Maddy Barone Send Message

Wow! I’ve been putting off trying this because 1) I’ve been sick (the doc confirmed today that it is bronchitis, but I’m getting over it just find on my own. No antibiotics needed, just drinks lots of fluids, take robitussin DM, and use a humidifier. She even suggested tea, particularly herbals. Nice to have a doctor that knows me so well!) and 2) I’ve never had green rooibos and I was afraid I wouldn’t like it.

Not like it? ha! I love it! The first two mouthfuls I wasn’t sure of it. But as it cooled, the sweetness came out. This is going to sound odd, but some artificially sweet or flavored teas have a narrow, sharp feel to them. At least to me. This tea has a mild, broad flavor that just seems right to me. Now I’m worried because I have only 50 grams of this. I will need more for the summer so I can drink it iced!

I had a hankering for a simple tea this morning. The nice thing about this tea is I always like it. I mean, it’s hard for me to screw up. Not quite the quality of Whispering Pines and Tippy’s Tea’s dessert-like teas, but satisfying none the less.

The second of the bergamot tea samples sent to me by Nicole. The dry leaves are joined by little purple buds of what must be lavender and some little off white buds. It brews up to a rich, dark amber. I like this one! The base tea is hearty, with only the faintest hint of bitter. The floral bergamot is only a distant flavor on my tongue. I won’t go out and buy 50 grams of this, but I certainly would drink it again if were a choice at a restaurant. (although, sadly, I’ve never yet had tea of this quality at a restaurant.)

Had this after supper while writing. I still really like this one. Smooth, creamy, and almost sweet. I’m so glad I’ve found Steepster and was directed to so many fine teas! Now I’m going to re-steep and settle in for a little knitting before bed.

I am still sick and getting pretty tired of it. I am better, though. I don’t have stabbing pains in my back when I cough any more at least. The cough lingers though, along with too much mucus and a completely clogged nose. I have to breathe through my mouth, so I decided this was the right tea for tonight. I really want to try that Golden HoneyDew from Lupicia, but why bother? Anyway, this is a great tea for when you’re sick. A friend had some and he said it tasted medicine-y to him, but I don’t mind the taste. When I can taste it just tastes sort of minty to me. And since I like mint, that’s a great taste for me.

Look what came in the mail today! A short while ago I made a comment that bergamot wasn’t my thing, but maybe that was in the past the Earl Grey teas I’d tried were lower quality, the cheap grocery store bags. Many thanks to Nicole for sending me some high quality tea samples with bergamot for me to try. This is my first Steepster swap and I am pretty excited for the opportunity. I set my kettle to boil, reached into the envelope and blindly picked a sample to try.

I used 1 teaspoon of tea to 10 ounces of water, and steeped for only 2.5 minutes. This tea brewed up to a lovely dark amber color. I couldn’t smell it, of course, so I’ve no idea how strong the bergamot smelled. I sipped. Full bodied. Smooth. Not sweet, but perfumey. I think that’s the bergamot. It may be an acquired taste. I will certainly try another cup of this, and this time increase the amount of tea and the length of steeping. And meanwhile I have three other teas to try! Thanks, Nicole!

I brewed a cup of this to drink this evening. I now have a total of 4 herbal/rooibos teas to drink in the evenings, Cold 911 from David’s, ClariTea from Whispering Pines, Golden HoneyDew from Lupicia (not tried yet) and this one. I wish I could smell it. One of my favorite treats as a child was Orange Push-Ups. Kind of like Dreamsicles. Anyway, I brewed according to the directions on the package. It brewed up to an attractive, clear amber leaning-to-red color. I waited for it to cool a bit (hate burning my tongue on too-hot tea or anything else) before drinking it. Nice. Pretty smooth, with maybe a teeny bit of astringency. Perhaps from the citric orange? I found it pleasant. Probably not a re-order, but I’ll be happy to drink it from time to time. I may add just a bit of honey the next time I make it.

This was the second sample that came with my Lupicia order. I found it okay. No real flavor, just like the tea last night. I’m wondering if my sense of taste has deteriorated even more, because the girl scout shortbread cookies tasted only okay too, and I know I love those.

Edited to add: I just drank plain hot water. Yep, tastes the same as the tea. The nasty chest yuck must have stolen what little sense of taste I have. Hopefully I’ll get better soon.

This came as a sample with my Lupicia order. I’m not sure what to say about it. It’s a rooibos, so that’s good for an evening cup. It was neither bitter nor sour. It just didn’t seem to have any flavor at all. Probably not fair of me to say that, since I taste very little, but there wasn’t anything about this tea that makes it stand out. I would drink it again if a friend served it, but I won’t go and buy it.

I decided I absolutely deserved to finally open my new pouch of Minted Monkey. I think of this as an afternoon or evening dessert tea, but heck, who says you can’t have dessert with your mid morning break? I opened a box of my new Girl Scout shortbread cookies to go with it. Mmm… Delicious! Compared to the Oolong I had for breakfast this tea seems quite strong. (and maybe I used a little more leaves this time) But just as smooth as my sample from my last order. So glad I have this one back in the cupboard!