206 Tasting Notes
So my tea of the morning was an interesting blend from ashleyef. It is part Butiki strawberry oolong, part David’s banana oolong, and part David’s vanilla orchid. I love oolongs. I was originally interested in a different oolong from her and have been dying to try vanilla orchid so she suggest this blend she combined. I have to say…it smells lovely. And the leaves are beautiful. I loved watching this steep. As it cools it gets better. The different oolong bases are amazing. Indescribable. You can taste the after notes of banana and the creaminess of the vanilla. There are slight floral notes from the orchid. The tart yet sweetness you usually find in a strawberry come at the very end. I have to say… BRAVO ashleyef good blend. I would have never guessed to put them all together. And thank you for sending me an exceptionally large amount of it:) I hope to share it with stephanie and others soon!
You’re welcome! I’m glad someone else could enjoy it. I only put them all together because none of them worked for me on their own, but they definitely work well together:)
Mmmmmm. Thank you KallieBoo! for sending me this sample. I did have to do some work on this one to find all of the elements. In the end I found the butteriness and the that crisp bread taste. I did add some cinnamon sugar to get that sweetness to pop and then turned it into a latter to get the whole effect. I was so tempted to add powdered sugar on too and I wish I had syrup to add to it. Oh well maybe next time. It was a delightful cup. http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741867@N05/10030498253/in/photostream/
So I found myself in the mood for an AUTUMN TEA! I have NONE in my cupboard :( And I can’t afford to buy any for a while. So I chose this out of one of the MANY samples Janelle sent me. I was quite intrigued with the idea of a GREEN OOLONG and CHAI in one? It smelled decadent dry. The cardamom and cinnamon very apparent. Unfortunately steeped, it was quite light. I was afraid to add anything to this because the little flavor it did have would disappear. This definitely would have been a hit with a darker base oolong. I even over leafed to make sure the chai came through:( However this oolong I love. Very delicate and my tastebuds loved it. I usually love to add milk or cream to my chai to get that full flavor. I decided, HECK why not, after I was halfway finished with this I added some milk. As I suspected, all flavor disappeared. Thank you janelle for giving me this to sample.
On another note, since I was feeling in a super duper fall craving mood I made these for dessert tonight:)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741867@N05/10029951044/
However, the sprinkled ones turned into a fail:(
Also after work I stopped by a local cafe that we sell our pastries too and stumbled upon a scoop of heaven in a cup! Oatmeal chocolate chip ice cream! I love oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Eating this made me instantly want Della Terra’s Oatmeal Raisin cookie tea!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741867@N05/10030092323/
I also got a scoop of Pistachio Almond, making me also crave Butiki’s Pistachio Ice Cream Tea. HAHA can’t you tell I am having major withdrawals. Oh LAWRD!
Anyways, I will have to take another stab at this tea eventually.
Chai is a nice fall tea, and easy to make if you have any straight blacks! http://www.food.com/recipe/indian-masala-chai-190932
Or the easiest way- my husband makes up this mix http://www.food.com/recipe/awesome-and-economical-chai-concentrate-34713
The dessert you made looks amazing!
I had this one this morning with breakfast and Oh MAN! If this isn’t banana pudding then I don’t know what is. I am so glad this one was reblended as well and glad I purchased it with my LOVELY Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish. The dry leaf smell was perfection of a combination of sweetness and “banana-y-ness”. Loving this 52teas blend! I would love to try to make a frapp out of this one. :)
BACKLOG
I had this last night after dinner as my dessert. Sadly it was the last of my sample from Shelley_Lorraine from one of my first swaps. I am soooo soooo sooo sad to see this tea go. I wish there was somewhere I could get it, but I am super excited to try the new pumpkin flavor from BUTIKI. But I sadly will have to wait a while to place an order due to ZERO funds.
BACKLOG
I got this from Stephanie as a generous thank you for our recent swap. And guess what little missy?! I loved it!!! Soooooo CREAMY! Sooooo Soooooo COCONUT-TY! And Sooooo Sooooo Sooooo DELICIOUS! I had this as an iced latte and a frapp:) Drinking all these matchas from her lately want me to buy some really bad! But this broke college student has no money to her name seeing as its the end of the month:/ I will have to put money away each paycheck for tea even if its only $5 each time. DESPERATION! ha ha ha. Well thank you for this little thank you package Stephanie.
Preparation
Major back log from last week. I got this in a HUGE swap from Janelle and I’m sad to say….this is a taste of why I do not enjoy rooibos tea. I was on a roll with a few yummy ones I stumbled upon. I can not tell you why I did not enjoy this one. I wish I could. I love coconut and could taste it right away but I got a really funky after taste. I really loved the dry leaf smell. I am sooooo sad I did not enjoy this one:( I will have to try this again in a sipdown.
HEAVEN on EARTH! The oh so generous Stephanie sent me this in a thank you package that arrived today and I could not wait to try it! It was soooooo delicious. You definitely do NOT need sugar and is so naturally sweet. You can taste the caramel right away and the scent it very creamy and sweet. I absolutely love it! Great alternate to the one i usually get at my local coffee shop here i San Luis Obispo. I added some brown sugar the second time and did it with soy and that was delicious as well! I’m so sad I’m all out:/ matcha is just not in my budget and that makes me so sad. Oh well. Until next time. We shall meet again. Hopefully sooner than later. Thank you so much for this!
Preparation
You know they’re doing a special deal on the caramel right now though? http://www.redleaftea.com/matchaccino/caramel-matchaccino-special-blend.html
Also this! http://steepster.com/discuss/3247-todays-red-leaf-tea-special?page=38
Free deal for reviewing :)
I know I wanted to order but shipping was $9. But I’ll have to try the free matcha for review though :)