SerendipiTea

Made a nice cup of this after coming in from class late and chilled last night. I had it with a little milk and sugar, and I find it a great caffeine free tea substitute – this one almost tastes like regular tea to me, maybe because the mint gives it so much flavor. I did read that when it was hard and very expensive to get tea, Australians used to prepare rooibos just like black tea. I think I will be an honorary old time Australian some evenings, and take my rooibos like they did!

This one is so simple, and so GOOD. Refreshing yet comforting as an after dinner treat with a little sugar and milk. It almost tastes like a tea instead of a tisane!

I put a little sugar and milk in it this minty tisane and it has turned into a creamy delight! I love the way it almost tastes like a black tea prepared like this. Soothing to the tum, too – brought dinner to my mom today and we ate too much – again!

Oh dear what a New Year’s Eve dinner! I made blini and served them with caviar and creme fraiche, made steak and shrimp scampi and a huge pile of (collard, turnip, kale) greens, and chocolate pot de creme for dessert. Champagne with all courses (even dessert! ESPECIALLY dessert!)! We are now g-r-o-a-n-i-n-g with satiety. I thought a tisane with mint in it would be just the thing as an after dinner digestive. Perfect. The mint tastes so refreshing, and the rooibos is so soothing. I love this tisane for nights like this :)

I will be curled up in bed at midnight, so have a Happy New Year Steepsterites!!!!

I had made chocolate syrup for some home made ice cream for company (didn’t know it was so easy! 1 c cocoa powder, 1 c light corn syrup, 2 c water, boil, then simmer for two or three minutes. Take from heat, and add 4 oz good semisweet chocolate, stir until it melts. Cool and store in refrigerator up to 2 weeks. Best made day before – it really thickens overnight. Can be reheated for ice cream!). Now I have 785685685344654564 tons of chocolate syrup! I am going to portion it out and freeze the majority, but always have some on hand for such things as, uh, chocolate mint rooibos!!!!

I brewed Fellini’s folly, and in the mugs I put 2 teaspoons of chocolate syrup. Pour in the tisane, and top with a splash of milk. It’s like mint hot chocolate rooibos! Such a treat in the evenings. The home made chocolate syrup adds a barely sweet chocolate depth that you just don’t find in pre-made mixes, blends, etc. The mint adds that special refreshing touch. December in a cup! Chocoholic delight! YUM!

The last few days have consisted of seeing 38282093784902037490724 students, very little sleep, drinking 40 oz of iced coffee, 40 oz of hot coffee, 16 oz of soda, a hoagie (hero or sub if you are not from the Philadelphia area ;) a burrito, thai, pizza, endless bagels, cakes, and chocolates. No wonder I am feeling DREADFUL!

Mint tea to the rescue!

Just what I needed to feel a little refreshed. I won’t feel better til I have a nice long weekend under my belt, but this simple tisane of rooibos and mint REALLY hit the spot. I feel less…gross!

I had a banner food day yesterday! I found the first tomatoes of the season at the farmers market! I made carbonara (Ruth Reichl’s recipe) and a HUGE tomato salad with basil from my garden for dinner. Oh were we stuffed!

All I could think of for the evening was having a nice cup of this tea. Minty and digestive. Refreshing and enjoyable. So nice to sit for a few minutes and be grateful for the bounty – especially those first tomatoes! I wait for that all year!!!

Just back from visiting my mom – brought dinner and dessert and we STUFFED ourselves! A good digestive tisane was in order for this evening. This minty rooibos with a squirt of honey is doing the trick. Tasty and soothing.

If anyone told me that I’d be craving mint rooibos in the evenings, I would have told then they were crazy! So simple and good, so perfect to wind down with.

I seem to gravitate toward this one during these mid-spring evenings. One foot in the deep warm just leaving the winter rooibos and one foot in the refreshing and light minty springtime. So nice after dinner – digestive and delicious.

My husband and I ate these huge breakfast sandwiches out at a restaurant this morning. I didn’t feel so hot afterwards (and I have an iron stomach) but he felt full on awful. He has finally emerged from the sickbed! I thought this would be a good one to serve – I find both mint and rooibos stomach settling and good for digestion. It is really hitting the spot – for both of us!

Simple and delicious tisane. Who would think that rooibos and mint would go together so spectacularly!? A little honey makes it even better :)

I think I can now add mint to the list of things that I thought I didn’t like, but actually really quite like!! I thoroughly enjoyed this tea! It’s so simple, but so good. It’s an ideal after dinner tea taken with some honey – sweet and refreshing.

My husband was REALLY crazy for this tea and begged me to order some!

Thank you so much Doulton for this sample! You’ve created quite a hit in our household!

And honestly – a tea company that names one of their teas after one of my favorite directors?! :) :) :)

I am increasingly fond of this chai. There’s something remarkably uncommon about the smoke-laced depths of it. It still reminds me of re-enactment villages and antique shops, and the stony fire pits of the Anasazi…or maybe venerable old houses made of good, creaking wood, with big flagstone fireplaces.

Something about it smells almost undeniably feminine to me, too. I cannot for the life of me tell you what the reason for that might be; the tea doesn’t smell floral or sweet or fruity, but somewhere in the back of my mind, it sets off little bells of familiarity strong enough to warrant the thought.

It’s not the chai I reach for every day, but a definite ‘reorder me’ tea even so.

Last night:

TV: " Legs spread same width as the shoulders, body tight, then hit the ball like you’re defeating the enemy. Here the pinky finger is the key. Then you just hit hit hit kaking-bingo!"

Me: -.o

TV: “What are you talking about?”

“He who conquers the left side conquers the world chief. Setting the parameters … that’s really the hard part.”

Me: …zzzzz…

Vespa on the TV: SCREEEEEEEEECH

Me: O.O OH GOD WHAT

Bad times. Baaaad times. Mastering my sleep schedule has always been difficult. With the con today, waking up too early would not have been good, so falling asleep early was not an option. Cue this chai.

I’m not sure why, but the dry blend smells, to me, like an antique store…or reminds me, maybe, of some of the re-enactment houses and locations in Colonial Williamsburg, which I adored visiting every summer as a kid when we would drive up the eastern seaboard. I can’t tell you what it is in the blend that triggers these memories…only that something assuredly does. It may be the very subtle, lingering scent of something smokey in the tea…in fact, I’m certain that’s part of it.

It tastes, after being prepared like a chai, almost exactly like it smells, only with more depth than it’s willing to give your nose. The smokey quality is really appealing to me. It’s very subtle, but very definitely there. You take a sip and you don’t have to look for it, but neither does it overpower a fairly well-balanced, internally-warming blend of the usual chai spices. I have trouble finding the vanilla in here, though.

Prepared 1c. water, some sugar brought to boil, tea added, simmered 3-4 minutes, 1c. 2% added, allowed to get foamy, removed from heat and let sit for a while. Strained/poured/sipped in front of the tv.

Nothing amazing happens here, everything is ordinary. A huge factory that can be seen from our town, the Medical Mechanica plant. All the adults got excited when it came here, like it was really a big thing. The white steam that billows out every day at the same time, it looked to me like smoke that signified some kind of omen. Smoke that spreads out and covers everything.

Ahhhh.

I’ll just go ahead and admit something right now…I’m not really well-educated about uncaffeinated teas. Part of that is that I tend to just drink white tea late at night, and part of that is that…well, I like caffeine…and the few rooibos blends I’ve tried have made me think, and I am not even joking, of bile. Why is that? Ugh. I have a serious aversion to all things even remotely related to nausea, so…the search for the perfect rooibos blend continues.

This was one of several rare attempts to find something uncaffeinated to drink, and one of the only successful ones to date. It’s really rather good. Mint tea on its own is something I always want to prepare Moroccan-style, boiled in a pot along with a hefty dose of sugar for that almost-carmelized sweetness. Clearly, that is a bad plan late at night. This helps me to get past that impulse by adding some depth and dimension to the mint in the form of some seriously comforting spices. They’re subtle, though…much more subtle than you would find in, say, a chai, and that works well.

It’s a pretty relaxing cup when you have a headache, and I’m a fan. For what it is, I’m not sure there’s any way they could improve on it, so the question of rating becomes difficult…it should probably be higher. I just can’t bring myself to get that worked up about a tisane, though.

My first MILK OOLONG.

Dun dun dun!

Actually, more of a wheeeee!

I am so super-caffeinated right now. Seriously. BWAHAAAA.

Anyway, I bought this at the Coffee & Tea Festival (for those that didn’t read, I did a huge write-up of the funness: http://steepster.com/teaplz/posts/29743 and yay!) from SerendipiTea on a bit discount. They were so nice at the booth! I didn’t taste this one there, but I couldn’t resist a milk oolong for $9 (special price for the festival) that wasn’t artificially flavored.

Anyway, the leaves are very pretty, green nubby things. Very rolled oolong. The smell coming off of the leaves isn’t very special. A bit green/floral maybe? But nothing super-interesting.

Anyway, the packaging didn’t have any steeping parameters, so I went by what other people have done on other milk oolongs on Steepster. I only did 1 tsp of this in 8 oz. I’ll have to try SerendipiTea’s recommendation on their website when I can… I’ve got 4 oz. of this, so there’s plenty to play around with!

Anyway, the infusion steeps up to a beautiful creamy yellow color that makes me want to eat it all up. And the smell. Homygawd can we talk about the aroma here for a second. Deliciously buttery and creamy and floral and wonderful. Seriously heavenly.

The taste… mmmmm. So light, but packed full of flavor! It’s mostly a floral flavor, very soft but assertive and inviting. Sort of light a tight hug. And then there’s this wonderful milky/creamy note that lingers on the tongue for a bit, enveloped in the floralness. It’s really smooth and nice and mmmmm. It’s definitely more floral than I thought it would be, but not in a rose-like way. More of in a general pollen-y way.

It tastes like spring in a cup, which is awesome, because I’m just about ready to see it coming. I’m sick of this snow.

My mom did not get this tea. She said it smelled like cabbage. WAT. And she said it tasted gross. Whatever, Mom. You are wrong about this.

Anyway, I’m off to make a second steep!

Annnnd the Second Steep (4:00, 190 degrees) was pretty much a success! It was definitely not as wonderful as the first cup, but…

Can I pause for a second to talk about how absolutely gorgeous the leaves are when unfurled? Beautiful. They’re some of the broadest leaves I’ve seen in any tea. SerendipiTea, I love your quality. I love that you’re local. You are awesome.

The color was a bit darker than before, with some rogue sediment on the bottom. At peak, the taste here was kind of “hai, I don’t want to be made into tea anymore.” Once it cooled down a bit, the tea got into more of a happy groove. The milkiness is still there, but it’s a bit subdued. The floral tastes are still very much in the forefront of the flavor. It still tastes pretty damn awesome, and the cup is as fragrant as the first.

YUM! Maybe I’ll do a third steep, we shall see…

First thought when drinking this, Horseradish and Chinese Mustard. Odd taste, cant say I favor it, but it was something that was oddly pleasing, something different then that dirty water they call coffee. Will have to try again sometime.

Auggy sent me this one, and I’m still on the fence about it.

This is the second Darjeeling I’ve ever tried (after Golden Moon’s Darjeeling), so I don’t have much to compare it to, but I do know it usually comes tagged with words like “muscatel” and “the champagne of teas.”

Anyway, this looks like a slightly higher-quality black, leaf-wise. Pretty and twisty, and dry it smells like grape juice! Okay, maybe not so potent in a Welsh’s way, but there’s similar smells going on. I steeped this one up, and from the wet leaves I could immediately smell an almost sour-wine smell. Very grape-like, mixed with bake-y undertones. I’m serious. And the infusion, surprisingly just had hints of nutty-cocoa-black smells. I could smell a little bit of sweetness coming off the vapors that would give me a nice facial if I just sat there and waited, but I’m eager to try it.

This is where things get confusing. At first, this tea tastes like sour, unripe grapes! Seriously. Like something bad happened at the vineyard and they gave me wine with grapes that just weren’t quite there yet. There are kind of wine-y, fruity notes, but they’re really getting drowned out by the sour grapes of WRATH.

But then something magical happens and it’s like someone dumped out my cup when I wasn’t looking and replaced it with a completely different tea. When the tea cooled to a proper level, it even smelled different. The typical black-tea-smell had given way to a grape-y fruitiness (I guess this is where I can use big words like muscatel), and there was a nice, sweet smell emanating from the cup.

And now the taste has radically changed as well, just from the cup cooling down! It’s not sour at all anymore, but rather, sweet. There’s just a hint of grape-sweetness, and the black flavors have become more balanced, so I’m getting some smokiness, nuttiness, and light cocoa tones. There’s still a slight touch of tartness at the end of each sip, but now it’s very pleasant. Even the astringency levels seem to have gone down.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! It’s like my star tea got swapped in for a much hotter, cuter stunt double that should really be in the limelight.

I’m going to do a second steep the next time I make this, because I already tossed the leaves, but it’s definitely worth waiting for this to cool down to drink it. Really bizarre.

First Yerba Mate Ive had so not sure what to say about it, I will say this, it is definetly a different taste, close to a Black Tea but somewhere more near an Earl Grey, or so I would think, with my little experience with it. The Local Tea House, Manzanita News and Espresso has quite the variety of bagged and loose leaf teas, so I will have to try some of each. Overall I liked the Yerba Mate, didnt know what to expect though, so I will write a better review later.

I’ve had three cups of Buccaneer and think that it is mis-named. Maybe it should be called “Shepherd” or “Vicar” or “Constable”. It’s not a tea for dashing pirates or for Edith Wharton-style young ladies who are intent on conquering European high-society. It’s a good tea for a crepuscular read of Barbara Pym. It’s a great tea to share with an early evening visit with your neighborhood curate. You will taste its tones of vanilla and coconut and they will be kind and gentle, unassuming and a bit timid—but they are indeed there.

I may not be entirely fair: I’ve observed that I am not good at doing “subtle” when it comes to teas. I want mad concoctions that rage in my mouth! Buccaneer is a mild and very servicable tea. You can steep it for a while and it won’t taste bitter at all. It’s a tea for kind, gentle, wise people and not for pirates and debutantes. It is a perfect tea as is and milk and sugar will not hurt it, nor will they be necessary.

SerendipiTea has great looking packaging and speedy delivery service and I’m looking forward to trying more of their teas.

I love this tea! The mint and spearmint are highlighted flavors, thus making Holiday Cheer not yet another clove/cinnamon clone. There is, of course, clove, cardamon, ginger, and orange which are artfully blended with the two mints to create a beautiful rhapsody of spicy, minty, good cheer.

This particular tea feels as if one is standing next to an old-fashioned orange pierced with cloves upon which candy canes are pendant. The taste and aroma are warmly enveloping and not at all intrusive. If you like mint blends, you will love this.

I highly recommend SerendipiTea for speedy delivery, an artistic and pleasing web page, and superior mixes.

I seriously love the fact that Auggy sent me this tea. Seriously. LOVE.

I’m busy reading and writing and doing all sorts of work, and this tea was the perfect thing to cozy up with while I’m keeping myself busy. It’s fragrant and delicious and calming. The vanilla works perfectly with the unique flavor of the Vietnamese black, and the two produce a remarkable pairing. I love the subtlety of this, the rich cocoa and the smooth vanilla. And the color is so gorgeous too. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. It tastes so natural and organic and just… LOVELY.

How awesome flavored tea can be when it’s done right! And when it’s done wrong, it’s close to one of the most disgusting things to drink ever.

Back to my work now, but I’m really happy that I was just able to luxuriate with a cup of this. If I was a cat, I’d be purring with content right now.

Mmmmm.

This is another tea that Auggy sent me in a nice batch of samples, and it’s so super-yummy that I can’t stop sipping it as we speak. It’ll probably take me forever to write up this log as a result.

This tea is pure black, little scraps of tea, with some vanilla mixed in. The tea itself, when dry, smells deliciously of cocoa and vanilla. And when I say cocoa, I mean dark chocolate, unadulterated by milk. Pure, raw chocolate. The vanilla has that wonderful natural smell that I crave! The last vanilla tea I had was a bagged abomination – Bigelow’s French Vanilla, which tastes as fake as it horrifically smelled. So I was a bit apprehensive as I steeped this one. But I trusted Auggy’s judgment to lead me in the right direction.

This tea smells delicious in the cup. It’s a rich red hue, with a lovely vanilla scent that invites you to just stick you face into the cup and breathe. AHHHH. Smooth and rich vanilla.

The taste actually surprised me, because it’s deep and rich! I wasn’t expecting such a strong black flavor! At the forefront of the taste is definitely the rich taste of raw chocolate nubs. And then the vanilla hits, in a sweet, sweet wash of natural-tasting goodness. It’s gentle, but not cloying. It doesn’t talk down to you. Or try to sell you something you don’t want. It just invites you in for a stay, and wraps you in a hug.

I know I’m going to be staying up late, so caffeine is not an issue. However, on a normal day, this flavor would be perfect for night-time. My mom is really allergic to caffeine, but she can muster a sip or two of tea. She loved this one, and also wished that it was available decaf as well.

More yumminess from Auggy! She’s two for two! And this just shows me that yes, flavored tea can actually be really delicious and natural-tasting, instead of fake and disgusting.