Shae Send Message

Going through some of my older teas for National Virtual Vacation Day. I initially picked Blueberry Scone from 52Teas. Seeing that it was a green tea, however, I decided instead to “travel” to Indonesia rather than England/Scotland since what I really wanted (as usual) was a black tea. I don’t know much about Indonesia aside from all the beautiful Bali photos I see on Instagram. I won’t be visiting any time soon, so I suppose I’ll do a little armchair travel in the meantime.

Side note – If this is an old favorite, I read that Adagio’s Ceylon Sonata is similar. I haven’t tried it, but it might be worth checking out if this is a Teavana blend you miss. I like DT’s Nepal Black much better but I do find them somewhat similar.

This one surprised me with how good it is! Sometimes herbal tisanes can be bitter or dusty or just not very flavorful. I enjoyed this one a lot. It’s been a minute since I drank this, but I think I remember tasting sweet orange and cinnamon in the mix.

Tornadoes are moving through the state tonight, so we’re staying up a little later than usual and decided to have some tea while we wait it out. During a break in the weather, my sweet husband hurried into the kitchen to make us both a cup of tea. Not sure what he’s having, but I requested my beloved Vanilla Comoro. I probably could have used the caffeine, but I do still want to sleep later on. He added honey and extra cream, and it’s just what I needed – something warm and comforting to calm the nerves.

I always seem to gravitate toward this one when I have tummy troubles, not when my throat needs rescuing. I don’t like the taste AT ALL but it seems to help so I guess I’ll keep drinking it when I need to.

Now on to my oldest oolong! I’ve been sipping on this throughout the afternoon, and I find that I like it better as it has cooled. The aroma tells me it’s an oolong, but the taste is fruity. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced that before. I’ll admit it was a touch bitter at first, but I added a bit of honey and it tamed the bitterness and drew out the fruit flavor. I’m trying to decipher which fruit it is that I’m tasting. I have such a hard time with that unless it’s something pronounced like peach or blueberry. I think this would be such a nice iced tea. It’s just got a little something extra that would make an otherwise plain iced tea shine.

It’s been a while since I’ve had this one, but I’ve got to say . . . WOW. Glancing briefly at past notes – I was put off by the pungent smell, I thought it was very pretty (still do), and I rated the flavor as good but not great. This is the oldest black tea in my cabinet, dating back to my very first tea subscription box. Verdant was partnering with an essential oil company at the time (which sadly no longer exists according to their defunct website) and included in this blend an oil derived from the cistus plant. I do remember always having to look this one up because I can never remember what cistus is (forever thinking it’s a type of citrus) – it’s part of the rock rose family.

Funnily enough, I was just reading about rock rose in an article about native plants of North Lebanon. My great-grandparents came to the US from Lebanon in the early 1900s, and I’ve been trying to learn more about the region where they lived. Since starting my herbalism courses, I’ve been especially interested in learning about the plants in that area. I’m really intrigued by ancestral herbalism at the moment. So, what a fun coincidence that I would stumble across this tea years later and find that maybe I have some ancestral connection to this plant that grows throughout the Mediterranean. I guess I’m feeling nostalgic as I’m studying and learning this morning, though it’s nostalgia for a place I’ve never been.

Back to that WOW. The flavor definitely wowed me at that first sip. It was quite a surprise. I’m guessing the difference lies in my steeping method. The first notes I wrote about this tea followed the directions given by Verdant, but today I made it as I would any other black tea. I’m sure it’s a matter of preference, but I’m glad I tried this again and followed my gut instead of following the package. It’s been a really great experience.

Still working through some of our open teas that I haven’t tried yet – only ten or so herbals to go. After this, I think I’ll try to start sipping down most of my older stuff. Maybe get my cupboard to a more reasonable amount, date-wise. Say three years max? It’s a goal to work on at least.

This blend is an herbal that’s been on my list for a while. We picked it up on a weekend trip to Georgia last year. I can taste the lavender, but I also taste chamomile which is weird because I don’t think it’s on the ingredient list. Maybe I just associate all herbals with chamomile now, I don’t know. It’s not something I would crave, but it might make a good tea for nighttime. My husband will probably love it.

In honor of today’s sipdown theme – St. Patrick’s Day. This was a letdown, honestly. I haven’t found too many Stash teas I really love. This one just didn’t have much flavor at all. For something that has “Super” in the title, I was expecting it to knock me over.