1118 Tasting Notes
Updating from the last few days. I’ve taken to making this by the pot rather than the cup. It saves time, and while I prefer to drink this hot I like to iced, too. If I get distracted and my tea cools I just pour it over ice and go about my day.
Cups:57
Thank you, Dinosara for this sample!
This was a serendipitous find for me. Dinosara accidentally sent me the wrong sample, but she was sweet enough to let me keep it and give it a try. For some reason I have always stayed away from passion fruit. I’m not sure why, I have simply never wanted to try anything flavored with passion fruit. My mistake because this tea is good!
The fruit flavor is sweet, and the smell made me think of summer. I did add some sugar to my cup to bring the fruit flavor out a bit more. Since this is my first time trying anything that taste like passion fruit I don’t have a lot to compare it to. All I can say is I enjoyed it. I wish the base tea were stronger, but all in all this is a tasty tea.
Glad you ended up liking it! If you ever want to try more passion fruit teas, the passion fruit black from thepuriTea is my favorite!
I’ll put it on my shopping list. At the rate I’m drinking this tea I’m going to need more passion fruit tea in the next few days. :)
We have started a major house renovation due to some damage that occurred way back in October, so I have not been able to log much of what I have been drinking lately. This EG is the only tea I have kept track of, but hopefully I can write more reviews soon. For this tea I kept a tally sheet on my fridge for the last few days. My husband and the contractor might think I went around the bend. :)
The idea of everything that needs to happen (I currently am walking on the sub-floor, have no lower cabinets, counter tops, a sink, or dishwasher in my kitchen) is overwhelming, so I’ve been drinking lots and lots of this tea. In fact, I need to place an order because last night I actually saw the bottom of my jar. Yes, there was a moment of panic. Reorder will be made today!
Before we started this re-do I decided to host a tea party for my friends when everything is over. It will be a fun way to show off my new space, and a way to say thank you because all these ladies have heard me talk about lately is paint colors and the cost/benefits of tile vs. wood flooring. When I do have the party this tea will definitely be on the menu. Then I can treat it with all of the daintiness and fun it deserves. Right now it is yet another friend that reminds me that at the end of all of this noise and worry will be (hopefully) something that I love.
(My earlier reviews have my thoughts on the tea itself)
Cups: 36
I feel for you! It was no fun walking next door to shower at my moms vacant house for seven weeks while our only full bath was being gutted and redone! Now we have to do the kitchen, and I just don’t know how I will cook and such. No longer have a vacant house next door!
We have a fridge and oven, but we have not had a sink or dishwasher since before Halloween. Washing dishes in the bathtub is hard enough, I don’t know what I would do if cooking were any harder. A friend of mine spent months using just her microwave and a hot plate. I know it’s not the end of the world, but it’s definitely difficult!
I feel for ya!!
We are supposed to be reno-ing at my place to. and moving. so things have been in boxes for WEEKS, but things keep getting held up for one reason or another. So frustrating.
Backlogging.
I made a trip back to my local(ish) tea house to pick up a few new teas. My main goal was to find some non-hibiscus, non-rooibos herbals, but when I was reading through their tea menu I saw this and knew I had to try it. Vanilla flavored black tea with white tea stars added… cute!
After getting home with my purchases I decided to give this one a try. While I was putting water in the kettle the water temperature issue hit me. If I boil the water I’ll burn the white tea. If I don’t boil the water the black tea will be gross. Sigh. So I took all of the tea stars out of the package and made myself a cup of vanilla black tea. I’ll save the white tea for another day. Two teas for the price of one! What could be better?
The tea is good. Really good. In fact, it’s my new favorite vanilla tea. The Assam brews up very dark and has a full flavor. The vanilla is wonderful. No artificial taste. No weird lingering scent. The two are well blended so it is easy to taste the tea and the vanilla throughout the cup. This tea is simple but so, so good. I could drink this morning, noon, and night and be a happy girl.
I’m curious about the tea stars and will be giving them a try soon. I’ll probably wait until next week when everyone else is out of the house and I can stop and really enjoy them.
I am falling more and more in love with this tea. It’s such a wonderful lemon black, and the floral note just puts it over the top. I’m going to be hard pressed to find a lemon flavored tea I love as much as this one, but the next time Frank releases a tea with lemon notes I will be buying! Also, I’m bumping up my rating because I like this more than the first time I reviewed it.
I’m sipping this while listening to the rain fall outside. It’s supposed to turn to ice later tonight, so I’m thinking we’ll be staying put tonight and a good part of tomorrow. Can’t say that this bothers me. Maybe I’ll see how much of my stash I can bust through while we are iced/snowed in. There are definitely worse ways to spend a weekend!
To all the New England Steepsters, be safe! It looks like this storm is going to be a doozy and not something to be taken lightly!
First cup of the morning. I spent way too long looking at my stash this morning. Everything sounded good and nothing sounded good. That ever happen to you? Well, this one eventually won out, and I must say it was a thoroughly enjoyable cup. I’m very careful to not let this one oversteep because I think the marshmallow and caramel are at their best with a three and a half minute steep. Absolutely delicious!
That was me this morning too! I “settled” for Carrot Cake Oolong (David’s Tea), but I know exactly what you mean. And I know I will be feeling it again at the end of this cuppa.
When this happens with my music I just hit random. I never know what’s coming and if I don’t like it another is coming in 3 or 4 minutes (or 12 – Freebird!). There needs to be a random button on the tea stash.
That’s usually me in the afternoons… I worry what’s going to happen when my stash grows bigger.. lol
@KS – I love the idea of a random button on my tea stash! That wouldn’t just solve my problem, but it would be a lot of fun. :) Also, I keep my playlist on random mostof the time. I find it keeps me from zoning out when I have a big project to finish or need to get housework done. Aerosmith followed by Beethoven is amazing.
@KeenTeaThyme – Getting that feeling at the end of a cup… gah… I hate that. The only thing worse is craving a tea I finished the week before. :)
Backlogging.
I wanted something warm to drink, but I had reached my caffeine limit for the moment, so made myself a cup of this to throw in my travel mug while I was out running errands. It was something to sip and enjoy without feeling that I needed to pay a lot of attention to it. I have to say, I am enjoying this one more than I thought I would.
I had this tea a while back, and I was thinking the same thing. I’m not too keen on blackberry teas (they seem to taste like cough medicine to me), but this one wasn’t half bad.
Good to know. Since there is—at least in my experience—no such thing as a really good black decaf tea, my preference among other decafs is anything fruit flavored that isn’t bitingly tart. (Their pineapple chamomile pyramid bags are nice, too.)
This is another sample from Jackie T. Thank you!
This is the second time I’ve had this tea. The first time I felt like I spent too much time trying to dissect the tea, so I ended up skipping the review. After sitting down with the tea this time I can say that Jackie’s review is spot on. I don’t taste eggnog or rum. There is a good vanilla flavor and a robust, toasty, ever so slightly astringent black tea. While I wish I could taste something that hinted of eggnog I do like this tea. The tea itself is quite delicious, and the vanilla is very well done.
So, not what I wanted, but I’ll have no trouble finishing off this sample.
I fell asleep last night wondering which tea to make this morning. Yes, that is the kind of wild and crazy life I lead. :) Anyway, my subconscious got it all worked out because as soon as my feet hit the floor I knew I wanted chai. Specifically, this chai. Good black tea with lots of wonderful spices. I added some sugar but no milk. It was perfect.
Instead of running around like a crazy person and grabbing sips of my tea when I could, I sat down and drank my tea. I was a few minutes late getting my daughter up and moving (She can ignore an alarm clock better than anyone I know.), but it was worth it. I had another cup over breakfast, and now I’ve got enough caffeine shooting through my system to get me through my morning chores. Or maybe I’ll ignore the chores and curl up with my book. Doesn’t that sound better?
Totally!! Chores have nothing on book and tea! :)
Book! Book!
Sigh… I ended up doing the chores, but only because my family would have nothing for dinner otherwise, and my daughter needed some stuff for her science project. Tonight, however, it will be me, a book, and a cup of tea!
57!!!!! Holy crap!
i was wondering what that meant. so it means what it says huh? coooooool. sweet, i got this from a swap! will try this….as soon as i can…
I’m still wondering what this cups thing means.
I’m tracking how many cups of this tea I drink during the month of February because I drink this tea so much. :)