of anything from drinking tea, but this one definitely had me feeling a bit of the effects of the caffeine. Granted I always find I feel a bit silly after some Darjeeling but never along the lines of “hey I’m really awake now!”

Other than that, I really have nothing to say. I was trying to think of what I was going to say since I had it. I can’t really call it average because it’s really good. Very Darjeeling I guess is what I wanted.

This is another one that’s now got a special lower price. That’s probably the reason I got it. I don’t think I would seek this one out in particular again, but there are so many more to try…I only got 8 and Upton has so many!

No notes yet.

For how long I waited to even get this tea from sneekpeeq, I took even longer to try it. It reminds me of the mug I ordered nearly 3 weeks ago and I don’t know what they’re doing, making it just for me? I need it now because it has my favorite car on it.

Anyway. I think I used too much leaf and too hot of water. My water was probably 185-190 and the tin says nothing about temperature, so seeing 167 is like oh wow thanks for printing that elsewhere.

It’s not bad though, it just makes the green tea flavor a bit sharp. It’s a nice fruity flavor, but I imagine it’s better cold…or made with cooler water. Greens with some mix of fruits are always good when you can taste the base tea, and this is no exception.

I’ve got way too much tea I haven’t tried, so I put everything I haven’t had into its own box, so I can pull out new things to try, like so.

I got this as a sample with my order ages ago. I became attached to thepuriTea’s gunpowder tea through a sample so I don’t know why I haven’t had any of the others I got until now.

This is different, I’m so used to jasmine with green or white tea! When I opened the packet, it smelled really good and very unique. I had to look to Steepster for now to steep it, so I went with 4 minutes like most of the reviews said.

I’d just been eating some of those Cadbury mini eggs, and I hadn’t even noticed if there was the remains of any before I took a sip. It was like I had just eaten one again! This is chocolatey and floral at the same time. The black tea and the jasmine are really well balanced. I’m always afraid of jasmine taking over, but it’s perfect here.

The last note of the tea is pepper, and it almost tickles the tongue as the taste fades away before you just really need another sip.

In the future I may purchase some of this, because it’s really enjoyable and even relaxing.

Just looking at this tea, you’d think it was a green or white! Very light colored, fluffy leaves!

This is my first decent first flush Darjeeling. Steeped, it smells very citrusy and light.

I prefer the bolder flavors of second flushes but I cannot deny that this is awesome. The natural sweetness is really nice. It is very muscatel, and a bit floral. I’m also getting a bit of lemon. The grape taste is the predominant thing I get. It’s just a touch astringent, which is definitely a nice thing to taste after all the sweet notes. This tea is just all around smooth.

The sample size of this is only $3.50 because the new 2012 first flush of this tea is in, so if you want to try a first flush, the price really can’t be beat.

Thank you for this sample, Fusion Tea Room!

As I was walking with my mug back to catch the last half hour of the American Le Mans race at Long Beach, it suddenly really smelled like hot cocoa. I almost couldn’t wait for it to finish steeping.

Since I have another race to watch that doesn’t start till 3am, maté time it is.

So this is my first maté by itself and I can taste it this time. I’m not used to it so it’s kind of throwing me off. It also tastes kind of minty? I can smell a bit of raspberry in the dry leaf but I’m not getting it in the cup. It does taste like it’s sweet like a berry but I can’t taste it. I might try steeping it longer next time, though I think I did for about 8 minutes.

As it’s cooling though I can kind of start getting a raspberry flavor, so maybe my taste buds are just being rebellious.

It is sweet and chocolatey, and I imagine that this is perfect for a introduction to maté. The earthy maté taste blends well with the chocolate, making it easier to get used to the taste of it.

My boyfriend just came in because I freaked out over my favorite car passing for a podium position and said it smelled good. So I let him taste it, and he said it was pretty good. This comes after he told me he doesn’t like tea.

I steeped this last night then put it in the fridge for later. Now is later. Obviously.

It definitely needed something sweet, so I added in some wildflower honey. Kind of amazed at the difference it made. It was just like vaguely fruity and mostly tart and now I can taste berries for sure.

But that wasn’t enough…I saw MaddHatter ‘s note about adding lemonade…well I just happen to have some.
That works so well, and takes the tartness I wasn’t liking (thanks hibiscus I should have noticed) and makes it the lemon instead.

I will probably get more of this in the future, sweeten it while it’s still hot, and definitely add just a bit of lemonade again.

When it’s so tart it just doesn’t really feel like you can tell that’s it’s even made up of berries :( But I love anything that has bear in the name so I’m glad it’s easily remedied.

This is Bruno, part of my love of bears. He’s like the pet I don’t have to pay any fee of hundreds of dollars for as he doesn’t eat walls. https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/251468_2016482060693_1503090120_32021876_2781157_n.jpg And I’m sure if he was magically a real bear, he would love this tea too.

Thanks for the sample, Krystaleyn!

Tastes like peach. I don’t get much mango, I get a lot of peach. I don’t even see peach on the ingredient list!

This, like Pom Power, just seems like a complete waste of white tea. It’s far too fruit flavored and it ruins any chance to taste the base. I would rather have an herbal with these fruits than pay a premium for Bai Mu Dan to be overpowered.

But I don’t really like it. It tastes kind of soapy, but at the same time it’s like really a refreshing sort of flavor if it wasn’t for that. I’m gonna let it cool off and see if it’s better iced, but trying it just once will probably be enough for me.

Thanks for the sample, Krystaleyn!

When I was little, my grandparents used to always take my brother and I to IHOP. My grandpa would get pancakes with strawberries, and would always convince me to look somewhere else then put one on my plate. That’s what this tea reminds me of.

I can taste every flavor in here, which is so cool. I wasn’t expecting this to work as well as I imagined it could be. But it’s all there, pancake, butter, syrup, strawberry. It even kind of tastes like the strawberry syrup the strawberries typically come soaked in so that your pancakes get even more of the flavor.

I do get a bit of that chapstick taste that Mercuryhime mentioned, but as it’s cooled it’s gone away. That’s kind of what it smelled like at first too, but after I took a sip I forgot about it.

I think with just a bit of something sweet, maybe even some real maple syrup, this could be really awesome. I’ll give it a try at home!