1186 Tasting Notes

87

Good morning steepster! It’s a beautiful Saturday morning, I just made a pile of pancakes and have leftovers for later, it’s partly sunny out, and I’m having a delicious cup of this tea to start off the day right. Today it’s even more crisp green tea with citrus, not as much lavender, and it’s just perfect for the morning. I’m going seed shopping with my mom today for seeds for our first garden, and will also pick up some other gardening goodies hopefully (watering cans, more hoses, etc). Looks to be a fine day on this 3 day weekend, and maybe even going to the lake tomorrow! See previous notes on this tea :)

CelebriTEA

Have a great day!
I love this tea

mrs.stenhouse12

Same to you :) and I love this tea too!

Christina / BooksandTea

Too bad I can’t come over and help you finish off those pancakes. :)

CelebriTEA

Hahaha :-)

mrs.stenhouse12

Lol there’s still a ton of them left for later :D sorry I can’t share lol

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85

Happy long weekend!! After working two extra hours at work the past 2 days (on projects that were not really mine as well, very aggravating), I finally can relax for 3 whole days. Worked on the raspberry cane pruning tonight after a nap, and was going to have a nice hot toddy but had to take an allergy pill after working outside lol so that won’t be happening…instead, I made a nice cup of this caffeine free tea for before bed.

This is a refreshing and relaxing cup, like Mother’s Little Helper by DavidsTea but without the valerian and a bit more floral. Perfect tea to unwind from the stressful week and hopefully help clear up the final vestiges of my cough, which is still kicking around a little bit haha. See previous notes!

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78

This was my morning cup, and still is in my cup so I guess early afternoon cup as well lol. A tasty fresh treat, although at only +12 degrees C in the office, a strong, cozy black tea would have been a better choice, albeit too much caffeine for my cutting back on caffeine lol. The frigid temp in here is also probably why I can’t shake this darn sinus thing, I think my cold progressed into a sinus infection, hoping it clears up without needing antibiotics. Ugh, anyways, back to the tea, it’s tasty and good, but not very warm now haha so I will finish this off and make a cup of something else! See previous notes on this tea :)

Oh, and I still have to find time to make a trip to my local DT to pick up the new summer collections, hoping my nose will fully clear up before I go so I can fully smell them in all their glory haha.

ETA – Haha, I see a previous note on this tea was when the heat was messed up in the office and it was +26. How nice that would be for a bit now. LOL

TheTeaFairy

Keychange, I also ordered your beloved Queen Catherine!!! Your raving reviews made me go for the tin instead of the sample size, it’s first on my list to try tomorrow morning, can’t wait :-)

TheTeaFairy

Oh noooo, this comment wasn’t meant for your post MissLena, oops, sorry, I did that twice this week on someone else’s post also, what’s wrong with me, lol!

keychange

Either way, congratulations on the queen! she is the best!!

mrs.stenhouse12

Haha no worries!! Now I’m even more intrigued to try the queen when i finally place a harneys order :D

TheTeaFairy

Well I could not wait for the morning, so I drank it and reviewed it last night…so good!!! MissLena you can definitely add it to your HS list :-)

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87

Ok ok, I know I said I am cutting back my caffeine intake, and yes, this tea does have mate in it..but I am itching to place a WP order (darn all the golden orchid notes! :D ) and this is from way back in my first order, so I’d like to finish it up and possibly re-order, because I love this tea haha. It’s a breathe of fresh air, piney, woody, fresh. And even though it is caffeinated, it does bring about a comforting sense of peace, and a calm in which I feel motivated to get things done (such as my online course for work that I’ve procrastinated on for a year..lol). A very well done blend, and I’m excited to place another WP order in the near future, it’s been far too long! See previous notes on this tea :)

ETA – my cold has finally diminished into a dry, gross cough, more of a sinus irritation than cold now. And I just started sneezing, so hooray for getting it all out of my system? Almost time for some allergy pills, good old spring hay fever is going to take over now that my cold is finished :(

Courtney

I placed my first order with them last night! So excited!

Whispering Pines Tea Company

I’m sorry to break the news…Zen Master has been discontinued. :/ I discontinued quite a lot of teas the other day, completing “The Great Purge”, which is basically where I removed all teas that weren’t high grade. because this used gunpowder green tea, I removed it. Don’t worry though, it simply opens space for better teas :)

mrs.stenhouse12

@Courtney – you definitely will not be disappointed :D

@Whispering Pines – that’s a bit sad to hear, but no worries, I know you have so many other spectacular teas that I will find more tasty ones in no time! Happy I could try this one out while it was available though :) and if you decide to make a reblend with a higher grade, well, I might just have to try out an ounce :D

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90

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!!

I had a lovely weekend visiting with my parents, I’m almost over my darn cold, and had a good heart to heart with mom today over pizza and wine. Overall a very good weekend :) this is the last tea I’m having this evening I think before I head off to an early bedtime to kick this cold hopefully for good before the work week. I made this while mom was here but my stomach was finnicky (cheese and wine is a bad combo for me lol) so I am just getting to it now. A delicious floral cup, refined and elegant on this warm evening that finally feels like spring! Finally wore shorts outside and got some sun today :D need my vitamin D fix, I’ve been getting cabin fever pretty bad lol. Anyways, a lovely tea, although one I will not be having often, I am working on cutting back on my caffeine intake again for health reasons. See previous notes on this lovely tea!

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70
drank The Immunizer by DAVIDsTEA
1186 tasting notes

This tea!!! I forgot I gave the rest of this to my mom and I’m out visiting this weekend and found it!! Sooo happy. This tea is what I needed earlier this week to get rid of my cold lol. Well at least I can have it now to fight off the final vestiges of the sickness. I am rather annoyed davidstea discontinued this, it really was a go to for colds
Oh well. See previous notes on this tea.

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81
drank Soothing by Epicure
1186 tasting notes

After a sleepless night and slogging through 3 and a half hrs of work with my head feeling triple its size (sinuses are quite inflamed) I am at home taking the rest of the day off to recuperate. My sinuses are finally beginning to clear (I think) so I will continue downing tea until I can breathe normally again lol. This tea seems to help a lot with its ginger and lemon. Hoping I am improved by tomorrow as I tried to go to a walk in clinic today but they are all packed and I don’t want to give anyone there my sickness, or catch something worse. Fingers crossed! I hate feeling like crap. Ugh. See previous notes on this tea (as this note isn’t really a review lol).

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89

UGH! I hate being sick! On top of that, the new office addition I moved into was having more work done on it today with the vents, so dust dust everywhere, and with my terrible cough/cold and the dust I had an allergy pill to keep breathing lol. So now I can’t smell or taste a whole lot because my sinuses are right plugged up and drying as well from the antihistamine. GAH! I made this tea in hopes the caffeine would help clear some stuff out, but all I smell is this vague honey scent and taste a tiny bit of malt. And sadface, this tea is amazing when I am not sick! Well, at least I know it does taste good and it’s just me. See previous notes on this tea! I hope I get unsick soon!

KittyLovesTea

I hope you feel better soon :)

Christina / BooksandTea

Sounds like you need something with mint or eucalyptus. Either that, or it’s a perfect time to finish off teas you can’t stand, since you can’t taste anything. ;-)

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81
drank Soothing by Epicure
1186 tasting notes

Le sigh. I caught a terrible cold from my bf this weekend..luckily his is subsiding, and mine is about 2 days behind, so I should be out of the worst of it by Thursday. Today wasn’t the best day though. Hacking up my lungs at work=not fun. So now I have been guzzling tea and am ready for bed from good ol Tylenol cold/flu. And my cough has slightly subsided from this tea with tons of honey and the tylenol lol. Also had some Sichuan Caravan earlier and it was stellar as usual, but am too tired to write a note on it. Off to bed to fight this terrible cough! See previous notes on this tea, it’s really quite good with honey :)

Courtney

Worst. I do hope you feel better soon. :)

mrs.stenhouse12

Thanks! I’ve gotten sick far too often this winter :( must be the crazy weather, hot one day, snowing the next..my body can’t figure it out! And I stopped taking my vitamins for a week..that seems to have an impact lol :(

Courtney

Eep. The weather does wreck havoc on that sort of thing. J gets everything like that too. Thankfully I seem to have the immune system of a Viking or something haha.

Kaylee

Feel better!

mrs.stenhouse12

I used to have a better immune system haha but I have been pretty run down lately with work and other commitments, so that could have contributed lol, my cough seems to be getting a bit better today at least!

@Kaylee – thanks, hoping it’s gone by the weekend at least!

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drank Matcha by Unknown
1186 tasting notes

Hello Steepster! I have been away from you for a few days, with the business of last week’s moving to the new half of the office plus a 2 day conference for work, and yard work on Saturday. But I have returned, and had a wonderful tea experience yesterday!

I found out that the botanical gardens near my city host Japanese tea ceremonies. This year they are only offering them on 4 days, and yesterday was the first 4, and on top of that, the only day that offered ceremonies in the small tea room (Ro ceremony). Only 5 people are allowed to partake in this ceremony due to room size restraints, so me, my boyfriend, and 3 other people partook in this special event. Matcha tea was prepared in the traditional method with a whisk and a unique bowl for each person, and we ate a sweet (wagashi) before drinking the tea to complement the tea. We were also shown the way to drink matcha in a ceremony, with the turning of the bowl so as to not drink from the front of it, and the etiquette of drinking tea before the person to your left. It was a truly beautiful experience, and the room was absolutely lovely and simple, one scroll on the wall with a simple flower arrangement as the only focal points in the room other than the kettle, a large cast iron one that was sunk in the middle of the floor (in the hearth). This room also had authentic Tatami mats, while the larger one for larger ceremonies had synthetic.

Oh, and the matcha was fantastic! Enough for 3.5 gulps, and it went perfectly with the wagashi! I thought about asking where they sourced their matcha, but was enjoying the ceremony too much to want to bother with questions that might infringe on my sense of tranquillity.

Overall, a beautiful, relaxing experience that I highly recommend if you ever get the chance to experience a tea ceremony. I would love to do one again sometime, and feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to partake in such a lovely event! My boyfriend also enjoyed it immensely. I also learned the 4 principles of Japanese tea ceremonies: harmony, respect, purity and tranquillity. I felt all 4 of these principles and it was wonderful! Afterwards we wandered through the botanical gardens, even though it was snowing, and a lovely feeling of peace settled over me. A great way to spend a Sunday morning!

Nicole

That sounds wonderful.

NofarS

Oh how I I wish I was there with you…

keychange

That sounds lovely!

mrs.stenhouse12

It really was amazing! If you are ever around the Edmonton area, check out the schedule at the Devonian Botanical Gardens, they are having 3 more days with ceremonies this year :) happy I was able to cross that off the bucket list!

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Profile

Bio

Hello all, I am an electrical engineer (read:NERD :D), who is a bit obsessed with tea! I discovered loose tea in 2011, DAVIDsTEA in 2012 and it took off from there. I really started drinking/enjoying tea because it was excellent to take to class in the morning and because I can’t handle coffee! (unless it’s a really good cappuccino or latte, or decent decaf haha)

I enjoy a variety of teas – current favorites being ripe and raw pu’erhs, chinese black teas and herbal/green rooibos blends. I also enjoy white, green, and oolong teas, although I tend to drink them more in the warmer months. I have also tried matcha and guayusa, but I don’t drink them too often as I am a bit sensitive to caffeine. As a result I don’t drink black teas as often as I used to, but in moderation I can still enjoy a wide variety of teas.

Oh, and I have a severe peanut allergy and try to avoid most other nuts, just to be safe. Limits my tea choices a bit, but that’s ok. However I have tried almonds and found out I can eat them, so I have been trying a few teas with them in them.

mrs.stenhouse12’s rating system
(as of 04/19/13)

95+: Absolute favorite, will try to always have it in stock, and when I don’t I pine over it!
90-94: Awesome teas, will probably purchase again a few times
80-89: Very good tea, may restock at some point
70-79: happy to have tried and will gladly finish, but not restock
60-69: not horrible, but not the best, will finish if I have some though
50-59: not a favorite, probably will have a tough time finishing the bag
-50: yuck. I don’t want to have it ever again.

Location

Canada

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