217 Tasting Notes
There’s a storm a’brewing here tonight.. the winds are swirling the dirt around and whipping the palm trees and the sky is quickly darkening… its actually a really nice change from the blue skies, no-weather-weather we tend to get here every single day! I really miss living in Texas and watching the storms start like clockwork from the balcony each day in summer!!
Storms, tea and books – is there a better combination? Since this was the tea I was most looking forward to trying in the Ette group order it seemed like a good choice to sip and watch the storm with. Thai Sticky rice is one of my absolute favorite Asian deserts and Ette does it amazing justice with the mix of genmaicha, roasted barley, mango pieces and coconut… the only thing missing is that sticky glutinous feeling you get with sticky rice. Looking forward to drinking a whole lot more of this tea!!
One more day til the weekend peoples!!!
Yawn! What an insane couple of days at work (ok.. seriously…complain much??? This feels like its becoming a common theme). This was a nice relief this morning from the crazy, like a 10 minute oasis from insanity, seriously!Big thanks to Maddie Barone for the swap! The tea is soft in flavor and has a pretty mellow maltiness which isn’t overpowering or too in your face! With milk its tasty but really nothing to special…Enjoyed tasting but probably not something I’d end up ordering.
The last two days the hubby and I were backcountry camping in the Sierra in an attempt to escape the heat of Southern California and to start my training for our two week Alaskan backcountry adventure in August!! My reward (apart from the gorgeous scenery) for two days of hiking is laying in bed this morning reading a book and drinking tea! Unfortunately this is a sipdown for me… I brought 50g back with me from Oz a month ago and have managed to quickly drink through it because it’s just so darn tasty!! Not quite a chocolate tea but instead more of a hot cocoa tea, it’s delighted me with its tastiness and is very aptly named – a sinful tasting pleasure with none of the guilt!! I’ll miss you!!
Phew what a week… thank goodness this week is a short one and I have a three day weekend starting… 30 minutes ago!!!!
I came home to the arrival of my Ette Tea Group Order package and was all prepared to open up a bottle of wine and drown my sorrows in a glass or two until I opened up the envelope protecting my teas all the way from Singapore and Nicole … I can’t resist this…On the kettle went!!
Although they all smelt amazing, I decided to start with the Lychee Konnyaku since I’m a big fan of Lychee and I feel like its not something I see a lot of here in the US unless I’m in an asian grocery store… The bag contained some very juicy looking dried cranberries and smelled like light summer fruits with a hint of lychee. Upon brewing and sipping, this tea has such a strong and delicious lychee flavor to it that I’m kicking myself for only getting 10g .. oh this isn’t going to last past the weekend…. I’m already off to brew another cup!!!
Why do weekends go so quick and Mondays go so slow?? Its one of lifes mysteries!!!
Tea always helps me get through a slow and tedious Monday and since I have this insane box of mouthwatering french tea it made complete sense that I dig into another tasty sounding offering… This tea smells pretty darn delicious and is super pretty with the different flower petals floating in the tea leaves… Taste wise it has some serious maraschino cherry flavors going on with a touch of vanilla and chocolate… another win for my sneaky French tea order!!
I started to put together a wish list for the Damman Freres group order when Marzipan made her very generous offer and the further I got through the Damman Freres website the more I realized I needed to bite the bullet and just make an order of my own…. After all, it’s not fair to hijack someone else’s amazing generosity with your insane greediness!!
So my order arrived this week and I quickly rescued it from mail jail and was desperate to tear into it the moment I picked it up… The scent coming out of the box was simply intoxicating! Even the USPS guy commented that it was the best smelling box he’d ever come across!!
Getting it home, I immediately tore into this packet… Scent wise it’s mouthwatering! Lots of semi-sweet caramel notes!! Taste wise words fail me!! It’s darn delicious!! A little salty, a lot caramelly and a hint of creaminess…. It’s reminds me a little of buttered salted popcorn… Oh this tea will not last long in my household!
This tea leaf is super pretty, something I’ve come to expect from Bluebird Tea Co. their teas are always so visually appealing!! Cold brewed the tea is the prettiest pink color but it has a slightly strange taste… a little chemically which Im attributing to the stevia and it really isn’t that sweet which I’m attributing to the cold brew not melting the hundreds and thousands… holding off on rating this tea until I’ve brewed it as recommended…
Happy Sunday! I hope everyone has a relaxing and enjoyable day planned! The mailman finally delivered my new Seasame Street pajamas from Australia and I’m planning on not getting out of them all day since this is my last free weekend until, oh, about September!!
I forgot that I put this in the fridge to cold brew a couple of days ago (tea bags still in place). I found it this morning lurking in the back corner this morning and decided to give it a taste to see if I’d ruined it or if it was still ok… Not bad at all… The green tea definitely overpowers the delicate strawberry and vanilla flavors however they’re still there, just not front and center… This would be a great middle of summer, stupid long heat wave, need a refreshing kinda tea, tea! Which I can look forward to real soon here… But I won’t be in a rush to pick up another bag of this anytime soon.
