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Story Time:
I got my new teas from Teavana in today!!! I would have been waiting around for the package at the door like a crazy person if it wasn’t for the fact that I had to pick up my brother from school. Also I am starting to move all of my music files, pictures, programs, ect. back onto my computer. I must say it was a pain to format my computer, but it is running like buttda. Now if only Steam would hurry up with my Skyrim download so I can get it back…

Tea Time:
Ok, so I bought this blend with mixed feelings, since I had gotten mixed reviews. However, I figured that if it didn’t make a good brew that I could always eat it. When I first smelled it, all I could smell was chocolate and fruit… no chilies. I then tasted some of it, and all I tasted was strawberry’s and chocolate… no chilies. This was not a good sign.

I first brewed some Copper Knot Hongcha Black Tea as a base. Then I put in about 2 and a half teaspoons of this and brewed it for 11 minuets. The liquor it made was a murky brown with a oily sheen; to which I hoped was the spicy awesomeness that I wanted. I tried it plain with only a little sweetener. All it tasted like to me was weak hot coco with a mild bit of strawberry. There was absolutely no spicy taste….. AT ALL!!! The only thing that lead me to believe that there were chilies in there was the slight burning sensation in my mouth that one gets from eating them… but no flavor. I put a little bit of half and half in it and found it to be more like weak coco.

I am holding off rating though, as I have not tried it alone, at a hotter temperature, or done any trouble-shooting. At the moment though I am not pleased.

Specifics
Steep Time: 11 Min
Tea Base: Hogcha Black Tea (Teavana)
Sweetener: 1/2 Tbl
H&H: 1 Tbl

P.S. I had to eat some chips & salsa to satisfy my spice craving…

Story time:
Finally starting to get my computer back online. I swear they make it harder every system to format and reload Windows. Anyways, I am really excited cause I get the new tea that I ordered from Teavana in tomorrow. Plus the parts that the electronics shop ordered for me should also be in as well; which means I can finally start to use the nice Kenwood record player that I found on the side of the street. Now to decide what record to crissin it with. Hmmm… “The Who” maybe?

Teatime:
Ok, I might be jumping the gun, but I think that Luzianne tea makes the best sun tea EVER!!! First, the liquor color that these giant tea bags make is extremely dark red. It reminds me of the brackish water that you see inland where all the Cyprus trees are. When you swish it around it turns into a rainbow of reds, oranges and yellows. While the taste is not super exquisite and doesn’t have a lot of flavor notes, the one classic malty note that it does have is lovable. There is absolutely no bitter after taste and is great plain or with a lemon in it. I am definitively keeping this in the pantry for sun-tea.
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Specifics
Temp: Hot summer days
Bags: 4
Water: 64oz
Time: 2 1/2 hours
Liquor: I will up load later…

Overall, I would recommend this to a friend to make sun or ice tea with.

Story Time: Ugh, why can’t formatting a computer be like how it was in the old days, simple and easy. Now it is more touchy and complicated. Back-story: I have had my Dell XPS for about 2 years and love it. I had to save up for two years to get it, but it was worth it. Lately it has been kinda acting up and would randomly go to black screen; which is bad when you are doing graphic design work. First I tried to just re-load the system, since that always fixes most Microsoft problems. However, I stupidly let it try to download and install ALL the updates… I should have known better. It was really derpy and could not get it to behave no matter the trouble shooting. So seeing how that wasn’t going to work and I really needed to back up my files, I decided a full format was in-order. After about 6 DVD disks later my files are backed up. Now I just got to go back and reload the OS FROM THE DISK. Tried to do it just from the desktop, but it didn’t want to cooperate. Hopefully I can at least be back online by tomorrow.

Tea Time: Going back through my Lipton tea pyramids to use up I decided to give Black Pearl a try. I was a little hesitant do to the reviews, but I decided to give it a shot. When it was finally done and pour it over ice i was surprised. Obviously it is not the best tea, but it tasted pretty good. It made a really dark red liquor and smelled like most bagged Lipton tea. The taste was your classic single note Lipton taste, but slightly… very slightly more complex. It was malty with a slightly sweet and bitter aftertaste, but not unpleasant. Of course that could be the light agave I use to sweeten it. I might try a darker agave next. I only wished I had some lemons to squeeze into it.

Overall I was please with it, and so was my mom. I will make a separate taste note for a regular hot water brew. I do though want to do a taste test comparison with regular Lipton bags and Luzianne tea to find out which one makes the best black sun tea.

Specifics
Temp: Hot summer day
Water: about 64 ounces
Bags: 6
Time: 2 1/2 hours
Liquor color: http://s1152.photobucket.com/albums/p499/Ze_Teamaker409/?action=view&current=2012-07-09144950.jpg

I have tired this tea hot, cold, and sun-sea style and find it MEH. It really should not say there is mango in there cause all I can taste is peach. The only way I have drank it when it tasted even semi remotely good is a sun tea and still it is meh.

I have even tried to brew this with my Thai Moutain Oolong (Teavana) and found it horrid. It had an astringent flavor and with a weird after taste of carrots.

Overall really bad tasting tea to me.

I have had this tea for a while and used to be my fav till I started to drink better loose teas. It has a very stong vinalla and caramel flavor. I have tried to use it to make sun to but found it very bitter; plus it is a tea best served hot then cold

Specifics
Water Temp: under boiling
Tea bag ratio: I tea bag per big cup of tea
Sweetener: Light brown sugar to taste

Over all it is an Ok-meh dessert tea.

I have tried this tea brewed hot and found it meh-blah. However, I have been trying to get rid of my Lipton tea pyramid collection so I have started to use them to make sun-tea; as I am not about to use my good loose to for it.

I found this tea to taste actually pretty good. It is one of my fave’s so far for making sun tea from the pyramid collection. It has a decent berry flavor and with an odd warm cinnamon aftertaste.

Specifics

Water Temp: As hot as hot summer days
Number of bags: 6
Water Amount: 64oz
Brew time: about 3 hours
Sweetener: 2 Large spoonfuls of light agave.

Other than for making sun tea, i would not recommend this to a friend.

1st: If you are LOOKING FOR a STRONG GREEN TEA flavor… THIS IS NOT THE TEA FOR YOU

I got this tea with the sakura allure gift set, which i love. The best way i can describe the flavor of this tea is like unsweetened cherry-cranberry juice. It also taste better cooler then warmer. I have tried to steep it twice, but the second steep is VERY floral with a lot of the fruit flavors gone. However, I do taste more of the green tea flavor.

It should be noted that due to the green tea in it, if brewed for too long, it does get a bitter after taste

Specifics

Brew Temp: 175F
Steep Time 2:30 + 3 Minuets.*
Tea Base: none or later steepings of Thai Mountain Oolong (teavana)
Sweetener: 1/2 TBS light Agave or none at all per 14oz glass

Note: the cooler the temp it is drinked at, the more juice like flavor it has.

*To get the full cherry flavor but with out the bitterness of longer steeping, leave the cherry pieces out side of the tea infuser and steep for about another 3 minuets.

I would recommend this to someone who loves cranberry juice and as an alternative to juice with out all the sugar and calories.