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My David’s order came!! Woot! I got 50 grams of Santa’s Secret plus their winter collection. I remember loving the cardamom french toast, but I put that aside for a cold winter afternoon. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of such afternoons to come! I decided on this one. I was pretty sure I’d had this one before, like a sample from a previous order, but I don’t see a tasting note for it. So here goes:

It brews up nice and dark. I don’t taste much of anything, so it’s not sour or bitter. It has a nice mild flavor, I guess. It is certainly drinkable, but I wouldn’t bother with a separate order of this. It looks like a lot of people really enjoy this tea, but it doesn’t do anything for me. To each his own. I give it a recommendation because it is pleasant enough and if I had a sense of smell I would probably find flavors to enjoy.

I had this tea again last night as my evening cuppa. I really do like it. This time the licorice flavor was strongly present. It cut through the mint and brought a new dimension to the sip.

Back on December 14, I placed an order at Davids Tea. I ordered 50 grams of Santa’s Secret and a sampler of their Winter Teas. I didn’t expect it in time for Christmas, but I did expect it to be shipped sooner than today. Oh well, It’s not like I don’t have plenty more tea to drink up.

Wanna hear something funny? I mentioned to my brother that I have so much tea I can’t keep track of it all. He said gasp that I should go through it and throw some away!

This was last night’s tea. It is part of the holiday combo I bought. I really like the rooibos cinnamon tea from Good Earth called Sweet N Spicy, and wondered if this might be as good. It wasn’t. It wasn’t a bad tea, just much milder than the Good Earth, and the cinnamon gave my mouth that drying sensation that I dislike. The flavor, as I said, was milder, but a little sweet, which I like. I have another 11 tea bags of this, and I don’t think I’ll have any trouble sipping those down . So, this is getting a recommendation from me

Just got home after supper out. Yes, I went out for supper on Christmas Eve. My sister, her daughter, and our brother were coming to my place for Christmas, but due to the nasty weather, no one is coming. This made me a bit sad, although having my semi-clean apartment to myself will be kind of nice. Anyway, I rarely eat red meat (it’s hard to digest when a portion of your intestines have been removed) but had a steak tonight, along with green beans and garlicky mashed potatoes. I feel stuffed. Uncomfortably stuffed, so I decided to have a cup of this tea.

Ugh. Mistake. Not because it doesn’t taste good but because a plain peppermint tea would have been a better choice for my unhappy tummy. Sheesh.

Note to self: lay off the red meat!

The 6 days storm is done at last! Now we’re settling in for the cold stretch. It is -3F right now and tomorrow we may hit 0, but the rest of the week will be sub-zero highs. You know what that means? Tea! Excellent tea-drinking weather.

I made a pot of this (my go-to pot when it is just me is a 4-cup bubble pot from David’s Tea) using 3 tea bags. This time I got the creamy mint that I got last time, but also notes of anise/fennel/licorice came through. It was very nice. I am going to miss this tea when I finish it off. Not enough to rush out and buy more, but I may look for it next winter.

Wow, this is old. But it’s also a favorite and I wanted to celebrate so I made myself a cup of this. The flavor has suffered with age, but I still love it. I wish I could find a comparable cranberry pear tea. something with the zing of cranberry and the juicy sweetness of pear. Any suggestions?

I went to the oncologist today (in spite of it being day 5 of the winter storm and there were stretches where I couldn’t even see the road!) He told me that yes, there was a lesion, but it had not changed in size for the past year so he was not concerned about it right now. No further treatment needed for my stage 4 colorectal cancer. We will continue with blood work and scans every three months. But he told me to not worry about it; he wasn’t. So I get to enjoy Christmas and am even allowed to have a little wine!

Brought this one out tonight. I have about 40-45 grams of it left. I like it, but it does leave an oily residue on the cup and the teapot. That’s not enough to lose it points, just something to be aware of.

It brews up rather pale and cloudy. I like the creamy minty flavor. The ‘leaf’ (I put that in quotes because it is more than half additives) is very pretty and festive. A lovely holiday tea.

It is still snowing here and my parking lot has not been plowed in over 24 hours so no one is getting out or in. Cars have tried, and now they are stranded in the lot like scattered toys abandoned by a spoiled child. When they do come to plow i9t will be a nightmare. I am a little worried about getting to my oncology appointment tomorrow and may need to call an Uber.

Holy moly, I had a tablespoon of this left. I had it after supper. I was not wowed. I recall this wasn’t one of my faves from A Quarter 2 Tea. It was heavy on the tannins without any sweetness. I didn’t get any ginger from it either. It is quite old, so not too surprising.

It’s been snowing for around 36 hours so far and is expected to continue to snow through Friday. We’ve gotten 7 inches so far and may have another 10. Trying to be positive. So … Good tea drinking weather!

I made a pot of this last night to get me going for my writing session. I really like this tea. Really, it’s nothing spectacular, but I enjoy it. I am going to go out and buy some more right now, since I am almost out.

I usually make just a cup, but last night I made the pot and sipped out of a cup from my grandmother’s wedding china from 1919. The cup is so light and thin you can see through it. Since I’m afraid of breaking it I rarely use it, but last night I just needed a little something extra to perk me up. I got the CT scan results and I am afraid the cancer is not defeated, since a new lesion was noted. Now, that might not mean anything and I have to wait until I see the oncologist on Friday. But you see why I decided I needed a little something to perk me up. The combination of this tea, being one of my faves, and Nonna’s china made me happy.