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I really should “add to cupboard” because the sample derk sent was so generous. I suspect that I am going to drink it so fast that it makes more sense not to add to cupboard because I will be taking it off very soon!

Out of a box of super interesting looking teas, I picked this one to go first. I loved the name, and when it comes to Darjeeling I have found that I often prefer Autumn Flush.

Some Darjeeling is quite light, but this one has a nice, copper color. I steeped at 203F as recommended on the website, using a gaiwan.

The leaves are medium brown and have unfolded to reveal whole leaves about one and a half inches long, with lovely little serrations.

I am rewarded with a wonderful aroma and lots of flavor. I smell deeply toasted – but not at all burned – bread, a hint of molasses, and over and over again I think of caramel. I make a pound cake with caramel frosting and this comes to mind as I drink the tea. The tea has medium body and is sweet and smooth.

I made five steeps. By the fifth, a bit of briskness has developed, mostly noticeable in the lingering aftertaste. The color is still gorgeous.

This was paired with one single Godiva White Chocolate Birthday Truffle. Ha ha!

How have I not ordered from What-Cha yet? I must remedy this soon.

Thank you, derk! I can hardly wait to try the others, but I am being nice and waiting for my husband to get to try them with me!

I asked for a gooseneck Bonavita kettle for Christmas especially for our gong fu sessions, and this is my first time trying it. I like it, and it works very well for this.

Since I knew I wanted to gong fu, and since I am trying to get old tea out of the house, I took a chance on this sample. It is quite old – this company is no longer in business – but I wanted to give it a shot. I am glad I did because it was very good. I suppose it really helped that it was a small, individually sealed pack and some oolongs age very well anyway.

I warmed the gaiwan and put the leaves in. After a minute we gave the leaves a sniff and found that they still had good aroma and were on the savory side, but with creamy, almost vanilla frosting notes.

The liquor was not as strong as a TGY, but was full of flavor and very tasty. It was smooth, slightly savory, with sweet dessert notes and a bit of floral. I got five solid steeps,before it was weak enough that it wasn’t worth continuing.

Pairing: Since my husband hasn’t been feeling well he didn’t want supper, so I was actually using this as an excuse to get a little food in him as well as tea. I warmed some cheddar on Garden Herb Triscuits, and then topped each one with a tiny bit of apricot jam. There were also a few pecan tartlets because we are swimming in leftover Christmas dainties. Ha ha!

He really, really enjoyed this tea. I am sorry to see that Nuvola is gone, but I will probably order some Alishan pretty soon from either Teavivre or Harney. (Since Teaave ALSO seems to be gone…)

I was so excited a few weeks ago when I saw a gift pack of Whittard tea at Home Goods. It was beautifully packaged and although it is sachets and not loose tea, there is quite an assortment of tea for a very low price, with twenty sachets of each.

I was in the mood for a solid black tea this morning with my bagel and eager to try the English Breakfast…only to come here and discover that I have already had three of these teas in an assortment my eldest daughter bought in London years ago for me!

That’s okay! I am going to enjoy having them again! As for this EB, it was a solid black tea, good for morning, and just smooth enough to escape me wanting milk and sugar with it. (I generally avoid teas that have to have it, or I find a way to make them smoother so I don’t need it.)

I notice that last time I had this tea, I was having it with gingerbread biscotti. Guess what I have in the cabinet right now? :)

I picked this tea tonight because I am feeling sentimental this Christmas Eve. My husband has been sick for several days, mostly tired and achey and a bit of a sore throat with some upper respiratory issues. We hardly ever have chai and almost never have lattes, but I made him one a few weeks ago and he liked it, so I thought it would be a nice treat tonight.

The reason this is so special is because it is from the last samples ever sent to me by our Steepster friend, K S, before he passed on. You see, he could read between the lines and when he sent me a “you okay?” message, he didn’t believe my “I’m fine!” (I wasn’t.) So he mailed me some tea and an encouraging note.

I wanted it to be extra rich and comforting, so I heated some milk on the stove with a bit of sugar and put in the whole sample pouch of tea and spices. I know true chai is usually half milk and half water, but I am going for Christmas Eve level comfort here!

I strained it into mugs and we drank it while we listened to an old radio broadcast of It’s A Wonderful Life. It was very good, and I see more chai lattes in our future this winter, especially when we have cold spells, something we don’t see an awful lot.

I checked to make sure this company was still in business before posting. They are, and this tea is available on amazon. I like the Justea business model, providing sustainable jobs in Kenya. I hope they do well.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

A young woman at church accepted an invite for tea at my house. We had four different ones a couple of weeks ago and she really liked them. I found out she is on a sugar restricted diet and immediately thought of this tea for her, so I bought a tin, invited her to supper and gave it to her last night.

This is exactly the same as Hot Cinnamon Spice, just a different tin. I figured sachets would be an easy way for her to start, but she tried it and says she is definitely ordering some loose leaf because she loves it!

This tea is SO sweet that it is hard to believe there is no sugar or sweetener of any kind in it. I even called the company to be sure because a couple of guests over the years have sworn there had to be sugar in it! The secret is the blend of three different types of cinnamon.

This tastes just like those Red Hots candies to me. The aroma is POWERFUL. As in, peel paint off powerful. It is so strong that I sometimes mixed it half and half with a plain black tea to tone it down, but true Red Hots lovers like it just as it is!

I am excited to have a new tea padawan!

I ordered tea for a friend for Christmas and a free sample bag of this tea was included with my order.

I had no idea what flavor it was or even what kind of tea when I opened the sachet. If I had known, I would have waited to drink it when my husband was home because he has been missing Anna’s Blend and Marco Polo and we are looking for a new strawberry tea for him. He didn’t care for the Gurman’s one and was only somewhat satisfied when I mixed Vanilla Comoro with Adagio Strawberry.

This one says it has coconut but honestly I don’t taste it. I taste strawberry, vanilla, and black tea. It is delicious and I resteeped it. The second cup was good, too.

My husband loved the smell of the remaining leaves when he came home from work. I noticed they sell a plain strawberry vanilla black and I may order that for him soon if we don’t find something else he likes. I am hoping it is the same blend sans coconut, although he wouldn’t mind the coconut, but I think this is a seasonal blend and I want something I can get anytime.

I still love this tea. There are a few teas that WOW me and then I either get tired of them or they just don’t make magic anymore.

This one is still giving out the magic.

I was really hugging the cup today and picked up on two things. I had said the flavor reminded me of candy, maybe like the Choward’s guava, violet, etc. type. Today I thought of Pez. In addition, there is a flower in this that has an unusual taste and aroma. I really like it but I can not pin it down. It lends a darker note that I hadn’t picked up on before.

Hubby tried it and didn’t like it. More for me. Don’t worry, I gave him a pot of Palm Court and he was happy.

Another sample gone and I am really happy with how the sipdowns are going!

I had this with breakfast today, and while it was tasty enough, it isn’t one I would buy again. I prefer Troika and Anastasia and a few other Kusmi blends to this one, but if you like holiday tea with clove in it, you might love this one more than I do.

One year ago I said I was going to quit hoarding this, and never drank it again. I have been working so hard on sipdowns! I had enough leaf left for about four cups of tea and used half of it this morning. This is way out of date but it is still SO GOOD. It doesn’t have that sharp metallic edge I get in some flavored teas.

This is warm, sweet, creamy, and delicious. I will probably not remove it from my cupboard because I think this may have achieved desert island list status.