JoonSusanna select Send Message

My stomach was a bit upset before dinner so I wanted some tea with mint to help soothe it.

This did the trick – with that extra creamy vanilla note to boot. Definitely my favorite mint green, largely because of the added vanilla. It calmed my stomach down too, so added bonus!

After a day in the fridge the tea flavor in this did seem to get a little more pronounced. Still a pretty generic iced tea though. Eh, I’ll use up what I have but I doubt I’ll be buying more.

Another sipdown – but this one is bittersweet. I’m now at 72 teas (yay for meeting my own self imposed limits) but this one is SO. DARN. GOOD. I don’t know that I won’t be restocking as soon as I finish this note.

Prep notes: 2.5 tsp. leaf to 10 oz. water with some milk at the below parameters.

I remember how this one tasted before with just milk so I replicated it today. I don’t get as much chocolate, more of the rice/starchy notes, but the texture still wins all the points. Thick and creamy and decadent. My favorite.

A really nice way to start my early morning.

Technically, I’m decupboarding TWO teas with this (almond biscotti from Teavana as well), but for some reason that one had already disappeared from my steepster cupboard. Oh, well. At least I’ve now dropped my numbers on here by one!

I’m normally not a combiner of teas for whatever reason, but since I knew the nutty notes had been lost in this for a while and that I didn’t have enough of this one alone to make a full pot, I added in the last of the almond biscotti. I lowered the steep time since that one tends to be a bit astringent, and just went for it. Sugar and milk added.

Mostly I added the sugar and milk because this brewed up DARK. Like, make me nervous dark. I made this in my Breville, 3.5 tsp. of combined leaf in there because that was what was left. The two teas definitely work together – cinnamon nutty notes present in the almond biscotti seem to bring back the semblance of bread that was missing in this one. And the sweetness of the banana downplays the almond astringence. Definitely a good call putting these two together.

Well. That’s the last of this one for the time being. I will miss it – this was a classic 52teas for me. :(

Sigh. So much for my 75 teas or less rule. I saw the rootbeer float tea from 52teas back in stock and found a few others I wanted and, whoops! Um, I think I’m at around 80 or so? I’ll have to double check my inventory but urgh. No self control!

I made this as my iced tea for the next few days – my 1/2 gallon method, so 15 g. of tea and 4 minute steep with my normal ratio of sugar. For a blend called Java, I was really nervous this would be dark and astringent at 4 minutes, but…it wasn’t. It was almost too light – I could have either added another tsp. of leaf or an extra bit of steeping time because when it was cold it was almost weak.

I’ve got to give it the overnight to let the blend settle a bit (and maybe then the flavor will get stronger) but honestly this was just a loose version of Lipton iced tea to my tastebuds. (that’s not an insult – I drink Lipton tea all the time – it’s just, well, I can get that bagged and cheaper.)

So I’ll post an update when I have some later today. As for now, though, not too riveted.

Backlog from a few days ago. I sent a friend of mine the Upton samples (one of which being the vanilla earl grey) and her email telling me she liked it made me go for this. I’m so suggestible, sometimes. :)

This is easily one of the best vanilla earl grey teas for my palate. It has the buttery vanilla, the pretty orange color in the steeped tea, and a subtle amount of bergamot. Everything plays so nicely together.

I drank this with only a splash of milk and that was all it needed – I’ve been less inclined to use sugar lately in my teas and this one had a sweetness of it’s own without needing anything more.

Very tasty stuff, this.

Ummm…

It’s like a switch flips in my head this time of year. It’s not anywhere close to getting cold out, really, but there is something there, all the same. Maybe the feeling of change?

Whatever it was, pumpkin tea sounded about right for me yesterday morning. I drank it without milk or sugar, and it was like coming home. A huge reset button, if you will – it’s almost time for the holidays and my birthday, time for endings.

This is still a perfect pumpkin puree with a hint of spice tea. I like being able to taste the pumpkin so front and center…usually it gets so drowned out with cinnamon and nutmeg or whatever else makes up the blend. This is fall in a cup. Still as tasty as it was on day one!

This is so good that I can only imagine what the Root Beer Float tea must have tasted like. Kicking myself for not ordering that. Meh.

Anyway, I kind of flaked on this one and accidentally underheated my water – the Breville was set at 180 without me realizing it. And then I oversteeped, too. But it still tastes good. I’m drinking it plain and I get the butter/sarsaparilla notes. The only thing it’s really missing is carbonation but there does seems to be a kind of effervescence in the background. I should make this iced with carbonated water next time and I bet I’d love it that way.

Heck, I love it this way. It makes me wish more of the Harry Potter-verse were real. :)

BLARGH I just wrote a note and it got eaten!

Okay, cliff notes version: bright and brisk like a typical ceylon. Some borderline astringence but I think I came close to oversteeping so that could explain that. Perfect for iced tea (I got this as part of the Upton Iced Tea Sampler) but nothing unique. Dry leaf was very fine, almost like coffee grounds and the smell was malty and earthy.

I made 1/2 gallon of this with my typical iced parameters. It’s tasty and cheap and I’ll drink what I have, but I won’t go out of my way to get more.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a tea that wasn’t black.

It just usually doesn’t come up, sadly. To the point where I looked through my (steepster) cupboard for a tea to drink and, d’oh! Not black teas – I have some! That’s perfect for a Monday afternoon!

I made this sans additives in my pretty new mug (it’s my profile picture now) while perusing the internet. It still smelled funky – like rancid pineapple – but I remembered this from before so I wasn’t too alarmed.

Sure enough – herbs and pineapple with a creamy texture peeking out more as it cools. It is actually perfect as a hot tea even in summer because it’s so refreshing. Glad I found (and had some) today!