Cofftea Send Message

And my 1st yr. on steepster comes to a close. Celebrating w/ matcha OJ!

Ok… this is getting a major rating boost. Made it the way I normally have my chai 1 cup each water and Fat Free Smart Balance milk and added a min of steeping time. No sweetener. This is the best non chocolate chai I’ve EVER had… and I’m shocked it’s a decaf bag. The spices aren’t strong, they’re very smooth… I’m not sure why, but I swear this even has a different texture than my Mayan Chocolate Chai. This has a lot of similar qualities to the authentic Indian chai I had at a restaurant once only it’s actually drinkable lol. I’m thinking the milk in that chai just had scorched milk… I dunno. Anyway REALLY good. I suggest making it w/ chocolate milk.

TWININGS ORDER 2/27

Kinda surprised I had to enter this one. I admit I don’t have high expectations for this. I don’t prefer bags and I’ve only had one decaf chai… which was a loose leaf disaster. But why not?

I find it weird Twinnings doesn’t package their bagged teas consistantly. The last tea I had was in a box not wrapped in plastic and the bags were not wrapped individually and did not contain tags… all 3 are true of this box.

When I open the box I immediately think “instant chai mix” which is odd cuz I’ve never had a bagged or loose chai that smelled like that.

1 bag/8oz water, served clean.

Once steeped, the very dark brown liquor w/ red tones smells much like it did raw. Definitely spicy- not much of the tea.

Ok, this is MUCH better than my last decaf chai experience. It’s pretty much all spice and no tea, but that’s ok- I didn’t get either in my last decaf chai experience. The mouthfeel is smooth and heavy. Not bad at all if you want a black chai w/o caffeine.

Twinings Order 1/27

I couldn’t resist a Twinnings order, my 1st, when they were giving away free samples of their new organic teas. But my order is shocking. It contains 11 fruit or herbal blends (6 purchased, 5 free samples) and are ALL bagged teas. I did this simply for the sake of cost and the fact that I knew I could get thru a box of tea faster than I could a tin of loose leaf. Storage of the tins was also a factor.

Made 24oz and had it w/ a sun dried tomato and pepper chicken pesto flat bread lean cuisine.

It’s kinda hard to tell, but the leaf seems to be EXTREMELY fine and there’s an odd scent I can’t place. Steeped, the tea smells like an orange green tea (mandarin specifically).

Once steeped the flavor is definitely of orange. Almost those orange gummy candies only w/o the sugar. At first I thought there was also note of bitter pith or orange peel, but unfortunately it’s the green tea base. There also seems to be notes of flower, but I’ve never had lotus so I can only guess that’s what it is. It was a fairly goood tea, I just wish the bitterness wasn’t there.

2nd infusion w/ dinner. Left over Chinese- Lemon Chicken w/ white rice… my FAVE! My family are not Chinese food eaters so I only get it on my birthday.

Made 24oz of this today. I bought this when it was featured for the roots campaign and am just now opening it. Not sure I’m getting honey notes in this or not… there’s a lot of sweetness, but it’s hard to tell if it’s honey-eque. I do find it funny that they don’t mention peach. This is a wonderfully sweet, peachy, and floral tea. I think this time I’ve gotten more floral notes than usual and less peach… A wonderful light, but not green, pseudo flavored oolong

2nd infusion w/ lunch… some sort of REALLY spicy, REALLY good chicken fajitas (started out as a combo plater, but mom had the shrimp ones) that mom brought home left over from her business lunch at Applebees, but I can’t find them on the menu for some reason. Just a touch stronger than the 1st infusion.

Ugh… Madison has been getting up @ 7:30 when mom leaves for work the past 3 days. And because I took melatonin last nite I’m pretty out of it. My throat isn’t up to par, but at least I’m not hacking today. I remembered I had this and thought it would be good on my throat since I don’t have mint. Whites aren’t my 1st choice to make since I don’t have my scale replaced yet, but I’m drinking it more for functionality this morning so I figure I’ll be fine.

4TB leaf/16oz hot water (see below) then 8oz cold water (note to self: Get bigger IngenuiTEA)

The light orange liquor smells light and sweet. The base is still pretty substantial, definitely not wimpy. The honey gives it body and a slight thickness, but does not coat my throat (yay!). This is actually probably the best cuppa of a tea I’ve made w/o my scale that I use my scale for. That makes me happy.

How did I ever manage for 3 months as a telemarketer? Sure, I was REALLY horse by the end of my work week which included working 36 hrs in 4 days, 2 of which were 12 hr days… but I’ve only been calling 4 days now, about 6 hrs a day and I’m coughing so hard I’m almost making myself sick. I NEED mint green tea… unfortunately this is the only bag I have and I have no loose either.

I’m definitely drinking this for functionality tonite- I didn’t even check their suggested prep. Steeped a bit hotter and longer than usual to bring out more peppermint.

Inspite of my abuse, it still does have light and smooth qualities in addition to the slight bitterness from the battered green tea. The mint isn’t as strong as I need it to be, but it’s still very nice.

Added a tsp to the Raspberry V8 V-Fusion +Tea. Luckily the color wasn’t as nasty as I expected, but I really couldn’t taste the matcha either. I need a stronger tasting matcha.