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Woke up feeling achy and puffy today. Sleepy too. Caffeine required.

This is a basic blend, but it’s nice. The vanilla flavor is present and I’m really enjoying it. A solid tea for me.

From the matcha powder residue left behind in the pouch, I thought this might be a brightly colored tea. Well, that and the picture on the box. Instead, it’s a dark brew with no discernible flavor of matcha. Or green tea, for that matter. It tastes instead like a peppermint herbal, and a dull one at that. Maybe it’s because I’ve just had better peppermint teas recently, or maybe this isn’t one of the better quality tea bags out there. Either way, it’s really just a mediocre and lackluster cup. This was shared with me by a coworker who primarily drinks peppermint green teas. I only had the one bag of this so fortunately I don’t have to worry about drinking more of it.

I try not to drink caffeine after 3pm, or at least not much or often, but I’m really struggling to stay awake this afternoon. I oversweetened this one, added a bit too much honey to the mix, but I’m enjoying the roasted qualities of the cup. The notes on Steepster give this tea high praise for a bagged oolong. I don’t drink oolong often so I couldn’t say how it compares, but I’m enjoying it. I have a few more tea bags left, shared by a coworker some time ago, so I’ll be able to try it again with a lighter hand on the honey jar.

I’ve been drinking and logging tea the last couple of months but admittedly haven’t written down many notes since Steepster changed hands. There was too much uncertainty at first and I was afraid any notes I left here would be lost so I got out of the habit of writing them down. I know there are still some users having issues, but I’m seeing new tasting notes on my feed regularly now so I’m feeling more confident in leaving my notes here again. I hope the site continues to improve, especially for those who are having so many issues with errors and login/access. I’m sure that’s incredibly frustrating.

Perks to working from home include making a legit breakfast and hot tea any time I want. Granted, most days I have cereal or forget breakfast and tea altogether, but today I made oat bran with a miso brown butter + a fried egg + red pepper flakes. It’s so delicious. And this tea, of course.

This is quite an interesting mix – lapsang, pumpkin, cedar/juniper/oak/fir, spearmint. The taste isn’t as complex as the ingredients would suggest though. It’s a light chai-spiced tea.

I had planned for an Earl Grey this morning but as I pulled it from the cubby I realized what I really wanted was chai. I found this opened bag of chocolate chai from Teavana that my husband picked up from the local store right before they closed. I remember Teavana’s chocolate blends being pretty light and watery, so I doubled up and steeped a good deal longer than the package recommended. It’s a good strength, but there is no chocolate to be found – it’s all cinnamon chips. As it cools, I like the flavor less and less so that now it is almost undrinkable.