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I got this in the 12oz size because it was all they had at Crate & Barrel, aside from the 2.5oz espresso size, and that was a bit small for what I wanted it for.

This is perfect. The outer wall gets warm but not hot, which is great because I don’t like drinking out of vessels where the heat retention is so good that the outside can get cold while the inside is so hot. It’s a more sensory experience this way.

It feels very delicate, especially empty, like an egg that’s been blown out. I feel as though I’m holding a shell. It’s such a strange feeling. It’s no more strong when tea is in it then when tea is not; yet it feel much sturdier when full. It’s very light. But it’s shaped perfectly for a hand size, and it’s beautiful. The rim isn’t too wide or too thin. Fantastic mug.

Thanks so much to The Tea Merchant for the sample of this!

Yesterday, my friend came over about an hour early to prep for our tea party together. While she was there, I got two packages of tea! One I had expected – the tins from Epi to photograph (beautiful tins, by the way) and this one came as a total surprise.

Ariana was a bit surprised that I wasn’t more surprised… tea just shows up every once in awhile. What can I say, except that I love it!

We have a friend who’s… not a hippy, that’s the wrong word, but who’s very open to other cultures. That in itself is a poor description. He’s a wonderful guy, and he just loves learning as much as he can. To the last tea party Ariana and I hosted, he wore a full Scottish kilt, including a “ceremonial knife-shaped object,” as he called it. I called it a knife, but, you know, semantics.

He calls about a half hour before the tea party’s scheduled to start, inquiring about the dress code. I tell him to wear “Whatever you’re most comfortable in.”

He shows up about twenty minutes late… in full Japanese regalia. He had a kimono tucked into a pair of (very billowy) pants which I think were called hikama. Continuing the trend, he brought a “ceremonial sword-shaped object.” I called it a sword. It was really cool to watch him sheath and unsheath it – I had no idea there was so much tradition and skill and art housed in just that one simple movement!

I hadn’t thought up a tea plan for this party – I figured we’d just drink whatever I felt like! Ha. We started with a Chinese black, and then, in honor of Cam, I broke out this sencha which had just arrived.

It might be the largest sample size I’ve ever received. I didn’t know how big our teapot was, so I followed the British rule of “one teaspoon per person plus one for the pot” which might not be totally accurate, but it worked out fine. And there’s still what I would call a typical sample-size of tea left in the pouch. Fantastic! I get to brew it now, and then sit down with it later.

The instructions on the package say 3-4 minutes. Without a temperature guide, and never having tasted this tea before, I went on the conservative side. It took me a little while to like sencha, because I had to figure out how to brew it right. I didn’t want to be hosting a tea party and feeding my guests tea that I liked but they didn’t! So I went for ~175F for 2 minutes.

Even with not so specific steeping parameters, it’s still pretty good. The liquor is bright, bright green – Kate compared it to “hot Powerade,” and Cam called it “buttergrass water.”

It’s a very bright tasting tea. It’s vegetal, but not heavy like that flavor profile can be. It’s sort of like lettuce and – I’m blanking on the name, but it’s a little weed that looks like clover, only it’s heart-shaped, and you can eat them. There’s a little bit of buttery sweetness at supporting the flavor.

I’m going to rate this now because even the way I brewed it, I still really really liked it, and I can’t wait to sit down and try it for real!

This is so much better than I’d ever dreamed. I think it’s the fastest I’ve ever finished a tea. I bought three ounces about a week or two ago, and it’s almost gone. I know I’ve been swapping and sharing, but still! I can’t decide if I want more of this or if I want to try some new ones. Probably an order of both :)

Decupboarding this now because I’ve only got about a teaspoon left, so if I don’t do it now, I’ll forget to :)

Last night I coldbrewed this in the fridge. I don’t think I’ve ever done that with an EG before. This one has a history of tasting artificial to me, but I figured why not, what the hey.

It’s really good coldbrewed. I did about 18 hours, I think, about 3tsp for maybe 24oz of water.

The liquor is a really pale, light gold. It’s strikingly beautiful for a black tea, and not at all what I expect an Earl Grey to be. I have to save the rest of this pitcher – I want to take photos tomorrow. (In other news, my photographic lightbox came in, along with a couple studio lights. I’m so excited to start playing with them!)

But yeah. Actually a really good tea like this. I wouldn’t buy it again, but I’m glad I figured out how to drink it (although how come I always figure out how to make it good just as I’m running out? Not fair.).

The more I drink this, the more I like it. I’m putting this on the shopping list!

It’s a creamy, rich taste. Made this into a latte. No sugar needed! Burned myself on the ingenuiTEA (it’s stuck open and I didn’t realize) so I emailed Adagio – hopefully they’ll be able to replace it with a working one! If not, I suppose I’ll just buy a new one :)

Yum.

Received this in a swap from someone, I think, and I’m pretty sure they’re not on Steepster.

I was feeling lazy tonight, and I know I like this tea, it’s just not good enough for me to keep around all the time.

It’s mostly apple-y with chamomile (which has a kind of flowery apple flavor anyway) and then the cinnamon is behind that. It’s good and relaxing. Which I needed trying to schedule my classes.

I was in three that I wanted / needed, and one I registered for just so I’d have a fourth class, and it sounded interesting. But then the book list came out and suddenly a class on Baroque-Classical Music with a $200+ book list that didn’t count for any of my majors? No thank you.

But now I’m in Psych, Shakespeare’s Tragedies (those two are back-to-back MWF in the same classroom!), American Drama (with my amazing advisor as my professor – he’s wonderful) and Creative Writing (which I tried to get back during regular scheduling but couldn’t).

So basically I’m free between 11-3 MWF and free after 10 on TuTh, which is great. And the book list is fairly affordable now, which I was kind of panicking over.

And I’m in classes that I like and all of them go towards my majors/minor, and I was accepted into the Education Program, which is also cool.

So not much of a tasting note but mostly I just wanted to share. :)

Thanks to Teavivre and Angel especially for the sample of this!

Steeped for awhile – probably about 4 minutes, so it’s a bit more grassy than I’d ordinarily like. But it’s a credit to this tea that it’s still perfectly drinkable, just different.

It has such a unique, pure flavor that I’m struggling to describe it with any words other than “Strong Dragonwell.”

Dragonwell is my favorite kind of green tea, though. I haven’t been drinking looseleaf for very long, so most of my teas have been come-and-go. Dragonwell (Teavana variety) is the only one I’ve repurchased over and over.

I trained a girl at work today, because I’m apparently the star cashier. It’s not because I’m particularly good at my job; I’ve just been there longer and I actually do my job, as opposed to some of the boys / high school kids who just kind of stand up there and text the whole time. Training is lovely, but exhausting. We’re busy for BTS anyway, and when I’m training I don’t even have the lull in between customers to myself. But she’s good, and she’s sweet, and I’m hoping she’ll learn quickly and well.

So this tea is really good to just curl up in bed with and watch old DW episodes :)

Going through my cupboard and deleting a ton of teas I’ve sipped down but not removed yet. I haven’t updated it to the ones I still have in the cupboard, but at least it’s a bit more accurate now.

This is a really old tasting note – I ordered this tea some time around February or March, and haven’t had it in months.

I remember that it smelled like strawberries and chocolate and cream. The taste was very, very light. It was pretty, but didn’t taste like much at all. And what it did taste like was artificial.

I’m leaving the rating off because it’s been so long, but it’s definitely not a tea I really want to try again.