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After half a week of scurry-and-scream (work) and half a week of scurry-fret-panic-no-sleep (parent care), today is a blessing: weather rotten enough to justify staying in and time enough to make a cuppa something to enjoy slowly.

The vendor description calls this oolong " light creamy taste with a hint of marine." I get that, definitely the creamy part; however, my first taste association was sweet white grape juice. It’s not drying in the mouth at all.

Because I failed to completly read the label, I pulled the leaves out well ahead of the 5-8 minute recommended steep time (that’s definitely maritime tea!) but even so, it has a velvety, buttery-rich, texture and is plenty flavorful. Looking forward to the second submersion, cap’n.

All kinds of dire rain-sleet-snow warnings; we will likely be buried by some kind of nasty precipitation by tomorrow, so in theory, I need to select my last decent cuppa before the power starts dipping. However, time o’the evening dictates decaf, so this’ll be it. It is a decent unflavored decaf that you can coax some stoutness out of with a longer steep. A little milk/sugar can also convince you you’re drinking the real thing. My two ounce package is disappearing at a rapid rate.

The best tea ever is the first cup you drink when you are safely tucked in your house when you’ve been riding the tired, chilled, and stressed roller coaster. Even if it’s bagged Lipton. In this case, it was a little tinned, bagged, mango green that isn’t very mango-y, but is chasing away the shivers. (If someone gives you this tinned variety, don’t throw it out; use it in a pinch, and enjoy the really cute tins.)

This is a decent, lightweight IB. This is not the tea to drink at 6 a.m. when it’s the only cup you’re going to get all day because your workday is screamingly nonstop from the moment you walk in and then when you get off you have to run screaming in another direction to take an elderly father to the E.R.

Thank you for indulging me in a bit of self-pity :) Surely there is hot water around here somewhere. I have a bag of Twinings on me….

Husband, Master of Spatial Relationships, noted that the round tags that came with the samples fit precisely inside the rim of a standard Mason canning jar. We tried it.

The tea itself is a surprise. Tightly rolled leaves, like an oolong, that huge-n up remarkably when you steep. Taste is sweet up front, dark in the back, but a little fruity and oolong-y in the middle. A whole flavor parade.

Resisting the urge to float my cork boat in it. Gotta get to work. Creativity on a deadline.

Samples arrived this week and I am saving them for this weekend when I can take some time to enjoy. However, I have to say something about the wonderful packaging. I put together the little cork boat before I even looked at the packets. And with the cheerful nautical-themed tags and packets, this gets my vote for “most funnest sample packages ever.”

Avast and ahoy—-we’ll dive into ’em tomorrow.

This little cheapie, dark and rich with just a little mineral, is further proof that prowling through the bins at your local indie vendor can pay off. Newbies on a budget—do some local exploring: it’s a great way to expand your tea wardrobe without deflating your wallet as much as you would with name brand mail orders.

(Not that we don’t love those name brands as well ;)

Looks a little like salad dry in the pouch…definitely a woodsy flavor to it (drnking it with a chocolate chip cookie remedied any valerian mulchiness). So far I haven’t met a tisane that will put me out completely on its own—will have to report later on any possible zzzzz effect.

ashmanra, I put Tazo outside so I didn’t have any help steeping it :)

(Yeah, I’m still here. I think.)

I’m still thinking on this one. Previous comments hold; it’s somewhat spicy, but spicy in the bass range—you get it at the tip of your tongue after you’ve swallowed. Don’t think it’s really strong enough (to my taste, anyway) for a breakfast tea. Maybe brunch or elevenses. Still a very, very, very good Ceylon!