Revolution Tea

So, I tried the tea again with a shot of real cream. Much better! It really brought out the lavender flavor. Nom….

Just tried the Earl Grey Lavender by Revolution Tea. The aroma of the tea was heavenly. But I’m finding myself a little dissapointed by the taste results. I am finding I like stronger flavored teas and this one was a little weak for me, although I did steep for at least 5 minutes. I couldn’t really taste the lavender like I hoped. It’s not bad at all! It’s just not as lovely as I was hoping it might be.

Everything about this tea is slick. It’s packaged in a triangular patent-pending tin, and even though the name is Earl Grey Lavender, you have to read the small print to see that there’s oolong blended in too. It’s a nice surprise — I always seem to forget it’s in there until I pick up the cup.

This is a pretty good tea. I also like that Revolution carries it in Decaf!

It rained yesterday, crescendo style. Drizzled all morning, and gradually became stronger until by the time 8 PM rolled around it was heartily Riverdancing on the rooftop. My sleep schedule is so screwy right now; I’d planned to go to bed early but there’s no way that was going to happen. So I went upstairs to catch up on some TV.

About 15 minutes into it I decided that I wanted some tea, but I was too lazy to go back and get some so I ransacked the cabinets instead. The findings were meager, since I don’t really keep a lot of stuff in the kitchen, but I found this and thought, eh, sure.

I was pleasantly surprised on two accounts. One, that I could taste it at all. [Seems I’m seriously on the mend, which is cause for my own Michael Flatley impression.] But two, that I found it enjoyable, because, being honest, I was approaching it with the mindset of wanting something hot and steaming more than expecting something good.

The steep time is SHORT. Like 30 to 60 seconds, which is something that I can’t recall coming across before. For someone with my kind of limitations on patience, however, this is a nice bonus. I let it go for the full 60. I also don’t have the means to gauge any temperature besides boiling in the kitchen, so I approximated as best I could and shut the stove off when I saw steam.

The ones I had came in a little round sachet, but didn’t have a string attached with which to pull it out. It was a minor nuisance, but maybe that’s common-ish practice with bagged tea and I just don’t drink enough of it. It’s also a rather flat package. Tea Forte is really the only bagged variety I drink on the semi-regular, and I know that a number of other brands are starting to offer the pyramidal bags now. I can’t imagine that the tea has a lot of room to expand in there, but I didn’t examine it too closely because I wanted to get back to my stories.

And so I found myself sitting on the floor, watching Castle [which is awesome and I highly recommend it], with a blanket and the rain calling a war meeting overhead and a cup of tea in hand. It made for a lovely experience. [Especially since the show open of this particular episode – the Halloween one – made me whoop out loud.]

The tea was light and warm, which suited my mood quite well. It was also sweet in an almost granulated kind of way, but there was some fruitiness to it as well. It wasn’t pear that I was picking out of it. It was something that bore resemblance to fruit, though. The tea on the whole didn’t have a whole lot of depth. The taste was pleasant, however, and I wasn’t looking for complexity. Apparently there are actual pear bits in it, too, so I might need to give it some extra attention on a later date.

It is so very hard to concentrate on anything else when Nathan Fillion’s on the screen, being all funny and Nathan Fillion-y.

This is my favorite Earl Grey tea! It tastes good hot or iced.

An excellent Earl Grey, with a lovely fragrance, but I can’t detect much flavor from the lavender.

This is quite delightful! It’s good on its own or as part of an iced tea pitcher. It has a very fresh flavor.

Still the best bagged chai I’ve found.

Best grocery store chai I’ve found.
…but I’m not much for grocery store tea these days.

This is exactly as described – sweet, gingery and peachy. Needs no sweetening. The black tea seems to be very good quality and tasty. Altogether, not a tea I would have expected to find on the shelf at the local grocery store.

steeped extra long, milk, sugar. this smelled minty out of the box and tasted minty out of the cup. the tea itself isn’t a bad quality but the ginger overwhelms it a bit. it’s not as smooth as republic of tea’s lower quality, but nummier ginger peach tea.

Backlogging – LOVE IT!

Drank this while I was watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Man they were awesome! Although, unfortunately there was a pal cast over things by Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death while training on the track up at Whistler today. :(

I steeped this a bit longer than I normally do and I’m noticing a nutty flavour coming out of the background – not unlike the one I get from Angrboda’s Pai Mu Dan that she sent me. LOL, it’s making me ridiculously proud that my sense of taste is becoming well-developped enough to pick out what variety of tea is in a blend. :D

Ah, it’s nice to revisit an old favorite. I unearthed this while sorting through my tea cupboard in an attempt to: a) arrange things so that I don’t risk an avalanch every time I open the door, and b) sort out what I might like to donate to the Travelling Teabox (and yes, Angrboda, I know I’m #25 – it’s your own fault for getting us so excited about the whole thing). ;)

I drank the re-steep from yesterday’s tea iced just now and it’s wonderfully refreshing. Actually I think the pear flavours come out more when this tea is cold as opposed to hot.

So I got vaccinated for the swine flu and the regular flu today (yay universal healthcare)and my arms are feeling rather sore so I needed something nice and soothing. This late in the day I generally don’t need the big energy jolt that black tea gives me unless I’m either studying or going out later.

This is still may favorite white tea, I love the flavourful white tea accented with notes of real pear. Although I think I might have oversteeped it just a touch judging by the taste; it’s like it’s just on the cusp of turning bitter.

Despite being a bagged tea this re-steeps very well.

Ahhh, light and fruity, just the thing I need to unwind after my exam.