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The more I drink this, the more I like it! (I’m partial to anything that has cornflowers in it, anyway; makes the dry leaves so pretty.)

It’s 100 miles to my nearest local Teavana and I am unlikely to mail order from them, but this has jumpstarted my curiosity — I’ll have to experiment with other creme EG’s to see if it’s the flavor combo or Teavana’s flavor combo that’s so good.

When I do this one right—as in use a timer and actually heed the timer—this is very nice. Three minutes, not a penny more.

I’m still trying to figure out what the “fruity” notes remind me of. A little grapey, maybe.

Furthermore, this one just feels good in the mouth. Heavy and silky. Highly recommended.

Tulsi + lavender + chamomile I spilled all over the stovetop = it’s been a stinky day. (Work insanity.)

No careful measuring, no rhyme nor reason, I just started pawing through my herbals for the most stress-relieving components I could find.

Helped, sorta.

Thanks to Michelle, I am having my first taste of something with schizandra berries in it. (Schizandra—sounds like a sneeze.)

Lots of spice in this one, cloves especially. I think I have more or less permanently burned off, from my love of heavy black Assams & breakfast teas, the taste buds that can actually pick up the subtleties of white tea—so if there’s some white tea character in here, I’m not registering it.

This is still OK, and would likely please a chai lover.

I keep this one in reserve for mornings when I need to WAKE UP. It is a potent breakfast tea, but not so strong or bitter it can’t be imbibed on its own.

Blends of tea should do one of two things: mesh together so well that you can detect every individual element, or mesh together so well that no one element interferes with the blend as a whole. This falls in Category #2.

Decided to give my taste buds a weary Wednesday pick-me-up by trying something new. Dry leaves are small and thin, but they pack nice and densely in the pouch. Does that make sense? Lots of blonde tips.

First thing I noticed was this was a very “juicy” Assam. I can catch the tones that made the Upton folks call it raisiny. It has strengthened significantly since it has cooled and I’m nearing the end of my 12-oz. tumbler. I think it’ll take milk nicely. Pretty good caffeine kick, too.

Lovely evening. RAIN! and cool enough hubby baked homemade pizza and break-n-bake chocolate chip cookies. This is a lovely, sweet, complement to tonight’s dessert. The vanilla is significantly stronger than the rooibos flavor. Actually, this would make a fine dessert on its own, but I am not letting perfectly good cookies go to waste.

Michelle packed a potent packet of this in a pouch of precious prizes (sorry—-y’all know me and alliterations). Wordplay notwithstanding, I think this is my favorite EG blend to date. Heavy on the cream, light on the bergamot.

(Afraid to say this very loudly for fear of jinxing it…) It feels like almost-fall outside! 60 degrees when I sat outside for my first cup. So in honor of the weather, I pulled out an oldie that I associate with cooler temps.

I think I under-leafed or understeeped, the smoke/leather flavor this is most tagged with is only barely detectible. Still drinkable—just lots of room to beef it up. Next time.