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I finally got around to brewing this one up for my kitty, Mr. Frodo! He rubbed his face on the bag for a while before indulging in a cup of brewed catnip tea. He was so cute! I captured the whole thing with my iPhone camera. To see the photo play-by-play, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/96132028@N08/sets/72157633587132206/

While waiting for it to cool enough for Mr. Frodo, I tried it myself. If you didn’t tell me this was catnip, I’d have no idea! It tasted like green yerba mate with a touch of mint. Or just a very weak peppermint tea. It’s not bad! I gave some to my husband and he really liked it, even after I told him it was catnip. ;P

This is a fun one to have around. I’m glad I picked up a packet. If you have a kitty, you should definitely get some for him or her too! It makes for really cute photos. :) And I have a ton of it, so feel free to request some in a swap.

SIPDOWN, and a Gongfu brewing session!

Hmm, I’m not really enjoying this as much as I did when I brewed it Western style. As before, the first few infusions are my least favorite. As the dark chocolate notes wane and are replaced with caramel and honey notes, it becomes more to my liking.

I prefer sweet over bitter, and this tea leans more towards the bitter end of the scale. It doesn’t reach bitter, but it definitely leans in that direction and comes fairly close. The early infusions are dark and roast-y and maybe a tad bit woodsy. By the fifth infusion, I started getting less dark cocoa bitterness and more honey sweetness. A warm spicy note emerged as well. Now this is getting yummy!

I gave up after the eighth infusion even though the leaves could have gone longer. I can definitely see why people love this tea so much. While I can appreciate it, I don’t love it myself. I am excited I had the opportunity to try it!

This is a really delicious flavored oolong. I really like the plum flavor. It’s not the average fruit of choice for fruity tea blends. I let my husband sip it. It’s his first oolong experience, I think.

He said, “Mmm, I really like it. It tastes buttery or creamy.”

“YES!” I replied. “That’s exactly right! Green oolongs do taste buttery.” :)

I love introducing my hubby to tea. It’s so much fun! And now that I know he likes green oolongs, I have soooo much more to share with him! :D

After that Harney and Sons tea this morning, this Tazo tea just does not compete. Sans additions, it is really bitter. With additions, it’s just a weak, noncomplex drink posing as tea. It would do in a pinch, but it’s not something I’ll stock.

This is the last of the individually packaged tea bags I picked up on my mini-moon from the Cliffside Inn. Awww. :( I guess the mini-moon is officially over. Well, in reality it’s been over for weeks. LOL! The dry leaf aroma is strong oil of bergamot. That’s not my favorite way to flavor an earl grey, but I’m holding out hope. I saw a couple silver needle leaves in the sachet. What’s that about? Well, one way to find out!

Mmm, this is a smooth cuppa! I could probably drink it straight and enjoy it just fine. But with skim milk and Truvia, this is a really yummy tea! I’m unsure I can taste the soft flavor of the white tea amongst all this black tea and bergamot oil. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s still very delicious! I just don’t know if the white tea is really contributing much in the blend. Overall, I’d rate this tea a success, seeing as my cup is empty. :P

Mmm, how I love Paris! This is just as delicious as I remember it. It tastes like berries and vanilla cream. Yum! I added a little milk and sugar to experiment, but I think it’s better sans additions.

This is another individually packaged tea bag I picked up on my mini-moon from the Cliffside Inn. I enjoyed a cup then too and knew I had to grab a sachet to have later. I think it’s finally time to invest in a tin of this stuff. It’s a near perfect creation! I bet it would make an amazing iced tea too.

This is surprisingly smooth sans additions. Hmm, maybe I need to change my opinion of Keemun. Sometimes I try it and it’s God awful. Other times, like now, it tastes fine. Enjoyable even when milk and sugar are added.

It’s not very brisk for a breakfast tea though, in my opinion. I require a little more oomph in the mornings. It’s lacking the strong, full-body of Ceylons that I love so much. That’s my go-to breakfast tea.

This is okay, but it’s not quite there. I agree with others that it really lacks complexity. It’s just sort of one-sided, like one note in a song. I am glad I got the chance to try it though, thanks to the lovely Cliffside Inn where I spent my mini-moon! :)

Another raided complimentary sample tea bag. For more info on the story of Ikaati and my finding it, see my Black Orchid tasting note.

The dry leaf aroma actually smells quite good! By the look of the leaves, it has lemongrass and some kind of red berry in it. I poured boiling water over the bag and the water immediately turned bright golden yellow. I bobbed the bag around and that’s when I saw it: red liquid seeping out of the tea bag. Oh no! Those red berry looking things must be the dreaded hibiscus! Agh!

Well, I suppose I should have seen that one coming. But I honestly didn’t. I thought it was going to be a lemongrass berry tea, which I guess it kind of is in retrospect. Anyway, the tea liquor is a golden brown color now. The aroma of the brewed tea is kind of off-putting. What is this?

The flavor isn’t nearly as offensive as the aroma. It actually tastes okay! The hibiscus is at first tart, then sweet. The lemongrass complements the hibiscus well. It’s not bad. I’m enjoying this cup although I probably wouldn’t re-stock it. I’m just not an herbal gal.

On another note, has anyone watched the last season of The Office? It’s HILARIOUS! I’ve never laughed so hard in my entire life. My husband is away on a business trip for 4 days. So I’m alone at home with my cat, laughing hysterically. I didn’t think it’d be very good without Michael. But it is freaking funny!

Another raided complimentary sample tea bag. For more info on the story of Ikaati and my finding it, see my Black Orchid tasting note.

Mmm, the dry leaf aroma is lovely, vegetal green tea! I didn’t follow the steeping instructions because the ingredients list says this is dragon well. So I brewed it at my normal dragon well parameters plus 30 seconds because the liquid brewed up very pale yellow at first. Now it’s more of a golden yellow color, and the aroma coming off this cup is butter! Yummy buttery vegetables!

The taste is rather lovely as well. It’s not grassy like I usually find dragon well. Instead, it’s just a delicious cup of green tea that doesn’t taste bagged at all! There’s no bitterness and only a slight astringency. This is a very solid choice to keep stocked at the office. If only I had more. :( The second infusion is a bit weaker but still tasty. I really like this one! :)

This is the last of my Mighty Leaf bagged tea samples. I know it says to steep for 5 minutes, but it was a very dark reddish brown after only 3 minutes, so I decided to take the bag out early. The mint is very strong here in the aroma of the dry leaf and the brewed tea. It smells like spearmint to me. I hope I can taste the verbena under all that spearmint. The whole reason I wanted to try this was because it has verbena in it!

My favorite Bath and Body Works scent is Coconut Lime Verbena. Of course as soon as I fell in love with it, they discontinued it. :( So I immediately went to Ebay to stock up, and now I have at least a 5-10 year supply of shower gel and body spray. :D Honestly, it mostly smells like coconut and lime to me. I don’t even know what verbena is. So when I spotted this tea, I thought, here’s my chance to find out!

Well, to make a long story short, this tea tastes like funky spearmint. I love how the description says “soft citrus notes of verbena leaves balanced with a beautiful hint of mint.” Hint of mint my butt. This is overpowering mint! There does seem to be some kind of citrus punch in the beginning of the sip, but it’s quickly covered by mintaplooza. It’s really off-putting to my palate. Eck, I just can’t finish this cup. Sorry, verbena mint tea! You are not my cuppa!