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Sipdown! Tried it strong, with milk and sugar, and it gained a not-so great perfumy flavor profile which I did not enjoy. I was able to finish the cup, but I am not going to buy more.

Had another cup of this yesterday. Tried to see what happens if I brew it longer around 7 minutes. It was both sweeter and more flavorful, which makes me think that it would do great with a long cold brew.
Kind of wish that it was part of Verdant’s regular stock.
No rockets on Tel Aviv yesterday. Which is good.

Haven’t had this in a while, and I’ve missed its slightly smokey presence. F&M teas are overpriced, but they tend to be top notch (some blends are hit and miss, though). My regular tea partners weren’t at work today, so I had to drag newcomers to enjoy tea with me. I prefer sharing tea with other people to drinking it by myself. How about you?

Had a strong cup of this this morning, with milk and a bit of sugar. I really like this tea, so I’m bumping up it’s score. I need to try in plain.
So we were happy this morning because the ceasefire had been extended by 24 hours, but the Hamas kept shooting rockets, and didn’t accept the humanitarian ceasefire, so now we are back to square one with no end in sight.
Everybody is back on edge, and every motorcycle that wails in the distance has people jump. The sirens on the ambulances werre changed a week and a half ago, since the old ones caused people to needlessly panic.
Drink lovely tea and pray for peace.

I was cleaning the house yesterday and I stumbled upon a stray bag of this. It is from Verdant’s now defunct Tea of the Month Club (Reserve). I have about enough for another steeping, which I will probably brew cold.
The leaves of this tea are amazing: huge, plump, silvery green “needles” that smell super sweet, with a hint of the “tea” smell, and a hint of a vegetal scent. I imagine that that is what caramelized green tea leaves must smell like, if such a thing existed.
The itself is as sweet as it promises to be, with a refreshing cucumber base and a toasted wheat aftertaste. Delicious.
Is is unique enough to deserve the “reserve” title? Yes.
Is it the best Silver Needle that I have tasted? Yes.
Will I recommend it to people, if it was readily available? It depends. The price tag is a bit too steep, even for such a good tea. If white tea is your favourite, then you owe it to yourself to try this one out. If you enjoy white teas on occasion, I’m not sure that this is where you’d want your money invested. There are very good and unique white teas to be had at a fraction of the price.

P.S. As of now the 12 hour ceasefire has been thankfully extended until midnight. Praying that it will be extended even more.
Be brave and drink tea…

Not one of Fortnum and Mason’s best blends, the Ceylon here does nothing but create a cacophony with the Assam. The result is no more than an OK tea, and if there was something better at my parents’ house, I’d probably reach out for that first.
Bottom line: I need to restock the teas at my parents’ house, for when I visit (they insist on drinking from teabags).

I tried posting a review to steepster last night, but it just wouldn’t work. I kept getting the “Oops” message. Apparently there was some sort of outage in the servers.
There were two more barrages on Tel Aviv yesterday, even though talks of a ceasefire are still in the air. I was sorry that we didn’t accept the Kerry deal, but as the talks haven’t stopped, I’m still hopeful that there will be a ceasefire.
In tea land, I treated myself to two cups of this wonderful, fruity tea. I found Norbu tea through Teaviews, and the review of this tea was what got me to place my first order with them. Wild black Taiwanese tea? It sounded so interesting and wonderful that I had to try it myself. It is still one of my top 5 teas, years later. So glad that I hoarded it, and I will be really sad to see it go.
Keep calm and drink tea.

Raisins and plums with astringent notes, a delicious afternoon tea. Hoping for a quiet weekend.

Had another cup of this this morning. A very good Darjeeling, one of the best that I’ve ever tasted.
Finished this cup during our weekly team meeting, and ten minutes later the sirens started blaring again. 5 rocket attacks in 30 minutes.
Where there is tea there is hope.

Backlog from yesterday. First time in about two weeks that there were no sirens in Tel Aviv. There’s talk of a ceasefire, but as this is the third time around that there has been talk of a ceasefire, we are weary of hoping. Meanwhile, we are trying to carry on with our lives, but the ugly realities of this conflict keep making their appearance. Sirens keep going off in southern and central Israel. A farmer hand was killed yesterday while gathering crops. Children are afraid of the color red (which is the code name for a rocket warning), and the mounting number of dead and the situation in Gaza makes my stomach lurch. Two friends have sons serving in Gaza now, and I can see the fear in their eyes. Soldiers that go into Gaza must leave their phones behind, as the Hamas uses them to pinpoint the soldiers’ location. It’s for their safety, but I can see their mothers going mad with worry and I feel helpless, because there really is nothing I can do to help.
Drinking tea is now a way to calm our nerves, so we are drinking much more now. Others are eating much more, especially chocolate. But for us it’s tea.
I had to look up what clonal meant before reviewing this tea. It’s a clone!
I’ve had not so great experiences with Margaret Hope Darjeeling in the past, but this one is very good. It’s not as acidic as the Margaret Hope’s that I didn’t like in the past, and there is the wonderful muscatel flavor.
Where there is tea there is hope.