Ashley Bain select Send Message

One of my favorite bagged teas. I discovered this when I took off on a train from Nebraska to Arizona and stayed at a friend’s house on arrival. He happened to have this in the cabinet and offered me some. I was pretty hooked on this sweet concoction. Especially it being the only tea I’d had in quite a while after selling my loose leaf tea collection. But here a year later it still has a home next to my loose leaf teas.

Bags smell of mostly licorice. Once submerged in hot water the aromas unfold. First nutty vanilla, followed closely by honey, citrus, and lastly the base note of chamomile.

I take a sip and am surprised by how naturally sweet this is. All of the different scents have morphed into a candy like drink with a light aftertaste of bubblegum. But once a bit of sugar is added it transforms into orange blossom honey water. I love orange blossom honey. This is nice for a bagged tea! A splash of milk and it tastes like warm milk & honey minus quite a bit of the sweetness. I don’t like to leave the bag in for an excessive amount of time like some have said because I start to taste a bitterness and the chamomile starts to show itself in an unpleasant way. I enjoy this tea when I’m waking up, about to go to bed, or during peaceful moments of the day.

Enjoyed a pot of this with breakfast this morning. My hubby pointed out how well it paired with the cinnamon rolls, it sure did! Jasmine tea is a nice start to the morning. It was a decent green tea with a nice amount of jasmine but I’m still on the hunt for the perfect jasmine tea out there, although I was glad to find this locally since it’s hard to find tea here!

Our family received a free Christmas tree today! I was so excited. Someone entered us into a free giveaway and we got to go pick out a tree. I chose a big, tall, fluffy one that just called to me and we loaded it up into the truck and then went and picked up some beautiful little golden pine cone-looking lights, red ornaments and a sparkly red skirt to match. We had this little 4 foot artificial tree up until this big guy that’s nearly touching the ceiling. I’ve never had a real tree before! :) It’s such a joy! Our apartment smells so lovely and it makes me smile every time I look at it. I love Christmas!

Visited a local herb shop for the first time today after hearing much about it. They had every herb under the sun and a decent selection of teas, and the DH let me pick up a few and some ball jars to start my tea/herb collection again :) Good day. My Harney order of Paris, Hot Cinnamon Spice and Soho sample is scheduled to arrive by next Thursday. I’m a happy tea girl!

This is a pretty nice rooibos. Decently fresh and flavorful and makes me happy after the disappointing experience with The Republic of Teas Red Velvet Chocolate. I’ve always been a fan of a good cup of pure rooibos with some honey and a pinch of brown sugar.

Just got done watching The Dark Knight Rises for the second time, baked a chocolate cake and reorganized our teenie kitchen to make way for tea storage.
Anyone have any good ideas for tea storage in compact spaces? I am a fan of displaying my teas in the open.

And oh if you haven’t heard, Bodum has free shipping from now until December 31st! No minimum. I love their stuff so much.

Well I better try to get to sleep, the puppydog gets his staples out tomorrow. He’s 6 months and devoured an entire turkey carcass at Thanksgiving. We rushed him into surgery and they sliced him open and removed all the bones. Poor little guy :( Last time I take my eye off of him at someone elses house. Good news is he’s still his crazy little self. He’s a pitt mix. His name’s Devil Bain and he sure lives up to his name.

Hope everyone’s having a nice Friday night!

I wanted to love this.. I really did. But no matter how I prepare it I’m just not impressed. I have to say it’s not a horrible chocolate tea; I’ve had some that were so artificial they made me sick. It’s just not doing much for me. Dry it smells nice, a mild rooibos smell laced with chocolate, berries and a hint of citrus. Without sweetener or milk it’s a mild rooibos tea with a hint of chocolate aroma. I think with a bit of sugar and cream it’s more akin to red velvet cake, but even then it’s weak. It makes me want to go make chocolate cupcakes right now at 10:53 pm. And if I happened to have a box of Miss Crocker’s in the cupboard I would go do just that. This also made me want some Florence, in my opinion a better chocolate tea. Or even a better rooibos tea, as I love rooibos and this isn’t one of the better rooibos teas I’ve had. Meh. I am dying for some good tea.

Greetings Steepsterites. We meet again.
2012 sure has been a crazy one, huh? The last review I posted was Halloween weekend of 2011. And here it is almost Christmas 2012.

So, where do I start…
I moved from Nebraska to Arizona, got married, have a child on the way, a crazy puppydog, a beautiful place to live in a picturesque town… but one thing is missing.
Tea.
So I’ve confessed my love affair of tea to my husband and I’m back! I can’t wait to build my tea arsenal back up and start reviewing again. (If you check my cupboard I currently only own a few boxed teas I picked up from the local grocery store..sadface.) But, Harney just had free shipping last weekend so I ordered a couple of my favorites, Paris and Hot Cinnamon Spice, and threw in a sample of their new Soho blend which I’m excited to try. I mostly ordered Hot Cinnamon Spice to get my hubby hooked, because that’s the tea that hooked me.

Here’s one I picked up the other day. Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride from Celestial Seasonings.
The teabags smell of sugar cookies, orange zest and I think I’m smelling a hint of raisins.
Once dropped into boiling water I’m instantly brought back to my childhood days of slaving over a hot easy bake oven. This smells like easy bake oven treats! A sweet childhood smell. It makes me smile. I want this in a candle. Besides sugar cookie I’m also picking up on a nice faint caramel scent.
First sip…rather disappointing, based on how great it smells. I can see how someone only tasted hot water. This seems to be more of a scented tea. Not a strong base note going on. Nothing much for the light notes of sugar cookie and orange to cling to. The smell is much better than the taste. The body is lacking. Adding sugar and honey helps, it’s definetely a tea I’d only drink dressed up in sweeteners and/or cream. I could see Davids tea or 52 teas pulling this dessert tea off more satisfyingly.

All in all not horrible but not very memorable, not something I would miss very much once the holiday season is over and it’s no longer on the shelves. I don’t regret buying it but I won’t buy more once I finish the box. Much better dessert teas out there!

Glad to be back!!
Love, Mrs. Bain:)

PS – A picture of our happy little family: http://i46.tinypic.com/2iw8tvs.jpg :)

I’m still alive :) Busy times.
I’ve been getting hooked back on coffee since we haven’t had money to order tea online and there’s no good tea available to buy where I live.
Bought a box of this since I ran out of my organic peppermint from David’s. And it’s not too bad. Always got to have some peppermint around for digestive issues. I used to buy Twinings when I had to buy boxed, but sometimes it tastes so gross..very inconsistent. I’m going to call them about it.
Hope everyone’s doing well and enjoying a safe Halloween weekend. :)
<3

I’ve become addicted to this. So perfect for autumn. I’ve got to hurry up and place a new order for more of this and Pumpkin Chai. Good tea makes the seasons so much more enjoyable. :)
I just made a big pot of creamy soup. Now to bake some pumpkin butterscotch muffins! I’m going to start a cooking blog soon. I have so many yummy recipes to share.

This is really good. A unique buttery, sweet, light green tea with an intense flavor.

Pairs lovely with the lemon cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing I made tonight.
Check ’em out – http://www.flickr.com/photos/58601875@N08/?saved=1 #foodporn
I am having a BALL with my new camera. :)

I lost track of time while reading and accidentally steeped this for 16 minutes. To my surprise it’s not bad, the extra time just gave it a bolder apple flavor. Almost tastes like I steeped buttered popcorn in apple juice.