Krampus Brew

WHY OH WHY did I wait so long to try this tea? OHMYGOSH it is so wonderful. THis makes me sad that I am no longer a Handmade Tea subscriber. I had so much tea coming out my ears that it did not make sense for me to keep subscribing. BUT this blend! IT Epitomizes winter! I can almost taste the pine trees.

Caleb hit it out of the park again. This tea is a true delight.

I am still in love with this. Not much more to say about it except I wish it was available FOREVER and I am almost out. But, I do have what I think is a funny story for my fellow steepsters about me, my tea thermos, and OMG GERMS.

We can’t have any food or drinks inside the department of the library where I work. The materials we have are too old/valuable and it’s one of those things where no one ever thinks they will spill but then they do, and holy crap that 400 year old copy of Dante’s Inferno is ruined. So right outside our double doors we have a little table where people can set their drinks or snacks. Last Friday I was working on foldering old newspaper clippings when I spotted a man lurking just outside the door. I looked up from my work and realized that he was touching my tea thermos. And not just touching it, but unscrewing the lid, looking inside, etc.
I should note at this point that I can be a real neat freak, and I am most definitely not okay with random strangers touching things that go near my mouth. So basically I was screaming on the inside at this point, but I managed to compose myself, got up and opened the door. I asked him, “Can I help you?”
He looked at me, then back to our various thermoses and drinks on the little table and said “Is all this trash?”
I said something like “No, it’s not trash, these belong to the people who work here. That is my thermos.”
Now I THOUGHT at that point he would buy a clue and put it down. But nooo. Instead he says “Oh”, and continues playing with the lid and looking inside. “Is this a tea thermos or something?”
I said “Yes. It’s MINE,” in my most notsubtle-ohmygosh-stoptouchingmystuff voice.
At that point he finally put the lid back on, set it back down and said “Oh okay. Have a good night.”
Steepsters. I had to soak that thermos in so much hot water you would not even believe it. DEFILED.

Now I am having a second steep with demerara sugar. Usually I skip the sugar entirely, but this is really good. A little cream would probably rocket this to the moon (all I have is mom’s fat-free half-and-half, which I don’t really consider to be a food product).

thank you VariaTEA! this was a really interesting tea to try. Sweet, fruity with a hint of spice/clove. I wouldn’t drink this every day but it’s really neat.

Sipdown (216)!

Thank you VariaTEA for kindly sharing a sample of this one! It’s not my first tea from Handmade tea, but definitely one of few I’ve tried. Something like three or so in total? I’ve always been really fascinated by this company/their subscription service and they don’t seem to get a lot of love/attention here on Steepster so I’m happy I could share them with you and scratch that curiosity itch myself too. I also really enjoy that their December tea was obviously Christmas inspired but not in a played out/over done way.

Anyway, I loved this. I wasn’t sure if I would to be honest but the clove notes in it were so sweet and rich and holy shit do I love cloves. Like, Chai tea? Nope. But if I could drink a pot of just steeped up cloves every day I totally would. The clove also really complimented the soft, subtle smoke and nuttyness of the Gunpowder base. Plus, gunpowder is normally relatively vegetal/artichoke like and I thought the combo of clove and that note was also really pleasant. The cinnamon? Pretty light compared to the clove but still present.

All of this would have made for a tasty tea on its own, but the addition of cherry here really pulled it all together for me and added the perfect addition layer of flavour to really make this feel full of life. The sweetness in the top of the sip from the cherry was actually surprising; I didn’t think it’d be as noticeable as it was. Really though, it was just sweet and fruity and very fresh. Also a good contrasting flavour compared to an otherwise relatively spicy/savory combo.

And eating the cherries from the steeped leaf? I highly recommend it.

Made this as an eggnog latte and it helped to bring out the cherry flavor slightly that was missing from the plain brew. I think it is because it toned down the base tea leaving just a touch of smokiness. Thank you for signing me up to this fun subscription, Roswell Strange!!