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Cold steeped about 24 hours before I remembered about it. Oops?

Oh well, it’s still good. It’s a hibiscus based fruit tea with moderate orange-ness, and a kick of chili. Goes well with Kapha Organic.

:)

Sil had this, and made me laugh SO MUCH because really, it has LOADS of chili in it! What did you expect? :D :D

So of course I had to make a cup. It’s soooo good! I only steeped 5 minutes though, and added 1/2 tsp honey. Delightful.

Today I can really taste the parsley, which is such a neat thing in a tea. So it’s a lot more herbaceous than what most people would think of an “herbal” tea as being. I do love the leafy medicinal things though, so I totally don’t mind. Lots of kick from the chili pepper, wow. Delicious honey, a hint of blackberry branches in the sun from the blackberry leaves… yep, I really like this tea.

:) Thanks for both reminding me of this AND making me laugh, Sil! Win-win.

I’ve been stomping around my apartment in a TERRIBLE mood, eating almond cookies and cleaning. Almond cookies, almond tea… ok! Sadly I forgot this steeping for about 20 minutes. :( So it’s not as good as usual, but surprise! It’s still totally drinkable. Not too bitter or astringent, although it is stronger than usual.

Yay La Naissance!

1.5 tsp in 12 oz.

Oh wow. This tea.

I had it yesterday morning as well. I’m really pleasantly surprised, as this is a CTC Assam, and those tend to be “knock your socks off” strong.

While this tea is strong, the curled leaves are actually pretty decently sized, and they don’t unfurl in the first steep. Even a 4 minute steep. The tea does not go over the top bitter or astringent, although it definitely leans that way at 4 minutes – I added milk this morning. Yesterday I steeped 3 minutes and it was delicious and malty, and a little fruity. I had it plain.

So. A kick-in-the-butt morning CTC that is actually pretty hardy. I have a feeling it would steep well a second or third time as well. Fairly different from Grandpa’s Anytime Tea, in that the flavours are… more bold. More Assam-y (which is a terrible description, but), more like they’d hold up to added flavours of a masala chai with lots of milk and sugar. I definitely have to try that at some point soon.

Now I don’t regret getting the Tiger Assam during the free shipping sale, BUT I also have this tea and Grandpa’s Anytime Tea for the mornings now. Oops? :)

Mmm… Extremely sugary mulberry tea with a bit of coconut and a hint of white tea. :) This is more like it.

I think the sugaryness is one of the reasons I like this tea so much. I even bought plain dried mulberries, and yes they are indeed as sweet as they make this tea. They’re incredible, but most of the flavour is sweetness. Sadly the coconut does leave a bit of oil on the top of the cup. And it’s extremely expensive for what it is, since it contains so many heavy berries and so little light white tea.

Oh well. I’ll still get some every once in a while.

(I didn’t pay any attention to steeping. I dumped some tea into the strainer, added boiled water, let it sit while I made a mango smoothie… this tea is a good one for less than ideal brewing situations, although it’s not exactly high in caffeine, which makes it less ideal for work.)

I made this earlier and have been half-heartedly sipping on it this afternoon. Not really my favourite oolong. Too seaweedy and grassy, a little bitter even though I steeped cooler and for a shorter amount of time.

Of course I’m kinda grumpy anyways (ugh hormones!) so that’s probably not helping. I should have a tea I know I like, rather than an unknown I might feel meh and grumpy about drinking. :)

I mixed some Crio Bru ground cacao/cocoa/whatever with some cacao shells from Herbal Infusions. Steeped them about 30 minutes. Added some honey and cream.

WOW.

Ok. This is good. The ground beans and cream offer some richness that the shells are missing, so it’s not nearly so watery. And it’s so intensely chocolate. I only added about 1/2 tsp honey, and it was totally enough for a decadent dark chocolate beverage.

I have to remember this.

(1 tbsp-ish of each. Heh.)

I steeped this low and long this afternoon, and drank it with cream. It was my first tea today, and it was delicious.

Yep, that’s about all I have to say.

I got this as a tea to go today.

Sadly, for some reason it tastes kind of rancid. Like milk-rancid. I’m not sure why, unless it’s because the steeper they used in-store was used for a lot of teas with milk, or… ooh. Maybe a tea with yogurt, and it wasn’t cleaned out super well before uses. You know, that might be it. I think the girl before me had Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait.

Oh well. It’s not bad enough I didn’t drink it.

(I was going to get Caramel Corn, but when I got in-store it just smelled so over the top sweet I couldn’t do it. And then I ended up getting sucked into buying some cherry amaretto ice cream, which is over the top sweet. Oh well.)

Sample sipdown!

I decided to brew it gongfu style because I have a teensy Japanese soy sauce dispenser that holds 3 oz.

As per their website for the paddy flavoured tea (because this one is no longer)…
Dry, the tea smells really sweet and carby.
2 rinses – A bit smoky, as well as sweet and carby (like cooked potatoes or pasta or something).
20s – Umm. Huh. I don’t like this at all. It smells sweet and carby with a tinge of smoke, but it tastes extremely astringent and bitter, a bit fishy, and just. No. Like a green darjeeling that’s been boiled and oversteeped.
30s – Even stronger and more astringent and bitter.
40s 5s – Nope.

Ok, I’m calling it quits. This is not a tea for me, the flavours are not good. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong (entirely possible!), but I do not like. It was my first raw puerh, too. I have a couple others that I’ll eventually get to. :)