Tea Guys

Ahh, now this is bliss after my last few teas. I rolled a “2” this morning, but had no more “2” teas. (Yes, I used the entire sample bag of the rose in my tea last night, I wanted SUPER fragrant rose scent and flavor). When I returned from work my luck improved and I rolled an “8”. The single package labeled 8 was Maple Sugar by Tea Guys. Super excited to try this I was. (My try at yoda speak).

The leaves smelled amazing, and probably would have paired well with scrambled eggs and bacon, or some chocolate bacon chip cookies (I’ve only heard of these, never consumed/made them myself). This was a tasty sweet afternoon tea to enjoy as a pick me up. It tastes like I drizzled a bunch of syrup in with my afternoon basic black tea. I bet this would handle cream well. I have a bit left over so I will try it that way next time I roll an 8.

Thanks again to Rabs, for allowing me to try such tasty teas:) Now to decide which teas to bring to the in-law’s house for the evening. Showing them how to work their new phones!

This is a sweet mapley black tea, hmmm impressive! Thank you Rabs for letting me try this one. I don’t think I could drink this often though, just when in the mood for liquid pancakes hehe.

I was very lucky and won in the supremely entertaining, intelligent, and creative Geek Day Tea Giveaway that Rabs planned.

The tea package came with intriguing instructions and each tea beautifully wrapped. I had to wait to procure my camera from my son and then took some pictures: the pictures do not do justice to the elegant packaging.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/destro/4675973000/

I hope that the above link will show you the beautiful and drop-dead gorgeous packaging. I am certain that this is the way gifts are packaged in the Tokyo branch of Tiffanys.

Today I rolled the die that RABS included and came up with an 8. The tea is Evening Escape by Tea Guys. Even though it was close to 3 in the afternoon, I decided to drink it instantly because the packages says “black tea, flower petels”. I opened the package and smelt——my sorely missed morning Lapsang Souchong!!!! Really! I wouldn’t consider Lapsang Souchongs an “evening escape” unless enjoyed with an opium pipe. The smell really stoked me to expect a great tea and this one did not disappoint me at all. I see that the Tea Guys are from Massachusetts and I can visualize them having Arlo Guthrie over for tea, music, and a pipe on the evening. They are on Adirondack rocking chairs on the wrap-around veranda of a retropurposed farmhouse which is now a tea blending company. As I wait for the tea to steep my mental image of the tea guys is complete. There were those lovely purple-blue flowers in the tea as well—-I believe that they are mallow flowers—and I like them. Anyhow, I see the Tea Guys as looking a bit like Crosby, Stills, and Nash of 45 years ago. “Carry On” they sing as they pick their mallow flowers.

My first impression is that this tea is a light Lapsang with the sweet floral highlights. I really like it a lot because I start to slurp it eagerly. It does taste a bit like a combination of Leland Lapsang and Mariage Freres Eros and in the combination it becomes unique. I know I will have to order this tea!
I felt as if I had been prudent enough. I waited almost 24 hours before the lovely package from RABS arrived to roll the dice so I decided to have a second cup and to try the sweetener/milk combination. NB: I do end up preferring most teas with a bit of whole milk and a few little brown/amber sugar crystals. This tea stands up to the milk without compromising any of its integrity and the sugar if anything enhances the sweetness of the floral element.

All in all, I pronounce this tea a quasi-divinity and pronounce Rabs a tea-Goddess for coming up with this lovely and alluring competition.

Evening Escape by the Tea Guys is very versatile: it will taste like bacon in the morning; like a robust lapsang with flowers in the afternoon. And the evening? It might just be an escape, but it is no soothingly lazy herbal blend. This is a daytime tea for me and a delicious delight.

May thanks to RABS for her exquisite inventive imagination and her superb good taste.

Another awesome surprise from LiberTeas! Thanks girlie!!! You spoil me!

I have said it before and I will say it again!!! I LOVE Grapefruit!

This is intensely flavored! It’s a little ‘spitfire’ that is for sure! It has quite the attitude and I like that in a tea. Now…let’s see if the taste is as forward as it’s aroma…

Oh…this is nice! Damn nice! :)

It’s grapefruit but the green tea makes it so it’s not a stingy type grapefruit but it’s not a ruby red either…it’s pleasant and refreshing and yummy! It has a hint of a floral finish, too. On the label it says TEASE. I believe it. This is a fun tea! If you like grapefruit…take it out for a spin!

yum! As per the usual.

I really enjoy this tea! This is the first Chamomile I’ve ever liked in my life. Yes, I’m serious.
Though, like the other taster, I find that this tea doesn’t need any sweetener. (though, I wouldn’t have guessed about the stevia leaf in it…interesting!) I had this tea at a coffee shop a couple blocks from my house, and was expecting something much less impressive than this. This tea was placed in a sachet at the coffee shop, something that I took home and drank all day afterwards. I figured the sachet would affect the taste in some way, because the chamomile leaves were pretty tightly packed, but not so.
I am SO purchasing this in bulk for myself.

My first tasting note today, and using up the last that I have of this tea. Sorry to see it go, but, glad to have more space in my tea cupboard. (actually, it’s more 4 shelves, plus TWO DRAWERS in my china cabinet/tea cabinet of tea, plus a rather large bowl and a box of samples).

I’m currently on my second infusion of this tea. The first was lovely… I made it a latte (but I didn’t froth the milk), and this makes it sort of more like a “breakfast blend” sort of tea rather than a maple-y tea. I like this one much better without the milk.

This is one of my favorites from Tea Guys (my favorite is their Papaya Ginger, which I have hidden from myself in my large stash of tea LOL). It has a nice, maple flavor, sweet, but not too sweet, the black tea has a very smooth taste to it. Maybe the next time I order from Tea Guys, I might just have to order this one again…

Decided to start my day with a cup of maple-y goodness today. This really is a great change up from a breakfast breakfast blend. The black tea is pleasantly brisk, with a very smooth temperament. It also has just a hint of smokiness to it that compliments the maple flavor nicely.

The maple is sweet and lip-smacking YUMMY, but not too sweet (at least, not for me!) Overall it’s a very rich tasting cup with a good amount of “get-up-and-go” to it that I look for in a breakfast tea.

I chose to finish off my sample of this tea this morning so that I could compare it with the Colonille I had last night. Oh yes, they are both yummy-nummy. I think that the Colonille has a simple elegance about it. This one is more in-your-face with lots of stuff going on, but it still works. I would think of this more as a desert tea than the Colonille.

Before I tossed the sample packet I noticed that there’s actually some green tea and almonds in the mix (there’s coconut too, but I think those are for the visual appeal). I can’t tell if the slight almond aspect is the power of suggestion or not, but I’m liking it. There is a creaminess here that wasn’t in the Colonille.

What it boils down to (tea-hee!) is that I will definitely be purchasing more of either one of these teas. JacquelineM is spot-on with her assertion that vanilla teas are so very wonderfully different and not boring at all. When I visit new virtual tea shops the first thing I check is their Lapsang Souchongs, Caravans, and oolongs. I think that I shall be adding Vanilla to that list. (bumping up the rating from 80) NE

Due to the mentions that JacquelineM made in regards to homemade vanilla tea (yum!), this particular tea leapt out at me when I was placing a Tea Guys order. I’ve had several teas that have had vanilla as part of a wider range of flavors, but this was the first straight-up vanilla black tea that I’ve had. It was nomaliscious.

The smell of the packet was very “I’m vanilla hear me roar!” The smell mellowed post-steep, but there was no doubt that this was a vanilla tea. Oh so smooth and vanilla-ey! I steeped it three times (steeps 2 and beyond were all 4 minutes) and on the fourth I tossed in a teaspoon of Talbott Teas’ Caramel Sundae Escape that Doulton had sent me. NOM! I did one more steep and I’m a happy camper.

I have no sense of reference on whether or not this is a marvelous vanilla when compared to others, but chances are I will buy some to keep on hand sometime in the future. A soothingly-sweet treat. NE

NEEEEERRRDS!!!!!

I suspect that Willy Wonka is secretly one of the Tea Guys. I popped open this sample and thought Caaaandeeeee! Not only is it a candy, but it’s like Runts. With some Nerds and SweeTARTS thrown in ta boot. But mainly Runts.

Post-steep it still has that distinct Wonka sugary candy smell, but the rose is more prominent. It’s like Willy Wonka thought “Hey, I could turn roses into a candy and then turn that into a green tea!” If you hate rose, then avoid this one. If you’re craving mango, then avoid this one. I can tell it’s rose, but mango is just a vague presence.

I have a crazy sweet tooth (Nerds being a favorite) and this tea satisfies that particular sugar craving. I’m on the third steep (still good, but probably this tea’s last) and the green tea has been able to keep up if not grow in flavor during each steep. This final steep is like a really sweet green tea. Mmm…candy tea… TG

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there (including the “Moms” of pets as well)! My mother absolutely loved this Carrot Cake tea. She did her first “dance of tea joy” when she unwrapped it and read its name. Carrot Cake is her all-time favorite cake, but she has to limit sweets and caffeine for her health so this tea was a dream come true for her :D

I was impressed with how much like carrot cake this tea smells from the bag to the cup. I asked my mom what score she’d give this tea and she said without hesitation 100. But I think she’s a little biased because of several things in this situation: 1. it’s a gift, 2. the gift is from me, and 3. it’s carrot cakey. She also made a great comment about how with coffee she always wished that she had something sweet to go with it (whether it be a pastry or some flavored creamer). But with this tea she feels completely satisfied. Hooray!

Obviously I didn’t base my rating on my mother’s love of this tea. It just has a bit too much of the rooibos present for me to like. Plus, I’m not a carrot cake fan. I’d rather eat the frosting ;) I think overall if you’re a lover of carrot cakes then you should definitely try this tea. For me it was NE.

But wait! There’s more!

I finally followed through on my threat promise to create a flickr account in order to show off the pretty tea cozy that Doulton sent as part of the Shakespeare box. Here it is in all of its glory: http://tinyurl.com/2whsc2j I had a few other shots but I learned an important lesson about photography: if you have reading glasses, then you should wear them both while taking the photos and while editing the photos. ::facepalm:: So a lot of the pics were too blury to post.

But wait! There’s even more!

My mother surprised me with a “Kitty Mother’s Day” present. It was this figurine of an angel holding a teapot: http://tinyurl.com/35rttlu Here’s a closeup of the tiny teapot: http://tinyurl.com/2wfu2o7 Neither one of us are crazy about angels, but my maternal grandmother used to collect angels-playing-flutes figurines (she had been a professional flutist). I was able to select my favorite angel figurine that had belonged to her sometime after her passing. Therefore, it was particularly sweet to get a surprise present that had many levels of meaning for me. Hoorays!

Boy was I ever wrong about how awesome this would be cold brewed. I think that I may have used too much tea, but even so it is missing the sweetness that the hot cup had. It also has an almost minty aspect to it that I’m not enjoying. Seriously, if I’d only had this as a cold brewed iced tea then its rating would’ve been in the 50’s or 60’s. It’s that big of a difference.

Because I fear that I used too much tea I went ahead and added more water to the pitcher with hopes that it’ll be a bit more pleasant tonight. Perhaps this would be better as a hot brewed iced tea. I’ll have to save that experiment until I buy more. NE

This tea is summertime in a cup. Not a weary hot and steamy summertime, but a beautiful Maine summer. Imagine sitting on the back porch of a quaint Maine cottage that looks out over a sunlight dappled harbor. There are hummingbirds flitting about while a faint breeze causes delicate wind chimes to sing. This is the tea that befits this setting.

I’m not a huge blueberry fan, but my favorite pie of all time is a homemade Maine blueberry pie. I’ve had two in my lifetime and no pie or blueberry has come close to that level of awesomeness. Until now. This tea is just wonderful. It’s not crazy-sweet like a pie, but there’s a wonderful natural sweetness.

My enjoyment of this tea begins with when I opened the sample packet. It’s just pretty. You have the pretty leaves, some violet petals, and then tiny dried blueberries. I’m rather sad that they didn’t include the sweet little blueberries in the photo.

And my enjoyment has continued into the second steep. I didn’t change anything to the preparation because I was concerned that it would get bitter with more time. It’s not as vibrant as the first, but it’s still lovely. I don’t know if it’ll stand up to a third. But let me tell you: I think this brewed as an iced tea could be a 100. I will be buying a larger quantity of this asap. I’ll still try to keep my self-imposed tea buying ban for May, but Overlords as my witness I will buy this in a heartbeat if there’s a Steepster Select featuring the Tea Guys before then. TG

ETA: It wasn’t until I placed a second order with Tea Guys that I realized that they use the same generic pictures over and over again for different teas. It was sort of like they went “eh, it’s close enough.” That made me sad, but at least here on Steepster I’m able to have some accurate pics uploaded. So you can now see how colorful this blend is (and there is a small blueberry near the lower righthand corner) :D

There’s more family visiting so things have been hectic (but fun) here. I also potentially may have some extra-good news on the job front, but I don’t wanna jinx it (I should know by the end of the week). So I was feeling pretty upbeat this morning even when the family brought over doughnuts (of which I did not partake). Instead I treated myself to this uber-yummy tea. It’s wonderful in that I’m not experiencing any sort of “doughnut remorse” (which can be caused by either having or not having doughnuts). Hooray for this tea! TG

I am drinking liquified waffles!!!!! Okay, not really, but this tea is so close that it isn’t funny. The dry leaf smells strongly of maple syrup and even licorice. The licorice smell almost seemed to dominate and I became worried. But I should have had no fear.

Oh the smell: WAFFLES! The taste is like if you were having waffles with a basic morning black tea. It’s really well balanced and my sweet tooth is digging this. I’ve done three steeps of this and the third is just a bit too weak, but still okay. But then again on the third steep I grabbed some L’eggos out of the freezer and made me some WAFFLES! Gir would be proud.

Oh yes, there will be a purchase of this. I can’t imagine doing this tea too often, but it’s worth having it on hand for the random cravings. TG

My first cold brewed iced tea!

The tea itself came out a delicate peach color – it looked very precious in my glass. The taste was a very muted version of the hot with the tang hanging around in the background while the subtle fruits played around up front. I found it pleasant, but my mom loved it (she described it as “refreshing”) and wants me to buy more. The description mentions adding it to lemonade – and I could really imagine that being a tasty option. I have a ways to go in exploring iced teas, so I really am unsure if I’ll get a larger amount of this for myself as a fruity iced tea option. NE

I checked the mail right before I left for work and hot-diggity-dang: three of my orders were there! I risked being late and opened all my packages. Oh tea joy! My gaiwan came and JAS-eTea enclosed a lovely handwritten thank you note – I had ordered from them through amazon, and just now checked out their website. I think that there may be future purchases from them :) Here’s the gaiwan I got: http://tinyurl.com/28wf9xu I don’t think the picture does it justice – it’s beee-uuuutiful! Oh – just realized that if you click on the photo and see the close-ups: those pics do it justice. I also got my package from Life in Teacup – it looks amazing! I’ll wait for my new kettle before I break open those pretty packages. I want to do those oolongs justice! Except for the Lapsang Souchong – that will be had first thing tomorrow!

And then the Tea Guys box! I tried them so that I could get my mom their Carrot Cake tea for Mother’s Day. Of course I had to sample more of their wares! I could hardly stand being at work knowing that all this yummy tea was waiting for me at home! When I got home I chose the Ruby Tang because it’s the only caffeine-free option that I got (that isn’t my mom’s present). And it’s a fruit tea – which I have never had. I was really surprised when I opened the small packet – it looked like turkey stuffing. I don’t know what I thought it’d look like, but wow, it’s kinda cool!

And the smell! It was like a fruity tart candy! I’m waiting for the iced tea pitcher I ordered to arrive and I had this tea in mind to be iced when I bought it – so I decided to use about a third of the packet. I might have shortchanged this tisane by doing so – so I’ll be holding off rating it until I try the rest of it iced. Cuz I think this is going to be amazing iced.

First Steep: Woah – it’s earned the “tang” part of its name. The color was really really pale – almost nonexistant. I almost felt like I was getting that “furniture polish” smell from it – I’m thinking that the smell and the tartness must be the hibiscus. I’m not sure. I also think that the temp might have been a little too cool.

Second Steep: Added a minute and upped the temp a bit. There was a bit more color – a pale yellow. Ooh – it’s getting better! I’m picking up more fruit. And as it cooled, more of the orange came out and said “howdy!”

Third Steep: Kicked it up to 10 minutes. NOM! NOM! NOM! Again – please note that this is my first fruit tisane. I have nothing to relate this to, but for me: NOM! The tart is almost not there, but I can taste what I think is the hibiscus and a crazy mix of other fruit. And there’s this sweetness that lingers near the back of my throat while the top of my tongue sort of dances. It’s like my tastebuds are doing the Wave across my tongue.

And all of these companies get a gold star from me for both speed and service!

ETA: In my insanity I went for a fourth steep even though I thought it’d probably be a bad idea. It wasn’t the worst idea I’ve had, but still :P So I’m not sure if this would be the typical aftertaste, but it tasted like paper. It was weird enough for me to comment upon it (which I think that this is the first time that I’ve commented on aftertaste).