Joy's Teaspoon

I received my Joy’s Teaspoon order today. I placed that order because of this tea. I LOVE this – it’s easily my favorite pear tea.
Anyone who knows me understands that I NEVER drink new order teas as soon as I get them. I have teas here that I received months ago that I haven’t tried. This one I ripped right open and made a cup (also put some into the fridge to cold steep).
Yep this is still wonderful. Beginning to regret ordering ONLY 4oz….
(Thank you so much ifjuly for introducing me to this FANTASTIC tea).

Yummmmm Pear. I love pear, I don’t eat enough pears. It’s also one of the fruits that don’t always translate well into “flavor”. Black tea, spices, pear – hmmmm me thinks the pear is going to get lost under the spice and black tea. I’m a little apprehensive about this, but ifjuly gives it a glowing recommendation and was kind enough to share a sample.

I’m Wrong. Not sure how they did it, but this is pear, sweet juicy pear – just a hint of spice – smells like Christmas, I’m not getting any black tea.
This is fantastic, everything it promises – totally exceeded my expectations.

I’m are Tony’s & it’s snowing!!!! It’s really snowing!!!
I predict a full day of tea drinking, supernatural watching, pajama wearing, logs in the fire, & food!
Yesterday they were predicting up to a foot of snow, so I came well stocked with tea, in fact, as usual I brought more tea than I could possibly drink. I brought the BBBB, the Steepster select samples I still haven’t drank, & a few other random things. Silly me!
I’m starting off with this one, TastyBrew’s offering from the BBBBox. I love the name of it, I love it’s backstory. I want to love the tea, & although I don’t hate it & it’s far from boring, it’s not something I will ever love. It strikes me as a Darjeeling type. The leaf is more of a green color, the sip starts out kind of cream of wheat like, but then a spicy lemon takes over the back & sides of my tongue. There are floral elements to the taste, & it does have other layers in there as well. Definitely not a morning tea for me, as it hits my empty stomach with the queasy effect slightly. It might make a nice afternoon pick me up & palate cleanser though. Still glad to give it a try!

this is exactly what i needed today. The perfect blend of cinnamon and warm and yes….yes! yes! it’s also a sipdown (188) It’s a cold cold windy day and i’m drinking a bunch of tea today though i’m behind with all my tasting notes heh soooo good!

Another tea from Tastybrew via the BBB Box. I used to LOOOOOVEEEEEEE frank’s cinnamon roll honeybush and then, i didn’t. I love cinnamon swirl bread, and then i liked it less (still a great tea though). So now there’s this one. And i think cinnamon teas are teas that i love and then don’t love…ebbing and flowing like the tide.

I like very much that this tea still keep the base present. It’s not just cinnamon in a cup. it’s baked goods like. mmmmm thanks tastybrew!

Oooh, this is tasty! It’s kind of like a buttery almond cookie. There is a richness to it, probably the chestnut flavor, that really rounds the whole cup out. TastyBrew included this in the most recent round of the BBBBox, & it is a nice treat to enjoy in between brekkie & the work I intend to at least start today, which is moving my office. So far I’ve moved my tea shelf out of the kitchen, moved the table from the dining room (which will be my office) to the kitchen, & put all the important (& many probably not important) papers from my desk into a box…the important stuff. I know I should have sorted through it as I was putting it in there, but I actually have a headache, so I just want to get at least part of this job done before I slip into pajama mode. But first, the rest of this tea… Thanks TB!

sipdown! (159) brewed up a nice giant cup of this and it’s delicious! Thanks again Tastybrew for sharing this with us. While this isn’t quite the pear tea that iv’e been looking for this really does taste, as TB mentions, a pear and a cinnamon jelly belly in my mouth. lol pretty darn delicious!

i’m a fan of this one. that’s all i’ve got for you now folks. Thank you tastybrew for sending this my way in our BBB Box! it’s made a bad day better…i almost wrote good day bad, that’s the kinda of day i’m having lol

sipdown! (185) this one reminds my of cocoa butter. You know the lotion…i haven’t seen it in forever but it’s one of those scents from childhood. This tastes, like that smells lol. It’s not a bad thing, it’s actuall quite tasty, but that’s what it tastes like. Thanks for sending this our way tastybrew!

i made this today…like 10 hours ago. thank you tastybrew!more to come on this one when work isn’t the suck.

This is another one from the most recent round of the BBBB, compliments of TastyBrew. Very heavy on the cinnamon, the pear came through more as it began to cool down a bit, & once that happened it was a very nice pear taste. I added Maple syrup to this one, & I’m glad I did! :D
Thanks TB!

This is not the first tea I drank today, just the first tea I’ve had a few minutes to log! This one comes from TastyBrew, by way of the BBBBox. I made a pot of it, using the entire sample, & drank the first little cup straight. Then I added maple syrup & coconut milk to the rest of it. It was tasty, however there was a slightly odd taste at the end of the sip…a little soapy-like. Not overly noticeable, just there.

2 days ago I was in 80 degree weather today it’s below freezing. I wanted something to warm me back up! This came in my ocho sampler and then as a free sample in my recent Joys teaspoon order, but this is the first time I’ve had it.

It’s a really good flavored tea! There’s black for a good case and the oolong gives it a roast butter and mate a good nuttiness, plus chestnut flavor and almond slices. It’s a really balanced tea that I can see drinking a lot of this winter. Glad I finally tried it. I wish I’d tried it before my recent Black Friday order so I could have gotten more!

Another from my ocho sampler from Joy’s Teaspoon. This tea is from Nepal and according to the website, is processed at a factory owned by the tea growers and run by a woman. I’m all for that, so I was hopeful that I would like this one. And I do! I found a winner for the BBBB! Now I have an excuse to order more Cinnamon Roll from Joys Teaspoon, too!

I dumped the whole tiny tin into my gaiwan to make this one. It is very similar to a Yunnan, but spicier. Along the lines of Zhu Rong. Not as chocolatey though, more caramel I think. But man, spicy. And a touch of toasted rice flavor. I’m really enjoying it! I’ll add updates if the flavor profile shifts at all through the steepings, but steeps 1-3 are really enjoyable.

I had this one for breakfast yesterday. I’ve been trying to find my perfect bold morning cup to handle cream and honey. This was not it. It was ok. Definitely a bold cup, but I think I need a stronger assam to any other tea ratio in my breakfast blends.

The last time I got the sampler from Joy’s Teaspoon I got this and really liked it so I got another sample of it this time too. I need to order a small bag next time. This is really good. The cinnamon isn’t that fakey cinnamon flavor that puts me off from so many teas (ahem… monkey bread)… This is just a really good cup. I’m already sad that my sample is gone. I want more right now.

ETA: I was able to get a very decent second steep out of this. I normally don’t resteep flavored teas, but I wanted more!

I’ve been looking for some more interesting teas to share with the BBBB ladies so I ordered the ocho sampler from Joy’s Teaspoon. I love that sample set. You can choose any 8 teas and they each come in a tiny little tin perfect for a mug full, 2 cups, or a gaiwan session. Just the right amount. I pulled this one out this morning as it smelled pretty interesting.

This tea tastes like…. tea. Like the unflavored iced tea that comes out of soda dispenser at a restaurant. Very similar to a ceylon, but it almost tastes like it has lemon in it already. This wasn’t for me as I don’t love Ceylons, but I can see using this as a base to make really good iced tea. I"ll have to order another sample next summer and test it out, but for now, its not going to be reordered for the BBBB.

This tea is most enjoyable – pleasant aroma with a sweet and nutty taste. No astringency at all. I made the purchase because I’ve never had a Nepalese tea and I was curious but I really like this one! It’s in line with many of the Black Yunnans I typically enjoy. I’ll definitely be buying more.

Update: 2nd steeping reveals flavors that have become much more spicy. The flavor shift is a bit surprising but both cups were very enjoyable.

This Darjeeling is positivly mellow! Its got a little bit of a coppery taste to it, and less of the greeny undertone that I have come to expect from a Darjeeling.
An excelent cup for this afternoon. I need caffine, and a good afternoon tea is just the ticket.
A million thanks to Fuzzy_Peachkin for providing me with the cutest little tin of this that you ever did see.

So fruity! I love it. I’ve discovered while I still generally hate tart-fruity flavored black blends I don’t mind an abundance of fresh fruit smell and flavor when paired with a fresh-tasting green tea base. Den’s Tea Pineapple Sencha was a green tea gateway this spring, I loved ATR’s Nirvana (sencha with fig, berries, kiwi, and rose petals), and this makes me cheerful in a very similar way. It’s very juicy and bright, like eating a big bowl of fruit salad on a sunny morning. Hooray!

I am in LOVE with this blend! I was super apprehensive at first, though. Earl Grey is my most favoritest tea in the world, so adding anything to it could seriously shake my world.

Money has been tight, so I have recently written a few companies and inquired about samples. Joy’s Teaspoon generously sent me Strawberry Oolong and the Earl Grey Cream. I am suspicious that someone actually read my profile and tea preferences, because I can’t think of any two of their teas that I would like to try more.

Anyway, back to the tea. I brewed this early Sunday morning before I went out to sit on the porch with my husband. It was an unseasonably cool and cloudy morning, and with the addition to this tea it was a perfect experience. The blend has the full body of a solid Earl Grey but with a lovely creamy malt. To my surprise, though, it is just as refreshing as a non-cream counterpart. I was so pleased that I forced my husband to try some, and even he really liked it, and he’s not big on Earl Grey.

I will be purchasing this blend in the future. Thank you, Joy’s Teaspoon, you’ve earned a customer!

So I decided to make it a Darjeeling day! The dryleaf of this doesn’t smell quite as much like Oregano and herbs as Butiki, but it is extremely similar. The first smell I have of the liquor is eerily similar as well.

The taste of this is different from the Butiki’s Giddapahar Darjeeling Extra Special in two ways: 1) The coppery note is not as bright and I actually prefer it this way because then I don’t have that much of a pucker reaction. 2) There is no seaweed green tea quality, it’s much more like a black tea. Although I don’t miss the seaweed, I miss the creaminess of the Butiki tea.

In this one the two flavors combine better just because they are not as distinctive, which results in an apricot or citrus type taste when I taste them together. They don’t fight each other for dominance.

At one point I even thought the tea tasted like gummy peaches… but that could have been a momentary hallucination because I didn’t taste it anymore after that one sip. Maybe I just want gummy peaches and not darjeeling anymore. hmmm…

There is nothing subtle about this tea! It’s in your face pear and cinnamon. It’s a good thing I like both of those. The pear is nice and natural. We have pear trees in the back yard and I love eating them in the fall, so this evokes harvest memories. The cinnamon is slightly artificial, but not so much so as to be a complete turn off. I added a little brown sugar in hopes of toning down the connamon and making it a little more complex. I think I’ll have to add a pinch more. I don’t taste the base, but being as there is no bitterness or astringency I’m ok with that.