Ceylon OP Giragama Estate

Perfect, I thought. Traditional black tea with hints of flavor. Citrus is good, caramel is good. They are probably good together.

They are fine together. Both flavors are there, especially the citrus. There is nothing exceptional about this tea, no flavors that stop you dead and make you go, "I must drink that again! That was amazing!" But also nothing that makes you say "Oh my god, that was horrible, I must never go near that again." It is a very fine black tea. It got bitter by the end of the cup, even though there were no more leaves to steep.

 

 

Mem Tea Ceylon OP Giragama Estate. It has too much lemon flavor, I think to go well with milk, but I drank it with sugar, because I always drink tea with sugar. It's nice and drinkable and simple. 7 out of 10 stars.

Yunnan Dian Hong

"Okay," I said to myself while staring at the tea selection upstairs, "You have been playing it safe and only drinking things you are almost sure you're going to like all week. Be bold. Try something new."

Okay, so this one was new. And I misread spicy as smokey and thought "smokey vanilla sounds like a good stepping stone." And so I tried this. 

It's very nice. Subtle vanilla and spices. It's smooth but also has a bit of a bite. 

Brewed with two teaspoons in my 16 ounce mug, with sugar and no milk. Six of ten stars; I would drink it again but wouldn't fold it into my regular tea rotation. Yunnan Dian Hong by Mem Tea Imports.

Blood Orange Hibiscus

Sometimes, you just don't want caffeine, so you have to turn to herbals. They are nice and warm and won't keep you up at night. So today I tried this blood orange hibiscus tea. 

It tastes like the tropics. Like summer. A tiny it like Pez without the overwhelming taste of fake flavors you get with Pez. 

It is lovely. Brewed with two and a half heaping teaspoons in a 16 ounce cup, served with sugar. Blood Orange Hibiscus by Mem Tea Imports is high recommended. Eight out of ten stars. 

Rose Scented

This tea looks like the inside of a sachet. It smells like perfume. 

And it tastes amazing. Once brewed the rose is subtle and just a hint. It doesn't taste like drinking a cup of soap. 

Rose Scented tea by Mem Tea Imports. Brewed with two heaping teaspoons and served with sugar. It's subtle and floral and tasty. Seven stars. Would drink again. 

Ras Chai Spice

Today I have returned to things I know I like. I love chai blends. I love cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves. This tea smells like Christmas when you open the container. 

I used three heaping teaspoons in my 16 ounce mug. With sugar and milk, it also tastes like Christmas. 

And, because my mug is glass, look how cool the liquids stratify before it's all mixed together. 

This tea (Ras Chai Spice) is amazing and delicious. I recommend it highly. Eight out of ten stars. (There are even better chai blends that I've tried.)

Baked GABA Oolong

Okay. I think I do not understand oolongs. This allegedly tastes of toast with jam. And I like toast with jam. 

What it actually tasted like was boiled sticks with jam. I do not like sticks. 

I do like my pretty glass mug. And I liked the caffeine. But this tea? I am probably not going to drink it again. The tea was Baked GABA Oolong (which I kept misreading as Baba Yaga Ooolong, which would be a great name for a tea and someone should make that happen).

4 stars.

Chocolate macaron tea

I am a sucker for black teas with chocolate. I always feel like they should taste like pale imitations of hot chocolate, but they are instead this subtle tasty thing that is entirely their one.

I went into the tea store for something else and hit some magic post Black Friday sale where I got a free half tin of "any of those teas over there." And this one had chocolate and so it came home with me. 

It is tasty. Delicious and warm and sweet and soothing. It is full of chocolate and coconut and a nutty flavor the website tells me is pecans. Sure. Let's go with pecans. 

It left an icky residue at the lip of my mug that looked kind of like pond scum (appetizing, no?). And I should probably not be drinking caffeine at this hour. But it is delicious and is making me happy and that's what matters. 

At least that's what matters now. We'll see at midnight when I can't sleep.

8 out of ten stars. (If someone can help me figure out how to easily do a graphic of stars that would be great. Chocolate Macaroon Tea by David's Teas.

Tori Tastes Teas -- An Introduction

I drink a lot of tea. I drink a lot of different teas and cannot always remember what I drank and whether I liked it and have to guess. As one does. So, I am going to record the teas I drink, what I thought of them, and whether I liked them. And, where I'm working, the office kitchen is stocked with something like forty varieties of teas. Maybe fifty? My goal is to try them all. I make no promises as to whether or not I will like things. And I own a bunch of teas, none of which are at work.

So...that's my slap dash introduction to my tea blog.