Elyse's Blend

This afternoon was a Queen Catherine kind of afternoon, but I’m out of the Queen! So, what to do but invite the Queen’s friend, Elyse, over for tea to help me regain my strength, sanity, and good mood. Seriously, this tea is putting me in my place while also being understanding and soothing. I think I will need quite a bit of tea tonight, though, to really feel like myself again.

Another add on to my Millerton Shop order…..I was intrigued by the honey flavoring in Tower of London (yes, I got a half pound of it!), so I thought I had better try this one.

The smell of honey is wonderful in the dry tea…..but I am sure I was not quite prepared for the light bite of the Assam in the tea base. It is a good tea, but I am thinking it needs to be a morning tea for me, or maybe iced. The Assam is not overpowering, but I can definitely taste it. It did mellow significantly with the second brewing, and I rather enjoyed that cup. I am currently thinking this is not a repurchase for me, as I tend to lean more toward smoother teas, and there are so many options. I will play around a little with steep times and see if that makes a difference.

Not my favorite; the honey flavor is awfully strong and can turn on you, but I’ve learned the work-around for this one. Light touch on time, temp, and measurement.

When I read what was in this blend, I thought it might be perfect for cold brew, especially since the assam in it is sometimes a little too assertive for me. This is soooo good. Just went to Sam’s Club and when I got back to my car the external temp reading said 106! I know it was elevated from being in a parking lot in full sun, but still…iced was the way to go today!

The great part – I actually failed to get this tea out of the fridge until the leaves had been sitting there for three days! (This is a resteep mostly with a few fresh leaves added a la JacquelineM’s recommendation!) And it isn’t bitter at all. The honey flavor has taken on a decidedly floral tone to me, but not in a bad or cloying way – just in a fresh, summery way!

Sipdown no. 21 for the year 2014. I see I am averaging about a sipdown a day. I have another scheduled for the afternoon between conference calls so I’ll be at 22 on January 22nd. Heh. This sipdown thing is a little dangerous. I can already hear the little voice in my head saying: “hey, you know when you get to, say, 500 sipdowns for the year, maybe you should reward yourself and BUY TEA from someplace you’ve never tried, and maybe that’s also worth buying out your shopping list at Harney & Sons… no wait, maybe you need to get to 750 for that…” Ugh. I mean it’s not like 500 is on the horizon, so I’m playing a game with myself there, setting the number that high. On the other hand, at this rate I’ll soon be doubling up my average…

In any case, I decided to drink this one because there’s a big jar of honey sitting on the kitchen counter at the moment from the neighbors’ bee hive and it was a free association sort of thing. (There’s a lot of “urban farming” going on on my block, though I suppose it’s really more “suburban farming”-several people raising chickens, bees, etc.)

In looking at the notes on this I am wondering why I didn’t get a sample of Tower of London? It sounds like something I’d do, but I don’t see it among my list of notes or among my stash. I’m putting it on the shopping list.

I feel oddly comforted when my notes from my original tasting capture what I’m thinking on a subsequent tasting much much later. There is enough uncertainty in the world without wondering what’s going on with your senses. Basically, I have the same reaction as before: “gentle, smooth, honeyed. It’s medium to light bodied, and somewhat brisk, a really nice perker upper after a weekend nap. I wish I could unravel the flavors to say what the Kenyan tastes like, but I can’t. The black tea blend is pretty seamless.”

I’d add it to the shopping list but I see it’s already on there.

I have had this one in my cupboard for a while and I forgot what the blend was. On first smell I was having a hard time placing the scent. It was kind of fruity and kind of floral, naturally sweet. I just couldn’t place it. So I looked up the description and then everything made sense. It was honey. But not store bought honey, wild honey.

The tea tastes strong and malty, almost like a breakfast blend. The honey is sweet but it is not overly sweet or overpowering. It is more that the tea is scented with the honey, not that the honey was added to the tea.

This isn’t the first time I tried this… where did my review go?! agh!
Anyhow, have you ever had a tea moment where you think you don’t like a tea because you can’t place the flavour? but then when you figure it out, all of a sudden it’s so much tastier?? well that was my experience with this tea today.
I was drinking it… expecting a chocolate tea for some reason, and didn’t really find it very cocoa-ey. So in my head I was thinking, eeeek, this is a very artificial tasting chocolate! and so I almost tossed the cup. but I insisted on drinking… and then, when I was two thirds of the way through my cup, I realized what it really reminded me of. Honeybees! It’s like a black, assam version of Honeybee from DT! YES! Bee pollen. Have you ever tried it? they sell it at health food stores, it’s supposed to be very good for you. Nature’s supervitamin.
So now that I know what it is, and I see the description, I quite like it. It’s not my fave, but it’s a lovely change from your average black tea.
It does require alot of sweetening though. or perhaps I’m just used to my agave, which I left at work. So I ended up using sugar… (which means twice as much ratio wise).
We have honey but I didn’t want to cover up any of the flavours. Little did I know, it might have enhanced them!
This is a really old sample. I’m trying to get through them, as there are so many that have been tried but not finished…
I think this one came from Jenn but I really can’t be sure. If I’m wrong about that, thank you, whoever you are, kind tea donor! :)

Dunno what to make of this one. The dry leaf and to a lesser extent finished cup aroma is fantastic, heady, sweet honey floral. But the finished cup is sandpapery rough which, looking at the three base teas (Assam, Kenyan, Ceylon) makes sense. And it’s strong/tannic, like it gave me a slight stomach ache tannic. Next time when I finish up the sample packet I’ll make sure to add milk and see what I think then (ETA: I see now other Steepsters suggesting going light with leaf amount, time, and temp…will definitely try that, yay Steepster). If I can salvage the actual drinking part I’d love to get a little more of this sometime because man, if you love perfume-y floral honey the smell is perfect.

Oooh and I see now Steepsters mentioning it coldsteeps like a charm, leaving none of the bitterness but retaining the honey scent. Excited now.

Man, I’m getting into a really weird rhythm with tea. I’ll drink it really consistently for a while, then I’ll just go a week or two where I don’t. It makes me really sad. I think it has largely to do with the fact that we have a Keurig cup coffee maker, so when I’m running late (which I have been a lot because I hate getting up early) I’d rather just press a button and wait thirty seconds. Also, I haven’t been sleeping as much as I should, and I’ve wanted that coffee kick.

I like being a tea drinker, and not being one makes me sad. Nothing like a day off to rectify this situation!

I had this once and hated it because the honey was too artificial and overpowering, so I figured I’d try it again with some adjustments (I want to get through some of the things in my cupboard before my next shopping spree.) I think I adjusted the variables a little TOO much this time around. It’s fairly weak this morning. But more tolerable. Honestly, I don’t think this is a great tea and it only really works if you brew it in moderation.

I was wondering if I would eventually finish off the rest of this sample or just pitch it. That question was answered when I picked up the bag upside down. Worked out perfectly!

Many thanks to SimplyJenW for this tea!

I liked the just-right honey notes in this tea, but I could have shaved a minute off of the steep time. The tea was super dark, and a bit too astringent. I knew I might have been in a little trouble when I added a splash of milk, and it behaved much more like coffee than tea! I was looking for a book about butterflies and got distracted – entirely my fault! That being said, even under ideal conditions, I don’t think this would be a purchase I’d make. As nice as the honey flavor was, I’ve been craving plain milk and sugar teas lately.