Tea Guys

Boy was I ever wrong about how awesome this would be cold brewed. I think that I may have used too much tea, but even so it is missing the sweetness that the hot cup had. It also has an almost minty aspect to it that I’m not enjoying. Seriously, if I’d only had this as a cold brewed iced tea then its rating would’ve been in the 50’s or 60’s. It’s that big of a difference.

Because I fear that I used too much tea I went ahead and added more water to the pitcher with hopes that it’ll be a bit more pleasant tonight. Perhaps this would be better as a hot brewed iced tea. I’ll have to save that experiment until I buy more. NE

This tea is summertime in a cup. Not a weary hot and steamy summertime, but a beautiful Maine summer. Imagine sitting on the back porch of a quaint Maine cottage that looks out over a sunlight dappled harbor. There are hummingbirds flitting about while a faint breeze causes delicate wind chimes to sing. This is the tea that befits this setting.

I’m not a huge blueberry fan, but my favorite pie of all time is a homemade Maine blueberry pie. I’ve had two in my lifetime and no pie or blueberry has come close to that level of awesomeness. Until now. This tea is just wonderful. It’s not crazy-sweet like a pie, but there’s a wonderful natural sweetness.

My enjoyment of this tea begins with when I opened the sample packet. It’s just pretty. You have the pretty leaves, some violet petals, and then tiny dried blueberries. I’m rather sad that they didn’t include the sweet little blueberries in the photo.

And my enjoyment has continued into the second steep. I didn’t change anything to the preparation because I was concerned that it would get bitter with more time. It’s not as vibrant as the first, but it’s still lovely. I don’t know if it’ll stand up to a third. But let me tell you: I think this brewed as an iced tea could be a 100. I will be buying a larger quantity of this asap. I’ll still try to keep my self-imposed tea buying ban for May, but Overlords as my witness I will buy this in a heartbeat if there’s a Steepster Select featuring the Tea Guys before then. TG

ETA: It wasn’t until I placed a second order with Tea Guys that I realized that they use the same generic pictures over and over again for different teas. It was sort of like they went “eh, it’s close enough.” That made me sad, but at least here on Steepster I’m able to have some accurate pics uploaded. So you can now see how colorful this blend is (and there is a small blueberry near the lower righthand corner) :D

There’s more family visiting so things have been hectic (but fun) here. I also potentially may have some extra-good news on the job front, but I don’t wanna jinx it (I should know by the end of the week). So I was feeling pretty upbeat this morning even when the family brought over doughnuts (of which I did not partake). Instead I treated myself to this uber-yummy tea. It’s wonderful in that I’m not experiencing any sort of “doughnut remorse” (which can be caused by either having or not having doughnuts). Hooray for this tea! TG

I am drinking liquified waffles!!!!! Okay, not really, but this tea is so close that it isn’t funny. The dry leaf smells strongly of maple syrup and even licorice. The licorice smell almost seemed to dominate and I became worried. But I should have had no fear.

Oh the smell: WAFFLES! The taste is like if you were having waffles with a basic morning black tea. It’s really well balanced and my sweet tooth is digging this. I’ve done three steeps of this and the third is just a bit too weak, but still okay. But then again on the third steep I grabbed some L’eggos out of the freezer and made me some WAFFLES! Gir would be proud.

Oh yes, there will be a purchase of this. I can’t imagine doing this tea too often, but it’s worth having it on hand for the random cravings. TG

My first cold brewed iced tea!

The tea itself came out a delicate peach color – it looked very precious in my glass. The taste was a very muted version of the hot with the tang hanging around in the background while the subtle fruits played around up front. I found it pleasant, but my mom loved it (she described it as “refreshing”) and wants me to buy more. The description mentions adding it to lemonade – and I could really imagine that being a tasty option. I have a ways to go in exploring iced teas, so I really am unsure if I’ll get a larger amount of this for myself as a fruity iced tea option. NE

I checked the mail right before I left for work and hot-diggity-dang: three of my orders were there! I risked being late and opened all my packages. Oh tea joy! My gaiwan came and JAS-eTea enclosed a lovely handwritten thank you note – I had ordered from them through amazon, and just now checked out their website. I think that there may be future purchases from them :) Here’s the gaiwan I got: http://tinyurl.com/28wf9xu I don’t think the picture does it justice – it’s beee-uuuutiful! Oh – just realized that if you click on the photo and see the close-ups: those pics do it justice. I also got my package from Life in Teacup – it looks amazing! I’ll wait for my new kettle before I break open those pretty packages. I want to do those oolongs justice! Except for the Lapsang Souchong – that will be had first thing tomorrow!

And then the Tea Guys box! I tried them so that I could get my mom their Carrot Cake tea for Mother’s Day. Of course I had to sample more of their wares! I could hardly stand being at work knowing that all this yummy tea was waiting for me at home! When I got home I chose the Ruby Tang because it’s the only caffeine-free option that I got (that isn’t my mom’s present). And it’s a fruit tea – which I have never had. I was really surprised when I opened the small packet – it looked like turkey stuffing. I don’t know what I thought it’d look like, but wow, it’s kinda cool!

And the smell! It was like a fruity tart candy! I’m waiting for the iced tea pitcher I ordered to arrive and I had this tea in mind to be iced when I bought it – so I decided to use about a third of the packet. I might have shortchanged this tisane by doing so – so I’ll be holding off rating it until I try the rest of it iced. Cuz I think this is going to be amazing iced.

First Steep: Woah – it’s earned the “tang” part of its name. The color was really really pale – almost nonexistant. I almost felt like I was getting that “furniture polish” smell from it – I’m thinking that the smell and the tartness must be the hibiscus. I’m not sure. I also think that the temp might have been a little too cool.

Second Steep: Added a minute and upped the temp a bit. There was a bit more color – a pale yellow. Ooh – it’s getting better! I’m picking up more fruit. And as it cooled, more of the orange came out and said “howdy!”

Third Steep: Kicked it up to 10 minutes. NOM! NOM! NOM! Again – please note that this is my first fruit tisane. I have nothing to relate this to, but for me: NOM! The tart is almost not there, but I can taste what I think is the hibiscus and a crazy mix of other fruit. And there’s this sweetness that lingers near the back of my throat while the top of my tongue sort of dances. It’s like my tastebuds are doing the Wave across my tongue.

And all of these companies get a gold star from me for both speed and service!

ETA: In my insanity I went for a fourth steep even though I thought it’d probably be a bad idea. It wasn’t the worst idea I’ve had, but still :P So I’m not sure if this would be the typical aftertaste, but it tasted like paper. It was weird enough for me to comment upon it (which I think that this is the first time that I’ve commented on aftertaste).

This tea called to me this morning after reading Doulton’s fabulous write-up on it the other day. I think it was pre-Shakespeare box when I had this last, so I was quite curious to see what I now thought of it. While it steeped I looked at the back of the tea packet where a somewhat lengthier description was written. It was a somewhat vindicating moment in that is mentions Keemun and Lapsang Souchong. The Tea Guys’ website mentions only Keemun and Darjeeling! I thought that I was going crazy as I tried to taste Darjeeling in my earlier cups and kept thinking, “but it tastes more like a Lapsang — maybe it’s how Keemun and Darjeeling interact that makes it smokey?”

With my mind no longer distracted by trying to find things that weren’t in the blend I found this more enjoyable. I think that it’s my favorite Keemun blend by far, and a decent Lapsang Souchong blend. I want to try this tea at boiling next time since I’m getting a dryness at the back of my throat. Bumped up the rating from a 78. NE

ETA: Oh, just remembered the Rose Keemun blend that I loved from the Shakespeare box — so this would be my second-most favorite Keemun blend :)

Cold brewed iced tea out of a Keemun and Lapsang Souchong blend — why not? The more I drink it the more I like it. It was rather bizarre at first with that sort of bacony LS taste coming out at the forefront. Now it has more of the sweet aspect of LSes with a deep base of Keemun and the swallow finishes with a really nice sweet note. I can’t say how often I’ll ice this, but I’m rather surprised at how much I’m enjoying it! I could see myself getting odd random cravings for this one. NE

Aha! So my cup was clean when I tried this and it still reminded me of Lapsang Souchong, but in a weird way – and then it hit me: I’m tasting woodsiness! This tea continues to intrigue me. I have enough for one more pot and I’m looking forward to it. It’s one of the most “masculine” teas that I’ve had so far. It’s like one of those rough looking biker dudes that has a teddy bear collection at home. Rugged, yet sweet! NE

I’d completely forgotten why I’d ordered this sample. The packet says “black tea with flower petals” therefore I assumed it was a floral black. The petals were a very pretty blue violet amongst the dry leaves. The picture here doesn’t do the tea justice. The leaves are also a lot smaller than what the picture seems to depict. So, shrink down that photo and add some lighter brown leaves and pretty purple petals.

The smell was (don’t hate me) like a black tea.

Here’s where I must make a confession. After my teagasmic experience with the Lapsang Souchong this morning I rinsed my favorite cup and dashed out the door. I didn’t even think twice about not having washed it when I came home (my iced tea pitcher came along with more tea – needless to say I was a bit distracted). The mug looked clean and I used it. So I think that I can’t really be fair on the first steep. I kept thinking that there was a hint of LS to this tea when I realized my oversight. Sorry! Regardless of my error I really felt myself decompress from today through drinking this. It was like a hug for my soul.

Second steep: I washed my mug and then looked at the website to find out what exactly’s going on with this tea. I think I’d almost convinced myself that there was some rose in this. And then I saw the description. ::facepalm:: I got it because it sounded interesting and it was Keemun with a mixture of Darjeeling: two teas that I’m really not familiar with. So I’m not the best to judge this tea since I can’t tell what’s what. I think the “rose” is actually the Darjeeling’s spice. But I’ll tell you this: I’m really loving this tea. It’s smooth and bold and I think that I’ll have to buy more. Not quite TG, but soooo very close! I’ll try this again soon with a (ahem) clean cup from the beginning.

As soon as I opened the sample tin that LiberTEAs sent me I could smell a scent double of true Carrot Cake. HOW CLEVER! Then…when I looked at the Rooibos and other ingredients I could clearly see each element blended throughout the mix. Its very colorful and creative! This infuses pretty dark for a Rooibos. The first sip took me by surprise as it was mostly carrot taste…but the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th sips quickly followed and intrigued me and I kept drinking.

If broadway had a Tea/Tisane Musical with flashy colors, and music, and storyline, and costumes, and stage tricks – this would be it. It seems to be surprise after surprise and the end result is that is tastes like Carrot Cake in a Cup! It very much lives up to it’s description.

What a treat!

SIPDOWN!!!!

More peach than ginger especially when it cools for a few mins. This is very nice! Upping the rating.

It’s the first tea I am trying in my new Libre Loose Leaf Tea Glass!

This was much better this time around so I am upping the rating! The Black Tea, PEACH, and Ginger were much more even and it was juicy not as spicy…YAY!

This smells great…peach, ginger, and for some reason I am smelling a HINT of apple, almost and I don’t know why.

The taste is very much Ginger with Cinnamon. There is a hint of peach. It’s not bad, but I, personally, would have liked more peach and less ginger.

Thanks to LiberTEAs I was able to try this one…and am VERY grateful.

Yeah…just a bit too much ginger and cinnamon for me…no worries, tho!

1/2 warm-up, 1/2 2nd infusion…just because…I’m having a hard time letting this one go…okay!? LOL

Not too shabby the 2nd time around…a bit lighter but still tasty!

I’m adding more points on to this one…because…I’m out of stock after this cup and have found that I really like it more and more…and it didn’t last long in my stash! It’s a nice memorable tea. And I really do think that if you are hungry it seems to help me hold off on the munchies or snack! LOL This one will be VERY MUCH MISSED…

Forgive me tea gods as it’s been 24 days since my last infusion.

One thing I am certainly surprised about is all of the tea I am drinking lately with MAPLE or MAPLE SUGAR or flavors mixed in with other flavors. I honestly would have never thought about that and come to find out I have liked almost everyone I have tried – including THIS one.

This smells just like Maple Syrup today. Very reminiscent of my Mother ordering pancakes at the local DENNY’s when I was very little.

Yes, Maple and sugar and black tea. YUM

If you take the color of a lighter brewed coffee this coloring is comparable. I can smell the Maple before, during, and after infusing. It tastes like maple but not as sugary as I was assuming based on the name…but that’s ok because I like it. You can still taste the Maple but you can also taste the black tea. Both the Black Tea AND the Maple are both bold and flavorful! I want to thank LiberTEAs for the opportunity to try this one too!

SIPDOWN #1 of today!

This is nice…I wish I lived near TeaNY…they have some lovely teas!