Basilur

I got carried away in the craft room. (What started out as a 20 minute quickie project turned into 2 hours of “Oh! That paper will go with those stickers and those scraps will work for that Cricut cutout…”)

So when I finally sat down for tea, I settled for a quickie afternooner instead of something requiring more fuss. When you go light on the time and temp, this is a perky little floral tea, light on the green vegetation, light on the cherry, heavier on the blossom.

In other news, I WENT to church today. Live. Real orchestra. Mary Beth’s exquisite piano solo (she’s one of those stellar talents that can just sit down and twiddle her fingers and it sounds like she’d been planning it for days). Air hugs with some people I love and an illicit elbow bump or two. :) It was like water on a dry sponge.

I am done with winter. For that matter, I’m done with February and it’s barely gotten started. Therefore, I attempted a cup of spring this afternoon. This green/cherry blend makes me think “cherry blossom” rather than “cherry soda pop” (actually, it made me think a little about lilacs) and may need a little coddling—I was a sloppy steeper, didn’t wait for the boiled water to cool, and the base turned a little bitter. I anticipate this improving with practice and better attention.

TL,DR: Raspberry red liquor, ripe raspberries aroma and taste.

Honestly I like Basilur as a brand. Their teas are affordable and worth the price. I felt like having a fruit tea today and found this one in my stash. Raspberries were very dominant in dry tea bag aroma, but as I know – it can change rapidly when brewed. Not this time though. It was even more raspberry in aroma. But still it was quite nice. After about 6 minutes of brewing I removed the tea bag and it was still very raspberry. Liqour colour was raspberry red and clear. Taste was though bit bland, I have expected more sweetness and few other fruits in. But everything was raspberry.

Drinkable, fine, but bit boring tea.

I’m learning that Basilur’s flavor strategy is subtle and elegant. I don’t have an elegant bone in my body but I admire elegance when I see it. In this case, the cranberry sneaks up behind the tea instead of leading the parade. Fruity, not tart. Perfect to savor on a quiet Christmas afternoon. Hope your day was savor-worthy, too.

I’ve had a time chasing down a picture and company-provided description of this tasty afternoon tea—at the moment, what I’ve pulled in to the description is a picture of the gift box in which this is enclosed. What we’ve got is a tasty, not-too-heavy gentle black tea with strawberry and vanilla notes. Something you’d serve in Grandma’s teacups, although it was sufficiently tasty in a mug.

Also something I should’ve served this morning, when I took a tea party to my church kids. Nothing fancy, just an electric kettle and a cherry-wood box of bagged assorted oddments—flavors I thought would appeal to 10-year-olds. The big winners: Bigelow Eggnogg’n, Salted Caramel and White Chocolate Peppermint. (I told you, nothing fancy.) Oh, and one renegade who loved Tazo Wild Sweet Orange.

My girls were priceless when they walked in: “You brought real tea! Oh, and it’s in a fancy box!” Doesn’t take much to let young’uns know you love them. I think I need to do this more often.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out how they get “Christmas tree” out of mango, passionfruit, and citrus, but I’m glad they did! Sweet and juicy citrus, not thin and tart. Delicious.

I am not one for rushing the season and I despise seeing Christmas commercials the day after Halloween. I am still washing the cotton candy out of my brain after a weekend of watching my mom-in-law’s beloved Hallmark movies. That is NOT what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

However, Thanksgiving has been tucked away and it is time. It is particularly time because I’m still wobbly from a 10-day sinus infection, the wind is raw, gusting at sonic speeds, and cuts you like a knife. It is time for a little Merry Christmas.

Basilur is a new brand to me…you’ve heard me wax poetic about our local Tuesday Morning store; that’s where this box just kind of jumped into my arms. And I’m so glad it did…a gentle, pastry-like concoction of black tea, lemon, honey, ginger, and vanilla. A Christmas cookie in a cup. Let the celebrations begin.

Well, either our garage sale was a bust (we MAY have cleared $15 after buying the price stickers) or a reasonable success (items not sold have either been delivered to Goodwill or are en route to the mission house at church)—but either way, I am beat.

Furthermore, this is the first day we’ve had actually summery weather (91 on my thermometer) with humidity in the mosquito-and-malaria range. (Don’t laugh, Rosehips—I know that’s not even close to your summer temps :)

Therefore, I don’t care what it is, it just needs to be COLD. However, this is a lovely afternoon treat from the fridge. Basilur threw in vanilla with this tangerine blend, so when it’s chilled, it tastes like a tangerine creamsicle. Delicious!

Stillness. I had forgotten what it was like. :) But I’ve been blessed with a sunny fall Sunday morning with no commitments—had to travel 600 miles for that to happen! Wind outside the window has picked up a little and is blowing bright yellow leaves around like a ticker tape parade just for my benefit.

Next to me is what is now an empty cup, previously filled with this surprisingly excellent tea—another of our Tuesday Morning outlet surprises. Husband grabbed it because he loves all things tangerine and expected tart black tea. He didn’t get it. Tangerine, definitely, but it’s softened with vanilla so that the end result is more like a scone with citrus zest. My only regret is that I didn’t bring more.

Confound it, Tuesday Morning outlet! We went in for one thing and came out with … several … including this tasty little surprise. It appears to be a blend of green tea and authentic milk oolong, with a little flavor. Even though it isn’t a straight-up milk oolong, it was very upscale and toothsome. Juicy Fruit gum with a little vanilla. A nice afternooner.

303/365

One of the last few teas from my Varieteas box. This one is a Ceylon with passion fruit and orange flavouring. For some reason, that combination is one that puts me more in mind of summer, but perhaps that’s just me…

The fruit flavouring is stronger than I expected it to be, and the passion fruit particularly is very clear. It comes across as a little artificial, on the whole; very sweet, with an almost plasticky edge that’s a little off-putting. The aftertaste is a little floral, and a touch powdery, which don’t do much to help redeem it.

The base is nice, though – smooth, and lightly citrussy. It works well with the fruit flavouring, but that’s really all that can be said about this one. I found it disappointing – not awful, but not one I’d seek out again.

257/365

Another from my Varieteas box. There are at least a couple from this brand included, but this one seems the most ordinary. I could do with a dose of ordinary today, not to mention more black tea than I’ve had already, so it was an obvious choice. I don’t think I’ve tried a specific variety of Ceylon before, or at least not one that was branded as such (so not knowingly, is what I really mean). I don’t imagine it’s going to be a whole lot different from the Ceylon blends I’ve tried, but I’m willing to be proved wrong.

The presentation is ordinary enough – a paper bag containing finely shredded leaf. It brews up very quickly to a medium amber-brown (less than 2 minutes, I’d say). I removed the bag at this point, because I’m drinking it without milk. I’d have left it longer if I’d been adding milk, and I have no doubt that it would have continued to get stronger. Probably considerably so.

Fortunately, it makes for a smooth and lightly citrussy cup. I wasn’t expecting excellent things, but it is actually pretty good. I feel like it has more body than the Ceylon I’m used to drinking, which usually appears as a base in flavoured teas (or occasionally straight in those single-serve Twinings teabags you sometimes get in hotels). It’s malty as well as citrussy, and is more engaging somehow than I was expecting. It’s not a tea that’d stop traffic, but I did look back at it after taking my first sip. It was almost as if I could believe this flavour had come from that cup.

There isn’t a lot I want to say about this one, other than that it’s clearly a quality Ceylon. It has a real depth of flavour, and more personality that I thought it might. I’d happily drink this again if the opportunity arose, and if I were looking to keep a bagged Ceylon in stock then it would be a strong contender. I might even choose it over some loose leaf – Adagio’s Ceylon Sonata has nothing on this, for example.

A pleasant surprise, considering it came in a bag.

Nice, slightly sweet tea with a strong strawberry flavour.

Very strong, almost intoxicating aroma. Too much scent it overpowers the taste and smell of tea. Maybe they want to cover it on purpose? Because although claimed to be high quality Ceylon leaves it tastes rather flat and average.

Merry (belated) Christmas and a happy New Year! I’m still lurking around here somewhere. I really want to review my teas more again so I can figure out which ones to keep in the cupboard and which to not.

Anyways, I’m finishing up a small sample sized bag that I got almost a year ago from the TO tea festival. Up until this cup, I’ve quite enjoyed this tea. Didn’t have any issues with it and really loved it. Nice and malty which is what I enjoy.
Today, I’m not really enjoying it. It’s probably because I forgot to time my steep.
I had the loose-leaf version of this one. So, yes it’s good. Today’s cup wasn’t…
On the whole, I don’t think I would get this one again. I have others I enjoy a bit more.

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Seven- Tea #28
A herbal with mostly a bitter flavor…. like maybe eating flower petals would taste like. But it isn’t the hibiscus taking over (luckily that wasn’t happening too). I wish I had liked this better, as it had orange petals in it which I usually love.

creamy, bloody orange. ONly complaint here is that it’s not strong enough even after a 6 min steep. still, interesting to try. thanks evol!

I started the day with another cup of this. The raspberry flavour reminds me of the bottled natural raspberry syrup from the deli that we would always have handy in my childhood to be used for pancakes, french toast, or mixed with club soda for a refreshing chilled beverage.

A very pleasant cup of tea this was. I had a cup with me in my travel mug as I made my way to and through a singing class. Brisk raspberry and a bit of tartness from the rosehips buoyed me up and settled my nerves as my first solo performance took place tonight. I had decided some time ago to do something that terrifies me every so often. So far, it’s going well. Gotta shake things up.

Sample from evol ving ness This one isn’t my cup of tea. something about the raspberry and rosehips that just doesn’t sit right. I suspect that’s more of a personal preference thing than a reflection of the tea. However, always appreciate trying new things!

Creamy, fruity herbal with notes of orange, citrus, cream, and tropical fruits. I can’t taste anything floral, but luckily there also isn’t too much sour coming from the rose hip/hibiscus combo.

The looseleaf smells really fragrant: like body lotion scented like orange blossoms. I like the little pieces of dried orange and orange peel. Not too many hibiscus bits or rosehips visible, although there are small pieces which appear visually appealing.

Best brewed hot for a short period of time (served hot or cold) or cold brewed.