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Another new tea from Vitacost! You can call me the Tulsi Mama!

I steeped this for around 5 minutes or so – it has a nice minty clove flavor from the tulsi. I’m not sure what the gotu kola is contributing here, but it is supposed to be a good herb for memory.

I am enjoying the flavor combination here, nice and mellow. I wish I had some of this yesterday… it’s so calming. :)

It’s cloudy this morning and I did not sleep a wink last night, but must somehow get it together to go to work and toil away on a big, complicated project.

Thanks to Mandala tea, I have my own Morning Sun today. :)

The wise man J. Krishnamurti once said, “One has to be a light to oneself”

Trying to stay positive and keeping on! what else can you do?

Thanks to all my Steepster friends for the supportive thoughts, it really means a lot to me.

I’m not in a great mood today because it looks like the BF and I have broken up for good, I am feeling very sad but I think it is actually for the best if we just go our separate ways.

I have noticed one thing I enjoy about tea is the ability it has to ground me and provide me with something pleasant to look forward to. I’m revisiting this sample today and it is very light and pleasant. Somehow I am not feeling much bitterness in this tea, only a light floral taste with a hint of coconut.

Ajahn Chah has written a book called “Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away: Teachings on Impermanence and the End of Suffering”. It was a great book that got me through my divorce so I think I will spend some time reading it today and try to do some quiet things.

I might need to get more of this tea, just for helping me out through a painful time. ;)

Happy 4th of July, U.S. Steepsters!!!

Tea of the morning here (in teabag form). Not at home again and the BF picked it out. Still, it’s pretty good even for a teabag. Some nice malty notes provided by the assam, while the ceylon lends a bit of brightness. It’s good with a splash of soymilk but I did not feel the need to add sugar to it. This used to be a cupboard staple for me before I got into highfalutin teas. Still, I might buy more someday if I could manage to clear the space in my cupboards. :)

Finishing off the rest of this sample today. I learned if you oversteep this, it is truly terrible. I got a second steep out of the leaves which I am enjoying a lot…

Anyone who reads my tea log knows I’m a fan of tulsi! I ordered some stuff from Vitacost recently and decided to throw this in the mix. I know I could just add tulsi to my green tea, but I thought this would be good to have around the office (note: I got the loose leaf tin).

The instructions say steep 3-5 minutes in boiling water, but I was skeptical so I went for a slightly lower temp.

This is really nice! Might be my favorite from Organic India thus far. After inspecting the wet leaf, I would say there is more tulsi than green tea in here. You definitely get the distinctive flavor of minty/clove from the tulsi but there also seems to be a lemony element in here. I’m not sure what the green tea is, certainly it’s nothing fancy but it does mellow out the flavor of tulsi a bit and provides a nice vegetal element. It’s a good blend, simple but effective. The only caveat is the tulsi leaves are ground up very fine and it got kind of messy in the infuser and the sink.

Tulsi always helps me to relax – and I bet this would be really good iced also, will have to try it that way someday…

Sample of the morning from Upton Tea Imports. :)

I may have steeped this for too long, I kinda lost track of time. I was just reading the other’s tasting notes and a few have remarked how it smells and tastes like darjeeling, honestly I am not picking that up here…

It’s a very strong black tea, I suspect it’s a keemun blend with some ceylon in it, perhaps. There’s a very faint bit of smoke in here. I was able to drink it plain but I also found the flavor to be flat and muddy (and that is how I feel about keemuns in general), so a bit of soymilk perked it right up and made it better. I still don’t taste any darjeeling but if I do a shorter steep, that may become more prominent. Luckily I have enough of the sample for a few more cups.

This is a good morning time tea, dark and strong but I prefer the Russian Country from Harney and Sons.

Thanks to Mercuryhime for this sample! I was a little confused as to what a Guranse was until I read Bonnie’s tasting note a few days ago and then I knew I needed to try it. Teas from Nepal and Darjeeling are among my favorites!

I steeped this for 3 minutes in my tetsubin — I still haven’t found anything to replace the glass teapot I broke. One thing you can say for cast iron is it’s very durable and will stand up to a spaz like me.

I’m getting a medium orange liquor which is very mellow and smooth. I can definitely sense the malt and a hint of tobacco but there is a delightful fruitiness present as well, lots of peaches! The flavor is mostly sweet with a tiny bit of astringency at the end, but nothing too bothersome. I’m sipping on this plain and it’s yummy, but it could also accommodate a pinch of sugar, if you prefer. I think milk would ruin the delicate flavor here.

I certainly wouldn’t mind having this tea around but I have quite a backlog from the region already. :)

Trying to drink some more of my samples – wish me luck. :D

I received this mysterious oolong from Indigobloom – hmm. What kind of an oolong is it and where does it come from? It looks to be a tieguanyin of some sort. I guess we’ll never know…

For an inexpensive price, this is a decent cup of tea. smells fresh and aromatic after steeping. I got a yellowish tea liquor that seems a bit nutty, also with a floral element.

Second steep is similar to the first. I am getting a whiff of an aroma which makes me think this tea is partially roasted. I am picking up a bit of peachy element in here. It’s fairly pleasant overall but seems to be missing that WOW factor that I am always looking for in an oolong.

I think I’ll try cold brewing the rest of it overnight to see what happens. Thanks for the sample, IB! I appreciate you sharing with me.

I almost didn’t buy this because of the goofy cat, but I like green teas and adore lemony flavored things so I finally gave in. Shipping was very fast (Thank you, Frank) and I decided to steep some of this up after lunch.

It definitely smells lemony in the package and then after I smell the wet leaf, I’m thinking, “Huh, this really does smell like lemon pound cake.”

I’m liking this as it cools down. I don’t know if it tastes like lemon pound cake to me, but it is yummy. I am thinking it is more like a lemon tart. I like the green tea base here, which is very light and soft and really allows the lemon yumminess to shine through. To me, it smells more marshmallow-y than it tastes, but I like it nonetheless! Compared to the lemon cardamom chun mee, it’s not as zesty, it’s definitely on the softer side. I am going to have to try this with a little soymilk added, I bet it would also be really good iced.

When I’ve had cloud mist teas on their own they seem a little boring, but it works well as the base for this.

Frank you are terrific with these lemon blends. I will enjoy this with no problem. :)