Tea Words 1/12 - 1/19

A little better variety this week, anyways...and a wee bit better attention to detail too, methinks:

Yunnan Golden Puerh - Adagio

1/13 @ 6:00pm: Layers, Depth, Pepper

Chocolate Chai - Adagio

1/13 @ 9:30pm: Light spice

Cashmere from Tantalizing Teas (with a pinch of H&S Supreme Breakfast tossed in)

1/14 @ 9:00am: Smooth, caramel, vanilla

1/15 @ 9:00am: light tobacco, easy

1/16 @9:00am: smooth, warm, comforting

Florence - Harney & Son's

1/14 @ 1:30pm: Brisk & deep

Caramel - Tantalizing Teas

1/15 @1:30pm: Uh, eew!

Boulder Breakfast - The Tea Spot

1/17 @ 9:00am: Astringent (weird!)

1/17 @ 11:15am: rough, thin (brewed one minute less. How could this possibly happen with puerh?) 

1/18 @ 12:30pm: Rough, bite-y, okay

Supreme Breakfast - Harney & Sons

11/18 @ 8:30am: Strong muscatel, darjeeling? Nilgiri?

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Cashmere was definitely my winner this week...and my salvation when other teas just weren't really doing it for me. There's something about rooibos blended with vanilla that gives it this smooth, creamy caramel flavor I really enjoy, and of course the black tea adds that very necessary kick of caffeine in the morning.

My disappointment with the brand new pouch of Boulder Breakfast received this week was confusing. From what I remember, the blend of puerh, black tea & chocolate was very smooth and mellow in the mornings, but this batch so far hasn't had any of that smoothness I enjoyed before. Was it my faulty memory, or did they change the recipe? I'll never know, I guess, but  I may not order it again. Puerh should never get bitter or rough, and I tried brewing less with no difference. Annoying!

The Yunnan Puerh was pretty darn tasty, but I only have a tiny sample tin and no money to order more. So I'm hoarding that.

And interestingly enough, when I was at home Friday rather than rushing off to work, I actually could taste some of the individual notes in the Supreme Breakfast. It reminded me of a strong first-flush Darjeeling (very strong) or Nilgiri with muscatel notes. I'm not a fan of first flush darjeeling (I prefer second or even third, personally), so that explains why I don't particularly care for it. But I did need a quiet morning with nothing else going on to identify that...interesting.

All in all, it was an okay tea-week....though I really wish I could stock up on some of my old standby favorites. A couple more weeks until payday, and the tea cupboard won't look quite so bleak. Until then, I have plenty of Cashmere, thank goodness...