Autumn Hearth Send Message

Call me crazy but I just made Wild Strawberry Genmaicha and it was delicious! These two teas by Tea & Bloom came by way of the 12 Days of Christmas day six from tattooed_tea. She had mentioned fruit and cereal (Genmaicha) and I was inspired. The sweet and savory work well together and this reminds me of Kashi with strawberries or flavored rice cakes or drizzled popcorn balls. Yum!

Thanks tattooed_tea, for this tea, which I had with lunch (Indian food, couldn’t have breakfast all day long). Certainly one of the better orange spice teas I’ve had. Has a nice zing to it, from the cranberry and maybe hibiscus? As it cools it reminds me more and more of some Celestial Seasonings tea from my childhood, which in turns reminds of the holidays. Very nice!

Again it seems everyone and their mother has tried this, but not me. And thanks to tattooed_tea for including this in wee cute present box full of breakfast inspired teas she gave us for Day 6 of the 12 Days of Christmas swap. I tried this earlier in the day, after the bacon. Tis yummy, though I think I should have steeped it a bit stronger. I also used the wet leaves from this and Maple Bacon and brewed them together with a pinch of salt and sugar. They go well together, but I think I would prefer them without the additives.

Wow! Thank you tattooed_tea for sending us this feast of tea for the Sixth Day of Christmas! This is one of five teas, all of them breakfast themed! Since I had already grabbed some strong Sage Derby cheese and Almond Nut Thins I figured the bacon would be best and I quickly scrambled an egg to go with.

When I first sipped this I wasn’t sure. Smoky, sure but what else? But this has started to really round itself out, I can taste the sweet maple, I can even imagine the grease from bacon, this may sound weird or gross but I’m impressed. But this tea has more to it than just the food it’s inspired by.

This tea evokes a scene, the bacon is cooking in a smoky cabin or perhaps over a campfire. This is freaking lumberjack tea! And it reminds me of pu’erh in this way, bringing up sensory memories and the smoke is quite complex.

I definitely want to blend this with Pancake Breakfast, but I think I shall steep this a second time, try the pancake on it’s own and save a teaspoon of each to share with my sister. Sadly because of the smoke, I don’t think the husband could appreciate it. But I say YUM!

Wow there sure are a lot of tasting notes for this tea and I’m grateful to DaisyChubb for choosing this golden beauty for the 12 Days of Christmas swap, thus giving me the chance to add my own.

What an appropriate tea for this day! There are many a golden named tea, golden needles, golden monkey’s, golden fleece, but none shimmer as much as this one. I opened the beautiful hand decorated pouch Daisy made and when I peered inside it was like tiny golden Christmas bobbles were shining back at me.

I find it interesting that tea companies are totally cool with including glittering sugar balls, candy maple leafs and such in their tea and no one freaks out and thinks its horribly unnatural. This actually isn’t my first shimmery tea. I tried Della Terra Tea’s Caramel Candy Apple from the Traveling Tea Box a couple months ago.

That one was kinda pink and girlish, this one reminds me of gold dust and stars and I think could indeed be very romantic, curled up with two cups in front of a fire. Too bad the husband despises cinnamon and we don’t have a working fireplace. Oh well a girl can dream, in which case I don’t really have to picture him anyway ;)

Thank you BoxerMomma for choosing such an appropriate and interesting tea, it’s really putting me in the mood. It’s odd but if this was called Black Bird Tea, I would be like, yeah I can taste that. I do believe this is first tea from Harney & Sons, shocking I know. I have maybe had black currant tea once, didn’t think much of it so Iwasn’t sure what I would think of this one, I like it. It’s quite present without feeling artificial. Subtle yet solid.

There is a tinge of something to this tea that is bothering me though, something I’ve tasted before, something almost metallic (though you know it could just be my strainer that I almost never brew with) but its in the smell too. Will have to experiment with the second half of the sample. Thankfully its the fruit that lingers on the palate and not this odd note. Will also keep other black currant teas in mind as something I like.

this is very good reinfused with a teaspoon of day three’s French Vanilla! Yum!

Second tea I tried from LiberTEAS for day three of the 12 Days of Christmas swap, thank you! I didn’t have time for three black teas (or a black green blend, or really any tea) yesterday, so I enjoyed this one earlier today while making stew. It’s a very nice blend, it feels luxurious but not overly floral. It’s more of a smooth, candy like floral, perhaps the cornflower and vanilla? I might have made it a bit light and will probably steep it a second time. French Vanilla and hopefully Black Currant for tonight, will share the latter with the husband!

Many thanks to LiberTEAS for coordinating the 12 Days of Christmas swap and sending three wonderful teas for the third day! Yesterday was busy, busy, busy for me. My boys and I picked up sister one and her husband to go meet sister two and her family an hour away at their city’s annual Christkindle/Christmas Market. They used to have lots of vendors with booths from their sister city in Germany, but they’ve scaled back in the last two or three years and there were only two booths from Germany and half a dozen others with local artists, vendors and baked goods.

We were hoping to find a Christmas pyramid for sister two’s husband but were disappointed (luckily I had found one online that she liked and I ordered it late last night and I got notification that it shipped this morning from PA, so should be here in plenty of time). Funny side story about that, apparently in my tired state I enter my maiden name for shipping an billing, but I believe my correct name for the credit card. Sigh.

We had a very nice time taking part in the kids activities. We went for a “train” ride (really a tram/tractor with nice cars) the conductor was wild, doing donuts on the paths along the lock and Rowan, his cousins and even mom and dad were smiling and laughing. They also had a “toboggan” chute, plastic slides that could seat three, down three soapy slides. The boys also had fun playing with marbles inside the museum at the lock (featuring Akron made toys, ceramic, tires, blimps and other industries). I also had a really nice local lager, dark sweet and tasty!

Then we went out to eat at an “Irish” sports bar called Barley House. We bit disappointed with that one, but twas good company. I drove everyone home and as it got dark everyone in the car but me fell asleep, I dropped off sister one and her husband and they took a half an hour nap. Stopped home for the husband to use the bathroom, grab some things for Rowan (he stayed asleep in the car with the door cracked open and brew this tea which I really should have had for breakfast, but I was feeling odd and dehydrated when I woke up,perhaps from matcha overload.

This is a very nice blend, not as mapley as I would have thought but well balanced, smooth with a nice sweetness and it didn’t get astringent. I steeped it a second time and offered a sip to my husband who then asked if it was marshmallow flavored, he loves marshmallows, me not so much, but luckily I didn’t make the association ;)

Then it was off to see The Hobbit, which I had some issues with but was overall good. I may write a review after we see it in 3D but I don’t think this is the place for it. I’ve rambled enough in this note anyway!

Many thanks to Azzrian for this wonderful treat! I’ve been wanting to try Red Leaf for months, mostly because of Azzrian’s reviews and this is my first (professionally) flavored matcha! I was overwhelmed by the scent of this when it first arrived weeks ago and have been looking forward to it ever since. This also came with a cute card with two turtle and dove hybrid cartoons, in a lovely wax sealed envelope with an adorable wee wooden spoon attached!

I got three unique brews out of this today. One a small cup with cold milk shared with my housewights, the second a mug with hot water and the third a large and quite strong batch whisked with cold milk and sugar, drunk from a wine glass. The last was my favorite ;) I was hoping to share some of this with my husband, but he took one look at the sage brew in the stemware and said “no way”. His loss.

This is really delicious and I wanted to keep on drinking, but the buzz attacked quickly the third time round and I had to set it aside. Hopefully it will keep covered in the fridge till morning, I will re-whisk of course, it should be a nice jolt to start a busy day. I will not wax poetic about the taste as it is almost 1 am (actually not that unusual for me to be up this late). But suffice it to say it is a creamy, sweet and smooth, decadent treat that lingers on the lips (I could taste it long after when I sipped water). Ironically it does remind me a bit of lip gloss in taste, but in a very fond way.

One day I hope to order from Red Leaf, when our budget allows and I’m sure then I will think fondly of Azzrian for introducing me. Cheers!

Finally sitting down with this, though I did try it when blending. First a big thanks to LiberTEAS for starting this swap! I’m very happy to be part of it. And thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. I was not expecting anyone to rate this or rave about it, but it warms my heart on this otherwise very sad day.

This tea was a thought experiment and I’m mostly pleased with it. I knew I wanted yabao, a woodsy sheng, juniper, pear, apple, cinnamon and maybe clove (I did not get to add that last one). When David release his Eight Treasures Yabao it made things easier, though I wasn’t sure how the jasmine and goji berries would play out, but I figure blossoms are just one part of the tree. I looked at lots of pear melanges but intended up purchasing two pear teas from Teavana (White Asian Pear and Anjou Pearadise) and sorting all the fruit, removing the tea, hibiscus and rose petals.

This is where this blend sort of fails for me personally, it smells too fruity and reminds me too much of other Teavana blends. Just pears and apples probably would have been best, but the peach and pineapple added sweetness and the orange slices looked festive, though I think they taste a bit too strong especially in the second and third steep. I’m going to try steeping this out further but I don’t think the fruit lends this well to extended gongfu brewing.

However it was fun to create (I also loved designing the labels!) and I do like the taste of the first cup. I would love to see what David could do with something like this, sourcing some pear, adding clove maybe even some tulsi. For those that haven’t tried the Eight Treasures Yabao Winter Blend from Verdant and liked this, I highly recommend you order at least a sample. I love it and its non-winter counterpart. Looking forward to tomorrow, thanks ladies!