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This tea is almost really nice but not quite. I find myself liking the idea of it more than the drinking of it. It seems to have a lot of sugar in it, and there’s a very sweet initial flavour, but the sugar disappears, leaving a sharp after-taste of pineapple or fig. I think it’s only in contrast to the initial sweetness that the fruit is so sharp, but it seems jarring to me. I won’t buy this again.

This is really delicious. It’s very minty, and very sweet. I checked the ingredients list thinking there must be sugar or stevia or something in here, but no. The spices are quite spicey and warming. Sorry, nothing sensible to say. It seems to be putting me to sleep. Delicious.

This was my breakfast tea today. Good and strong malty deliciousness, turning into yummy caramel. A little bitterness as it cooled. I drank it plain, then tried adding cream, which was lovely. A second steep was good too. I don’t think this is a complex tea, but it does malt/caramel/bitter very nicely.

Actually, I think Assam may provide the slurp factor in Andrews and Dunham’s Caravan. I acquired this Assam in an attempt to prevent a broken heart when I run out of A&D. I mixed a little with my cover version of Caravan this evening. Mmm, not bad.

Also, this was my first tin from The Tao of Tea. I didn’t realize their tins were so pretty! They have a little knob on the inner lid. So nice!

I had a Samovar chai day at work today. I kept the same leaves in my infusor and resteeped several times, accidentally infusing for about 1/2 hour for one of the steeps. This worked really well for an easy chai, giving a mild black tea flavour, with a tasty cinnamony spice. I don’t really like the stovetop method for this chai because I don’t like a stewed tea taste. I prefer Up N Atom for a stove top chai because it’s spicy enough to mask the stewed tea. I really like the Samovar chai for standard brewing though.

I’m drinking a pot of this before bed. It’s a really nicely balanced rooibus.

I’m trying to be sensible about caffeine but I added 1/2 tsp of breakfast blend. It’s good! I’m working on the theory that if I can maintain a constant level of caffeination I’ll sleep better. When I was growing up I drank tea all the time, and I slept just fine. Even the dog drank tea. Ha, I’d forgotten that. Maybe I’ve just got out of practice. This is a delicious way to maintain a low level caffeine infusion.