Thanks to Janet at sTEAp Shoppe for this tea sample!
This review is part of #2 Virtual Tea Tasting. What a great idea!
I’ve been chatting a bit with Janet, getting to know her better and she’s a really nice person! We Steepsters are blessed with tea vendors who don’t just care about making a living with tea, they want us to really have a great experience with their companies too!
The Storm-Sandy
I sat down today flipping between the Weather Channel and CNN, watching the development of Hurricane Sandy. Like a grandma Hen, I’m worried about all my Steepster friends in the South and East who are going to be in the path of this monster system. If I could manage it, I’d scoop everyone of you up and bring you to my house for the duration, feed you and serve you tea.
I have not forgotten the kind words when the hills were ablaze during the High Park Fires here in Colorado this Summer, the comfort when I was hunkered down with a cloud of smoke like fog outside.
Now, it’s my turn and I will keep you in my prayers also!
The Tea!
The dry tea smelled roasty, reminding me of coffee and chicory with a little sweet caramel.
The wet leaves had the aroma of a cocoa-raisin energy bar.
The base flavor tasted ‘green’. Maybe it was the fenugreek but I’m not convinced. The tea wasn’t malty or strong like I had expected.
Plain (no cream or sweetening) there was a light cocoa flavor and caramel scent more than taste. A bit disappointing.
I was certain that what the tea called for was sweetening and milk to bring out the true flavors. I added sweetening first, which brought out the caramel right away, then milk which brought out the cocoa taste just a little.
(I wouldn’t recommend drinking this without sweetening it at the least.)
There was an aftertaste of raisin…not sure why.
The only thing that I would love to taste more of is ‘chocolate’.
A little more of the nibs would be fantastic or a maltier tea.
(I didn’t feel that the base tea was contributing enough depth to the blend.)
Knowing the sTEAp Shoppe this will be part of their continuing commitment to bring quality natural ingredients and good taste to tea drinkers like us.
People who liked this
Comments
Last night I was repeatedly checking the weather too. My dad lives on the southwest coast of Kauai and was told he had to evacuate, but it turned out they were fine and he is home now, thank goodness.
I’ve been to Kauai and it’s beautiful! Glad he’s ok. I haven’t heard anymore about the earthquake today but last night I was watching the news. What a crazy bunch of weather stuff!
These teas sound delicious!
The combination of the hurricane and this cold front is terrifying down here. No rain but the wind is like straight out of a blizzard! It’s 50 but feels like 43…definitely drinking a lot of tea once I’m done hiding in my bed.
Thanks for the good thoughts Bonnie :)
My grandma phoned today to make sure we were okay – with any luck we’ll just get some heavy rains, but it never hurts to be prepared – the weather is unpredictable!
aren’t I just so lucky i was in Foco for the fires, and now after hardly a month of living in NY I get to experience my first hurricane! excluding some of the folks here all is still calm. bonnie i would love nothing more than to cozy down at your place for tea, sounds heavenly. if the electricity is still up in my area in the morning I’ll surely be making myself a hot cup of chocolate tea as i watch the storm from my window. thank you for the tempting review and the warm wishes.
Oh my goodness, Hi HabikiTea, I was just talking on goggle+ to Eric at Happy Lucky’s and I can’t believe you left here after the fires and moved into a Hurricane! How’d you do that?! I think Chai is good for hurricanes and strong black tea! Take care of yourself. I’ll tell the guys about you! Keep us updated OK?!
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, Bonnie. =) Currently it’s quite windy here already, but we’re told that the brunt of the storm will hit Monday 4p-Tuesday 4a. It will be interesting to see how much the wind and rain pick up in the meantime. Having experienced a few hurricanes while I lived in Orlando, I’m having a tough time buying into Sandy. Mostly I’m surprised that such a hullabaloo is being made over a category 1 ‘cane. Then again, we’re not used to storms of this calibre in the northeast, so I suppose some concern is warranted. They’re telling us to expect widespread, extended power outages. Eep! Hopefully their estimates have overshot the mark and we’ll get power back soon if/when it goes out. It was out for 8-11 days when I was in Orlando, and boy, that was not fun. (Okay, it was fun for the first 16 or so hours, while I made a fort out of cushions like I did when I was a kid, and read books by candlelight, but after that it stopped being fun.)
All the best Nik and everyone in the East! It seems like the surge of tide waters inland and the fact that the trees still have leaves which will bring them down on power lines is one factor that you wouldn’t find in Florida. I’ve been in winds that strong with trees coming down in the West but California doesn’t have hurricanes and now I live at 5000ft.
A redwood tree came down and just missed my daughters house and crushed the car, a camper and all the kids bikes before we moved to Colorado. Scary! Stay indoors!
hmmm chai… thats a good idea. I’m pretty much stuck indoors all day and i still have about 2 oz of happy lucky’s india assam. I’ll keep you guys posted. its still pretty calm here.
If you have a thermos, Make hot tea later tonight in case the power goes out!
Last night I was repeatedly checking the weather too. My dad lives on the southwest coast of Kauai and was told he had to evacuate, but it turned out they were fine and he is home now, thank goodness.
I’ve been to Kauai and it’s beautiful! Glad he’s ok. I haven’t heard anymore about the earthquake today but last night I was watching the news. What a crazy bunch of weather stuff!
These teas sound delicious!
The combination of the hurricane and this cold front is terrifying down here. No rain but the wind is like straight out of a blizzard! It’s 50 but feels like 43…definitely drinking a lot of tea once I’m done hiding in my bed.
Thanks for the good thoughts Bonnie :)
My grandma phoned today to make sure we were okay – with any luck we’ll just get some heavy rains, but it never hurts to be prepared – the weather is unpredictable!
aren’t I just so lucky i was in Foco for the fires, and now after hardly a month of living in NY I get to experience my first hurricane! excluding some of the folks here all is still calm. bonnie i would love nothing more than to cozy down at your place for tea, sounds heavenly. if the electricity is still up in my area in the morning I’ll surely be making myself a hot cup of chocolate tea as i watch the storm from my window. thank you for the tempting review and the warm wishes.
Oh my goodness, Hi HabikiTea, I was just talking on goggle+ to Eric at Happy Lucky’s and I can’t believe you left here after the fires and moved into a Hurricane! How’d you do that?! I think Chai is good for hurricanes and strong black tea! Take care of yourself. I’ll tell the guys about you! Keep us updated OK?!
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, Bonnie. =) Currently it’s quite windy here already, but we’re told that the brunt of the storm will hit Monday 4p-Tuesday 4a. It will be interesting to see how much the wind and rain pick up in the meantime. Having experienced a few hurricanes while I lived in Orlando, I’m having a tough time buying into Sandy. Mostly I’m surprised that such a hullabaloo is being made over a category 1 ‘cane. Then again, we’re not used to storms of this calibre in the northeast, so I suppose some concern is warranted. They’re telling us to expect widespread, extended power outages. Eep! Hopefully their estimates have overshot the mark and we’ll get power back soon if/when it goes out. It was out for 8-11 days when I was in Orlando, and boy, that was not fun. (Okay, it was fun for the first 16 or so hours, while I made a fort out of cushions like I did when I was a kid, and read books by candlelight, but after that it stopped being fun.)
All the best Nik and everyone in the East! It seems like the surge of tide waters inland and the fact that the trees still have leaves which will bring them down on power lines is one factor that you wouldn’t find in Florida. I’ve been in winds that strong with trees coming down in the West but California doesn’t have hurricanes and now I live at 5000ft.
A redwood tree came down and just missed my daughters house and crushed the car, a camper and all the kids bikes before we moved to Colorado. Scary! Stay indoors!
hmmm chai… thats a good idea. I’m pretty much stuck indoors all day and i still have about 2 oz of happy lucky’s india assam. I’ll keep you guys posted. its still pretty calm here.
If you have a thermos, Make hot tea later tonight in case the power goes out!