wombatgirl Send Message

So, I finally got the Zarafina I ordered some time last century. (Or maybe the beginning of the month, I forget which.) It was very, very used. To the point where I was worried it would still work when I took it out of the box. But I got it all cleaned up, figured out how it all went together, and then thought about what I should baptize it with.

I decided that an Earl Grey would be good, and opening my cupboard, the A&D tea darn near fell on me. Right then. A&D Earl Grey it would be then.

So I looked at all the dials, read the instructions twice, and just jumped in. And it worked fine!

And the tea was good, as usual. Yummy. The bergamot was bold, the tea was lovely and just – YUM. I love this tea. If you like an Earl Grey that is loud and lovely, this is for you.

It’s a nice standard oolong. Nice brown, dark aroma, decent flavor, and it provides a goodly number of resteeps. It’s my current go-to-tea for work days.

I’ve been reading a lot about other steepsterites doing chai in the traditional way, and I had some Masala Chai I hadn’t tried yet, so hey – perfect!

The scent of the leaves was pop-you-in the face amazing. Very, very spicy, very strong. Yum! I love strong flavors, strong spices, and this looked to be a good experiment.

Boiled the leaf, added the milk, let it rest, all the while almost wanting to lick the air because it smelled so good. Then, finally, it was done, and it was time to drink.

Warm, creamy, sweet milk with.. um.. hey! Where’d my chai go?
I must have not added enough chai, because while it was very tasty, it was a very wussy taste. I think of Chai as powerful and strong, and the leaves smelled that way. So I’m leaving off the rating until I try it again. (I used Lena’s recipes from here http://steepster.com/discuss/25-chai which said 2 heaping spoons. I added 2.5 heaping teaspoons. Should that be tablespoons? I always think of tea in teaspoons, so I may have flubbed this. Any suggestions?)

Opening the bag, the aroma overwhelms you. It’s like the best piece of baklava you’ve ever tasted. It’s caramel and walnut and condensed yum. It smells AWESOME.

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite hold up for me after that point. The brew I got was a little weak and flavorless. Once I swallowed, the flavor of walnut and caramel grew on my toungue, but then started to turn into bananas once the tea started to cool. Bananas? Really? I don’t tend to like bananas in my baklava.

I will definitely be trying this again, because it’s got such promise… it just doesn’t seem to be following through for me at this point.

I need a good wake-up tea this morning, and this is definitely fulfilling that need! Sweet, cinnamon-y, and warm, both in temperature and in flavor.

Yum!

First time I tried this, I thought it was a bit weak and flavorless. So I tried it again with a little more leaf in the brew, and added splenda and sugar. It’s lovely now. The chocolate is delicate, but blends well with the mint and the tea adds lovely background support.

I’ve been thinking about this tea for a little while, and so I knew it was time to make some more. It’s shocking how good this smells, even when you’re “braced” for it. I just love how it tastes so much like lemon cake, complete with frosting.

No dessert for me tonight, just a cuppa of this with a little sweetener. I’m more than good to go. (bumping my rating just a little)

I didn’t know this was possible, but I’ve been too sick to want to drink tea. This goes against all my ideas of what is right and proper! You’re supposed to want tea MORE when you’re sick!

But I finally got to a point where I actually wanted tea this morning, and since I’m working from home, I decided I should make a big pot of some new-to-me tea to celebrate.

Looking through my cupboard, I found my sample packet of Earl Grey de la Creme. Sounds perfect. So I got my water heating up, and opened the packet. Oh yum!! The cream and bergamot smell amazing together. Like a slightly sour orange dreamsicle. YUM!

The packet reccomended sugar and milk, and as I’ve said – I tend to like my tea sweet. So I went ahead and poured two little cups. One with a little splenda and half and half, and the other plain. Plain was nice. A little weaker than I expected, but had a hint of natural sweetness and some floral overtones.

Then I had my milk/sugar cuppa. Can anyone else hear anything over the cacophony of birds singing hallijuia? I know I can’t. N to the O to the M to the OMG – that’s just good. The vanilla and the cirtus are great together. I like this tea. My goodness, I like this tea.

This will be a definite re-order.

This tea is kind of the essence of tea. It’s not too much one thing or another. It’s just a nice tea.

It’s a nice, solid, standard, tea. Not too tanic, not too strong. Good with milk and sugar (or splenda and half and half, which is how I’m drinking it right now). Nice, standard cuppa.

I made some of this into iced tea for the sweetie (since he tends to prefer iced teas) by brewing it up double strength, two steeps per set of leaves. It tastes fine (prefers sweetening) but the strange thing – it went milky in the fridge. I’ve never heard of that happening before.. have you?

Still feeling sick today, and even though I’m dead tired, I didn’t want any caffiene. And I had a small container of this at work. So I’ve been drinking pears all morning. It’s just as good as I remember. Yum. I think I’ll try sweetening with honey for my poor sore throat rather than the splenda I usually use for my next cup.