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Thank you Brenden for this tea sample!

Lovely aroma that takes me to the childhood that few people have these days. Bobbing for apples, bales of hay for hayrides. Who does this anymore? Some people do…and I did.

One time when my daughter was a teen we had a party and put cooked oatmeal in the large steel tub with the apples, then food coloring. The girls with long hair had a terrible time getting the oatmeal out!

I baked apple pies and other desserts for the Johnny Appleseed Contest in our town of Paradise, California. I do love apples and cinnamon!

For an Oolong?!? This surprised me! What on earth?!?

My appreciation for creativity without using chemical flavors (cheating) gives Brenden a thumbs up!

As for taste…I thought the flavor was spot on but light. It wasn’t the fault of the cinnamon or apple though, the base tea wasn’t quite the right oolong. It should have been a more buttery/floral oolong which would have tasted like a sun-ripened apple (like a yellow delicious). Mountain apples (not store bought) are quite sweet. I picked the apples I used to win the apple pie contests so I’m just sayin… I think it could have been a sweeter oolong.

That said, I love the idea.

Another of this months Blend Club selections!

So far, this month has been spectacular! The Chai is my favorite ever by anyone and the herbal was excellent!

This Genmaicha I had some trouble with. Don’t know if it’s my own tastebuds or the blend.

The aroma is spot on wonderful! Rice, Oolong, Cinnamon! Smells great!

When I brewed the tea, all I could taste was Oolong. No spice or rice.
I do enjoy the Oolong, but I couldn’t taste the blend not even the carob (go figure that). The tea tasted like a light roast Oolong, the carob blending into the roasted characteristic along with the slight spiced cinnamon (which can also meld into the Oolong, Rice too…just poof gone).

Ah…

The adventure is ahead next month! Love the creativity of blends!

I often take my time before reviewing tea’s. This one was fun!

I made a pot of tea yesterday, using a little extra leaf and 2 minute steep. I love the idea of mulling spice…and knew that without tea in the mix, there would be no bitterness steeping a little longer.

First I tasted my brew straight and was excited at the strength of the elderberry, coriander and other spices. (Would have hated a tulsi dominant blend)
I drank a cup…ok…done.

Now the next test.

I added honey!

Light as a feather, dancing around like a sugarplum fairy…grandma Bonnie became a thing of cartoon’s…ah…honey in a mulling blend is delightfull in the Fall! This was meant to be!

I finished the first pot with another mug and honey, smiling.

One more test to go, I began again.

Heating 8oz of organic apple juice (the kind with stuff in the bottom) and 8oz filtered water, I steeped fresh Elderberry Herbal Blend in the half juice-half water mixture for 2 minutes.
AND IT WAS GREAT! (I did add some honey again, just a little!)

Why half-half? The Apple Juice was very sweet naturally, too sweet!
Anyway…

The options are lovely…and this would be a great duo with the current Winter Ginger Blend!!! (I hope Verdant is listening!)

PS Tonight, I resteeped with a bit of malty cocoa black tea and it was D-licious! Versatility herbalism!

Thank you Brenden for the sample of this tea!

You must read Brenden’s discription of this tea no matter what. It’s charming! A genuine love affair with a place he should live forever! I’m convinced that we can all find our own special place that says “THIS IS HOME”! It has nothing whatever to do with money or power. It’s something in the heart.

I’m happy to have found my ‘Home’ for now. I always say ‘for now’ in case God has other plans for me. My heart happiness is portable.

Brenden has decided to create his tea’s without artifical flavors or the low quality tea’s found in far too many blends. Yeah! I’m a great fan of all the Tea Companies that don’t use artificial ingredients and who don’t compromise on quality!

North Winds: The wonderful Fujian Black Tea (which I bought from Whispering Pines already because it’s so Cocoa-luscious) base is cocoa and milky, not a dark chocolate. I didn’t taste cherry, mentioned in the description Brenden wrote,..but instead tasted sweet tea cookie (like animal cracker).
The tea was creamy, buttery with malted caramel, chocolate filled pastry.

Goodness! How on earth do you discribe how good this tea tasted?

Please try it with cream and sweeten. This type of tea is enhanced a great deal by both (brings the cocoa alive and a richness to dessert level).

I’d suggest having North Winds over the holidays with shortbread or sugar cookies with people who love you .

This Is The Best Chai I’ve Ever Tasted!

I said it and I mean it! In fact, I already called David Duckler and left him a message pleading with him to make this a regular offering and not a ‘Special one-time only Blend-Club selection’. I’m in a panic! What will happen if the ounce I have is all I’ll ever taste of this fabulous Chai. Wah!

How do I discribe the taste…oh dear.

There’s so much flavor blended so masterfully, that I have to talk about it more like food. Chai is like curry, you know right away if the spice blend is ‘eh’ or ‘yum’.
The Master Blender has woven a web of colorful spice held together by resplendant Yu Lu Yan Cha. The tea is rich, elegant and round with hints of savory cayanne. No hard edges, smooth refined flavor!

Brewed straight or with milk and honey every method is superior.

(My granddaughter arrived while I was writing this and smelled the wet leaves…“they smell like Christmas Grandma,” she said. And they do!)

Please…Verdant! Make this tea available to everyone! It’s my favorite Chai ever!

*PS*Today I took my glass teapot from home to Happy Luckys Tea House because I wanted to be sure that the chai would taste just right for sharing with Eric, Sam, Joe, Andy owner George and anyone at the bar.
‘I’ measured the leaves…and the strength was what I wanted. You could really taste the pepper and Burdick, however…for all the ingredients…it’s not easy to pick any one or two flavors out. We all think that adding at least a little honey enhanced the pepper. Eric liked it naked best. We liked the savory blended with sweet and spicy.

Thanks Brenden for this tea sample!

A shockingly wonderful surprise arrived in the mail…Chai!
What made this arrival more glorious was that I didn’t pick up my mail until it was 30 degrees out. Old Man Winter was blowing his icy breath across my face. Burr!

I stepped gingerly through a pile of dry leaves and into the house arms loaded with two bags of groceries and the mail. I wondered outloud, “What’s this mail from Whispering Pines?”
No matter how lame it sounds, we all have a ‘happy dance’ even if it’s not a literal dance. I have an internal ‘happy dance’, or ‘victory whoop’ that happened last night when I opened the mail and saw two samples of Chai!

I’ve reviewed Fujian Black Tea, which is the high quality very chocolaty tea base for this Chai. I loved it and ordered some for myself! For Brenden to use this as the base for this Chai was brilliant. (Most people use bland black tea’s for Chai, which I just don’t understand!)

The Fujian Black Tea is so flavorful that it blends with the spices weaving together the malt and spice gently without any harsh edges. It reminds me of eating a spice cookie and sipping a cup of creamy cocoa.

My preferred way of drinking this Chai is with cream and clover honey, not sugar. The honey gives a bakery taste to the tea like graham cracker, and the milk or cream enhances the cocoa-malt flavor and creaminess.

If you want a traditional Chai with more spice Whispering Pines Golden Chai is for you and it’s lovely.
Chocolate Chai is smoother and mellow without much bite from spices. The chocolate is more cocoa than candy bar. Don’t expect a gooey Hershey’s Kiss.

As soon as I began drinking my Chai, the tea warmed me up from head to toe, rapidly chasing Old Man Winter’s frosty chill away. A comforting, satisfying and festive mug of tea!

High marks for this one! Quality blending, Brenden!

Thank you Stacy for this lovely sample tea!

I’ve been absent but busy lately tasting tea’s that aren’t ready for Steepster yet for a couple people, spent a little time with grandson Micah cooking vegetables, (he loves Brussel Sprouts!) and I went to a Native American Pow Wow at the University Saturday. ( a free local event http://youtu.be/65uifoEUMAw my homemade video)

I had just drifted off to sleep last night when there was a huge flash of light and loud explosion of thunder…bang! Hail then snow (it had rained during the evening briefly).

This morning there was fog and snow on the ground (which will melt quickly) so I made cauliflower alfredo and froze batches of the sauce for later. Here’s the link if you want to try the recipe. It’s not vegan, but it can be adapted. http://ahealthytreat.com/2013/09/26/cauliflower-alfredo-sauce/

After clean-up, I remembered that I had this tea from Stacy! I love Silver Needle and my friend Eric went “WOW” when he saw that it was ‘Doke’.

When you touch the leaves they feel like the softest velvet, remarkably delicate… slender, long strands that become longer and fatten up when wet. Beautiful olive green leaves with copper!

I placed the tea in my smallest Gaiwan, steeped a very short time at 180 degrees.

The aroma was a combination of bosc pear skin, honeysuckle, nutmeg and saffron.

I made a sweet cream white sauce yesterday, into which I grated fresh nutmeg. It was a rich and delicious sauce, delicate… without being too spicy. (the sauce became the base for stuffed Greek Zucchini)
When I tasted the Doke Silver Needle, I thought of sweet cream sauce I made the day before. Somehow, the connection between both sweet and savory, spice and tea came together. I love the combination.

I went to Butiki’s website to add this tea to Steepster and was surprised that my taste experience was so different than Stacy’s description. Maybe another time I’ll taste something different.

Tea is an ever-changing experience and Silver Needle is a tea that always takes me on a journey.

‘Doke’ Silver Needle Tea is complex and full flavored.

An exquisite tea!

Right before my Social Security check comes every month (tomorrow for me) I’m out of almost everything except tea!

So yesterday, with a couple of eggs and some flour I made noodles for the first time in my life. The results were a bit iffy, but I did manage to make some pretty good broad noodles!
I had two tilapia waiting in the frig.
With those two fish, I created a delicious Thai coconut curry, enough for two dinners, then added my homemade noodles at the end to bathe in the savory broth. It tasted so good! I love making my own from-scratch curry!
The last of the apples were roasted with almonds, cranberries, cinnamon, spiced apple balsamic and a little brown sugar for today and tomorrow’s breakfasts.

I’ve learned over time that I can live very well without much money.

Celebrating life costs me nothing.
It’s Faith, Family, Friends, and lots of tea that warms my heart and makes me happy…!

After dinner, I sat down to watch a movie, placing a tea tray on the wooden bench table in front of me.
I picked Campfire Blend as my evening brew because it’s spiciness could stand up to the curry.

While the tea was steeping, I was ‘Googling’ tea houses in Canada for a friend on Steepster, completely loosing all sense of time.
Tick, tick tick…

(Luckily my teapot was safely tucked under a domed tea cozy nice and warm…steeping away…on and on.)
“Yikes! 15 minutes!” I said out loud!

I was so happy this was an ‘herbal’ blend and not regular tea! But had I gone too far? Was it going to be ruined and bitter?!

I poured myself a mug. The flavor was somewhat like Verdant’s Winter Ginger Blend and my favorite Peek Freans ginger cookie, but with more citrus and coriander (I do love coriander!!). This was unbelievably good tea and strongly (yes strongly) good tea I have to say! Spicy, orangy and gingery, coriander yumness!

I sweetened my cup and added milk (which I was hesitant about). Again it tasted… sooo good…. really good!!!

(I use condensed milk. Just pour it into a resealable glass jar and it doesn’t taste wierd.)

Of this month’s three Club Blends, this is my hands down winner. I’d do a longer than recommended steep again but not 15 minutes!

If I had one tea to pick that I’ve disliked more than any other tea in the world… (this is something I shouldn’t do but for the sake of this review, I’m going to do it)… the winner/loser would be David’s Tea… Carrot Cake. (shiver)

Bleh…made my skin crawl! Like cat fur in the mouth bleh!!!

The reason I decided to try (with fear and trembling) Butiki’s Vanilla Frosted Carrot Cake Tea was one thing… Stacy!

She’s ‘I Love Lucy’,‘Whacky Tea Sorceress’, Tea Airbender Blender’ who comes up with the most innovative ideas without resorting to tanks of spray-on chemical flavors.

Stacy, how’d you do it again?!

First there are orangy chunks of real carrot in the brew basket then creamy icing vanilla supported by a soft bready tea base. The spice is subtle, more so than the carrot cake I make. (I’ll probably add a few ‘true’ cinnamon chips to see how that tastes later)

Unlike my previous awful experience with carrot cake tea, Butiki’s tea is flavorful, mild and smooth. The tea is quite gentle for a vanilla iced carrot cake.

I’m always one to play around with tea so I think that if you like more spiciness or are used walnuts in your carrot cake, it wouldn’t overpower the tea if you added a little in the brew basket. Stacy would do this in a heartbeat.

I’m a believer Stacy! Carrot Cake Tea is possible! You did the impossible and did it well. I’ll drink all of my tea with a smile!

(Reposted this older review under the new tea heading for Happy Lucky’s online… this CTC is very inexpensive and a staple kick in the pants caffeine boost when I need a strong tea that tastes good! )

As soon as Andy puts the information on the website, i’ll review their new Ugandan CTC which is unique. I’m loving these new tea’s from small farms in Africa and Happy Lucky’s makes sure the sourcing is ethical!…stay tuned!

I was out and about, running errands and stopped in at Happy Luckys to meet up with tea guru Eric (who works at Happy Lucky’s) to taste some Pu-erh that I received from a Steepster friend. That review will be on my blog in a few days and is remarkable!

When we finished our Puerh tasting, I still wanted some tea! Our little delicate cups of gentle Shu were wonderful but now it was time to pour the big lady serious tea and get down and dirty.

I was sitting at the bar.
I wanted a pot of Lucky Tea House’s finest black tea. Now.
Sam looked at Eric and said under his breath, “How about the Kenyan Ajiri?…no, no, it’s too strong…well…maybe she would like it, she likes strong tea. What do you think?”
“Hum, Eric laughed, maaaybe, OK.”

Then they turned to me.
“Let’s do it guys, I’m that kind of gal, wild and crazy! Set it up!” I said.

First, Sam brought me a tin of the super-small black leaves
(they looked more like poppy seeds) which smelled salty and savory.

Then, the wet leaves which were smaller than coffee grinds were presented with a very malty, rich aroma.

Last the dark brown liquor which was very strong tasting, and I liked it! It wasn’t smoky or malty but tasted solid and a bit fruity. I sipped for awhile.

I then added some cream (I was told the tea was too strong to drink plain but found it to be smooth enough for me).
After drinking a full mug of tea, I ordered a ginger cookie to eat along with my tea. The taste of these two together was out of this world! I’m a bit of a ginger cookie, black tea lover. An addiction as a treat!

A great piece of information!
100% of the profits from the tea sales of AJIRI goes to pay for uniforms and books for orphans in Western Kenya! What a great way to
enjoy tea and help others!

Check out www.ajirifoundation.com

Asante sana (thank you very much!) http://flic.kr/p/dphd5h