Category Archives: Tea

AJ Drinks the Tea Cabinet #1

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A sort of blogletter about tea.

Some people have a liquor cabinet. Heck, a cellar.

I have my tea rack. But it’s more fun to call it a cabinet. It’s made from a CD rack because it’s about the perfect size for little tea boxen.

Untitled

This doesn’t even cover the shelf of teas I have at work. Oh the shelf of teas.

So, in an endeavor to drink the cabinet down and figure out which teas have gone stale, I’m going to blog my tea drinkage here. If this can be given a back-date (or whatever we are calling it) that would be awesome.

If you’re wondering whether tea-drinking in large amounts can possibly affect behavior, be warned: yes, it can. Especially certain blends of black tea. There’s a reason Lu Tong’s 7 Bowls of Tea poem ends with

With the sixth I am in touch with the immortals.
The seventh gives such pleasure I can hardly bear
The fresh wind blows through my wings,
As I make my way to Penglai.

Chocolate Mint (Harney & Sons)

Harney & Sons makes dairy-free chocolate teas, by which I mean they use chocolate flavoring instead of dumping chocolate chips (of gods know what pedigree, but it’s usually milk chocolate; Mighty Leaf is particularly guilty of this) into the blend. Some people scoff at this, but the flavor works for me very well. Harney & Sons does a pure chocolate black tea blend, but I much prefer their chocolate mint. The mint really complements the flavor of the chocolate and the tea.

Caribe (Harney & Sons)

I tried to brew this with my usual cool-off time for green teas, but I’m obviously not a good gyokuro brewer (a green tea that needs a temperature even more delicate than this) and I got what I usually get these days from Caribe: BITTERNESS over a tempting background of guava and tropical fruit notes. So I tried again (down to my last filter in my tea pack) after cooling for a full five minutes, and got… weak, but not bitter, plus guava and tropical fruit notes. I know there’s coconut but I honestly have a hard time tasting it through all the other stuff.

Red Velvet Cupcake (Simpson & Vail)

Imagine a red velvet cupcake. Imagine its taste; in particular, its cloying richness dense with chocolate and other sweet stuff. This is what this tea smells like. This is what this tea tastes like. It’s a rich and decadent dessert with no calories. Caocao nibs are used to impart part of the chocolate flavor, with some coconut to complement its notes, making this tea dairy-free. Oh, and red velvet cupcake apparently now comes as a flavoring from the flavor labs.

Bouquet of Flowers (Kusmi)

Kusmi is one of the best tea blenders around (and I forgot to mention them in a previous post). They are nearly the Rolls Royce of teas. Especially their spiced black teas are divine. Today we visit one of their many bergamot blends, this one non-spiced. Bouquet of Flowers is basically a flowery high-class Earl Grey, with the floral taste subdued enough that it doesn’t take over the entire blend. In a way it reminds me of Mighty Leaf’s Beatles’ Blend, except there is no jasmine here.

Commit log #43

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Tea intricacy

Three good things out of a bleagh kind of day.

1. Solved some frustrating SSL and LDAP problems. Ready to move onto the next part of a project. Pleased with myself for this thing at least, even if I did screw up a deployment yesterday…

2. TEA. Specifically, a shipment from Harney & Sons. The joyful teas:

  • Strawberry-Kiwi Fruit Tea
  • Mango Fruit Tea
  • Chocolate Mint (a refill of an old friend)
  • Caribe(an interesting strawberry/guava/coconut green/black tea blend)
  • SOHO(coconut and chocolate)
  • Dragon Pearl Jasmine, another old friend
  • Love Life(coconut, vanilla, strawberry, puffed rice)
  • African Autumn (oh, how I love thee)

3. Sailor Moon R is really heating up. I quite like it, and skipped a lot of monster-of-the-week episodes to get there.

4. A pack of Mum-Mums (strawberry-flavored) arrived. They soothe my stomach after my big dose of Lamictal. Ow, Lamictal hurts.

A thing I like about myself: I can be bubbly at times?

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Commit log #27

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Three good things! Argh, on a Monday.

1. TEA. I went through a spectacular bunch for the most part, almost reaching 7 cups.

- Mighty Leaf’s Vanilla Bean (black)
- Mighty Leaf’s Beatles’ Blend (black and green)
- Harney & Sons’ Chocolate Mint (black)
- Tao of Tea’s Mandarin Orange (green)
- Churchmouse Vanilla (Almond) Rooibos (red) (seems to vary in quality with each steep)
- Mighty Leaf’s Chocolate Mint Truffle (red)

I’m probably going to look into getting invested in David’s Tea next. Tomorrow’s going to feature Kusmi for sure, but I need to bring in more red teas for the afternoons. And maybe some herbals as well.

2. Chocolate chip home-made dairy-free ice cream. Enough said.

3. Finishing off the Extra Credits archives. The discussions about narrative, particularly the Hero’s Journey, have made me thoughtful about Seal Tales again. And then I get locked up on how to approach the damn thing once more. Argh. Though sometimes one can just use a rest from a particular story/characters/topic.

4. Extra credit! I’ve written 2021 words tonight on something I was stuck on!

Thing I like about myself: I’ve managed 27 commit logs so far. Only 33 more before it truly becomes a habit!

Life thingies: I really need to get out of the business of flame war voyeurism. There are so many better ways to spend one’s time. Stuff is settling down at the job. In a couple of days I see my bartender again.

Commit log #23

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Matthew, or the Cownt of Sofa Three good things!

1. Matthew, the Cownt of Sofa. I have no dedicated sofa cow, and Matthew is pleasantly stuffed. Why Matthew? Because I’m currently addicted to Downton Abbey and Matthew is the first blond cow. I must thank my friends, the Rozentales, for Mathew as my unbirthday present. ^.^

2. More or less enjoying Stross’s The Apocalypse Codex. At least it’s good to read about Bob Howard again. I’m on 53 books read out of 100 for the year!

3. These Mini-Minit tea filters (also from my friends) are so far quite nice. I can pour the tea down through the filter, and instantly it steeps out quite well. And apparently unlike the Finum versions these don’t buckle up and spill tea all over. I’m currently using rooibos, and you can imagine the spillage potential of those little bits there.

4. Just about reached 7 cups of tea today, little 6oz cups, but that’s still 42oz of tea. I felt a little funny going home; I think I’ll lay off too much black tea. Today’s teas:

  1. Simpson & Vail’s Almond Sugar Cookie (black)
  2. Mighty Leaf’s Vanilla Bean (black)
  3. Mighty Leaf’s Orange Dulce (black)
  4. Tao of Tea’s Mandarin Orange (green)
  5. Churchmouse Vanilla Rooibos (red rooibos)
  6. Simpson & Vail’s Coconut Macaroon (green rooibos)
  7. Simpson & Vail’s French Vanilla Rooibos (red rooibos)

Thing I like about myself: TEA dammit.

Life thingies: I will be more positive. Positive reinforcement, positive in how I phrase my goals—as ABE suggested. I need to enact a positive AJIP (AJ Improvement Program).

Daily Tea: 2012-08-01

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The first cup kisses away my thirst,
and my loneliness is quelled by the second.
The third gives insight worthy of ancient scrolls,
and the fourth exiles my troubles.
My body becomes lighter with the fifth,
and the sixth sends word from immortals.
But the seventh—oh the seventh cup—
if I drink you, a wind will hurry my wings
toward the sacred island.
– “Seven Bowls of Tea”, Lu Tong (translated by Chris Nelson)

I didn’t reach seven. I think I ought to try some time.

  1. Twinings’ Lady Grey, near inimitable (though some blends give it a run for its money). I do love me my bergamot, sometimes with a lighter touch.
  2. Kusmi Tea’s Troika, another lovely bergamot-based blend.
  3. Harney & Sons’ Dragon Pearl Jasmine. I love watching this tea steep, the little rolled-up tea leaves unfurling. And it’s still good after all this time!
  4. Churchmouse Vanilla Rooibos, which I can never get enough of.
  5. Simpson & Vails’ Rooibos Chocolate Orange. Chocolate orange is a difficult taste to get right, requiring one to walk a line between gaudiness and vanishing. I think the superior blend is Mighty Leaf’s Chocolate Orange Truffle, but sadly that’s both caffeinated (well, more caffeinated) and also not dairy-free; but S&V’s version works well enough.

For those who might be concerned, as too much tea can leave one kind of… argh…: I drink most of my tea in 6oz servings, with the exception of the H&S pyramidal tea bags (12oz) and the Steven Smith tea bags (10oz).

Daily Tea: 2012 July 31st

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Harry Potter’s birthday! I’ve decided to celebrate with my first serious sips of tea in a while (summer’s not the most ideal time for hot tea). The tea is a bit of a distraction from life, a pleasant ritual and break.

The teas I’ve enjoyed, in order of remembrance:

Kusmi Tea’s Bouquet of Flowers

Enjoyable with a strong hit to the nose and thus the taste. It’s not too flowery, and I love variants on bergamot teas—which Kusmi gladly provides in spades.

Churchmouse’s Vanilla Rooibos

Not a pure vanilla rooibos blend, as the vanilla is set off well with a subtle background of almonds. Pleasing as a decaf version of teas such as Might Leaf’s Vanilla Bean.

Simpson & Vail’s Coconut Macaroon Green Rooibos Tea

Damn, this tastes like a slightly spiced version of the dessert. Simpson & Vail does extremely good dessert teas, if you’re looking for something along those lines. They certainly do a better job than any other blender I’ve tried thus far.

Mighty Leaf’s Chocolate Mint Truffle Rooibos

For me, a decaf replacement for Harney & Sons’ Chocolate Mint. It’s sufficient, not wonderful, and one of the few dairy-free chocolate teas that Mighty Leaf advertises. If you’re not dairy-intolerant, I highly recommend their chocolate teas.

Simpson & Vail’s Red Velvet Cupcake Tea

Another rooibos blend. Very much like a cupcake, and they did a better job than Queen Mary’s (now defunct) Sweetheart Tea. Another dessert tea spectacular from S&V.

Ah yes, my C.V. for blenders I’ve tried:

  • Celestial Seasonings
  • Harney & Sons
  • Kusmi Tea
  • Lipton
  • Mighty Leaf
  • Queen Mary
  • Republic of Tea
  • Simpson & Vail
  • Steven Smith
  • Twinings

There’s at least one other I can’t recall right now.

Hot Tea Month: Orange Dulce

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Mighty Leaf’s Orange Dulce is part of my daily rotation of teas. While my fellow Earl Grey lovers might find the orange essence a mere echo of the bite of bergamot, I find it a refreshing change, going for the subtle over brass. The vanilla turns this drink into a sort of instant London Fog, perhaps a sweeter springtime one.

Mind you, I still drink Smith’s Lord Bergamot in the mornings, but Orange Dulce is quite right at any time of the day. Even during 6 hour meetings.

January is National Hot Tea Month

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20120103-082827.jpg According to the National Tea Council, this month is Hot Tea Month. I thoroughly approve of this.

Having missed the last two days of tea, I’ve decided to link to a couple older posts about two of my favorite teas:

Harney & Sons’ Chocolate Mint
Queen Mary’s Creamy Earl Grey

Every day this month (counting today) I’ll review a new tea in my cabinet. And I’ve got quite a few.

Diggity Tea: Tweets Since 2011-Jun-12

By Posted in Tea Tagged 3 Comments

Anyways I’m gonna have #tea. It was a fellow I call my Crimney who introduced me to Earl Grey. Tea is a respite from many things.
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:09:07 -0700

My parents used to drink Jasmine, and for a while I didn’t drink #tea. Thanks to Crimney I nowadays can drink an Earl Grey/Jasmine blend.
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:11:19 -0700

(It’s @mightyleaf‘s Beatles Blend, by the way. A unique green/black #tea blend, which are rare enough.)
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:12:33 -0700

On @uptontea‘s Earl Grey Lavender: I didn’t notice the lavender very much. It was all Earl Grey, practically speaking. #tea
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:17:57 -0700

On @uptontea‘s Earl Grey Blue Flower: the corn flowers round out the taste, but not as much as mallow flowers would. Just a preference. #tea
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:39:09 -0700

@TwiningsTeaUK @katiedidwhat I mostly enjoy full leaf tea. So currently it’s just Lady Grey which I found on Amazon.
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:14:18 -0700

For lovers of Earl Grey tea and chocolate tea, @uptontea‘s Earl Grey Chocolate is bliss. #tea #teaisgood
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:29:21 -0700

@winnie3k It’s even a pretty tea to look at! Which I love for a complete tea experience.
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:31:30 -0700

Whoever blends this Almond Sugar Cookie #tea has my eternal gratitude. #teaisgood
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:56:00 -0700

@gailcarriger the solution is almost always tea, at least for me, heh. I’m glad the link is useful!
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:30:50 -0700

Getting through the day with Almond Sugar Cookie, obtained from @PerennialTea in Seattle. It is the most divine cookie tea I’ve ever tasted.
Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:43:55 -0700

@Pixelfish I find that blending in a good vanilla tea will sooth a lack of milk for an Earl Grey.
Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:57:29 -0700

@Pixelfish It really depends on the vanilla tea you’re using, too. You want one that is really vanilla-y to the point of marshmallows.
Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:52:19 -0700

@Pixelfish Hmm. I might try Numi’s version of vanilla black tea. It should have been called Marshmallow.
Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:25:06 -0700

Drinking my first maté, @queenmarytearm‘s Afternoon Tango. Like a chocolate banana. Bit fussy to brew, somewhat like a green tea that way.
Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:42:54 -0700

It’s becoming a nightly tea ritual for me—@mightyleaf‘s Calming Moon, which manages to live up to its name. To bed, after a few things.
Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:31:25 -0700