Various Artists

This is not actually a tea note, but I had to share – one of my dearest friends got me a Breville Tea Maker for my birthday!!! Eee!!!

Thank you to CheshireEyes for including Bamboo Tea House’s Almond Cookie Green Tea in my Secret Pumpkin package. I am fairly confident that this is the same as Della Terra’s Almond Biscotti, which was delicious. It’s just a perfectly almondy, biscotti flavor. It is slightly sweet and has a gently drying afterfeel. This is one of the blends I really missed from Della Terra. It’s nice to know that it’s still available elsewhere!

Sipdown! CheshireEyes included Bamboo Tea House’s very yummy Pumpkin Spice blend in my Secret Pumpkin package. Thank you! This made for several cozy bedtime mugs. I was too sleepy to take detailed notes, but I distinctly remember that this was spicy and well-balanced. The clove was prominent without being overdone. Overall, I’d happily drink this again.

This note is for Wissotzky’s Honeydew Black tea, which is so old that the company doesn’t make it anymore and I can’t find it online. It doesn’t really make sense to create a separate page for it. The fruit flavors in this one are clear and identifiable but artificial-tasting. Nice enough, but not particularly entrancing. On the up side, I had this with french toast for brunch and it didn’t make my stomach hurt…plus the fruity flavor complemented the french toast nicely. This bag is pretty old, and it was in a paper wrapper, so I don’t feel right giving it a rating. Sipdown!

Another sipdown – ESP’s Genmaicha with Strawberry. It’s not in the database and I don’t feel like adding it right now. Liquid Proust included this as part of the Japan group buy while he was studying there (thanks!). It smelled so strongly of strawberry that I had to separate it from the rest of the teas as soon as I opened the box. I may have waited too long to drink this, though, because the strawberry scent has faded somewhat and does not seem to carry over to the flavor. This tastes like a slightly sweet, very faintly strawberry genmaicha. It is a bit too sensitive for my liking; I suggest steeping it at low temp for no more than a minute. Otherwise it comes out tasting more like burnt rice than roasted rice. It holds up decently to a second steep, though it does lose whatever faint strawberriness there was in the first one. This was nice enough but not something that I’m heartbroken to be out of.

I was in midtown today for a training, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and treat myself. I have been wanting to check out the matcha at Ippodo for a while (http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/shop/ny.html). The shop is absolutely lovely. Lots of wood creates a serene vibe. I ordered iced usucha. Honestly, it was worth the $4.25. The matcha was prepared in the traditional way and poured over ice. Just watching them prep it was really cool. The matcha itself was just right (at least to my taste buds). It was grassy and vegetal and refreshing. The first few sips left an astringent aftertaste, but that went away and didn’t come back as I kept drinking. I did learn that I can’t drink this on an empty stomach – the energy boost came with a serious bout of nausea.

Thankfully, I then walked a few blocks south and enjoyed a nice meal at Franchia (http://www.franchia.com/). I ordered the dandelion tea. It had a roasted, savory flavor that complemented my meal and soothed my stomach.

To round out the evening, I stopped by the Morgan Library and checked out their Alice in Wonderland exhibit. Highly recommended. Especially on Fridays from 7pm-9pm when they have live chamber music and free admission. :-)

Nasty migraine today. I wanted to drink something good, but simple. I went with some flowering jasmine tea that I picked up in Taiwan a year ago. I think it’s green. It has the virtues of looking pretty, tasting lovely, and not getting bitter with a long steep. The floral note really hit the spot. It’s a very natural jasmine flavor (I would be shocked if there’s any added flavoring besides the flower itself). The base is nice and grassy. Solid, but not complex. Perfect for when I don’t have the time or energy for a tea that demands engagement. I put the third steep in the fridge for some nummy iced tea tomorrow.

I spent a solid half hour wandering around the mall trying to find this place: http://tbaar.com. Yay for decent bubble tea! It’s not the greatest but definitely one of the better options around right now. I got the honey jasmine green tea with boba. I asked for half-sweet but I would prefer even less sweetness. Still, the flavoring is good, the bubbles are right, and the base tea is inoffensive.

One of the rewards I received when I backed an SBT Kickstarter was a Strawberry Watermelon black iced tea. Somehow I can’t find it in the Steepster database or on the 52teas/SBT/Zoomdweebie’s website. I swear it exists though. Well, existED, since this is a sipdown.

My partner wanted a sweet iced tea, so I decided to make this. It’s the first time I’ve used an SBT exactly as instructed. Normally I break open the teabag and use the leaf to hot-brew smaller servings rather than an entire pint of tea. We did use a few tablespoons of honey instead of sugar. I found this blend overly artificial and sweet, tasting just like a strawberry-watermelon hard candy. My partner, by contrast, couldn’t make out any flavors at all, even after adding milk (and then whipped cream) in an effort to amplify the taste. That concoction actually ended up tasting like a tolerable strawberry-watermelon milkshake to me but it was way too much dairy and the artificialness was cloying, lingering forever after the sip. I found this blend tasted best as a heavily diluted teapop. The watermelon flavor hit first and complemented the fizziness, while the strawberry flavor lingered long after. Even as a teapop, though, the artificial candiness was too much for me. I didn’t bother resteeping.

I’m drinking a locally purchased lemongrass/ginger herbal blend that comes to me courtesy of Stephanie. Thanks! Most of this actually went to my brother, since he loves lemongrass. But I made sure to keep a good cup’s worth for myself to try.

This is pretty darned good! It’s simple, straightforward, and elegant. The flavor is lemongrass up front. It gently transitions into a nice ginger flavor mid-sip. The ginger comes out fully at the end and lingers pleasantly. I added a big teaspoon of manuka honey to see how it would impact the flavor. It definitely softened it. The beginning of the sip is now more honey than lemongrass. The ginger flavor is also tempered by sweetness, leaving a lingering taste of ginger candy. Yum! I liked it better without the honey, but it’s delicious with honey too.

sipdown

cocktail recipe:
1 teabag Celestial Seasonings Peppermint/5 oz boiling water
steep for 10 minutes
add 1 oz Kahlua
add 1 oz Bailey’s Original
stir
microwave 20 secs on high

Minty boozy awesomeness! Coffee, cream and mint blend perfectly, with a nice alcohol kick. This reminds me of peppermint bark. A word of caution: the alcohol is definitely present in the flavor, but this is such a smooth drink that it goes down faster than expected. Huzzah for no work tomorrow!

Many thanks to MissB for the inspiration :-)

I was planning on a different cocktail for the stroke of midnight, but I was still sipping on this when the ball dropped. Happy New Year everybody! I’m so glad to have found Steepster in 2013 and look forward to being part of this wonderful community in 2014 and beyond. Best wishes to all for a happy, healthy, and safe year. May all the bad events of the past year stay in the past and may this year bring only good tidings. Hey, a girl can dream. :-)

I haven’t a clue what I’m drinking.

Teaja, for whatever reason, only lists a handful of teas that they sell on their website. There’s a good 20+ more in-store, including their “award winners”. Coolio. Not sure how to buy, or even review the tea though, if I don’t know what it is or how to reference it.

So, this is a black tea… it won an award at the tea championships this year… it’s quite floral yet really robust… and super expensive. I, however, just grabbed a cup for $4.

I won’t bore you all with the conversation we had about their pricing; I’ve ranted about it elsewhere ad nauseum. It, literally, brought me to tears… but then again, I’m really struggling today, so take that with a grain of salt.

<3

Is this tea? I took pumpkin pie spice from Whole Foods, steeped it into canned, organic coconut milk and added a touch of xylitol. I think this is a Chai, but, whatever. It’s amazing. :)

What tea is this I’m drinking? I forget. I’m upset. Tea always makes it better, right?

Went for Hot Pot today; it was fantastic! Ate way too much however. With the meal came some unnamed green jasmine tea. Nice, if steeped too long, even though I took the bag out as soon as it made it to the table.

Went to this fabulous local pub that bills itself as a “geek’s dream”, where the front page of the menu looks like an old D&D book, and you can roll a D20 for a $5 shot, or order by number for a $6 shot. Shot #20 however is only available if you roll 20, and it comes with a free, specially branded shot glass. Guess who rolled a 20 and then promptly forgot the glass at her date’s house?

After my celebratory shot, I asked for a ‘hot boozy drink’. She made me a lovely Hot Toddy, complete with tea steeped IN the hot booze. Perfect.

I was carded tonight! Holy moly. Let’s just say I gladly produced my ID, and told the gal I was easily old enough to be her Mom. She corrected me after seeing my birth date, saying I just looked really young. Still hilarious.

What was I carded for? Tea. Well, a Peppermint Toddy, to be exact. First time I’ve had one, and it was delicious. Peppermint tea, Kahlua and Baileys, served hot in a mason jar with a cute paper napkin tied around the rim like a bandanna to keep my fingers from scorching. So much fun!

Norbu Hong Mao Feng black tea w/roasted mate. 3:2. It’s not bad.

Teavana Yunnan Gold Puer with Lavender Citrus Sage.

TeaVivre Loose Ripe Puer with Verdant Ginger Sage Winter Spa Blend: -)

Davidson’s Tulsi Chamomille, with Teavana Lavender Citrus Sage.

We are into 40ºC+ days here and it is far too hot for tea. I’ve switched to gin and tonics and with a stretch of the imagination they are almost like a tea… right? Gin is really just botanicals infused in alcohol and tonic water is the same but with water?

I need to get my iced tea jug going again but if I have to be honest, I much prefer other chilled [read: alcoholic] drinks to iced tea.

I still cannot post a review to Yunnan Black by Little Red Cup Tea Co.. After today I guess it doesn’t matter as I finished it off. Well, actually this is leaf I first used Saturday. I left it in my press. That kind of stuff scares some people. I assure you it was fine. In fact it was just as tasty as it was two days ago. Fact is I enjoyed it even more today. Rich molassesy goodness. Consumed on a sunny 75 F porch with a bowl of rice. A wonderful escape from the sadness of the news.

This review is for Yunnan Black from Little Red Cup Tea Co.. For whatever reason Steepster refuses to let me post my review where it belongs. Spent the afternoon with my oldest son and his wife. They took us to the home they will be moving into sometime soon. Right now they live next door. They are only moving across the county but it will be a change. Afterwards we stopped for sloppy joes and shakes. Fun time. Now I’m home on a Saturday evening. How did that happen. What to do with myself? How about tea? Sold.

I love Yunnan. Never met a bad one. This one smells so nice. As it steeped I noticed grapes, raisins, or something similar. I don’t recall that with other Yunnans but I didn’t check my notes to see. The taste is nicely sweet, no bitterness. It’s mostly honey, malt, and molasses. I don’t really taste the fruit element but it s still in the scent. Nice bit of soothing comfort to end my evening.