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I have a sore throat and I may be fighting off a bug (which makes sense bc the baby is coughing too) so I tried to start the day off with lemon tea. It was THE WORST. Granted it was just safeway brand bagged tea, but… it’s lemon? How do you get that wrong? I had to dump it.

The rest of the day has been ALL ABOUT pumpkin tea! I promised Lis I would send her some, and when I checked my tin to make sure I had lots left (yep!) I started making some.

The first steep I only put water in the bottom 1/3 to 1/2 of the cup, and steeped it extra strong. Then I nuked up some cream and used my little wand thing to froth the heck out of it. Then I poured that on top for a DIY latte! It was pretty good, but… lacking in something? Maybe I’m not doing this right, or maybe I should have added sugar. It was good, but it couldn’t compare to my gingerbread latte from starbucks.

Second steep was 5 minutes for a full cup and a heaping spoon of brown sugar added it. That’s more like it. There’s a lot of depth to this tea, and I couldn’t notice it with all that cream. I’m gonna sit and sip away at this and read Game of Thrones while the baby sleeps. She’s been down for half an hour – I hope I get half an hour more to relax! :)

I have a nicely chilled pitcher of tea from a few weeks back that I finally decided to finish tonight. The problem is I made it so long ago that I couldn’t remember what it is! All I know is: almonds.

Steepster: ILU! Tealogs are essential now.

And yes, this tea is also great cold. I may prefer it warm though – further experiments are required.

This is such a unique tisane (see! I’m learning stuff) that I think my high rating is justified.

I wanted a nice cup after coming in from a walk in the rain and so I chose this guy! I wanted caffeine-free to make up for the delicious gingerbread latte I grabbed at Starbucks. SO GOOD.

But this isn’t about that. :P We don’t talk about coffee here. (It was REALLY good you guys!)

Oh +1 to me for not picking up Tazo Joy tea while I was at Starbucks. I was VERY TEMPTED. And also I had no real idea what the tea tasted like – I just liked the pretty red tin. #sucker So yeah – good job not throwing money away!

I haven’t had this rooibos at all and I was completely surprised at all the cinnamon. It brought back terrible memories – wait – is this Mamma Mia? Did I get the wrong tea? :O

Happily this tastes nothing like that other one. It has that pleasant earthy rooibos taste and the cinnamon complements it nicely. It’s not TOO cinnamon-y. On a fireball scale of 1-100, I’d say it’s maybe 40. I can taste it, but it’s not crazy. I guess there are rosehips in there too but I have no idea what they tasted like.

My friend sgoertz gave me this sample as it was her favorite rooibos. I can see why!

So for whatever reason I’m still feeling anxious/jittery/whatever. Time to address the obvious culprit: caffeine. Besides, I like this tea! I can’t have evolved into that big of a tea snob,could I?

Sadly, maybe a teeny bit. It smells great, and it tastes good, but for whatever reason I can’t drink it black like I can my loose leaf teas. But adding milk/cream isn’t that big of a deal!

Steeped it for 4 minutes this time and the cinnamon is less overwhelming. I still don’t care for this tea though…

Once I figure out how I would ship tea to people (baggies in a padded envelope?), I’ll likely put this on my trade list. There has to be someone who will like it, right? But for now I just have a lot of other teas to enjoy and life is too short!

I bought this as a 2/$5 dealie without reading all the reviews first. :| Maybe that was a bad idea?

I opened it up and it smelled pretty good. The cinnamon smelled good but it was the main thing I could smell.

I accidentally steeped it for the max recommended time: 7 minutes. When I came back to it I could tell that the hibiscus had overpowered it! I know hibiscus has a bad rep here, and to be honest I don’t really mind it (in some teas), but it’s completely overpowered this blend. Bleh. I’m getting an extremely tart mixture of cinnamon and flowers – not exactly the relaxing OMG-the baby-is-finally-sleeping-it’s-almost-time-for-bed beverage I was hoping for. I forced myself through a few sips, but now it’s going down the drain.

I’ll hold off on rating it until I try to brew it again at 4 minutes! If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll ice it?

Stopped by DT while I was out and about, and in an effort to curtail mindless tea shopping, I picked up one of these to-go (instead of buying new tea). Now I will sample ALL the teas and won’t buy any unless I know its good…

Cuz that’s what responsible adult types do, amirite?

I did buy two of the 2/$5 sampler sizes too bc they’re cheaper that way, and even though it breaks my abovementioned rule, seems like a great way to try tea. (About the same price as taking a cup home for each tea).

So… Vanilla Oolong. It’s good. I don’t even think she put anything in it but the vanilla adds enough sweetness to the mix. I still don’t really know what oolong tastes like on its own, but I am getting a delicate floral taste mixed with a light tea. It’s a cup full of whimsy.

Haha. I shouldn’t use metaphors.

I resteeped it and it was just as good. This would probably be a good one to get, eventually. I am enjoying every sip. It coats my mouth very nicely, but it’s not as good warm/cool so I don’t want to brew it if I think I’ll get distracted (I.e, the baby is awake).

Maybe my stomach is jittery due to all the caffeine I’ve been drinking?

I’m off for a walk, so I’ve loaded my Timolino with this Rooibos to see if that makes a difference. I love the sweet earthy smell of this blend. It’s surprisingly good. I figure it will nicely counter the brisk fall air.

Ugh. I’ve just been feeling gross the past few days – can’t really quantify it but my stomach is ‘nervous.’. Soooooooo…. time to break out this tea! I’ve been brewing it for less than I did before and am not so overpowered by the ginger. The orange is vibrant and sorta takes charge – helping my stomach behave. I don’t know if oolong and pu’er are actually that effective for ‘digestive issues’ as the blurb suggests, but the placebo effect at the very least is enough to make me more appreciative of the tin on my counter.

Oh YUM! First few sips tasted completely familiar… What is it? Yep – Werther’s candy! Weeeeird but also amazing.

The next few sips are more like what I expected – I’m getting notes of cocounut, butter, and vanilla. I can’t wait to try this with rum!