1403 Tasting Notes

100

This delight is today’s caffeine free evening option. Another masterpiece.

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100
drank Earl Grey Cupcake by 52teas
1403 tasting notes

This is divine. And in the perfect world, I would have another huge bag or two of this left, rather than the few crumbs that I have remaining.

Another example of tea and its hard hard lessons in non attachment.

Nattie

Between you and VariaTEA I am so close to breaking my no-buy for this! Drools.

Nattie

Okay ignore that, I’m thinking based on phrasing that this is no longer available? Sniffle. It’s probably for the best.

Mastress Alita

52Teas only blends one tea a week in a small batch, and once that batch is gone, the tea isn’t available anymore, unless it happens to get a reblend by chance at some point down the line. It’s a bit different than your typical tea shop that has mass stock of a lot of flavors all the time. It’s fun to see what each new week brings, though!

Nattie

I’ve ordered from them a couple of times in the past, but not since Anne took over from Frank. I had a quick look on their website earlier and they either haven’t released any new teas since the end of November or they sell out quick these days! Fingers crossed for a reblend somewhere down the line (:

Nattie

Plus living in the UK with £18 standard shipping means I can’t place orders very often :/

52Teas

@Nattie – we’re severely behind on getting out our teas of the week. We just released November’s teas, December’s teas will be released in the next week or so. I was quite ill at the beginning of November and it set my calendar back more than a month with my hospital stay and my recovery time after being released. I’m feeling a lot better now, so I’m doing my level best to get caught up.

And regarding the shipping – nobody wishes more than I do that the cost of shipping internationally was cheaper! I have set the rates as low as I possibly can and for some countries, I still end up losing a little on shipping as I’ve set the international rates depending upon the country I’m shipping to.

Evol Ving Ness

I feel ya with shipping charges, Nattie. Perhaps you could place a super huge order and either split it with others in the UK or just make it last. Maybe there is a minimum order amount where shipping would be significantly reduced.

Nattie

Oh no, I hope you’re feeling a lot better soon! Sending my thoughts and best wishes. Don’t compromise your recovery trying to do too much too soon. The shipping thing is something I’m used to, it’s not 52teas specific. It’s just insanely expensive shipping anything from the states to the UK, annoyingly.

Mastress Alita

And vice versa. Bird & Blend kills me with shipping. They only put a free international shipping threshold in this month. I’ve placed $100 orders in the past before and was still charged $15 in shipping fees.

Nattie

Yikes! Oh yeah totally, international shipping is such a killer. I don’t know how it works in the US, but when my international packages arrive in the UK they’re held for ransom until I pay an extra 20% tax and £8 “handling fee” (which is total BS) so I’ve got to reeeeeaaaaally want something to buy internationally!

Evol Ving Ness

That happens in Canada too, Nattie. I have been dinged by our government on international tea purchases.

Nattie

Pffff, governments are the worst.

tea-sipper

Oh I can imagine all the things that will hit the US on January 1st… I already know shipping will be going up in the biggest increase in a while. sigh.

Nattie

I’m feeling similar feels about what will happen when the UK finally leaves the EU. No more international purchases of any kind for me! It’s gonna be a sad day.

Evol Ving Ness

What is happening January 1st, tea-sipper? (I have been off wifi for almost 6 months and have thoroughly enjoyed the break from your monstrous news. Not you, personally, of course.)

And yes, Nattie. Scary days.

tea-sipper

Evol Ving Ness – I’m trying to ignore things like this, so I might be inventing it or expecting the worst, but I think taxes will go up on many things this year because of the fun one in charge, and I KNOW shipping goes up on January 27th… things like that.

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90

The thing with hanging on to tea is that the flavours fade. We know this, right? Still good and still lovely, but fading.

Today, I spent yet another couple of hours with the internet provider hoping to get wifi at home engaged. Yesterday, I spent another couple of hours or more with the telephone person who came to deal with the outside wires.

All of this is to no avail. Still no wifi. However, I have an ethernet connection, so I can receive my 5362 banked emails. Ayup. Modern life.

Happy all the things to everyone!

I will still be keeping things brief here as this ethernet connection forces me to perch on a rather uncomfortable chair with all the wires holding it all together. Gah!

Nattie

Ah, the days of cables.

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I came across this packet during the great tea upheaval: the preparation for the cross border Discovery TTB as I hunted down Canadian teas for our American teafrens to try. And it’s not like I found all the Canadian teas that I wanted to share. Tea problems, tea problems.

This one is an ancient one of Anne’s creations yet still delicious. I brought it along for a brief trip out of town. Hence, the wifi and being able to post from this account which I can only use on my laptop which I have with me.

It is a super pain to not have wifi access at home and having to run out to cafes w a small tablet to check email and such. Such a limit on my online life. I do miss my hours on Steepster with my teafrens.

Oh well, I am hoping to get all that sorted at some point soon. Up to now, there have been for more urgencies than wifi to deal with. Soon, people, soon.

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90
drank Warm Maple Cream by 52teas
1403 tasting notes

Still no wifi at home here. I make do with the occasional outing to a cafe or some such to catch up a wee bit. There are advantages to not having the colossal time suck in my life. I am not tea shopping as much, for one thing.

That said, I miss my tea postings and catching up with what you all are drinking. And you guys and your happenings, of course.

Here I am for an hour or two in a bakery cafe scrolling through all the tea postings that I’ve missed. This method is troubling as I don’t have enough time to actually read through and that bugs me. But that’s just what it is for now.

I’ve been drinking all the things. This one is coming up often in my rotation. It is the first hojicha blend that has caught my attention. The dense twiggy woodiness just works with the maple. Yet another score for 52Teas—damn.

Sil

nice. sound tasty!

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100

Well, I just inhaled this sample packet. Divine.

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100

Gah! Still no wifi at home, but I’ve hauled my laptop to a cafe to download a few things from my webmail before it disappears altogether: hence, having my real steepster self back. (My webmail allowance is teeny.) Fortunately, the cafe has wifi and air conditioning because the humidity continues to be brutal here. Sadly, or happily depending on how you look at it, the AC is better than the wifi. And the person here is cursing me with hiphop, and not even good hiphop. Good to know which places I will not further frequent. Gah and gah again.

Trying this for the first time, though not in the cafe. Darn tasty. Reminds me of my beloved Banana Pudding.

Lexie Aleah

The Humidity is pretty brutal here as well. I also don’t have AC unfortunately.

Evol Ving Ness

Gah! Poor you. Poor us. Either I continue to have less tolerance than ever before or it is getting far more humid as the years pass.

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Profile

Bio

A monk sips morning tea

A monk sips morning tea,
it’s quiet,
the chrysanthemum’s flowering.

- Basho

(1644-1694)

Note to self—-you do not actually need any more tea.

My real tea obsession began in February 2015.

Not, sadly, when I had been living and working in China, though I very much enjoyed sampling a variety of teas during my travels there as well. No, no, that would have been far too sensible.

I am a reformed coffee drinker. I still enjoy a long double espresso with a good quantity or milk or cream from time to time, but for now, tea is my thing. All day.

*note—this is way out of date, so if we are doing a swap and you are checking to see what I like and dislike, mostly never mind what you find below. One of these days, I will update this. In the meantime, check what I’ve been drinking and use your own judgement. I like all the teas. Well, I am open to trying all the teas.

I tend to drink black, green, or oolong tea in the morning to early afternoon. Rooibos or
Honeybush or herbal in the evening. And perhaps some sort of sleepy-type tea in the wee hours.

This year, I’ve been discovering flavoured teas, so it may look like that is all I drink although that would provide a false impression.

Not a big fan of chocolate or mint in teas, but I will try them and, from time to time, have been pleasantly surprised. Also, usually I dislike a prominent cinnamon flavour, if untempered with other things, in teas. Again, I say usually, because there are exceptions.

Also, please note that haven’t quite gotten into the habit of updating my tea cupboard on Steepster, and it is unlikely that I will do this on any kind of regular basis.

I drink my tea black and unsweetened. If there comes a rare moment that I add something to it, I will mention it.

Finally, while I thank large and successful tea companies for tantalizing and beckoning me to the world of tea, I prefer to support independent ventures with real people, real enthusiasm and commitment, and real dreams.

Currently, I am researching monthly tea subscriptions. Perhaps it will keep me out of tea shops.

And here is Shae’s rating scale— which I am using with permission, of course— which more or less describes the way I have been rating teas. I am going to make more of an effort to stay very close to these parameters now.

Rating Scale

1-20: By far, one of the worst teas I’ve tasted. I most certainly will not finish my cup and will likely “gift” the rest to my sweet husband who almost always enjoys the teas I dislike (and vice versa).

21-40: This tea is not good but if I mix it with another tea or find another steeping method I might be able to finish it.

41-60: This one is just okay. I might drink it again if someone were to give it to me, but I probably won’t be buying more for myself.

61-75: This is a consistently good tea. It’s reliable but not necessarily special.

76-90: This one is a notch above the rest and I would gladly enjoy a cup of it any day of the week. I’ll likely be keeping this in my cupboard, but it isn’t one of my all-time favorites.

91-95: One small change and this tea would be perfect. I’ll definitely have a stash of this in my kitchen if you come over for tea.

96-100: No words can describe this tea. It’s an experience, an aha moment. Closed eyes, wide smile, encompassing warmth. Absolutely incredible. Perfect.

Location

Mostly, but not always, Toronto, Canada.

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