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Sipdown! Thank you so much to JennyFur for this tea!

Well. Today I’m feeling better. I’ve really been eyeing this tea, but I wanted to try it one last time before buying a 2 oz bag. Because I am the “computer-wiz” of the house, I am currently working on installing Windows 7 on my Dad’s iMac (which has been a nightmare so far). I decided this would be a good time to drink a tea which I already know I like. So, it is time for a break and I am going to brew up the rest of this tea!

I steeped a little under 2 tsp per 16 oz for 3:30 mins at 212. I am drinking this one in the “sister” to my favorite mug :) I adore my Disney slogans mug with Eeyore on it, and I recently received the Tiger version for Christmas! :D Now, back to the tea.

First sip:
This brewed the “pineapple yellow” I remember last time. Yum :) I wish I had more leaves to brew this with :( It needs more kick. The tea is perfection though. I love the flavors, just like last time. I am so glad I chose to brew this one for today. I really needed it.

Finishing off the cup:
Oh yes. This may be my new favorite tea gasp. I adore all of the flavors and it brews such a pretty color. This tea is just a cup of joy. I adore it.
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Overall, I will for sure be ordering this tea in the 2 oz size tonight. Wow, I love this tea. Love, love, love this tea. I really think this will be a tea I will use to get my friends into liking tea. It is soft enough that it wont be overwhelming and it has a cute name :) Again, thank you so much JennyFur for this tea!!

Sipdown! Thanks to JennyFur for this tea.

I’m sorry, I just need my earl grey fix for the day. This one called my name because of the creme. and I only make one cup instead of the usual two incase things don’t go as planned. If this is good I may have to go get some from Teavana because this tea is pretty inexpensive (which is a surprise with Teavana).

I steeped this for the recommended 195 (I found this odd because most black teas are at boiling, but I’ll go with it) for 3 minutes. Also, I put about a tablespoon of honey in (I haven’t used honey in a tea in forever, but desperate times call for desperate measures).

First sip:
Honey. Honey. Oh my, Honey. um…. Honey. And cold. Very cold. hmm…

Finishing off the cup:
Well, all the honey helped my throat. I could get hints of earl grey in there. I don’t know why it was so cold. I won’t rate this as that would be unfair to the tea :(. But it tasted good when I could taste it! Tasted light. I enjoyed that part. Too much honey to finish the cup though… opps.
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Overall, I messed up on this one x) The honey helped my throat though! I may get this anyway because its only 5 bucks for two ounces. Or maybe I’ll save a starbucks sample to get one ounce of this. Who knows :p I usually go into Teavana looking to get a cheap tea and seeing something that is over 20 dollars and using my sample on that instead.

Before I start, thanks to JennyFur for this one!

Well. I’m sick. Not throw-up sick, but sore throat just want to chill in bed sick. I decided to opt for some tea. I was sick earlier this week and got some earl grey and that didn’t help at all :( I saw this and the “honey” and “vanilla” caught my eye. Also, it looked small enough to be able to be steeped in my Aladdin travel mug. Perfect!

I steeped 1.5 tsp in 12 oz of water for the recommended time and temp of 5 mins @ 212. Gotta let it cool a bit first :P

First sip:
Well, there is a ton of debris in my cup. I don’t blame the tea, it was nearing the end of the bag. I’ll just make sure to leave a few sips left so I don’t drink up that debris. This brewed such a pretty dark amber, like a thick honey (fits the name :) ). Time to drink! Mmmmm, light and smooth, good for my throat. It tastes good too. A tad on the weaker side, though. This may be going on my reorder list! We’ll see

Finishing off the cup:
As I finish this, I am starting to get mixed feelings. There is a taste in this tea that just doesn’t hit the spot. Despite that, I like this tea because it is smooth and light enough that it doesn’t irritate my throat. Maybe I’ll get a different flavor honeybush. I like apricot jam so maybe I’ll get a sample size of the honeybush apricot.
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Overall, I enjoyed this one because it was good on my throat. However, there was a flavor that didn’t seem right. I’ll try another flavor of honeybush and see if that “fixes” the problem. I have enough left for another cup so I will maybe have that tomorrow if my bad throat persists.

I adore this! I got this at the Adagio store on State street in Chicago. I was a tad worried because I found it hard to open. But while making tea, I found it not too hard to open. I got it in a blue color, which I adore.

Pros:
This is so convenient for me! I love that I am able to stop steeping tea by just pulling up the lever. The lever is very secure and holds the basket in place. This keeps the tea hot for a long time (and thanks to the double layer, the cup is very easy to hold, just hot enough to keep my sensitive hands warm). I steeped my tea in here then drove 20 minutes, ate lunch while this was in my car in the cold Chicago weather (about 1 degree outside), and came back to a pleasantly warm cup of Earl Grey. the mouthpiece it super tight so I don’t see it leaking easily. Plus, It is so pretty to watch the tea steep in this. I steeped a herbal tea in here and the red swirls were so nice to look at!

Cons:
The only downside to this is that the strainer that holds the tea is a bit small. There isn’t much room for the tea to move around. When I opened it to clean it, the tea leaves completely filled the small basket. They could barely fit. I wouldn’t use tea that expands a lot. That’s okay for me though, because I mainly drink black teas. Also, this isn’t too much of a downside, but I have found one of the only ways to get the basket to drop when there is water in the cup is to open the part where you drink out of. Maybe its too hot in there and the pressure build up doesn’t allow the displacement of the water? I’ve only used boiling water in this, so I don’t know what would happen while steeping at lower temperatures. It isn’t that big of a deal, but a tad inconvenient. That will not stop me from using this.
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Overall, I love this and this is most likely the only tea travel mug that I will be using. Such a good idea and works really well. Not many cons to this, and the cons are not even that big of a deal!

Such a busy week! My friend came in from out of town so I had no time to drink tea :( He left last night, so this morning I decided to brew myself a cup of this, which I picked up downtown while we were down there. I really enjoy hibiscus (unlike some people, haha), so I was excited to try this.

I steeped at boiling (using my new PerfectTemp kettle! Yay!) for about 2 to 3 minutes.

First sip:
Such a rich color! Wow :p Hm, I don’t really taste hibiscus in this? I am not sure. I may have underbrewed it, but I didn’t want too bitter of a flavor. It is very light but also very good.

Finishing off the cup:
I really should have put some honey in here. My throat kills. I am just getting over a sore throat :(. It was a good cup, I may have to steep a tad bit longer or put in more leaves. I enjoyed this because it was very easy to drink. By this I mean that I was able to drink a lot at once. Some teas require me to take one sip at a time, but with this I could drink it like I would a bottle of water. I hope that makes sense haha.
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Overall, I enjoyed this tea. Next time I’ll steep just a little bit longer and add some more leaves. It was easy to drink and would be a good tea for when I don’t want a strong flavor. I’ll be reaching for this one in the future for sure.

Merry Christmas! This is the tea I received for Christmas! :) There is a ton of it in the tin!

I steeped this for about 6 minutes (I really should have done about 4) at boiling.

First sip:
Mmmmmm. Reminds me of Adagio’s popular Tardis blend. A tad different, less sweet, but very similar. Ouch, bitter, but that’s my fault :(. I have to pay attention better.

Finishing off the cup:
That was pretty good. I enjoyed that the flavors were not too strong in this tea. It was not overpowering and was good on my empty stomach. No flavor stood out to me. They all mixed will and the tea felt very cohesive because of that.
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Overall, I really enjoyed this tea and can’t wait to have another cup later tonight! I am glad this tea was an earl grey because I am a sagittarius and it fit my tastes well. I am just a bit disappointed that my Tardis blend from Adagio is almost the exact same. This one had red flowers instead of blue and yellow accents featured in Tardis. :) Note to self: pay attention to steeping time!

Time for another tea! My scarf is almost done, but I’ve decided to make another after this. Thank you to JennyFur for this tea. I love earl grey teas, so I have high hopes.

I steeped this one at boiling for 4 minutes. I ended up using about 3 teaspoons for 16 oz. I only steep 16 oz at a time, so I just decided to use the whole sample bag thing.

First sip:
Very nice! So smooth. It isn’t too harsh and isn’t overwhelmed with flavor. It is a good balance between the flavor and the actual tea. There is no bitter flavor at all.

Finishing off the cup:
I am very happy with this one! The flavor was so refreshing and not too heavy. Really solid tea. It knew what it was. I loved this.
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Overall, I loved this tea. I won’t be buying it any time soon though because I have so many earl grey teas to finish off. I will keep it in mind if I ever end up running out of earl x).

Crunch time for Christmas! I have a scarf to finish crocheting so I decided I would go for a black tea to accompany me on this journey. Thanks to JennyFur for this tea :).

I steeped this for 3 minutes at boiling. I actually didn’t forget about my tea this time! Also, the leaves in this one expanded very nicely.

First sip:
Hm. It tastes a bit bitter to me, but not too bad. I better look up what is in this blend. uh, natural flavors. I taste some flavors in there, haha.

Finishing off the cup:
I don’t think it tastes too bitter anymore. It is more of a sharp taste. It isn’t my favorite, but it isn’t bad. It is just different. It is a tea I would drink again, however.
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Overall, not bad. I’ve had better, I’ve had worse. I don’t think I would crave this, but I will have it again.

I tasted this tea and got a 1 oz sample with my Starbucks Rewards while I was at the mall today buying myself some stuff from Bath and Body Works. I had to stop there because they have a candle called “London Calling” which is scented like tea and lemon. It smells like black tea :). Sadly, I’m pretty sure it is discontinued. I am lucky that I found it! I got the last one and it was a buy one get one free sale so I also picked up the “Espresso Bar” candle. Opps, I’m getting a bit carried away, back to the tea!

I steeped this for about 6-7 minutes at boiling. I did the recommended 1.5 teaspoons per 8 oz.

First Sip:
Much weaker than when I had it in the store. But, I was expecting that. They are very generous with their tea in the samples. I am still undecided.

Finishing off the cup:
This tastes very thin. I get the crispness of the peppermint with the slight sweet undertones of the chocolate. The peppermint is the dominating force in this tea. Some sips were a little too heavy on the peppermint. I didn’t add any sugar because of the chocolate, but maybe next time I will in order to recreate the taste in the store.
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Overall, not too bad. I am disappointed it was not as strong as I thought it should be. I plan to use the rest of this as a late night tea because it wont keep me up. This will also be a dessert tea. Maybe I could have this after a fish course or something, due to the delicate flavor of this.

EDIT:
I changed my mind, this tea has too much peppermint in it. It is hard to drink. Way too “cooling” for a winter drink. Maybe this will work when I am sick or when it is summertime.

Before I start, s/o to JennyFur for this one again!

Because midterms are finally over, I have found time to make tea -. I have been daydreaming about this one, so I thought it was fitting to celebrate both the end of finals and my birthday with it :D.

I don’t know the temperature I steeped at ~ it was hot, haha.
I believe I steeped for around 4 minutes! oops, I got distracted cleaning my room.

First sip:
Wow, this isn’t strong at all for a black tea! The tea turned out a “pineapple” yellow (haha, fitting, no?). That was a shock to the usually darker amber teas I make. I used a teaspoon for 8 ounces, so next time maybe I’ll do a teaspoon and a half. But, with a second look at the tea, I’d say only 3/4 of the mix is the actual black tea leaves. However, I don’t mind it being “weak”. It doesn’t taste watered down at all. It is actually quite refreshing :). Sometimes it is nice to have a softer black tea.

Finishing off the cup:
This is AMAZING. I love that the flavors don’t taste fake :) I had the Teavana Kona Pop while I was at the mall and I had to throw the cup full of tea away because it tasted so much like canned pineapple. This one tastes so smooth. I adore this tea. I have not drunk tea so fast in forever haha -.
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Overall, I love this tea! This may have to go in my “Wishlist” folder on my bookmarks bar to buy after Christmas. I could for sure go for another cup of this. Luckily I have enough tea to fill my 16 oz mug once more. I may have to just save this one for Christmas day. Thank you so much again JennyFur for this one! It is awesome!