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I picked this tea from my Yezi samples simply because of this line: “A brew of Gao Shan is ideal for firing you up on a dreary day when you could do with a burst of acceleration.” Okay, Yezi Tea, let’s see what you got…

Wow, these Yezi Teas are a kind of blowing my mind. I’m starting to think that any tea company that gives away free samples without even requiring you to purchase something, must have a lot faith in their product, and Yezi Teas is definitely evidence of that.

This tea isn’t super aromatic when dry, but once I steeped it and took the lid off of my glass steeper, my house was instantly filled with roasty honey and cocoa. It has similar notes as Laoshan Roasted Oolong. Once again, the Yezi website references smoky flavor, but I wouldn’t consider this smoky at all, but maybe I need to change my definition of smoke flavor to smoked meat flavor. This isn’t meat smokey at all, a slight hint of burnt toast maybe. It also describes the tea as a bittersweet. I get the sweet for sure, but the bitter is less of a bitter flavor and more of the tea just saying, “the end”. Nothing astringent about it, kind of like the flavor of a door closing, no lingering around. All around awesome.

I am in love with this company. Are they new? Or just new to me?

I spent yesterday afternoon organizing and cleaning out my tea cupboard. Amazing what motivation a little bit of grief can get you! My brother used to be into tea and is getting back into it, so I sent pretty much all oolongs and other straight teas I don’t love his way. I also have a ton of flavored teas I’ll be posting in the take it away thread. But in the process of my purge and cleanse, I found this tea hiding behind something else. There is only enough for a few mugfuls, but I was super happy to find it. There is a great rich maltiness to it that takes my cream and honey well. Next time I reorder Brioche, I’ll probably add a small bag of this to my order.

I took advantage of Yezi Tea’s free samples and ordered 3 samples of black teas. This was not one of the teas I chose but was one I really wanted to try. Luckily, Yezi teas is super generous, because in my order of only free samples, they included an additional free sample! This was super smart of them, cause my goodness, this tea is good. And I must order more. I wish I had more to experiment with. I brewed it gong fu style and each steep was different than the previous. But I’d like to try this western style too. The first steep was kind of roasty and kind of grape nuts-y, the second, a sweet dark chocolate, the third honey. The description used the word smoky, which is why i originally didn’t include it in my order, but I wouldn’t say smoky at all, roasty more like. Burnt toasty. Bet it’s super good western style.

BBBB ladies, this will be in the box next round as I’m going to order more. And probably another from them, so don’t order anything yet!

I haven’t felt much like drinking tea lately, and even less like writing about it. My dog of 14 years passed away over the weekend and the days leading up to it were pretty tough. I’m trying to hold it together so my kids don’t see me lose it completely, but whenever I have a moment to myself I’m a mess. But I need to return to my new normal and get back to some of the things that make me happy. Two of which are tea and steepster.

So I made this one today as it will last over and over so I didn’t have to think about what tea to have next. I saw Bonnie say to add cream and sugar in someone else’s comment so I gave it a try. I steeped it for 5 or so and added the cream and sugar and it was like drinking caramel. I had that over and over today. This is a really yummy tea, especially doctored just a bit.

I need a tea that can give me a huge warming hug. My dog, who I’ve had since I was barely 21 and in college, is in his final days. I’m spending the day snuggling and loving him. He’s a pretty amazing dog. I taught him to fetch beer from the fridge (I was in college after all) when he wasn’t even 1. He has seen me through college, the post college quarter life crisis in Montana, living with my folks again, buying a place of my own, his own cancer and hip replacement, my marriage, and the birth of my children. Very few people get the pleasure of all that life with one amazing dog.

I posted a couple photos from yesterday here:
http://tastybrewtea.blogspot.com/2013/09/cooper-and-me.html

And of course, his photos on Butiki’s site:
http://butikiteas.com/Community.html
He’s on the top row in the center with the Bean and then again, licking the air for some tea down below in the additional photos, top row, center.

He is an amazing dog who has loved and been loved immensely.

I am currently sitting in a fancy hotel room in the Oregon wine country alternating sips between this tea and a Bloody Mary. Yesterday was my husband and my 5th wedding anniversary so we decided travel 15 miles out of town and go wine tasting and stay at a fancy shmancy hotel. Of course they offer Steven Smith teas as anywhere fancy in the Portland area does. And I like this one as a breakfast tea with cream and honey. It’s nice and strong with caffeine, which I need desperately today. And the Bloody Mary, also necessary!

Yesterday we went to one of favorite vineyards and the winemaker walked us through the whole winemaking process from the vine on up. I couldn’t help myself from thinking of the comparisons with tea growing/processing. It really is such a science experiment and art form all at the same time. And this is coming from an avid beer chick.

Anyway… Fun way to spend our anniversary, without having to travel much. Heading back to reality in about an hour. But also back to my tea stash :-)

My morning cup, courtesy of Terri Harplady and the BBBB. Another solid cup from the puriTea. It’s maltier than most yunnans and definitely reminds me a bit of an Assam. Very yummy! Thanks Terri!

P.s. does anyone else always want to yell out “YUNNAN” in the voice of “NOONAN”? I can’t drink one without that thought.

I haven’t had this one in a long time, but wanted a puerh to really wake me up this morning after being sick the last few days. I also chose this so that I wouldn’t have to pick another tea for the rest of the day. I think I steeped this one like 5 times before I finally decided I’d had enough. This tea is awesome. I think I have enough for one more cup then I’ll finally have to re-order. It’s definitely a cupboard staple.

School hasn’t even started yet and our house has come down with a minor cold. Nothing too bad, just annoying that its the last day before school starts and we’re all sick. So I mixed a few teas together to make an ideal healing tea in my opinion. I started with After Dinner Ginger from sTEAp shoppe. It’s got ginger, lemon, and chamomile. Then I added winter fire guarusa from butiki to get some spiciness and clear headedness. Once steeped, I added mazuka honey. It is so tasty! This will be my go to cold season tea.

Tea number 3 out of the BBBB, this one from Boxermama. My mom really liked this one. Me, not so much. I don’t love tiramisu or coffee flavored teas, but my mom loves all of that so I made this when she came over to watch my kids just so I could have a sip and then let her enjoy the rest. The puerh, while definitely present, doesn’t overwhelm the flavors. I can imagine it’s actually pretty tasty if you like tiramisu flavor and it resteeps really well. My mom took the rest of my sample home with her. I’m slowly converting her to tea. One mug at a time. Thanks for helping with me with the cause Boxermama!