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Thank you thank you thank you to JacquelineM for this tea! We made this today for “tiny tea time” and when I announced what was in the grown-ups’ teapot the mom cooed, “Oooo, we’ve had that one before!” I drank it sans additions and every drop was wonderful! I had my daughter save the leaves so we can resteep and have some more.

I had a cup of this earlier today and thought it was a little bland. I added sugar to make it more interesting. A couple of hours later, the fresh buttermilk bread came out and I buttered a slice and added Smucker’s Red Plum Jam and had another cup without additions. This time the tea tasted richer and the little smokey edge came out to play. It is amazing what a food pairing does to a tea! We like to combine any good flavored tea with cheese cubes as it seems to make the tea so much sweeter.

A big pot to go with grilled cheese and chips for lunch! Youngest daughter cuddled her refilled cup after the meal and said, “I don’t know what I would do without tea.” Must have been good!

It is raining HARD this lazy Sunday. Already went to early service and everyone came home starving (LOL! Starving at 10:30 am and I had breakfast before we left!) so we made a quick “rat lunch” – JacquelineM understands that is grilled cheese sandwich and tea! I made a single cup of this to test before Wednesday tea party. It is quite good and I took it sans additions. I was only brewing a single cup and I didn’t check to see how many ounces my cup held – it is one I don’t usually use – so I think I made this a little on the weak side. Still, it was good and met my parameters: not bitter, not too astringent, not screaming ASSAM! at me. I imagine that brewed properly and perhaps with the addition of milk and sugar, this is going to be a cup good enough to elicit a happy sigh from everyone!

Sandy couldn’t stand it and ordered tea while she was in NZ and had it shipped to Texas, from whence she brought it HERE to my house in ole’ NC! Today we made our trek up to A Southern Season in Chapel Hill to stock up on a few teas and things. She brought a tin of this for me to try and to tote in my JoeMo XL. (Seriously, order this puppy from Teafrog and get their Chocolate and Cream tea while you are at it! You really should since you are paying shipping anyway!)

Smokey! Smokey smokey smokey! But also sweet! I like lapsang teas okay, I will drink them if offered, but if you are a fan you will LOVE this one. I think I detect a fruity note in the tea, and the smoke is strong without feeling like you are breathing in a whole campfire. Sandy resteeped and still had plenty of smoke!

You can never go wrong serving Paris! Good with or without sugar, good with food and good when you need to sip and feel spoiled!

This tea made its tea party debut today! My guest said it is a keeper, and it will be one of her favorites. It is mild but flavorful, smooth, and goes well with food or is very nice by itself. We took it sans additions.

Youngest daughter takes all her tea with milk and sugar and said she strongly prefers Hao Ya A to this one, but then she is an Irish Breakfast drinker! She likes somewhat gutsy teas.

For a tea to drink “as is” that has a bit of finesse, this one is a good choice. Hurray though, it is a rare tea with limited production and supplies run out. When that happens you just have to wait until next year’s harvest!

Sandy is just back from NZ, and had never tried this tea. We wanted a little tea time out in the lovely spring weather after Panera and I thought it would be perfect. I hadn’t had it in a while myself, and it was delightful! After drinking cup after cup of Keemun Mao Feng today this tea was a big change, but a very nice shake-up to the menu! And Sandy really seemed to like it!