260 Tasting Notes
I love this tea. I have discovered that as good as it is served without additions, it’s even more amazing as a latte! I’ve tried it with oat milk and whipping cream – it’s good with either but I preferred the whipping cream. So amazing! The flavors are not obscured by the milk, it just enhances the creaminess. So it tastes even more like butter pecan ice cream when I add the dairy.
YUM! A perfect first cuppa – this is just what I needed this morning.
This is one of my all-time favorites from Frank’s era, so I was happy to reblend it for our anniversary month (June) – like an anniversary gift to me.
I cold brewed this overnight, and it did not disappoint. Sweet, juicy peach flavor & smooth banana flavor. I love it!
Currently sipping this one – yes, it’s extremely late (or early, depending on how you look at it) for me, it’s actually about mid-day because my sleep schedule is off. And this tea makes a wonderful afternoon tea!
Lots of blueberry flavor, a bright note of lemon & a fluffy, marshmallow-y softness in the background. So nice.
Hey everyone! First of all – the website is back up (finally!) It took 11 days to get the new website up and running, and there’s still some work to do, but the essential stuff is complete! Yay!
I cold-brewed this tea overnight – and it was so refreshing!
A nice blueberry burst! Deliciously fruity, the banana offers a smooth background flavor, the hint of lime accents the blueberry nicely.
This was our tea of the week for June 5. This one came out exactly the way I hoped it would – soft, smooth & creamy with just the right touch of sweet mango. I was inspired by our Mango Ice Cream Black Tea – but I wanted to use a green tea base this time around.
The vanilla is very creamy & plays well with the Chinese Sencha base which has a natural buttery note to it. The mango is sweet with just a hint of tartness to brighten up the cup. Really nice. This is especially good iced.
Currently sipping this one iced! (Cold-brewed)
This was a tea of the week from last month (July) – and I’m doing my best to get caught up with my work after being unable to do much of anything while I had the flu for about 10 days. I slept a lot (which is good) but I couldn’t really do anything – and I guess it’s better that I didn’t do anything while sick.
I used 2 different Fujian black teas for this blend – together, they created a very smooth tasting tea that made an ideal base for the sweet flavors of plum & peach. So, I loaded the tea with freeze dried peaches & plums, and wow! This is good. So refreshing – a perfect summertime tea.
Since we’ve been experiencing a heat wave over the past few days (well, over the past few weeks, really, but it’s gotten over 100 degrees over the last couple of days and I DON’T like it!) So with the heat, it’s nice to have a refreshing iced tea like this! One good thing about summer: iced tea!
I reblended it! Yay! This is a VIT blend (that is to say, it will not be part of the teas of the week thing) – it was reblended as part of my fundraising efforts. (You can read more about that on my website, at the top of the homepage, you’ll see a fundraising link – it will take you to the page to learn more about why I’m fundraising.) Anyway, this tea is available – it will be packaged up in a few days (after I get all the subscription packages completed) – and shipped out on or after July 31.
The flavor is so nice. I’m generally hesitant to blend with cherry because there’s a fine line between delicious and medicinal & it’s really easy to cross that line! But, I didn’t cross it this time – this is sweet & juicy with creamy vanilla notes & a touch of brandy. So good!
Our Tea of the Week for May 8, 2023! I was inspired to create this tea based off a cocktail recipe called the “Blood Orange Pineapple Rum cocktail”. That’s a bit too wordy & precise for my liking – let’s face it, it’s not as cute or clever as Fuzzy Navel or Harvey Wallbanger. There’s absolutely nothing cute or clever about “Blood Orange Pineapple Rum Cocktail.” I thought for a while about calling it the BOP Cocktail – but that just sounded – ugh.
So, lacking a cute or clever cocktail name for this delicious concoction, I decided to simply call it Cute & Clever Cocktail. Bonus: The name Cute & Clever Cocktail fits better on the space on the pouch labels than does Blood Orange Pineapple Rum Cocktail.
Anyway – you might be asking why did I even go with this combination if I didn’t have a name for it? Answer: I wanted something delicious with rum, pineapple and blood orange.
You might also be asking why I’m going on like this. Answer: I don’t know.
What I do know is that I love this tea. I cold-brewed it overnight and I’m in love with it. It’s fruity & I love the way the pineapple & blood orange work together. The rum essence (alcohol free) is not particularly strong, I didn’t want it too strong because I wanted the pineapple & blood orange to be the main focus – but it’s strong enough that I can taste it.
It’s really good. I can’t recommend cold-brew enough for this tea – so very refreshing.
This was the tea of the week for the first week of May, and I’ve already almost finished my personal stash of this tea. Yes, it’s that good. I love the way the bold flavor of the Assam works with the smooth sweetness of the coconut & vanilla. It’s a good wake-up kind of tea – it’s got the strength I’m looking for in a wake-me-up tea but it’s also pleasantly sweet and creamy.
Currently sipping this tea – I crafted this as the April 17 tea of the week. When I crafted it, I was inspired by spring. When I think of spring – I think of hummingbirds, because my gramma used to have several little hummingbird feeders out – and as soon as the jacaranda trees started to bloom, she would start filling the feeders and we’d watch the hungry hummingbirds devour the magical liquid she’d put in the feeders – in the area that she lived (Garden Grove, CA) they would empty three feeders in 24 hours! Gramma’s magic would bring all the hummingbirds to the yard.
I’ve never actually tried a hummingbird cake (at least, not to my recollection) but I like the idea of a pineapple, coconut and pecan cake. It sounds delicious. So, I decided to try to create something like that in tea form. Since honeybush has a natural nuttiness and slight spicy tone to it, I thought it would make the perfect base – then I added pineapple & coconut & some nut-free pecan essence, plus some allspice & freshly shaved nutmeg to give it a pleasant spiced note.
It all comes together rather nicely. I didn’t try to turn this into a “cake” creation, but rather, something inspired by the idea of a hummingbird cake, with some of the featured flavors of the cake also featured in this blend (like pineapple, coconut & pecan). I cold-brewed a jar of it and it makes a really tasty iced tea. Compared to the hot tea version, I think that the cold brew has a stronger nutty & spicy flavor with hints of the fruit mingling in the background. As a hot tea, I notice more of the fruit. Both ways are delicious – although, I might prefer this one hot better than iced.
