MelissaPicoli

ehhh. blah. i think it’s interesting that they add turmeric for color, but mass market appeal is appealing, and turmeric is a pretty color, so, fine. i get it. Was at a meeting, this was the best tea choice to have with the conference room lukewarm water. eh.

the word “milk” in there sets you up for a really smooth cup of tea. maybe it is a bit of suggestive powers, but i totally tasted milky hints, and loved it. drank it with a spicy buffalo rendang and it kinda fit just right, oddly enough.

obviously, from my incessant tea notes about it, oolongs are my favorite. i drink tea for benefit, and i believe the most benefits are in oolongs and pu-erhs. slightly intuitive, mostly researched. i am looking for a wholesale supply of bulk oolong and tried this one. the other teas i have had from this company are lovely, so i think it is the tea i don’t like, not the company’s blend. too dirty tasting, not balanced, slightly acrid. anyone have a formosa they love?

green tea rarely does it for me, and sometimes it makes my belly feel funny. i’m not into this one. i’m a little partial to loose leaf, and think the crushing involved in bagging a tea brings out edges that i don’t love. i’m also a believer that crushing tea leaves releases so much of their goodness prematurely, that it feels more like flavored water than a powerful health beverage, which is my relationship to tea. but, the size of these tea bags makes a perfect eye mask, and I used them on two facial clients yesterday. brew strong, then dip in ice water for the best eye treatment. layer over some borage oil, and you’ve got yourself a great treatment! perfect for puffy, tired eyes…^_

I bought a pound of this last yer and just finished it off. I stored it in a cellar, and it is still light and delicious. I like white teas, but generally prefer an addition, and the peachy deliciousness to this rocks. I think I like the smell of the dry tea even more than the taste. I always use boiling water, and rarely time my steeps because I just steep it until I want to drink it. This is yummy.

This is funny. Found it at TJ Maxx, funny packaging, odd ingredient list which consists of berries and nothing else (although I broke a the bag apart and am completely confused by the contents, which included greens). Has a light fruit taste, no depth. I am using it in a spritzer bottle for setting make-up and mixing it into facial masks for clients. Smells lovely.

ummm, i’m kinda embarrassed to say, but i love this. yup, tea snob that i am, i still love this. two bags, steep 5 minutes, add 1/2 & 1/2 (the good stuff), a bit of agave. delicious. i added a touch of whiskey to it last night. a movie, this tea, a splash of sass. nice. don’t know if i’d pay full price for it though. it was on clearance. i am a sucker for the word cocoa.

i like roses. i use rose oil when i make facial masks, mix it with sandalwood for perfume, and generally just like it. but i don’t like it in hot tea. had a Moroccan iced tea once, sticky sweet and rosy. delish. this tea isn’t so much. it’s almost like drinking perfume. but I love rishi, and so many of their other teas.

I have bunch of this. Came from a kayaking buddhist monk in Bhutan, who chants while running hard rapids. I like it. It isn’t very interesting, it’s a very mixed grade tea and it might actually be way older than 2006. It brews the color of gas station coffee, has a true bitterness to it, and tastes like tea without the fluff (I like fluff sometimes, don’t get me wrong). It’s probably fair trade in the way that it comes from some small plantation run by a couple families. It’s probably organic because the families can’t really buy chemicals. It is tea without the adornments.

This is often my morning tea. (Mid-morning. I like a cup of coffee first) I like this tea. It is a little tannic, there’s always an issue if you brew it too long. It is basic, like your classic under $10 bottle of wine, but basic is good. I always enjoy it. I add a little cayenne pepper and a few other healthy herbs to it (like red clover and sarsaparilla), which makes it kind of a “teasane”. Wuyi is a great blending tea. Just ordered natural strawberry extract, going to play with that.

I love the mossy, inky taste of of this tea. I brew it longer than usual, then re-brew. Sometimes, I add a little rum. Does that degrade me in the eyes of the true steepsters?