3082 Tasting Notes
A friend who recently retired received a year’s subscription from Atlas Tea Club … several pouches a month with little information postcards describing the provenance of their small-batch, single estate teas.
She shared some leftovers, including a very nice Malawi Orange Pekoe. Long wavy leaves longer than the teaspoon. The tea description waxes poetic about its hints of raisin with a honey and graham cracker finish. Even fighting a cold, I did get hints of all three. Looking forward to a revisit whed I cad breedth.
This timely surprise arrived today from a Tennessee friend who loves her Smokies as much as I love my Ozarks. Timely because they’re talking record high temperatures for Christmas Day, so summer tea may be highly appropriate.
I couldn’t wait till Christmas and broke into a cup tonight. Straight off a five-minute steep, the hibiscus hits you first, but just before you frown and pucker, the pineapple steps in to moderate the tartness. A nice fruit juicy balance. Will try a little sweetener with the next cup, but it is notable that I enjoyed it straight up.
Feeling a little like Bob Cratchitt today (or my favorite Christmas episode of News Radio) … left to work, alone and unnoticed, with everybody burning available time and leaving early, leaving odd-duck leftovers from various Christmas celebrations in the staff kitchen. One of those was an assortment of coffee syrups, and feeling a little rebellious, I added a dollop of peanut butter syrup to a cup of strong Murphy’s Irish Breakfast.
Probably won’t repeat said experiment; the two flavors tasted and fought bitterly in the cup like siblings with cabin fever. But it gave my palate something new to think about.
My internal clock must be set to “eggnog;” looks like the last time I drank and reviewed this was last year’s Tea and Cocoa Sunday with my church kids. This year’s was today, too. I love to watch my fifth grade girls prowl through my mismatched chest of tea bags and my sixth grade boys winching up their faces after their first sip of lapsang souchong. (I’ve always got a kettle in my hands and never have the camera handy, but it’s priceless!)
I’ve been drinking this seasonally for years. The black/green combo makes it just a little finicky (light touch needed on time and temp). Without a little help from milk, there isn’t much to resemble the dairy part of the eggnog, but the spice combo is spot on. Fortifying myself with feet up and cuppa before Kid Day Part 2—we’re taking a group to Ronald McDonald House to make dinner and decorate cookies for the families staying there. Wanna come?
Still making beverage choices for medicinal purposes; grabbed this one after noticing black pepper in the ingredient lineup.
My tastebuds are not calibrated properly due to the cruds I’m toting around in my head and throat, but it’s not coming through as very peppery. Just a decent, predictable chai; acceptable with a little honey and no milk.
Cold office; scratchy throat, so I just keep pouring hot water on top of whatever I just had. In this case, I warmed up the dregs of Sweater Weather (Savoy; chai with mint) with a bag of inexpensive wei-chuan green tea in the cup. The results were surprisingly tasty! A little sweetness coming from somewhere and soothness from the mint. (If that’s not a word, I just made it up.)
Ancient sample packet and I was feeling adventurous. So many chocolate teas have that alcoholic/medicinal thing going on in the background, and it was noticeable right off the steep. (Age may have had something to do with that … I know I’m getting more medicinal as I get older!)
However, a little milk and a squoodge of honey covered up the flaws nicely.
