Maddy Barone Send Message

This was in my last order from A Quarter To Tea. A dessert-y black tea with a real aroma like spiced rum. The maple is definitely present, adding a sweet note. The tea base is Jun Chiyabari black tea. I’m not familiar with that tea. It brews up rather light in color (compared to say, a robust breakfast tea) And the scent is marvelous. For me, the flavor wasn’t as good as the scent. But you know my sense of smell is weak, and that detracts from my sense of taste. Others may find the flavor to be as strong as the scent. I should add that the antibiotic is again adding a slight edge to what I taste, so my rating may well go up next time I drink this.

I thought this was a very nice tea, but I much prefer the Orange Rum Truffle. Still, I’ll have no trouble finishing the ounce I got.

Huzzah! Tea once again tastes good. That metallic/gasoline-y edge is gone from my beverages. I can’t begin to tell you what a relief that is. I’m still on the antibiotic for 5 more days, but hopefully I’m done with the weird flavors. It was horrible to sip something that I know I like and have it taste like that.

So. It’s cool and overcast and dreary in Fargo today, just the right weather for tea sipping. I have several teas from A Quarter to Tea, and it’s hard to choose a favorite, but this one might be it. Tonight when I come home from my knitting group I think I’ll try another one. I haven’t had a bad one yet. I think there is more of this one at their Etsy store. If you like mild, sweet-ish dessert teas, you might want to try this one. It really is yummy.

Ack! I love this tea. It has always been a reliable morning tea. But today it has a horrible taste. Like gasoline. That was not the tea’s fault. My coffee tasted like that too. The soda I made tasted like it. I have a sinus/inner ear infection. I’m on a new antibiotic. That’s the only think I can think of that would make something I love taste so gross. Sigh.

Oh, no. This tea is almost gone. Almost GONE!!! Sad face

As always, this is a wonderful tea for a chilly evening. It was mostly cold today, overcast and gloomy. Still above the average temp, We haven’t been at an average temp in weeks! Like we’ve been 20-25 degrees warmer than average. Our over night lows are warmer than the average daytime highs. I shouldn’t complain about that, right? But I’m starting a Christmas novella and I’m finding it darned hard to think Christmas when they are MOWING THE LAWN.

Anyway, this tea does help me get into the mood.

Oh, dear. groan Cough, cough, blow nose.

I have a sinus infection. I’m pretty sure it’s a sinus infection. This tea isn’t a cure, but it sure is nice.

What a horrible, horrible day at work. The morning was fine, but the afternoon … No. I cried. I used four letters words. Repeatedly and at volume. Good thing I work from home. The cats barely blinked. Really, it wasn’t a big deal. We were “blitzing”, where you try to work as many pieces as you possibly can in 4 hours and then post the number of your completes for all to see. For the first 2.5 hours I completed 17. Yes, 17. Normally you can do 20 an hour. But two co workers went through the queue and cherry picked the easy ones, leaving the icky ones for me and others. I know that for a fact, because the computer system records who looks at a piece. Guess who had the most completes? Yes, those two. When I mentioned it to the team leader she looked surprised and said it didn’t really matter who completed the most. I think she missed my point.

OK, done. Got that off my chest. Bad day = good tea, right? Yep, what is better after a crap day then pampering yourself with tea? I picked up a tin of this at the new local tea shop back in September, and haven’t opened it until now. I remember hearing some of the Steepstercians I follow talk about this tea favorably last winter. I couldn’t find it in town, and I didn’t want to order a tin, so I was glad to see it there. It was a little spendy, but then you get the tin, which is really nice.

So, the tea. Beautiful rich color. I can’t smell it, but I imagine it smells divine. The flavor is good. Again, I don’t taste a whole lot, but this tea is mellow. Mild. A little sweet. Creamy. What I DON’T taste is as important to me as what I do taste. No bitterness. No fake flavoring. No feeling of dryness on my tongue. All in all, this is a delicious dessert tea, perfect for me to comfort myself with after a spectacularly crap day.

Whoo-hoo! I went stash diving this evening, searching for a caffeine-free or low caffeine tea, and found this one. Num num!

The honeybush teas from 52 Teas are the best honeybush teas. I tried a bagged plain honeybush and I did NOT enjoy it. This one tastes delicious, light and citrusy- with a hint of spice from the cardamom, slightly earthy. It really was a lovely tea to end the day with. Letting it cool for ten minutes really makes a difference in the flavor. Hard to wait so long, but worth it!

We’re having a warm spell now. Everybody thinks I’m crazy because I want to go back to the highs in the mid 50s with night time lows in the 30s. But I guess we get the weather that we get and no amount of whinging will change it.

The point of that bit above was to explain why it took me so long to try this tea. My order from Whispering Pines came over a week ago, but it’s been so darned warm that I haven’t had tea. Today was in the upper 60s, but it was rainy and very windy, so tea felt appropriate.

This was so, so smooth and rich. Malty without being heavy or even slightly bitter. Almost sweet all on its own without any sugar or sweetener added. Until now my favorite WP tea was Golden Orchid, with North Winds as a close second. But I may have to re-arrange my favorite standings. Ambrosia is a wonderful tea!

Oh, yummy!

I was in the mood for a peach tea and brewed a pot of the ginger peach tea from my (new!) local tea shop. It was VERY disappointing, all astringent and fake soapy peach flavor. It pained me to pour it down the drain, but I just couldn’t bear it. So I opened this one instead. What a lovely difference!

This one brews up a nice, dark color. The freeze-dried peach bits are large and the star anise was nearly whole. It smells heavenly, even to someone like I, who has an impaired sense of smell. The flavor was rich, smooth, slightly spicy and delicious. I’m so glad I ordered this one!

I had this one iced at the coffee shop the other day. I wasn’t really expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised. Nothing that i plan to stock up on, but next time I’m in the mood for something cold at that coffee shop, I’ll probably get anther glass of this. Light and slightly sweet it hit the spot on a sunny day.