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I really need to find out the brand for y’all on this one, because it’s just plumb tasty! OK, Lemon, not plum. In bulk at my local herbal hangout, and they tend to stock San Francisco Herb and Spice or Frontier Natural Food Co-op stuff, but I haven’t found it on either website.

At any rate, it is a lovely Cheapster Steepster blend with gobs of lovely dried lemon peel. I prepared a pot properly, then chilled it—don’t have much luck cold-steeping green tea (it bitters up). At any rate, this has a wonderful baked-goods lemon cookie/pastry flavor that is every bit as good cold as it is hot. My introductory ounce is going fast.

I’m still developing my pu-erh chops; all the more so since Dr. Oz said pu-erh, especially when imbibed early in the day, is a fat burner. (I am not of the “if Dr. Oz said it, it must be true” camp, but hey, another excuse to drink tea!)

Anyway, I chilled a pint after my morning cup. Cold cave water! Which, on a triple-digit day, is a pretty nice little sensory side trip. I always did like the smell of stalagmites.

Subscribing to the it’s-going-to-be-stinkin’-hot-so-make-your-one-good-cup-count theory today. This is light and sweet, but enough so that the flavor makes itself known to you—your taste buds don’t have to hunt it down. What I wish all white teas tasted like (if this were a white, which it isn’t).

Traditions/Good Young Tea Co. Strawberry Black Tea + Citrus (In Pursuit of Tea) = a plausible summer chill-out.

The Citrus has followed me around for a very long time—part of the bin that survived our trauma. Largely, it’s been around for so long because it’s so tart and dry I can’t stand it on its own, but I can’t bear to throw out tea.

So I did a half-and-half with my new strawberry addiction, cold in the fridge, and while it didn’t improve the strawberry on its own, it gave it a lemonade-y kick that isn’t bad on a sweltering afternoon.

I’ve previously noted how light this is for a morning tea, but I will amend my comments after steeping a quart of this all day in the fridge. It stoutens (Yeah, stoutens. I made it up, so there)considerably with a slow, cold steep. Bit of apple-peel sharpness to it now. Good stuff.

Heat wave through next week, so I’m in need of good icing options. This is one. Steeped at a normal time, temp, and strength — but it’s nice and fresh and crisp on ice.

Running low on bagged teas and wanted something I could cold-steep quickly, so I tossed 3 bags in a quart jar, and into the fridge it went.

It’s not normally the kind of tea I’d ice down — I prefer straight, strong, black tea or fruity stuff — but it wasn’t bad. Not unlike a vanilla ice cream cone.

Summer seems to be the universal Steepster Scrap Drive season—using up the bits to make room for the good stuff next fall. And in keeping with the spirit of salvage, I pulled this out to make a jar of cold brew. A gift from the kind and creative jacquelinem last summer, it’s a scrap of berry this and a pinch of berry that. All sweet, no tart, it makes a wonderful cooler and soother. (100 in the shade this afternoon.)

My husband recommended renaming it Teaberry Suicide, or Teaberry Strangler in honor of the Laura Childs mystery.

I need to go back to Arkansas and get more. This lemon/bergamot/caramel twist has got me by the taste buds. A perfect balance of all three, which for me, is “just barely bergamot.”

Stuck a homebrew jar of this out on the stoop to make sun tea. Took one taste while it’s still hot and was pleased that the hibiscus-osity is low with a slow steep. Plenty of unsweet fruit punch “punch” that I’m looking forward to when it chills.