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Tea of the afternoon here… I haven’t been drinking much puerh lately but this seemed like a good thing to have after lunch. I’ve been poking around in my apartment feeling unproductive and trying to decide if I want to go the the gym (it’s been forever).

This cake is tasting strange to me today, it seems more like a regular tea than a shu and I got some tannic aftertaste after steeping it for around 15 seconds. Odd.

The second steep is darker and still has a bit more shu aftertaste, but it still seems a bit bitter. I wonder if this is a cake that does not age well, or if there is something about storing it in my apartment that turned it bad? what does anyone think?

I was inspired to buy this recently, although Celestial Seasonings can be kind of hit or miss for me. I really like ginger, lemongrass and lemon verbena. I knew I was taking a chance with rosehips, which I don’t really care for. This has a nice lemon-y and ginger-y element for sure, but is also really tart. It has citric acid in the ingredients list. Between that and the rosehips, the tartness is really overwhelming.

That’s too bad, because I really wanted to love this blend…. even with sweetener it’s a bit much for me. Perhaps I will bequeath this to the boyfriend if he is interested in taking it. ;)

Good evening Steepster…
The weekend has been busy with an Xavier Rudd concert on Saturday and World Cup festivities today. Finally getting a chance to relax a bit with some herbal tea.

It’s been almost a year since I had this tisane, which is not exactly a testimonial to how much I like it. This blend is very fruity with apples, pears and strawberries in the mix. It’s a little on the sour side in the finish. I wonder if I will end up keeping this? it isn’t bad it just seems to belong in the “meh” category.

Good day Steepster!
This tea came in a swap from Cameron B. and I’m just getting around to trying it now.

Unfortunately I think I underleafed this one a bit, or rather I was overly optimistic with my water. I’m not getting a whole lot of strawberry flavor but it does seem somewhat citrusy and tart. Overall not impressed but it could be partially a user error – ha ha.

Anyway I won’t rate this one for now. Thanks again Cameron! It’s always fun trying new things.

Good morning Steepster!
This is a sipdown for me and I am just getting around to reviewing it now. I like the elegant snail shape of this tea and this is a lovely and tasty yunnan. It has a very smooth finish and a honey-like flavor. It’s good with soymilk and it’s also good without. This morning I am drinking it Western style and it’s very tasty! I was near Aroma Tea Shop yesterday and really had to resist going in there. I just don’t have a lot of money for tea right now and meanwhile, I have lots of tea in my stash. The one thing I am really missing is a nice Golden Monkey.

I’m not looking forward to the rest of my day, since I was just prescribed an antibiotic that has a reputation for causing massive stomach upset. I guess I will try taking it at lunch time along with some Pepto Bismol. Something tells me I will be drinking a lot of chamomile and/or ginger tea later. :)

Good evening Steepster…
I haven’t been feeling too perky today, just down in the dumps I guess. Of course the answer to that problem is to drink a nice cuppa!

I bought a sampler pack from Happy Earth Tea that has all the 2014 FF darjeelings in it. I think I’ll be happy with this decision as I didn’t need more darjeelings but I really wanted to try the current crop.

This tea steeps up with a dark yellow liquor. It definitely has a lot of natural sweetness that comes shining through in the cup. I am getting wonderful fruity flavors and a floral aroma. Their description says peach and vanilla but I was thinking mango too. Hmm, I don’t like this quite as much as the 2012 Risheehat so far, but maybe I will need to experiment a bit with the steeping temp on this one. It is a very nice afternoon tea with a bit of astringency. This was good with a tiny bit of cane sugar and is helping me to feel a bit calmer. :)

Tea of the morning here. I’m trying to finish off some old things that have been languishing in my cupboard for a while. This isn’t too flavorful on its own but it becomes a lot nicer with the addition of some more cardamom and a few rosebuds I got from elsewhere.

I hope today is a good day! I was arguing with my former HR manager over email yesterday. Now that my medical leave is up they don’t want to hire me back and they don’t want to fire me either. The whole thing is making my stomach hurt!

I was craving a lemongrass blend this morning and I still have plenty of this in my cupboard. Not only do I have a box of the muslin bags, I even have a small tin of it that I got with the wellness collection by Kusmi.

I like this blend, but I think I would like it a little bit better without the yerba mate, which gives it a slightly bitter after taste. Also mate gets me kind of wired! I happen to like lemongrass a lot, and a couple drops of stevia made this sweeter. Still, I don’t think I will replenish this once the current supply runs out. At the rate I am going, it will go stale before I run out of it anyway!

I need some pep in my step, because I have to finish a paper and I have a grammar mid term this evening. I’ll have to stop goofing around on Steepster for now. Wish me luck!

Hello Steepster!
I’m back from my trip to Minneapolis but we were so busy with my boyfriend’s family that we didn’t get to visit ANY tea shops much less do much sightseeing. Oh well. I’m bummed to have missed both Verdant and Mandala but maybe I’ll be back there someday.

This is from one of the Steepster select boxes, I think from March. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of these yabao type teas. The other one I had was from Verdant a while ago. I steeped according to the package directions and I’m getting a slightly sweet type of drink that reminds me of clover and/or hay. I wish this had more flavor to it… I’m definitely not getting the notes that other people seem to, but I will finish the cup.