Kaylee Send Message

A family acquaintance learned of my love for tea and brought me a box of this.

I’m not hugely fond of the fact that the teabags are just loose in the box. No individual wrappers, no sealed foil bag holding all of them. Just… kinda chillin out in the cardboard box. The box came shrink-wrapped, so I’m not concerned about contamination before it got to me. But I don’t like the risk of dust and whatnot getting in, and I don’t like that the chamomile is so exposed to the air. Ah well, all the more reason to drink this up quickly!

This is actually a quite lovely tea. The chamomile has a sweetness to it that one doesn’t always find. Almost apple-y, but not at all tart. Just smooth and soothing. This one won’t be hard to finish off.

Finally, a Butiki sipdown. I really want to place a new order, but I can’t justify it until I drink through some of the teas I have now. Seriously, after this one I still have 25 others in my cupboard.

This one is still cantaloupe perfection. I think that my cupboard would be incomplete without at least one fruity Butiki tea (this one, Watermelon Xylophone, or Flowery Pineapple Oolong). Luckily I still have some of the other two.

Aaargh! I had a biopsy this morning. It didn’t hurt much afterwards. More like soreness/tenderness/discomfort. But not pain. Until I lifted the kettle wrong while making this tea. Doc said no heavy lifting, but it’s just a kettle! Yeah, now it really hurts. Ice pack time! I’m just going to assume that ice packs are ok. Not that the cold is penetrating the gauze and tape very well anyway. Blargh.

At least this tea doesn’t suck. I don’t know that it’s worth physical pain, but it is tasty! The dry leaf smells overwhelmingly of vanilla, with a hint of lemon. Brewed, the smell is creamy lemongrass. I’m tasting mostly lemongrass. Where did that enticing vanilla go?! As the tea cools, some vanilla flavor comes through at the end of the sip. But so does a bit of dryness and… astringency? That’s weird for a white tea.

I decided to see how this would go with a lemon macaron. French tea calls for a French confection, non? The sweetness of the macaron brought out some more of that vanilla flavor. But the more this cools, the more the dryness comes out. I’m really not enjoying that aspect. The lesson here is not to let this tea cool!

MissB thoughtfully added this to my stash sale purchase because it was on my wishlist. Thank you so much!

Skip this if you don’t like personal notes.

Y’all, I’m scared. I am going in for a biopsy tomorrow and I am absolutely terrified. For various reasons, I can’t talk to family/friends/SO about it. So mostly I’m just sitting here trying to keep it together. Tea helps.

I can’t have my caffeinated favorites because it’s so late in the day. Instead, I’m pulling out my favorite non-savory herbals. This one, Della’s Lemon Chiffon, Butiki’s Lavender Chamomile, maybe Verdant’s Campfire Blend… This tea goes down so dang smooth. It comes off as a plain ole mint tea at first, but that honey/white chocolate note sneaks in at the end for a little extra oomph. Yum.

I am just plowing through this one today. Usually my travel mug tea lasts most of the morning. Today it lasted maybe an hour, despite my running around. I still love this tea. It’s just maple nutty goodness perfect for a chilly day. <3

backlog

I really hated this one the first time around. The second time, I made the first steep at four minutes instead of two, which made it much more bearable to drink. The first taste is apple, followed quickly by sweet chamomile and honeysuckle. Then there’s the lingering flavor of goji berries on the back end. It’s really well blended, actually. The smell is strange and off-putting though. Like something you’d baste a turkey with. Maybe that’s the frankincense? I have absolutely no idea what frankincense smells like. But the weird savory note actually comes out in the flavor and gets stronger as the tea cools. It’s just not working for me. Happily, I am sending the rest of this off to someone who can enjoy it.

Thanks for sending me some of this Christina!

I was intrigued by this one after reading other people’s posts. Alas, all I’m really getting here is mint. I actually thought it was spearmint, but upon looking at the ingredients list I think what i’m picking up on is the peppermint + eucalyptus. I’m definitely not picking up any citrus here.

This is a tasty mint herbal. It doesn’t strike me as anything special though. It may be especially soothing when one actually has a cold, but I didn’t have the patience to wait. I did try this during a migraine a few days ago and it didn’t really help. So… meh. No rating because I didn’t drink it as ostensibly intended.

sipdown

I have had Della Terra’s Upside Down Pineapple Cake. You, my friend, are no Upside Down Pineapple Cake. Nope. You are a sweet, creamy, vanilla blend with a touch of tartness. Now that others have mentioned it, I am also noticing a touch of maple syrup flavor. You have the same mouthfeel as Autumn Leaves. Sort of a sweet, pleasant film that builds on the roof of the mouth. But pineapple? Cherry? Cake? Nope nope nope. Which is both disappointing and just fine. You are delicious. You just have the wrong name. It’s ok. I like you anyway.

Aah. This tea. It’s my forbidden love. So, so good and yet so, so bad for me. It’s not hurting my stomach so much today, possibly because I ate first. This is seriously delicious. It’s more nutty than creamy this time around. All four steeps are still very much like drinking a rich, indulgent dessert. For better or worse, this is a sad, sad sipdown. Thanks for the sample, Stacy!

This comes to me courtesy of RogersCK. Thanks for sending me this pleasant and intriguing blend!

This is an orange brew that smells of green grapes. The taste really does remind me of white wine. Admittedly, I am by no means a wine connoisseur. Still, this tastes light, grapey, and almost sparkling. There’s a touch of sweetness during the sip and a gentle tartness at the end.

The apricot that everyone’s talking about comes out for me in the second steep. Juicy, with a more assertively tart finish than earlier. More lemon myrtle than lemon fruit. The third steep tastes about the same, only even juicier. Nom nom nom.

This is my first exposure to Vintage Tea Works. I’m impressed. I look forward to trying more of their teas in the future.

sipdown

steep 1: 167f, 3 mins 30 secs
steep 2: 182f, 5 mins
steep 3: 194f, 6 mins