Elyse's Blend

Tea of the morning…..

Yes, I am alive. I have had the flu, which is always so expected three weeks after having a flu shot. I think this is actually the first time this has happened, so it was probably my turn. I am on the mend, but still have an annoying cough.

Anyway, a great wake me up tea with a little sweetness and a little something “kicks you in the pants”-ish. I almost always do a shorter steep on this one, and am even thinking of going lower than the three minutes I did today next time…..

Tea of the afternoon….

I have not had this one in a while. I just love the honey flavoring in this one. Very good!

Tea of the afternoon…. I am almost out of this! Gah! Thankfully, I have a tin on its way.

Honeyed smooth tea. Very relaxing, and just good. I don’t get the bite of the Assam this time, but I did lower the amount of leaves from the last few steeps. I also think my water was not quite as hot…..

24 oz teapot, 3 1/2 actual tsp tea, water at about 195, 4 minutes. Lightly sweetened.

My tea of the morning. I have been following mrawlins2 drinking this so I had to pull mine out for today. This makes a great morning tea for me. And the shorter steep really helps. I will definitely need more soon! It is bolder than the blacks I usually drink, and the honey flavor just rounds it out perfectly.

24 oz teapot, 4 actual tsp tea, freshly boiled water, 3 minutes. Resteep coming up!

My second breakfast tea…. Nice and hearty base with the light sweetness of honey. Definitely a favorite.

Not my favorite; the honey flavor is awfully strong and can turn on you, but I’ve learned the work-around for this one. Light touch on time, temp, and measurement.

Added a spoonful of mate and a splash of milk this morning—both helped to tone down the honey flavor, which is a little strongish for my unsweetened preference. Mate for energy; milk for calcium…I believe this would now count as a nutritional drink.

Thought this one might have a bit of a throat-coat effect because of the honey element; sniffles + dry air = raspy and ratchety.

I’m discovering that this one, when left to sit in the tumbler a while, bitters up pretty quickly. Note to self: drink it fast.

This afternoon was a Queen Catherine kind of afternoon, but I’m out of the Queen! So, what to do but invite the Queen’s friend, Elyse, over for tea to help me regain my strength, sanity, and good mood. Seriously, this tea is putting me in my place while also being understanding and soothing. I think I will need quite a bit of tea tonight, though, to really feel like myself again.

This tea was just the thing to help me wake up on a lazy Saturday morning. The robust, yet honey sweet flavor went remarkably well with my egg and bacon breakfast. I was out of milk this morning so I added a bit of eggnog in its place and this is a pretty great combination.

Starting my day with a big 24 oz pot of Elyse’s Blend with a bit of sugar and milk! It paired delightfully with my breakfast of waffles with strawberry jam and banana slices – and is now perfect by itself in a large mug in a quiet room.

SIPDOWN #2!

Although this is a good, stout tea I’m deducting a few points because it is quite bitter today and not as good as I remember it. Perhaps it was old or was broken up a bit more at the bottom of the tin but I’m not sure if I’ll finish the pot.

Okay, a bit of milk helps to tone down the bitterness and bring out a nice maltiness. I’ll finish the pot but I don’t think I’ll be restocking.

And the great luck with this tea continues! So much, in fact, that I find myself reaching for this blend every chance that I get. My other teas are going to get jealous! Anyway, today the tea is very much the lovely honeyed biscuit flavor that I love. Love, love, love!!! So, so good this morning! Hopefully it will help get me up and going for all the errands I need to get done.

Okay, so my great luck with this tea last night wasn’t just luck. It is delish this morning also! Maybe it was a fresh batch when I got it and needed to mellow out a bit. But no matter why it is so much better to me now, the fact is that I like it way more than I did. This tea deserves a slight rating boost. It is so, so rich, hearty, honey sweet, bready that I just can’t stand it!

I like this a lot more than I did a week or two ago. I used a short steep time combined with a bit of cream and sugar which turned this hefty tea into a smoother, hefty tea. This is almost like a dessert tea tonight, just perfection. If I continue to enjoy this tea this much, a rating increase may be in order.

I have been inspired by all the posts involving cheese toast! This is my afternoon tea that is delightful paired with muenster cheese on whole wheat toast with coarse honey dijon mustard. SO good!!

This is a great wake-up tea for those mornings you just can’t get going. Today is one of those mornings for me, but even this awesomely strong tea isn’t helping enough. I does taste heavily of honeyed goodness though, so I guess not all is lost.

Nothing else would do this morning! I was feeling quite tired and lazy, but Elyse helped me much the way Queen Catherine used to – perking me up and MAKING me get going. Today Elyse is honeyed biscuit perfection and I am loving it!

I needed something bracing today so naturally I reached for the most bracing tea in my cupboard at the moment. I only steeped this for about 3 minutes today which reveals a strong yet smooth tea that is perfect for this morning. Now, if only this tea will inspire me to be somewhat productive today…

I cold brewed this tea for about 24 hours and I really, really like this tea prepared this way! Taken without additions, this tea is earthy, smooth, and has a natural sweetness from the honey flavoring. This is a very easy to drink iced tea and I think this tea may be cold-brewed for the remainder of the tin. Delicious and perfect!

I think I’ve finally figured out how to best prepare this tea for myself. I brewed up a pot at slightly under boiling water for only 3:30 minutes. I then added a bit of honey and half and half. I’m loving it this way! The tea base shines and all the different tea types blend wonderfully. I can’t really pick out one from another which I’ve found rare in many tea blends. The honey note is floral and delicious. I think this is definitely the way I will continue preparing this tea.

The second infusion is just as full-bodied as the first. Absolutely delicious and creamy. I love it!

When I read what was in this blend, I thought it might be perfect for cold brew, especially since the assam in it is sometimes a little too assertive for me. This is soooo good. Just went to Sam’s Club and when I got back to my car the external temp reading said 106! I know it was elevated from being in a parking lot in full sun, but still…iced was the way to go today!

The great part – I actually failed to get this tea out of the fridge until the leaves had been sitting there for three days! (This is a resteep mostly with a few fresh leaves added a la JacquelineM’s recommendation!) And it isn’t bitter at all. The honey flavor has taken on a decidedly floral tone to me, but not in a bad or cloying way – just in a fresh, summery way!

We served this at tea party today, and I must say it was not very well received. I ended up drinking most of it just to get rid of it and to allow the guests to have more of their favorite teas! I added a good bit of milk to smooth out the astringency of this tea. I didn’t do the steeping of this and the person making it didn’t know to cut the time down a good bit. I had really loved this at one time, but I am just not feeling it anymore. SimplyJenW, would you like to take in about four soon to be homeless ounces of this? I think it is one you liked.

This is a hit or miss tea for me, and today was a miss. I have had it and nearly swooned, and had it when it was rather unpleasant, and I am sure it is ALL ME! I did cool my water a bit to stave off bitterness, I didn’t let it steep as long as I do most black teas, but I still didn’t manage to recreate that heavenly taste from before.

Something is messing with my tea mojo on this one! The first time I tried it I was in LOVE with it. I sent some to Sandy along with samples of some French teas (Damman Freres) and she preferred this one. But again today I have done something wrong in the steeping parameters somewhere. It is just a tad astringent and not as sweet. Perhaps I need to cut my steeping time and lower the water temp a tad. It is a good tea, but it isn’t making me swoon like the first time I had it, and it is probably my fault!

I liked this one more the first time I tried it, but I think this was our fault! We oversteeped it a little and for me an assam needs to be UNDERsteeped if anything! Still, it is a good tea!

I had a bad, bad, bad, bad day. I needed something to comfort me, pat my shoulder and say “there, there” and make me feel pampered. Alas! I was out of Coquelicot Gourmand which would have done perfectly! But then I remembered how very generous this sample was, and thought I could get another whole pot of tea out of it. I did, and still have some left – oh happiness! This honeyed tea is so smooth and sweet, so full of body that it reminds of Coquelicot in some ways. It really did the trick tonight, especially paired with the cake recipe Jacqueline sent a while back that I had whipped up after supper. YUMMY! And this is going on my next Harney order. I also want to try mixing 2 tsps. of Elyse leaves with 1 tsp. of Paris to see if I get a loose leaf version of Tower of London. Can’t wait!