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Just wrote this one up for www.itsallabouttheleaf.com, so I won’t repeat, but it’s nicely done. I’m usually a little leery of teas marketed largely on the basis of packaging—in this case a Scripture verse on each tag—but this is tasty and would be a nice and thoughtful gift tea, especially for a newbie or non-teaophile.

The box provides steeping instructions for sun tea, which I have none of (warm sunshine) to try. But for now, it’s fruity, naturally sweet, and a little bit of spring in a cup. Spring is coming, yes?

Morning resteep. No severe reversals or personality shifts in flavor…wood, earth, cocoa, and minerals as stated in the description.

My husband loves all things “cave,” did some reckless amateur spelunking in the Ozarks back when he was younger and could fit through the crawl holes, so I read him the label that mentions the tea is cave-aged. He took one sip and said, “Yep, tastes like stalactites.”

My experience with pu-erh has been limited and mistake-ridden; today’s goof being a 3-cup pot instead of a single so I could mess with re-steeps. And working with cakes or tuochas (did I spell that right?)—I just don’t have the hang of it yet. Ah, well; live and learn.

This comes on to you with the wet barn wood scent and up-front taste that is common to pu-erhs. But now that it’s cool, the barn wood is gone, replaced by a lovely dark caramel flavor. Nice hefty texture, too.

May save the leaves anyway for re-steep experiments in the morning. Special thanks to doulton for the opportunity to broaden my tea horizons!

1 tsp. Belgian Chocolate (Savannah Tea Co.) + a scant 1/2 tsp. Earl Gray Melange (a tin of bits’n’bops courtesy of the lovely jacquelinem) = Eureka! I finally found an Earl Gray solution for my picky palate.

The hint of bergamot (instead of bergamot so strong it makes your tongue curl up) is a nice complement to the chocolate, and since I’m a chocolate plus citrus fan, this works.

Made my morning!

Lots of Constant Comment comments today inspired me to make a tumbler for lunch. Bigelow pares the ingredient list down to a generic “spices,” but I think it’s not too much of a leap of logic to presume that since it’s the same maker, the spice content is highly similar to CC.

At any rate, it’s tasty. Today, I’m missing the orange flavor—previous notes I wrote about this one were more positive on the fruity aspect—but fighting a cold has removed all the subtlety from my taste buds.

This is definitely one for the Cheapster Steepster notable list. $1.99 for — I think 20 — bags.

Haven’t done a side-by-side comparison, but this has a lot of the same flavor personality as my beloved Bigelow’s Eggnogg’n a few cents cheaper. Maybe not quite as sweet. (Of course, in my case, by the time you figure the cost of gas clear across Missouri to get to a Trader Joe’s, the economy just doesn’t make it feasible :)

I’m not sure it’s an absolute and univeral rule, but I’m thinking “longer steep is better” with Keemuns. This one, due to usual morning ADD, steeped for nearly 6 minutes, and even with a bleary sinus-cold fug, I’m picking up all that deep, rich, burgundy, cedary background flavor.

A really good Keemun from a reasonably priced source.

This was one of those contrary days when every time I opened my mouth to speak, frogs and toads came out.

So I decided a little evening sweetness might pare down my fangs and take the crank out of my cranky.

Have mentioned in a previous note that this is the rooibos version of Vanilla Comoro for you H&S fans, and I’m sticking to my story. Enjoying mine with a little half & half and a little peace & quiet. Here’s for a better day tomorrow. And if it isn’t, I’m just taking duct tape for my mouth :)

I asked for un-rusted tea tins for Christmas from the “grannies;” my Mema thoughtfully filled a small one up with a couple of assortment packs of Bigelow bagged greens and herbals. Good for work.

This is just the good solid canned peas cupboard staple of bagged green teas. Vegetal, not real sweet, not real finicky on water temperature.

A writing day today (I am writing right now, just not on assigned manuscript! :) so I chose something bright and straightforward. The “coppery” adjective in the Culinary Teas description is accurate, and it is still present after adding a little milk.

And boy, do I need bright and straightforward…writing morning began by electronically completely losing four manuscript pages (last Saturday’s full day of work). Praising the Lord for good old’ fashioned dog-eared hard copies so I can retype!