Sandy

Alright Ashmanra, you got me with all your yummy sounding taste notes of lattes. Today I had to make my own. I got this matcha powder a couple months back. It does smell like Irish cream. I added a teaspoon to Starbucks frappachino double walled insulated cup and added a half cup of water and shook hard. I added water to the first line, added some honey, added milk to the second line, stirred like crazy and then added ice. It was so yummy and creamy. I will definitely be making more of these.

No notes yet.

I got this as a sample from Teavivre. The dry leaves are tightly rolled medium and darker green little pearls. I didn’t pick up much roast-y aroma from the dry leaved, more vegetal to me. I did my first infusion and noticed a definite roasted aroma like roasted Hubbard squash. The infusion is a light yellow green in color and smells similar to the wet leaves but not as intense. The first sip is vegetal and slightly mineral to me with a sweet finish. As the tea cool I pick up more of the sweeter notes.

I picked a little tin of this up in a tea store in Nice this summer and forgot I even had it until yesterday. The dry leaves smell of cinnamon, clove, almond and similar to Pleine Lune except more cinnamon I think. The wet leaves lack the same strongly spicy aroma but the nice tea base is more evident. I don’t smell much vanilla (maybe due to my tea’s age?) even after the tea is brewed but I do pick up some of the orange scent.

Tasting the tea itself the first notes are cinnamon and clove with orange following and almond lingering. It is a happy little cup of Christmastime.

Unwinding from seeing Django Unchained which was classic Tarentino and really fun so I thought I’d give my new honeybush tea a try. Dry the leaves smell very strawberry, maybe it is the big chunks of freeze dried berry. The wet leaves smell similar but not as strong.

I brewed for 5 min with boiling water. The elixir has more notes of what I think is rhubarb in the aroma. The initial taste is berry and juicy somehow with later notes of rhubarb and lingering buttery and sweet notes. It is better as it cools and I can pick up more notes. It will probably be very good iced.

I am going to try to be better about logging teas, we’ll see how long this lasts. It is a raining morning here after several days of sun in a row and a beautiful coastal hike yesterday. I felt like a stronger tea this morning to get moving. My cute little 12 pound puppy was 54 pounds when I weighed him on Friday and he is only 5/6 months old, I think he may be part elephant.

Back to the tea, I am taking it with milk and honey today. I think the berry note I picked up the first time was more a result oh honey choice than the tea itself. It is a brisk tea even with milk but no bitter notes. It remains a good choice for starting the morning and the week.

I got a new puppy yesterday and I am crate training. So after a night of howling and a morning of cleaning messes, I needed a strong tea. The dry leaves look like mostly CTC with a few longer leaves, as well. Dried it smelled kind of typical malty breakfast teas. I tried it without milk and sugar first and it was strong with some astringency. Since it says it was made for milk and sugar I tried it with even though i don’t usually take my tea that way. There was no further astringency and had a berry flavor that I couldn’t detect without it. Very sneaky and very yummy.

This is the second time I have made this tea but the first time I have rated. I found this in a fun little what-not store next to the wax museum in Barcelona. It is kind of a gray day on the coast today and this tea does seem like sunshine to me, maybe it can help burn away the gray.

The tea dry and prepared smells like a blend of mint and citrus. I am not sophisticated enough to separate out the orange and the quince flavors/scents from each other. The strong flavors of the tea do hide the green tea base. There is no bitterness or astringency. The first flavor I get in the sip is the mint and then the citrus flavors linger longer on the palate. It does taste like summer to me and is a very enjoyable tea.

I found tea shop when I was recently on vacation in beautiful Valencia. It is a great store, if you want to see pictures you can check out their site http://www.pekoe.com.es/soinsdethe/index2.php

I asked the shopkeeper which one was his favorite and this tea was one of them. The apricot is very fragrant in this tea with some floral notes from the cornflowers and sunflowers both dried and once brewed. My kitchen smells great just walking in and there is only a cup left in the pot and the leaves sitting in the basket.

I brewed it with boiling water and steeped for 2 min and 45 sec. It is a dark caramel color once brewed and tastes mostly of apricot but does have a nice tea base. It is very smooth and I liked it hot and at room temp. I haven’t actually tried it iced, yet.

I found this tea shop at the base of the Spanish steps in Rome. The dry tea looks like a mix of black teas including some assam. The dry leaves smell a bit fruity and like sun-warmed tobacco. The wt leaves still smell fruity and like buttered squash? The brew is an orangy/caramel color. The flavor is similar a little fruity, a little buttery, a bit vegetal. It is a very tea overall.

I can’t believe I haven’t logged this tea before. I am such a slacker. I made my final pot of this tea today (sob) to christen my new teapot (yay!). I have had a rather itinerant lifestyle for the last few months and it has wreaked havoc on my ceramic with several breakages. I am trying a stainless steel pot until things settle out plus it has the biggest infusion basket I have ever seen.

So back to the tea. It has large pieces of cinnamon, whole start anise, cardamom pods, cloves and black pepper. It smells like a heavenly combination of all those spices dry. I brewed for 5 min with boiling water. The wet leaves smell similar to the dry. The tea smells similar. The tea has a very good base. I don’t really taste bubblegum but I do have a nice mix of cinnamon, anise and clove. Adding milk and honey makes it more smooth & sweet but I think it is just as good without.

I went shopping in Chapel Hill with Ashmanra and we got several new teas. This morning we are trying some of them. The first was this tea with a cherry vanilla bagel from Panera. The can of tea smells like cinnamon, ginger and coconut to me. It is a bagged tea. The brewed tea smells the same to me though not as intense. I drank the first cup black and it tasted like most chai — cinnamon, ginger & cardamom with a hint of creaminess that I took to be the coconut. I added milk and sugar in the second cup and while it added to the smoothness it really didn’t change the flavor profile for me. It is a very nice chai.

Ashmanra got a sample from Teavivre today and shared a pot with me. Yay! I didn’t see the dry leaves but the wet leaves are good size and smell a bit sweet & kind of like molasses. It brews a medium brown. It tastes toasty, vegetal and has a lingering sweet afternote. It is similar to Teavanna’s Golden Monkey and Southern Season’s Zhen Quo Super China Black.

No notes yet.

Another cuppa with Ashmanra. This one smells like chocolate macaroons to me but dry and brewed. Black the tea is dark chocolate and coconut taste. Adding milk and sugar it tastes even more like chocolate macaroons to me.

I am taking tea with Ruth (ashmanra), again, today and this was one of our selections. It is a very nice chocolate tea. It brews up a medium brown and both dried and brewed smells deliciously chocolatey. It is more of a bitter-sweet and nutty chocolate to me when tasted without milk. Adding a bit of milk blunted some of the nuttiness to me but did bring out more of the chocolate. Adding a bit of sugar makes it a sweet chocolate treat.

How did he get the cinnamon roll in my cup? Does he roll the tea leaves in the icing and cinnamon ooey gooey goodness? What ever magic he uses I am a fan. I took it black and loved it.

Smooth, creamy, sweet cocconutty goodness. My first honeybush tea and I am enjoying it with Ruth this evening. It is really very good.

Breakfast with the family back in Texas today. I don’t normally drink this as a breakfast tea but it’d what I wanted this morning. I took it black and drank it along side my banana smoothie. They went very well together. I think the subtle chocolate and hazelnut taste of this tea would go well with anything creamy.

I have brewed this one a couple times now. I have really enjoyed. it. It has an oolong base and you can definitely taste the smoothness of it after the leading edge of pineapple and coconut. I find the orange a little mure subtle in this tea. It smells like a mixture of tropical fruit. I haven’t tried it iced yet. Maybe I’ll ice what’s left of this pot if I can stop myself from drinking it.

Another virtual tea party with Ashmanra. I am trying this oolonh for this first time. The dry leaves smell faintly floral to me. It has nice full leaves when brewed and the wet leaves smell a little floral and a little like butternut squash to me. The tea has a mouth filling creaminess that gets more hints of floral notes as it cools.

I did a second steep for 7 minutes with about the same temp water. The leaves are now even bigger & more vegetal smelling. The tea itself still smells lightly floral, like jasmine. It isn’t as creamy and has more vegetal notes. But still more creamy than vegetal.

Backlog from a couple days ago…I just got this tea and was recovering from a cold. So I thought Organic Lemon Aid would be just the thing for my poor scratchy throat. It is a tisane of lemon grass, ginger and some lemony herbs. The dry leaves look mostly like lemon grass and ginger and smell of lemon and ginger. It brews up to a well balanced lemony gingery goodness that I would love even if I wasn’t nursing a sore throat. It was great plain with it’s own sweetness but when I added a bit of manuka honey it was heaven. If Mary Poppins were to lone me her special magic tonic/medicine bottle this is exactly the flavor it would give me. I can’t wait to try it iced.

This is actually my last pot of this tea. Dry it has nice dark leaves with large pieces of clove, whole cardamom pods and star anise. It smells spicy. The wet leaves take on more of an anise (licorice) smell. When tasting no particular spice stands out, I personally think it could use a little more ginger. For me it is a good chai but not a stand out.

I was in the ED today and found a box of this in the breakroom. It swells smoky dry. I used water from the zip kettle so it was boiling and maybe even a little superheated. I brewed it for probably over 5 minutes while I was talking to Orthopaedics in Townsville. It has a pretty mild smoky flavour, just detectable. It is also on the sweet side without any additions. While it wasn’t the most interesting Russian Caravan, it is a nice changed from the bagged ceylon I have been drinking at work.