Rabs Send Message

I finished off my sample tonight ::cry:: and confirmed that when I order from Georgia Tea Company that this is the Cancer Fighting Tea that I’ll purchase. When I poured the last of my sample packet into the teapot I was a bit concerned by the large amount of rooibos that was in it compared to my first pot. The smell of the wafting steam as I poured in the hot water seemed more mediciney than I remembered. Ruh-roh.

But hot-diggity-darn! It’s still good :D I continue to consider this to be more “sweet floral” than the original Cancer Fighter, but I think a lot of it is the fruit. It’s like you took the vegetative aspects of a late spring meadow (blueberries included) and blended them up into a tea. The second steep didn’t morph as beautifully as the first time I had this, but I’m thinkin’ that it’s because this was so rooibos-heavy. Healthy yummers. NE

JOEmo works great with iced teas as well! I did notice that I could really tell that I had a cold drink in the thermos vs. when there’s hot liquid (it insulates the hot ones beautifully). The only thing now that I’m sort of bummed out with this is that I’ll need to get some sort of “sponge-onna-stick” to do a thorough cleaning of the inner thermos.

Doulton’s Shakespeare: A Tasting Note in 5 Acts
Act IV scene 6

And therefore, — since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days, —
I am determined to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Richard III, Act I scene 1

This morning I fumbled through my Shakespeare box trying to find one that I hadn’t had that would be good for the morning. I’m getting closer to the last “Act” of notes and I’m not wanting it to end! I picked up the packet of this tea and got ready to keep rummaging because I thought that I’d already tried it. But no — it’s unopened! But it’s an oolong, isn’t it? NO — it’s a black tea! Awwww yeaaaaah!

I popped open the packet: Golden Monkey? It must be a kin of Adagio’s Golden Monkey (I’m too lazy to google at the moment). I started to scoop it into my teapot and froze: the leaves are striking! Many are spiraled up like mini cinnamon rolls. They’re fuzzy-wuzzy cinnabuns! Two different shades of brown (again, like the Golden Monkey). I dub these the cutest leaves that I’ve seen so far.

The smell was very reminiscent of the Monkey as well: malty and dark. The first few sips I was amazed at how much my tastes have changed over the past few months. It has a sweet rich maltiness that I really enjoyed. It’s not my favorite flavor in teas, but I liked it better than ever. There was a great sweetness that I couldn’t place and I finally looked up the description. Unsweetened cocoa? I enjoyed something quasi-chocolatey? ::earth shatters:: As the cup cooled I got a bit more earthiness that’s very similar to a Pu Erh.

I shall call this tea my Richard, Duke of Gloucester (a.k.a. Richard III). One of Shakespeare’s greatest villains: a bad boy whom you love to hate. The only problem I had with calling this tea Richard III is that he’s known as a rather unattractive hunchback. Well, I think that I’ve figured it out: if you were to make a Richard III action figure, then you could stuff a spiral tea leaf under the shirt’s back for the hump. Yes, that’s lame and also insensitive to hunchbacks, but that’s what I’m going with and I’m sticking to it. Ultimately I think this is a really good tea and deserves a dark and complex character to represent it. NE

The description of this tea mentions “pink rose petals.” Well, I gots me some pink rosebuds in my sample packet which made my inner girlie-girl squee. This is a very pretty looking tea. The smell is somewhat…wait for it…waaait for it…coconutty and vanilla-ey.

The first steep is all about the white tea and coconut. The vanilla is complimenting the coconut nicely. I should mention that I’m not the biggest coconut fan, but this is pleasant in a suntan lotion sorta way (sorry, that’s my main association with coconuts).

I’m really enjoying the second steep (kept the same parameters). I’m getting a bit more vanilla and the coconut/white tea is more mellow and blended. I’m really liking this. I am getting a bit of a dryness at the back of my throat, but am unsure as to how much of it is from this tea and how much it is from my ceiling fan kicking up dust. Maybe it’s a bit of both. I’m thinkin’ that I need to try this iced. NE

On a side note: I’m really liking my JOEmo XL that I got from TeaFrog. I’m still figuring out how best to prep my tea, but it’s getting better each time. It truly keeps the tea shockingly at or near temp. I had it at work yesterday and it kept the tea hot for close to 7 hours (I drank verrry slowly to test this out and I think it could’ve gone longer, but I finished my tea on my commute home). At first I wasn’t a big fan of how I had to push down on the button in the lid (germ issues), but then I realized that the liquid came out on the perimeter and not through the button spot. Still not my favorite thing, but I think that it’s a good tradeoff for being able to drink from any side of the lip. I may have another issue, but I want to give it some time before getting into that.

I decided to take this tea to work with me today in my JOEmo. I think that I’m getting better at using it in regards to the right temp and only using a teaspoon of tea. I think that I should drop it 10 more degrees for optimal drinkage using this thermos.

Onto this tea. Every single sip was uber-yum. I don’t know if it was the lower temp, or the fact that it was in consta-steep in the thermos, but lordy was it sweet and good. It tasted less Earl Greyish, but oh the creamy sweetness was awesome. Again, I’ve never had an Earl Grey Cream before, so I have no basis for comparison. I’m bumping up the rating from an 84 and a NE to a TG.

I thought I’d keep up my Earl Grey trend of late and start my morning with something completely new to me — an Earl Grey Cream. Since I drink all my teas straight I really couldn’t fathom what a “cream” flavor would be like paired with an Earl Grey. The answer is yummy.

This tea isn’t listed on GTC’s website yet, so I sent Daniel Mann a PM to see if there’s any info available yet — I’ll update this tea’s listing and my note once I hear back. ETA: Daniel got back to me and yes, this is a brand new blend and he’s using us lucky Steepsterites as guinea pigs. I’m a happy guinea pig :D

The smell of both the dry leaves and the steeped ones were a sweet vanilla-ey fragrance with undercurrents of a black Earl Grey tea. I can’t say that I’ve ever used the term “hairy eyeball” in my life until I started trying GTC’s teas. I can’t say that I’m in love with the general combo of EG and a sweet vanilla-ey creaminess, but with this tea it’s really really good. I could imagine this type of tea going horribly wrong, but I think it works here. There were quite a few sips that were “NOM! NOM! NOM!” in a desert tea type-of-way. I could imagine this tea eventually becoming something that must be in stock in my cupboard, but it’s too soon for me to say. The EG itself was nice and smooth.

I must admit that I was once again distracted while trying to enjoy this tea: my final shipment for my Geek Pride Day Giveaway came this morning (only took the order 20 days to arrive :P) so I was busy putting the final touches on everything before I posted them. Therefore, the last 1/3 of my cup had completely cooled. I did not like the cooled cup — the citrusy aspects of the EG came through too much. The second steep (added a minute) was still yummy, but perhaps not as sweet. I look forward to trying this one again with complete focus. Another huge THANK YOU to Daniel Mann for sending this sample to me. NE

Right up front I gotta tell you that I’m trying to remember my experience with this tea from about 10 hours ago (in my basic to-go mug during my commute, so my focus wasn’t completely on the tea). And then I used it for my first tea in my new JOEmo and I think that I botched that. I will definitely be trying another round with this tea under more controlled circumstances. Even will all these distractions, I can confidently say that this tea deserves a minimum grade of 75.

I was expecting a floral ‘splosion. No floral ’splosion ocurred. It came across more as a tea potpourri and walked a fine line between that tea-pourri and mediciness. As I drove along and sipped I was rather disappointed that I wasn’t getting to enjoy this more and figure out the flavors.

I won’t get into it too much in this review, but holy moly the JOEmo is serious about keeping the water hot. The recommendation is to put less loose leaf in and lower the water temp if you plan to keep the tea in the thermos. I should’ve gotten the water down to 170 and I might have put too much leaf in it. I think I cooked the tea. It crossed the line into mediciney (seriously, I was getting an odd menthol-type taste). I added some less hot water halfway through and it helped mellow the flavor. I felt bad for this tea. It was still very much drinkable, but I knew that I’d affected it in a negative way since the original cup was pretty good. As it stands I prefer the berry/floralness of the Lavender version. NE

I was sad and a wee bit jealous that Doulton had already married Upton’s Black Dragon. I am sad no longer: I’ve found my smoky tea to marry! This tea and the Black Dragon could be fraternal twins. (Would this make Doulton my sister-in-law?) The Dragon is mellow in its gentle seduction. This tea is aggressive in its…ravaging? Okay, so it’s like you took the sweet depth of the Dragon and swapped it for blunt smoke. The depth that I was hoping for in GTC’s Lapsang Souchong is here.

The first steep is just divine, but only slightly hints at the sweet undercurrent that I enjoy in most smoky teas. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just different. The second steep (added a minute) seems a bit flatter, but then that wonderful sweet sensation comes through and makes everything okay in my world. I adore the aftertaste of this tea. I find myself taking extended pauses between sips so that I can enjoy the aftertaste. NOM.

This one’s a definite keeper and will be kept next to its Dragon brother in my tea cupboard. I shall drink whichever one matches my mood. TG

It was like I had another psychic tea moment this morning with the Earl Grey: I didn’t know that Patrick Stewart was getting knighted, perhaps at the very moment I was drinking this. In honor of Sir Patrick Stewart I present this montage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2IJdfxWtPM

My TeaFrog samples and JOEmo arrived yesterday and today I finally am trying them out! I’ll be using the JOEmo on my commute (still a few hours away) so I’ll write a mini-review of that in the near future. This tea was the one I was most excited to try.

Nothing too remarkable about the dry leaf smell beyond knowing that this was an Earl Grey. Same with the cup — it’s an Earl Grey. I’m the first to admit that I’m not the most familiar with EGs, but I’ve had the good, the bad, and the ugly. This one’s definitely in the good category. It’s smooth, it’s not a fake bergamot-Pledge hybrid, and there’s a little something extra with the jasmine. If I’d been handed a cup of this without any information on it, then I’d think it was a really good EG. But knowing that there’s jasmine, I can sense its presence like a Tea Psychic. It’s more in the smell than anything else, and even then it’s a whisper. But it’s really pleasant. The second steep is equally nice.

If I hadn’t discovered my cup of frou-frou, then this would have been a contender. As it is I can easily dub this my cup of frou. I feel like an oaf drinking it in a huge honkin’ mug — it seems to want to be in a small china cup and demands that I lift my pinky whilst drinking it. I’m really curious to see what other more experienced EG drinkers have to say about this one. NE