911 Tasting Notes
Really wanted some Fine Earl Grey Lavender this morning, but I only had a gram of that. So I took that tiny gram of FEGL and put it with enough of this to make my normal morning 28 oz (shared – I don’t drink all 28). I’m sure the lavender barely made a difference.
This is good Earl Grey. I enjoy it. I will probably never crave it, but then I rarely crave full on Earl Grey. I tend to enjoy the slightly softer versions (Lavender anyone?) more. But this isn’t overly strong so it works out pretty nicely. I’ll keep hunting, though, for my perfect, slightly softened Earl Grey. But if I’m at a loss one day and feel I must have EG in my pantry, I think this EG would get voted in.
With this, I’ve finished off two more teas in my pantry.
Preparation
Yet another tea I’m finishing off today. I guess I’m just really picky with my flavored greens. I prefer them to be light enough that the taste of the tea comes through nicely. Most flavored greens seem to be more about the flavoring than the tea though, and this one isn’t an exception. It’s a nice flavor though, so I don’t dislike this tea. It’s just not what I’m normally in the mood for when I reach for a green tea so while I don’t hate it, I can’t really love it either.
Preparation
That’s the case with a lot of flavoured teas unfortunatly. Often they use poor quality teas and add a ton of flavouring to cover it up.
Yep. I’m okay with that for black teas because black tea is strong enough to get some flavor through but the more delicate teas? It just doesn’t fit with what I’m looking for when I get in the mood for them. But I still hold out hope that there are flavored greens and oolongs out there that do have a dominate tea flavor and aren’t overwhelmed by flavoring. Don’t know why I hope for that but I do.
I decided to have this tea this afternoon when I thought I’d need it as a comfort tea. But turns out it is a celebratory tea.
Just when I thought that this month’s budget had been bent over and had dirty, dirty things done to it (kitty surgery + biopsy, $600+ of car maintenance, new car battery), I discovered today that this month is a magic month. Yay for biweekly paydays! And yay for three in one month! Now, instead of mourning the dip into our emergency fund, I am celebrating the unexpected black ink at the bottom of our budget month!
Chai is always a treat for me. Because of the time it takes to make (I do half milk, half water, tea, sugar all thrown into a pot and brought to a boil for 5 mins) this is an evening tea but due to sugar and caffeine, this is something I only do when I can stay up somewhat late. On top of that, the rich spiciness makes it something I have to be in the mood for. Usually that mood is for the tea-equivalent of curling up on the couch with an afghan. And that’s really what I thought I’d be using it for tonight.
But no. I get to use it while I relax and go “ahhhh!” and bask in the celebratory glory of a surprise magic month while I surf the net to figure out what teas I’m going to buy with some of this month’s overflow. Seriously. Gonna buy tea.
I’m feeling especially chipper tonight so I decided to go heavy on the leaf and pretty much doubled it. The milk keeps the spiciness from being overwhelming but I can tell it is there. And I like it. I think I’m even going to try resteeping, something I haven’t attempted with chai, so we’ll see how that goes. After all, it’s going to take a while to figure out what teas I’m going to get.
YAY!
Preparation
Drinking steeps 3 & 4 from last night iced. When it was hot, I got a sweet taste, then the heavier not-tart taste second. Iced, I seem to get them both together. The sweetness might have even moved a little bit to the end of the tea. As it warms up a bit, the not-tart taste becomes more dominant. Anyway, it’s pretty different from my normal teas but this has a refreshing, summer-in-a-field kind of taste that is nifty.
I thought I’d be daring tonight and try another white tea. I did a shorter steep time than suggested because that’s just how I roll. (Yes, I’m a dork)
I don’t know if I would have gone with ‘blueberry’ on this. Maybe I just don’t have blueberries frequently enough – I’m more of a blackberry girl except for the rare muffin. But at the same time, not being beaten over the head with blueberry is a good thing in my world, so that’s a point in this tea’s favor.
It definitely has a sweet fruity flavor, but not too sweet. There’s maybe a little underlying something – not quite tart but just enough to give it a fuller flavor. The more I sip on this, the more I like that and this tea.
Yay! White teas aren’t anywhere near as horrid as I thought!
Preparation
Whee! So many little slides and settings! So fun! Yay upgrades!
Ahem, anyway. This tea just didn’t do it for me today. It wasn’t bad. It was just… there. Maybe a little burnt tasting towards the end? Mostly, I’m just sad that this doesn’t taste orange to me. It’s boring and plain. I want oranges, dangit!!! The most I get out if it, if I try really hard and squint my eyes and turn my head juuuuuust right, I can kind of taste something similar to licking the outside of an orange.
Yeah, that’s not enough orange. The last bit of this tea will be blended into something. It’s too meh on its own for me.
Preparation
It’s official: Lena rocks! Why? Because she sent me this tea.
BEST. JASMINE. EVER.
Seriously. This is what I should have had last night when I was let down by the clunky, graceless jasmine oolong I brewed. This is light and delicate but yet has a substantial enough flavor that it doesn’t seem like flavored water.
Ugh, I don’t have a good enough command of language to express how lovely this jasmine is. Gorgeous. I love breathing in over the cup – the jasmine scent hits my tongue and is so sweet and yummy that I’m tasting the tea before any gets in my mouth.
Looks like I’m going to have to place an Adagio order soon!
Preparation
Today is going to be a long day. I set the thermostat on 70 because the heater in my office is way too powerful for the small room. And yet the heater is still going even though it is 74 in here. Someone just came to visit me and complained about how stuffy it is. I can’t help it! It won’t stop! I feel like I’m suffocating. On top of that, I don’t feel good – my stomach isn’t happy. Which made me bring this tea out of the recess of my pantry.
This is just a 50/50 mix of Adagio’s spearmint and cream. I only break this out when I don’t feel too hot, so today. It gives me tea but the mint adds a little gentleness that makes my stomach, if not happy then at least not mean(er) to me. This is my feel bad tea.
So now my stomach is still unhappy (though not worse – yay mint!) and I feel like someone is trying to smother me with a heavy duvet straight from the dryer. And that is making me very whiny. Meh.
Aww. As the queen of whine, I think I’m going to give us all permission to emo it out this week. If I were you, I’d work out in the hall as an act of protest. Tell them, “I refuse to shower until you fix the temperature situation. Which may not affect you today, but…you will RUE next week!”
Or I suppose that you could react like a normal human being and endure it. I’m just throwing ideas around, here. At least you have tea?
Do you have a window in your office that you could open a crack? Or you could maybe bring a portable fan to work.
@takgoti: You crack me up! I think I’d crack before my coworker would if I decided to boycott showering!
@Jillian: Only the window right next to the thermostat has a screen (yes, we are high class) and that just makes the blasted thing work harder. It takes about 10 minutes for the heat to shut off after I drop the thermostat down so at least I just suffocate first thing in the morning, right?
Hope you’re at home now and feeling better.
All this talk about girlie, lovely jasmine teas lately! It has sounded so tempting! So when I was digging around in the pantry to figure out what to have and saw this sample, I thought I’d bust it out again.
The jasmine smell is nice. But to me, good jasmine tea is light and fluffy and sort of dances around happily. This one stomps more than dances and has a total lack of grace. The jasmine is just too heavy and unnatural seeming. Or maybe it is the other flavors doing it. I can’t get any almond, but I taste a hint of the orange, I think. But ultimately, I think the quality of the jasmine flavoring is not all that high – nor all that natural.
Regardless, it’s not a bad tea. It’s pretty okay. But compared to the type of jasmine tea I wanted, it is a total miss.
