Culinary Teas

This was the final tea of tea party today. I forgot that it has green in it and we made it like a plain black tea. If you like assertive black tea with a little astringency, that is fine. I do not! The tea smelled lovely, though, and made properly to my tastes would be a really good tea. Next time around I will treat it more like a green and give it a shorter steep. It was drinkable, but not as enjoyable as it could be!

This tea is added to my cupboard courtesy of DOULTON! Hooray for another great tea!

Today’s tea party included freshly baked bread with butter, honey, jam, or apple butter, a cheese platter, and cookies. This was the first tea we tried today.

The dry tea is lovely with the delicate flower petals mixed in. The aroma of the dry leaves is floral/citrus.

The steeped tea really smells like wonderful jasmine. My first jasmine tea was from Southern Season and was not very good. I really can’t drink it! But this is delicious! I am sure this is exactly how jasmine is meant to be! Jasmine is the primary flavoring note I get, followed quickly by a deeper rosy note, warm and sweet. The tea is a tiny bit astringent and gets more so as it cools, so I would drink this quickly or add milk if I would be taking a while to drink it. I didn’t realize there was green tea in this until after it was made. Knowing that, I would change my parameters next time. We used boiling water and the longest recommended steep. I think I wll back off the water temp and steep time a little and see if that takes a bit of the dryness out. We used no sugar. The jasmine was delightfully sweet as it was.

Everyone loved this, and I know I am delighted with it! Thank you, Doulton!

It has been a loooong time since I had this one. I remembered liking it pretty well. It was the first tea of tea party today. Today was a special tea party day because we were celebrating youngest daughter’s birthday! We had butter cake with boiled chocolate frosting and ice cream and cookies.

I used boiling water but only a three minute steep because I couldn’t quite remember how I made this in the past and I thought I remembered it needing a shorter steep time than many of our black teas.

This tea smells like a great berry tea, and the first two cups we had were awesome. The tea was smooth and the berry flavors were fresh and sweet. After we had finished trying all three of our teas today I went back to this one for another cup.

Oh dear! It really got astringent as it cooled! I tried reheating it and that helped a little.

This isn’t a bad tea, but be sure to drink it fast! It takes a nasty turn if it sits too long.

Another tea for which I can Doulton the generous!

The dry leaves of this tea smell so good I would not hesitate to put them in a bowl and proclaim them potpourri. The description says there are three secret black teas, but like one friend of mine who gives away her secrets within minutes of telling you not to tell anyone, they give some of them away in their longer description!

The package said boiling water, but I will be trying this next time with a lower temperature because of the green teas in it. I did follow their instructions this first time, however.

Some of the leaves expanded quite impressively. There is an extra-citrusy aroma with the warm calm note of vanilla playing beneath. It is almost Ike sniffing a cup of candy.

There is a bit of astringency but the flavor is very nice when the tea is taken plain. I also tried it with milk, then milk and sugar, and all were good.

I got a laugh when autocorrect changed Hooghly to Hooch!

Reading my previous notes on this one, I’ve been all over the map adjectivally—coppery, bready…this morning I’m getting “fruity.” Grape and berry hints.

The one consistency in my inconsistent reviews of this one is that they’re all good A great morning tea, best straight up. On the upper end of the Cheapster Steepster penny-pinching scale, but it’s not unreasonably priced at Culinary Teas.

A writing day today (I am writing right now, just not on assigned manuscript! :) so I chose something bright and straightforward. The “coppery” adjective in the Culinary Teas description is accurate, and it is still present after adding a little milk.

And boy, do I need bright and straightforward…writing morning began by electronically completely losing four manuscript pages (last Saturday’s full day of work). Praising the Lord for good old’ fashioned dog-eared hard copies so I can retype!

Top half of the cup was hot, strong, and welcome—this doesn’t have any singular characteristics that separate it from other breakfast teas, but is a good, reliable pantry staple.

Bottom half was ruined; my fault…dumped a whole Land O’ Lakes “Mini Moo” creamer in (which, for a super-pasteurized coffee additive, generally isn’t all that bad) and that’s all I could taste. Oh, well.

Following the example of many of my esteemed colleagues here, when one has a particularly challenging day ahead, one enlists the help of a Queen. Today’s challenge—traipsing up and down a three-story, two block long church campus with a troop of fourth graders. (Let Vacation Bible School begin!)

And thus, something strong and substantial and bracing was needed. I started to type “thick” but that wouldn’t be correct; this is still light enough for me to consider it a summer-appropriate tea.

Like it! Fresh bready aroma, nice and strong. Milk and sugar would be appropriate, but I needed it straight up this (yawn) morning.

Yup, having this one again! I was pulling out all sorts of teas to have this afternoon, but the little voice inside was whispering “Have the Trafalgar! In the Beehouse! Have the whole pot!!!” and, well, I listened. :) Classic and wonderful. Even better at 4 minutes instead of 5.

I’m home today – finally, the permanent glass is getting installed in our door after the firemen broke it (remember that saga?)!

I am glad to be home, because I’ve been craving this tea all week! I am so excited for this afternoon pot. And what a pot! Not only did Doulton gift me with this delicious tea, but she sent along this beautiful Beehouse pot!

http://www.spo.gs/RetroCamera.jsp?img=Ri8g

How did she know I have blue speckles in my countertop!!!??? :)

Anyway, this milk ‘n sugar classic is so good. Smooth. Strong. Tea with a Capital T! It must be blended really well because it tastes uncomplicated – just the epitome of British style tea. And let’s face it, brewing it in a beautiful little pot instead of a fill your own teabag with a saucer on top of the mug like I usually do at home when I am alone (my other pot is a biggie) makes it taste even better :) :) :)

Another very grateful thank you to Doulton for this tea!

(an aside: I am really enjoying Culinary Teas’ thorough descriptions of each tea!)

A perfect, classic cup in the British blend style. Extremely flavorful and full of tea-ness! Rose petals add beauty to the dry leaves, but no discernible flavor. I took this one with milk and sugar for the full English Experience :) I love it! This is another one I would turn to for guests since it’s such a Lipton only a jillion times better profile. I wonder how this would taste iced!?

Doulton, once again, thank you for this tea!!!!

I am completely enamored of this tea. I’m having it with milk and sugar, as the blurb on the Culinary Teas site suggests, and POW. Right through the heart. Love at first sip. It tastes like excellent tea and wine and incense in the best way possible. Faintest spiced wine and really good true tea. I finished my cup alarmingly fast, but the flavor is lingering in my mouth in the most pleasurable way. Mmmmm!

I am amazed that 4 oz of this tea only costs $8! This is one of those rich and unique ones that I was almost afraid to look up, because I thought it would surely be at least $20 for 4oz. I have an ounce of it, but it is sooooooo getting ordered when I’m nearly done! I’ve never perused the Culinary Teas website before and holy moly, they have so many teas that are attracting me – better to not look – I AM on a lockdown! :)

Sandy and I are going herbal again to avoid caffeine! The first sips of this were just okay, but all it took was a bit of turbinado sugar to make it really delicious. Sandy opted for honey and felt that the sweetener really improved it. The orange aroma is soo juicy in this. The vanilla is subtle. This was very enjoyable and would probably make an awesome iced tea. I’m reminded of some of the Teavana blends they offer as store samples, but I bet this is a lot cheaper.

This is a guess, once again. The tea I bought at the Calabash Tea Room was labeled Orange Grove Vanilla, and I think this is it.

I have very few tisanes, and am not a big fan of them but was hoping this one would “Wow” me. Tomorrow we pack up and leave for home, so though I wanted a cup of tea I didn’t think I should have caffeine so late. I opted for my new herbal.

When I first started drinking good loose leaf tea I didn’t know how to describe it, how to rate it, how to appreciate it fully. It took time. Maybe it is the same way with herbals. This one isn’t bad but it isn’t doing any more for me than a bag of Celestial Seasonings tea would have done. After my first sip or two, I decided it was a little plain for me so I added a sprinkle of sugar. I think with honey, and iced, I might like this more. I don’t dislike it, but again, it isn’t doing an awful lot for me.

Better now that I backed off quantity and water temp. Very traditional oakey-smokey green, as advertised on the website. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“Surprising body” in the tea description must be a euphemism for “man, this stuff is strong!” Whatever I did, I did wrong because this is putting wrinkles in my tongue! (But I guess it’s doing it’s job if it’s waking me up, pleasantly or otherwise.) Do-overs pending.

From the journal:
Another dessert type tea that did not really impress. Something about it seemed weak….like you needed twice the amount of leaves to brew as you should. Sent it to a better home.

My tea to go for the day…… Not a bad blend if you like strawberry and maple flavor. I have also purchased this at The Whistling Kettle. Short steep recommended. Probably better with sweetener. Milk optional. I liked my sample, but am now undecided on buying more when what I have is gone. Maybe my palate for tea is growing up a little?

sweet. I like it.

To be truthful, I no longer remember what brand this is - hubby bought it several winters back and it got dumped in a generic tin. Proof that old tea never dies, it just fades away. Now it’s just black tea with a hint of a suggestion of a memory that there might have been some butterscotchy flavor to it. But still…not bad!