The Skirted Soldier

Wow, this blend is really nice! I wasn’t expecting to like it that much after the original fail with Chow Hall (which I found I ended up loving cold brewed). It was absolutely delicious! Part of it I think is the creme brulee oolong base but I does taste like Pecan Pie! I can’t wait to try this cold brewed.

Hmmm I think that I am going to do another rating change because I gave this blend another shot, cold brewed this time. Hot it was rather bland however, cold brewed I got the caramel and cinnamon with a light apple flavor. Not juicy apple, but baked apple. I’m going to average the scores together for the final rating because I am planning on grabbing more in the future for my cold brew only pile. Hot score: 65 Cold score: 85

While I was super excited for this blend as I love Apple and cinnamon… it just didn’t do it for me. It was very lightly Appley and had no spice or caramel as expected. I steeped another cup to see if I didn’t steep it long enough but… nope I did it right lol.

Skirted Soldier keeps sending me samples of this tea whenever I order from them. It’s fine as dessert teas go, but it’s among their lesser blends. I have a hard time tasting the pistachio at all.

Love this tea. It’s like eating a pecan pie, has a nice strong pecan flavor with additional sweetness.

This was a sipdown from the other day.
I can’t quite decide what I think about this. Herby, an intense flavor that isn’t unpleasant at all, but maybe not entirely the flavors I like? And yet?
I drank it fairly easily, but I’m not going to bring it back into the cupboard.
In other news of the week, I came into my office on Monday to find that my hot water source has just stopped working, so no tea for me. Aaah! I have ordered an electric kettle for the office (i.e., for me), but it’s not here yet and aaaargh.

This is an odd one- mint, orange, vanilla- it all turns somewhat herby in my cup. I find it odd, but not unpleasant. I wasn’t sure about when I first tried this, but it’s not a problem to drink it.
A funny tea, but oddly enjoyable.

So, during the last few months, I have not been doing good cupboard management.
I’d been doing a huge project of the last few years of sipping down teas, to curate a more reasonable number of teas. This had been going well, but it went rather too well, and left me high and dry, scraping the proverbial bottom of the barrel lately.
Well, nothing cheers the heart like adding new teas to the cupboard, so I have started buying some more teas, and some old favorites but some new ones, so I have a fun new experience to try!
The first up of the new teas is this, which was such an interesting combination that I had to try it. Orange and vanilla AND spearmint? What is it like?
It’s herby, and maybe almost…. toothpasty? But in a pleasantish sort of way? Hmm, very difficult to explain. I’m glad I got a few ounces of this, more experimentation will be needed.
Is it going to become a cupboard classic? No. Will it be drunk with interest? Yes.

Ah, my yearly tussle with apple tea.
I love the idea of apple tea. I love apples! I love tea! I am 100% onboard with this idea!
But the reality hasn’t yet bowled me over.
I think I’m going have to tinker with the steep time on this. I think there is lots and lots of potential in this blend, but honestly I steeped it too long.

A more delicate steep time was a good choice. The base can get a bit bitter. But I didn’t get more pumpkin flavor out of this.
More tinkering to come!

So I placed a huge order of autumnal teas on Saturday. My cupboard is bare, it’s time for a fall-flavors restock!
Props to the Skirted Soldier. I placed my order for a couple of teas on Saturday morning, and it arrived Monday. On the other side of the country. Wowza!
I am on the hunt, as I seem to be every year, for the pumpkin tea of my very soul. The one that I can sip and fall into that fall feeling.
I like this, but I don’t love it. I don’t get quite as much pumpkin as I’d like, but the butterscotch-y caramel is a nice note. I don’t get “salted”, which is too bad.
I’m looking forward to playing with this some more, and seeing what nuance of flavor I can coax out.

I finished this off last week, and while I liked it, I never quite loved it.
The apple and the spice was not quite as present as I wanted them to be. My quest for the perfect apple tea continues.

Sipdown!

Its the Fourth of July, so I think it’s only appropriate to have an apple pie tea!
This is pretty nice. I find that apple teas sometimes get a little bitter, but this one does not. It’s mellow, with the apple, a little vanilla and a hint of cinnamon melting into each other. It’s an easy tea to drink, and works well for the day. I think I’ll also really enjoy it in the autumn!

I never could get this tea to work for me, which I take full blame for. I’ve always had trouble with blends with Jasmine in them- they go all funny on me nine times out of ten. The tenth is heaven, but I can never get it consistantly to do that.
Oh well. We were simply not to be. Farewell Valiant Vanilla!
Sipdown!

When I opened the packet of this I swooned. The leaf smells amazing, vanilla and jasmine dancing on the black tea base. Ooooh, this sounds gorgeous.
Brewed up I’m finding it a touch bitter, and I loose the vanilla in my steep. I might try a lighter steep next time, and see if it brings out more of the scrumptious smelling vanilla.

I’ve brought this tea with me to be my “at work” black tea. This is going to do really well there.
My criteria for the ideal work blend is a tea that is tasty, bu not too special, so I can sip on it distractedly if need be.
This is a very solid breakfast blend, rich without being overpowering, and I enjoyed it very much.

Now that I’ve gotten my cupboard down to a reasonable amount, I’ve decided its time to try out some new tea companies. That way I can spend some time on the blends without feeling completly overwhelmed by my cupboard (truly, it is an invisible pressure).
This company rather fell onto my radar accidentally, and I thought- hey, I like tea, and I like supporting female veterans of the military. And the blends sound good! So here we are!
(I have somewhat complex feelings about the military. I wish it was not necessary, I am a pacifist big time, but I also feel that veterans get the short end of the stick, and feel that they should be supported.)
This is an Earl Grey Cream blend, which I tend to like anyway, and this is a very nice one. It smells like pure heaven in the bag, and it brews up to an Earl that is well balanced with it’s vanilla component.
Hurrah new tea!