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My boyfriend brought me back some teas from Tanzania to try! Does he know me or what? Anyway I was pretty excited to try this. The other two I got are spiced with ginger and lemongrass. They don’t have maker’s labels on them so I’m not sure what company is responsible for them. I may not add those to the database.

So the label says this was grown in the Usambara mountains without any pesticides. It is very fine and small leaf of the CTC variety. The cardamom is fine and powdery. It took a while for all the water to drain out of my Adagio tea maker.

Anyway I was worried about this one, since I find CTC’s can be very strong and harsh. The tea isn’t though, yay! It definitely has the flavor of a Kenya tea (the countries are right next to each other). Though some Kenya teas I’ve tried seem overly brisk and astringent, this one isn’t. It is strong and malty. There is a bit of briskness in the cup but it isn’t overwhelming. I’d say it has a citrusy kind of quality and is smooth. The cardamom is definitely strong and almost overpowers the finish but I really like cardamom, so this is good for me.

I liked it a lot with soymilk, it’s a bracing morning cuppa and very energizing. Hurray for Tanzania tea!

I decided to just go straight for the plain nettles when I went to Lhasa Karnak at Berkeley this weekend. They were only $1 an ounce so I got 4 ounces and that is a LOT of nettles. I filled up one 7 oz old Harney tea tin and probably have enough to fill up another tin. They are quite fluffy leaves.

So the plain nettle tea is not that tasty, quite honestly. It has a very vegetal flavor that reminds me a bit of seaweed and kale. Maybe there’s a reason you see this herb more often in blends. It might be nice mixed in with mint. It isn’t terrible though, as I sit down to drink a mug of it… also it is high in minerals which is probably a good thing for my health.

I am going to try this nettle infusion thing soon. You use 1 oz. of tea for each infusion so if I do that, it will probably go quickly.

http://www.choosingraw.com/stinging-nettle-infusion-a-diy-post-for-allergy-sufferers/

I’m back from seeing my sweetie who was in Africa and quite the jet lagged traveler. On the trip home via BART I was thinking of what tea I wanted to have when I got home. I was thinking green tea but ended up with this green oolong instead.

I’ve had this in my stash for a few months now but somehow haven’t gotten around to doing a review. Tie guan yins always remind me of spring and I was thinking I should drink this one soon while its still fresh.

I did 3 steeps but wanted to stop there because I’m a bit worried about caffeine so late in the afternoon. It’s a lovely tea which reminds me of vanilla and cream in the first steep, the later steeps brought out an essence of lilac and butter. I’m not getting the bittersweet notes for some reason, it seems just sweet and buttery to me! Somehow it feels relaxing and uplifting at the same time. I will need to try cold brewing it as well.

My malaise with allergies has been continuing today. I was hoping they would have gone away after I left the East Coast but they are still lingering! Even after I took an antihistamine I continue to have problems.

I remembered that nettle is supposed to be good for allergies so I decided to brew up a large mug of this. Lo and behold I experienced some relief within 15 minutes of drinking the stuff. This is great because my Mom uses a steroid nasal spray and I don’t really want to go down that road if I can help it. I think I’ll go have another cup of this right now. Tastes pretty good too.

I’m back from my trip, the flight was uneventful but I am certainly tired, especially after having slept for only 5 or so hours last night…

I thought it would be nice to have a good herbal before nap time. This is a blend I don’t drink too often, but when cold brewed it’s great for the hot weather. Peppermint, spearmint and lemongrass. It’s pretty good when hot also, though I prefer this with a touch of sweetener which seems to temper the lemongrass a bit.

This is a pretty good value, as one teabag fills up a giant mug with a lot of flavor.

Happy New Year Steepster!

I got this yuzu citron and a cherry blossom by the same vendor (Tea Boutique) in San Francisco’s Japantown. I gave most of these to my BF who wants to drink more green tea but doesn’t want to be bothered with loose leaf.

I brought one of these teabags with me on my trip and thought I’d have it this morning. My first tea of 2015. This steeps up to be a light green color and is vaguely vegetal but the yuzu flavor is very strong. I don’t think I’ve ever had a fresh yuzu before, but the flavor of this reminds me of a lemon-y grapefruit. As such, I imagine this would be a very good cold brewed tea but I’m also enjoying it hot. I probably won’t buy this again since it comes in a paper teabag, but it’s fairly enjoyable on this chilly morning.

My tea collection has been quite limited since I’ve been out of town, just the few I brought with me and one I bought. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on that much so why do I have so many teas right now? A good question…

I like this fairly well for a bagged tea, the flavor of cardamom and the shu pu’erh go nicely together and work well for after meals. Something about it is slightly rich and decadent. It’s probably my favorite tea from Numi currently.

This was definitely an impulse purchase I picked up today at the store. I’ve been wanting to try it for a while, but I don’t have such a great track record with Republic of Tea.

In the bag it just smells like rooibos and artificial flavoring. I ended up steeping this for 7 minutes. At first I didn’t taste much flavoring at all but as the cup cools, it is coming out more. I get a bit of almond and creaminess which I suspect is the coconut. It does have a very artificial flavor IMO.This was better with a bit of soymilk but I can’t say I’m a big fan and now I have a whole tin of this stuff. Perhaps I can find a way of making it more palatable. Ugh.

p.s. – it is better when steeped for 5 minutes instead of 7.

I brought this teabag sample with me on my trip, it came for free at the Lupicia store the last time I was there. It’s 4 pm but I just woke up from a nap. My allergies have been bothering me ever since I got back east (I now remember why I moved to California).

This does have a fairly strong blueberry and cassis flavor today but there is something medicinal/cough syrup-y about this in my opinion. It’s nice with a little soymilk and sugar but not something I would bother to keep around in my stash.

This is a bagged rooibos blend I bought while here at my parent’s house in MD.

I wasn’t expecting much but was pleasantly surprised to find this is quite drinkable. The Viennese cinnamon flavor is fairly strong and well balanced by the bright/sweetness of the orange flavor. You don’t taste as much rooibos as cinnamon and orange. It was good with a splash of soymilk as well. Not bad for an everyday afternoon or evening tisane.