Rabs Send Message

I’ve had this tea for awhile and gotta say that it truly is amazing iced. And that’s the only way that I’ve drank it — until last night. I have a horrible, horrible sweet tooth (yes, I’ve stood over the sink and poured a spoonfull of sugar and ate it — and then poured another. That should give you an idea of my sense of sugar depravity). So, I was having a massive craving last night and thought “hey, I should totally try this hot.” And you know what? I loved it hot too! And it saved me a ton of calories. So, bless you Frank, for this tea. There are non-children out there who absolutely love it :D

Yeppers — this was my tea of the day. I had a wonderful (if not whirlwind) Thanksgiving in Kansas City where there was a distinct lack of tea. The short turnaround made it not worth bringing all my tea-making items with me. So, these truly are the first cups I’ve had in ::mumble-mumble:: days. I checked Life In Teacup last week and they said that this tea is out of stock and should be back in by the end of November (and then they go on their haitus) – so I really need to keep an eye on their site. I don’t know why, but I had been treating this tea like something crazy-sacred instead of just enjoying it. I’m over it now, but realizing how much faster I go through the packets! TG

Oh, and yeah — I sorta broke my “no new tea until I drink some of my cupboard down” and ordered the Fortnum set from Williams-Sonoma (backordered until the end of next month!). So that gives me a month to do some sip-downs. Heh. And yeah, if you happened to notice — I’ll be breaking my “no new tea” rule for this tea as well. Double-heh.

Oh, my favoritest favorite tea — even with the sub-par brewing abilities at work, your nomminess shines through! I shall be steeping these leaves until the library closes tonight. ::contented sigh::

Last night I discovered a whole stash of tea that I’d forgotten about post-move. My new place has three kitchen cabinets dedicated to being my “tea cupboard.” I LOVE having space for my tea!!!!! Two of the cabinets are for tea alone and the third is for all the utensils/pots that aren’t on my counter :)

So I about fell over when I discovered two decorative boxes filled with teas pushed back to the back of my pantry. One contained nothing but my last Georgia Tea Company order still in their original bags — so I was very nervous about how well they’ve held up over time. Turns out this one handled it quite well!

I grabbed this one because I’m still trying to get over this nasty head cold and hey, it’s full of good stuff for me. I also did something that I hardly ever do, and I added honey to my tea (trying to help with the throat). Turns out it’s a very beneficial addition! It sort of brings out all the more fruity tastes within this very medicinal blend – so me likey. I may continue adding honey to this even post feeling-pookie. NE

I’m just gonna sorta sneak in here with my tail between my legs. I’ve finally returned to the land of tea last week when I came down with a nasty head cold. Since then I’ve been drinking this almost non-stop (still as awesome as ever). And with drinking this I naturally thought of Steepster and that I’d kinda fallen off the face of the earth here. And I really feel bad with how I’d been planning to send out gift bags of tea and utterly failed at that after people had shared their mailing addresses with me (so very, very sorry!). Every-once-in-a-while I’d think of that plan and just wanna crawl into a hole and die because of my lack of follow-through :(

Onto happier notes — I am really very happy with how much better this site is running! Six months ago — the last time I posted (eek!) this site ran like molasses for me, taking almost a minute for each page to load. I stop by this evening and holy-molie is it fast! And my stuck “Notices” have finally cleared up! So, huzzah to the Steepster overlords!

So, I’m going to try and post at least once-a-week here. Things are still hectic in my life, but I’m finally getting into a rhythm. And I think my return to tea is a nice indicator of that. However, I won’t be reviewing much new. I am determined to get through lots of my teas in my cupboard before I order any more. Uh, except for the Fortnum teas I just discovered at Williams-Sonoma. Yeah, I’m gonna have to try those. But nothing beyond that. I hope!

I have missed you all and hope that everyone is doing well!

I just had to stop by Steepster and say “HI!!!” to everyone, and apologize for my prolonged absence. I’m getting ready for a major move sometime in June and am still adjusting to the new job. And let’s not even get into the grad school fail (I need to re-apply for next year). But at least I’ll be within a mile of my work and will no longer have the 2 hour round-trip commutes to contend with anymore — huzzah!

I haven’t had a spot of tea in months :( With the hectic schedule I’ve been relying on coffee (gasp!) and diet soda (double-gasp!) to get through. However, my poor system is begging for tea — so I hope to turn it around after the move. I hope.

I miss you all and hope that all is going well!

Warmest Wishes,

Rabs

JacquelineM — how fast did you start craving this the moment you saw me post this? ;)

Seriously, it was because of a note that JacquelineM posted about H&S’s Earl Grey that I remembered that I had a handful of samples tucked away for sometime. Well, one of those sometimes is now. We had our first nasty snowstorm of the season yesterday/today, so I felt that Florence would be very appropriate on a day like this.

I think that it’s very deserving of its praise here on Steepster, and I think others have done an excellent job of describing its many charms. So, why isn’t my rating higher? Well, you may recall that I am not a fan of chocolate. Yes, I am a freak. Ever since overdoing it on M&Ms one Easter as a child I have a very low level of chocolate tolerance. Some days I like it more than others. I think that today is a good day, but it still keeps me from utterly melting over this tea. All that said, I would seriously consider keeping a tin of this on hand — not just for me, but especially for visiting friends or family. NE

Just steeped the last of my sample of this ::mourns:: I really would like to finish off the rest of the Harney & Sons samples that I have before I place an order, but I don’t know if I can wait that long! ;) TG

OLD LADY TEA!!!!!! Seriously, smells like a room in an old church where a bunch of older ladies were meeting and their musty perfume hangs in the air. Wowsa. I’m both repulsed by and compelled to drink this tea. So utterly perfumey and rather blech, but I keep sipping! I think that I have a problem. I will never purchase this again (if I try, then I need a major tea intervention), but I think that I’ll finish the box. Bizarre but true. The graphics on the box (owl in a teacup!) is the best part of this tea. M

Okay, so the packaging totally sold me on this one. The little happy wiener dog has “Ooo-long tea” printed across his long body. EEEEE! And then Jaime had a nice review of this, and I was looking for some handy-dandy tea for work, and so I bought this (plus the Jasmine Earl Grey — with an adorable owl in a tea cup on the box!, and their “Live Forever tea” which had just enough cheesiness for me to buy it).

It’s really amazing that I held off so long on A&D’s teas because their packaging is lightyears beyond this. Oy, I’m a sucker.

I was even hesitant to try another plum-type tea since my only “plum tea” experience was from the insta-tea packet that AmazonV so generously shared with me. And that was a bit bizarre. :)

Anywho, my first cup of this is surprisingly nice! It has a gentle gentle plum scent that almost comes off as floral. I think that I’m also getting a taste of paper from the bags, but I’m not 100% sure. This being at work — I had no control over parameters and of course we got busy. So I think that I may have understeeped this and it’s also now a very cold cup. Therefore I’ll be holding off on giving this a rating. I’d guess that it’s at least a 70. NE