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The name seems to have been changed for this tea. I received a bag labeled “Strawberry Fields” and I thought at first that it was a mistake. But no, the ingredients are exactly the same. The tea is still listed as Love Potion on the website.

I love a good strawberry tea, but vanilla is usually hit or miss for me. This one is somewhere in the middle. It has a nice creamy texture, but I’m not in love with the flavor. (no wonder they had to change the name. . . a love potion that isn’t doing it’s job. haha).

I don’t mean that I dislike it, only that there are other strawberry teas that I like better, so why settle? (unless, of course I have 2oz of it to finish off. . .) Looks like I’ll have to get to know this one better and see if our love doesn’t blossom (yeah, ok, don’t judge me :) )

I got a sample of this pu-erh from cheetah pita (thank you!)

It is a pretty good pu-erh. I’ve been putting it off after my experience with the raw pu-erh sample that I got from Misty Peak. Although I have had good sheng in the past, I was still recovering from my most recent experience.

Im only on the third infusion of this one right now, but so far its yielding a very creamy cup with mild mineral notes and bitterness; slight astringency. There are other earthy spice-like flavors too that I can’t place, but they are nice. This is not my favorite sheng pu-erh ever, but it is helping to put me in the mood for pu-erh again.

ETA: I had to write this note quickly because I was running late to pick up my cat from the vet.

After I took some more time to contemplate the flavors notes of this tea, I think I can sort of recognize the olive oil and basil notes that it is advertised to have. Also, now that I think of it, the sheng I’ve tried in the past was aged at least 5 years or longer. Maybe very young or raw pu-erh is what I don’t like as much. Although so much more palatable than the bitter Misty Peak pu-erh that I tried, I just don’t dig mineral flavors.

And since I’m here writing, let me tell you about the cat and the villainous vet’s office. She needed a dental. She needed one last year but we could afford it. She really really really needs it now. We can barely afford it, but I budgeted it in and took her to her appointment today. Her blood work showed that she has a high white blood cell count so the doctor called me 4 hours later (about the time I expect them to say that all went well) and told me they couldn’t do the dental but that they wanted to do more blood tests and xrays to check for cancer. I ended up paying nearly as much as the dental would have cost and walked out with my cat in the same condition as before save an antibiotic shot in case it is an infection. So now Im really wondering why the heck I couldn’t have just gotten the antibiotics and then test her for other stuff if they didn’t have an effect. . .I am so mad. (>.<)

This is a sipdown brew. I’m trying to keep my tea stash under control. I do not plan to join the 300+ club (but when/if I do, I’ll hope that you don’t remember reading this :p )

There are a few teas that I forgot to include with my recent Butiki order (that should be arriving today) and one of them was the Cider guayusa that my husband likes. This plain guayusa is one I might keep on hand once in a while, but I’m ok having at least one of any guayusa blend around at a time. Having too many choices often leaves me wandering in confused circles in the kitchen, not sure what to do. If I ever start nearing 300, the problem would develop into spending more time organizing my tea than drinking it. I already have more than enough activities to satisfy my ocd. (^o^)

I brewed the last of my supply of this one today. I am trying to finish off smaller quantities of tea that I have left over. They tend to be the one’s that I am not in love with, but don’t dislike enough to swap away. These sort of teas tend to linger and take up space till I am finally encouraged to drink some of them again.

Sometime after my last note for this tea, I brewed a pot at my parents house. It was quickly named “cowboy” tea with varying degrees of like from the family. My brother said it was like drinking a cowboy boot (he thought it had a leathery taste about it), but he didn’t say this as if it was necessarily a bad thing. Both of my parents said that they liked it and my mother commented on the chocolate notes.

I myself just can’t get into this tea. I liked it less each time I drank it (all of 3 or 4 times, not all logged). It has a unique chocolate-ness about it, but definitely not in a girly ‘flowers and chocolate’ kind of way. More like manly-cowboy-bold-and-leathery chocolate. Once I give any tea the “manly” designation, it generally turns out not to be my cuppa.

Enjoying my last of this sample from Rie

It’s definitely one of the better green oolongs that I have had. Too bad I can’t order this one :(

A sipdown for this one. I think I like my Assam from Butiki better than this one. Not that this is bad at all, but with so many choices I’ll be picky. This assam is heavier on the fruit and not so much on the malty (though it is there). It has similarities to the Golden Yunnan that I also have from Arbor teas. I like Golden Yunnan, but I don’t need two teas that serve the same purpose so I probably won’t be restocking this one. . .but it could happen.

Got a sample of this with my recent Tea Spot order and I felt in the mood to have some now. I’ve had this one in the past and my mother still has a large tin of it. I don’t know why I didn’t buy any more for myself this time around. Kind of wishing I did now.

I like this blend of peppermint and hojicha so much better than the usual moroccan gunpowder mint blends. The hojicha keeps the peppermint tame without taking over in the way that gunpowder green does.

Ah boo to buying mandatory large packages of unfamiliar teas! I absolutely HAD to buy more Macaron tea and my mother wanted Wedding Imperial so we split shipping charges to order from Mariage Frerès. I figured I ought to get something extra to make the order efficient. I saw that this was a best seller and went for it.

At least it is palatable. It has a wine aroma from dry leaf to cup and I’ve already expressed my dislike for alcoholic-like flavors. Perhaps that is why this one is so popular though. Fortunately, for me, the wine notes aren’t too strong and there is a pleasant fruitiness about it. When it is very hot, it kind of gives off a perfumy aroma like the smell of department store samples in a catalogue. That wore off as it cooled and doesn’t come through in the flavor.

I’ll be taking a sample of this to my parents and if they aren’t so keen on it, I’ll have plenty for swapping! :)

I can see why this is Den’s best selling Sencha. It’s sweet, vegetal, and not too bitter or astringent (when brewed according to Den’s instructions). I absolutely love a good green tea, but I’ve had trouble working with Sencha in the past. It’s so easy to over steep or to steep with the wrong temperature. Even following guidelines have given me mediocre results in the past. This one has a very slight bitterness, but it is a welcome addition to the sweetness. My husband really likes it too :)

ETA: This tea does leave a lot of powdered debris in my cup with lend to more bitterness as I near the bottom. It seems that Dens has a thing for powdery greens.

Yummy yummy blueberry muffin tea. Even better than I remember.