ashmanra Send Message

Reviewing this tea, I am resolved to get my cupboard under control. (How many times have we all said that?)

I was looking for something to share with hubby for breakfast, as he took the day off for our anniversary but we ended up having to wait for the internet guy and I ended up teaching in the afternoon because of people who rescheduled due to Hurricane Michael. Hubby likes black tea with milk and sugar but he prefers to avoid sugar where he can since he is not giving up cookies AT ALL, so since he likes all other types of tea sans additions, we tend to drink everything BUT black tea together.

I made this oolong to go with our everything bagels and holy cow I see that I have had it for four years. That is too long, although the tea was fine and some oolongs age very well indeed. It is that old because I have entirely too much tea. Yes, I have given away tea, by the boxful, I have shared tea, I have invited people over and had tea flights and sent samples home with EVERYONE who will take some.

And yet even while I was horrified to see how old this is, and how much tea I had to dig through to find it, my main thought was…gee, I really need to order some more Da Hong Pao.

This tea was good, but it doesn’t hold a candle to a great DHP or TGY.

I think it is time to start working on that desert island list. My cupboard only lists tea that I bought large amounts of, and does not include small samples or swaps. So whatever you see in my cupboard, add about forty or fifty teas to that at the very least. I have a container of samples packed to send to my daughter at college so she and her buddies can root through it and try lots of different things, but there needs to be a huge overhaul of my entire system here.

One mistake I made was buying a large quantity of anything I liked a lot, usually because the more you buy, the more you save. Henceforth I think I will purchase much smaller amounts and enjoy them while they are at their freshest and best.

Hellooooooooo, Sunshine! I haven’t seen you in far too long!

We made it relatively unscathed through the storm. We never lost power – we live blocks from the hospital and our power grid has priority. We had no flooding although there is very serious flooding nearby and a friend’s mother just got word that the water has reached her house for the first time ever, and she has lived there for fifty years. A rainy day is lovely, but four in a row is NOT for me! And now it is viciously humid as well. But I am happy for the sunshine. Hubby has worked about 60 hours of overtime in less than one week, plus his regular forty.

We have bailed out the woodstove once, about to do it again, and have cut and trimmed all the large branches that came down. We lost one trellis and another is down but unbroken. Hiw did everyone else fare? Check in!

This tea was drunk all day and all night throughout the storm. It is mellow and smooth and still bright and cheerful. Even if you don’t mean to, you stop and NOTICE this tea. It isn’t a forgetful cup that just washed down your food even if you are drinking it that way. It was a great, cheering companion.

Welp, here we go again. Time for another hurricane in about four days supposedly. We have plenty of water stored up and I have purchased a cast iron hibachi so I can still make tea even if the power goes out, so with the addition of milk, bread, and toilet paper, I would say we are as ready as we can get.

Yesterday our kids came to celebrate my husband’s birthday and the birthday of my daughter-in-law, our own ChelseaRae. This requires a lot of tea, and that tea is usually puerh for our gatherings. Shu pu, specifically.

My eldest daughter, Superanna, had been to Chicago recently and went to an Adagio store. How did I not realize they had brick and mortar stores? She brought back three teas for me and this is the only one I have tried because these leaves just keep giving.

Reviews are all over the place. Some say the dry leaves have no aroma. Mine are quite aromatic. Some say this is very fishy. There is a hint of fish but overwhelmingly I smell compost (I like that) and horse. The main comment yesterday was “just the right amount of horse.” Maybe we are weird.

We really, really like this. First steep was close to three minutes but after that, I just let the leaves kiss the water because it was instantly DARK DARK DARK. And so good. It has great body, an oily heft, and so wet you gulp it down. Steep after steep was consumed and I have made another steep today. It is fresh and clean tasting and I have been drinking solo and with my meals. Really good stuff and a nice daily drinker to look forward to.

I can’t believe I am first to review this. This was the new Harney release I was most eager to try, and I am not disappointed. I often drink it for breakfast, but it is perfect for any time of day to me. I don’t need help waking up so I donkt require a lot of caffeine in the mornings, so white tea suits me just fine.

From the first taste, this tea has reminded me very gently of Christmas, but I can enjoy it any time of year. It is the nutmeg that makes me think of fall, cool breezes blowing the leaves around, excitement of the season changing, family and friends gathering…it is such a cozy tea. Yet I have only had it in summer! Can’t wait to have it in fall. That will be a while where I live….

Reordering when this gets low, and I am already down by half.

We have had rain every day, usually torrential rain, not just drizzles. The dark clouds were feeling awfully cozy so I made this wonderful blend that I usually think of as a fall and winter tea.

If you like Cranberry Autumn, you should give this a try. This tea is like a favorite blanket, a cup of chicken soup, a great favorite book that you have read many times. It is comfort. It is elegant.

Where Cranberry Autumn is bright and social and sunny from the cranberry and orange, this one is cranberry and almond, which turns it into the warm fuzzy blanket of teas. Perfect for a rainy day or feeling snuggly.

I am so glad my order arrived yesterday, because I neeeeed this tea right now.

Yesterday we spent seven hours cleaning at my mother-in-law’s house. She died eighteen months ago but the house has been vacant much longer than that. Fifty year old carpets were pulled out. But the house is nearly empty now and it was time to remove all the staples and tacks strips and do some cleaning. If you have ever cleaned a house that has been vacant for four years but absolutely stuffed with things most of that time, you have an idea. My hands were numb this morning when I woke up, I suppose from pounding on a pry bar without the gloves my husband suggested that I eschewed.

So today my body needed turmeric but my soul needed this. This tea right here. And boy, does my soul feel better now.

You know who said it best? TerryHarpLady. She said it tastes like sweet potatoes sprinkled malt powder. BAM. Nail on the head.

Today as I sipped it, I was trying to decide what made a tea a really good tea for me, and I determined it was probably LAYERS. Low notes and mid-tones and high notes. Some things that I didn’t like when I first started drinking tea have become more palatable, like briskness, which I used to think was just astringency and always bad.

This tea is round and smooth and sweet and thick, full of body. The more I drink, the drier my tongue gets and I want more, and while I am drinking my senses are filled with sweet potato malt.

My soul has had a little vacation here at breakfast, and my sore body will recover soon.

I teach piano and voice lessons in my home, and my students find out about my tea obsession pretty quickly. There are two Bellocq tins sitting on the piano and the dog treats for them to bribe my Sam are in a Mariage Feres tin, so it would be pretty hard to miss.

Today, an adorable little boy who has been coming for lessons for about a year asked if he could have a cup of tea. He was getting an extra long lesson because his sibling is at camp. I told him he was welcome to have a cup from my tetsubin…it was this. A ripe pu.

His mother does not drink tea at all, and from what he tells me his father drinks herbals and green tea.

Would you believe he loved it? With no milk or sugar, too. He told me he likes really, really STRONG tea, sweetened please, but I gave him this plain (there was sugar on the table) but he drank it just as it was and exclaimed that it was delicious.

I am out now, so these nuggets are getting resteeped plenty today and tomorrow.

This is one of the sweeter and milder ripe puerh teas I have had. It has great body and is so easy to drink…a child could do it.

I am seriously eating my words about this tea. Well, changing my mind. I had ordered it because ONE PERSON described it as floral somewhere. The company doesn’t describe it that way, and the ingredients wouldn’t lead you to believe it is. But I love me some floral tea and wanted something I could drink late at night.

The first time I reviewed this I remarked that it is good tea but not what I had hoped. Now I really like it. It is sweet, it is good hot, and it is really super poured over ice even with no sugar added. I like tulsi and anise and cardamom and the rose really adds sweetness. Not rose flavor, just sweetness. Dang it, this stuff is expensive but I think I may have to keep it around.

I had a sample of this and made it gong fu style as the first tea for a tea flight. My daughter invited a friend from school over to say goodbye as he was leaving for a summer research opportunity right away and she will be leaving for university in ten weeks.

This tea was a huge surprise for me. I was expecting sweet potato and got creamy smoky greatness that is still making me a little weak in the knees. It is fabulous with ice cream. It went great with sandwiches. It was wonderful by itself. I am buying some more.

I cannot believe that I am now out of this amazing tea. Not all lapsang souchong is smoky. This one is decidedly not. It is, however, sweet and delicious. I can not imagine desecrating this beautiful tea with any sweetener, but to each his own. It is so sweet, rich, and creamy. It has bass notes and midtones and makes a lovely dance of flavor.

I chose to review this tea because I love it, and I wanted a tea I love to announce some great news. If you have read many reviews from me, you know that I frequently drink tea with my youngest daughter, and that she is really the one that got us started drinking hot tea here in the land of iced SWEEEEEEEET tea. She and I gave up sugar in our tea together. And she baked scrumptious things for so very many tea times with friends. She has been my tea and book buddy for many years.

We homeschooled all of our children all the way through school, kindergarten to graduation. She has been going to community college the past two years with plans to transfer to a four year university to major in biochemistry. This was the more economical route. She has had a fantastic experience at her school and acquired not one, but TWO associates degrees, and developed great friendships with a number of her professors. She will graduate with a 4.0 tomorrow.

Last week, we learned that she has been chosen to be a Goodnight Scholar at NCSU. This program is not just a scholarship, but an opportunity for community service, travel, meetings and dinners with leaders in your field, TED Talks, and much more. We are so happy for her, and there are few people in this world who will wring every ounce of good out of the opportunity like she will.

Because of the magnitude of this program, her college has had two interview sessions and three photoshoots, and then the local paper had an interview yesterday and a photoshoot today. All on top of final exams and speech writing, but she is really excited and has enjoyed meeting everyone.

Even though she is leaving home, she will not be too far away and she will be very near her big sis, Superanna, which makes this mom’s heart happy.

So tonight, the butterflies in my stomach are giving the butterflies in her stomach a run for their money. We look forward to crashing tomorrow afternoon and having nothing to do for a few days at least!