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Tea of the morning. I’ve been curious about this tea for awhile, and thanks to kimquat I am finally able to try it. My recent experience with the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box has made me much less afraid of pu’erhs, so this made me doubly excited to give this tea a try.

My first thoughts with this tea were earth and smoke. I get forest floor and wet granite with a campfire smokey note. As the tea cools there is some honey like sweetness and a sweet/tart berry flavor. I like the berry flavor mixed with the earthy notes a lot. The combination is delicious. When the tea was close to room temperature the earthy flavors were a little too dark and dusty for me. This is a tea I’ll drink hot.

I’m so glad I got to give this tea a try. I’ll likely pick up more of this come autumn.

We had a great Fourth of July bbq. Lots of food and lots of laughter. Now we’re in that quiet time between eating too much and going to watch the fireworks. A perfect time for tea. This is the tea I had planned to have tonight when we were camping out (stupid rain), so I thought I’d enjoy it now.

I took Miss B’s advice and over steeped this one. I usually steep it for three minutes, but today I went for six. The results are glorious. The chocolate and honey flavors are thick with the graham cracker and marshmallow flavors mixing in layers. One sip I get more graham cracker, the next creamy sweet marshmallow. High yum factor goin’ on here. At the end of the dip I get the smoke and a light taste of pine. It really brings the whole tea together.

I know this is billed as an autumn tea, but for me this tea will always remind me of summer and simple pleasures.

Happy Independence Day to Steepsters in the U.S.!

I’m back from my camping trip a couple of days early thanks to hurricane (now tropical storm) Arthur. We figured it was better to cut the trip short than risk getting stuck at a remote campsite during a bad storm. While I am a bit bummed about not camping on July 4th it is nice to be home safe and sound… with my teas.

I spent the morning catching up on the news including several articles on Scotland. It immediately made me crave this tea. It’s such a thick, rich tea that’s full of wonderful malty notes. It’s not complex, but it is invigorating. In up fact, I’ll probably pick up a tin of this one after I use the sample I bought and finish the tin of Irish Breakfast I have sitting in my cupboard.

Backlogging.

This was my before bed tea last night. More than anything I want to write this note to remind myself that this is a very decent apple tea. I’ve been on the lookout for good apple teas for months now, so I was happy to stumble across this one. I never tasted pomegranate, but the apple taste is fruity, juicy, and sweet. There is no tart hibiscus flavor (always a concern with herbals), and I found it very relaxing which is what I want in a nighttime tisane.

Tea of the morning. Today this tea is full of crusty baked bread notes. Yum. There is also the malty notes which I often enjoy in a morning cup. It definitely has a caffeine jolt. It’s enough to get me going which is good even though today I’m enjoying moving a bit more slowly and catching up on the news before starting on work.

This tea is exactly what it says it is, mint and chocolate. The fact that the chocolate flavor comes from the tea and nothing else is awesome. Love it. It has become my go-to dessert tea, but sadly I used the last of my leaf tonight. Thankfully I have plenty Mint Chocolate Chai to help ease my pain. :)

I had this tea earlier today. I finished my chores before the kids finished theirs, so while I was waiting for them I thought I’d relax with a lovely mug of this. My past notes on this have raved about the base tea (wonderful!) and the spice blend (spot on!). I don’t have anything new to say. This is one of my happy teas, and drinking it today made me smile.

Tea of the morning. I wanted a no-muss-no-fuss tea today, and this one falls into that category. It’s such a good Assam. Strong, rich and malty, this is an excellent tea to wake up to.

Had this one earlier this evening. I sweetened it and added some half and half because I wanted a creamy note to the tea. I still really like the peach and wood note in this tea. I’m not sure I even tasted apricot this time, but that’s ok. This was still yummy,

Tea of the morning, and the last of the samples I picked up from H&S. I was curious about this tea since it isn’t technically a Darjeeling but is done, “in a Darjeeling style”. I am also a fan of Nepali teas which have also been compared to Darjeeling, so I though it would be fun to see how this tea compares.

Teim is mellow with a sweet – almost floral – smell. The taste is also sweet with strong honey notes. Delicious! There is a woody flavor that reminds me of Darjeeling as does the moderate amount of astringency at the end of the sip. A floral note is present as the tea cools, and between the honey and floral flavors I’m reminded of the wildflower honey I once bought at a road side farmer’s stand when I was driving through Texas. This is definitely a pleasing cup.

Yes, there are similarities between Sikkim and Darjeeling teas, but this tea is different enough, and unique enough, to warrant me buying a tin at a future date. This will make a really lovely afternoon tea. In fact, I might have it again this afternoon.