momo

Writing this from a cup last night! For some reason I was craving something like this and I figured I should try it.

It was right before bed and so I really didn’t want to sweeten it, but I should have. As it cooled the hibiscus and cranberry both did a good job of tarting it up.

It reminds me of spiced wine. I’ve never had spiced wine but I imagine it to taste like this. Maybe a spiced punch makes more sense?

Anyway it’s mostly tart, with notes of spices and I want to try it iced. Or steeped in cider.

Trying this western style~
This has a really unique fruity sweetness to it, now that I see the description on here it is SO totally banana.

Mostly though it is sweet and vegetal, I said green beans before but it’s more like some other fresh bean…soy? Maybe. Just a bit of a mineral note in there too.

Now I just need to try it properly in a gaiwan since I see last time I used the shaker that is supposed to act like one but really is the saddest thing I ever bought.

I was told to try this with 1/2 tsp of leaf and steeped for 7 minutes.

Had to try it! It is pretty light, but it’s suuuuuuuper sweet, like honey water or something. It cooled a bit and started to have this end note of spearmint.

Prefer it in the gaiwan though, that avocado taste is the best thing ever.

writing the first note on this…huh

I’ve had this a couple times now, iced, but today I was curious to see how it’d be hot. It’s not bad at all, I might actually like it better this way.

This is strongly citrusy, mostly lime, and then there’s hints of pineapple. It’s got the right amount of mint. Only thing I don’t like is that it seems oddly thick.

It’s just a bummer it’s soooo expensive because I like it way better than the other mojito tea I have, which I believe is also a white tea.

Too much tripel…there is such a thing.

Stomach hurts. Head’s ok. STOMACH HURTS (but that’s also thanks to other monthly events thanks so much body! u rule) and I am so thankful for Reasoned_Melody sending me some of this.

It is pretty bitter but a cup of this and a great big nap later, all I’ve got is a giant headache and I know that’s just from being dehydrated. YAY.

I’d like to try Detox now too I think, sounds more up my alley.

On the plus side I bet the bitter orange peel taste goes away if you sweeten it a little but I just wanted to stop being nauseous so badly. And it’s not like some other ~medicinal types where it tastes like a spice cabinet.

Welp, officially I have had enough peach tea for now.

I was really excited for this one. It smells great, it looks pretty.

I don’t really care for this…I far preferred black tea Momo. It started out great, but as it cooled it just became far too subtle. I mean like barely that cool, it started to just taste like pouchong. Nothing wrong with pouchong but it’s not juicy peaches.

I have higher hopes for Momoko being more to my liking.

I have no idea why I keep drinking peach things. Maybe I really want peaches? But that’s not a problem, I have a freezer full of them!

This is pretty tasty, I think it’s perfectly sweet enough without adding anything. It’s a pretty light flavor, which you’d kind of expect with an oolong like this…it blends SO PERFECTLY in with the floral notes of the oolong.

I still am not sure what type of tea I find goes with peach best for me. This is better than a roasted oolong, for sure, but still not sure. I am going to try the Lupicia momo oolong next and see if that changes my mind.

For some reason I decided it’d be a good idea to buy 4 oz of this tea. The problem is that it has two very edible ingredients: popcorn and maple syrup bits that melt in your mouth. My boyfriend practically had to take the bag away while I’m eating the syrup bits like candy.

This tastes a lot more like a cinnamon kettle corn that it tastes like anything maple syrupy. Still tasty, but the cinnamon is just a bit too strong, and I could do without the popcorn. Next time I’ll try a cup without any popcorn and see.

Or I could add more maple syrup.

Let’s see how this goes…Lupicia did not impress me with the Happy Bags although the other teas people have swapped with me have been grand. When I have money and far less tea, I would like to buy a lot with them…but first they must pass the peach test.

Momo drinking Momo. Hahahaha. I gave myself the name Momo on here because 1. I am in the Peach State 2. I used to love the manga Peach Girl and 3. Momo is an Italian racing company, and they have these amazing blue seats I want in my car so badly even though that’s a silly thing to do with my car.

One of these days though I’m gonna switch it back to Amanda. I’ll keep the Bruno avatar though.

This is pretty good. I don’t think a black base is my favorite choice for a peach tea though. It’s just a little too heavy.

The peach though is most excellent. Definitely one of the best, most realistic peach flavors I’ve ever had in a tea. And when it cooled off entirely it was even better, like a fresh peach in June!

I know I have the momo oolong somewhere and then the entire tin of Momoko from the bag (as well as a sample from darby) so I will see how those do and then I will dream of the day I can make that big order. Hey, it could be only a year away.

Oh ESP Emporium, your pictures are always so pretty but your teas never actually look that way.

This is another one of those teas that just smells like a cocktail. Not really grape juice to me at all, more like some fruity sort of drink where you question the actual fruit juice involved.

It definitely did not smell like something I wanted hot, so I figured I’d have it iced with lunch.

Now that it’s steeped, it reminds me of sparkling white grape juice. Not bad, pretty refreshing.

I am kind of meh about flavored white teas now that I think about it. They are great for iced tea of course, and I won’t have a problem finishing this one that way, but I far prefer the flavors of straight white tea if I’m gonna drink a white tea hot.

Thank you Chuckieroy!

Hot, this is a lot like the Strawberry Pie honeybush, but toned down a lot. And instead of it being dominantly strawberry, there’s just a little rhubarb tartness to it.

I let it cool off and I love it sooooo much more! Seriously just like Strawberry Pie with super juicy strawberry flavor, but now I can DEFINITELY taste the rhubarb! I was just thinking about teas that I like better around room temperature and I think I found one. I’ll have to give it a try cold too.

Thank you, ToiToi!

When I was in Paris, I was not really SUPER into tea but I knew of Mariage Freres and I honestly think it was a good thing that when I stared at the Fauchon things at La Grande Epicerie de Paris I did not even notice tea because I was entranced by chocolate.

If you have never been to Paris and are obsessed with food, it is basically the coolest place ever. Especially if you want to see things you consider commonplace like marshmallows treated like an exotic luxury.

So of course I love this and I cannot find any way to get Fauchon over here…it’s like when they closed their NYC shop they gave up entirely on North America. And of course I am already in love with this tea.

I was a bit cautious about steeping it for 4 minutes but it was so good. Such a smooth black tea, and the orange flavor tastes so real. I just ate an amazing orange last night. I was surprised at how pink the flesh was, and found out from a friend it’s a cara cara orange! I never had one before, it was sosososo good. I never get oranges unless they are blood oranges, and that one was just mind changing.

This tea definitely tastes like that, I think that might be a combination of the orange and blood orange flavorings. I don’t get the tartness of blood orange but there’s that different sweetness they have. There’s just a little apricot in there too, but it’s mostly orange.

This makes me miss France :(

First, I give you: http://whosthecutest.com/

Ok. This was sitting there staring at me for the past nearly 2 months now and I wanted to try it. I gave it a rinse first and then I’m pretty much just steeping this as: fill with water, put lid on, it steeps until I get myself together and pour it into the teacup.

I would guess that’s 5-10 seconds. And dang this tea gets dark in those few seconds.

1st steep: This is very, very, very much like a forest. There’s a little bit of ginger in there. Mostly though it is very woody, I taste cedar, definitely.

2nd steep: Still woody, but not as strongly. It has a bit more of a spicy bite to it.

3rd steep: it’s getting a little creamy but it’s reminding me of the first steep

4th steep: still waiting for the caramel, but I don’t think I can drink anymore right now haha

I am so mad at my mom right now, she used my desperation and tears about being one week off from seeing my favorite hockey team in Florida on spring break again to book a cruise from Tampa during that week.

Oh no, not for me, for her and my dad. I have to go up there and watch the dog. Never even ran it by me until today telling me that’s what I’m going to be doing.

Never asked. MEH.

So then I decided I had to try this Dragonwell today rather than wait till morning. I’m sure it’s just a matter of it steeping a shorter amount of time, but the other one just seemed so much more creamy and nutty.

This isn’t bad though, 30 more seconds would probably have done it good. It does remind me of peas and a bit like sparkling mineral water. And it smells just so clean! It’s like having spring in a cup, 14 hours before a winter weather watch.

While I’m waiting for this to cool I am playing with my foil manicure stuff. So much fun! Here is how it is on my right hand right now: http://i.imgur.com/ff47d.jpg

After a failed flavored tea (having this happen a lot lately), I decided I wanted something subtle and well, natural.

This is getting up there in age, sadly. I do have the organic one to try still. I should do that next.

I think I am afraid of Dragonwell because it’s hard to know if you are doing it right till you can taste it. I feel like it’s way too easy to end up with something that tastes like nothing. Not this time!

I just love that nutty, slightly creamy/buttery flavor. And it’s full of it. Some notes of minerals and some sweetness and you are totally set.

I think having the temperature variable kettle has immensely helped me with teas like this.

Does anyone know, would something subtle like a Dragonwell do okay in a travel mug that keeps things hot for 5+ hours or will it likely ruin it? I feel an attachment coming on and I’ll need this in the morning again.

I have four matchas I could actually review for credit but I instead got distracted by the idea of mixing these two.

Bavarian Creme + Raspberry Truffle matcha!

I haven’t had either of these in awhile so I’m not sure how the raspberry truffle is on its own anymore, but you can bet I haven’t forgotten the bavarian creme one. I went for a hot latte preparation (or a hat if you start thinking about the next word you’re going to type too soon).

The chocolate seems to get lost this way, so it reminds me of raspberries dipped in cream. There is a slight mocha-like note at the end though. From what I remember, I like the Bavarian creme matcha better cold. But I like it together with this one for sure, I’m going to have to start going through these matchas quicker because I want so many new flavors so much.

I finally solved the mystery of my travel mug, but I still think I’d rather have a different style. I don’t like sticking my nose into this weird…nose space area in order to take a drink. However it now doesn’t spill everywhere AND it opens! Maybe smashing it with a hammer was all it needed.

This was my chosen tea for this grumpy looking day. I wish I had thought to sweeten it but I was nearly late as is thanks to a massive traffic jam (accident too maybe? still have no idea) and I had to go one station north. It was definitely lacking the maple, but that’s okay…it made up for it in brown sugar.

Stayed warm all afternoon, tasted amazing, and I think it really doesn’t have that oatmeal flavor to it anymore, and I kind of like it better. It seems less heavy to drink.

Also just picked up my first CSA box! I got a soup and salad one that’s probably overpriced but whatever. Problem is, they didn’t include the recipes like it said so I’m kind of stuck on how cilantro, 4 pounds of sweet potatoes, and a couple oranges becomes soup. If anyone has a recipe for sweet potato soup that they swear by, let me know! I hope I can make it work with what I have on hand, don’t worry about the cilantro or orange aspects.

Sipdown!

Ok I only had enough for 2 cups but let me have it. I also got royally distracted from this cup but it is good cold!

This probably was well towards the end of its lifespan because the strawberry is very hard to pick up on now, but the oolong is still nice…just a hint of berry behind it.

It’s being held hostage in my travel mug. I can’t get the top to open and I can’t get it to ACTUALLY open either. Cries. I managed a sweet few sips out of it because it leaks…time to find a new mug.

Anyone got any good options that DEFINITELY don’t leak if you follow directions? Followed the directions on this one to vacuum seal it and instead it locked up the entire mechanism. So one that is leak proof and doesn’t do that is all I want in life right now.

OKAY so I just finally got the mug open…with a hammer. Saved the tea of course, it was still somewhat hot! But somehow a lot of tea went through the infuser so it was not very tasty. I figured I’d add some coconut milk creamer, so I gave it a quick whirl in the microwave to make up for the heat loss and I am sipping happy.

It’s a bit stronger than I normally drink it, to the point it’s hard to get any berry notes. Thanks to the time it took to finally drink it, the bergamot is a lot stronger and the black tea is probably slightly oversteeped. No problems though. I think for the time being I’ll switch back to the smaller travel mug I got from Teavana until I find something I like better again.

Ok I am glad you are done with your tantrum, Steepster.

I had this last night. It was in my box of rooibos/herbals/what-have-you so I thought it actually only had rooibos but it has jasmine pearls in it. Somehow I didn’t notice that before. Oh well, it didn’t destroy the balance of tea organization haha.

So after a quick change of temperature on the kettle, this was brewing and smelling nice and fruity.

The floral notes of jasmine are really good with the citrusy/berry fruit flavors. I don’t know really want the green rooibos adds because of the short steep time for the jasmine. I guess it’s okay to go for longer but I really would rather not have oversteeped green tea in here in order to get the taste of green rooibos. In which case, the other bit I have means…cold steep!

This is a sneaky one!

I eat spicy food like it’s nothing at all. There’s a popcorn place in a shopping center nearby and they have THE BEST hot white cheddar popcorn. It has that heat that will lead to tears if it catches you off guard. I love it so much.

This seems to have the same sort of spice but far, far tamer. Take a sip and you just might get that tingle of spice in your throat instead. It’s not too spicy at all unless you’re trying to get that result.

The only problem is I can’t detect any chocolate notes at all. The black tea has some cocoa notes but it’s not in any way chocolatey at all. But that’s easy to fix so I will give this another try soon.

So I was left wanting cranberry. This is okay but as it cooled it completely lost any flavor of berries. It now tastes like nettle and lemongrass.

Nettle is growing on me though.

This isn’t bad either hot or cold, but I think if you’re not a fan of super strong herby flavors then cold is not the way to go.

lol I haven’t touched this tea because I have an intense hatred for a certain Boston sports team, especially its captain, so…I associate this tea with them. And you know, how that I think about it, I should have tried this when there was a lockout and I couldn’t care at all but now I am ready to get my hate back in full gear. VROOM VROOM.

Right, so I don’t mind cranberry but it’s definitely a flavor I won’t grab over other berries especially. But I’ll drink it…almond, on the other hand I actively try to avoid. Now I love to eat almonds. But I can’t do sweet almond, and I especially can’t do it in a tea. The best I have ever done with sweet almond is that I can put amaretto in pancakes. That is all. I seriously have a bottle of amaretto just for that and I rarely make pancakes. I also have no idea why I bought it in the first place. Probably some other recipe.

This does smell fantastic in the bag though. I got my friend a tin and it was even better in such a large amount.

So it definitely is not in your face cranberry at all, like I was hoping it might be. The almond flavor mixes in with the cranberry about mid-sip. At first it’s just absolutely disgusting like Zdeno Chara, but towards the end of the sip it is really reminiscent of granola. But getting to granola takes strong taste buds. I think maybe if the cranberry was just a bit more tart, I might be able to ignore that almond flavoring, but it’s not happening.

The more I try the more repulsive it tastes. I hate you almond.

PS thank you for this sample, Alphakitty

I am such a smoke weakling I can’t even handle this tea.

Sad times.