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Last cup of tea for the evening. I’ve been pretty lazy all day today, and spent the majority of the day reading in bed with the dog and cats. (I’m reading the Montmarary Journals series – anyone else read it? I got into it before I realized it was young adult, but it is wonderful and now I’m obsessed!) I’m almost ready for tomorrow to be Monday and a little productivity!

I’ve enjoyed this Decaf Raspberry for awhile, and it is a nice cup to have before bed. It tends to me a little bland and mildly flavored, but with a little milk and sweetener it becomes a soft raspberry-flavored cup. It is satisfying, too, if you like a little something sweet in the evening.

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with pieces of green raspberry leaves and dried raspberries.
-Dry leaves smell like sweet raspberry. Tea liquor aroma is malty with a hint of raspberry.
-Tea liquor is a clear very dark brown color.
-Very soft raspberry and jammy flavor and finish. Light and wispy fresh raspberry aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A delicately flavored cup with a light juicy raspberry taste.

My tea goal for this summer was to get through all of my loose-leaf teas to rate them and get them organized in my tea drawer. I did a quick count this morning, and if I drink just 2 teas a day I will finish them just in time before I go back to school. That way I can purchase new teas and not feel so guilty. The hard part is that some of the teas that I have left I just have no desire to try, but I am going to keep an open mind.

This is a tea that I’ve had for awhile. It is a nice tea, especially for breakfast, but nothing really stands out about it to me. I like for my plain, unflavored black teas to be super strong, and this one is just plain and mellow. I did enjoy some shortbread cookies with it this morning, and that made this cup so much better! Cookies always make things better, though. :)

-Dry blend has large black and brown tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell malty with a hint of sweet cocoa. Tea liquor aroma has malty and fruity notes.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium reddish brown color.
-Mellow malty flavor and finish. Velvety aftertaste with sweet fruity notes.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Fair tea. A mellow and plain flavored cup with subtle hints of malty cocoa and sweet fruits. Nothing really outstanding about this tea.

Another tea from The Traveling Tea Box that I am just now getting to. I didn’t know what to expect from the first sip, because the dry leaves smell like artificial root beer, while the tea’s aroma is of spicy cinnamon with a hint of vanilla. The first sip surprised me, because it really does taste like root beer! Well, an artificial canned soda tasting root beer. I am not getting much of the vanilla ice cream flavor from this cup, although adding milk and a little sugar brings out more of a creamy vanilla flavor. I’m actually really enjoying this cup! I have just enough left to save for my fiancee, who adores root beer!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with pieces of cinnamon and flavoring and small orange petals.
-Dry leaves smell like artificial root beer. Tea liquor aroma is of spicy cinnamon with a hint of vanilla.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy medium yellow brown color with a film on top.
-Spicy root beer flavor and finish. Artificial root beer soda aftertaste with a note of creamy vanilla.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Spicy root beer flavor with a hint of creamy vanilla ice cream. Slightly artificial taste, like canned root beer soda.

Evening cup of tea. This is actually from The Traveling Tea Box that I didn’t have time to sample before I mailed the box to Claire. I’m becoming somewhat more tolerant of rooibos blends, mostly because I’ve had so many lately that the rooibos flavor wasn’t noticeable in at all. The dry leaves for this tea have a sugary caramel aroma with a hint of rooibos. The steeped tea is rooibos and sweet caramel. Sadly, the rooibos is definitely noticeable in the taste. It’s a smooth mediciney kind of flavor with a candy caramel taste. The aftertaste is light and creamy, but with a lingering rooibos note. Adding milk and sweetener makes for a nice, creamy cup but does little to dull the rooibos flavor. I really want to like this tea, but the rooibos aftertaste just doesn’t do it for me. I’m glad that I got to try this one, though!

-Dry blend has red rooibos with pieces of caramel.
-Dry leaves smell of sugary caramel with a hint of rooibos. Tea liquor aroma is of rooibos and sweet caramel.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark reddish brown color.
-Smooth mediciney rooibos and candy caramel flavor and finish. Light creamy aftertaste with a lingering note of rooibos.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Fair tea. Creamy caramel flavor with an unfortunate lingering rooibos taste.

Flea crisis averted! The foster kittens have the instant acting flea medicine on and are happily out of the bathroom roaming around again. Our cats have flea medicine on just in case. And there is table salt sprinkled on the upstairs carpets just in case of any rogue fleas (they eat the salt and die – works like a charm and no chemicals!) Feeling much calmer this afternoon, and even was able to go to the pool with my mom for a quick swim!

This is my last new Harneys tea to try from my recent order. I thought about getting the Scottish Breakfast, because I like breakfast teas. But this one is supposed to be more mellow, and I already have a tin of another company’s Scottish Breakfast. WOW is this strong! The dry leaves smell just lightly malty, and the tea smells super sweet and malty, so I wasn’t quite ready for that first strong sip. I steeped this for 5 minutes according to the instructions, but I think I would bump it back to 4 minutes to hopefully avoid any bitterness. The flavor is smooth with a robust finish. The aftertaste is lightly bitter. Not horribly, though, and milk and sweetener does tone down the bitterness. Overall I like this blend! Even though this is an ‘afternoon’ tea I think it would be perfect in the morning to wake up instantly with the first sip (yes, it’s that strong!).

-Dry blend has small brown granules of tea leaves with tiny pieces of green tea leaves.
-Dry leaves smell faintly malty. Tea liquor aroma is sweet and malty.
-Tea liquor is a clear very dark reddish brown color.
-Smooth flavor with a robust finish. Lightly bitter aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A robust cup with a slightly sweet and malty flavor.

When I first discovered tea a few years ago and converted my fiancee and my mom to become tea lovers, I thought it was so neat that Adagio would let you create your own tea blends and put your picture of choice on the packaging. For Christmas one year I created a blend for my mom and one for my fiancee, and thus Gary’s Crazy Little Cat Tea was born. My fiancee is a closet cat lover, and when I brought our first scrawny, flea-ridden, ghetto kitten home it was love at first sight! So what better name and picture for the tea than an ode to his love for our first cat, who is a very crazy cat from being born in the ghetto and locked (accidentally) in the fridge as a kitten.

Sadly, I wished the tea had been all I had hoped for. I was going for a chocolate-chip cookie type of flavor (like 52 Teas’ Milk & Cookies, which I discovered after the fact). This instead is a cup of bitterness with a little chocolate and vanilla thrown in. It does become better with milk and sweetener, and surprisingly it is amazing when prepared iced! We ran out of our usual fruity ice tea blends one day and I randomly threw some of this in the tea pitcher and it just about knocked our socks off! It’s like a glass of cool, malty, chocolatiness when served over ice. At least my custom blend wasn’t a complete bust! (The blend that I made for my mom was a coffee-like blend and it was surprisingly amazing!)

What a night last night turned out to be! I spent all day deep-cleaning the house and also did my monthly litterbox scrubbing and dog and cat bathing (yes, we bathe our cats. no, they don’t absolutely hate it). I bathed our greyhound, our 2 cats, our older foster kitten and then started to bathe the 2 new Siamese kittens that came to us on Wednesday. Lo and behold, they have fleas. Not many, but even one is way too many for me. None of my pets have ever had fleas, except the kitten we rescued from the ghetto and I picked every flea off of her the minute we got her home. The kittens also have terrible ear mites. I immediately contacted the humane society director last night and waited and waited . . . and no response. Have also emailed her this morning . . . no response. I am now finding new fleas on the kittens that have hatched and am about to go out and just buy flea medicine for them myself. Needless to say, a very angry cat lover (aforementioned fiancee) will be calling the humane society. I am just in shock that they beg us to take in these kittens and from the looks of their ears they’ve had ear mites for awhile. The last litter we got from them had horrible ear mites too. It’s time to find a new rescue to foster through. And the little sweeties are confined to the bathroom, furiously scratching their ears, not understanding why they can’t come out and play. And I will be cleaning again. All day. Because fleas are just nasty and now I feel like they are everywhere (even though they’re not!)

Whew, I apologize for the long rant. Animal rescue is just a messy business, even though it’s my favorite thing in the world. One way or another these little Siamese kittens will be flea and ear mite free before the day is over!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with small chocolate chips and cocoa nibs.
-Dry leaves smell malty and chocolatey. Tea liquor aroma is of strong black tea with hints of vanilla and chocolate.
-Tea liquor is a thick very dark brown color.
-Bitter black tea flavor and finish. Light creamy chocolate aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. A bitter cup. Milk and sweetener dulls the bitterness. Best prepared as an iced tea.

I’m really surprised that I’ve never had this tea before. It is delicious and here is another Harney’s tea that I’d like to purchase in a tin. The peppermint definitely takes the stage with this tea, but there is a wispy chocolate flavor noticeable. It is very refreshing and would be perfect for a calming cup after dinner. Obviously it’s good for breakfast, too, as I’m really enjoying this cup right now. It’s super sweet and satisfies my sweet tooth!

Since we only have one foster kitten left from the first litter we fostered, I went to pick up a new litter yesterday. It’s two tiny Siamese kittens are they are just beautiful! The little girl came right out of the carrier and started following me around everywhere. Our cats can be a tough crowd to walk into at first, but these little kittens showed no fear and have been exploring all morning! Our cats take a few days to warm up to new kittens, so I’m sure they will all be playing and tearing the house up before long. I say this about every kitten, but these two are so cute I may be tempted to adopt one! Or both!

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves with small pieces of green mint leaves.
-Dry leaves smell strongly minty with just a hint of milk chocolate. Tea liquor aroma is of peppermint with a note of chocolate maltiness.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color.
-Sweet milk chocolate and mint flavor and finish. Cooling peppermint and wispy chocolate aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Refreshing mint flavor with a hint of chocolate. Perfect after dinner cup.

Today is a happy day. I stayed up late last night finishing the final exam for my summer class and am officially done! It was an online class, but was so much more work than I was expecting so I am relieved that it is over. Now I have three weeks left of summer to enjoy before starting nursing school. I plan on reading a ton of books, drinking a ton of tea (hopefully getting through all of the untried teas in my cabinet) and having one last beach trip with my mom. :)

This tea is from The Traveling Tea Box. I didn’t get a chance to try it until now since I wanted to get it in the mail before leaving for the beach last week. When I opened the little container a sweet florally scent wafted out. There was a little hint of Earl Grey in the dry leaves, but none at all in the tea liquor. The flavor is very floral. The aftertaste is heavily of rose with a light note of bergamot. I added milk and sweetener this tea became a smooth cup. It’s primarily jasmine and rose flavored, but I can taste the bergamot peeking through every once in awhile. I would love this tea for the scent alone, though, so it’s a winner!

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves and twigs with pink and yellow rose petals.
-Dry leaves smell floral with a hint of Earl Grey. Tea liquor aroma is heavily perfumey with jasmine and rose notes.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium orange brown color.
-Floral flavor with an astringent finish. Rose and light bergamot aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A smooth cup of mostly jasmine and rose flavors. Little hints of bergamot noticeable.

I had a cup of this yesterday afternoon. Sadly, I wasn’t impressed. It reminded me of a cup of warm water with a little berry flavor in the background. I’m glad that I just bought a tagalong tin of this in my recent Harneys order. I’m going to have to make a cup for the fiancee when he gets home and see if he likes it any better.

-Silken pyramid teabag.
-Teabag smells of green tea and tart berries. Tea liquor aroma is very faintly of sweet berries.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium green color.
-Fresh vegetal green tea flavor and finish. Extremely light tart berry aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Poor tea. Very weak flavored cup. Tastes like warm water with a faint berry flavor.

I added a sample of this tea to my Harneys order on a whim, and after smelling it, I am so glad that I did! The dry leaves smell heavily of sweet and mellow cranberries – like fresh cranberries. There is also a note of underlying almond in there too. The tea reminds me of the way a cranberry almond scone smells. I’m loving that the cranberry smells so real, with no artificialness. The flavor is malty and slightly tart from the cranberry. I was wondering if the cranberry would be too tart, since that is what comes to mind when I think about cranberry flavored things, but it’s just a little sharp tartness. The aftertaste is a light, sweet cranberry flavor with a little nutty almond flavor. Adding milk and sugar makes this the perfect cup of tea – smooth and slightly creamy with all of the flavors blending together well. I think I will be ordering a tin of this one!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell heavily of sweet and mellow cranberry with a hint of almond. Tea liquor aroma is of a fresh baked cranberry almond scone.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium brown color.
-Malty and slightly tart cranberry flavor and finish. Light sweet cranberry and nutty almond aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Excellent tea. A smooth cup with sweet cranberry and nutty almond. Flavors are perfectly balanced.