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Today was the big day! I had my post-surgical check up and got the results of my biopsies. No chemo! They were able to remove all the cancer, and no radiation needed this time.

When Ashman came home to go to my appointment with me, he had a bag from Winterbloom Tea which is here in our town. A co-worker and his wife had bought four wellness teas for me as a gift!

The cranberry and bilberry in this one intrigued me, and the birch and seabuckthorn sounded like something I could use right now with four wounds in my body and a huge reaction from neck to waist from an antibiotic. Maybe the birch will be soothing and help me sleep comfortably tonight since it is affiliated with the spirea family from whence we get aspirin.

I don’t drink very many herbal tisanes or wellness teas, but this one is really good. The cranberry is true, the bilberry is a nice touch, I definitely get the seabuckthorn berry flavor, and overall it was a pleasant cup to sip on. I didn’t add anything but honey would be really nice with it if you like to sweeten your teas.

October Sipdown Prompt – World Food Day: have tea with a favorite food

Still had a bit iced so I enjoyed this for lunch with our copy cat of Sprout’s Honey Nut Chicken Salad. Delish. Recipe is simple – diced chicken, mayo, T honey, handful of Craisins, handful of pecans, salt, pepper, and Penzey’s garlic powder. Chop chop with Mr Choppy and I don’t know what he is really called but his job in my childhood was to chop my spaghetti. Looks like a biscuit cutter with a handle but has a serrated or scalloped edge.

Another tea that I am not adding to my cupboard. My friend brought this at the same time as the Vanilla Strawberry Hibiscus that tastes only of red rooibos and hibiscus to me and she said it tasted like booze and dirt to her. Lol

This one she liked a little better but said it just wasn’t a favorite and there are too many other things she would rather drink so she wanted me to try it and pass it on if I didn’t want it. I passed it on to the same padawan who got the Vanilla Strawberry. At least the tins are adorable.

This isn’t for me because I don’t love mint in tea except on rare occasions, like Tin Roof Teas Moroccan Mint which is yummmm. I don’t like much ginger in my tea, just a wee sparkle. And this was lemongrass and coconut heavy which are things I like but I didn’t find this combination and balance of things appealing. I took a few sips and poured it out.

Hopefully the person I gave it to will enjoy it, or pass it on to someone who will. I am sure it is a fine tea, just not to my tastes. The only one from this collection I was really interested in trying was the Honey Chamomile, mostly to see if I liked the ashwaganda and to see if it truly has a calming effect.

I am not adding this one to cupboard because I gave it away within 36 hours of it coming into my possession. A friend purchased it and didn’t like it, saying it tasted like booze instead of tea. She gave it to me, knowing I could pass it on if I didn’t want it.

I did try it, because I just tried Harney’s Thai Rooibos and I really like it – very much. I will probably buy it eventually, especially for tea sodas.

This, however, I will not buy. It is mostly a fist in the face of very woody Robitussinesque rooibos, boozy flavor, hibiscus, and very little vanilla or strawberry to me. So many teas and tisanes use hibiscus for strawberry flavored things and it just doesn’t work for me. If I had a blind tasting of this, I would have had no idea it was supposed to be strawberry or vanilla.

I tried it hot. Then I made a concentrated syrup of it to make tea soda and…it stills tastes like Robitussin. With fizz.

Not for me but I passed it on to a new tea padawan who does lots of evening tisanes and has liked rooibos in the past.

Sipdown

The aroma of this tea is magnificent. You could simmer it in a pot and enjoy it all day for a spot of sunshine. My only complaint with it is that the base tea is incredibly light. To remedy this, I mix in a teaspoon of a strong black tea for a small pot, or use it half and half for sweet iced tea.

Simply logging the sipdown, and yay! I am back under 100 teas!

Sipdown

This and Fig & Lavender were my favorite teas from Tea Grotto, received in the big box o’ tea from Youngest – many thanks!

I was so sure I had reviewed this, even remembered what I had said about it (I thought), but here we are with no tasting note yet.

This would be a great starter puerh for people who are afraid to try it. It could almost pass for a black tea. The aroma is divine and reminds me of a Terry’s Chocolate Orange, even though the flavor is supposed to be mostly raspberry.

This does have the puerh duskiness, and without fishy smell. I think it makes a perfect breakfast tea and is also very good with snacks and even chocolates.

Would definitely repurchase this tea.

October Sipdown Challenge Prompt – World Smile Day

Sipdown

Should I really count this as a sipdown? Yes, I should! I was out of this tea for three hours before the post delivered my new one plus an Earl Grey as a little friend for it. I received this tea for Christmas last year as well as their Chinese Emperor’s Breakfast and I fully intended to wait until Christmas to restock, but they ran that free shipping weekend and I caved.

Boy, did this ever put a smile on my face today. I had to go to the hospital early for my pre-ops but was back home by 7:40 am, just in time to make a lovely breakfast and a huge pot of this. Two teaspoons, three steeps, and yes, it was quite a lot of tea. I smiled all the way through every cup.

This is a truly great breakfast tea to me. It is strong enough and yet does not require milk or sugar. I keep promising myself that I will try it with milk to bring out the chocolate notes as they suggest but I love it SO MUCH just as it is that I can’t bring myself to change anything. Maybe now that I have refilled my tin I will give it a try.

Does anyone know where we can find the exclusive story by Alexander McCall Smith that was put in the tins as a promotion many years ago?

Sipdown!

October Sipdown Challenge Prompt – World Smile Day

Should I really count this as a sipdown? Yes, I should! I was out of this tea for three hours before the post delivered my new one plus an Earl Grey as a little friend for it. I received this tea for Christmas last year as well as their Chinese Emperor’s Breakfast and I fully intended to wait until Christmas to restock, but they ran that free shipping weekend and I caved.

Boy, did this ever put a smile on my face today. I had to go to the hospital early for my pre-ops but was back home by 7:40 am, just in time to make a lovely breakfast and a huge pot of this. Two teaspoons, three steeps, and yes, it was quite a lot of tea. I smiled all the way through every cup.

This is a truly great breakfast tea to me. It is strong enough and yet does not require milk or sugar. I keep promising myself that I will try it with milk to bring out the chocolate notes as they suggest but I love it SO MUCH just as it is that I can’t bring myself to change anything. Maybe now that I have refilled my tin I will give it a try.

Does anyone know where we can find the exclusive story by Alexander McCall Smith that was put in the tins as a promotion many years ago?

October Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea with cinnamon or clove

I have said many times that I don’t love red rooibos but like green rooibos in flavored blends. I haven’t tried green rooibos plain. I did enjoy Caramel and Rum Rooibos from Lupicia and plain Rooibos from Fortnum was okay.

I have been giving tea samples to a lady I met a few months ago and yesterday she surprised me with some samples from her Harney order, including this tea. I went for this one today because there was the most of it and I didn’t expect to like it, but it is very good.

The cinnamon reminds me of Hot Cinnamon Spice but is milder. There is no clove – hooray! There is cardamom. Double hooray!

I drank one cup plain and made a latte with the rest of the pot, and I can see myself drinking this all winter. Sometimes when I make a latte I feel like there isn’t enough flavor of the tea blend left. This one is nearly half milk and there is still lots of cinnamon and cardamom flavor.

This is definitely a good chai type blend for me, as I just don’t love the ones with lots of clove and black pepper. Yums! This will be good to sip while sitting by the Christmas tree.