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Wow hasn’t life gotten away from me recently!

I’m sitting here surrounded by random stuff as I get my house ready to be packed up and moved across the country again with very little notice. I’m trying to do this as my husband is away from work, I’ve just come back from an extended and unexpected international trip and with us both heading to Canada on Saturday for a visa run…. oh, all while still being expected by my employer to keep up with my normal work load… rant over…

I don’t even want to start to actually admit how much tea I ‘m actually starting to realize I have because of the packing and moving process BUT one of the best benefits of this exercise is I’m start to find things you didn’t think you had anymore, like this tea!

So I’m sitting here, taking a break from inventorying my life with a cup of tea and the Republican debate.. I need some ‘comic’ relief at this point. This tea has aged remarkably well!! No waffle notes anymore but there is some serious almond and maple syrup going on in this cup and that makes me super happy!! A touch of milk makes this feel like a decadent creamy breakfast treat, just at supper time!!

Here’s Hoping TTB R5 #8

El Nino has finally decided to pay California a visit! And this means we’re expecting nothing but rainy days all this week which is a great change from the drought this state has seemed to have been in since the day we arrived here three years ago!!

Rainy days means lots of teas and since I’m still trying to power through the TTB I decided that a milk oolong would be a perfect treat on a grey and wet day…. This isn’t bad. I get a lot more of the vegetal notes that I do any milkiness or creaminess. Its a decent oolong, I just don’t know if it feels like a milk oolong to me.. maybe because its artificially flavored instead of being natural… whats most interesting (to me at least) is they flavor the tea to enhance the milk scented yet to me this tea smells more like cinnamon or a david’s tea I can’t put my finger on than milk… now that I think about it, most the most likely answer is this may have suffered some in box cross contamination

Here’s Hoping TTB R5 #7

I think the storage sandwich baggy has not done this tea any favors and has leached a good deal of the flavor from the tea.. its got a touch of maltiness left in it but none of the sweetness I was expecting… disappointing

Here’s Hoping TTB R5 #6

Ok, stick with me here but this tea I swear tastes like bacon, sweet potato and olives… its super savory which is actually making my taste buds pretty happy! Reading the description online I’m supposed to be getting a very sweet scent (nope) and taste (double nope) with a minty aftertaste (triple nope) and hints of caramel (quadruple nope) and sweet potato (BINGO!!!)… so I’m definitely not experiencing what I’m supposed to.. instead of sweet and minty I’m getting very strong savory notes but its still a tasty drop and one I would consider purchasing if and when my tea cupboard is finally under control…

Here’s Hoping TTB R5 #5

I just realized I haven’t spent a weekend at home for 6 weeks and January isn’t looking much better and I have this poor neglected TTB sitting on my kitchen counter that I need to start powering though in order to get it back out on the road and travelling again and so I’ve decided that I’m only drinking tea from the box for the next 5 days so I can deliver it safe and sound to the post office for its next journey early next week.

I’m (re)starting with the straight blacks, my third favorite tea type, and this morning a nice malty assam sounded pretty much perfect since its below freezing here at the moment which is very unusual for my part of the world….

This is a delicious breakfast tea, it would be perfect with toast or a slice of hot banana bread smothered in melted butter… oops, now I’m making myself hungry…. Strong, robust and super malty, this was a delightful breakfast treat and it worked perfectly with a splash of milk!

I’m in the process of sipping this tea down this week as its just over 12 months old now…Its still got plenty of flavor left in in and still very much reminds me of a Christmas pudding!! Still plenty of cinnamon, nutmeg, raisin, candied orange, cherry, almond. apple and vanilla notes…. Yum! Like Christmas in a cup!!

Quite the tasty little treat!

I drank through this a lot quicker than I realized I did but have A LOT more tea to drink through before I can justify a repurchase…. sigh

Here’s Hoping TTB R5 #4

I think this might be another tea thats a little older as it doesn’t have too much taste to it once brewed up… It’s still got a little bit of maltiness to it and I’m getting almost a whisper of sweet honey on every third or fourth sip but honestly I can taste the milk I placed in this more than I can the actual tea…. and that says something since I overleafed during brewing because there was a cup and a quarter of tea leaves left in the packet and no one wants a quarter a cup of tea (at least I don’t!!). TTB sipdown but not something anyone should be too upset about missing out on.

Here’s Hoping TTB R5 #3

This is seriously delicious… It’s got some amazing sweet, bread, vanilla and cream notes to it and stands up very well to multiple steeping… And a splash of full fat milk makes this a decadent treat!! I don’t know if it necessarily reminds me of French toast but I don’t care it’s very tasty!! The moment this brew touched my lips I immediately jumped online to purchase some for myself but alas, it’s currently not in stock. Promise me Liquid Proust that you have a plan to whip more of this up sometime soon?? I must have more of this in my life!! Only one cup is torture!!

Here’s Hoping TTB R5 #2

I’m guessing this tea may be something one of the box participants purchased quite a while ago as it doesn’t really seem to have any real flavor to it at all… although the dry leaf has a slight malty, smoky scent, I’m not getting anything at all out of the brewed tea… disappointing as the website states its a rich full-bodied tea… maybe a while ago but not anymore…boo… back to the box this one goes.