Ronnefeldt Tea

My taste buds are still a little out of whack today, so I went with this oolong that I’ve had a bit of a roller-coaster relationship with. Most likely due to my dampened taste buds, this cuppa was pretty sweet and simple with a hint of bitterness at the end. The most important thing for today was that it was smooth and soothing for my throat. When you’re simultaneously plagued by allergies and a cold, a smooth cuppa can go a long way.

Hmm, this tea was not really doing it for me today. Maybe I just need to take a break from oolongs for a bit. I was getting that weird damp taste that I tasted in some other oolongs. It’s strange because they’re all stored in separate, dry, dark places, so I don’t think it’s contamination from something around them. Well, I have enough to keep trying, which is the good news!

I broke my favorite mug this morning :( So to cheer myself up, I steeped this tea that I remember loving the last time I had it. This time around, I had the tea on its own. It was still sweet and nutty and all that goodness. The only difference I noticed was that it was more bitter than I remembered. I think last time the bitterness was masked by the food I was eating. It’s still a very nice oolong, though, so I will enjoy the rest of the sample that Courtney sent to me!

Thanks to Courtney for a sample of this oolong! I drank this tea while eating a very spicy meal, so I will leave the rating for next time when I can taste it properly on its own. That being said, I really enjoyed it. The tea was floral, sweet, and smooth. Three qualities I love in a greener oolong. It did get a bit bitter as the cup cooled down, but that seems to be happening with a lot of oolongs that I’ve tried lately. I already resteeped twice with the flavors holding strong. I will probably continue to resteep this one as it is evening and I don’t want to steep up any fresh caffeine.

last of my sample from courtney this morning…not much to say beyond this is a pleasant cup with a slight bit of astringency that i don’t mind at all. On the whole it was nice to get a sampling of ronnefeldt teas. They are for sure a fairly average cup of tea but nothing unpleasant or not worth drinking :) thanks courtney!

Another from courtney that is really quite nice. I like the faint astringency in this one that offsets the sweetness that comes from this. I like this one quite a bit, and is likely my favourite of the ronnefeldt teas that courtney was kind enough to pass on to me. I’ll rather enjoy finishing up the rest of this that i have :)

you know…for an orange pekoe, this isn’t half bad. courtney sent this one my way as part of my ronnefeldt exploration. So far none of these have blown me out of the water, but they’ve also been relatively half decent. IE. nothing that i need to buy yet, but on the other hand, nothing that i’ve been unhappy with yet either :) i think my other cup of this will be with milk and sugar, just ’cause :)

This is a tea from courtney like her! I’m not the biggest fan of oolongs. This one isn’t bad but it’s pretty much smack dab in the middle of oolong land for me. Not too green tasting but not delicious either lol. Just an average oolong. :) still though, first tea. From this company so good to try it out! Thanks Courtney!

I’m not the biggest fan when oolongs don’t have specific steeping instructions, since in my experience, I’ve found them to be somewhat finicky. I went in the middle and steeped this for 2.5 minutes, and just let the water cool while I put dishes away.

It did turn out just fine. It’s a green oolong, so it has that familiar slightly vegetal flavour, but with an added sweetness at the end of the sip. The sweetness is interesting. I generally prefer darker oolongs but I am impressed with this one.

Every year, my friend and I get each other three gifts as our birthdays are only a few weeks apart. She is an exceptional gift-getter, and she always has a theme. This year, the theme was around the world, since I love learning about new places and cultures. She printed out boarding passes and I got to choose which boarding pass to start with (aka which gift to open first). I had the options China, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

I should perhaps write the rest of my birthday story on my blog, but long story short – the United Kingdom gift had SO MANY TEAS. From all around the world! It was labelled United Kingdom because that’s where she purchased them haha.

I was thrilled this was one of the teas because just last night I was on the S&V website contemplating their Nepalese black. This tea is delightful. It’s a lighter black tea, but still so comforting. For knowing next to nothing about tea, she really nailed it.

Another herbal tea from Ronnefeldt that I bought in Berlin. Again, this tea contains Rooibos, and I probably wouldn’t have bought it if I understood the ingredient list on it. But it was on sale, as part of their Christmas selection, and it smelled nice (of not-too-powerful Amaretto), so I bought it. It is actually quite good, not two sweet, without any chemical taste, and with a juicy, fruity, Amaretto taste to it. The brew is quite opaque, and looks like honey melted in warm water. It will probably brew well cold, but I needed a hot drink, and so I prepared it hot. Not sure that I would go out of my way to buy it again, but it’s nice to have it around for now.

Backlog from yesterday. I had a horrible time on the phone with the cable company. My cable doesn’t work, and the technician that was supposed to show up (unsurprisingly) didn’t. So I needed something to cheer me up that wouldn’t keep me up at night.
This was delicious, but I think that it’s more of “winter tea” for me.

Had a cuppa last night, after spending two extra hours at work. Comfort tea.

Had this last nights with some roast chestnuts. For some reason it didn’t go well with the chestnuts – I needed something less sweet, I guess. Oh well.

Tired tired tired tired.
Nice night sip before going to sleep.
Need I say more?
Coo-kies!

Late night treat last night after a super tiring and frustrating day at work. Beautiful

Dull me – another cup of this as an evening treat. I made some home-made granola tonight, and the house smells wonderful.

This has become my regular evening treat, and that’s great, so long as it lasts :)
Anyone have any idea where I can stock up on Ronnefeldt Tea online?

Another late night sip of this, together with a delicious almond brioche. Great way to end a not so great day (I’ve got a nasty cold).

Late night treat last night, and as delicious as it was when I first tasted it. Mmmm… cookies.

Made some of this as a treat for myself and my brother last night. He loved it so much that he decided to try some with soy milk this morning.

Brewed a strong cup of this, as a bedtime treat. It is a wonderful reddish-copper. This tea can be taken plain, but seems to love sugar. That just makes its cookie taste pop!

I don’t like flavoured teas.
I like rooibos even less.
But something about the Berlin Christmas markets, and the snowy weather, and the fact that I love Ronnefeldt tea, and the fact that I haven’t been able to find it outside of Germany, and the fact that this-tea-was-on-sale, and the fact that it smelled oh so very nice, and the fact that since the label was in German I didn’t notice that it was a rooibos until I opened the bag at home today and made myself a cup – all this resulted in me buying a 100g bag of this tea.
And it’s lovely. It doesn’t taste like rooibos or honeybush, nor does it have the chemical taste, or the sickening sweetness, or the overpowering vanilla/hibiscus/other-cheap-additives smell and taste that flavoured teas and herbal infusions tend to have.
It tastes exactly as if you had just made a lovely batch of sugar cookies, and while they were still piping hot and made the house smell like all that is good in the world, you somehow managed to melt them into a tea. This tea is sweet, but not overly sweet, and it is begging to be coupled with a batch of homemade cookies, or a really good cake. A great way to cheer yourself up in this miserable weather.

Sipdown!
I will really really miss this tea. I bought it on whim in a Ronnefeldt tea shop in Frankfurt, and I am so glad that I did. A delightful afternoon companion.