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I have enough for one more cup of this, which makes me happy because I think it’s a delicious kiwi tea! Now the hard part is deciding whether to enjoy it tomorrow and finish it right away or hoard that last bit for the ‘perfect occasion’.

I picked it today to pair with another green blend, in case I didn’t like the new one.

Also, I’m so glad VariaTEA sent me the sample, because I never would have bought it for myself. A) It’s a green blend and B) In store is always just smells like grass to me. Thankfully it brews up to taste nothing like grass!

I’m giving my rating a teeny little nudge closer to 100, and adding it to my shopping list.

Just Organic Tea was very kind and sent me some sugar along with my tea samples – however, I unfortunately do not add sugar or typically any sweeteners to my tea so I tried to be creative in finding a way to use this.

What I settled on, was adding about half the amount sent to me to some canned halved pears. Usually sugar added to pears or other canned fruits kinda dissolves into a sort of “glaze”, and this sugar didn’t really dissolve too well – but it did taste delicious, and I have confidence it would be a good sweetener for those who choose to add sugar into their tea.

I’m going to leave it unrated though, because that’s not really what I used it for at all.

Oh, ohhhh! God bless you Keychange for giving me so much of this because it’s beautiful and perfect and just so smooth and amazing and tasty and just great.

The cranberry is so strong and fruity and rich, but not tart – smooth and creamy because of the vanilla and almond. Mmmm! So far, this is the one Harney tea that I feel like I just wouldn’t be able to do without. I think it could be a daily black tea if I didn’t have so many options. Right along with my Monk’s blend, Cranberry Pear and maybe even Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black.

Fantastic black blends.

Packed up some of this for Courtney, and now I’m having some myself. Regrettably, I oversteeped a little bit because I was struggling to get into my email. Every time I try to log in I get redirected to an error page for an entirely different section of Yahoo. Very frustrating considering there are a few places I’d like to apply today.

This is still really good though despite the oversteep. Like burnt caramel and marshmallow goo! I like this so much better than I liked S’mores. So thank you very much VariaTEA – this uses up the last of your sample. And thank you very much Keychange for the rest of yours, because now I can enjoy many more cups!

Slowly working towards a sipdown. I think I only have one, maybe two cups worth of this one, and I wont be sad when it’s gone because this is yet another cup with no licorice/anise and I’m just finding that increasingly disappointing.

This cup is also a touch bitter and the cinnamon is really strong/unpleasant. Bumping my rating down a touch. Bleck.

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample. Yet another DT Mate to check off the list of ones to try, which is always a good thing.

Dry this smells very tart and fruity – not sure if I’d call it “berry” per say, but definitely fruity. Steeped it smells familiar, but not totally sure where from. I have to say, I’m a little disappointed though because I was bracing myself for horrifying mouth puckering tart and instead I taste… Like, a semi tart but also kid of muted hibiscus/berry jumble? Maybe it’s the earthy mate kind of holding this back? But it doesn’t taste anything really like what I was expecting. Also, the aftertaste strongly reminds me of beets. Ew.

Maybe it’s an unfair comparison, but I think McQuarrie’s Rum Cream would be much more fitting of the title “Queen of Tarts”. This is just… No thanks.

I guess I’ll try cold brewing it, but right now I’m a little less than impressed and I’m struggling a lot to get over the beets thing because it’s just so unappealing. I do not want to be drinking a hibiscus/berry/beet juice cocktail.

Also – it took me forever to right this note because I’m incredibly distracted by Season 9 of Bones (just finished the wedding episode), and Teens/Elders/YouTubers React episodes. That is distracting shit right there.

And… THE MAIL IS HERE! My/Tre’s Classic Who books from Carol Who arrived today (I’m especially loving all the tea/Doctor who quotes on the page you printed out), and the tea from Keychange showed up today too. Definitely going to have to make some Boston later today! I’m also happy to report that I’m still under 200 for the time being.

EDIT: More than half of this got dumped.

I cold brewed this for a total of 12 hours. Something told me it’d be an interesting cold brew. Sadly, it used up a good portion of the leaf. This is disappearing quickly, and I’m not sure yet whether I’ve really wrapped my head around it.

But anyway, it is yummy as a cold brew even if there’s no presence of chocolate at all whatsoever (that disappoints me). It’s hard to describe though – because it’s pear – completely, and totally pear – but not really creamy pear, not chemical or artificial pear, not exactly candy pear, or soft gentle floral pear…

It’s like that grainy, I want to say ‘stony’ pear texture from when you eat the actual fruit. That texture comes across magnificently in the taste. Except I don’t understand why or how. I guess I just need more time to wrap my head around this one.

Scary close to a sipdown on this one. There’s enough left for one cup – so I’m really going to have to postpone/draw that out, despite the easy sipdown being tempting.

It was about 2 AM when I decided that I just had to drink this and I don’t got a second regret it because it was a warm, smooth comforting cup of caramel, vanilla, and yummy puffed wheat. I’m not sure if this has ruined Genmaicha for me nearly as much as it has for VariaTEA but it certainly has done a number on me.

Now, what I do regret a little is deciding to make peanut butter cookies at the same time as I made this tea. 2 AM baking is not necessarily the best or brightest idea.

…And so concludes yesterday’s backlog.

Nothing fancy; just a nice hot mug full of it with milk. I wanted something reliable to pair alongside the Rum Cream, just in case it wasn’t drinkable.

The oiliness of this blend is becoming increasingly bothersome, though.

Sipdown (197/201)!

Again, only sort of a sipdown technically – because there’s still a little left, but I’m going to be sending it to VariaTEA because she appreciates it a lot more than I do. I wanted to get one last cup worth in though, just in case my opinion has changed.

I did severely under leaf this cup because I’ve found it to be way too strong/sour in the past – so I used less than 1 tsp. for my 8 oz. mug of it. This did affect the flavour, and I found it was more creamy with a lighter touch of strawberry/hibiscus, but I still didn’t enjoy it a whole lot so I’m happy with my decision to send what little is left to someone who will fully appreciate it.