Maddy Barone Send Message

I am having this one tonight for my evening cuppa. This is a bit of bright tartness to this tea and it is the exact right amount for me. It is tart without being sour. So many fruit infusions include so much hibiscus that I cannot bear to drink it. Without a sense of smell I taste sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. If I didn’t see the color I can’t tell the difference between vanilla and chocolate. Many teas have a wonderful layered flavor that I simply do not taste. So if a tea has hibiscus I taste the hibiscus and very little else. What some people find a pleasant zing makes my face pucker up. Without the other flavors to blend with the hibiscus … Well, I just can’t drink it.

Luckily, with this one I enjoy the mild zing of tartness. I won’t buy more of this, but I will have no trouble finishing the remaining 7 tea bags of this.

I recently ordered the B&B caffeine free advent calendar, and I knew it would be hard to have to wait THREE MONTHS to get into it, so I ordered a 50 gram pouch of this and one of Butter Brew. This one sounded so good but I didn’t notice it had hibiscus. Boy, does it have hibiscus. I could barely choke down the cup. If you enjoy the tart zing of Jolly Ranchers you will probably love this one. I, on the other hand, will be adding sugar. Lots of sugar.

I ordered a tea advent calendar from B&B and this came as a free sample. I see I gave it a rating of 75 before. I enjoyed the little heat at the end of the sip this time and it re-steeped nicely too. Boosting my rating to 79. Might order a pouch of this next time I order.

I had this tea last night. Yesterday was a hot one, but for some reason I felt a bit cool so decided to make a cup of hot tea before bed. I’d picked this one up at a clearance store for cheap. I like ginger and I like lemon so I figured it would be good.

It wasn’t bad. I’m not a fan of chamomile, and that was the prominent flavor here. I didn’t get any citrus, and the ginger was a very mild burn at the end of the sip. Now, remember I do not have a sense of smell, so it is possible I am simply missing flavors others would pick up. Also, since this is from a discount clearance store, who knows how old it is. The flavors may have faded.

There are eleven bags left. I think over the winter I will have no trouble finishing it. I would not buy it again. But 12 bags of tea for $1.99 is not a bad deal so I’m glad I picked it up.

OH my gosh, I had forgotten how good this is iced! I made a big jug of this in the fridge over night and I’ve had 4 glasses of it so far today. It is lightly flavored, almost sweet on its own, and very refreshing.

Normally I make a robust black tea and then mix it with lemonade. But I decided I needed to try something caffeine free iced and dug through my tea drawer. I had forgotten I had a bit of this left. I am supposed to be drinking up what I have over the summer so I can place a few orders in the fall. But insert toddler wailing it’s almost gone!!!!

I will enjoy this two quarts and then later in the summer I will finish it off. I remember not loving it hot, but I love it cold.

I really like Fujian teas in general and Golden Monkey in particular. I cold brewed a big pitcher of this one, and I may have goofed on the amount of leaf. It was just a tad bit bitter. But blending it 3 parts tea to 1 part lemonade makes a refreshing glass of iced tea. The weather has turned quite hot up here in North Dakota recently. Some of you would laugh to think that 80-85F is hot, but it is for me. I sure don’t want winter again but some nice days around 65-70 and cool nights would be nice. I don’t get to order the weather according to my likes, so I guess I’ll just concentrate on drinking cold tea.

I ordered one of those “make it your own” samplers from RofT. I don’t know what it is really called, but you can mix and match 24 tea bags in a plain brown box. I thought it would be a great way to try several teas without having to buy a bunch.

This is one I wanted to try. I like a nice dessert-y tea in the evening, so last night I tried this one. It was good. Not knock-my-socks-off good, but enjoyable. I didn’t really get the coconut or the chocolate, but with my non-existent sense of smell that is not surprising. I have a cold right now (gosh darn it! I am really done being sick!) so warm tea felt good on my throat. Looking forward to going through these teas to find new favorites.

Since the temps are rising and I must stop drinking so much soda, I decided to start drinking up my tea in glorious iced format, so I bought a new iced tea pitcher. I like the pitcher a lot since it has both a plastic insert for infusing water with fruit and herbs and also a nice tea strainer. It arrived yesterday so I washed it and perused my tea drawer to see what I should make first. Decided on this one

I wanted to use up all that I had left of this tea, so I poured all of it in the strainer and let it sit overnight in the fridge. Wow, weird bitter aftertaste. I’ve had this for YEARS, so maybe the age made it hard to drink. I generally do not sweeten tea, but I added a teaspoon of honey to my glass. That did the trick. I’ve had two glasses so far. It is pretty refreshing. I don’t plan to buy more, but this was a good way to finish off the tin.

I was standing in line at TJ Maxx yesterday. Even though it was snowing (or maybe BECAUSE it was snowing) I’d gone to purchase a couple of pieces of spring/summer clothing. As I stood, looking out the wide window at the nasty snow, I felt like throwing a tantrum. Like a two year old who isn’t getting what they want. Full blown tantrum, like throwing myself to the floor, drumming my heels and screaming. We’ve had way too much winter this spring in North Dakota. :(

As I was waiting I saw a few Teavana tubs of bagged teas crammed in with the rest of the cart bait lining the checkout queue. This one appealed because it said good hot or cold. Yesterday it was snowing, so that would mean hot tea. But who knows? Next week could be 80. So iced tea. But last night I tried a cup hot.

Anyway, sorry for whining. Here is what I thought of the tea. It was quite good. It brewed up fairly pale, which is normal for a tisane with no tea or rooibos. The flavor was light but with a nice tart zing. Not like hibiscus-sour zing. I do not like hibby, and made sure to check the ingredients to be sure there wasn’t any. I think the zing would have been the citrus. So I will have no trouble drinking these 12 tea bags.