Sierra

Fitting start for a foggy pacific coast morning.

(having trouble getting my tasting notes to save lately!)

UGH! This is sour hibiscus with a touch of spice and orange peel, and I swear I can taste the teabag (although that might just be my imagination). Not a fan of this one. I guess you get what you pay for (got this free in my hotel lobby).

this is good

Stunning stuff

Happy Mother’s day!

I’m trying to finish some of my random samples and teabags before we have to move back out of the house for the renovations which are scheduled to start on the 21st. What is that? About 9 days? Jeesh! I’m such a math whiz! I’m terrible at count downs. Am I supposed to count today? Do I count the day that construction starts? Yeah…If you can’t tell, I was always the kid that miscounted the number of days till Christmas…some things never change! Well, in any case, I don’t want to misplace any of my precious tea in the move!

I imagine some of you may be getting tired of hearing about my reno-ventures? I apologize, but I’m darn-tootin’ excited :D

This little individually wrapped teabag is one I picked up at an overnight stay at my favorite Hotel. It contains mint and chamomile, and it tastes exactly like that…minty flowers! What is going on? Am I drinking tea or pulling weeds! Ugh! Needless to say chamomile is not my favorite tea ingredient. Clearly this is not a tea that I would want to buy for myself, but as a hotel freebie, I shouldn’t really complain. (chanting quietly)…focus on the mint…FOCUS ON THE MINT

There’s something in this tea that does not agree with me. Maybe it’s a combination of things. It just makes my stomach turn. They weren’t kidding when they called it “Lively” lemon. It feels like it’s coming to life and trying to escape my tummy. Ugh…I drank this last night and it upset my tummy so bad I had trouble sleeping. I eventually decided to try some mint tea to try and settle it, which can go either way for me, but thankfully it eventually helped me and I finally fell asleep.

Side note: I got an email from Frank this morning: my very first order from 52teas has been shipped! I’m so excited! I can’t wait to try graveyard mist.

I’m trying to finish off some of the random bits and bobs that I have lying around, in preparation for the new tea on its way, and this tea definitely qualifies as either a bit or a bob. I remember picking up this tea in my hotel lobby as I was checking out and throwing it into my bag with the intention of preparing it on the road. But once we got going, the hubby needed me to navigate, and when we finally got onto the highway, I realized I put the bag with this teabag in the trunk of the car– silly me. I would have really preferred to drink this when we were traveling instead of a cup of hot water. Oh well! At least I’m enjoying it now. This tea isn’t stellar, in fact it’s far from it, but I still quite like it. I like that they use both peppermint and spearmint leaves, and the other ingredients seem to complement each other nicely also. I typically prefer a little more strength to my tea, but for an individually packaged teabag that accompanied me in my travels from the U.S. to Canada; it’s a nice little souvenir.

Another meh from Sierra. I was expecting this to taste and smell like apple, given the name, and was surprised to find it’s actually a rooibos, which I don’t particularly like. Ended up drinking about two sips and tossing the rest.

Meh. This is the first cinnamon tea I’ve ever had – not bad for a cheap teabag brand, but not sensational either. It smelled like cinnamon but didn’t taste like it as much.

This is not a bad Earl Grey, it’s nothing to write home about, it’s just o.k. It comes in an individually packaged standard paper teabag, which makes it quick and convenient. It’s and tasty enough that I wouldn’t say no to a cup, but I wouldn’t buy it myself as there are so many better options on the market.

I got this tea at a breakfast buffet when I stayed with my favorite hotel chain a little while back. It’s a little tart, which might be expected from a Cranberry Apple flavor, but it may also have a little to do with “hibiscus flowers” being the first ingredient? Hmmmm? This tea works fine in a pinch, but it’s not at all one that I would purchase. This teabag will give you one solid steeping and anything beyond that quickly loses flavor.

O.K. confession time: I pocketed a teabag from our complimentary hotel breakfast area when we were on our weekend getaway a while back…well alright, a few teabags…**cough***cough***5 to be exact***cough*** I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to try, so I thought the only logical thing to do was to try one of each. I know –BAD NADIA!! I’m sure the hotel wouldn’t mind since it’s the only hotel chain I ever want to stay at, and I don’t plan on doing it again, so they have more than made up the cost of the teabags. Justify…justify…justify…

Anyways, here’s what I thought of this one: It’s a quick and convenient green tea, but I find I can taste the paper teabag. Maybe it’s just subconscious? Or that I’ve grown accustomed to tea made with loose green tea leaves? Or perhaps it’s bad karma for taking extra tea? Whatever the reason may be, this is not my favorite green tea, but it will do in a pinch.