Royal Abkhazi

I brought this one with me when I went out today. It’s delicious (as always), but it loses something in the travel mug. I’m really preferring my 12 oz ceramic mug from sbux, even though it doesn’t seal at all. Too bad I haven’t found a ceramic travel mug with no silicone bits I have to touch, and a (mostly) sealing lid!

In other news, I made delicious delicious fries today for dinner. I used avocado oil (takes higher temps than olive oil), and made a dipping sauce with tahini, garlic, lime juice, S&P. So good. Do it. Please. I’m going to try with ghee at some point. :)

http://foodwishes.blogspot.ca/2014/02/duck-fat-steak-fries-theres-new-fat-in.html

I had to skip a few teas in my cupboard chronology that were herbals and/or at home, so that brings us to this sample from OMGsrsly. I looked at my past note and bumped by tea amount to 1.5tsp for 12oz fo water today.

I definitely like this ratio better (who would have thought I would like it stronger?). There’s no bitterness to this so I could possibly even go to my normal ratio (2tsp per 12oz); maybe I’ll try it next time. But in any case this is a pretty tasty cup of tea. I think it’s the (unknown) base tea that makes this tea so unique. It tastes like bergamot and vanilla, but it also has some interesting other elements. I think the bergamot and vanilla are a little more subtle in this cup than the last one… the extra leaf is bringing the base out. It’s not a highly flavored tea. The base has a maltiness, and something else I can’t quite put my finger on. It’s a good blend, and definitely a nice change up from a typical EGC.

Having only gotten into fine loose leaf teas this year, I’ve avoided buying flavored teas while I’ve gotten acquainted, especially since I often share this with my aunt, and she prefers her tea unflavored. This tea was given me as a Christmas gift. It’s basically Earl Grey with vanilla. The Silk Road site says it’s a blend of Ceylon, Indian and China black teas with bergamot and vanilla. Maybe that’s why this tastes like dessert to me. A rich indulgence—I can really taste the vanilla and it really compliments this blend. I imagine this would partner well with milk, but I really don’t want to in any way hide the flavor. A real pleasure.

A black tea with a very subtle vanilla to it (like vanilla bean), and something else. A bit of citrus? But much subtler than the vanilla. It’s a smooth black tea, and not overly flavoured. I’d describe it as elegant.

After cleaning out my tea cupboard I realized one of the reasons for my tea hiatus this last year; I have 80 some specimens and only three of them are green oolong. It’s full of puerh, black tea, and flavoured greens. That’s just not right, but at least there’s now true motivation to drink down all the teas.

This is a nice Earl Grey that would be run-of-the-mill if not for the Vanilla. It’s an “ice cream with waffle cone” level of vanilla indulgence.

Another sample from OMGsrsly!

I followed her directions and used 1tsp for my very large mug, and I hadn’t read any reviews so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I took a sip and noticed a mildly flavored tea on top of a slightly malty black base, but I couldn’t put my finger on the flavor, I found it really really faint.

After reading the description of the tea I can pick out a VERY weak bergamot undertone.
If this is supposed to taste like a cream of earl grey tea with the vanilla, I’m not getting it at all.

Maybe an extra tsp would have given me the flavor I was after. I did enjoy the malty base as a unique background to an EG.

I will try again later with a resteep of more tea and less water!

Thanks for the sample, OMGsrsly!