A Journey with Tea

Long time no post

2010-11-16T08:15:00.003-05:00

Well, it certainly has been a while since my last blog post. My daughter got more active (yay babies), I got a job, lost it, got a different job, and just generally had life happen. My adventures with tea never ended though! I discovered that I actually like slightly smokey teas like the Bohea and Star Village limited teas from The Tao of Tea; I've been attempting to find a good travel cup (preferably clear glass); and with the return of colder weather I've started blending teas and spices again.

While I certainly will not be able to update this blog every day like I used to I'm hoping to be able to write some more during the cold months. Perhaps I'll even get to try out the tea jelly recipe that I found this summer while we were doing our annual berry jamming!

First Flowering Tea

2010-04-28T12:01:00.002-04:00

So, yesterday my Woot.com order came with my Primula glass teapot and 39 flowering teas...I am stocked on flowering teas for the next year+ now I think. The real reason I ordered this was so I could get the full experience with the Dragon Balls I won from a member on Steepster.com but I decided it couldn't hurt to try it out first.

I decided on the green tea with jasmine and picked one pretty much at random, ending up with one called Noble Madame. I only poured in enough water to fill the pot 2/3 of the way since I really didn't feel like drinking 40oz of liquid all by myself. I must say, I'm not sure which was more fun, watching the flower unfold or watching my son watch the flower unfold! He was quite torn between watching the tea and helping Grampy cook breakfast.

About 5 minutes in I poured my first cup. The liquor was a pale yellow-peach with a light, pleasant jasmine flavor, comparable to Stash's Monkey King Jasmine in strength.

At 18 minutes I poured another cup. This time the liquor was a bright peach-apricot color with a slightly stronger jasmine flavor.

The liquor kept getting darker the longer it steeped (up to a deep red-amber) but I couldn't detect any bitterness up until the tea had steeped about 45 minutes. At which point the level of liquid was down enough that it just fit in one of my mugs.

This even tastes quite pleasant when it's cold (I forgot about my mug sitting beside me on the shelf -o- )

Fragrant Flowers

2010-04-26T11:04:00.002-04:00

This morning I decided to have a blend and wanted something floral to celebrate the lovely weather we've been having. I chose the Che Sen Lotus and Jasmine Yin Hao from Stash. Amazingly, even though the two floral notes were easily identifiable, they also combined to add a lovely lilac note. Or perhaps that's just my wishful thinking considering I recently found two tea companies that sell lilac tea.

Chocolate Rose

2010-04-17T11:11:00.004-04:00

Huzzah for propane! To celebrate I pulled out my black teas and blended my Rosebud from Stash and the last of the Chocolate Chai. I added my usual spice blend and !boiling! water. I ended up steeping it for longer than I meant to due to dealing with fussy baby and overactive toddler but luckily it didn't seem to affect the taste at all.

Che Sen Cherry

2010-04-16T11:00:00.003-04:00

We've been out of propane for nearly a week now so I've been drinking a lot of green teas since the coffee maker I use to heat water with at times like this only reaches about 200F, not quite boiling and not hot enough for black teas. This morning I decided I'd rather make my own blend than pick just one. So I picked the Cherry Rose Kyoto Sencha and Che Sen Lotus green teas from my now-organized cupboard. Yes, I now have all my teas organized in nice covered boxes ($6 at WalMart), I'll have to get photos later. Anyway, back to the tea.

The bright yellow liquor smelled like cherry syrup (like what maraschino cherries are packed in in those little jars), luckily the taste wasn't quite so candy-like. The Lotus tea gave this blend a mellower flavor and a very distinct lotus note.

Roseberry

2010-04-12T10:40:00.003-04:00

Yesterday the family went to Denny's after church. I got two orders of the chocolate chip pancake puppies thinking that my son might want a couple. He was more interested in Daddy's vanilla milkshake though so I brought the leftovers home and had them for breakfast this morning.

Now, pancake puppies are dollops of pancake batter that have been deep fried and dusted with powdered sugar. They are rich and heavy and the chocolate chip variety is even more so. I needed a tea that was light enough to not leave me feeling like my stomach had turned into a cement mixer, but heavy enough to not be overwhelmed by the pancake puppies.

I chose Stash's Rosebud Black blended with Strawberry Black from EnjoyingTea.com. Though this is lovely with or without milk I chose to go without as the milk dulled the lightness of the floral notes.

Gotta get a tea-timer,,,,

2010-04-08T09:46:00.003-04:00

Yeah, it's been a while since my last entry. Life got quite busy and, while I still had time to drink tea I didn't have time to write about it. Plus I wasn't drinking blends. Well, ok, so I didn't do a blend this morning either but I feel like writing this anyway.

With the recent (and hopefully very short-lived) wet weather we have been having I decided to make a return to chai, specifically Stash's Chai Spice Black Tea. It's been a while since I've had one of the wonderfully spiced chais from Stash so it took me a little bit to get the milk/sugar/tea ratio just right. Well, that and I think I steeped it just a bit too long. I really need to get a tea-timer so that even when I get busy (read: two children + attempting to make breakfast for myself and convince my son to decide what he wants) I can still avoid over-steeping. But for all that it didn't turn out terrible...unlike that blend I tried to do Easter morning. Pro-tip: do not attempt blending fruit melanges with anything other than another fruit melange, the result is quite weak and drinkability is questionable (that was dump-down-the-drain pot #4 ).

The Rescue

2010-04-01T11:55:00.000-04:00

This morning I decided to try something different. After my brother admitted the other day to not liking fruit-flavored teas, and having not even opened the tins of fruit-flavored teas he had grabbed from the smorgasbord of samplers, I went down to his desk in the basement and liberated the two tins from their lonely exile. I decided to try the Passion Fruit Black Tea first. It was a lovely red-amber after 5 minutes of steeping and tasted like honey and black tea with a fruity note. Slightly floral. Absolutely lovely. I am very glad I rescued this from my brother's uncaring clutches.

It also brought out a nicely contrasting lemon flavor in the blueberry muffins I was eating.

Vanilla Chai

2010-03-30T11:44:00.002-04:00

Still rainy, cloudy, and icky out and my son wanted to share tea again so I chose the Vanilla Chai from EnjoyingTea.com and added my usual spices. I know I didn't add any pepper but I can still taste it...and looking at the ingredients listed on the site there is indeed pepper.

Yunnan Jig

2010-03-29T11:15:00.000-04:00

I decided to try another of the teas from my last tea trade. This time I chose Adagio's Yunnan Jig. I was really looking forward to this one.

1st infusion: 6 minutes, boiling water
The liquor was a deep, dark red with a slightly gold tone to it. It smelled malty and citrus and tasted just as it smelled but with a bit of pepper, earth, and astringency.

2nd infusion: 6 minutes, boiling water
The liquor was more of a dark amber this time around. It smelled of citrus and damp loam, but the taste...Sweet, malty, smooth. A hint of citrus. It was almost like drinking a different tea.

It is an absolutely lovely tea. The two infusions were so different though that I could hardly remember the first after drinking the second.

Feels like I just went camping

2010-03-28T17:10:00.003-04:00

I was feeling adventurous this afternoon and decided to give the Green Pu'erh I'd bought from Old Wilmington Tea Co a try. I've seen so many different directions on how to steep pu'erh, I was quite confused on where to start so I figured start short and work my way to longer steepings if necessary.

1st infusion: 30 seconds, temp just under boiling
The liquor is a smokey gold, rather appropriate considering it smells, and tastes, like wet campfire. Like the smell you get when you pour water over the fire to douse it. It is like nothing I've ever had before. And for some reason I can't stop sipping at it. I'm not sure if I actually like it or if I'm drinking it in the hopes that the flavor will change. It's like...going camping but without the dirt/bugs/weather/lack of amenities/ever-present dampness/too-noisy kids from neighboring campsites that constantly race past on their bikes.

2nd infusion: 30 seconds, boiling water
The wet leaves now smell like wet, canned spinach dumped over hot coals. The liquor is slightly darker and tastes a bit more bitter.

3rd infusion: 30 seconds, boiling water
The same as the last except the campfire taste is slightly, VERY slightly abated...or perhaps I'm just getting used to it. There is also a slightly sweet vegetal flavor just hovering at the back of my mouth.

I could probably get a few more infusions out of this but I'm really not sure if I want to. Is this how pu'erh is supposed to taste or am I doing something wrong? It it just from being a young pu'erh? Would I get better flavor with a longer steep time? So many questions left unanswered!

Lemon Cream

2010-03-28T10:37:00.002-04:00

My package of teas from my tea trade came yesterday and I was determined to try the Bangkok Lemongrass by Teavana. The smell in the package was a creamy lemon, like a lemon tart, and the steeped liquor was the same as well as being the color of lemon meringue. The taste was definitely lemon and cream with a faint note of something fruity in the background...perhaps from the rooibos.

This tea is so naturally sweet I could probably get used to drinking it without sugar which, for me, is saying quite a lot. I probably wouldn't drink this often but it would be a great occasional afternoon tea on a rainy day in the summer. With chocolate chip muffins.

Lemony

2010-03-27T18:46:00.002-04:00

I made up some of my Pad Thai again and wanted a green tea blend to go with it. I decided to use the lemongrass I had bought from Tavalon with Pingshui and Dragonwell teas from EnjoyingTea.com. I might have used a bit more of the lemongrass than I needed but it had a very pleasant, lemony flavor that went wonderfully with the Pad Thai.

A Peachy Morning

2010-03-27T11:16:00.002-04:00

This morning I decided to try the Plum Peach Oolong I had designed with Design A Tea. It was absolutely lovely the way you could pick out each flavor and still have them meld together into a lovely whole. At one point I found myself thinking "Is this tea or is this nectar?" it was so good!

And I have found another tea that goes well with the spiced blackberry peach jam! Happy day!

Spicy Rose

2010-03-26T12:08:00.002-04:00

Today I woke up to a light blanket of snow covering the trees and ground and decided to stick with chai again. I chose EnjoyingTea.com's Bangalore Rose Chai as a base and added Rosebud Black and Jasmine Yin Hao from Stash as well as my usual spices. I absolutely love the deep red that the Bangalore steeps to and the opaque peach-orange that results from adding milk is lovely as well. I should try brewing this the traditional way sometime.

Cherry Blossom

2010-03-25T14:31:00.002-04:00

So for lunch guess what I had. If you thought "breakfast" go get yourself a cookie. Maybe I should get a cookie too after I write this... Anyway, I decided to have a nice floral green blend and chose the Cherry Rose Kyoto Sencha and Jasmine Dragon Pearls from EnjoyingTea.com. It was so naturally sweet that I almost didn't even have to put sugar in which is saying a lot from a sugar-lover like myself! I was eating French toast with syrup though so if I hadn't added the sugar the flavor would have been overwhelmed. I didn't add much though.

Chocolate Seduction

2010-03-25T10:27:00.003-04:00

So this morning I decided to give the China Seduction from Design A Tea another try. I measured out two heaping teaspoons, double what I had used before, and as I was doing so I realized that only about a third of the mix was tea leaves. The other two thirds were chocolate nibs and rose petals respectively. Perhaps that was the cause of the weak taste last time.

After steeping the liquor was a murky red-brown. Very murky, I could hardly make out where the spoon touched the bottom of the tea cup and I use a small cup.

First sip...WOW! Now THAT is CHOCOLATE! Milky smooth but with a slight dark coco bitterness. It actually tastes a lot like the jasmine-infused chocolates that I have. I'll have to try blending this with some jasmine tea at some point.

It also went marvelously with the bagel I had spread with spiced blackberry peach jam!

A little something before bed

2010-03-24T21:44:00.003-04:00

I wanted to have some tea before bed but I also didn't want anything with caffeine in it since my five month old refuses formula and I don't want to risk having her up half the night. Enter the fruit melanges I bout from Old Wilmington Tea Co. I blended the Berries n' Cream and Harvest and added a few cloves (love cloves, love love love) for a blend that was deliciously tart, creamy, fruity, and spiced all at once.

Revisiting an old favorite

2010-03-24T12:13:00.002-04:00

Blasted weather still hasn't warmed back up yet. I needed a tea this morning that could warm me up so I chose Stash's Kashmiri Chai Green Tea and used two bags in my tetsubin for extra strength. Loaded up with lots of milk and sugar it was smooth and silky with just the amount of spice I needed to start my day. I was enjoying my tea so much I nearly forgot to eat my banana bread!

Headed South

2010-03-23T12:07:00.003-04:00

So, yesterday afternoon I had gotten everything set up so I could make an omlet for lunch, including cracking the eggs into a bowl. Between one thing and another I ended up not getting any further than that on the lunch front. So this morning I decided to finish that omlet idea. I topped it with my black bean salsa and extra cheese and had a couple slices of banana bread as well.

Seeing how I seemed to be heading south for breakfast I decided to have some of EnjoyingTea.com's Roasted Mate Chai, rounded the flavor out with some Winey Keemum, and added my usual spice blend. I added a bit more nutmeg than usual though which gave the tea a pleasantly warm bite that complimented the salsa and the banana bread nicely.

Vanilla Rose Chai

2010-03-22T13:04:00.003-04:00

Today dawned cloudy and chill so I decided to return to spiced black tea for the morning. I chose Stash's Rosebud black blended with the Vanilla Chai from EnjoyingTea.com and added my usual spice blend. I think it needed a bit more rose in there. I'll have to try that after our roses have bloomed and I've had the chance to dry the petals. Anyway, it was definitely what I needed this morning. And it even went well with the spiced blackberry-peach jam I had on my bagel, which I find amazing because usually the spices in the jam overpower the spices in the tea. While there was a bit of that going on the vanilla and rose flavor notes complimented the jam so well that it was totally forgivable.

Harvest in Spring

2010-03-21T15:44:00.004-04:00

This afternoon I decided to try the Harvest fruit melange I got from Old Wilmington Tea Co. I must figure out what kind of cinnamon these companies use. The look and aroma is completely different from what you can get at the supermarket.

The liquor on this is a deep red in a mug, in a cup that holds less liquid it's more of a dark rose. It tastes a bit thin but the flavor fills out if you roll it around in your mouth…kind of like eating freeze-dried apple bits. There’s a little bit of a tang that saves this from being too light and sweet, definitely a good just-before-bed tea.

Raspberry Takeover

2010-03-21T11:16:00.002-04:00

So I decided to try one of the flavors I made from Design A Tea, the Chocolate Raspberry with a black tea base. There was definitely a strong raspberry note! The chocolate, sadly, seemed to be in hiding. The leaves smelled strongly of chocolate, the liquor smelled strongly of chocolate, but the taste just wasn't there. So, strike chocolate from my list of flavors to use but at least the raspberry has potential!

The rest of the story

2010-03-20T14:51:00.003-04:00

Sorry about how late I'm posting this but I had to rush off this morning and didn't have time to tell this like it should be told. Anyway, remember my post about the wonderful shopping experience I had over at Design A Tea? Well, the package came in last night! The package smelled absolutely divine even before I opened it (hmm, might need to get tins for these) and inside were, not only the teas I had ordered, but another designer sample and a coupon for a small, no-frills packaging tea...FREE. If this company is looking for return customers they have one right here!

I decided to try the second tea I had ordered, the one that came free. It is a black tea called Ice Wine and it does indeed smell, and taste very much like wine. The smell of the tea liquor actually smelled very much like one of those old timey country/antique shops, very potpourri. It's not as sweet as I had hoped but still very good. I think I might try this iced next time.

Mee and Dragon

2010-03-19T11:34:00.002-04:00

With the lovely SPRING weather we've been having I was in the mood for something green. I chose Chun Mee from EnjoyingTea.com and Curled Dragon Silvertip from Stash (which appears to be discontinued as I couldn't find it anywhere on the site). When I went to take the leaves out of the pot I noticed that the leaves of the two teas were quite easily discernable from each other. The Chun Mee leaves were darker, flatter, and broken whereas the others were thicker, lighter in color, and whole leaves; some even had buds too indicating a spring plucking. The flavor was a bit lighter than I had been hoping for, but then I've forgone green teas for nearly three or four months so I'm a bit out of practice with them. It was very nice but I think I'll wait to experiment with the Silvertip again until we have warmer weather and I can appreciate a lighter tea better.

Breakfast for Lunch

2010-03-18T13:37:00.004-04:00

We had french toast for lunch today so I decided to try the Port City blend from Old Wilmington Tea Co. I over-steeped it a bit (seven minutes instead of five) but it turned out OK for all that anyway, so...*shrugs*

The liquor was a bright amber with a very lively, brisk flavor. Strongly lemon with a bit of a floral note and a slight astringency. It reminded me of Earl Grey but tasted a lot better, in my opinion anyway (my first, and only, pot of Earl Grey got poured down the drain and the package swiftly disposed of to a more…interested party). Although I usually take my black teas with sugar and milk I decided to forgo the milk with this one because of the strong lemon flavor.

It is a pleasant afternoon tea. It didn’t wow me but I would consider drinking it again.

Sweet or Savory

2010-03-18T10:59:00.004-04:00

This morning I had waffles and eggs so I needed a tea that would work well with both sweet and savory flavors. I chose the Winey Keemum English Breakfast as a base with some of Stash's Rosebud black tea, orange peel, and my usual spice blend plus some cardamom scavenged from another tea in my cupboard. The resulting blend worked perfectly with both breakfast foods.

Berries n' Cream

2010-03-17T14:31:00.003-04:00

I wanted to have tea with lunch but with Katje's feeding schedule it just wasn't going to work. So instead I had lunch, fed her, then handed the now-sleeping baby off to a grandmother so I could brew up a mug of the Berries n' Cream fruit melange that I had bought from the Old Wilmington Tea Co. Sooooooo good! And a gorgeous red-purple liquor too. The tart fruit flavors were pleasantly rounded by the mild creaminess. A lovely afternoon tea.

Amethyst Bust

2010-03-17T11:04:00.003-04:00

So, I tried the Amethyst oolong tea from Old Wilmington Tea Co this morning. I was quite disappointed. If you want more detail you can read my review over on Steepster.com but I will say I have not given up on it. I will try brewing this one again with different water temperature and steep time. I want to like this tea and I will not give up until I get it right!

The cinnamon raisin bagel I was having for breakfast actually seemed to help the flavor though.

Lunchtime Experiments

2010-03-16T15:10:00.005-04:00

Note to self: DO NOT USE THE TEA POT TO STEEP HERBAL INFUSIONS, USE A MUG. The strawberry herbal I had this morning lingered in the pot even after rinsing it with near-boiling water. Unfortunately I didn't figure this out before steeping a blend of green teas. It was still drinkable just not at all what I had intended.

My food experiment worked out great though. You win some, you lose some.

Whatever's in the fridge Pad Thai
serves 2 (or 1 if you're really hungry)

ingredients:

one egg
1 cup of rice
1/4 cup of whatever you have for veggies (I used carrots)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar (can substitute white wine vinegar)
2 tablespoons Pad Thai sauce
1 tablespoon peanut butter

First, get the rice cooking since that will take the longest (follow the directions on the package). While that is cooking boil a pot of water and chop the vegetables. When the water is boiling, crack the egg into a small bowl, beat together, and slowly drop small portions into the boiling water. Put the veggies, garlic, and vinegar in a small pan and cook on high heat for two minutes. Add the cooked egg drops, Pad Thai sauce, and peanut butter and cook for another two minutes or until the mixture is thick. Serve over cooked rice.

You could also add chicken to this, just cut it into bite-sized pieces and cook halfway before adding the veggies.

Something Different

2010-03-16T10:27:00.003-04:00

I woke up last night with a throat so sore I could hardly swallow. I hate colds. I hate cold medicines too. I vowed that when I got up in the morning I was going to try the free sample of Sassy Strawberry from Not Just Tea that had arrived yesterday. I don't normally drink herbal teas but I needed something I could put honey in to soothe my throat.

The infusion steeped to a lovely pink and was indeed very soothing on my throat with the honey. The taste however was much livelier than I'm used to in the morning. While I did enjoy the tea I think I'll reserve it for afternoon sipping.

A late start and a good buy

2010-03-15T13:42:00.004-04:00

Wow, I'm posting this late...of course breakfast was more like lunch today anyway. Blasted time change. Anyway, today's blend was a base of Stash's Rosebud black tea with French Vanilla and Strawberry black tea from EnjoyingTea.com. Wish I'd had something chocolate to go with it but the bagel with cinnamon sugar was a decent match.

And last night I had the most wonderful tea-buying experience. I went to DesignATea.com to try out a couple of their free samples. Well, after picking the flavors I wanted I decided to go look at their other teas before checking out. There were three or four that sounded absolutely delicious but having already blown any sort of budget I might have had earlier in the week I decided to keep my extra spending down to one tea, making the total a reasonable $10 or so.

Later that evening I recieved an email from the owner of the company with a very generous offer. Since I paying more for shipping than I was for the tea he told me I could pick another tea from the site and he would include a small canister free of charge. I was in shock.

I did eventually manage to compose a return email without a thousand repetitions of "Thank You!" and with my choice of tea. I will definitely be buying from this company again!

Well...I didn't think that would work

2010-03-14T17:01:00.003-04:00

I had an omlet for lunch and decided to try doing a blend with some Genmaicha. Unfortunately I was not feeling very creative so with the thought of "This is so not going to work but I'm going to do it anyway because I'm too cussed stubborn for my own good," I grabbed some Che Sen Lotus green tea, nutmeg, and peppercorns and tossed 'em in the pot with the Genmaicha. Once I put the water in to steep the tea I turned away to cook my omlet...and totally forgot that Genmaicha tastes absolutely terrible when over-steeped!

So there I was, with a pot of tea that I was absolutely certain would be the fifth brew to travel down the drain. A bit of sugar in the cup, pour the tea, and wait for it to cool a bit. A few minutes later I took my first sip...WOW! Not only drinkable but it tasted pretty good too!

Isn't it nice when what you think will be a disaster turns out to be one of the best parts of the day?

A little fruity

2010-03-14T12:31:00.002-04:00

Today's blend: Orange Rooibos and EnjoyingTea.com's Pineapple black tea. I definitely didn't add enough of the tea to the rooibos though, I could hardly taste it over the marmalade flavor. Oh well, at least I like marmalade even if that wasn't the flavor I was going for.

Bouquet of Green

2010-03-13T11:28:00.002-05:00

Today's blend was a base of Che Sen Lotus green with Cherry Rose Kyoto Sencha and Jasmine Yin Hao. With the recent warm weather I've been itching for green leaves and summer so this was just the thing to soothe my desires...temporarily at least. The tea was well complimented by the french toast with cinnamon and syrup also.

Chocolate Blossom

2010-03-12T10:22:00.004-05:00

Today's blend: Chocolate Chai from the Bar Harbor Tea Company with Stash's Rosebud Black and Jasmine Yin Hao. It amazes me how much my son likes the floral teas when it took me so long to get used to drinking something that smelled like perfume. Perhaps it's because he's never smelled jasmine perfumes that he drinks it so readily.

We also enjoyed the toast with butter and cinnamon sugar that accompanied the tea.

Jasmintte

2010-03-11T11:05:00.003-05:00

Today was off to a bad start and I needed a soothing tea just for me. I started with a base of Moroccan Mint and added Che Sen Lotus green tea (a tea from Vietnam) and Jasmine Yin Hao. The full-bodied mint was nicely complimented by the floral notes and actually kept the tea from being overpowered by the bagel with marmalade I had for breakfast.

Someday I will have the time for a second infusion of this blend as both the Moroccan Mint and the Che Sen are teas that take multiple infusions well. Unfortunately since I have two kids under school age it doesn't look to be something that will happen soon.

Lung Ching Pingshui

2010-03-10T16:00:00.005-05:00

Since I hadn't had that omlet for breakfast as I had originally been considering I had it for lunch instead. And since I didn't have to worry about my son's tastes I went ahead and steeped a small pot of Dragonwell and Gunpowder green teas. At the first sip I found myself thinking "Wow, why haven't I blended more green teas before?" It was so good. I was quite sad to find the last cup at it's end.

Orange Blossom

2010-03-10T11:24:00.003-05:00

Today's blend: Stash's Blood Orange black with Monkey King Jasmine and nutmeg. Glad I decided to go with the waffles instead of the omelet that I had been considering. And I got to drink the entire pot of tea again since my son decided he'd rather have orange juice with his grandfather.

Three teas later...

2010-03-09T10:54:00.003-05:00

So this morning my son decided to sleep in. Getting tired of waiting I put together a blend of Sencha and Dragonwell green teas...and then he woke up. Ok, separate the teas , put them back, get out the big pot and grab a couple bags of Stash's Chai White tea. My son tried it and decided he did not like it so I got the small tetsubin out again and steeped some of the Blood Orange black tea with cinnamon and cloves. He liked that better but still only drank about half of what was in his small cup.

After he left the table I decided to take a break from the chai and try the tea I'd made for him. Of course. He'd been impatient for it to be done so I hadn't steeped it long enough and it was much too weak for my tastes. I'm now up to four pots of tea that have gone down the drain...but at least I didn't have to drink yet another pot of tea this morning...

Simple and Soothing

2010-03-08T11:53:00.003-05:00

Today I decided to keep it simple and had some Winey Keemum with orange peel and cloves. It went very well with both the omlet and the banana bread that I had. It also did a great job at settling my son's tummy after a bit of an upset.

Tea and Truffles: Take II

2010-03-07T17:09:00.002-05:00

So, I still have truffles left and had a bit of time this afternoon so I steeped a pot of Stash's Jasmine Yin Hao and Rosebud Black teas with a bit of orange peel. This blend worked MUCH better than my previous attempt with the Monkey King Jasmine tea paired with the truffles. Truffles are a very rich chocolate and I have found that rich flavors need rich-flavored teas to match them. The Monkey King Jasmine is more like a jasmine scented breeze compared to the Jasmine Yin Hao, which can be compared to standing in the middle of a garden full of blooming jasmine on a warm summer's day.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry

2010-03-07T10:27:00.002-05:00

Today's blend: Chocolate Chai from the Bar Harbor Tea Company and EnjoyingTea.com's Strawberry Black teas with cloves. It was perfect with the banana bread we had for breakfast.

Sadly I am nearly out of the Chocolate Chai. Even more sad is that when I was in town earlier in the week I noticed their shop was closed for the winter. I'll have to wait for them to open up in the spring to replenish my supply. I am not going to pay shipping costs for something I can get just by going into town.

My first Yixing

2010-03-06T13:54:00.005-05:00

OMG, the teapot I ordered from eBay is finally here! It's a bit smaller than I thought but that actually makes it absolutely perfect for steeping multiple infusions of pu'erh without having to remove the leaves from the pot.....now to actually buy a pu'erh variety to try it out with. Perhaps the one I found last night, if I can convince my husband to let me spend more money on tea.

Vanilla-Berry Blossom

2010-03-06T10:30:00.003-05:00

Today's blend: French Vanilla black tea with Monkey King Jasmine green and Strawberry black. I had to do a bit of tinkering with milk and sugar amounts to bring out the strawberry note, more sugar and less milk than I usually use, but the extra calories were worth it (not that I count calories anyway but I've been trying to cut back the amount of sugar I use with my tea).

I was surprised that my son actually liked it considering he usually doesn't like trying new foods. But he had his tea and waffles and asked for more of both!

Wishlist

2010-03-05T21:44:00.002-05:00

I discovered two tea companies today, Old Wilmington Tea and Golden Moon Tea. So many new teas that I want to try now. From the first, Orange Pu'erh, Berries n' Cream, and, most of all, an oolong tea called Amethyst. From the second, White Persian Melon and Sinharaja.

So many teas, so little time!

An old favorite

2010-03-05T10:37:00.003-05:00

Today I chose one of the teas that got me started, Stash's Orange Spice Black tea. It is just as wonderful now, after all the teas I have tasted, as it was when I had that first, delicious cup. The spice blend is unlike any other I have had. I'm going to have to either do another spiced Stash tea tomorrow or an un-spiced blend otherwise the memory of those richly complimenting spices will ruin any other spiced tea blend I try.

Oh yes, it went wonderfully with the waffles and syrup I had also.

Vanilla Rose

2010-03-04T09:53:00.003-05:00

Perhaps it was the simplicity, or the way the two flavors complimented each other...or the fact that my last two pots of tea were such failures... Whatever it was, today's blend of French Vanilla black tea and Stash's Rosebud Black tea tasted absolutely delicious. Even my son thought so!

Too much of a good thing

2010-03-03T09:32:00.003-05:00

I wanted to keep it simple today so I went with the Winey Keemum, orange peel, and my usual spice blend. I should have left out the spices or used only one instead of all three. Less milk might have helped as well.

A rose is a rose is a rose...not

2010-03-02T11:10:00.005-05:00

I had a bit of my chocolate cereal left this morning so I decided to try a new rose blend. It didn't work out too well. I used EnjoyingTea.com's Bangalore Rose Chai as a base with a touch of Stash's Rosebud black and Monkey King Jasmine teas and my usual spice blend. The only flavor note that stood out was the jasmine, the rest was all muddled together in a rather bland mix. I blame the chai.

Orange and Spice

2010-03-01T09:53:00.003-05:00

Today's blend: Stash's Blood Orange black tea and EnjoyingTea.com's Indian Mocha Chai with extra orange peel, cinnamon and cloves. It went well with the buttered bagels covered with cinnamon sugar. Could have used some cardamom though...I really need to get to the natural food store in town and see if they have any whole cardamom.

The same, but different

2010-02-28T10:52:00.003-05:00

Today's blend: Chocolate Chai, Strawberry black, and French Vanilla black with some extra cloves and cinnamon. My son wanted to share my tea this morning again so I wanted to change it just a little while still keeping the base flavor the same for him. I think it might have been better if I'd added more of the Strawberry black and left out the Vanilla though. We also shared a bagel with pomegranate jelly.

Tea to Share

2010-02-27T11:57:00.003-05:00

Decided to have some of the strawberries again this morning with banana bread and Chocolate Chai from the Bar Harbor Tea Company. Not only did I love it but my son did too! Three years old and having his first cup of tea. Gotta corrupt, I mean, train their taste-buds early!

Timewarp to Summer

2010-02-26T11:01:00.002-05:00

More chocolate cereal for breakfast. Today though I went with a green tea: Cherry Rose Kyoto Sencha from EnjoyingTea.com. Not only did it go well with the cereal but it was complimented by the strawberries my mom brought over this morning. Those three flavors, the tea, strawberries, and chocolate, combined for an absolutely marvelous taste sensation. It was like stepping into summer for those few moments.

Strawberries 'n' Cream

2010-02-25T09:51:00.004-05:00

Have to have a quick breakfast this morning so I'm having chocolate Frosted Mini Wheats and a very lovely black tea blend consisting of Stash's Rose black and EnjoyingTea.com's Strawberry black.

Breakfast for dinner

2010-02-24T19:13:00.003-05:00

We had breakfast foods (french toast) for dinner tonight so I broke out my small green tetsubin and Koran China and made a blend of Mao Jian green tea with a touch of Che Sen Lotus green. The Lotus, a green tea from Vietnam, added a light floral note that was just right. It was also rather refreshing, having green tea after so long drinking black and/or spiced teas since the beginning of winter.

A spoonful of sugar

2010-02-24T11:58:00.004-05:00

Today's blend: EnjoyingTea.com's Cherry Almond black tea with French Vanilla black tea. It went very well with my waffles.

For those who might be wondering, I do put milk and sugar in my tea if it's black. Sugar only for rooibos and green teas though unless it's a spiced chai.

A bit of Pepper

2010-02-23T11:58:00.004-05:00

Today's blend: EnjoyingTea.com's Lemongrass Chai with my usual spice blend of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg as well as peppercorns. A good match for savory foods like the swiss and colby jack omlet I had with it for breakfast.

More Chocolate

2010-02-22T10:47:00.002-05:00

Today's blend: Stash's Rose and Blood Orange black teas with my usual spice blend. It went very well with the chocolate Frosted Mini-Wheats I had for breakfast this morning.

When in doubt, simplicity

2010-02-21T12:22:00.001-05:00

I wasn't sure what was going on for breakfast today so I decided to play it safe and chose my new Winey Keemum and added a few bits of orange peel. The simpler the flavor, the more things it will match well with. The sweetness of the strawberry jam was a bit much but the ham and eggs were well complimented by the Keemum.

The importance of planning

2010-02-20T11:24:00.002-05:00

When I chose my tea this morning I thought I was going to be having scrambled eggs with cheese so I chose EnjoyingTea.com's Roasted Mate Chai with my usual spice blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove) for it's more savory flavor. I ended up having french toast instead (we got better syrup yesterday) and the flavors didn't really work very well together.

Let this be a lesson on how important it is to make a firm plan before you start preparing a meal!

Jasmine and Truffles

2010-02-19T16:50:00.002-05:00

For Valentine's Day my husband bought me two pounds of truffles and I've been trying to find time to sit down with the raspberry ones and a pot of tea. Today I made the time.

I chose the Jasmine Dragon Pearl (Imperial Long Chu). Unfortunately it was a bit overwhelmed by the strong flavor of the truffles. Next time I'll go with the Jasmine Yin Hao which has a much stronger jasmine note than the Pearl.

Orange Spice

2010-02-19T10:20:00.002-05:00

Today I had a pot of Stash's Blood Orange Black tea and added cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Something seemed to be missing from it though.....or perhaps it was the terrible butter flavored syrup which was all there was to put on the french toast.

Bangalore Rose

2010-02-18T08:42:00.002-05:00

There are still chocolate chocolate-chip muffins left this morning (in a house with a toddler...something's not right here) so I am having another rose-based blend. For this one I am using EnjoyingTea.com's Bangalore Rose Chai with extra spices (since EnjoyingTea doesn't put much spice in their chais for some reason) and a touch of French Vanilla Black tea from Tea Francais.

Empress' Spice Garden

2010-02-17T11:54:00.001-05:00

Stash's Rose Black with a touch of Jasmine Yin Hao, orange peel, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg.

Teas with rose petals go very well with chocolate so I paired it with chocolate chocolate-chip muffins