Popular Tasting Notes
So, I’m sitting here working and watching Sherlock (ok so maybe I wasn’t working that hard) while drinking a lovely cup of The Black Lotus when all of the sudden they mention that a gang is called The Black Lotus. What a random coincidence. I definitely didn’t name this tea with the show in mind but that is kind of cool. The name of the tea is a nod to one of my husband’s hobbies, Magic: The Gathering. The most prized card in that game is the black lotus card, so I thought it would be fun to name this tea that. It is very much suiting my mood at the moment with the fantastic mushroomy earthiness and chocolate, caramel, and citrus notes. Yums!
We are shaking things up a bit over here. Moving out some old teas, preparing for some new ones. I love changing things up and constantly looking for higher quality and making more interesting flavors. There is no room for average teas. So, we just finished off our Classic Earl Grey, Organic Imperial Gunpowder, and Birthday Cake (we are reworking this one with a different base tea) and there are a few other teas that are set to be removed once the current batch is finished.
Btw, if you haven’t voted yet for your favorite custom blend in our contest, please do. It will help someone create their dream tea blend. Also, we super appreciative of any sharing of our contest on social media sites. Here is the link: www.butikiteas.com/Contest.html
Sooo i’ve been sitting here for a bit. This is more of a story, than a true tasting note. I haven’t had much tea today but after the events of the day, i knew i wanted to end the day with something a little special. I don’t have many teas that i horde – i’ve gotten much better at drinking the things i love, when i want them. So i had to dig a little to find a tea for today. What struck me about this one was that it’s an aged black tea. 30 years in fact.
So tonight, i’m celebrating with a new tea type, that I haven’t had before (that i can recall, so it totally counts) and with something that was aged for 30 years. Here’s hoping that it’s a great beginning to things that will last.
What the heck am i talking about? Well today marks the day that my other half proposed. Yep. Our anniversary happens to fall on international talk like a pirate day (today) and he opted to pick today to celebrate our four years together – looking forward to hopefully, at the very least, another 30 together. I can only hope we’ll age as well together like this tea.
This is earthy but really smooth…and the more i drink it, the more the flavours seem to be opening up. i am much in the moment. drinking this tea and contemplating the future.
Congratulations!!
thanks… i can’t tell anyone on FB yet, so i have to limit my excitement to here for the most part until i can get around to telling other friends/family lol
Haha! We got engaged last December, but weren’t actually home until July and I waited to tell a bunch of people then.
lol i’m probably not going to tell my parents for another 4 weeks…we’re going on vacation with them in october…so i think? i can wait haha
Yay, congratulations! :D
That’s awesome!!! Congrats!!!
Congrats!
oh my gosh! congratulations! I remember feeling so giddy when my fiancé proposed, and I hope whatever feelings of happiness and giddiness and love and excitement you have will last and last and last.
Congrats Sister! So when are you guys actually getting married?
Terri…..who the heck knows. Ian’s still vying for a pirate wedding next year lol
And thanks everyone… I think I’m still in shock lol
Congrats! That’s wonderful! Also, a pirate wedding sounds awesome. You could serve Della Terra’s Lemon and Lime Chiffons with dessert (gotta stave off the scurvy!).
Aww, congrats!
Congrats!
exciting!!!
Arrrrr!Stay together or walk the plank me hardy!
Yay!! Congratulations matey! That’s so exciting! :D
Congrats!
Congratulations! hugs you So when he did it, did he do it like a pirate?
thank you everyone…still in shock lol
I am ashamed to admit that I still have samples untasted that Teavivre sent to me. Tonight, after a productive work day, I decided that it should also be a productive tea day. So, on to tasty Teavivre samples! This particular one was one of the ones I was most excited to try.
The smell of the dry leaves is a mix of malt and hay. I get a hint of chocolate, but mostly I get malty notes and even a bit of molasses. The leaves are a beautiful mix of black, brown and golden.
The brew is a dark burgundy brown. It smells thick and inviting. I can see how it reminds some people of chocolate. I get sweet molasses notes and a hint of creaminess. The flavor is malty and still holds hints of hay. There is a strange sour flavor that lingers at the end of each sip. I added a little rock sugar and it helped smooth it out a little. It did taste quite a bit like malted chocolate balls! (or Milo which is malted chocolate milk that they have here in Ecuador!)
Sadly it, isn’t quite what I wanted but I recognize that it is very very good. I can see how it could be some people’s favorite. :)
Preparation
I love this one dearly. Oh, and Teavivre will remind you if you fall behind on your reviews, haha.
I think this is a really good standard black tea also. I agree that it’s best sweetened and I add milk for morning tea. This pairs with the maltiness very well.
Tabby – Hmm… I guess that means that I am not as far behind as I thought! :)
Bonnie – I will have to try it with milk! :)
I have several untasted Teavivre samples as well, so don’t feel bad. So much tea, so little time!
OhMyGawdOhMyGawdOhMyGawd! I figured I’d like this one but I was in no way prepared to like it this much. This is awesomeness. Pure awesomeness.
I can’t eat Tiramisu. Why? Because it’s made with coffee. Did I mention that I love tiramisu? It’s so yummy. One of my favorite desserts. But, in case you’ve already forgotten, I can’t eat it. Coffee is the evil of my life. It makes me sick. Even when I eat something with coffee in it. I can enjoy coffee flavors, no problem. But if a food or drink is made with actual coffee … I get sick. So, it’s hard to really enjoy tiramisu knowing that in about two hours or so I will begin to feel like my stomach is being turned inside out, wrung out, and ripped apart by Bruno the strong-handed Brut. It might taste delicious, but nothing is worth that feeling. Not even tiramisu.
sigh
So, I was excited when Red Leaf Tea announced its tiramisu (and now even more excited with the announcement of Creme Brulee & maple flavors … I think I might be in Matcha Paradise and Robert from Red Leaf Tea is the King of Matcha Paradise), and… this is EVEN BETTER than the dessert. Not only does the Matcha offer an exciting, dynamic layer of flavor to the exquisite dessert … but I can drink this without worrying that I am going to get sick in a couple of hours from it.
And this is so good! It’s creamy and decadent. I can taste the creamy, rich, sweet marscapone cheese – it tastes rich and custard-y. And I can taste the cocoa – deep, dark, rich cocoa! And I can taste the coffee too. Together with the sweet, creamy, thick Matcha it is absolutely sublime. A perfect dessert.
I prepared this traditionally, using hot water and whisking… but I added just a little less water than I normally would, and replaced that with the same amount of warmed milk to make a thinned latte. The addition of milk enhances the creaminess, making it so rich and decadent. Amazingly good.
I’d tell you just how good this is but I think I’m supposed to keep these tasting notes Rated G. Or at least PG-13.
If you’d like to experience your own rated R experience with Tiramisu Matcha, you can find it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html
Have you ever tried a tiramisu without coffee? I made this one for Thanksgiving a couple years ago and it was SO good. It still uses most of the usual tiramisu ingredients but also has pumpkin! http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Super-Simple-Pumpkin-Tiramisu-236541
No I haven’t tried it without coffee. this one sounds good. I might have to try it.
There’s also strawberry tiramisu(and probably other varieties, which I don’t know about either, though) ;)
Why not make it with a strong brewed black tea o: This is definitely on my list of things to try :D
youcouldcallitTEARIMISU@!
@DaisyChubb – brilliant! The only thing is … that these require me MAKING the tiramisu. Guess who in this house likes tiramisu. Me. Just me. Which means I’ll be the only one eating the tiramisu. Which… would make my mouth happy but my thighs large.
I have a similar thwarted love of tiramisu. For vegan reasons,mostly, but coffee makes me feel like I have Crohn’s. Coffee extract/flavor doesn’t set me off, if that’s a possibility. It’s not cheap but a drop flavors a whole batch of cookies.
Although coconut creme is as close to mascarpone as I can make. The secret is tartaric acid, but it’s hard to find.
I’ve been thinking a bit out my background lately. Growing up, I’ve had no real culture other than typical American food from the box with no real traditions and I’ve just felt as though I was lacking tradition or culture. I’ve always been somewhat jealous of my husband who has a very large family and extensive traditions. When I was very young, my Polish grandmother used to make all these Polish foods from scratch. I’ve always wanted to learn more about that. Pretty young, I lost all of my grandparents so it’s really just been my parents, one brother, a few cousins, 3 aunts, and 2 uncles. All in all a pretty small family. I didn’t even really know my background only very vaguely, which became quite obvious recently after talking with a Polish guy when he mentioned that I didn’t look all that Polish and I didn’t really know much about my background otherwise. I’ve been on a search to find out more about myself. Turns out I’m 37.5% of both Polish and Ukraine, though some of that Ukraine is actually Mongolian. Also, I am 12.5% of both Native American and German. I’m planning on really trying to track my family tree and learn about some traditions. I suppose as I’m getting older, I think where I come from is getting more important. Well, on to the tea.
Today is day 2 of my raging migraine, so please pardon my tasting notes as they may be inaccurate due to the headache. I love this dragon well. I particularly like to do what I call reverse brewing. I have this glass tumbler that you can click this steel strainer into place. I like to put the tea leaves under the strainer to watch the leaves expand and brew especially since they look so gorgeous. The strainer keeps the leaves from getting in my mouth and I just add more water when it starts to turn bitter. I love to do this with my green teas. This tea is sweet and strongly nutty and buttery with some steamed vegetable notes. I’m finding the nutty notes to be similar to brazil nuts today and the steamed veggie notes to be mostly artichoke. A hint of floral can also be detected. It’s perfect for my mood right now. A solid sweet green tea that is more buttery and nutty than anything else. This is a beautiful mellow cup of tea.
Hope your migraine goes away soon. I will have to try this one next time I place an order :)
I hope you feel better soon. I had really bad one yesterday and it took most of the day in a dark room with some herbal tea to feel normal again.
Thanks guys! Today’s migraine isn’t as bad as yesterday’s so I’m hoping I’ll just sleep it off tonight.
Oh, family histories are really neat. I did a project for a geography class, tracing what we know of our family history. So much fun. I also have an online family tree I’m working on updating.
You know I understand. The air pressure is changing so I’ve had puerh and ginger with some cocoa nibs brewing over and over all day yesterday and today. Feels good!
I’m the keeper of family history’s, but my children being half African-American have that blank space from slavery. The National Geographic has information on the DNA project where you can be tested and find out where in the world you come from. I’d love to do this for my children. Others might like this information.
My background on my Mom’s side is easy to trace all the way back to England, Ireland, & Scotland. On Dad’s side they are all alcoholics, that’s where the Native American blood comes in & his great gramma was quite the wild one, having children from several different guys, remarrying several times, & changing her name often. Nobody knows where she came from originally, & it’s so frustrating!
Stacy, how did you come upon those percentages?
Also, thanks for sharing this, as it’s always fun to read these things. I hope your head keeps feeling better.
Family trees are all very interesting. There’s always a bit of interesting history somewhere in everyone’s family. For example, my last name (still have my dad’s last name) has a bit of an interesting story. It was apparently originally a German name, but way back when the last man carrying the name apparently hated his father, so he ran off to Russia and cut ties with his family, changing the name to a more Russian sounding one.
Eventually his descendants came over here to Canada, Amercanizing it when they did to make it more accessible. So in the end, none of us really know what the original name was since it got fiddled with so much. The people who would’ve known are long gone.
Anyway, hope your migraine gets better. I know my headache strategy is to just keep drinking tea until it’s gone, haha. Doesn’t even have to be caffeinated, just something about a hot drink is really comforting. :)
… speaking of which, I’ve fallen behind on my tasting notes. Need to get back to doing them.
Oy, migraines are the worst. Hope you feel better soon.
My dad started tracing our part of our family tree and has uncovered some very interesting stories. One doozy is my (I think) great-great grandfather who said he was Pinkerton (a special and detective). He’d stop in a town for long enough to meet and marry a girl, get her pregnant, and then tell her he had a new lead on his case and had to go chase down his fugitive. Then he’d leave, go to a new town and meet some other poor girl and marry her. I still don’t know if any of these girl’s fathers ever caught up to him.
Hope you feel better
Green tea just isn’t my thing. I’ve tried. I want to like it. :) But, my mother loves this dragonwell. :)
@Veronica
My goodness! What a story. XD;
OMGsrsy-That is super cool that you are working on that online. Is there a special site you are using?
Bonnie-This weather is just killing me. It goes from super hot to cold to raining with nothing in between. With slavery, that must be challenging to find real roots. My husband is Philippino and they have been invaded by just about everyone. People have a difficult time guessing what he is and he has a lot of Spanish features. It would be really interesting for him to get that DNA test. I would love to do that.
Terri-That’s an interesting mix! The harp and gardening always had me thinking of you as celtic-y. I hope that’s not offensive. Well, the numbers won’t be truly accurate due to all sorts of wars and what not and is also not genetically sound. I’m not a science person, so I figure it can’t be crazy far off doing it this way or I could be completely wrong. On my dad’s side, my grandma is first generation American straight from Poland so that makes me 25% Polish from that side. My grandpa is first generation American and his family came from Ukraine, so that makes me 25% Ukraine from his side. On my mom’s side her mother is 50% polish (that adds 12.5% to the Polish) and 50% Ukraine which adds 12.5%. In that Ukraine, my uncle had traced some Mongolian blood. My mom’s father was 50% german and 50% native american adding 12.5% to my totals. Now this is really just rough estimate. My family is all really recent immigrants except for the Native American.
Chizakura-That’s really interesting. I wonder if there is a way to look that up now or if record keeping wasn’t done well back then. My maiden last name is a Ukrainian stringed instrument. There was a famous psychologist with the same last name though there was no relation despite it being an uncommon name. Last names are so fascinating. I have been drinking tea all day, the migrane is getting better. It’s kind of in hangover mode.
Veronica-That sounds like a movie! Why bother with the getting married part. So weird.
boychik-Thanks! :)
Nicole-So glad you mom is enjoying it. I’m mostly a black tea & oolong girl myself but I do love my greens occasionally.
Also, thank you guys for sharing your stories!!! I find it all so fascinating!
I’ve been using myheritage because the basic level is free. Ancestry is another one I want to try, but it does cost.
It’s kind of cool because my grandmother is Russian doukhobor, and there are ships records online PLUS graveyard records for BC. I was able to trace where my great grandparents were buried, and I could link them to someone else’s family tree if I paid, and they have a lot more information I can’t see. The names were anglicized, so we don’t know what the original last names were, which makes it harder. My great grandmother also had children from two marriages.
Stacy- the Celtic is def there from my mom’s dad’s side, coming from the Scots-Irish Sweeney brothers, who owned a tobacco plantation in VA until they had a falling out (probably over a woman and/or alcohol induced…more alcoholics in that family too). One of the brothers changed his name to Swinney, & began the westward migration that eventually landed the family in TX where they got Spanish land grants while TX was still part of Spain.
Interestingly, the very first time I heard trad Irish music (in college), I was instantly hooked, joined the band & played with the same people in various configurations (my now ex husband being one of them) for years. The ex & I played as a duo all over the place, we had a trio that played the KC renaissance festival from 1982-89, & the entire 7 member band had an annual st pats gig at Lindberghs in Springfield,MO for years. We also played some festivals (& actually got paid), including the prestigious Milwaukee Irish Festival.
Sadly, people moved, I got divorced, got a little bored & started looking for more of a challenge, plus my original songs don’t fall into that genre. But I do bring all those celtic tunes out yearly for at least 1 St Pats performance a year!
ancestry occasionally has a 14 day free trial. so then i register and use it for 14 days and then cancel before they charge me. warning though, it’s really fun and addicting!
Stacy- I hope your headaches subside soon! This back and forth weather doesn’t give me headaches, but it does make me draggy and stuffs up my sinuses something awful.
Oh and learning about family history is so interesting!!
My Mom’s side of the family is Greek and I look exactly like my Greek great-grandmother. That side of the family is from a teeny tiny Greek island that they lived on for generations. It was often over-run by pirates, so we may have Spanish ancestry from that side too (but no one would admit it if we did). My grandfather’s side of the family was from Athens and it is rumored that we descended from the Oracle of Delphi because of their surname “Delphos”, but I don’t know how true that one is.
My Dad is your All-American mutt. His family has lived in Maine for generations. Although our last name is Scottish, we have English, Irish, American-Indian, French-Canadian, Danish, Swedish and a large chunk of Norwegian in our background. A lot of them were sailors and that explains the crazy colorful quilt of our background on that side.
Fuzzy, that’s an amazing background story! Oracles, Greek goddesses, Pirates!!! Yeah!
Terri- With a family full of story-tellers (especially on my Dad’s side) it’s hard to distinguish what’s real from what they embellished. Inevitably when these kind of conversations pop up, I always have to ask people “Do you want the long version or the short version of my background?” This was kind of a medium-length version of my family history. Usually I’m just say I’m half Greek, half everything else.
@Fuzzy
You win the prize for coolest family tree. xD Haha. Though I’m a bit biased since I absolutely love Greek mythology, so I got super excited seeing the words “Oracle of Delphi” xD
OK, I admit it. I loveblack teas from Yunnan.
I also love pretty much every black bi luo I’ve ever had, & this one is no exception.
Deliciously honey malted, with an almost creamy mouth, it’s naturally sweet, pastry, yumminess.
Thanks to TeaFairy for my first sample from whispering pines.
I like this one a lot too and I am sad it’s out of stock :(
July 1st :)
Yay! :)
Brenden – Can you put me back some(more) GO to go with a July 1 order that will include the Bi Luo so I don’t have to do two? Pretty please?
You mean blend it now and set it aside for you? I’m sure I’ll have plenty of GO left on the 1st :)
Oh OK – I just didn’t want you to run out before I did my order – because that would make sad.
Ahh, no worries :) I’m all loaded up on the stuff! :D
That makes me happy. I want some to put back for later because I love the way it changes over time. Happy Solstice Brenden
Happy Solstice to you, too! And also Terri! Golden Orchid has hijacked your post. Oops :P
Black Yunnans rock, So glad you liked it Terri!
How bout Ailaoshan black, will you have plenty as well, or should I consider hoarding some more?
Tons! :)
That makes me happy (might still hoard just a little on july first though, I’m insecure)
Laughs! You remind me of me
Haha! And you of me :-) lol, now that we have TONS of tins, why not hoard right?
We’re prepared anyway. Although I have things to go in pretty much most of the ones that are coming
I haven’t tried the Golden Orchid, but tomorrow I’ll probably sample the ailaoshan black :)
Hope you like it Terri!
I’m having the rest of Yi Mei Ren from YS that you sent me. When I reviewed it a few days ago, I wrote that it reminded me of Oriental Beauty, it’s even more the case tonight, so sweet and honey like, I’m loving it!!
This is one of the teas that I brought back from my latest trip to Europe. I found it in a neat little tea shop in Vienna called JagërTee. First of all, Vienna is an incredible city. It was really hot when I was there and I found this tea shop walking towards a museum from the hotel. I was with my entire family at the moment, so I decided to come back on my own because I knew that I would be taking a while looking through their teas. They had a huge variety as well as a nice little shop with a tea room adjacent to it. I took my time and chose a few teas. This one was love at first sight.
The dry tea is beautiful, no doubt the prettiest and most feminine I have yet to encounter. The elegant black tea leaves are decorated with tiny rose buds, rose petals and slivered almonds. The scent is breathtaking. It smells like fresh made marzipan with rosewater, mouthwatering and delicate at the same time.
While brewing, it truly fills up the room with a freshly baked pastry scent that mingles in the air for quite a while. The brewed tea is amazing. It tasted rich and has a thick sensation to it. Almost as if you were drinking almond milk. I had it slightly sweetened and it was one of the most tantalizing tea experiences I have had so far. The marzipan flavor with the rose water scent make it a delicate tea with a rich involving flavor while the thickness of the almond makes it creamy.
The black tea base was well chosen. It gave it the right amount of bitter to keep it from being an overwhelmingly sweet blend. It has a honey aftertaste that works well with the flavoring of this tea.
I regret not buying more of this tea… I doubt I will ever get a chance to get it ever again… If you ever go to Vienna, I highly recommend going to JagërTee and looking for this blend. If you happen to get enough to share with me, that would be even better!!! :)
On an unrelated note, my boyfriend’s brother who lives in Spain and hasn’t been to Ecuador for the past 5 years showed up for a surprise visit to be here for their other brother’s wedding (next Saturday)! It was a neat surprise and I have been busy going back and forth everywhere with them. Last night we went to a magic show that came from Las Vegas (I think…) called “The Illusionists”. It was incredible!!! I have seen magic shows on TV, but being there and seeing it live was a completely different experience! I really enjoyed it!
Preparation
“marzipan with rosewater” – that sounds great!
This sounds lovely. And I loved your tasting note, too. =)
Surely you went at Demel’s in Vienna? Did you go for a cup of tea with a Pastry ?
Beautiful review, Nina, & the tea sounds amazing!
soooooo romantic, I love the way you describe it …. sigh :)
Thanks everyone!
@*Ysaurella*- Yep! It was spectacular! I loved the pastries! Everything in Vienna tasted sooo good!
@*Fleurdelily*- Thanks for the link!! Now, I only need to find someone who speaks German to guide me through it1! :)
(Backlog review from last night)
Having Second Breakfast at midnight. That’s right, I live dangerously.
What…Is there a warning somewhere that stipulates this tea should be drank only in the morning?
There, didn’t think so.
Nice fruity and malty cup, mmmmm! So good!
Crusty bread, salty caramel and cocoa notes. Sweet and mellow, but not lacking in the taste department, au contraire.
I know I’m having it at night, but I will have it in the morning eventually and it will be very kind to me.
Some breakfast teas are like a slap in the face, waking you abruptly like a loud beeping alarm clock, screaming at you «Wake up, sleepyhead!!!»
This will take a more gentle route. It will just rub your shoulder softly and whisper in your ear «wake up sweetie, today will be a lovely day…»
It’s that kind of tea. It knows how to treat you right.
Took out the big mug tonight…just needed the right gear for it:
SB in the tentacle mug is full of win! <3
I think you are the cutest.
No, I think she is the cutest :p
Missy, it is right??
And NO!!!! Y’ALL are the cutest!!!!! <3
<3 review
I felt soothed reading this review!
More tentacle teawares!
Another WP on the wishlist! :)
Boychik, you are sweet <3
Cwyn, you so deserve soothing… :-)
Terri, tentacles make badass teaware!!!
Inranger, it’s nom, you need this!
“Second Breakfast at Midnight”—that would be such a righteous name for a tea!
“Second Breakfast at the Green Dragon”.
This tea makes me think of Japan. What? Yeah, I know. Florence. Italy. Europe. Nowhere near Japan. And yet. But perhaps this clarification will help: this tea makes me think of Japanese snacks. Specifically Toppo, a little sweet pretzel-like tube stuffed with chocolate. (It’s basically an inside-out Pocky but (for some reason) so much better.) There was something about that tube that balanced the chocolate so nicely. Which meant that I wouldn’t get sweetness overloaded and would eat way too many at a time.
This tea is like Toppo. The chocolate is balanced nicely with the hazelnut and tea tastes so it doesn’t feel like plain old chocolate. Instead it is rich, decadent, adult-type chocolate. Given the mood I was in when I had the tea (an oh-please-someone-kill-me-and-put-me-out-of-my-misery-preferably-before-I-maim-you mood), I went ahead and added sugar and half & half because I wanted needed the full-on dessert tea experience. And boy did this tea deliver. Delicious! No single flavor is overpowering so I didn’t sit there and think “Oh, this is a chocolate tea” because it is really much more than a one dimensional taste like that. The flavors are so bold, rich and sweet that I ended up thinking it tasted like a fancy flavored coffee. (Is it sacrilege to say that?)
Anyway, enough people have gushed about this little beauty that I probably should have stopped a hundred words ago but I just can’t help myself. Through the power of this tea alone, I will be able to refrain from killing someone today.
Thanks to Doulton for the chance to try this lovely beast!
Preparation
I certainly miss this one from my stash…
YUM – a favorite of mine!
I love this one too. I’m glad it stopped you from going postal.
LOL…it’s a Florence day for sure. I drank a few cups of it this morning and posted too. I was impressed!
Oh this sounds so lovely. I hope to have a fresh bag of this soon to try!
Hmm,,I am almost finished the sample Doulton sent me and I will need to order this one. It is the best chocolate tea!
Yes to everyone – such a good tea that could easily be a favorite! I’m definitely going to have to get some of this. Yay for Florence Day! :)
OMG, so this note is from a month ago, but I just have to say…Toppo is the BEST THING EVER. The use of pretzel like crispy outside instead of boring old biscuit makes it superior to pocky in EVERY WAY.
(Just tried Florence and was reading other people’s notes, fyi)
Toppo is totally superior to Pocky! It’s awesome-ness in stick form!
Walgreen’s sells Toppo here! I have to try it. I love Pocky!
Okay, that is officially awesome. I wish my Walgreen’s sold Toppo!
For serious. Fortunately, there’s a Japanese import store right next to Trader Joe’s, hopefully there will be Toppo!
Your review made me buy this. It’s brewing nowwwww!
I bought it at a Japanese import store :3
Okay I totally want to try Toppo now.
Thank you Roughage for this tea Sample!
This morning I’m challanged with a raw Puerh that’s been produced for almost 50 years by the Xiaguan Tea Factory primarily for use as in Churned Yak Butter Tea.
Roughage or David Duckler (can’t remember which one) said that Yak butter is bitter which is probably why salt and sometimes hemp seeds are added to the brew. Yum…Yum…what a way to start the day!
I’m a bit short on Yak butter!
Here’s the recipe for ‘regular’ Butter Chai if you want to try it!
This recipe courtesy of Roughage!
Butter Chai
5 cups water
1 tablespoon black tea leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
Boil water in pan and then lower the flame. Add a heaping tablespoon of tea leaves to the water and bring the water to a boil again for several minutes.
Pour tea, salt, butter and milk into a big container that can be covered and shaken. Or use a blender. (The blending makes the flavor savory and exciting)
Serve the tea right away since po cha is best when it’s very hot.
(I’m going to try this recipe during the Olympics for my granddaughters as one of the international tastes of tea we’ll be doing).
Regular Brewing:
I went to the Yunnan Sourcing website to see how to brew this Pu-erh and there were no instructions. I’m winging this…without much experience with raw Pu-erh’s. Oh boy.
I decided to do 2 rinses.
This was big and chunky Pu-erh that looked like the muddy clods on a farmers boots after they’ve dried… with bits of grassy looking stuff packed in.
The steep was about 30 seconds (I went a couple minutes the first time and that was a mistake…oh my).
The liquor was a gorgeous gold and very pretty. It smelled smoky and mildly earthy.
The flavor was also smoky and peppery with a bit of astringency under the tongue and a little salty.
I decided to try the butter, tea, milk…salt…
WOW it was sooooo good!
WOW! WOW!
This was how the tea was meant to be…butter tea!
Thank you Roughage….! It tasted like buttered toasted bread or garlic bread without adding garlic. How could that be?
I am so nervous to further try Pur-ehs now, after an old review I read this morning mentioned all the yucky stuff people have found in Pur-Eh cakes. turns green
But I think I will try this with a regular black tea. With plain old butter. But I will mention that I have always wanted to try yak butter, ever since I read about it in a story when I was a little girl.
Very interesting! Did you try drinking it plain?
Plus, it’s just fun to say “yak butter.” Try it…
Yak butter.
Yaaaak butter.
Yaaaaaaaak buuuuuutterrrrr!
:D
Amy…the part about smoky peppery was plain. A tiny bitter if you’re not careful and strong too! (As in country pu’erh)
Recipe sounds good, and maybe I’ll try it with a strong Asaam tea, but I wouldn’t add it to a Puerh or other teas. I even like my Chai unsweetened, sometimes adding a dash of milk to tame it if needed.
I like Chai tea I’ve had in Indian restaurants, but usually too much milk is added, or it is too sweet, and I can’t taste enuff of the tea.
What I’m saying is I like my tea & the natural flavor. I do like some flavored teas, but only if the flavors don’t mask the tea or taste artificial.
This would suit you Scott, no sugar and no spice so almost like a tea broth or soup.
This is tribal puerh and inexpensive!!! Qualifies as Black tea and would be more authentic but another smoky tea could do. Might send you a little to try this with.
By tribal Pu-erh you mean Puerh with that recipe, right?
Or any black tea??
Yes the one I specifically used and yes you could use any ’other ’ black. (You would imagine a rural setting…. a yak and this inexpensive puerh ….salt, water and milk (probably yak too) .
As long as it isn’t too buttery I think I’d try it.
I was just looking into Butter Tea the other day!
Now I have a recipe, thanks Bonnie:)
Scotttttt….you are making the teaaaaaa~ so youuuuuu control the butterrrrrr!
yaaaaak buttterrrrrr! See I have you doing it now! :D
Hahaha, Skulleigh :P
I’m not feeling particularly verbose today, but I just wanted to give this tea the shout out it deserves. It didn’t taste nearly as “zippy” to me this morning, although this is one of those teas that doesn’t need to taste identical to itself in order for me to enjoy it.
I have many things to be grateful for. I had a lovely weekend, it’s a short work week because of family day yesterday, today is my birthday and the past year has been pretty good, but instead I just feel tired and grumpy and listless. I just want to go home and crawl into bed (although I tend to feel like that pretty much anytime I’m stationary at a desk for an extended period of time, which I assume would provoke any person to feel this way ha). But yes, this tea is a perfect, sharp cinnamon heart, does well with very little in the way of additions, and is very warming as it goes down. it’s a no frills added cinnamon tea (with like no detectable base at all) but that fit the bill just right today.
Happy Birthday! Hope it perks up for you.
Thanks! I imagine it will once I’m home this evening :)
Happy birthday! Hope you have a wonderful day :) good tea always makes it better!
oh wow YAY happy birthday! i hope you get to do all of your favorite things! like burn down your desk ;)
Happy birthday!!
Haha yes burn down my desk! and then the office would be closed for a few days…though it might be my fault LOL. Thanks guys!
Happy birthday! Hope it gets better as the day continues :)
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday! Enjoy some favourite teas, hopefully the day will get better :)
Thanks! I just need to wake up haha. Soooo sleepy.
Happy Birthday!
Happy You Day! Hope it starts a year full of abundance in every sense of the word.
Happy Birthday! Hope your day perks up and becomes wonderful :)
Happy birthday. :)
Hope you have an amazing evening to kick off another year of being awesome! Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday!! I hope your workday goes by quickly so you can go home and enjoy the rest of your special day… hopefully with a cup of delicious tea. :)
Thanks so much, all of you! I’m feeling a lot more awake and happy now! haha.
Happy birthday, keychange! I hope you have a great evening.
Aw, happy birthday! I hope you had a beautiful day.
Today is the first day of school for our youngest daughter, who is homeschooled, and my middle daughter who is in community college.
We have a lot of traditions. On the first day, the kids “ride their bikes to school” with their dad. They leave the house and go to the grocery store a few blocks away where they buy presents for the teacher. I get flowers, apples, and candy bars. :) This year even Sammie got a treat since he is listed as co- teacher. (That’s our dog, for those who don’t know!)
Many years, we have had to work hard to keep our traditions going. This year is no different. We set our first day of school to coincide with middle daughter’s schedule. Afterwards we found out that we need to take my husband’s mother to a dental appointment early in the morning. Daughter was only going to be able to join us because hubby was going to drop her off at school so she wouldn’t have to go super early to find a parking space. So our wake up time got pushed back an hour.
Then I discovered that middle daughter can’t buy her parking sticker today because we failed to get the van inspected – the paperwork was buried. So now we are scheduling an inspection and oil change for the first day of school. ARGH! Fortunately, everything is working out and running smoothly so far, though. Mother-in-law has seen the dentist, hubby dropped off daughter, hubby is dropping off van, I am picking him up soon, then we pick up middle daughter and head to our traditional first day school lunch going out to eat. After that we pick up the van and come home.
ETA: we have three Toyotas. I had the paperwork for the wrong one. The van is just now due for inspection and the car I had the paperwork for was done on time! So we still had to go get that done. Picking it up later! LOL!
Meanwhile at home, youngest and I have finished our Algebra 2 lesson, Biology, and Grammar and we are about to do German. Whew!
This is why I reached for the Queen this morning. With all this activity, however, I wanted to soften it and calm the mood a bit, so I mixed in a teaspoon of Rose Scented. This was perfect. I had only had Carnation Instant Breakfast when I went out to take care of the chickens early this morning, so I treated myself to a Bagel Thins with Nutella with it.
Happy First Day of School, everyone! I am going to miss homeschooling when this is over. My two eldest have graduated and one is now a microbiologist and the other an autism advocate. When youngest graduates, I am going to have to hunt down a toddler to start over again! Maybe grandchildren…..? I need someone that I can read all these lovely books to again!
What fun traditions, and what a lovely sounding blend! You mentioned this before. I’ll have to try it someday, when I get some of the Queen!
Nice! Yay for family traditions! Yay for being flexible & just going with the flow of the day! I home-schooled for a few years, but ended up having to get a part time job: teaching a harp program in st louis school district, which I did for 13 years, but quit a few years ago. It was hard to put my kids back into the system, as both sons have aspergers, so I bought a house in a much smaller school district, where I could have real communication with the teachers & the classes were small. I’m grateful because although they are both very sensitive & quirky (just like me…I guess the apple really doesn’t roll far from the tree), they both graduated & are both in college. In fact, Drew started back in classes today. Leif starts next week. My oldest dropped out of high school, got her GED, got her associates & is a very happy Paralegal (Estate Planning), the 2nd daughter graduated HS & is a chef. They all march to the beat of their own drum, without a doubt! There’s that apple thing again!
Sounds like a lovely first day of school!
Terri, that is awesome! Sounds like your kids are fun people to be with, and that is one thing I treasure about my kids. They are FUN!
Rosehips: we actually studied rose hips today in Biology!
Haha! Wonderful, couldn’t have planned it better myself.
My mother often talked about homeschooling in an idle sort of way but never committed. She didn’t like the limited education we got in school but I don’t think she ever believed she had the range to do it herself. Honestly, it would have been very interesting and I wish I had the experience (and the time) with her but I understand both sides of the coin, especially in our area which was already rural and isolating. I think her rumblings about home schooling did foster my belief that anyone can learn anything at home or in the world – you don’t necessarily need a classroom and a teacher. All this is just to say I admire that you are doing this for your kids and think it is wonderful (and I am sure a lot of hard work!)
Those are some wonderful traditions and beautiful memories. I sometimes wish I was home schooled, more for the flexibility of working through the material at your own pace. I was forced to stay home for a week and a half when my mother refused to renew a series of my vaccinations and there was an outbreak of measles in the area. I did 2 hours of work a day and came back ahead in every class. I sometimes wondered what we did with the other 4 hours!
I have really enjoyed it, and I think the kids have had the opportunity to do some things they might not have done in public school. The older two were scuba certified while in high school and worked many, many hours volunteering at the state aquarium. They fenced and did photography, hatched box turtles, lizards, snakes, and quail, and we basically took everything that happened to us and studied it! We used to read aloud for hours a day by the fire in winter. Sigh. I have really enjoyed doing this!
How fun, I’m a fencer myself (though I learned after school, having been a school-goer myself.) How great that they had a chance to do all of that!
What a lovely tradition – and a great first day! Cheers!
I love the fact that your family has many traditions; it’ll make for some wonderful memories!
Such a lovely post. And, hopefully you’ll get to relax later in the evening!
Happy New Year!
I think this is my favourite vanilla tea, ever.
Mind you I haven’t had that many and there was a time they didn’t sit well with me. But this one is simply delicious. Thank you Miss B for the sample, and Sil for coordinating things!
I had half a cup sans dairy, and half with. Without, it is quite pleasant, but with is where I find the “shortbread” aspect really comes out. Oh man, I can actually taste buttery cookie! The vanilla is a really nice addition as well, making things extra creamy.
Drool, vanilla shortbread.
there will be come out in the box to jones whenever i can fill it.. bhwahahaha
come = some
Yes, I second the drool! :P
Sil, dunno how you’re gonna part with it heh
This sounds amaaaazing.
it’s already partitioned out… once it’s in the box for the west coast or peeps here in toronto, it can’t come back out… otherwise whatshesaid would have no more caramel teas coming to her
M, it IS!!! I have only half a cups worth left or else I’d send you the rest to try :)
Sil, good point heh. In Sil we trust!
Annnnnnddddd.. now I need this. Yum! :)
Welcome to the club Nightshifter :P
Oh, Fjellrev! You can have some if you send me your address. :D
Where can it be purchased in the US? I’m only finding UK so far. Also how does it compare to GO? Sorry for the early AM questions. :P
whatshesaid loves caramel teas :)
SOUNDS AMAZING!
nightshifter…no idea…this was a present from a friend travelling abroad :(
hehe meeeee toooo whatshesaid :P
Yep, I grabbed this in London at the most amazing location… You’re all going to start hating me for sharing tea that you can’t easily get in North America. I’m positive though that Whittard ships ask over the world, they’re just really pricey,even prior to shipping.
So glad you liked this! You got a ton more out of it than I did… Now I’ll have to try it as a latte.
No H8 MissB! Maybe a little jealousy though ;)
Did you have it with milk? I found it loads better that way
sounds tasty! :D
Kirk, it really is!!
Awesome!
Wow cool – I’m the first to review this one. I don’t think I get a wizzo button for that or anything but its still kinda cool. :)
This is definitely not lacking in the caramel flavor department and as I have said before Frank knows how to make the cheesecake blends outstanding so it was a no brainer to order this when I saw it go on sale!
Creamy cheesecake goodness with plenty of yummy caramel in a nice black base that stands out as well.
Way to go Frank! Keep the delicious creations coming!
I will say that as this cools it becomes a little bitter but I was not planning on it cooling – you know things happen – distractions take over and before you know it your nice hot yummy dessert tea is getting an attitude because you neglected it.
It happens.
I don’t know if I would want this iced or cold brewed as it is so delicious hot but I am sure that it would be good – I think it was just accidentally allowing it to cool at room temp that caused the bitterness.
I have had two cups today hot and it was perfection!
Every cheesecake blend I have had from 52 Teas has been amazing!
I hope he brings back Cherry Cheesecake Genmaicha!!
Anyway if you love caramel and you love cheesecake GET SOME! As of right now there are only 5 left on his site!
Just ordered this! Sounds awesome
Its quite decadent!
Blah, this is one I want. I will hope that when I have time to swap again, someone will still have some left.
I can send some your way if you want … pm me your address again though as I would have to dig around to find it and Im that lazy. :)
I’ve got an order of this coming as well Kittena :) the other half let me have it cause i told him it would sell out fast fast fast! (not that it has but whatever)
This sounds wonderful. Mine can’t get here soon enough
Azzrian – thanks, but I think I’ll hold off on the offer for now! I’ll try to nab some of Sil’s when we meet up again, but if not, I’ll take my chances that some swap partner in the future has some left :) So much tea…
Cool cool :)
I’m always willing to take tea off eceryone’s hands. I have a long weekend with which i’m predicting that I can get through almost all of the crazy samples that i’ve received from Azz, Kittena and indigo lol not to mention the stuff i ordered.
oh Azz was going to ask how you’ve been steeping this. I’m hoping mine will come SOOOOOOON and want to start out right.
Uhhh I don’t know if I would say I did it “right” lol BUT I did it at 208 as that is what my zojirushi was set at. for 3 minutes. :)
it’s probably my only complaint in so far as franks teas go (though i’m sure someone will tell me that i’ve just missed something) but I wish that the entries for his teas had a recommended steeping time and temperature. I’m relatively new to his teas but unless someone on steepster has indicated what they did, i’ve got to just try any guess…
As far as I know Frank does not have recommendations on his teas anywhere or his site so I start with traditional brewing temps and times and adjust as needed from there.
Azzrian – good to know i’m not just missing it somewhere. Maybe I can message him to harass him into including his reocmmendations when he adds teas to steepster. It appears at one point (looking at older entries) he had times on his packaging
We arrived at Duke Medical this morning for the removal of the skin cancer about a quarter of an inch from my eye. The paperwork had said to eat a good breakfast as most people can expect to stay from three to five hours, and to be prepared to send for a lunch. I had Carnation Instant Breakfast at 5 am and brought a granola bar and bottled water with me. Lo and behold, we get here and there is lovely classical music playing, Panera muffins and bagels, and TEA! That’s right, two wooden chests of Bigelow tea with lots of varieties to choose from and a dispenser for hot water, coffee, and hot chocolate. (Hubby had the hot chocolate and said it was the best he had ever tasted made with hot water. I use milk to make mine.)
This was my first tea. It was a good, solid, English style tea. I chose this nstead of the breakfast tea because even though additions were available – heck, they even have cream cheese for the bagels – I wanted to take it straight.
I won’t pretend this is fine tea. It didn’t make me swoon. But for something you could plop in a cup of hot water and drink in a waiting room, it did a nice job. Now on to the Bigelow Green…
Oh, the nurse says they got it all on the first try! Soon, Pottery Barn and Tin Roof Teas! :)
I hope everything goes well.
Good for you taking care of your health! Blessings to you!
Good for you taking care of your health! Blessings to you!
Yes, best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Teas for a speedy recovery!
hope all is well soon…
Hope you have a quick recovery, full of tea!
Tea for good health and a quick recovery!
I’m glad it went well, speedy healing to you.
kick it in the butt :)
Blessings, and happy you could appreciate this tea for what it is.
So happy the cancer is GONE! :)
Thanks, everyone! Believe me, I have been so thankful today as I contemplate how blessed we are to live in a place and time with medical advances like this, and thankful for insurance. The doctor even personally called me tonight to see how I am – I was told he always does – and he has done 38,000 of these procedures. (MOHs surgery) Thank you for the well wishes! I feel really good, even with just ibuprofen!
Whew, I’m so glad you are feeling ok! xxo
Just found your posts and am very happy to hear your good-health news!
Thanks, Barb!
Thank you mrmopar for this Pu-erh sample
With Steepster down, I had time to reflect on some things that have been on my mind.
My writing has been slushy. You know…when I try to write and for whatever reason I just don’t sound like myself. I haven’t been able to figure out what’s wrong.
Sunday, I was invited to be in a Google+ live video tea group with people in various parts of the World. I was the least tea educated person, the dumb one in the group but ready to learn. Most of the others spoke Chinese, owned tea companies etc. As we discussed the tea of the week, I became sicker and sicker and almost had to sign off early. Something was wrong with me.
The rest of that day I had a terrible migraine that felt like the flu.
Monday came and Steepster was down. I had the flu-like symptoms still hanging on, coming and going with body aches and nausea.
What had caused my illness?
Light!
When I was on the chat Sunday I was sitting by a window with the curtains closed. However, there was still enough bright light outside that even though I was wearing my dark glasses, the light made me sick! Isn’t that crazy?
Why am I telling this story?
I was thinking last night about this time of year and writing about tea. I remembered that in the Winter when the barometer changes setting off my migraines almost every few days, I write more from the heart.
I see clearly, listen better, appreciate my time with tea in a deeper way. Life is more precious.
Could this be why I haven’t been myself? Did I need this malady to write better?
Embracing what is ahead with all it’s difficulties far outweighs the pain. My experience in the quiet places where there is true beauty, is why I began my journey with tea in the first place.
There’s no place to hide from difficulties in this life, it’s how we use what we go through or have gone through that matters.
I’m glad to return to the place of struggle even though I’m sure to complain now and then.
Tea Review
Timing and prep.
Gaiwan 4oz. 30 sec. rinse and 30 sec. steeps.
Wet leaf scent changes! Here’s what I like to do.
First, I put my nose over the rising steam and breathe it in and out, deeply.
Next, I put my nose closer and almost hyper-ventilate, then back away and come closer again.
Finally, I pass the leaves side to side at a distance of about
7 inches to catch a lighter scent.
I smell the leaf aroma hot, warm and cold.
These particular leaves smelled like Nilla Vanilla Wafers and Camphor then later like light Leather, Bread and Earth, then Light Leather and a Sweetness which is where it remained.
Taste
The first steeping was salty and tasted like a Trisket Crackers, not sweet but smooth. The finish had a little sour black current flavor.
The second steeping was strong, dark like coffee and tasted like cedar, rasins and velvety 90% chocolate. I was so intrigued by the idea of the chocolate that I sweetened the end of the tasting which didn’t mask the flavors but removed the bitterness almost entirely.
Steeping three was lighter with a salty/savory cedar flavor becoming peppery at the end and astringent. I was distracted by my own awareness of well-being. My nausea was gone and I was feeling such a great sense of gratitude for what this Pu-erh was giving to me.
Ah the forth steeping and beyond. This is where I believe the Pu-erh was at home. Lighter, sweeter with a cinnamon spicy taste and less cedar. There was so much light and smoothness here without having lost body.
At one point I added sweetening to see what would happen for those who sweeten Pu-erh and found that the flavor didn’t change
(some Pu-erh’s take on a floral or caramel taste with sweetening) but remained spicy.
A solid, recommended Pu-erh!
Personal Notes about Pu-erh:
I’ve found Pu-erh to be a faithful friend. Since my Migraines and Fibromyalgia both have chosen to attack my core more than anywhere else on my body, my stomach area is often twisted with nausea and pain. My back hurts and bones ache.
When I drink Pu-erh, the nausea and pain are greatly reduced without an upset stomach. Pretty wonderful benefit for me wouldn’t you agree!
Glad to hear you are doing better. If you like jasmine or chrysanthemum you should get some of each and use it when you are not feeling 100%. Really good and fragrant.
I love smelling my tea leaf dry, wet and in later steeps and love smelling the lid of the gaiwan. I had a similar ‘humbling’ experience with a few new friends. I tend to deeply exhale and then slowly breathing in the vapors from the gaiwan. And now I slurp… LOUDLY lol.
It is hard because must cultures slurping is a bad thing or just rude. But turns out it is pretty common in Asian cultures and it is the ‘proper way’ to taste. Do you do this?
Yes, in the tea world, slurping is correct…accepted and encouraged to get the tea to all the tastebuds (much like wine tasting which I was familiar with already). It’s the caffeine in Pu-erh and tea in general helps migraines.
Ah, well I hope you don’t have to go through that again. I don’t ever get headaches. And the only time I did it was a migraine (according to a doctor), due to excessive work, mental from (work), physical (from working out) and well lack of sleep. Not fun, I never though I would hiss at the sight of the sun. lol
Thanks JC I hope you stay well. Life is what it is.
I have migranes every day…but I also drink pu-erh every day, so sadly I don’t think that’ll help me. BOO! haha. Glad you’re feeling better! Did anything come in the mail lately from my side of the country that might make you feel better? :)
Bonnie I am happy you figured out the source of the problem. I am so sorry you were feeling down. Much love to you! I also can relate to how you felt in that group! The thing is your knowledge far surpasses mine on here haha its okay to be around those who have more knowledge! Without YOU I would not know as much as I do! :) xo
You’re very kind and always supportive Azz. Thank you. My point was that the down has meaning too…when I’m sick, I see things differently than when I’m well. As far as knowledge, we all have our own set of glasses…our own view and I learn from everyone. I think that I have the luxury of time. Not everyone has as much time as I do (or age!).
Sorry to read that you weren’t feeling well Bonnie, and I hope you get all better soon.
I sympathize with the nausea problems, I’ve had problems with my thyroid since my early 20s. It’s definitely changed my relationship to food and how much I appreciate being able to enjoy things when I feel well.
I agree that it’s nice to read everyone’s different perspective and views! I love all the different posts I get to read on Steepster.
Bonnie, I won’t say much beside what you already know: poeple here REALLY care, for the good and the bad stuff that’s happening to us all. What you said «There’s no place to hide from difficulties in this life, it’s how we use what we go through or have gone through that matters» is beyond wise… In this life, I find acceptance to be the hardest thing but it’s the beggining of all recoveries…
Having said that, no one should live in constant pain, and I wish peace for your mind and for your body…hugs xx
Steepster is the kindest village with the best neighbors. I wish we could have a big party and I could cook for you and invite you all for tea. You are the fresh ‘Spring Water’ that I make my tea with!
Bonnie, I won’t say much beside what you already know: poeple here REALLY care, for the good and the bad stuff that’s happening to us all. What you said «There’s no place to hide from difficulties in this life, it’s how we use what we go through or have gone through that matters» is beyond wise… In this life, I find acceptance to be the hardest thing but it’s also the beggining of all recoveries…
Having said that, no one should live in constant pain, and I wish peace for your body and soul…hugs xx
A big hug for Ms Bonnie, & I hope you are feeling better. I struggled with migraines & other health issues for years, & in my case it turned out to be a whole bunch of food sensitivities. Once I got my eating straightened out, the migraines, immune problems, tendonitis, digestive issues, & various other aches & pains went away. All the things we go through, especially the painful ones, strengthen us in the long run, developing our character, but that doesn’t make it any more fun when we are suffering. Acceptance is the key, along with kindness to ourselves. Love & hugs, & your blog turned out beautifully!
186.
I had a lovely cup of this tonight while watching fringe and trying to organise/plan/explore flight options for florida for vacation. We owe our friends a visit this year but we also have a wedding out in cape breton that will be really bloody expensive and i need to find time to get away from everything so that i actually relax. I promised my other half we’d try somewhere new this year so i’ve been trying to figure out where that should be. I really enjoyed getting to try these amoda/butiki teas. Thanks again for the wonderful gesture dexter!
I want to go to Cape Breton so bad – it looks ridiculously beautiful.
Somewhere new in the entire world or do you have any specific demands?
yeah…in the entire world lol My other half basically hadn’t travelled until he hooked up with me. I’ve now managed to get him to 5? different countries in 4 years, though the US and Canada hardly count.
I just can’t decide if we should do something like a week in france/uk or go to peru or china or or or or or…. lol or even something closer to home like new york (he’s never been) but i feel like that could maybe be done over a weekend if i save a bit more..
NY feels very weekendy to me, but that’s probably because I loathe the place, haha.
You’ve been to China before, right? I think I remember reading something about that in a tasting note. If you haven’t been around Guilin, seen the rice terraces, stayed at one of the guest houses along the river, then I’d definitely recommend that.
And Vietnam, and Cambodia, and France also sounds great, and and and… haha. Sorry, once I get started, it’s so hard to stop.
I have never been to NY either. We are going in June but not sure for how long – at least over a weekend. Come in June and we can all be tourists together. LOL
I love New York…though I think I’d prefer it in he the fall….
And yes Anna….so many choices!
Tough… So many choices…Never been to New York either, that I remember. Despite the fact that my cousin thinks I’ll loathe it (not enough green space), my father was born there so I’ll probably go there someday.
Tony wants the 2 of us to take our next trip to Austria.
Austria would be nice…
yyz – New York is fantastic and there are green spaces you can find if you know where to look. it’s got such a diversity going on..love it!
I love NY. I feel complete here. And every time we go somewhere I’m looking forward to come back.
boychik: That’s awesome! I think. I didn’t have that feeling for the longest time, and now that I’ve actually found a place where I feel like that, I don’t quite know what to do with it – run away or make it happen?
Listen to your heart, Anna. You cannot always run away.
The beauty of traveling is you should always come back home. Just my 2 cents, sorry;)
I was worried this may be TOO pineapple-y but its not. It has just enough of the pineapple flavor to taste it but this mostly takes like CAKE. This is THE cakey-ist flavor I have ever tasted in any tea.
I will have to savor more of this to give a better review.
What I can say is that I love Della Terra’s flavorings, never cloying, never artificial.
This is very good!
Three steeps in – the sweet cake flavor is still strong!
Pineapple is gone now but I am loving this sugary sweet cake bake-y goodness!
Ordering some of this! yay sales and good tea :)
:) Indeed they do have awesome sales!
Pineapple upside down cake? YES!
indeed!!!!
No such thing as too pineapple-y! This sounds delicious!
Ooh, I love cake teas and hadn’t tried this because I was worried that it WOULDNT taste at all like cake. I might have to go order some now…
So i wanted to try this as a cold brew since the warm cup i had was more raspberry than sponge cake. It turns out, the cake was hiding in the cold brew :) This is a creamy cup of delicious cake like tea. I am digging this. Now i just need to try and figure out how to get this taste with a hot brew!
Preparation
I can’t wait for my order to get here.
These Bluebird teas keep popping up on my feed with great reviews – I may have to give in and order some myself!
How long did you cold brew it for?
Some where around 10-14 hours…. I never time them. Just toss them I and drink them somewhere between 1 to 3 days later lol
Nice!! I’m going to have to try this one cold!
Ooh. I’ll have to ice it!
See, I knew it’d find a better home with you. :) We just gave up when we couldn’t discern any cake.
If i figure it out hot, i’ll let you know how i managed it lol but so far i’m with you on the hot = no cake :)
How do I open the packages? Do I have to cut the tops off? It’s been here for 45 mins & I haven’t smelt them yet, I’m having anxiety ahhhh lol
Not sure why, but it does make me think of sponge cake when it’s hot – only because it gives in my mouth? IDK. It’s an imagined texture thing perhaps.
tattoed_Tea – pretty sure you just cut the top off. I got mine in a swap from hallieod but it looks like that’s what she did to me. IE. it’s no resealable, which would be my only negative comment….i prefer resealable packages! :)
Sil, did you ever find any cake in the hot brew? Have the tiniest sample of this that I want to brew this afternoon but am bent on finding cake and wanting something warm…
i don’t think i did dr pastry, but it’s been a long time
Yes friends. It is that good.
If you look at my highly outdated profile description, you’ll find Pina Colada as one of my favorite flavours!
The smell is spot on. It even smells sweet! Coconut, pineapple, cream, I’m drooling at the smell itself.
Now – it’s 2:30am and I had one of those breakdowns tonight. One of those I have a worthless degree and am applying for the same job I could have got after high school breakdowns. So I thought, screw it, I’ll make tea and bread and who cares about sleep. It wasn’t coming anyways.
I’m drinking it hot and trying to tiptoe so I don’t wake up my boyfriend, who needs sleep super badly tonight.
There’s something about this tea that reminds me of forever nuts! I think it’s the sweetness of the apple, in a non-apple tasting way haha. You know, I’m not generally a happy person, but tea, and my friends (Steepster friends included) give me hope and genuine, natural happiness. So thanks friends. :)
Sharing tasting notes from all over is allllmost (not quite) like having the cup of tea together. I guess it’s more like sharing the same experience, in a different way. Something about that is very calming. This is much too philosophical for this tea, I should be drinking an oolong or something.
Wow, okay – how does it taste? Something in the blend is giving it a little sharp tartness, then smooth creamy pina colada taste sweeps in. It will be a perfect iced tea with a splash of rum and a little bit of cream. The flavour is light in the way Luscious Watermelon is light. It’s juicy, but not heavy. Refreshing, but with any luck, won’t leave you wanting. A nice tea.
I like you too tea friend!
:) Thanks Bonnie – you make me smile
Aww. Hope your feeling better.
Fabulous tea, isn’t it?
And breakdowns suck :( Hang in there… I’m sure you’ll get a job soon, then can pursue something more along the lines of your dream job. :D
HUGS
It will work out soon!
I went through that breakdown myself while unemployed. Try not to stress over it. Just keep applying and thinking of your options. You’ll find something eventually. In the mean time, you have more time for tea. I miss having a nice gong fu session in the morning. :)
Also I totally want some of that tea you’re having! And luscious watermelon. Gotta stop by David’s soon. :)
I feel the same way about Steepster friends. Hugs!
I think it is so awesome that you made bread to prevent said breakdown. I’ve taken to making all our bread and I’m loving it. I have a BA, so can appreciate the feeling of useless degrees – I hope you can either put yours to work or at least make peace with the experience!
Bachelor of Arts + Bachelor of Fine Arts = the ultimate person? :)
Thanks wonderfuls, you are all amazing! We all lead different paths while drinking delicious tea along the way. More time for tea! You’re right.
Bachelorette of Double Arts!
Apparently the last time I had this I wrote that it had, and I quote; sort of a proto-caramel. A caramel stem cell flavour, sort of. end quote.
WTF??? O.O
I mean, I get the caramel-y flavour, but ‘caramel stem cell’??? What was going on in my head that day?
Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to say. All I wanted to say was that I’m sipping a large mug of this while reading Stone Soup comic strips, and sometimes a good tea is just ten times better when it isn’t analysed to bits.
sip…slurp…ahh!
giggles :)
That sounds amazingly delicious. I love Dan Cong, even if it includes proto-caramel-ity.
Soon we’ll have our first generation of caramel zombies trying to take over the world. Sounds scary and delicious at the same time. I wonder if this tea will provide any immunity. Okay, I’m beginning to sound crazy. I’ll stop talking now.
The other day on tv I seen that there are zombie apocalypse survival classes in my area. I was rather amused by that.
Have you seen the CDC Zombie Apocalypse guide? LOL! Not kidding. Government document, online.
haha that is awesome!
It’s so annoying when your mind is in the mood for tea, but your body simply isn’t. I woke up this morning and groggily stumbled into the kitchen, but no tea in particular was calling to me. Last night I’d had high hopes of trying some of my new teas this morning, but it was a different story when I woke up. So I brewed up something that’s tried and true, that I can generally rely on to brew a consistent cup. And it still tasted lovely and I felt all validated for having topped up with my last Butiki order, but I’m still just generally “not feeling it” as far as tea is concerned. Not a bad thing necessarily though, as I drink a lot of black tea and taking a break for a few hours never hurt anybody…much.
It’s Friday! May the work day pass quickly.
I have those mornings every once in a while. When I do, I drink coffee. I rarely drink it anymore but I still like it. The easy thing about it is – I only have one delicious kind.
That makes sense. I’m not a coffee drinker though, but I figure that not having anything at all would work too haha.
Boo. Hope you snap out of it with the tea thing. I hate it when you stand ther ewith so much tea and nothing sounds appealing… :|
That’s exactly it, cavo! I was like how can I have 140 teas and not want any of them?
Maybe take a break like MzPriss suggested, or pick a tea that is really different from what you usually drink? I hope you snap outta the funk and the rest of you day is spectacular. May the day pass quickly and easily, and the weekend be wonderful!!!
I had a couple of days a while back where every tea I tasted tasted BAD. And these are teas I love from the same bag I had been drinking from. I just didn’t have any for a coupl of days and it got better. I thought it was odd though
One of the antibiotics I was on last month did that to me. There were just some flavors that were completely gone for a little while, and things just tastes awful.
When that happens, I like to restrict myself from having my favorite teas for a week, until I crave them. I usually don’t last a week.
All good ideas!
That sort of thing happens to me as well from time to time. I normally drink black tea in the morning, but occasionally I feel kind of jaded, like, “I’ve already drank everything I have…sigh…there is nothing new under the sun…sigh…”. The first thing I usually do it drink a big glass of water. Then I’ll switch it up…drink something I normally wouldn’t drink in the morning, like an herbal tea, or white tea. Or ice tea.
Re what MzPriss said, I also occasionally have days where every tea tastes bitter, & my allergies sometimes mute my tastebuds, which is irritating because that special tea that is so nuanced just becomes a plain old cup of tea (& I start wondering if maybe I imagined all those amazing things I wrote, LOL).
I’ve been there Keychange! It’s an icky feeling, like your hobby failed you. Not cool tea, not cool :/
Yes yes yes!! as if my previous recollections were wrong, or like my hobby—my escape from the world—is somehow broken and I can’t enjoy it anymore. And then you panic and think you’ll never want tea again.
LOL, we all know THAT will never happen!
Ack!! Exactly. What if you are all of a sudden OFF tea, forever?? As if that would ever happen, but then… what if it did?!
I found this started with me after I began my tea sommelier certification. Almost like knowing so much about it, tea lost some of its magic. But then it came back, just not to the same level of crazy for me.
This morning I made fresh peanut butter to have with my toasts. It was warm and so creamy, I ate a big spoonful before spreading it!
Not all teas make the peanut butter list. (K S already know that) I usually have my regular straight Assam, Yunnan and Keemun to pair with it. Don’t like any flavoured tea with it.
You have to understand that I’m picky cause peanut butter is considered heaven food in my household.
K S mentioned in a recent post that earl grey came highly recommended on his PBJ tea list so I made a mental note of that (I personally am more of a purist, I prefer classic unaltered PB on my toasts, I ditched the J a long time ago).
So, I chose this favourite Earl of mine. I usually prefer this version cause the creamy part mellows the bergamot I sometimes find offensive in blends. The reason I like it so much is that unlike other EGC, this one doesn’t scream vanilla. I don’t mind vanilla when it’s done right, but it can be heavy and a little sickening to me. Here, it just rounds the edges of Miss Bergamot. It’s a perfect cup! And yes, it complimented wonderfully my PB toasts this morning.
So K S, thank you, earl grey officially makes THE PB list!!!
Wow, making fresh peanut butter! That’s ambition.
Mmm, this one is wonderful.
Lol, no merits here, it’s actually super easy when you have the tools. I have a high power blender (vitamix). I just buy a jar of roasted peanuts, and in 30 seconds I have fresh warm peanut butter! I make a one week provision every week end, it’s not really cheaper but it tastes so good, once you start you can’t stop!!
Nice! I read those vitamix blenders are very powerful. Maybe if I ever get a blender I’ll get that one. :)
Lol, I think I should just work for them, I’ve been such an ambassador since I got mine, I’ve convinced many people to buy one. It’s just a life changer, it makes hot soup within 10 minutes, it actually cooks by friction! So yes, hope you get to have one someday, much more than just a blender…
Wow, they’re expensive! Just looked it up. I had no idea they cook by friction. I was wondering why the peanut butter was warm haha.
When I have PB I like it on a Ritz. I do this often as PB is definitely heaven food. I often toast PBJ sandwiches in a skillet. Yumm. This is making me hungry. lol I have never made PB. The ‘natural’ ones I have bought seem to separate really bad. Maybe they have been on the shelf too long?
Oh, and if PB is heaven food (and it is), then EG is heaven drink. Sorry Sil, deal with it. ha
Heaven food: buttermilk donuts, lemon meringue pie, meat loaf (well, that’s soul food).
Fjellrev, yes it’s quite an investment and I first thought you had to be nuts to pay that kind of money for a blender, lol! Turns out it is worth every penny, as it replaces so many appliances…
K S, agreed that earl grey is also heaven drink, just like jasmine tea, it’s been part of my life since childhood…
I am so going to try a grilled PB sandwich now! Think it works without the jam??
Yes, can’t stand store bought natural peanut butter, they’re so hard to mix with all that oil on top. But when you do it yourself, you don’t have that problem, it doesn’t separate cause you put it in the fridge right away. So good!
Lol, gmathis, thank god it’s dinner time, so hungry!!!
You “ditched the j a long time ago” ? You ditched the j ?!!!? Why did you ditch the j ? Poor j ….. It’s ok j I still love you. I’ll take the j – you can have the icky bergamot stuff ;))
Hahaha! Oh Dexter, aren’t you the funny one…yeah, thanks for taking care of poor J.
(Bergamott hater!!!)
I probably need to retry with Fresh PB because olala this food is kind of mystery …why does my daughter love that…(skippy brand)
Haha, Ysaurella, just saw your comment, we also have the infamous Skippy here, that stuff is so sweet, I call it peanut jam! I can’t stand it and don’t like the natural PB found in stores, nothing like making your own with fresh roasted arachides, I highly recommend but don’t take Skippy away from your daughter, she will hate me :-)
The success of the coconut cream pie inspired me to try one of the other ones I bought from the forgotten 52teas order. I’m not surprised I ordered this one and it was sort of screaming to me. Here’s the thing.
I. Love. Cherry. Cola.
Favourite soda (after orange) FTW.
Unfortunately it’s not something we can usually get here. I don’t know if you can over there on the other side of the water. I know you have Dr Pepper which to me is very similar, but also not available in Denmark unless you’re really lucky. We had it for a couple of years recently, but it was taken off the market again. Apparently it didn’t sell well enough. (I fear Mountain Dew has gone the same tragic way, because I can’t find that anymore either). Recently we’ve had a limited edition cherry cola from coca-cola which was yummy, but alas, that one seems to also have run its course. In my deprivation of proper cherry cola or similar beverage, I’ve found that I can make a relatively good substitute with ordinary cola and cherry cordial. It’s not the same, but it works okay.
What all this means is that I have VERY high expectations of this one. So high, that I’m likely to be disappointed. Anything below a clean 100 on this is not good enough. The question just is exactly how disappointed am I going to get?
The leaves actually do smell a bit like cola and something that I’m willing to call cherry-like. There is however also a note which to my own surprise I can only describe as vaguely menthol-like. This is worrysome.
After steeping, the tea has pretty much the same smell, only hot. The mentholness is sticking out a bit more here, which is a little odd to me because menthol (along with mints) is usually a cool sort of flavour.
Hmm… Flat cola with dusty vanilla. I can’t find any cherry outside of the smell. Something sour-ish, kind of citrus-soapy-like. So, yes, I did get disappointed. It’s just a question of how much.
This does require an amount of experimentation, but for a first experience, I cannot in good consciousness give it more than 65-ish.
Too bad it didn’t satisfy that your cherry cola needs!! Have you ever tried Cheerwine? It’s a North Caroline (or a South Caroline) brand. You would probably like it as well.
And we have a cherry flavored Dr. Pepper sometimes. It’s really good too.
No, I’ve never heard about that before. Is it a wine? We have this cherry dessert wine here, which I don’t much like. I find dessert wines way too sweet.
Over here it seems like traditional cola, orange and sprite-like sodas are doing best. Other types of flavours are usually made by danish brands. I don’t know, maybe we’re just too set in our ways to try new types of soda when they become available.
This almost makes me want to ship some soda out to you. :-)
Awwww, that’s sweet Peggie. :) It’d probably be shaken flat by the time I got it though.
Dr.Pepper is sooooo different from Cheery Coke. Maybe they make it different in Denmark. But Cherry Coke is pretty common here in the States. All soda is actually.
Yes, I know it’s a different flavour, but for me it’s sort of pointing in the same general direction with the fruityness. A lot of it, for me, is probably also the similarity in colour.
I want your soda selection. :( The danes are too set in their ways.
Ahhh, I wouldn’t know. I don’t like Dr. Pepper =P. I stay away from that and Cherry Coke. If I have to drink soda, it’s coke, ginger ale or ice tea.
I’ve seen ginger ale around here, but only in these specialty bottles and really expensive. They seem to put them nearer to ciders than to sodas. I’m not very fond of ginger, so I haven’t tried them. I tend to go for cola or orange soda myself, even if the orange flavour tends to be rather artificial. I can handle a low quality orange soda much much better than a low quality cola. (Given Coca-cola and Pepsi, though, I can’t tell the difference. I can’t even tell if it’s light or regular). Other than that, I drink a lot of carbonated water, but I don’t really count that as a soda due to it not being sweetened.
You have to come down to the States one day. Soda tastes different ;)
I can’t really tell the difference between coke, pepsi and sprite, 7up. Some people hate one and love the other. Neh, they’re all the same to me. Orange soda isn’t bad. I haven’t had one of those in the longest time. Ummm, maybe next time.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who can’t. I always get all O.o when people say things like ‘I love Coke, but I hate Pepsi’ because they taste exactly the same to me. For the longest time I thought it was more a question of brand preference rather than taste preference, but then I saw a guy on tv doing test on tv with several kinds of cola. He was blindfolded but he got all of them right. It was amazing.
I think it’s just that some people prefer one over the other. I mean there are difference, but I really don’t care enough for them. To me it’s the same soda.
For most, yeah, I think it’s brand preference. I’m guilty of it myself, but I can’t tell you why. I have NO clue why I gravitate towards one rather than the other. I just do. I do it with milk too. I prefer organic milk, but if I can’t get the one with the drawing of the cow with flowers around it, then I’ll pick an ordinary non-organic milk over a different brand of organic. Even though they all taste the same. I just like that drawing.
Angrboda, maybe steep it highly concentrated, chill, and then add carbonated water?
It’s a wild cherry flavored soda.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerwine
http://www.cheerwinecorp.com/
Cofftea, yeah I’ve considered that as one of the ways I need to experiment with it. It’s just a shame that I can’t boil carbonated water and have it stay carbonated.
Fcmonroe, I think you’re right, I think I’d like that a lot too.
I feel your pain. I relocated from the US to UK a few years back and the only lament of culture change is the loss of my fav things (i.e. rootbeer and celestial seasonings tea). Anyway, you know if it was kosher I wouldn’t have a problem sending you cherry coke/dr.pepper/(mt. dew is around but not so much where I live now). Anyway, just thought I’d put it out there, since a girl on another forum was like my magical lifesaver and sent me the teas I was pining for. :)
Yeah, Peggie Bennett said that too, but it would probably go flat before I got it. :)
CS has come to danish stores in recent years. A pretty limited selection though, just a handful of kinds. We don’t even have a very large Twinings selection here. There might be hope for you yet. :) I take comfort in the fact that you lot don’t have my little local shop (Luka Te) and that AC Perch’s in Copenhagen charge heart’s blood to ship abroad. So I do have some advantages. :)
Mmm, cherry coke sounds SO good right now…and orange soda…and Dr. Pepper…laments giving up soda
Shanti, come over to the dark side. You know you want to. :p
Wait, people can’t taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi? Srsly? o_O
Yes, srsly. :)
Or, should I say, wait, people can taste the difference between coke and pepsi? O.o
Hehe – I actually like Pepsi more… to me it is sweeter. Though I usually just drink diet sodas (or at least I used to) so maybe the difference is more obvious in the no-cal versions.
The only 2 sodas I like are Jones green apple and the old coke blak… I was SO P!$$&&D when they discontinued it! Oh 52 teas…. LOL! Seriously though. I’d love a coffee coke flavored tea!
I don’t drink soda at all, except for the occasional Limonata, and that’s even very rare. But what about those Italian sodas? We have those here, you can probably buy the flavored syrups online, then mix it with your soda water.
Mmm, Italian soda…I would love to drink those, but regular soda water is also pretty bad for your teeth (acidity).
Hmm, you know I can’t remember the last time I had pop (soda to you guys, I guess). I pretty much swore it off a couple of years ago and honestly I haven’t missed it. I never drank much of it as a kid, my mother being big on healthier drinks like fruit juice and milk. /random post is random
But they taste completely different… mind is blown
You don’t think you could get a syrup/fizz ratio the right way to make taste like a soda? Or is there a way to buy soda syrup, like the stuff that comes out of the soda fountains? Maybe not name brand, but it could come close.
I agree Jillian. I just don’t like carbonation. Both coke blak and jones soda seem to be quite light in carbonation.
Yay! I love (LOVE) Sherlock. I hadn’t caught that connection, but that’s even more reason to try this tea.
It was in season 1, episode 2. :)
I’m too excited for new teas….
Sil-Yay for new teas! :)
Which other teas are being moved out? Not Golden Lion Assam?!?
Tea Sipper-Unfortunately, we will run out of the Hattialli Golden Lion Assam. Not by choice though. I didn’t anticipate how much we would need for the year correctly. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to acquire more until the next harvest.
Sherlock is a lot of fun! I’m so sad to see BC go and never got a chance to try your EG (I was just thinking about it today because I was trying a bunch and realized I never think to grab your more traditional sounding blends just because you have so many things nobody else does I want to try first), but I appreciate how dynamic and truly innovative the company is, so I can understand. Looking forward to new things!
I’m a little sad about the BC too because I thought that one was a winner but maybe the white tea version will be even more awesome! Also, we will be working on another Earl Grey. I’m debating between going with a really good base tea and staying traditional or doing funky Earl Grey blend. Thanks for the kind words! :)