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May Sipdown Prompt – a tea with good memories attached

I have lots of good memories with the Queen. I drank the Queen with my friend Sandy back when my tea obsession was just beginning. It was one of the first teas I shared with my then-coffee-drinking friend, Melissa, who quickly converted to tea and is as obsessed as I am now. I felt sustained by the Queen throughout radiation for breast cancer fourteen years ago. I drank the Queen at the gym, walking on the track during a period of depression with One Republic’s Good Life playing through my ear buds and felt stronger. And I have had countless cups of it on countless mornings and afternoons throughout the past fifteen or so years.

Sandy nailed the elusive part of the flavor that I loved – a little bit smoky, not like a lapsang, but with that touch of smoke that feels like it is keeping you on your feet. I have always been partial to teas from China and this one is a blend of three.

I love black tea with ice cream, and the last few times we have had ice cream in the evening I have been brave (or foolish) and made a small cup of tea to go with mine, regardless of whether it was decaf. I just chose what I was in the mood for, and I was in the mood for this one. Perfection.

Long live the Queen!

This tea was sent to me by Martin – many thanks, Martin!

I had this on the patio after breakfast. Although I looked at this listing for it a while back, I had forgotten what the flavors were so I had fun trying to see what scents I detected. I thought I was smelling lemon, but not tart lemon. It was a soft and slightly citrus aroma. There was a fruitiness as well. I asked Ashman to sniff the tea and then sip it and he said he detected fruit and he liked the tea.

The more I sipped the more I thought it was reminding of something with lavender that I have had before…and I realized I was tasting fig! The fig flavor really built up throughout the several small cups that I drank. I have Fig and Lavender from Tea Grotto and this reminds me very much of their fig flavoring. I liked theirs so much that I put it on my wishlist a while back, and Superanna bought me some.

The fig in this was so very similar to that one, minus the lavender. It was delicious. I think perhaps the base was giving the lemon vibes, but it was not at all astringent or sharp. It was quite smooth. The base tea was full of middle notes, lacking really sharp high tones or deep bassy or cocoa tones. It was a great carrier for this lovely flavoring.

This tea was a Mother’s Day gift from my daughter who lives with us, who shall henceforth be referred to as “AliasHali.” I also got a tea from 52teas that I have already finished. Ha ha!

I saved this one to drink with a friend who comes over for tea. She only drinks green or white teas and prefers flavored ones, and I like having something new for her to try.

I have not had acai before that I recall so it was with trepidation that I made this. I thought it might be quite sharp and tart, like hibiscus, and we don’t ever add milk or sugar to our tea. They call it a superfood, so I thought it might be super tart.

What a delight! This is a beautiful white peony base. I showed it to AliasHali before she left for work and she asked if I were “sure those weren’t raked out of the yard?” That was literally my thought the first time I ever had shou mei. It looked like soft, dry, broken leaves raked in fall, and I loved the taste so who cares how different they look? No, this is a nice white peony base and I am sure of it.

The aroma was nice with rich berry scent, not overly strong, but not really giving a hint as to tartness. Here we go….

Hooray! For the first sip was so lovely! It triggered a memory and I am pretty that was jam – specifically Four Fruits jam from Bonne Maman. It isn’t at all tart, just lovely rounded natural tasting berry flavor.

This is light. It is not wimpy or underflavored. I just want to emphasize that it is not smack you in the face, smash your face in jam, taste it for the next week flavor. This is light, fresh, delightful, and I am going to take their advice and try it iced as well because I think it will be a very refreshing summer tea. YUM!

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This tea smells so good and I have tried so hard to like it. I just don’t.

I like Lupicia’s grape flavors. I love their Muscat and Jingle Bells teas, but this one is probably my least favorite tea of all that I own right now. I have had other green tea blends that taste like this and I don’t know what the base is, but I dislike it. For a long time I thought all Japanese green tea tasted like this so I avoided them. After trying many Japanese greens that I like very much, I know that is not the case.

I have tried this tea several times and every time I have high hopes based on the dry leaf smell and I am disappointed every time. The aroma reminds me of Pomegranate Oolong from Harney but the taste certainly does not.

They mention it being great for iced tea so I cold steeped it for lunch today hoping it would shine this time. Nope. Just as bad if not worse.

I have one serving left and I am going to both cold steep it AND sweeten it and see if that salvages it at all. Counting it as a sipdown tonight as the tin is now empty while the cold steep waits for the verdict tomorrow.

Edited to add: cold steeped and sweetened heavily it will do as tomorrow’s lunch drink. I can’t recommend this one and I hope someone can tell me what the sharp, angry taste is. I steeped at 175F and then dropped temp to 165F for future steeps then resorted to cold steeping and the sharpness is still there, so it is not temp related. Must be the base.

Second breakfast – Homemade Skyr Yogurt with strawberries and brown sugar

I am shocked I haven’t made a note on this one yet! I also have Happy Dreams but it is nearly gone and will be a sipdown soon.

The dry leaf had more cucumber aroma than I remember! Perhaps it is good I was having tea alone because Ashman does not care for cucumber. The flavor is not strongly cucumber, though. This is light and refreshing, a bright tasting tea without being a sharp green. The lemongrass and fruity flavors don’t bury the taste of the base tea. I do think I could have chosen a better pairing for strawberries, but that is on me, not the tea. They were just similar, and I like to either match really well or contrast, and I usually choose a contrast for great counterpoint. (I hope that is a good way to describe it.)

May 21 Sipdown Challenge Prompt – International Tea Day!

Today I decided to drink as much tea as I want, as late as I want. I want to fully celebrate this day!

I began with this tea for first breakfast, a tortilla egg bake eaten on the covered part of the patio. To my surprise, Ashman came home to answer an SOS from Superanna, whose a/c had gone out, so we ended up sharing the pot together before he left for the hour trip to her house.

As he was leaving, I saw the lights in the house go out and heard a transformer blow. Thankfully we are on the hospital grid and only lost power for 12 minutes, which was good because I planned more tea drinking! I would have had to resort to just the cold steep in the fridge otherwise.

This tea was a gift from Superanna. I love both the green and the black versions. How can caramel, red fruits, and vanilla go wrong? The sencha base is very nice, not too grassy or sour. It was really nice and refreshing.

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I like this one best full strength and not making a resteep and combining the two. You seem to get more rich chocolate that way. Some teas I don’t notice a big change in flavor doing the “two steeps and combine” method, but I do with this one.

I am not the world’s biggest fan of Earl Grey but I do like it on a Keemun or other base with deeper notes, and I also like it with orange, cream, or vanilla flavor added. The chocolate was good, too, and I shared a sample with a friend who adores almost all Earl Grey and she really loved it.

These were a Mother’s Day gift from Ashman. I have been out of jasmine pearls for a while and really only loved Teavivre’s but I told him I wanted to try these since they are a new offering. They have previously only been available in the Piccadilly location.

My complaint against Harney’s Dragon Pearls is that I don’t care for the base. The jasmine seems okay, but the green tea is harsh and sharp to me. The attraction of the Teavivre Premium Jasmine Dragon Pearls was that I love their jasmine teas pretty much across the board (they have many) and I liked the base a lot. It was calm in a cup.

I made three steeps of this. It was sipped beside my wall of jasmine vine on the patio from a tiny bamboo hat cup. The instructions call for boiling water and I wasn’t brave enough to do that on my first try with these. I used 175F, and for reference Teavivre calls for 185F for theirs. I steeped for three minutes.

I am so glad we got these! The base is just right for me. The jasmine is a little lighter than I expected and probably lighter than Teavivre’s, but it is possible that increasing the temp to what F&M calls for would bring out more jasmine. I am very happy with the base on all three steeps. The jasmine was almost all gone in the third steep but the green tea was nice.

I will try it again using their parameters now that I know I don’t have to tame a sharp green tea to enjoy it.

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We started the day with a big pot of this tea for breakfast, sans additions. Afterwards we were sitting outside just enjoying the weather after all the rain and I made another big pot. It started getting rather cool before we finished it and we were running out of tea drinking steam. The cooler tea had a bit of an edge to it that wasn’t there hot, so I decided to add simple syrup to what remained and put it in the freezer to get cold in time to have it as a sweet tea for lunch.

The tea starting freezing at the sides of the mason jar much faster than I expected so I ended up having a tea slushy and it was so good that I plan to do again in the future!

This is nice and fruity and the ginger keeps it from being a “candy” tea. It was very fresh tasting hot and very refreshing and enjoyable cold.

May Sipdown Prompt – a hearty tea

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A lovely pot of tea for breakfasting outside under shelter as the rain pelted down. This CAN take milk and sugar but it definitely doesn’t need it for me.

It is a little malty and has a slight creaminess. Resteeps very well.