Alice's Tea Cup

Oh boo. I wasn’t paying attention this morning and ended up overbrewing. The result was still drinkable, but the magic was gone :-( It was just kind of generically green and black. Smooth and not at all astringent, but…meh. Which I suppose doesn’t matter much, because I ended up losing my travel mug. My awesome, spill-proof, keep-tea-warm-for-ages travel mug.

Go a few days without constant easy access to high quality tea? Whatever shall I do? ::promptly orders a new travel mug::

Oh. My. Goodness. This tea has just been an oasis for me at work. I’ve been brewing it up in the morning and bringing it to work in my handy dandy spill-proof travel mug, which has the added benefit of keeping my tea warm for hours. This is a particularly important feature because work has been extremely hectic. It actually has taken hours to finish a mug. And this stuff is good to the last drop.

I brewed some up at home today so I could write up a proper tasting note. I like to brew it longer than the recommended 3 minutes, and easily get at least two steeps out of it. The smell is just perfectly rosy. The color is the same golden tone as clover honey. The taste is like rose candy with a hint of vanilla. Perfection.

I just noticed that I described Alice’s Casablanca blend as actively making a bad day at work better. So I guess these two teas complement each other as work accessories! This sounds like an excellent excuse to keep both teas on hand at all times and get a little temp. kettle for the office.

Cinnamon was strong
But they got the chai wrong
At, first it was not brewed enough
They tried again, but it was tough
So I was not as satisfied as I would like
But its ok…their other tea was worth the hike :)

As you can tell – I am on a caffeine high!

I’ve always enjoyed this hot in my travel mug. Since the weather’s gotten warmer, I decided to try it iced. I brewed the tea hot and refrigerated it for about 24 hours. Made this way, the bergamot really pops. The brew is smooth throughout with a gently minty finish. Very refreshing and light. I can definitely see this as a good summer tea when the weather really heats up.

Work on a Saturday, you say? Oh gee look at that I haven’t made a tasting note in absolutely forever I better catch up on my Steepster activity! Procrastination FTW.

This one’s a little bit of a backlog. I made some and took it to work on Thursday. You know those days that are just bad? When everything that could wrong does? When it rains and you end up late on the one day you really truly can’t be late and it shakes your confidence and you end up making a fool of yourself? When all you want to do is close the door to your office and curl up and hide from the world? Yeah, it was one of those days.

And you know what? This tea actively made it better. There’s something about having your favorite mint tea on hand that just makes the world more tolerable. As always, the perfect blend of mint and citrus to bring a little sunshine into my day. A lovely bit of comfort right when I needed it.

Mmmm… still tasty. Tangy minty goodness. I accidentally left the second steep brewing for something like 20 minutes, and it’s still fantastic. Is it even possible for this tea to turn out bad?

Had this again as a wake-up tea today. It’s just consistently good and my hands-down favorite mint tea. Very well balanced, very refreshing. I hate when stores make you buy a minimum of two ounces, but honestly I’m glad to have this much of it on hand. It’s likely to be a tea cabinet staple.

I had this at Alice’s Tea Cup the other day and loved it enough to bring some home. It’s just a lovely combination of mint and citrus. The tanginess of the bergamot really complements the mint. Not sure what kind of mint this is – peppermint maybe? Whatever it is, it lingers nicely on the tongue. A touch of honey really brings the flavors together.

This is a pretty darn good tea… I’m not a huge chai-er… so I’m not sure if it should/can be drunk WITHOUT milk… but WITH MILK AND HONEY this is awesome!!! _

i had a break through yesterday. get ready for this…. i realized i don’t like chamomile!

i always thought it was the other ingredients that i didn’t like, but this tea is so mild and unoffensive i was surprised that i could feel so adverse to it. and then it dawned on me! i have two chamomile based teas in my collection, both very different, and i don’t like either. like, i want to throw them away don’t like them. (don’t worry i won’t do that really, i’ll give them to my sister instead.)

point is, this is a valuable lesson. chamomile tastes like old soapy grass and i do not like it.

As best that I can remember, the clerk told me the base tea is Gunpowder Green Tea, and the mint is spearmint. Very minty, even if not overwhelmingly so. I liked it a lot without quite loving it.

I was in NYC for the first time last week and visited Alice’s Tea Cup (which is an experience in itself.) I had this tea and loved it so much I bought some to bring home. With a dash of milk and a tiny bit of sugar, this is absolutely delicious. I’m going to be sad when I run out of this—it’s a long way back to NYC!

Chugged this on ice today… LOVE this tea. :)

I had this this morning after picking some up on a trip to NYC. It was very pleasant and not too strong, which I think would’ve made it a better choice for the afternoon than the morning time when I normally need a bit more strength (will have it after lunch from now on). The dry loose leaf has a beautiful perfumed smell that is really nice, and I had it with a rose-flavored sugar so that probably also flowered it up a bit. :) I definitely enjoyed it, but funny enough, I also think it would be fantastic to use in sachets in clothing drawers, etc. as the scent is really quite nice.

Dark twisty leaves brew up a pale green liquor. Very slightly vegetal flavor, with hints of nuttiness and a good amount of natural sweetness. Light and crisp.

I am on the “Jasmine Tea Lovers” side of the camp, because not only is it fantasically flavorful but I tend to think it invigorates me more than other green teas. Possibly more than black teas. This tea adds a bonus by unraveling in a clear pot/glass. It’s aromatic, delicious and a little afternoon entertainment for the eyes. Nothing wrong with that.

I had this in the shop last weekend and was unimpressed.
The flavors muddled one another instead of being complimentary.
I’ll try it with honey next time…

I love love love this tea, and I’m never entirely sure why. It’s very simple and smooth, not flavored any particular way, but is the most delicious tea with honey ever. Should turn a lovely, warm, deep, crystalized caramel honey color, too. Fabulous for cleaning out your palate after late night girly gossip, as a friend and I did at 2 AM yesterday.

Pretty delicate for a black blend, so be careful not to over-steep; I usually let my water cool down a bit from boiling and then brew it to prevent this. Be sure to have with with honey. Seriously. Don’t have this without honey. Have I mentioned honey?

This tea is very easy to over-brew into bitterness, but if you’re careful, it’s pretty lovely, with some nice, smoky notes that I don’t think they mention at Alice’s. Usually, I use just-boiled water, so it is strong, as I tend to like my black teas. The strawberry and chocolate is subtle enough that I don’t feel as though I’m drinking something tawdry. Even if you do over brew, sugar can fix some of it! For any New Yorkers, Alice’s Tea Cup is one of many lifesavers, and certainly mine while at college and feeling homesick for their loose tea!