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I had this hot for breakfast and the remainder iced for lunch. It was a sample I received with an order.

I am honestly disappointed in this one. Maybe I don’t know what white peaches taste like, but after the powerhouse of apricot flavor yesterday from Harney’s Celebration, this one was really mild, both the tea base and the peach flavor. And not just mild, but rather odd tasting.

I did just treat my Kamjove for an odd smell, but I don’t think that was what I tasted because I really felt like the odor was gone in the Kamjove. It should be. I used an Oxiclean soak (pretty much the same thing as Smart Soak), then white vinegar, then baking soda, then a day outside in the sunshine, which really seemed to fully freshen it up. The day of sunshine was yesterday, so all cleaners should be very well cleaned out and any smells dissipated, and I did check Kamjove and found it ready for use.

The color of the steeped tea was pretty light but the bag says it is Momo, not Momo oolong or darjeeling. This is a pretty new sample, so the problem is not due to age.

In other news, I know very well that I had an entire pouch of Momo Vert years ago and there is not one single review from me. Strange. I wanted to compare and see how I liked it.

Merci Milles Fois remains my favorite peach tea from Lupicia for now.

Reviews for this one are all over the place. I only bought it because it was on sale for $4.40 a tin and the tin is pretty, plus it would be something new to try that I thought both Ashman and I would like.

These are sachets and Harney recommends 12 ounces water for their sachets, and I resteeped and combined. I had the first cup as a hot tea with breakfast, no additions. I was having oatmeal with a pinch of brown sugar and some freshly ground cardamom. The first sip was like a burst of fruity sunshine. The apricot flavor really was the star of the show and it was quite enjoyable.

I put the remaining tea in the fridge and had it unsweetened with lunch. Again, this was a really good, really fruity tea. I have their plain apricot tea and this isn’t terribly different to me so far, but perhaps when I am paying more attention I will pick up more hazelnut.

All in all, this was a good investment. I didn’t get any of the astringency that some people mentioned.

It seems utterly impossible to me that there is no note for this tea. It was a gift from a former student just a couple of weeks ago and we have already finished it. I drank the 1st cup hot right after I got it and it had lovely champagne flavor with a hint of berry. I was so sure I had posted a note.

Ever since Thursday, we have been drinking it as a flash chill tea. It makes an incredible amount of foam and even after you drain your glass the foam stays for a very long time. In fact I don’t think I have seen it break down yet .

Making this way, shaking the hot tea in a cocktail shaker with ice, the champagne flavor is very strong and the berry flavor is practically nonexistent. In fact, the three of us who tried it could only detect the berry flavor in the aftertaste and then we had to look for it. The champagne flavor is so good, however, that it is going to be very hard for me not to immediately re-order this one. It is an awesome summer flash chilled tea that tastes great with no sugar.

For the June prompt an iced or cold brew tea: part 2

I bought this for the fig and stayed for the lemon and vanilla. I still don’t taste fig but this is so good as a sweet iced tea that I might be tempted to purchase it again just for that. Today I am getting more vanilla than lemon but a bare hint of fruitiness is there. This was paired with dinner – a zucchini variation of moussaka with harissa. Good stuff. The black tea base holds up very nicely and the strength of it gives me a Queen Catherine vibe, sans the natural smoky aroma of the Queen.

Last month I had fun going through the prompts multiple times, but I did overdo it when I attempted a fourth passthrough. (And made it!) That was my fauly!I love the Sipdown Challenge, though!

Since I have finished early, I will proceed at a leisurely pace to use it as inspiration, and this African tea was a brilliant option for today.

Heat index yesterday was 107F, or 41.6C. (Thank you, Alexa, for converting that for me.) Today is supposed to be several degrees hotter and we are under an extreme heat advisory.

This tea is brilliant, and I think if at all possible it is going to be a cupboard staple for me. I have steeped it three times now. The first two steeps had auch rich caramel flavor. As I went out to the garden to make periodic short, planned strikes at the work that needs doing there, I could still taste that thick brown sugar. The color of the steeped tea is a very rich amber/brown.

Good golly, I love this tea. Thank you, Superanna.

For the June prompt: A tea that reminds you of your best friend

I just ordered this recently and opened it today just for this prompt. I have invited my best friend to tea Thursday morning and dangled this tea like a carrot.

I started wondering how I first ran into it….did she find it first? Did I introduce her to it? I checked out my tasting notes and discovered that I first received a sample from Doulton years ago. So I am guessing that I introduced my friend to it. It is now a cupboard staple for her, and definitely one that I don’t go too long without.

This is a great tea – the chocolate and strawberry flavors are so good and so natural tasting. It doesn’t have the chocolate “funk” that Ashman hates. The puer is woodsy and musky but not too strong and if you didn’t know in advance it was puer you might miss it. It is almost like a woody black tea.

I was initially daunted by the shipping costs from Hawaii, but every single time I have ordered I have received a substantial shipping refund within a few hours of ordering. Lupicia has become one of my favorite companies.

June Prompt: a tea with oceanic notes

This tea was a huge surprise for me. I was not wild about the green version but this one is really enjoyable. Ashman and I had it for breakfast and he is rather picky about his black teas. Darjeeling is so different, though. And the salted cherry leaf is what lends the oceanic flavor.

My gosh this is a good tea. The pale color in the cup could fool you into thinking this wasn’t a black tea, but it is so flavorful and has a lot of presence. Breakfast on the patio in spite of slightly higher temps and humidity, because very soon it will be miserable 24/7 out there and we want to enjoy it now.

Perfect briskness to go with our sweet breakfast, and smooth, too. A gift from Superanna, of course.

For the prompt: A tea from a place you’d like to visit…what do I do? I don’t want to visit anywhere. I want to stay home. I am a dyed in the wool homebody.

Well, the only place far away I have been is Ireland, and I would love to go back there someday but I don’t have any tea from there that I can recall, so a tea that evokes something very Irish and Scottish will have to do.

This was a gift from White Antlers and there was a whole bag of it. It is nearly gone, and this is a definite re-order unless I come across a better boozy, rich tea and I don’t expect that to happen. Thankfully, it is sold at Tin Roof Teas in Raleigh, NC and easy for me to get.

Ashman and I don’t drink, but I bet this would be an awesome tea to add a little burble of something on a cold night. As it was, I enjoyed it for a lovely breakfast alone on the patio on a rare, cool, low humidity morning. Perfect.

June Prompt – a rose tea

I chose this one because it is my oldest rose tea, but I have a few others that would qualify for this prompt. Apparently I like rose tea.

I have wondered why they call this a pouchong and yet in the ingredient list labels it as a keemun. Even the company doesn’t know and they contracted their distributor to find out. Doing a little further research I see that Tea Palace also sells a black tea under the name Rose Pouchong. Yet another company has it by that name but says the base is oolong, and pouchong usually is classified as an oolong. So who knows?

Bottom line: a very good tea, great at breakfast or tea time, with food or without, and resteeps well. The beautiful tin seals well – bonus. When this is empty, I will probably move my St Valentine’s into this tin for freshness’ sake.

June prompt – a tea smoothie.

I don’t think I have ever made a tea smoothie but I love making new beverages! Lately we have been enjoying orange blossom salted lemonade, as well as a rose version and a plain one. Orange blossom is our favorite!

For the tea smoothie I made blueberry green last night and put it in a glass jar to chill in the fridge. I added frozen blueberries, a banana, some ice, and a tiny bit of lemon juice. This was so delicious. It will not be the last tea smoothie.

Harney’s Blueberry Green was the perfect base for it, too. The blueberry flavor is so strong in it that nothing could damp it down. It is a bit like having an all natural Icee. Good on a hot and humid day like today, where two thunderstorms have already blown through.