Maddy Barone Send Message

I had this one tonight. Not much flavor to it, or maybe it’s just that I can’t taste it. I liked it better as it cooled. Might be nice iced.

This is one of the BEST TEAS ever!!! Many thank to beelicious for the sample!

My sense of smell is practically non existent in the morning, and pretty weak in the evening, but it’s better in the afternoon. Still not great (I mean, I know cucumbers have a scent, but I can’t smell them even in the afternoon) but I can get strong scents. I wanted to try a new tea this afternoon, and I went through the lovely samples I have in the tea drawer. I decided on this one.

Boy, am I glad I did! When I lifted the cup to sip I smelled something! Not precisely sure what, but maybe chocolate? CarameL? I sipped and this tea was luscious. Smooth, silky, almost sweet. Rich and mellow. A really great cup!

I don’t have a cold right now, but this darn sinus infection (and the other ailments that come along with the super-duper antibiotic I’m on) have me under the weather. My sense of smell is faint and fugitive, but I can get at least a whiff of this one, so I’ve had it the past couple of night before bed. I used to think I’d never want to drink this tea for pleasure, but I was wrong. It’s actually quite nice.

Guess what??? I got a little whiff of smell!! It turns out that a month after surgery, about the time my sense of smell should have kicked in, I got a sinus infection. Since June 1 I’ve been on two different antibiotics, and the doc just prescribed a second round of the last one. This infection, like a lot of sinus infections, is darned stubborn and doesn’t want to die. This antibiotic is very, very powerful. Naturally, I got a yeast infection. :(

But I’ll take it, if it comes with a return of a sense of smell. It’s not all that strong. Yet. Hopefully it will get clearer in time. Last night I could smell and taste DAVID’s Cold 911 just fine. This morning I made a cup of this and couldn’t really smell or taste it. But I have hope! I’ll hoard the last tablespoon of this tea in hopes of being able to tase and smell it soon.

I brewed a quart of this today. A friend and I stopped on our way home at the Premium Outlet mall at Albertville MN. One of the stores we checked out was Harry & David, a little shop full of gourmet cookies, coffees, crackers, salsas, packages of soup mixes, bread mixes, cupcake mixes, etc. They had a small section of teas.

I said I wasn’t buying any more tea until autumn, but I lied. There was a sale, buy one get one free. I picked up this one and one called Watermelon Mint. Both are packaged to brew 1 quart of iced tea.

This one is refreshing. I didn’t add any sweetening or other additives. I can’t taste whether or not it tastes like berries, since that surgery was a failure and I never did get any sense of smell. When I went for my third and final post-op check up, I found out I have a sinus infection, and bronchitis. The ENT said that could be preventing air from getting to my olfactory nerve, and when we get the infection taken care of it MIGHT allow me to smell. I’ve given up though. It’s been two months.

Anyway, back to the tea. Served over ice, it is delicious. As it warms to room temperature it gets a little bitter and leaves a slight bitter coating over my tongue that lingers. Obviously, the way to combat that is to drink it quick, before the ice melts. :)

I don’t drink a lot of hot tea in the summer, but my air conditioner seems to have one setting: cold. Not complaining, here, as I really hate to be hot. I can always put a sweatshirt on if I need to. And drink hot tea.

This still remains one of my faves. Malty, slightly sweet, and yummy. The perfect cup for sipping while knitting, nibbling Moravian sugar cookies, and watching TV. I’m trying out the Walking Dead. Still not sure if I actually like it. The TV program, not the tea. The tea is fine. The TV show is extremely graphic. I can see the need for some of it, but really, they’re just going for shock value on a lot of it. Still, I’m interested to see how these people come together to form a society of survivors.

I just got back from a WONDERFUL long weekend at Lori Foster’s Reader & Author Get Together (RAGT) in Ohio. Had a great time. Coffee was plentiful. Tea was not. If I wanted hot tea there was a small basket of Lipton teabags. I drank coffee.

But the café sold bottles of this tea and I had to say I enjoyed it. It’s a blend of herbals and fruit juice, so not really a tea. There is some hibiscus in the mix (I abhor the tangy zing of hibiscus) but I didn’t notice it in this. It was a refreshing drink for a hot afternoon and I’m glad I tried it.

I made this iced tonight. I had a friend coming over for supper and thought I’d offer something to drink besides water and soda pop. I’ve only had this hot before so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out iced. Normally, I don’t really enjoy spicy teas iced, but I liked it! Refreshing. A nice change from coke and mountain dew. I was really trying hard to kick my soda habit and was doing pretty well until about a month ago. This should help me clib back on the wagon.

It was cool enough this morning to enjoy a cup of tea and I picked this one. I don’t have too much left!! Yikes. This remains one of my favorite black teas. Strong enough for breakfast, but not bitter or overpowering. I think this one will stay in my cupboard all the time.

It has been almost 6 weeks since surgery and I’m still not breathing well or smelling anything . Of course I’m disappointed but I’m not any worse off than I was before surgery. Except for my finances. Surgery was about $9,000, of which I am responsible for $1722. Too bad you don’t get a refund if it doesn’t work. I see the ENT on June 1 for my final post-op appointment. I’m harboring a teensy sliver of hope that I will be able to breathe and smell, but it’s not very likely. I need to remind myself that there are worse things than not being able to smell the cat’s litterbox.

I’ve loved this tea for the past 20 years. Even before I was a tea lover I loved this tea. Naturally sweet, spicy, warm and comforting, this is the perfect evening tea. It steeps very quickly, and I prefer a weaker tea. This one is just about perfect in a minute, and I usually get two or even steeps from one bag. Even that short steep produces a rich, flavorful cup. When I say spicy, I mean, it tastes like liquid cinnamon red hots. Yum!