421 Tasting Notes
It has been far too hot around here to drink any hot tea until now. Sad but true and I haven’t had time to make anything iced either. Shame on me! Today is very cool and we’ve also had rain off and on since 3am. Perfect tea weather in my book! So I figured I’d dig into some of the Upton samples I purchased a month back. This was the first one out of the box.
I love that there is that touch of malt to the tea and I’m getting a slight hint of something darker too. There is also a fruit finish on the end that makes this a lovely cup for afternoon tea taking. Good to be back!
Preparation
It’s been a while. But I’ve been busy with a new job and yet another minor surgery…“good” times. I’ve also been making a few changes here and there (see if you can spot them).
Anyway, I’m back and it’s raining once again here in Upstate NY. Perfect reason to grab a cup of this. I probably could have gone with a regular chai…goodness knows the pain meds will knock me out as it is. But I still enjoy this tea as a nice relaxing afternoon cup of tea!
The other night we were at a tea tasting and the 3 year old in the group ordered this (as she wasn’t going to enjoy the “grown-up” tea, so she said). Well, let me tell you all the “grown ups” wanted her tea when it arrived. They even added the steamed milk to it for her. It smelled so good I got 4oz. to go.
This decaf chai is great for evening sipping and awesome with milk (steamed or not). Today I’m drinking it straight and I must say there is no need to add extra sweetener to it. This is one of the more cinnamon flavored chai teas I’ve ever had, but it is mighty tasty! I’m glad the little miss ordered it Friday night!
I mixed close to a teaspoon each of The Whistling Kettle’s Salted Caramel and their Chocolate Cake Honeybush. Reason being I can’t recall if I mix the cake or their Nutcrunch honeybush with the Salted Caramel…because both of those look pretty similar. SO I tried it and it is def. not these two teas mixed together. This isn’t bad but it isn’t the salty-sweet combo I was looking for this morning.
Yum! I’ve been looking for a caffeine free evening tea to replace my sweet snacking and this my friends is it (well, one of two)! Sweet and full of chocolate flavor with a hint of cake. This is one yummy cup of early evening tea (today). I’m really glad I saw it on the menu last night! Even happier that the Mister didn’t bat an eye at all the tea I purchased!
I have declared today Sampler Sunday. So I’m only drinking teas from my samples and swaps box! I have WAY too many in there and need to cut down. to make some room for the new Upton samples arriving next week. :)
This was first on the to try list. I got this one from the 12 Days of Christmas swap. DaisyChubb was sweet enough to send it as Day 5 – Five Golden Rings. I find this tea to be a nice wake me up tea. Brisk and bold…with a little shimmer thrown in for good measure! Seriously my cup is sparkling (in a good way)! This is super yummy and the clove is a nice touch and not at all overpowering. Yum!
So I gave this a go last night after a bad tea was had. This one more than made up for the other tea. Plus I LOVE elderberry mixed with puerh! I really miss the old alchemy blend Verdant used to make, but this one is very similar and might be a needed addition to my tea stock! It has just enough spice and kick, but not too much to make you not want to drink it.
Of all the green teas I’ve tried there are a few I actually do enjoy. Gunpowder is one of them. I happened to take a quick inventory before we hit up the Whistling Kettle yesterday and noticed I didn’t have any (I sometimes make up my own Moroccan Mint tea). So I made a note to ask our server about their Gunpowder tea and they only had this one, but she assured me it was good.
Side note…the folks at WK won’t try to sell you something they won’t try themselves. I love that about them! So I picked up a bag of it. I steeped it for two maybe two and a half minutes and wow, very silky and very smooth! I’ve had a gunpowder or two that have been super bitter (even when times right), but this just might be green tea perfection (well next to my favorite green from Verdant – Jinshan). I suspect this will go fast and I will have to pick up more very soon. Oh darn!
