Maddy Barone Send Message

I’ve had a couple cups of this now and I can’t decide what I think of it. To me it is warm water. I can’t taste anything . Of course, someone else probably could taste it perfectly well, but with no sense of smell, I rely on the ‘feel’ . Like, peppermint and ginger and other spices leave a sensation on my tongue. I can taste sweet. I can taste bitter or sour. At least it is not bitter. That really ruins a tea for me. Or things like hibiscus are so tangy that it is unpleasant.

This is not at all unpleasant. I just don’t taste anything. Maybe I’ll double the amount I use next time.

A call went out in my SCA Shire for tea/coffee donations for our event this weekend. For convenience, they wanted bagged tea. I had a box of this tea in tea bags, so I made the donation. I think this is a great breakfast tea. And its hearty warmth was much appreciated this morning since it was in the lower twenties this morning, and we’d had an inch of snow. Those who arrived early to set up needed the warm boost..

I love the name of this tea. I love the idea of this tea. What could be more cozy that snuggling by the fireplace with a cup of tea and a good book? But I didn’t love this tea.

I didn’t get the smoke flavor. Probably not a huge surprise, since I don’t have a sense of smell so don’t taste much. I didn’t get much of anything from this tea. No chocolate or coconut either. It’s by no means undrinkable. Just a bit disappointing after my high expectations. I should get a little sense of smell back in a few weeks. I’ll try this one again then and see what I think.

This one is really growing on me. I am raising my initial rating a few points.I usually don’t care of "colorful’ teas but this bright pink is growing on me too.

My advent calendar from Bird and Blend came yesterday. It will be hard to leave it alone until December 1.

The first blizzard of the year hit today, October 11, 2019 in North Dakota, USA. This is a little early even for us, so I was feeling a bit grumpy. The interstate highways are closed and the state is advising no unnecessary travel, but the mail came. I was excited to see the Bird & Blend tea subscription packet. I opened it up and couldn’t wait to try something new. But I made myself wait until after work. I needed to do some cleaning and shoveling first, too (although why I bothered to shovel when I’m not going anywhere and it will continue snowing for at least 24 hours…) Anyway, by the time I was able to sit down and brew a cup it was after supper so I chose to try out the caffeine free tea first.

It was a perfect choice for this evening, warm and mildly sweet and spicy. I am not a fan of hibiscus, but it isn’t glaring here. Just a little zing that is muted by the fruit. I am glad to have gotten this one today. I won’t rush out to buy 50 grams of it, but I’ll enjoy the 20 grams I have.

Woo-hoo! I’ve been waiting for the right day to have this tea. I woke up today headache-y, sore throat-y and malaise-y. I didnt’ go to church or to my knitting group because 1) I didnt’ feel well and 2) I didn’t want to pass this around. So I slept the morning away and had two cups of this in the afternoon. It was good. Mild, almost sweet and soothing on my throat. Now it is cold and rainy, with thunder. Might have another cup of this.

I was looking for a caffeine free tea for tonight and this one fit the bill. It was the second of the three teas in my Bird & Blend subscription box. It brews up very pale. Either I didn’t add enough or that is just the way it brews. Since it is an herbal with no honeybush or rooibos I think it must just be that color.

When it was hot I didn’t really get much from it. AS it cooled it became sweeter, and almost creamy even without any cream. The spice appears to be fairly mild as I didn’t feel it. As it cooled further it became soapy. I’m not sure if that is just because of my non working nose. Sometimes I get phantom flavors. So to enjoy this one again I will need to wait for it to hit just the right temperature and then drink it quickly before it turns too cold.

This was one of the 20 gram pouches included in my tea subscription. I am not a big fan of pumpkin pie or pumpkin anything, really. I know a lot of other people who live for this time of the year so they can get their pumpkin fix. Not me.

That said, the tea was smooth, and of course I don’t taste a whole lot anyway. We’ll starting the weekly Wednesday night suppers at church next Wednesday, and the woman who coordinates them is a tea lover and always makes two big pots of tea as well as an urn of coffee. I think I’ll bring this one to share.