AJ Send Message

Sipping this, I’m really missing Simple Leaf. There were so many other teas from them I wanted to try. Mountain Malt, Black Frost… I think I repeat myself every time I drink this tea. But they shut down so suddenly; you would think they would need to sell off some of their stock first. Where did all of that tea go, I wonder?

Sipping this very hot and savouring it. I have a calculus test to take in a little under two hours. I can never bring myself to worry over these things, and sipping tea only calms me more. I hope I pass.

Dirty, dry malt, raw cocoa, this is such a wonderfully confusing tea. I’m no chocolate fan, but I can understand what people mean by ‘raw cocoa’. That dusty, astringent, dirt taste, with hints of very bitter chocolate. I’m so glad I still have a few good scoops left. This is not a tea I want to finish off. We’re still getting acquainted.

Drank this a few times, wasn’t sure if I liked it, but I think I do. It smells like a strong assam, but it’s really quite mellow in comparison to most of them. Or at least it is at three minutes steep time (although I steep most assams at two). I think there is some darjeeling hiding in this blend as well. It lives up to “Afternoon Blend”. I should be drinking this one more.

Unrelated, Damn Fine Teas has released Series 5 and 6, and I didn’t even notice. Now there’s no way I can get their Christmas blend in time (ten days to transfer money to paypal, order, at least two weeks to ship to CANADA). Damnit.

I’ve found I LOVE the idea of Christmas tea blends. I want to collect them all. Sadly, no marketplaces around here seem to want to sell the Christmas blends of the standard tea companies. I really want to try Stash’s Christmas Eve and Morning, and White Christmas. But no places sell it! And the site’s shipping to Canada is outrageous.

Had this this morning with a slice of orange in it. I’ve learned not to use concentrated citrus juices as a stand-in for the real thing. It is a bad idea. If you wish to fruit’n up your tea, add an actual slice/wedge of it. You don’t get the unbearable puckering, just a cup of deliciousness.

This tea smells delicious. Like coffee cake.

Slightly cloudy in the cup. I don’t know if I can write a competent review right now. Not really feeling up to it. But there’s a coffee bitterness flavour (not too strong, thankfully), with a touch of chocoloateness and vanilla, maybe. Mmmm. Makes me want tiramisu.

I chose this tea over their Christmas tea, which seemed to be mostly spices and orange (why is orange such a Christmas Tea Blend flavour? Has anyone else noticed this? What’s christmasy about oranges? I find apples far more christmasy). So I picked this up. They got a whole bunch of dessert teas, actually.

Also picked up a tea for a friend in the US, who’s a big friend of Murchie’s. Have to figure out how to ship packages so I can send it to her…

I figure this would be nice with milk and sweetner. Although the flavours are a bit on the faint side. Sweetner might bring them out a bit more.

I think this one is definitely on my ‘to order’ list. It’s warm and toasty and peachy, and this time around, I got a whiff of cinnamon spice in the brewed tea smell.

Twenty-five second first steep. Using this to boost my willpower to work on my geology project. Doing a project on the Grand Banks earthquake of 1929. Fun! Working on the layout for my paper right now.

Did something crazy and tried this one with milk (blasphemy! Earl grey with milk!); I wanted to see what it would do to the rose. Brewed five minutes so as to add the milk; the rose scent is VERY strong.

It sort of ruins the bergamot (to be expected), however the rose definitely makes it through, but it’s smoother. A bit of agave nectar as well, so the sweetness is from that, but there’s definitely a sort of perfumy taste—although perhaps it’s just the smell that’s interfering. There is definitely A taste that isn’t just the tea, but it’s not bitter. This’ probably the only way I could drink this.

Blech, rose.

This is the last of this! No more tea leaves. At least I’ll get a good number of wonderful steeps out of this. It’s probably a good thing, because I’ve held onto this tea far past its prime. I just didn’t want to finish it off because I still really rather like it. And the Jade Teapot’s closed now.

I think I need to put an order in at Life in Teacup. They have a wonderful selection of Tie Guan Yins. Plus, I’ve been eyeing a few of their handsome little teacups… The one with the fish pattern mostly. Although I like the semi-glazed one they’ve just released, but I actually came home with a SET of teacups very similar to that from Value Village. I also want to order a few teas based off of the samples I got. I’d have to look up which ones… I’m forgetful when it comes to names.

I am a collector of things, it’s very bad.

But yes, the tea. A bit different from how I remembered it, but it has been a while, and it’s on the greener side of the scale, so I know it doesn’t last as long. Still, light and delicious to sip, and makes me want to break out a book to read.

After some debate, I bought a Hazelnut Truffle stocking stuffer. …For myself.

http://www.teaforte.com/images/361×285/3670.jpg

It didn’t say on the package how many pyramids were in it, but for six (nearly seven) bucks, I figured it had to be three or four, since it had room for that many.

No. It was two. Two. What a rip. The same favours are only five bucks on the site, but retail shop markup’s to be expected I guess.

However, they smelled delicious. Brewed, it’s still a wonderfully strong, sweet nutty smell. Holy crap. However, after I brought the package home, I realized it included rose petals (ick). I smelt a bit of rose in the dry bag, but I’m not getting any from the brewed tea, so I can hope it all goes well. I really need to read packaging more closely.

This has a wonderfully hazelnutty taste. The nut seems to be the main flavour, although I think I get chocolate as well… I’m not sure. I ate a cookie before I started sipping, which might have thrown me off. It may just be the sweetness of the hazelnut. They need to offer this blend in a canister. I’d buy it. And it’s such a STRONG nut flavour too—most nuts added to tea blends, I find, are usually very present, but still in the background. This one is definitely at the forefront.

So I’ve established hazelnut, and possibly truffle. Luckily no sign of the rose petals.

I like the ‘favour’ style of these packages. The christmas ones are meant to be used as stocking stuffers. If there were enough flavours, I’d pick up a bunch as actual stocking stuffers for my family.

Edit: Second steep. Hazelnut flavour is still goin’ strong. Delicious tea. They really need to sell a big tin of it. I’d get it.

There’s a faint swirl of oil on the surface; probably from the almond pieces, I figure.

I tried a sample of it in-store a few weeks ago, and planned to get it. It’s a wonderful, Christmasy caffeine free drink. Which I need more of for late nights.

It’s deliciously sweet, definitely getting almond and sugar in there—maybe some chocolate bits. I think it actually goes very nicely with the natural woodsyrooibos taste. Mmm.