Anna Marie's Teas

It’s been a nice bookends Saturday: a little time to begin and end the day with a cuppa in the backyard glider. Weather, delicious; day’s activities, ordinary but satisfying.

Since our weather pattern is finally shifting a little, I’ve also been shifting some tins to the front of the lineup that have been out of rotation during deep-fryer season. This one is perfect for early fall: a little raisin, a little pineapple, some white chocolate chips, carrot shreds which provide more atmosphere and color than they do flavor, and brown-sugary, cake-pixie goodness. (I made up cake pixies, but I’d sure like to meet one.)

A year or so ago, we stumbled across a nice carrot cake rooibos at a nearby Amish market, and once it disappeared from the shelves, it just disappeared. I think we’ve found it again, this time in a nice tin instead of a bulk bag. Side by side, the two look identical. Roo, carrot, raisin, pineapple, a little calendula. It leans toward the lighter, fruitier end of the spectrum instead of the dark spice cake end, but it’s a lovely fall-into-winter nightcap.

Well, the upside down part is right: I turned the whole tin upside down in search of fruit chunks (there aren’t enough to suit me). And the cake part is just right: lots of brown-sugary pastry goodness. But pineapple? Not so much. No worries—it functions nicely as a fall dessert tea, but if I want more pineapple, I’ll have to toss in some dried chunks on my own.

As with any tea embellished with chunky goodies, to analyze it accurately, you need to have just the correct balance of tea-to-goodies ratio when you’re spooning it out. My tin came to me so full, it was hard to woogle the spoon around without spilling the contents, which include dried pineapple chunks and dried cherry craisins.

So the jury is still out on this one. Anna Marie has the cake and brown sugar syrupy goodness thing down to a fine art. I am not sure the pineapple stands out enough, but multiple random samples will likely help me determine the median flavor profile soon. (Hey, I did remember something from college statistics!)

Anna Marie also recommends this as an iced tea. I can envision this holding up well on ice with a maraschino cherry on top.

Don’t know if you’ve noticed the great big blobs of storms and tornados on national radar this weekend, but said blobs have kept us in clench mode since Friday, with a nice case of Stormus Interruptus about 1 a.m. (All is well; the bad stuff fizzled before it reached us.)

But lack of sleep and need for energy drove me straight to the chocolate this morning—cookie dough protein bar and this decent strawberry tea. The chocolate appears to come from artificial flavoring, which always tastes a little thin and chemically, but the strawberry is just about right. Not a fussy steeper, either, which, given my groggy morning state, was helpful.

Next time, I’ll see if a spoonful of cocoa nibs beefs it up a little.

Normally, I don’t care for chocolate-profile teas on ice, but I’ll make an exception here, since the tea itself is deliciously strawberry dominant. The chocolate in the background is still a little artificial tasting, but not obnoxiously so since it’s sitting way in the back of the bus.

This is a great dessert or little-kid tea party tea. Am I sharing it with my Sunday 10-year-olds? Not a chance ;)

Well, hello there, dashboard, I missed you!

The Anna Marie’s dessert teas I’ve tried up to this point have been superlative. I temporarily have to back this one off to really, really good, but I’ve only had one cup and I may have underleafed it. The strawberry is strawberry-hard-candy quality (but tasty) and the chocolate gave off a little chemical vibe, but I think there’s some room to tinker with the leaf ratio, and with milk or ice. Aw, shucks, I guess that means I’ll just have to make more…

Afternoon pick-me-up indeed! The scent leads with the chocolate, the sip leads with the pomegranate, not a bit tart or artificial or bitter (I’ve had many pomegranate flavored teas that quickly turned bitter and chemically.) I could just stick my nose in this cup and leave it there.

Just a little sample tossed in with a prior Anna Marie’s order—it captured yeasty almond pastry perfectly! I regret not being able to savor it properly, especially as it doesn’t appear to be available at the moment. However, I had been sweating, hauling, and checking incoming boxes like a longshoresman (it takes a lot of supplies to prep five buildings for elementary summer school!), and I never cooled down enough to enjoy the backside of the cup. Maybe in December…

Excellent flavored tea! Like little cream puffs of honeylemon sunfluff with just enough coppery kick from the black tea and some sweet tangy cream from the freeze-dried yogurt. Seamless cup.

One lemon for another — what a treat, gmathis. Thank you!

I got a big envelope in the mail from gmathis right before my biopsy results appointment.
First thing the doctor said was, “I have good-ish news.” I’ll take that! Spot precancerous and burning it off when biopsy heals. Yay!

Came home and smelled the tea gmathis sent and almost had a conniption. Oh my goodness. The aroma reminded me a bit of Lemon Swirl from Cuppageek. This is sooooo lemony and creamy smelling.

I made a big pot of it and cut up some fresh strawberries, drizzled them with chocolate sauce, popped in fridge to harden the sauce into a shell, and served with a shortbread cookie on the side.

Lemony and creamy just like the aroma, decadence in a cup. No cream or sugar but I bet it would totally be a full on dessert replacement that way.

This is going on my wishlist. What a tea.

Thank you, gmathis!

Edited to add: Found what I believe is this very same tea at Tin Roof Teas. Order placed so we shall see. They sell it as Lemon Biscotti but the description says almond panna cotta.

We’re past the halfway point of my 4-ounce packet. Straight up, this is lemon pastry or lemon pudding with meringue on top and absolutely delectable, but there’s enough fluff on top that you do kind of lose the tea base on the bottom end.

Fixed that this morning: half-and-half combo with Charleston Tea Plantation’s Charleston Breakfast (which reminds me of a good quality Ceylon), now on ice. Still plenty of lemony sweetness and a little more strength. Win-win.

Happy Easter! It was a morning of holy chaos (spell that w-h-o-l-l-y) with 23 marshmallow-bunny-juiced 12-year-olds. We played 25 Words or Less and did trick shots with pom pom shooters. Try it sometime: knot the end of a balloon, snip off the top, pull it over a toilet paper roll, secure with tape. After chatting with a newcomer about his skills and interests, he asked to use the marker board, and while my back was turned, had mapped out an algebra problem that looked like something from “A Beautiful Mind.” Just another day at the Warehouse. (Oh yeah…I may have attempted to teach something, too.)

…which leaves me so very thankful for a quiet backyard, enough sun to warm my toes in, and one of my favorite “indulge” teas. I think we’ve hit its one year anniversary, so I’d better get on with drinking it, but is has not yet lost any of its lemon pastry goodness. The black tea base (maybe a Ceylon?) is mostly just a carrier for the lemon zest and yogurt granules that make it taste so citrusy-creamy.

Hoping you’ve found a reason to celebrate today, too!

You know the Big Bang Theory episode where Amy tries to re-train Sheldon to live without closure? And the end of the episode where she leaves and he blows out the candles, topples the dominoes, and sings the Star Spangled Banner? After holding my breath for days, I can post my birthday tea! Ready, set, topple!

This tea will be served in Heaven, next to the buttermilk donuts and Mom’s homemade strawberry jam. Creamy, lemon, pastry, perfectly balanced; fragrant, strong enough to last multiple steeps; I just want to bury my face in the bag.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Second sipdown of the year and of Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge for January 2022! I divided this sample into two small cups so I could try it both straight and as a latte with oat milk & brown sugar. It’s definitely better as a latte. Both ways, the flavoring tastes like sugar cookies but I’m missing the snickerdoodle spice. Straight, the black tea is very present but pretty generic tasting – frankly I’d rather have the snickerdoodle flavoring be stronger at that point if I’m already having a dessert tea and there’s nothing interesting about the base. As a latte, the oat milk and sugar drown out the base tea and highlight the sugar cookie flavor, which definitely makes for a tastier and more enjoyable cup for my palate – think brown sugar black milk tea from the boba shop.

I’m not fond of fruity teas, but I received a sample of this in a recent order and decided to give it a try. It wants to be a mint tea but also a fruit tea, and frankly, I’d prefer if it just chose one.

This really should be called hot cinnamon with a hint of other spices and orange. I continue to hunt for a replacement for Della Terra’s Honey & Spice rooibos, as this is a nice tea blend, but not at all like that one, despite listing similar ingredients.

I received a sample of this tea in a recent order. It’s really mellow – the flavor is there and has complexity, but it’s not smacking you around. I like that aspect, however the flavor profile isn’t one I gravitate towards. A little too cookie and not enough spice.

I got this from Anna’s Tea Shop because I loved Della Terras and they’re the same. I love this one too!
I bought this in April 2016 and I admit I’ve been hoarding it!
I’ve been enjoying drinking from my Harney Royal Palaces Teapot, Teacup & Saucer. It pours like a dream.

The bonus sample from my recent order. There is a nice mild black currant scent. The flavour is more raspberry. It is nice and lightly fruity.