The rest of the story

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.