Traveling Tea

I thought I was personally prepared for this when I got a whiff of smoke straight out of the bag, but let me tell you, I was a fool. Am I even qualified to write about this? Have I been successfully bullied by a tea?

There are a lot of flavors here to sort through that I know it’s going to take me a few more steeps to disentangle anything but the initial palate confusion. But I’ll tell you this: I wish I would’ve had a cup to go with my stack of pancakes yesterday.

Been a garbage week, so one half of my tea haul arriving in the mail today was a welcome respite. This has translated into oversteeping this cup by about 20 minutes, but fortunately I don’t think it suffered much…

Not gonna lie, this stuff smells dank and not at all like vanilla or orange. When I stick my nose in the gravity pot, it’s all cardamom and some herbaly whiffs in spite of seeing almost nothing but apple pieces and orange peels. What kind of dark sorcery is happening with this tea? It’s like Whole Foods distilled into a perfume.

Fortunately, this tastes smoother than it smells. Somehow, it’s managed to capture a vanilla-y smoothness with no vanilla in the blend. The orange half is is a little dicey, since I’m mostly just seeing apple in the pot, but I think I can’t judge this fairly until I do a more-lucid, not-forgotten second steep later.

Summer has gone on too long, folks, because here I am drinking (and craving) spicy teas and thinking about red, crunchy leaves. It helps that I’m working on destashing before bringing in a new haul, and forgot that I had this treat waiting in the wings.

I don’t get a lot of vanilla flavor in this, but the cinnamon and ginger are the big hitters with a little astringency from the cardamom riding the back end. Bless the folks at TT for putting ‘NO PEPPER’ on the label for the benefit of weaklings like myself. I like that this is pleasantly spicy without being too biting and lends itself nicely for tea lattes. Wish I would have steeped this one a little longer – I find it’s tough for me to overdo it with chais, but I make them so infrequently that I keep forgetting. I mixed mine with a little toasted coconut-almond milk because it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time, and I’m not sure that it added anything significant, but I ain’t mad at it, either.

Best of luck in the heatwave this week – it’s finally reached St. Louis.

Smooth, rich flavor with butterscotch taste. Not overpowering. Excellent with a dash of cream and honey!

Fruity tea with a big peach scent; flavor is a sour peach. It’s a tasty fruit tea with a lovely scent. The majority of the peach notes come at the very end. This one grew on me and I really enjoyed it as it cooled.

Long steep—9 minutes.

Yum! Cranberry and apple flavor come through, but the additions of spice give it more complexity than your average fruity tea. Heavenly scent. This is tasty without being cloying, sour or bitter. This is a great holiday treat!

Very mild caramelized pear flavor. Good caramelized pear is one of my pinnacle teas, so I’m highly critical of anything that doesn’t have distinct notes. This one is more muddled with slight flavor; not my favorite but still drinkable.

I like the combination of flavors in this lovely latte.

terri sent this one my way and while i don’t love excessive amounts of licorice , i’m ok with is when done well. i actually REALLY like this..except for the licorice haha. There’s just a little too much making it too sweet for me. But the cinnamon/orange/clove aspect to this is delicious. if we could dial back the licorice in this, i’d probably be all over this.

tried the last of this one at 205 degrees for 3 mins and it was a pretty tasty, malty assam. Not sure if it ranks as my favourite or anything, but it was a nice one to try. It’s also neat seeing how differently this one tastes depending on the parameters. thanks for the share terri!

Tea from my tea sister Terri. What intrigued me most about this, is that there are 3 different sets of instructions on the package depending on what you’re going for:
-195 1 tsp 4oz for sweet, floral, silky texture
-205 for robust maltiness 4oz per tsp
-6-8oz of water if you want a blod pick me up, similar to a darjeeling.

Since i have a little to play with, i went with 4oz, 195 degrees, 1.5mins. This is slightly sweet, but i wouldn’t say floral with a hint of maltiness coming through. it reminds me a little of a ceylon brewed this way. interesting.

noms. Another adventure from my tea sister. this one is pretty tasty – a little sweet, a little sour and nicely done on the black currant front. I think i like the black berry tisane i’ve had more, but this is a very nice change from the usual fruit tisanes out there. darker and slightly mysterious…or something like that anyway haha.

Final Count: 120

Traveling Tea is a teashop less than a mile from my house, and my favorite teas from that shop are custom blends that the owner, Kateri, creates. Both Sil & I have sung the praises of the Pumpkin Ginger Spice blend that Kateri makes every fall, from locally raised, roasted, and dehydrated pumpkins! That tea is pure awesomeness!

So here is another of Kateri’s blends, a new one! I I should mention up front that I’m not a huge fan of guayusa or rooibos, and my first sip, in fact my first inhale, told me I wasn’t really going to enjoy this tea much.

However, it actully is very enjoyable. The texture is creamy, although I didn’t add any type of ‘milk’ to it, and the blend of flavors is nicely done, so that no one flavor stands out over all. It kind of reminds me of ovaltine, with it’s mix of cacao hulls & vanilla, and there is a nuttiness to it as well. It’s not a bold cup of tea, but the dandelion and chicory add a bass note, so it’s not wimpy either. I dlidn’t add any sweetener, however there’s a little sarsparilla & maple in there, and really it was sweet enough.

If you’re interested in checking out the teas Kateri offers, here’s a link to her website:
https://squareup.com/market/natures-notion-llc-d-slash-b-slash-a-traveling-tea/

A tasty malty Assam that I’ve enjoyed & plan to get more of!
Sil, you’ll find some of this one in your box, when I finally get to the PO to send it off!!
Sipdown!

HGTTB

I was a little hesitant due to the heavy scent of spices in the dry leaf but this is amazing. This is the most true-to-pumpkin tea I have ever had and the ginger just adds an extra layer of warmth. It is like a nice hug in a cup or perhaps a cozy fall sweater. Either way it is delicious!

another cup from terri apparently i like vanilla oolongs. This is the second one i’ve had – the first being from adagio and there’s justs omething about vanilla + oolongs that work for me. This has been a great cup of tea this afternoon while the other half and i game a little and relax. thanks terri!

this is another from terri and while i’m not an oolong fan, i do love me some ginger! haha while this is a really pleasant roasty oolong, all i’m really getting here is peach. And i’m a little peached out. I really can’t taste any ginger. I have a feeling if this was a ginger oolong i’d be all over getting more of this…but the way it stands? i’m good with just this taste! thanks terri!

tea from terri! this one smells a LOT of the hojicha. However, once brewed, i can see why someone might call this coffee….it’s not really like coffee but it’s like the memory of coffee as it blends with the cacao..if that makes sense. Interesting to try, that’s for sure! thanks terri!

Yesterday was an awesome day. I fixed a tasty brunch for myself, my 2 sons, Tony, & my friend Lisa. While we ate, we watched “The Interview” on my son Leif’s huge flatscreen. We also shared a pot of this tea, which is tasty. Then we played Cards against Humanity for about 3 hours, LOL.

I steeped the tea in this teapot, which was made for me by a friend!

http://instagram.com/p/xFDGlVD8kS/
http://instagram.com/p/xFDNbZD8kj/
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When Sil came to visit, we went to the Traveling Tea shop & she bought some of this one, leaving me a generous sample. I was in that shop a few weeks later & bought some more (having forgotten that I already had some). So…the first time I tried it, I was a little disappointed, it seemed rather bland. I had followed the suggested heaping tsp.

This time? I went with a rounded TB, & steeped about 5 minutes probably, & it is MUCH more Delicious that way! This evening I’m in the mood for teas that are sweet, & this one is really hitting the spot! Next time I’ll dump a can of coconut milk in the mini crock pot (maybe tomorrow) & let it sit there warming for an hour or so…yeah…maybe tomorrow…