Chance Combinations

Black Cherry-French Vanilla Matcha from Red Leaf Tea

Oh so good. Made two lattes of this for Hubby and me, and it’s the favorite for both of us so far! With each sip I tasted the French Vanilla first, then the Black Cherry followed by more vanilla. It was like the cherries were actually covered in vanilla cream. Fantastic!

2:1 ratio of Blueberry black tea and Maple Cream black tea (both by Metropolitan Tea Combination). Holyyyy, I think I’ve created a monster. This is delicious and now I think I’ll have to do up a tin of this. Thanks to the black tea I’ll be wired for the rest of the night, but it’s so worth it.

The blueberry is delcious and tastes like actual blueberries as opposed to that candied stuff. The maple cream balances it out very nicely and it makes for a smooth tea.

Steep: 3 mins.

My favorite combination ever is Della Terra’s Dubbelle Chocolade with DavidsTea The Earl’s Garden. I don’t really know why it works; it just kinda does.

PG Tips + Plantation Mint makes a good strong tea. Let the Plantation Mint steep for about 7 minutes and the PG Tips for about 4 minutes.

I was going to do a side by side taste test of the Yunnans and Yunnan-like teas in my cupboard today. I got out my little demi-tasse cups, little steeping bowls, heated filtered water, got my note paper ready and put 1 teaspoon of tea in each bowl. In retrospect, and something I should have known at the time, far too much tea for the 1 ounce of water I was steeping with! In my defense, even if I had realized in time to adjust the amount of leaf, it would have been hard to determine how much to use with the larger leaves. I don’t have a scale, either.

Here’s a pic of the set up: http://tinyurl.com/ls6mo4p
Horrible lighting and a reflection made it look like there was a tea bag or something in the upper row cup.

I steeped, from left to right, bottom to top: Golden Strand from Mandala (not in picture, alas), Royal Yunnan from New Mexico Tea Co., Yunnan Imperial from Single Origin Teas, Pure Bud from Mandala, Yun Nan Dian Hong Black Tea Full Leaf from Teavivre, Superfine Tan Yang Gong Fu from Teavivre, Yunnan Gold Tips from A&D & Morning Sun from Mandala.

I steeped at 200F for all and for 3 minutes, give or take about 15 seconds. And yikes was that too long for that much tea in that little water! Without exception, all of the teas were bitter. I probably should also not have tried the same temp for all of them. After realizing my mistake I used the rest of the filtered water and tried resteeping in the full 8 ounces. I didn’t have enough filtered water to do all of them, though.

On a second steep, here’s what I figured out: Golden Strand was the cleanest and sharpest tasting. Tan Yang comes out slightly ahead of the Dian Hong Full Leaf, Morning Sun was the smokiest. Yunnan Gold Tips didn’t resteep very well. I didn’t have enough water to try the others.

So, all I managed to really find out is that 1) to do a proper side by side with variables controlled, I really need more than just me doing the prep or I need to not do all of them at once 2) follow steeping directions: all teas are not the same! and 3) even allowing for way improper steeping the most undrinkable were the Royal Yunnan and the Yunnan Imperial. The Imperial is the least expensive of the bunch, but the Dian Hong Full Leaf was the second least expensive so I don’t think that necessarily reflects quality in all cases.

Next I need to try a better comparison and do only the Mandala and then only the Teavivre so I can figure out better what I like about each one and if I really feel a need to keep every single one in my cupboard. Right now I think I do, but I’ve not had them side by side so every one has been The Most Awesome Ever. :)

Oh and after steeping each full cup, I didn’t drink the whole thing right then, I poured them all together and have been sipping on the combined mixture all day. I get almost none of the awesome aspects of any of them but it’s pretty drinkable so I don’t feel like I wasted all those leaves. :)

2tsp Cool Cucumber mixed with 2tsp Pom Tango
1.5tbs of rock sugar
Brewed hot and then chilled.

My friend recommended Cool Cucumber/Pom Tango as an iced tea and, since I’m trying to clear out my cupboard, I made some this weekend. I think I used too much of the cool cucumber, though, because the mint from that tea overpowers everything else. Pom Tango adds a nice – if subtle – sweetness though.

Golden Peach from Tealish and Organic Guayusa from Butiki Teas

I want to both get rid of the straight guayusa and ramp up the caffeine in this coldbrew, so I used about half guayusa and half golden peach. I’ve been sleeping way, way too much lately, it’s starting to freak me out. For instance, last night we went to sleep around 11 and got up around 7:30. At 8:30 I went back to bed because I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and slept until 12:30.

So, I’m hoping a little jolt of caffeine will help me keep from crawling back into bed again.

However, I should have picked a stronger blend to mix the guayusa with. This is all guayusa, earthy and green, with just a hint of peach. I will not be mixing these again, nope.

I hope this doesn’t come off as ranty, but I’m using the chance combinations to do a tasting note of Herbal Infusions Cacao Tea and a few teaspoons of a random tub of cacao nibs I bought at Home Goods.

After trying the HI Cacao Tea, I did some research regarding cacao and the chocolate making process. Apparently, the husks that they are using for their tea are a byproduct of the chocolate making process; the cocoa beans are roasted and the husks/shells are sloughed off, leaving the inner nib that’s processed further into chocolate. Apparently, it’s very common that the husks/shells are sold as mulch ridiculously cheap. We’re talking 22 pounds for under $25 (not affiliated http://www.amazon.com/National-Cocoa-Shell-BLCH001-Blommer/dp/B000VYL2CA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394904677&sr=8-1&keywords=cocoa+shell+mulch).

So, I wouldn’t necessary go out and buy mulch and make it into tea cause it wasn’t made specifically for human consumption, but the idea of spending so much on something that is sold so cheaply for other purposes seems really unnecessary to me.

I’ve taken a liking to the HI cacao tea and I actually find I like it even more mixed with the cacao nibs I bought. I’m too lazy at the moment to run downstairs, but it was a 8oz tub of organic nibs for $8.

I think though, that one could get a very similar result from buying whole cacao beans (included their shells) that were roasted (and specifically sold for human consumption) and using some kind of food processor to grind them up coarsely to use for tea. If you only like the husks, you can apparently, peel them by hand or by using some type of rolling pin, but I am super lazy and I like it all mixed together anyway. I found a few youtube videos that outlines that process; what’s funny, is these are all chocolate making videos and the husks are thought of as the waste in the process!

Just my two cents!

I mixed up some of the 52Teas Eggnog Honeybush and Cornelia Bean’s Sweet Temptation Rooibos. It’s a good combo, as Sweet temptation is sweet, and the eggnog honeybush is kind of lacking.

Then I added maple syrup and cream.

Oh goodness. I added too much maple syrup, but it’s SO GOOD. Sweet, mapley, nougaty, not too rooibosy. :)

So I’m drinking:
1 tsp Verdant Autumn Harvest Tieguanyin
1.5 tsp Fusion Cherry Tisane
steeped in 16 oz of 85 C water for 3 minutes

Why am I drinking this?
The Tieguanyin is too green too floral for my tastes. LOVE the cherry tisane. Both of these are on my “oldest teas” list. Toss them together and I’m getting a cherry green oolong that the fruit is taming the floral. This works better for my tastes and I’m drinking down two old teas at once. Win/Win situation that’s making me happy.