Teavana

my favorite tea! i have bought 2 lbs because teavana is discontinuing it :(

Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention please. An uncupboarding is about to occur. A rare event occurring only every few days on Steepster, it is much anticipated by persons lacking space and drastically wanting more teas. A partial portion can sometimes remain and a small amount, weak tea, or blend can happen simultaneously with the uncupboading. Today’s upcupboarding coincided with a blending.

Approximately, 1/2 tsp of Peach Bloom was steeped with 1 tsp of Caribbean Sencha based on the notion of compatibility of their scents. This blend was steeped according to the Caribbean Sencha parameters. The first steep was primarily Peach Bloom. The second steep the Caribbean Sencha was predominate with hints of the Peach Bloom. Both were good. The second steep may have been enjoyed more than the first. No third steep occurred.

2nd steep: 3 min 30 sec.

I made a bit of a Teavana rooibos discovery last night.

Teavana used to have a tent at the farmer’s market. They’d have tea samples made to try and they’d bring a bunch of different 1oz loose tea samples which they sold for only $1 no matter what the tea was. I’d buy pretty much anything that sounded good and I didn’t already have. I ended up with quite a few greens, mostly flavored, and rooibos, red and green. I drank up most of them, but still have a few left and some odds and ends. Then I found Steepster and more teas and got away from drinking those.

Lately I’ve been having a cup of tea in bed each night while reading before going to sleep. Cycling through my non-caffeine options, I pulled what I had left of the Teavana rooiboses out. I’ve been liking the Peach Bloom a bit better than I remember it being but I’ve also thought it was pretty weak. I figured it was just because it was older tea. It was still quite flavorful and drinkable.

Last night, I pulled out a different Teavana rooibos, thinking about trying something different, which was in a bigger container that I’d affixed that Teavana label to. The Peach Bloom was in a small gladware salad dressing sized container sans original labeling. I noticed the other rooibos called for 1.5 tsp. I’ve been using 1 tsp of the Peach Bloom. Teavana rooibos epiphany!

So Peach Bloom steeped with 1/2 tsp more Peach Bloom equals stronger, peachier, and more roobos-y.

The bad news is that now that I’ve figured this out, I don’t have enough Peach Bloom left for another serving. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the remainder of it. It was too much to add to this cup but not enough to make even a half a cup. I don’t want to throw it out. I do want to un-cupboard this tea. I am guessing I should blend it with something. I’m not quite sure what. I’m thinking maybe a tropical green tea.

Now back to more good luck. Malomorgan’s lucky year appears to have indeed rubbed off on mine, or at least on my tea luck. Cause I won Frank’s email contest. I’ve wanted to win one since I signed up for the newsletter and started entering. I’ve wanted to try more 52 Teas since I got the Strawberry Matcha, which is SO good. I’ve been telling myself that I’m just waiting for the next blend that I have to have. I think I’ve just been trying to keep myself from doing something crazy like ordering all three white tea blends. Cause, you know, if I were just ordering one, I might have to get the other two. I’ve been telling myself I could order one white tea blend when I got the next had to have blend. I would need to pick one. I’m leaning, of course, towards the Black Current White Tea, which I think is going to be my free pouch. I’ve also been eying the Razberry Green and the Shari’s Apricot Spice as well as the white blends. I’m a bit afraid that if I really like the Black Current White, I’ll have to get those two and the rest of the white. Then the husband will think I’m crazy cause I’ll just have gotten all this tea in the mail. I don’t know how ya’ll who order lots of tea explain it to the husbands/wives.

Winning all this yummy free tea has really made my month. (It’s been a really blah month.) I don’t know what I’ll do if I continue to win more tea, except be really happy and drink lots of tea. =)

Breaking my three day string of Alpine Berry as my reading-in-bed cup, I had Peach Bloom last night. It was good – light and peachy – but weaker than I remember it being the last time I had it even though I steep it long enough. I may go back to Alpine Berry tonight. I read a couple more chapters of Beautiful Creatures last night. The plot is feeling rushed along. I’m not really getting into the book.

It seems like all my non-caffeinated nighttime teas are either fruity, chamomile, minty, or a blend of the last two. I’ve been mostly in the mood for the fruity ones. I wish I had more baking flavors teas for nighttime consumption. Things like vanilla, chocolate, caramel, honey, spicy, or otherwise reminiscent of dessert.

Now my most exciting tea news! Yesterday I found out that I won the Maeda-en 2010 Shin-cha Giveaway. I was so excited. I had never won a tea contest before. Then today I found out that I won the LeafSpa Steepster Select comment contest. Double the excitement. I must be lucky this week. I’ve been having a really shitty week this week so it totally made my day both times. Thanks Maeda-en, LeafSpa, and Steepster!

Backlogging. Late Thursday night before bed.
Steep extra long to squeeze as much flavor out as possible since I found this tisane doesn’t take a resteep. Seemed weak at first, but after cooler just slightly, there was the taste. I am finding myself wishing I didn’t have only three to four cups left worth of leaf now that I have rediscovered this tisane from the back of my cupboard. It makes for a good before bed cup.

Backlogging. Two nights ago.
This was the tisane I wanted to drink the previous night. A tasty peach taste with a tail of green rooibos. Lighter in flavor, this tisane could stand to be steep an additional minute next time. I had misremembered that rooibos could take multiple steeps. The 2nd steep was water with a hint of peach rooibos. Perhaps it was red rooibos that took two steeps or perhaps no rooibos.

Bad days are good for tea. Or is it tea is good for bad days. Either way, I knew I’d be having a few cups more than my usual single late evening cup so I went for a rooibos. I steeped this one with less time and less tea than usual. It’s lighter but not by much.

I noticed again that my choice in non-caffeinated teas is limited. But I still have so many tea odds and ends to drink before I order more tea. I have plenty of blacks and greens, which is what I mostly drink. But I’ll need to beef up on rooibos/herbals, whites, and oolongs, both of which I am new to. More tea is in my future. Or rather, new teas are in my future, I should say.

I’ve brewed a cup of Peach Rooibos to drink while reading the day’s posts on Steepster. Yummy, but slightly flat tasting. The thermometer I use seems to have stopped rising past a certain point. Ugh. I need to get a new one now. I should probably get one that’s specifically for tea. I’ve been using an instant read meat thermometer.

Standard mug. 1.5 tsp tea. Water at a boil. 5 minutes.

This is a softer side of mate. If you’re not a fan of the raw yerba mate this is a perfect blend. I picked this up about a month ago and have really been enjoying it. I’m sad they’re going to discontinue it though.

This is my first blooming tea. Nice light floral scent/taste. It does get a little bitter after a while, which is somewhat problematic since I’m steeping it in the Teavana Rhapsody tumbler – I can’t really get the bloom out until I’m done!

It’s an enjoyable experience, though, and I’ll definitely drink it again.

Loved this but it wasn’t what I thought when I saw just the name. The coconut really stands out in this! Better than expected!

I love me some JDPP. I resteeped it twice and used an extra teaspoon. Sweetened with honey… all you need.

One of our perpetual favorites. We turn to it for its comforting, warming quality.

So yummy! I sweetened it with some local honey, which gives it the subtle sweetness it needs to bring out the nutty flavors. I’m going to miss you Formosa Nut Oolong.

This is my first favorite black tea and I’m going to miss it terribly. It’s got a nice marzipan flavor with sweet rose undertones. I love it. So long, Rose Marzipan Delight! You will be missed.

honeybush is great way to help get over a cold. it’s an expectorant so it helps break up the gross mucus in lungs when you’re sick. it mixes well with a lot of flavors…not that i couldn’t drink it by itself all day…

I mixed this with South African Rooibos. Iced it. Drank it. Yeah.

Backlogging. A couple of days ago.

My first cold brewed tea! I made mention a few tealogs back that I had set it up and put it in the fridge. It was a success, especially given that I wasn’t very fond of the tea I used in the first place.

1st steep: approx. 24 hours.
Light! Lemony! Green! Refreshing! In that order. Way better than I’d been expecting.

2nd steep: over 2 days.
This steep never really colored up so I left the leaves in until I drank it. It was cool water with a hint of lemon sencha. Had I more of this tea to cold brew again, I would only do one steep with it.

I am planning on cold brewing tropical sencha or cherry sencha or earl grey next. How well this cold brew went has lead me to wanting to cold brew again more.

And lastly, I am decupboarding this tea. I was thinking about bumping the rating from 35 (right in the middle of the meh range, 30-40) to 40 (on the low end of the drinkable range, 40-50) since I liked the cold brew. But overall, I just wasn’t fond of this tea hot. I didn’t like the way it tasted (roasted lemon) and rarely found myself reaching to drink it. Thankfully, it was a 1oz sample bag from the farmer’s market so there was not much of it to get through.

Backlogging
Chrine drank a non-A&D tea and A&D smited her tea. Normally she finds this Lemon Green to be a decent, if not great, cup of tea. Tonight, she did not finish the cup or resteep, which was sad because she was looking forward to having this one tonight as she is nearly out. Perhaps it was not the best pairing with Hunan Chicken and Shitake Beef from Red Orchid.

Ah, the elusive(-to-me) 4th steep. I rarely drink enough of one tea in a row before I get tired it or concerned about the leaves being out too long. More watery than the 1st steep but sweeter, the lemon more muted, the green tea completely hidden, only its essence showing, and a bit of drying bitter. But let’s begin at the beginning, shall we.

The husband and I had a silly not-quite-an-argument. He was tired and didn’t say much. I was upset and upset that I was upset, about nothing really. I steeped the 3rd steep in the kitchen talking to myself out loud.

It was good. The best of the three steeps. The baked lemon had a golden glow-y warm quality about it. It calmed me. I sipped, it soothed.

I’m not even that fond of this tea. Why it’s inspiring me to write such post-y posts, I do not know. Perhaps it is my muse today. An average, not-super-great muse.

I looked down and suddenly, it seemed, the 3rd steep was gone. It was time for more. There was no doubt that I wanted the 4rd steep. Tea made the not-an-argument badness go away.

On the way to the kitchen, I stopped and did a tea dance with song. The refrain went “Everybody wants more tea, more tea”, repeat. It was happy. I was happier. (Yes, there is probably something wrong with me.)

I’m so proud of myself. The way the lemon in this tea tastes reminded me of something else. So I thought about it and thought about it a bit more while steeping a second cup. Then I realized what it was exactly. I feel a bit like one of ya’ll that writes the really great Tasting Notes.

Now on to the tea. The lemon in this tea is not the bright fresh taste of freshly squeezed lemon nor is it like lemon candy or powdered lemonade. When I finally got it, I realized I thought it tasted like baked lemon. You know the lemon taste you get when you bake fish with lemon slices on top or when you roast a chicken with lots of lemon stuck in the cavity. There is a light hint of green tea but it’s not distinct in its qualities and it hides nearly completely behind the baked lemon. It has also a teeny bit of not quite natural to it but I think that might be because I expected a lemon tea to lean more towards the fresh lemon taste. The 1st steep was fairly watery. I expected the 2nd (at 1 min 30 sec) to be even more so but was surprise that the watery was nearly gone. I intend to do a 3rd steep.

With putting my finger on a flavor that I picked out of this tea, I now have hopes in improving my Tasting Notes and advancing my palate. I am more excited about this than I should be currently. Normally I’d have just been like ‘lemon-y’. But I tasted, I re-tasted, I recognized, I compared. Tea drinker break through!

Husband and I shared a pot of this green tea with Chinese – Hot and Sour soup, Tangerine chicken, veggie Low Mein, and rice – for dinner tonight. We watched Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. PP was better than Grey’s this week. So glad Violet and baby didn’t die.

I made a second brewing that I’m drinking now as I balance my checkbook and pay my bills.

The tea is light and only faintly lemony. The first brewing was for 1 minute and the second one for nearly 3 minutes. About 180 degree water. 3 cup pot, 3 tsp of tea.

Savory, vegetal, and sweet. Hit the spot.

Liked this a lot!