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This came to me from the ever generous derk! Thank you so much!

My husband said he would like to have tea tonight so I made cinnamon toast and set up for gong fu. We have been really enjoying a Dong Ding from Tin Roof Teas so I thought he would enjoy this tea, as well.

We used a scent cup and the aromas were lovely. I was surprised to smell cinnamon in the scent cup – and I am sure it wasn’t the cinnamon toast I was smelling! It was definitely in the cup. There was a hint of magnolia or osmanthus, too.

The steeped tea was a medium yellow color. It was smooth, not overly sweet and less roasted than some Dong Ding I have tried, but lightly woody still. Delish! The unfurling of the leaves was pretty impressive. I taste light cinnamon, a little woodsy flavor, light floral notes, and a very little mineral taste.

Delish! We enjoyed! Thank you, derk!

Teavivre has closed temporarily to protect employees and customers from the novel Coronavirus, but their US Warehouse is still open. You can still order from the US stash if you are in the US so I placed an order last night. They have been really generous with their samples and I hope that the US Warehouse keeps this closure from affecting them as much.

I ordered this sample a while back because I absolutely love their jasmine teas. My first ever jasmine was not from Teavivre and it was too strong and too much like bubble bath. I don’t know if it was artificially flavored or what. When I got my first jasmine sample from Teavivre I was astounded at the difference. I have enjoyed every form of jasmine tea I have tried from them,

This one is no exception. Hubby and I had Asian buffet leftovers tonight and made a double steep from the sample pack. The “snails” are soft with lovely light green and white color. Beautiful. Now I wish I had saved it for a gong fu service I am doing later this week.

I swear I threw a bag of Whittard’s Chelsea Garden in my purse last night before leaving for church, but it was no where to be found once I got there. I had resigned myself to drinking something awful from the church cabinet (I really need to mercy stock that thing) when the Bible study teacher pulled out a tea wallet and said, “Here! Choose from one of these!”

She loves black tea and was listing the contents (PG Tips, English Breakfasst, etc.) when she said, “Vanilla Caramel Chai? Where did that come from? I don’t even like chai, at all!” So I told her I would take that one to get it out of her wallet and to keep from depriving her of a tea she loves!

It wasn’t bad! The tea aspect was pretty weak but the flavors were pretty good. We had tiramisu as our snack and it went well enough with that. By the end of the mug, the licorice root was really noticeable, but I don’t mind licorice root in the right places and it didn’t bother me. I include that info for those who hate the stuff, because I know a lot of people do.

Since Steepster is refusing to let me review two of the teas that derk sent, I will put up a new note on this one.

Earlier today I had a gong fu session by myself with the 2013 Hei Cha from Yunnan Craft. It was SO CHOCOLATEY in the aroma, and that came through in the taste as well. I don’t remember if I have had any/much hei cha, but I expected it to be as dark as ripe pu. This was much lighter. I will definitely be looking for some hei cha to buy based on my experience today.

This Tung Ting delivered as always. I got a hankering for some Krispy Kreme chocolate covered doughnuts with sprinkles, something we rarely buy. I would usually pour two huge glasses of cold milk to go with doughnuts, but I decided tea was much more responsible. It was absolutely delicious, as usual.

Speaking of hankerings, I gave my daughter-in-law known as ChelseaR here on Steepster some pickles in her stocking at Christmas just because she loves pickles so much. She got them last year, too. These particular ones were Woodstock Organic Bread and Butter Pickles and they are delicious. But this year, thanks to hankerings, she finished the whole 24 ounce jar AND DRANK THE JUICE in three days. Yes, friends, I am about to become the grandmother of TWINS. I have sent two more jars of pickles and she will get them tomorrow! Maybe they will last the week, but I wouldn’t bet any money on it! :)

I have been wanting to try this tea for a long time and just kept talking myself out of ordering the sample, especially after reading reviews. Then a young woman from church came over, fell in love with tea, placed a Harney order, and got this as one of her free samples! She offered it to me to try, so I saved it for Thursday morning breakfast with my best friend who loves white tea. We had the sachet which makes 12 ounces and I steeped it again for a total of 24 to go with the fruit tarts she surprised me with for breakfast.

I expected to not like it, but honestly I will probably order some. The vanilla is the reason. This is mostly vanilla, and it is a rich, thick smelling and tasting vanilla. The grapefruit was completely absent for me until the tea began to cool, and then I thought it was getting brisk but realized it was the grapefruit finally coming through. It wasn’t strong or too sour.

My friend loves white tea and vanilla but is not a big fan of grapefruit, so she was very pleased that didn’t taste the grapefruit. I am not sure it is something she would order, but she did like it. I think my husband just might love it, so I will probably get a small tin.

We went to Raleigh a couple of weeks ago and since I had just polished off a whole tin of Ti Kuan Yin and my dark roast Da Hong Pao, I decided that I would allow myself to go in Tin Roof Teas at the their new location. After all, I need TKY to serve to my husband who doesn’t enjoy as many types of tea as I do, so it was really for HIM. :)

Obviously, I didn’t just buy TKY. Now that I think about it, I didn’t even buy any TKY. Oops. But I DID pick teas that I thought my husband would like. Then I came home and read a tasting note on this tea that said it wasn’t a favorite of his. Hmmm. Eight years is a long time and tastes change.

Of the four teas I bought, this one was bested suited to go with our breakfast of everything bagels. And….he liked it! A lot!

I steeped it western style and I should try it gong fu style to see if it gains more nuance and reveals more flavors.

Initially I perceive the body as thin but then right away it transitions to a medium body. And this happens with each sip. There is the barest hint of roastiness (not smokiness) and some floral and baked bread notes.

It gave a satisfactory second steep. We will probably burn through this 100 gram bag pretty quickly. When I bought it 8 years ago, it only lasted two weeks. That is the fastest I have ever polished off any tea. It isn’t a champion award winning highly nuanced tea, it is just super easy to drink and pairs well with many flavors, from everything bagels to pie.

Life in general has been beating the crap out of me so I decided that today is a rat lunch day! It made me smile to think of KS and our rat lunch reviews and I needed a smile and a good memory.

For those who don’t know, rat lunch is toasted cheese and tea – good, solid, black tea specifically. We got it from the children’s book “I Was A Rat” that JacquelineM introduced me to. And I really wanted to try this gift from derk and this is the perfect time since I am alone today for lunch and don’t have to pick a tea that everyone else likes.

May I say….it could not have been more perfect. It has everything one loves about Assam but not the thing that keeps me away from Assam so often – boiling heartburn. As soon as I smelled it, I knew. I fell hard for this guy and he is probably going to make me break my “no ordering” ban. (Ha, like I really observe that anyway!)

Malty, bready, rich, thick, full body, dark, just the right amount of tingle. It is the perfect tea for today. It resteeps well. Rat lunch has done me a lot of good.

Thank you, derk!

Writers’ group met last night and when offered drinks (Mexican Coke in glass bottles, milk, water, hot tea), they all picked tea. When pressed further they decided on a fruity black.

Here I have a question. I offered Boston which I used to adore and they were hesitant. Thing is, is doesn’t smell the same! My husband HATES the smell of Harney teas that contain chocolate. He says it smells like mildew. He even tossed a shirt near White Christmas and later said his shirt smelled funny, like the chocolate. Boston and White Christmas are not supposed to have chocolate flavor but they both now contain that smell. I am wondering if it could actually be imitation vanilla and not their chocolate flavoring at all, and they have started using it because vanilla prices are so high now? Why does my beloved Boston smell like fake Harney chocolate? His hatred extends to Florence, Chocolate, Chocolate Mint, and now these two.

Anyway, everyone preferred the smell of ToL and it was a big hit. The four of us drank two 35 ounce pots. It was super fruity but smooth and mild, no harsh high tones.

Ever since the last iOS update, my “hearts” on here are acting up, also. I click the heart and the number goes up but the heart doesn’t turn red, so I am not sure it was taking it. I click again and number goes down. I click again and heart is red and number goes back up. So now I just triple click until this gets worked out. I am sure it is my iPad and not the site.

Well, this is new. I reviewed this a day or two ago and wondered where to put it. Mine is a round sachet, not a teabag as pictured in the image here. Another reviewer said it tasted like artificial strawberry banana candy but mine isn’t tasting like that. So maybe it wasn’t the same thing? This came in a big set. But the pattern on the box is the same as the teabag one.

I still like it a lot, it is still very rose flavored but not too heavily so, with a somewhat brisk black tea base. Martin Bednar mentioned that the loose has rose petals in it, so I decided to tear open the sachet!

I found more confusion. This is really fine textured tea – as in bigger than dust but not by much. There are lots of tiny round white pellets in it as well. It looks like that potting soil with perlite or whatever in it, but in miniature. If you do dollhouses and want some realistic looking potting soil, here you go!

I assumed it was bits of sugar but surely they would have to label that? The ingredient list says only black tea and flavoring. I should have tasted one of those tiny spheres before steeping and may do so later.

I steeped it and looked for the spheres. Gone. So I tore open an extra sachet that was also in the pot and had been steeped. There were only two of the little spheres, super tiny, and I managed to separate one. I bit it, thinking it would be a crunchy sugar bit. It was soft.

Clearly there were more of these and they dissolved. This one tasted like nothing, not sugar and no explosion of rose to indicate it had somehow carried the flavoring. I bit one of the little pellets of tea (if we can call that tiny thing a pellet) and it was the same texture as the white sphere. So I still don’t know what it is. It must be the rose flavor delivery system. LOL

Weird as all that is, I stand by the fact that I like this tea. I think I will stick with buying Harney and Sons Rose Scented, though, which is a better quality base and is more accessible.

One person drinking it with me loved it, the other who mostly just likes plain black tea said she didn’t like its aftertaste, and I guess she meant the rose.

It was paired with homemade shortbread and made a decent companion for it.