Spice Traders and Teas

This blend was one that I tried in the SVTTB and I fell in love with it. I loved the vanilla creme and chocolate flavors laced in one candy dessert tea blend. I really like how the malty black tea base complemented the chocolate flavors.

This is a nice tea. Nothing too fancy, but has a lovely chocolate and caramel flavor that goes nicely with milk and sugar. It’s makes a good iced milk tea.

And its a sipdown!
This was a perfectly nice, if unremarkable blend, and is several years old at this point. Its nice to have it join the ranks of the sipped down.
I now am down to 19 teas. I can’t remember the last time that was true!

This is the second tea thats coming to work with me.
I’m really loving the smaller cupboard size, as it encourages me to drink things that have been neglected, and this tea has been neglected.
And thats too bad. Its not the best Darjeeling I’ve had by a long shot, but its perfectly nice! Its got a sweet mellowness thats lovely to try.
There isn’t a lot of this, so sooner rather than later this will join the ranks of the sipdowns, but thats also kinda thrilling.

This tea, which has been sadly neglected for too long, has recieved the nomination to come to work and be drunk there.
I remembered it as being a bit bitter, but the cup I had on Friday was not, rather with the sweet mellowness that some Darjeelings have.
I like it, but its elderly, and there isn’t so much. It will be done soon enough.

This has been languishing in my cupboard for far too long. Its time to keep up with the ol tea drinking goals.
Not my favorite Darjeeling, I’m afraid. Not bitter (though my memory tells me it was, at the beginning), but its not anything special.
Thats ok, it will be writer fuel for the afternoon.

Darjeeling this afternoon. I hadn’t had any Darjeeling for a while, so I broke open the tin of this, to give it a try.
Initial pot is not encouraging. Its turned bitter, and not even a splash of almond milk really helped it. Hmm, not ideal.
Next time I’ll try a shorter steep time, and see if that works.

So the world has happened, as it often does, very suddenly and very overwhelmingly. I have started rehersals for a youth Shakespeare program (I’m assistant director), and of course that’s not overly organized. It is, today, 109 degrees, up from 107 yesterday (110 tomorrow, I am told). Plus my normal work duties!
I require air conditioning and tea.
I almost never sleep with the air conditioning on. I usually like to open my windows at night, get fresh air and hopefully cool down the house that way. But, with the temps being as high as they are it never cools down, so last night I slept with the air on, and had the first good nights sleep in days.
My tea, this morning, was this blend, which I always found to be fruity and pleasant. It is also a sipdown, to my great pleasure. It was a lovely blend, but I’ve had so many lovely blends in my cupboard that I am suffering from blend overload.
So, this was my final cup of this (at least for a good solid while), and I hope it gets me through the day well.
Sipdown!

I’m near the bottom of this tin, which I’m more disappointed with than I expected to be. It was very light, fruity and refreshing this morning, which was a lovely way to wake up!

Its been such a busy morning that I hardly remember drinking this, but I know I did. I was left with a pleasant floral fruitiness to it, but that tea is now just a memory. Time for more tea!

Once again I am struck by how not wintery this feels to me. With its fruit and floral tastes I think of it more as a spring or summer cuppa, regardless of the name.
Ah well. It was still nice enough for the morning.

Went to bed to the sound of rain, and woke up to the sound of rain. Ahh, that’s how I like it.
I am sort of a thematic person. I like matching flavors, clothing, smells, and the other details of my life to a theme, even if that theme might not make any sense to anyone else. So I was pleased with the idea of a storm tea for a stormy morning.
This is a very pleasant blend, light and refreshing. That’s not exactly the flavor profile I would have given to a tea called Winter Storm, but hey. It was good, it cheered my morning, why am I really going to complain about it?

In my neck of the woods we’ve been having truly epic storms. We don’t get storms like this, usually (in fact, we’ve been in severe drought for years now), so the wind and the rain is throwing us all for a loop.
So I thought this would be appropriate today, even though this is the one morning that its not been raining on us.
I like the idea of this a little better than I like its physical presence. I’m always a fan of a fruity black tea, but this one has maybe a touch too much citrus, which is not contrasting enough with the slightly bitter base.
Its still generally enjoyable, though.

As we are experiencing a winter storm at the moment (complete with pouring rain and potential flooding) I thought this would be a good choice for the morning.
Its a nice blend on a cold morning, with a touch of spice, a touch of fruit, and just the tiniest hint of rose in it.
Ahh.

The weather reports tell me we’re going to have a major storm today. Well, I’ll be ready, I love rain!
So, because I love a theme, I grabbed for this.
It smells effervescent in the tin, light and fruity and fun. It brews up a bit heavier than it smells, but its still a good blend of fruit flavors. A touch of brightness on a winter morning.

A backlog from this weekend.
I’ve been waiting for the weather to get a bit cooler, as only seems appropriate for a tea named “Winter Storm.”
Its a very, very pleasant blend. Its fruity, with a hint of spice to it, which does not overpower the freshness of the fruit. My main complaint is that it wasn’t very strong, but that could probably be fixed by adding more tea next time I brew some.
Another tea tried! Now more of my cupboard than not is tried, of which I am very happy.

Lavender fest 2018 continues, with the sipdown of this tea.
This tea was quite a nice Lady Grey. I love when they add lavender to Ladys, it really makes them sing.
Sipdown!

Backlogged from yesterday-
This little tin has lasted me a long time, but that’s my own fault. I haven’t been drinking it as often as I should do, so its been languishing. Too bad, as its a nice little blend, with a very tasty lavender component.
I’ve got to bring this into heavier rotation.

I don’t normally have black tea this late in the afternoon, and I hope it does not backfire, but I needed a pick me up.
As this nice little tea has been ignored, I decided it was high time to sip on it.
Its really nice! A pleasant melding of lavender and bergamot, and it is very refreshing!

My sample bowl has depths I dreamed not of, and I’ve just logged a batch of samples I’d completely forgotten about, and now am pushing 100 teas. Just when I think I’m making progress, too!
So my goals of sipdowns/trying unlogged teas continues, and this is what fit the bill first thing this morning.
This is not a sample, but instead something I picked up earlier this year at the local pirate festival.
I may have a patchy history with Earls, but I’ve always really liked her Ladyship, and this one is a particularly interesting version, as she’s dressed up in lavender!
And I think the flavors really do work here quite well. The delicate citrus is nicely complimented by the lavender, which is a sweet and dainty lavender, not anything heavy or medicinal. A really nice combo!

Not enough of this to make a fully rich cup, but enough to get the basic flavors.
Nice enough, but not repeatable, I think.
Sipdown! Whoo!

I am nearing the end of my little tin of this chai. Its been a pleasant drinking experience, but its not something I’m going to seek out to bring back into the cupboard.
It was a good choice for this morning, a soft and gentle way to wake up on this Monday morning, which has been nuts (I was nearly rear-ended, and the social media I checked this morning all seemed to be grumpy.)
But the tea has put me in a good mood, and I’m feeling generally positive about this Monday.

A moment of “ugh” this morning, when I had finished measuring out my leaf, and then knocked my tin off the table, spilling leaf all over the kitchen floor. Ugh.
I managed to get the tin with a serving or two left in it, but the stuff that hit the floor, well, no. No way I am drinkng floor tea. And at least I’d measured out my breakfast cup.
I like this, but I don’t love this, and I’m not even sure that I like it well enough to bring it back in the end.
But still, I didn’t want to spill it.

Ooof! Hello everyone, I’ve had a very busy few weeks, so I’m happy to have a bit time to catch up my logging!
Its a day of errands for me, as these holiday days often are. Its good to have a holiday weekend to run around in. Makes life that much easier.
But even though I have a lot to do today, its an easy morning, which is great. So I can induldge in a more low key tea.
I like this, but I don’t loooove it. Its a vanilla tinged chai, which is not particularly heavy on the spices. This is actually a feature, not a bug for me, and I appreciate its delicate balance. Good for a lazy morning!