TradTradition/Good Youngition/Good Young

Things end (sigh). And since summer is—at least by the calendar, not by the thermometer—coming to a close, it was time to use the last three bags of my beloved Traditions strawberry tea. Last bags ever, as far as I can tell—the brand still exists, but not this pleasantly flavored, viably authentic strawberry variety. I cold-steeped my last Mason jarful and am giving it a proper and respectful sendoff from my rocking chair.

According to Ecclesiastes, there is a season for everything under heaven; a time to keep, and a time to throw away. I am NOT throwing away my last hoarded half-box of these beloved strawberry tea bags, but I have decided that it is high time that I used them.

Especially since it is blinkin’ hot! From the coolest spring in several decades, BAM! we switched immediately to mid-90’s rainforest weather this week.

So I have kept a mason jar of this faithful, can’t-fail strawberry black tea in the fridge for several days now for cool-down purposes. But here’s the twist: thanks to some chit-chat here on Steepster about herb-laced water, and not having enough tea to fill my tumbler, I finished off the top half with some rosemary water. Fruity, brisk, a little piney…I think I am going to do this on purpose again!

Gray and gloom, colds and flu lurking—so to stave off all of them, I started this morning with my favorite no-fail fruit tea. (You can’t ruin this, no matter how bumbly you are.) Tossed in a basket with about 1/2 teaspoon of elderberries for the colds and flu part. Hope there’s sunshine in your world today.

Garage thermometer peaked at 105, but officially it’s a cool and balmy 98 today. Summer has arrived about eight weeks late. So we’re in “anything-as-long-as-it-is-COLD” mode. As I am the owner of the last two boxes in local existence of these bags, I am budgeting them carefully, but this makes the best unsweetened, cold-steeped fridge tea in the world. Stuck a quart in the fridge to wet my whistle after a dusty drive to the farm. The weeds along the road to Dad’s house are white with a quarter-inch coating of road dust that looks like mocha frost.

Wish I’d tried the lemon and (hmm..was it?) black raspberry versions of this when the indie grocery was stocking it.

The novelty of “Hey! Look what’s growing on my back porch!” will wear off, but if you can’t tell, we’re having a blast with mint alchemy. Combined my favorite-ever cheapie summer morning strawberry tea with an orange mint stem—-oh, so nice! I sense a big jug of it coming, iced, this weekend.

I snapped up the last boxes of this from the local store when it turned up in the discontinued section, primarily for sun tea if warm weather ever comes. Snow. Again. But warm and fruity, this provides a sweet afternoon cuppa. One of my really truly favorites ever, even if it is bagged and cheap.

Ice and other natural disasters making simple tea a necessity right now. Power out 12 hours + on Saturday (on), branch bounced off roof, cutting a 3" chunk out of the roof as it went (patched). Internet still out; customer service people in Arizona who have no idea what an ice storm is (borrowing nursing home wifi).

Ready for a little peace in my patch of the earth. May there be great peace in yours.

We had just intended to go window shopping…wrong side of payday to do much more than that. But desperate times call for desperate measures, especially when your local shop is discontinuing your favorite bagged strawberry tea ever.

The upside, however, was that the 50-bag boxes were marked down to 99 cents. Two cents a cup. Take that, Cheapster Steepsters :) Dug around in the dregs of my purse for coins and small change and bought the last three boxes.

Worth it, even if I’m running on penny fumes. (Poverty builds character, right?)

I woke up craving, not specifically strawberry tea, but anything that evokes the sensation of warm and gentle weather. I am done with winter. Can I get an amen?

I love this stuff. Truly, it’s better cold in the summer, but this morning, it’s lovely to feel the warm strawberry flavor on my tongue. Enough black tea base to tug you awake.

I was beginning to worry when I didn’t see replacement boxes of this spring and summer staple appearing at the store. So I did a little happy whoop when we went in today and I saw a healthy stack of red-and-white stripey boxes smiling at me…and resisted the impulse to buy them all.

I haven’t tried it yet, but there were some happy purple-and-white striped boxes right next to them on the shelf, a blackberry version. Hmmm…could be tasty!

Veni, vidi, ornati. I came, I saw, I decorated … I think. With the help of two of the most willing and cheerful teenage helpers on the planet, we have a mini Victoria Falls set for our first grade “aviators” to land at tomorrow. VBS week at church—Amazing Wonders Aviation—-and I’m pooped already.

Knowing I would be, I had a quart of my Most Best Beloved Summer Fruit Tea ever cold and waiting for me when I puddled home (it’s down to 95, but after a rain last night, the humidity is now a zillion and three percent). With a small handful of Birthday Cake Oreos, I am in sweet treat nirvana.
Nothing new to say about it other than I only saw a couple of boxes left on the shelf at Fox Farm Whole Foods and that’s making me nervous…

My tasting notes on this one are all starting to sound alike. (This is great! This is cheap! This is cheaply great! This is greatly cheap!)

And I stand by all of them. This is a wonderful, forgiving, cold-brew friendly summer bagged tea and I can tell there’s another box in my future. They also had a raspberry version at the local emporium. I smell another trip to Fox Farm.

So I bumble into the kitchen, press the button on the Hot Shot and instantly fog out on what I really want to drink..“what’m I gonna have..what’m I gonna have..what’m I gonna have..what’m I gonna have..the water’s starting to cool…what’m I gonna have..” (Surely this has not happened to you.) First thing I laid sleepy eyes on was this happy little red-and-white striped box.

Straight up in my Tervis tumbler (12 oz I think), one bag still steeps to a nice morning-kicky strength with no milk added. The strawberry flavoring is wonderful. Really glad I stumbled onto this one—at the store and in my kitchen.

This was good hot, but a notch better cold-brewed in the fridge. Subtly sweet and fruity. Wondering what it would taste like cold with some French vanilla creamer. (Off to experiment…)

In deep need of a little pick-me-up (further adventures in elder care), I hit Fox Farm for a little treat. This caught my eye because it said “strawberry,” because it was cheap (50 bags for $3.99) and because it was in a happy little red-and-white box that said “cheer up, droopy drawers!”

This steeps up really strong. Can’t read a lick of the Taiwanese ingredient list, so I don’t know what base they’re using, but it’s dark ebony brown with a pretty accurate strawberry taste. Not as elegant and ethereal as the strawberry-ish twist in Marco Polo, but it tastes like fruit and not like ICEE syrup.

A couple of sips straight up were fine, but on a whim, I splashed in some half-and-half, and I have me a fine cup of berries and cream. Also have some bags cold brewing in the fridge even as we speak. I think this is going to be a great summer tea.

(WIll keep working at finding a picture to post—I did finally land on the company website, but can’t get the English version to work for me.)

Cleaned my press. Got my water heating. Started digging through my home stash trying to figure out what I wanted to drink. The dinger went off saying the water was ready so I grabbed this one. Turns out it was a good choice. Nice evening cup of light strawberry goodness.

My youngest works 3rd shift. He came in at 6:15 and woke us up. “Where’s the truck?”
“Your brother had a dead battery, he came and borrowed it so he could go to work”
I start to drift off. My oldest returns the truck at around 7:00. Of course he has to come in and announce the truck is back.
So knowing I have to be out the door by 8:30 to set up for the morning praise team, I give in and try to get up. Problem is I can’t wake up.
This is where bagged teas are a necessity. Thanks again gmathis for this one. It got me moving and out on time.

This one came in the mail as a surprise from gmathis. Thanks! I have never seen this brand in the local stores. I feel like I am going back to my roots today. This is a tea bag. Dry it looks kind of flat. It smells lightly of strawberry. I boiled up a mug of water and poured over the tea, steeping for 3 minutes.

I wish I had a clear glass mug for reviews to get a better idea of the brew color. This is moderately dark with an orange tint. Smells a bit like strawberry Quik. When I removed the bag it had really swollen nicely. Salada is another company with bags that make me wonder if there is enough tea in it but always swells big and produces a good solid cup.

This is my first ever strawberry tea. Seriously. I thought, I really don’t drink fruit teas, then I realized I like a lot of them – gojiberry, pomegranate, dragon fruit, peach, apricot, lemon, lime, orange, and especially bergamot. So why not strawberry?

I took my first sip and was pleasantly entertained. Immediately you taste strawberry but it is done in moderation. Yes, it does taste a lot like Nestle’s Strawberry Quik and yet it leans to a more natural flavor. The tea base is standard bag tea black. It isn’t bad. It gets the job done with just a touch of bite and astringency, but that is the way I like it. The best part is I can taste the base right along with the strawberry. That is of major importance to me.

Oh wait, this is interesting. As the cup is cooling I am starting to catch roasted notes in the lingering aftertaste. I hope it isn’t my imagination. It reminds me of a mild Yamamotoyama oolong. Hot dog! That is one of my favorite bagged teas. So kudos for the extra touch.

Gmathis says this is a really cheap tea so it gets extra points. This is a nice tea with some nice surprises. I could drink this one often. I am glad I got to try it.

My honey and I raided the 99 Ranch Market while on our trip yesterday, finding a good selection of tea in this Asian market. I had to get something different than the Lipton swill that I have had for the last few weeks.

Peach Oolong tea is new to me. I have had peach before but never peach oolong. It says that you can add milk and sweetener to it. Tasted it raw (without any of these things) and it had no real taste to it other than “hot water”. Added a dollup of 2% milk and it still didnt have any taste for me. It wasnt til I added the sweetener (splenda) that I got a taste out of it.

Its an okay taste for me. I get the hint of peach but its nowhere near the “peachiness” that I would had I chosen a regular peach (non-oolong) tea. It looks like the sweetener had to bring out the sweetness of the tea itself.