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Doulton’s Shakespeare: A Tasting Note in 5 Acts
Act III scene 7

Four days will quickly steep themselves in nights;
Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
And then the moon, like to a silver bow
New bent in heaven, shall behold the night
Of our solemnities.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I scene 1

My only experience with mulberries is with the nursery rhyme which as I prepped this tea I kept singing to myself: “Here we go ’round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush. Here we go ’round the mulberry bush…mumble, mumble, er…mumble.” Yeah, I couldn’t recall the last part of the song. Internet to the rescue! Unfortunately the first one I pulled up had the more original “on a cold and frosty morning” and I became confused and questioned my entire childhood until I found the rhyme I’d been taught. I grew up with the “on such an early morning.” So yeah, I spent a long amount of time youtubing the rhyme and just checking out info on mulberries (wait, they’re not bushes — they’re trees? Childhood called into question all over again). All this is to say that I haven’t the foggiest clue as to what a mulberry tastes like.

Both the dry leaves and steeped tea have a fruity smell that sort of overpowers the tea. I’m guessing Ceylon. The taste reminds me of a “Xtreme Berry”-type gum made by Extra that I had tried years ago and hadn’t particularly cared for. It’s a pleasant tea, but nothing that I ever plan on purchasing. Sorry that I can’t really describe it more, but it’s just a fruity tea that leans a little toward the sweet side vs. the tart side of things.

All that said, I’m going to call this tea my Hippolyta from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A character that says some nice things in the first act and then disappears for the most part until Act 5. Then she disagrees with her husband and sets him straight (which is a more agressive act than this tea would be capable of). A pretty much unremarkable part for an unremarkable tea. NE

I do like this at 205 vs. boiling. Not a huge difference, but it does allow me to drink it much faster and I got more of the warm fuzzy feeling. It also pairs well with Lucky Charms. I discovered this since my little niece and nephew are visiting my parents and I had breakfast with them. I’m getting closer to feeling like I want to keep some of this on hand after I finish my sample, but I’m not quite there yet. Still NE with benefits ;)

In some breaking news, the amazing JacquelineM has won the “Courtesy Death Match” that we had going on for a swap. I received her package today and was blown away. Check out these most adorable tins:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rabstea/4629760163/

And those labels? Each one is hand colored and decorated with absolute charm:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rabstea/4629760379/in/photostream/

Yeah, she’s amazing — and the teas she gave me are amazing too. I’m am unworthy! And I’m also apparently dead cuz she won the Death Match. ;)

A&D’s Earl Grey won out as the first tea I selected to try: an Earl Grey sort of fit my mood this afternoon. Oy — this is some yummy tea! It’s subtle and gives me even more warm fuzzies (if the Courtesy Death Match hadn’t already done me in, then the sheer amount of warm fuzziness I’ve had lately would’ve done it. I’d be a warm pile-o-goo).

I think that I like my Rosy Earl Grey more. It’s got a bit more oomph and the Frou-Frou Factor. But this is absolutely lovely. And it has pushed me over the edge to purchase this series as soon as possible. Thank you so much JacquelineM!!!!! TG

I thought I’d treat myself tonight to a super-nummy tea from Doulton. Mmm…mmm Iago. Besides the nom-factor I was also curious to see how this compared to the Culinary Tea’s Russian Caravan that I had the other day.

The overall feeling I have is that this tea is much more of an afternoon/evening tea. It’s mellow, subtle, nummy, and just gives you the warm fuzzies. The CT’s Russian Caravan on the other hand is a breakfast tea with the “Kapow!” for the AM wakeup. It’s bold, it says “screw you” to nuanced, but it is still very nummy. I’m having one of those “I love tea” moments. Ahhhh… TG

A HUGE thank you to AmazonV for sending me samples of these teas!!!!!

I had just arrived home from a few errands including donating mah blood (O neg woot!) when I checked my mailbox and found a package awaiting me. Squeee!!! I went inside and opened it up and almost fainted from a combination of both AmazonV’s generosity and the blood loss. ;) There was also a funny handwritten note on a beautiful butterfly postcard (I loves butterflies!).

With much contained excitement I opened this tea and gave it a wiff. Here’s where AmazonV may be able to attest to the fact that I have the oddest scent associations: I smelled graham crackers. Like, if you took a honey graham cracker and schmeared it with some generic fruit spread. Color me even more intrigued!

I boiled water and used my large 16 oz mug to mix up this very fragrant concoction. Wow — the smell is even more intensly sugary-sweet/graham crackery! Then the first sip: woah! That’s some sweet stuff! It’s been years since I’ve had full-out sugary Kool-Aid (is that even still available?), but that’s the closest thing that I can liken this tea to. I wonder if it’s possible to ice this sort of tea? It doesn’t taste graham-crackery, but that smell still lingers. I can’t say that I’ve had a straight-up date before, so I can’t say how datey this is.

Then a taste-assosciation occurs to me and it sticks in my mind for the rest of the cup: envelope paste. Like when envelope manufacturers changed from the bitter yuck to the sweeter taste in the paste. Only much much sweeter with a bit of fruit thrown in. I’m in this limbo land of “sweet yum” and “errrr…”

Ultimately I’m very grateful to have gotten a chance to try this tea before buying a large box of it. I would eventually drink it all, but it’d take me a long while. I’d have to be really really craving something uber-sweet. Oh — and it was great in helping me feel better post donation: all those vitamins and stuff giving me a recovery boost! :D NE

So I just had to bump this up to 100 this morning. The thought of this tea got me out of bed when all I wanted to do was stay cocooned within my quilts (and my cat wasn’t helping since he decided to go all “cat loaf” on my back thus pinning me to the bed). The other reason for the change of rating is that I dropped the temp to 205. Holy shnikes! That upped the “yum” factor by at least 10 points — the sweetness is even better. Oh, yes, I love this tea! This was my first pot of the tin that I purchased, but I shall always think of Doulton and her Shakespeare box every time that I enjoy a cup :) TG

Doulton’s Shakespeare: A Tasting Note in 5 Acts
Act III scene 6

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
As You Like It, Act II scene 7

Smelling the dried leaves I really thought that this was going to be a negative note. It smelled smokey, but in that tar-like way. Nose wrinklege occurred. After it steeped it lost a lot of the smoke smell and smelled more like an Assam with wisps of smoke. Yowsa — first sip is all Assamalamadingdong! The whole first cup is an Assamarama.

Oh, then the second steep magic! The Assam starts its morph into sweet berryness and the lapsang joins it in a bold sweet cup. Oh, it’s yummy. I did a third steep — it was weakening, but I did need a cup for my commute. So the fourth steep I added a pinch of fresh leaves. Oh yes — yummy.

From the smell of the dry leaves and through the first cup I thought that this would be my King Lear. But the following steeps were so very sweet that I couldn’t go the tragic route without pushing it. Therefore, this tea became my As You Like It. A somewhat serious premise handled with brilliant wit and humor. And crossdressing. These are both a great tea and play. Just be sure you’re ready for the uber-oomph of the Assam. I know that this tea is at least an 85, but the rating most likely will go up after I’ve had it a few more times. TG