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Today I was in a happiness mood because the cramps have finally alleviated! Yay! Thanks so much to everyone for the well wishes. :)

I figured that I could finally have something caffeinated again, so I figured I’d get jiggy with it (LAME). Something nice, basic, black, and tasty for my morning cup. I actually had forgotten how absolutely pretty the leaves are! When I opened the tin, I was pretty surprised by the golden and delicate twists of this Jig.

I steeped it up with a bit more leaf than usual, to make up for the wiryness than won’t fit into my teaspoon. The resulting cup was definitely more powerful and bold, but not bitter. It actually smelled like toasty cocoa, if that makes any sense. Warm and deep and delicious.

Because of the extra leaf, I actually think that I might have tasted a bit of the peppery taste that has been eluding me the entire time I’ve been drinking this. It was extremely faint, but I think I finally might have caught a taste of it!

Wrapping Christmas presents and sipping this was pretty much bliss. And happiness. Add onto that the fact that I’m not curled up in the fetal position, or rocking back and forth in pain, Paranormal Activity-style, this is turning out to be a fairly good morning indeed.

Since I’m still a crampy mess, and I don’t really want to go crazy with the caffeine intake for the next day or so, I’m drinking decaf.

I think I have a tea addiction. And I don’t mean that I’m addicted to caffeine. No, I just crave the taste of tea. Any tea, really. It’s just a sippable beverage. And with all of the snow on the ground (around 10-11 inches here), it’s really nice to have something warm in your belly.

I’m knocking this one down a few numbers, just because I’ve had a lot of stuff that tastes way better than this now. This one tastes like upgraded Lipton. Not the highest grade of its type, but entirely drinkable and tea-tasting. Again, I’m going to have to resort to using the word “default,” because that’s what it is. If I gave it to a tea novice, they’d be like, “Is this Liptons?” Because my mom thinks it tastes like a better-quality version of the infamous bagged tea. And I’m inclined to agree.

So yeah, nothing special, but it kills the tea craving… for now!

Backlogging from this morning. I’ve been feeling completely like garbage. I probably have some of the worst end-of-the-sentence related problems out of anyone I know (although I’m sure people have it far worse). So I was huddled up today, barely able to move after throwing up and being sick and such, so I cuddled up with some easy-to-make chamomile. I’m not even sure what this tasted like, but chamomile is supposed to soothe cramps, and it did.

I was busy making Decaf Ceylon by Adagio for both the mom and the boyfriend (who both lurves it, by the way!) to really concentrate on my own cup. So in went the bag of peppermint… and it just sat there. And sat there.

Today this pretty much tastes like nothing. Which is okay, because I shared the gift of loose leaf with others. YAY.

Oh my god. I think I’m in LOVE.

I’ve been wanting to try chai, but I didn’t know how, and frankly, the process can seem somewhat intimidating. But takgoti and Auggy really broke it down for me, and I ended up using takgoti’s super-long chai special process (which I think is really close to Samovar’s, but what do I know?). Anyway, when I opened the packet of Kashmiri, my nose did a dance and then died from happiness. It’s so rich and spicy-smelling and warm and inviting. I can smell the cloves and cinnamon and cardamom. And it all smells like a heavenly mixture of wonderful.

I used the entire packet for this one, and followed takgoti’s brewing instructions, which I will type out for one serving right here:
1 cup of water, 1 cup of milk/milk equivalent (I used vanilla soy, as I’m lactose intolerant), 1 tbsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of chai (I used the entire GM packet).

Boil water and sugar together in a saucepan until sugar dissolves into water. Into a syrup.
Add the chai, then simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the milk, simmering and stirring.
When it comes to a boil (be careful that it doesn’t boil over!), turn the heat off and let it sit for a long time. Like 7-10 minutes long. I let it sit for around 8-9 or so.
Strain and serve.

OH MY GOD. The mixture smelled AMAZING cooking. Seriously. It was like this fragrant warm beverage. Everything you ever think of when you think the word “chai.” It’s got a light brown color, and it smells delicious. And the taste is nothing short of amazing. I can taste all the spices individually, but they meld together. And amazingly enough, I am tasting a tea flavor as well. I can’t pick out green and black and whatnot, but I don’t think that’s the point of chai. It’s supposed to just be a nice and spicy and warn and delicious milky beverage. And that’s what I have right here. This would probably taste better without the nuttiness of the soy, but it does add an interesting dimension. I would definitely want to try this with my Very Vanilla Silk, which tastes like a vanilla milkshake. Mmmm.

I did get more than 8 oz. of chai… it was more like 12. So I have about a half-cup that’s going into the fridge to chill. And I bet that’ll taste amazing when it comes out.

Seriously, I’m so happy that I bit the bullet and actually made this a more proper and authentic way instead of steeping it normally and then just dumping milk into it. It tastes much deeper and well-rounded as a result. Full of flavor and deliciousness. I’m having a tea-gasm here. Can I tell you how it compares to other chais? Absolutely not. I think this one overall isn’t very aggressive with its spices. It’s more mellow and comforting. The only thing I regret is that I don’t have more of this GM blend to use!

Feeling really lazy this morning, so I did the standard bagged tea. I know, shame on me, but I still have some of it and I need to drink it before it gets more stale-tasting than it already does.

So it was Twinings Lady Grey this morning, and I have to say, it still sort of holds its own against the loose leaf I’ve tasted. It’s still probably the best Earl Grey I’ve had so far (and I’ve really hated quite a few), and it has a somewhat smooth but floral and citrus flavor. I was somewhat on autopilot this morning, drinking without thinking. So is it a complete knock-out? No. But I wouldn’t be disappointed if someone served me a steaming hot cup of this.

Okay, so can I say this was an absolutely DELICIOUS tea experience. Seriously. Auggy, you just brightened my day by twofold just by allowing me to taste the amazingness that is this cup of tea.

First off, the try tea is gorgeous. All sorts of browns and russets, mixed in with the eye-catching orange-red safflower blossoms. Nice slivers of almonds and a smell to die for. Seriously. I’ve actually been saving this tea since Auggy sent it to me, because I had a feeling that I would fall in love with it. And I’m one of those save-the-best-for-last kind of girls.

The leaves did a little dance (but not by much, really, since they’re kinda tiny), and I had a cup of absolutely amazing smelling tea in front of me. Seriously. This smells buttery and bake-y and almond-y and cookie-like. There’s the cinnamon mingling with a tea smell and the entire thing really does smell like an ALMOND COOKIE. Well, that would explain the name, then, right?

First sip gave me a little shiver of happiness. MMMMMM. You get the tang of the tea, followed by the sweetness of the cinnamon, which then mingles into the almonds. And somehow, on the swallow, this produces an amazing likeness to almond cookies. I don’t know if any of you shop at Italian bakeries, but if you do, try the pignoli nut cookies. They’re made with pine nuts (aka pignoli in Italian) and the cookie itself is made with almond paste. They’re soft and chewy and delicious. Sweeter than marzipan and sugary, with the absolutely amazing taste of pine nuts. I grew up eating them. They’re the epitome of an awesome almond cookie, and this tea really just brings all those feelings to the surface.

The flavor dynamics and balance here are absolute perfection. I really couldn’t ask for a better-tasting cup, especially after my very bizarre experience with lapsang souchong this morning. Yay for delicious dessert tea! And yay for Auggy and her wonderful samples!

So, I… er… hrm.

This one difficult. Really difficult. It’s my first experience with lapsang souchong, and… I. Wow, I’m just flabbergasted.

Well, let’s start with the basics, shall we? I was actually really looking forward to lapsang souwhatever because I really liked the smokiness of gunpowder, and figured that this was the black tea equivalent. And let me tell you, from the get go, Golden Moon’s blend smells fantastic! It smells like BACON. I was practically skipping around my kitchen, sniffing the little package and smiling. Bacon! Bacon tea! MMMMM. The smell is like hickory BBQ, savory and sweet and a bit ashy. I was entranced. I kept thinking of foods to pair with it. “I bet this would be AWESOME with eggs!”

So anyway, I steeped this one up, and that’s when I ran into the first sign of trouble. The leaves smell like ashes. Wet ashes from a cigarette. I’m not a fan of cigarettes at all; in fact, I pretty much loathe the smell of them. So now I’m wrinkling my nose and dumping those leaves, stat. The liquid still has a smoky smell, but there’s really a wet ash smell down in the pit of it. And now I’m not so sure anymore about how I feel about this one… The infusion was a really pretty dark copper, by the way.

So I brace myself and take my first sip. And I’m utterly confused and perplexed. It’s just… weird. Very savory, and very deep and dark. Ultra-smokey. Like I just inhaled a bunch of smoke from a campfire and somehow it’s in liquid form and now it’s in my tummy. I think I’m tasting hints of pine, and touches of the black tea base, but I’m just getting really weirded out by the entire experience.

I almost feel like I’m drinking carcinogens in a mug. Seriously. I keep thinking to myself, is this good for me? As it’s cooling down, the upfront ashy taste is mellowing out, but I’m sipping this one slowly. Very, very slowly. I’m actually not really sure if I like this or not. If I’m just so weirded out by the entire sensory experience and can’t process it properly. If it tastes awesome or just plain horrible. I’m actually leaning more towards the horrible side with this.

And I’m actually sort of tremendously disappointing. My entire family is now complaining that my kitchen smells like smoke. Hell, I’m pretty sure I smell like smoke. This is just very, very strange. I can’t get over how WEIRD this is. Okay, I know I’m babbling though, but… it’s weird. WEIRD.

I think I’m done now.

Auggy and I just busted open our packets of GM’s Rose Tea together, and had a little e-tea party! So I bet her review is forthcoming as well, as we’ve been discussing the tea throughout our entire sipping process. Good times!

When I opened the package, the immediate smell of rose hit my nose. This really is rose. I can’t describe it any other way. If you’ve stuck your face in a rose and taken a deep breath, this is that smell in its most concentrated form. And let me tell you, it’s an absolutely gorgeous smell. Fresh and inviting and glowing. Floral, yes, but not overwhelming to the point of throw-uppy-ness. And not fake rose at all, because that’d be disgusting. The tea itself is some black. It looks like a Ceylon, and the smell of it does come across.

The resulting tea-and-flower juice was actually a bit darker than I expected, but still somewhere around the copper color of the Ceylons. In the smell of the liquid, the rose was a bit more muted than the dry, but it was still there. And now it was mingling deliciously with a black tea smell.

Let me tell you, this is another winner by Golden Moon. At my first sip, I could just taste the quality of the flavoring. The rose is very much a present and dominant force, but it’s neither overpowering nor domineering. It tastes rich but light, and definitely floral but not overwhelmingly so. This one has a lovely sweetness that’ll creep up on you after multiple sips in a row, and lingers on the tongue well after the tea is all gone and in your tummy.

The only criticism I could have of this tea is not with the flavor of the rose, but with the black tea itself. It’s fairly weak. I can definitely taste that it’s something of quality, as it doesn’t have bitterness or astringency, but it definitely plays second fiddle to the rose. Not that that’s a bad thing, per se, but it would be nice if the black brought something a little stronger to the flavor profile. I feel like the tea would be better rounded out if that was the case. The black did start to make an appearance as the cup began to cool, but by that point I was already at the bottom and nearly finished.

That being said, this was still really tasty and yummy, and I finished the cup pretty quickly. Could I drink this every day? Absolutely not. I’d get tired of it immediately. I probably couldn’t drink another cup today. But this one is another testament to the wonderfulness that is Golden Moon!

<3 to Auggy for sharing tea-time with me!

I had a feeling that I wanted straight, unadulterated tea this morning. So I rooted through the glorious Golden Moon sampler and came out with this French Breakfast. From what the packaging says, it’s an estate Ceylon, which I found quite interesting. I like Ceylon, but I usually think it’s better suited for blending instead of as a stand-alone.

The dry leaves smell like… black tea. That earthy aroma that just screams “default!” to me. They’re fairly small and wiry, so if you’re expecting a show in your teapot, don’t put this one in. This one brews up to be a very pretty red/copper color, quite typical of the Ceylon varietal but still very yummy looking. I can detect a slight sweetness in the smell, but other than that, it smells like… Ceylon. As do the wet leaves.

I have a fairly difficult time describing Ceylon. The word I usually use is “smooth.” I think if you want to start someone out on black teas and don’t know where to begin, Ceylon would be an excellent choice. It’s familiar, in that it tastes like a WAY higher quality Lipton (and I’m pretty sure their normal teabags are Ceylon dust/fannings). It’s pretty much a baseline tea. As a result, I’m never completely blown away by it – it’s not surprising, but it is comfortingly familiar. Like that old sweater you don’t wear as often, but still keep around just because on cold winter days it feels good to snuggle down with.

I actually found that when I stopped sipping the tea and went off to do something else, the flavor actually subtly expanded to include that elusive honey-like note Golden Moon describes in their tasting notes. It’s a sweetness that doesn’t usually come out particularly strong in black teas, so that was a welcome surprise.

Something like this French Breakfast would be a great daily drinker. While I definitely prefer something with a bit more complexity and oomph to it, this one is smooth and entirely sippable.