Smaug

14/05/2013
it’s like when you love a song so much that you wanna play it for the world to hear!
i wanna play this tea for the world to hear.

today i’m buying more.

09/01/2013
seriously!
this tea is ONE of a KIND!
Lapsang, Candy Cane Tea, and Ginger Tea?!?! all in one cup.
i still laugh when i read the ingredients, but it is really an amazing cup. not upsetting in the least. but it is quite feisty. and precarious. the lapsang is big on the nose, but really it’s the ginger that carries the whole cup. a little cinnamon pinch on the cheek & marigold flowers to pat you on the head.
smaug is a complex and quite lovable dragon.

19/01/2013
smaug you are one crazy tea dragon and we will be friends forevah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

25/01/2013
obviously i am the only one drinking this tea.

i never give teas actual ratings because it’s seems arbitrary to me. i mean it uses so many people and so many diverse opinions and tastes and they all end up in the same 15 point range that i don’t see how it’s very helpful. but whatevs. i’m not complaining, just explaining why i don’t really rate stuff.

BUT I’M GONNA GIVE THIS ONE 100 BOOM cuz everyone needs to try it at least once.

from the website:
1. lapsang souchong – famously smoky aroma and flavor. clean and slightly cool smokiness in the aroma, like menthol. Sweet, refreshing smoky flavor, crisp and edgy.

2. candy cane – Premium black tea from Sri Lanka flavored with minty candy canes.

3. ginger – Fresh, warming heat of ginger with the rich tang of Ceylon black tea.

GROWL!

Thank you so much Shmiracles for sharing such a coveted tea treasure; the only tea that you deemed worthy of a rating. It must have been hard to part with! haha.

So I have to start with a bit of backstory: About a week ago, my father was grilling bbq chicken and he used some fancy smoke-flavor thing that my brother had given him as a gift some time ago. I took one bite of this chicken and complained immediately that it tasted like a chimney and that I was pretty sure I was exhaling chimney smoke from my nose for half an hour after eating it. But my father loves smokey flavors, so all the better for him. What he doesn’t like are most of the teas I bring for him to sample. “tastes like seaweed!” … “that tastes like seaweed too” … “too weak” … “too boring” … “SEAWEED!!!”

I had never tried Lapsang Souchong nor any blends made with it, but I read plenty about it’s smokiness and told my father that I will have to get him some. It’s not a tea I ever would have considered getting for myself as I knew it wouldn’t suit me.

So fortunate it was that I happened to get a Lapsang blend in a swap. I opened the bag, smelled it and thought “yep, this has Papa written all over it!” I took it over to my parents house this evening and told my father that I found the tea for him. And guess what? No surprise, he LOVED it. He even asked if there was more before he finished the cup that I gave him. I also poured small sample cups for my mother, little sister, and myself (because I can’t officially say that I don’t like it unless I try it). It was one awful smelly cup of blech to me and my mother wasn’t too tickled either. As for my little sister, her story is special too. She’s been sampling several teas that I bring over there and not once ever has she not liked one. Every tea is equally good in her book and I was determined to find something she didn’t like. Finally did. She didn’t even finish her sample, but gave it to Papa.

TTB-A Sample # 17
Smokey, minty, interesting.
The Lapsang is definitely the prominent prominent flavor, but I felt the mint in my sinuses too. Not bad, an interesting change of pace.

SMAUG. You are a funny one.