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When you try this one use a clear glass teapot. The leaf filled mine with floating, hanging, and settled leaf. It was the best leaf display I have seen in a while.

This is my first yellow. It starts subtle with stone or possibly nutty notes, then is submerged under a wave of good bite. Quite a contrast. Your left smacking your lips and tasting lingering floral and vegetation.

The second mug found the subtle notes replaced with bolder notes that reminded me of biting into a raw white potato along with the sweetness of corn. This is again followed by the wave that withdraws leaving the vegetal aftertaste.

Complex and interesting. I love how each of the reviews here have interpreted it in different ways. That kind of reflects that complexity.

Went back to my normal powder, milk, vanilla, and caramel syrup. Not a drop of Diet Coke. Some things do not have to be repeated before the lesson is learned ;-{)>

Following ashmanra’s lead, I used the gaiwan this morning and made several quick little steeps. The lid of the gaiwan smells heavenly of jasmine. Its’ touch is much lighter in the light orange brew. Keeping this below 20 seconds produces a lovely cup with little bitterness. At 20 s it needs sweetener unless bitter is what you like. The little toucha really expands into a cup full of leaf. Much enjoyed this today.

Under the heading of not my brightest idea – this morning instead of starting with room temp water to dissolve the powder, I used room temp diet Coke. I like Coke and milk, but green tea powder does not. I drank it anyway :)

My dashboard isn’t updating – surprise!

Happy Ho Ho anyway.

We did our Christmas at home this morning. My son’s K-cup machine died a while back so we got him a new one. He wanted to make a cup for all of us. I had this one. My opinion has not changed. No. Just no. He loves it though.

I am feeling almost human today. Yeah! Merry Christmas.

I appear to have a bug. I guess it wasn’t my wife trying to poison me with grilled cheese two days ago. My back hurts and heating pad is the only relief I have found. My stomach is in knots. My head hurts. I am trying to keep hydrated but honestly I don’t feel like drinking. I’ve have wanted raw pu-erh for a couple days but no one in the house knows how to fix it (or even what it is) but me. Finally feel momentarily well enough. Used my gaiwan and a 15 sec steep. Raisin, woodsy, a touch of smoke, and a fruit – apricot I think. More important I get an immediate sticky lip feel and a much desired rumble in my bloated gut. Time for more.

My wife wanted grilled cheese. Not a fan. Now I remember why. I am doubled over with cramping. Found this on my desk. No idea where it came from. I am guessing my son through it there. It is obvious this is peppermint. It is just as obvious it is very old. It just isn’t working for me. Guess I’ll have to tough it out :(

My weekly update: I was so excited to play with my new (used) teapot I almost forgot to share about this one. The tea loving server saw us coming in this morning and begged the others to let her wait on us. Yeah – cause that means way better prepared tea. And a new tea bag with each cup. What a novel idea.

This week I took her a baggie of Teavivre’s Yunnan Dian Hong Golden Tips and a sample bag of Teavivre Jasmine Dragon Pearls. The pearls were harder to give away because I don’t know if I have any more at the moment. I told her these blow the ones I previously gave her out of the water.

I asked her if she was steeping the teas more than once. She said, “Are you kidding me, I’m steeping them until they have nothing left to give.” Awesome. She told me she pulled the teas out at her book club and shared with ‘the girls’. They loved them – dragon well was the favorite. As you can tell, I’m loving this.

I asked if she was willing to try pu-erh. She did not know what it was. I told her it smelled like a horse barn and tasted like leather. Her eyes lit up. Now I have to go through the drawer and figure out which one I have is the best example of what I just told her.

Tune in next week, same bat time, same bat channel.

After today, I have enough left for a couple more sessions. I was really looking forward to ordering more of this one. It is one of my favorite Yunnans. It kind of trades the sweet potato notes for a wonderful smoky bohea like flavor. Sorry to find out RiverTea is apparently no more.

Today I prepared this in a little green ceramic teapot my wife found for me at Goodwill. It holds roughly 12 oz. The perfect size for my needs. I have wanted one for a while, just for my black teas. I heated the pot first and brewed this at 194F for 2 minutes. It was so good. The smoke filled my olfactory, while the honey, caramel and leather (leather? – yup) rejoiced on the inside. Best $4 buy ever.

This is one time I wish I had read other’s reviews before tasting. I mean there is a snow man on the box with kind of not decorated Christmas trees in the background and Bigelow says its a holiday season blend (IE Christmas without saying it). I am all geared up with a scarf and mittens (metaphorically speaking) and ready for a cinnamon and sugary ginger snap cookie like my grandmother made. So… this is nothing like that. Had I realized I would have approached this differently. This smells of ginger and lemongrass/lemon verbena. It tastes of lemongrass/ lemon verbena. The ginger to me only briefly appears late in the sip to add a little spicy heat. I added a little sweetener to see its affect. At first, I liked it better without. As the cup cooled it did bring out the ginger more, balancing the ginger with the lemon. Now, there is nothing wrong with the flavor. In fact it is a very pleasant and relaxing sip. The problem for me is it does not stir any holiday memories. I would be far more inclined to enjoy this one on a cool summer night out under the stars. Would I recommend this one? Yes, as long as you understand what you’re getting – It’s a lovely lemon herbal tea. Thanks GG!