Maddy Barone Send Message

Still an absolute fave. An old friend (we’ve known each other since 1977!) came to stay last weekend. She doesn’t drink caffeine so I introduced her to this tea. She loved it. We went shopping and she bought 3 boxes! I really enjoy it too, and the weather was cold and rainy last weekend. Fall in North Dakota is not especially pretty without trees to turn color, but I still love it. This weekend will be warmer, but we all know what happens on the border of Minnesota and North Dakota after September. Soon it will be true hot tea drinking weather. I can’t wait!

I have not been on Steepster much for the past few months. I found out in June that my cancer has returned and spread to my liver and kidney. I have been and will continue to be in and out of various treatments, scans and doctor visits. The most recent treatment I had was an Ablation of the tumor on my liver. It appears to have been successful so nothing more until December, when I’ll get another scan and see how the liver is doing and see what the three spots on my kidney are up to. All things considered, I am doing really well. I am very much looking forward to enjoying my tea stash this winter.

It’s hot here today in eastern North Dakota. At 101 (38-39 Celsius) we won’t break the 90 year old record, but it is the hottest day in a couple of years. Well, actually we had a 100 degree day last year too. But triple digit days don’t come around every year. So this weather calls for a cold brew.

This tea may be excellent hot, but I love it iced. What makes it so wonderful as an iced tea is the lightness of it. I am not sure how to explain it. Coke over ice is nice and cold too, but somehow it feels heavy to me, as if laden down by the sugar and chemicals. This tea is mildly sweet on its own, with bright, mild flavor that is amazingly refreshing. My favorite for these dreadfully hot days.

I will mention that I went on my annual trip to the Reader and Author Get Together. It’s been cancelled for the past two years because of Covid. I came back with a ton of great books to read. I also came home with covid. :( Luckily I don’t feel too awful, just very tired. Something like this tea feels good on my sore throat. Love this tea!

I picked up a bottle of this during my road trip to Kentucky. I am not really a huge fan of bottled tea, but I was drawn by the ‘Sicilian Lemon’. I liked it. It was refreshing. A far better choice than the Mountain Dew I was going to have.

The weather has turned officially summer-ish. Highs in the mid 80s. I drove over the church to clean up my little raised bed garden and plant my cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and onions. I was a sweaty dirty mess by the time I finished. I had brought a bottle of water and a thermos of this to drink. I finished the water early and then drank this. The water was lukewarm, but boy, even after sitting in the sun for 3 hours the ice cubes were still floating happily in the tea! Love those insulated cups.

I made a big pitcher of this iced. I really enjoyed it. I kinda got a bit of the orange in spite of my dead nose and a little spice to. I am looking forward to drinking a lo9t more tea iced as the weather warms up. I love hot tea in the fall and winter, but there is something so refreshing in a tall glass of tea over ice. I am never sure how “spice” teas will work iced, but this one was ver ygood.

This was a freebie sample with my Whispering Pines order. I under leafed it a bit and that didnt’ hurt it at all. It is a pretty smooth tea. No jagged edges of bitterness nor sharp edges of astringency. Without a sense of smell, I get no particular flavor profile, but it was very enjoyable. When I make my next order (sometime around Christmas?) I may grab a couple of ounces of this one if it’s available. I think I’ll finish the sample off as a cold brew since it seemed brighter somehow as it cooled.

My new order from Whispering Pines arrived over the weekend. I brewed a pot of this on Saturday afternoon. I was a little disappointed. There was definitely an astringent note. That smoothed out as the tea cooled. I may have over leafed it. I will try it again. I may try it iced too, since it was better for me when it cooled.

This is my evening cup tonight. A small sample from Plum Deluxe. It’s quite nice. Green rooibos tends not to have the heavy woody flavor, which I appreciate. Red Rooibos is good for heavy spice teas, but this is fairly light and dessert-y, and the red rooibos would have ruined it. It is good, but as it cools it ends with a slightly soapy flavor, which may be the rose petals. Not a fan of floral teas. So I will not be ordering any of this. But glad I got to try it.

Sip down!

I’ve had this tea for a few years now (obviously, since Q2T is no longer selling tea) and I remember really enjoying it. I finished the leaf in a three cup pot last night. I found it rather blah. Possibly there wasn’t enough leaf, or it could be that the bits that gave it it’s best flavor were gone, or maybe it just didn’t age well. It was perfectly drinkable, but not something I savored every sip of.