The NecessiTeas

After the success I had making Orange Cranberry Glazed Scone iced, I figured I would try this tea iced as well. That plus my Necessitea teas are all in large quantities so I am trying to get through them slowly.

I must say, I don’t love this one iced though. It is more green tasting than the hot cup though I am not sure why that would be the case. Maybe it was just how the scoops worked out because the bubblegum flavor is lacking here. The base is not a bad green tea but I wanted bubblegum and that isn’t happening.

I have become so obsessed with my iced tea press that today when I went to make this hot, I dumped the leaf right into the mug and poured the hot water right on top only to realize that at some point I would have to strain out the leaf so…oops. However I figured it out and now I am happily sipping on my gumball tea. My leafy gumball tea. Yum

Anyone got 25 cents for a gumball? No? That’s okay, I’ll just sip this tea :) http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/12/21/bubblegum-from-the-necessiteas-let-the-childhood-memories-begin/

This was the tea I made in my tea press to take to work with me today. However, I didn’t end up staying at work today because my carpet is still wet and my desk reeked. Actually the smell got so bad half the office stunk, though my desk was particularly pungent as confirmed by not only me but multiple others. I asked to be moved and basically got bitched at by management because too many people complained. On top of all that, since my power cord was sitting on soaking wet carpet for the past 3 days now, my computer wouldn’t turn on. I walked out and told them I would work from home. I was just fucking done.

On a more positive note, this hold up well in a metal travel container so that’s nice.

Morning latte. Well afternoon latte I guess. It was good. Eggy and bready and just the right amount of cinnamon.

My house went a little french toast crazy a little while back and my tea was no exception to that. Check out the French Toast tea showdown between this tea and the 52 Teas French Toast Blend here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/12/23/french-toast-showdown-52-teas-vs-the-necessiteas/

Latte Sipdown (226)

This is definitely one of the oldest teas in my stash so it was nice to finish the tin. However, this is not a great latte. So it got dumped. Glad it has finished but sad it went out like this.

Happy New Year Steepster!! I am still working on some of my older teas and this is one I have had time and time again and yet it doesn’t seem to be going down in the tin at all. At least it tastes good, even if there is some flavor deterioration.

Work is busy and since I have no intention of staying late, I decided to skip my lunch. Luckily I have this tasty cold brew to keep me sane.

After the success of this iced, I decided to try cold brewing. It’s good though more orange than usual. It has pastry notes but those take a back seat to the bright and zingy citrus. It’s good but I prefer the other prep methods if I am being honest.

Made this as an iced tea and it is actually awesome. I worried the white tea would get soapy but somehow this remains buttery. The citrus is bright and crisp and cranberry keeps things sweet. I might be crazy but there is also a brown sugar note here that is coming from…I don’t even know where but I like it. I will definitely be drinking this iced again. Plus, I will be drinking it more often because this really is a good tea.

This tea traveled a great distance and weathered a snow storm to get to me so I was definitely pleased when I opened the tin and found the orange glazed cranberry scone I was promised. http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/12/18/orange-glazed-cranberry-scone-from-the-necessiteas/

Sipdown (346)

There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that I finally the last of this old tea today. The bad news is that I forgot the tea press in my apartment and thus by the time I get home close to 3, it most likely will just be getting dumped down the drain.

ETA: when I got home I tried this and it actually was quite good. No metallic note thanks to my quick steep and maple even came through today among waffle and blackberry. It is quite lovely and a great goodbye.

When I steeped this tea this morning, I did not use the recommended steeping parameters but instead used my own. It is slightly less metallic than it was last time but still metallic. Maybe it doesn’t like the stainless steel of the tea press?

That metallic note is not my favorite but it doesn’t completely overshadow the tea’s own flavor. I am getting a lot of graham from the waffle today. And whereas last time the metallic latched on to the waffle, today it is attached to the blackberry.

Anyways, it is still tasty enough for a school tea. I think I have about one more day of this and then I have worked through another one of my older blends. Which is good because I really need to start working on cupboard management and using up things that have aged past their prime.

Bringing teas to school with me has had me making great use of the teas in my focus box. I have been trying to work on drinking those down since they are at least a year old or more. This particular tea is in the “or more” category and is probably closer to 2 years old. Oops.

Drinking it today, it is a little astringent. I used the recommended steeping parameters of 5 minutes in boiling water vs my usual 4 minutes in 200F water and that might be where the astringency is coming from. It is not super offensive – just slightly metallic. The metallic latches on to the awesome waffle flavor which is still present but not as prominent as I’d like (again, I blame the steeping). Blackberry sort of lingers over the entire sip so that you don’t realize its there until you finish and it comes to clarity that there was more than just astringent black tea and waffle while you were drinking.

Not much new to say about this other than it holds up quite well in a traveling teamug.

This is a little muted compared to my last cup (which was smaller) but still very good. I love the smell of blackberries this tea has, with underlying waffle warmth. It transfers over to taste and that is awesome.

Blackberry waffle deliciousness! Yum :)

One of the best blackberry teas I have had and the base reminds me of the waffle flavor from Butiki’s Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black Tea. Now this is based off a very vague memory of the Butiki tea but that’s what came to mind when I first tasted this

Latte Sipdown (293)

This tea was a whole lot of cherry and chocolate. I actually really like this one and the sample was perfect for one latte. If I were placing a NecessiTeas order again, I think this would be added to the cart.