Gifts of Gevalia

So we are at my in-laws house for the weekend.  I brought my mother-in-law two different types of Gevalia tea, Earl Grey Tea and Afternoon Revival.  Mom drinks P&G tea, because it is a black tea that does not have a bitter taste.  So now she has some tasty Gevalia tea that also does not have a bitter taste.  YAY!

Nothing too involved today, just relaxing for a day when I have the ability to relax.  We went and got Denise and Bob some matching Irish coffee mugs. And deer were out in the yard.

Back in the Swing of Things

Well, I missed posting for 2 days.  This was mostly due to the fact that I have had to drug myself to sleep for the last few days.  Prior to the last few days, I had stretched 3 days of limited sleep and severe fibro pain to the point that I was getting irritable and aggressive with people.  Let me tell you, this is not a recommended course of action.  My body has decided that while the 2 days of induced sleep were better than not sleeping, I am not out of the clear for fibro pain and massive spoon depletion. (see The Spoon Theory)

I thought about the chance that my recent intake of tea could have caused the issue, but when I checked the teas I was having after 5pm, I was only drinking herbals.  So that was a no.  I am still hunting for the perfect little tea set for myself at home, as the two pots I have just don’t scream “Emmy, the Tea Leaf Fairy” and I like the idea of a tea set that suits me.  Yes, I have my weird moments; this would be one of them.

I have been doing reviews and blend making on Adagio Teas site and I am almost up to $20 off my tea purchases.  I am not currently running low, so I guess I will horde my FC points (meaning Frequent Cups) until such time as I really need more.  But I have to say that I am proud of my work with teas and reviews this far.  I hope you have all enjoyed the journey.  I plan on trying for review of tea shopping and other such activities throughout the weeks.  I also have a lot of teas left to review.  So don’t run away yet, I have not lost steam in my ongoing train of tea thoughts. *chuckle*

So, it’s Friday and I just decided that I would get started with a new tea and finally I am drinking an old classic.

In a delicious mix of Indian Assam, Ceylon, and two types of green tea with black currant, the Whistling Kettle’s Prince of Wales makes for a nice cup of tea. 

The blend was originally devised for Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII.  Prince Edward first granted Twinings permission to sell his personal blend using his royal title, in 1921. Twinings of London, however, has largely withdrawn its Prince of Wales tea from the United Kingdom market although it is still marketed abroad, as witnessed by Twinings's official regional websites. In its American online catalog, Twinings once stated that "Prince of Wales is a pure China black tea sourced from regions including the Yunnan province and other southern regions of China. This blend is light in color and has a smooth and mild taste, with a well-rounded character. Great in the late morning or in the afternoon, it is perfect with or without milk and can be sweetened to taste."

While King Edward VIII is far from my favorite English monarch, and I still bristle a little at a favorable mention of he and his wife (for which he abdicated the throne), this tea has a nice taste.  Yes, I am an American and yes it is a bit silly that I bother, but I am highly sympathetic to the smooth living of the Commonwealths and ultimately their monarchical figure heads.

So, other than my personal issues with the basis of the tea, I like the blend and I definitely think it is a nice “afternoon tea” flavor that allows me to set about relaxing.

(I placed my favorite little Viking next to the cup as a small play...it might be funny just to me but haha oh well)

Fruity Day of Fruitiness!

So my day didn't really start well, I didn't sleep well and I woke up looking like someone had beat me up in my "sleep".  Got into work and completely seemed out of sorts for the morning chore of getting everything in working order for the running of my project and coverage of the phones.  I started a theme for the day, fruity teas of the berry variety, prior to lunch.  So I went out with David and Rich for lunch and when we got back I decided that it was time to relax with some tea while I worked on finishing up a review of some data for a report to my bosses.

The first tea was THE LEAGUE OF SUPERFRUITS from Virtuous Teas in Newton MA.  This was part of the gift shipment from Mitzie and E.  I LOVE THIS TEA!!  This is the company's statement about this delicious tea,

"Green Tea, Gojiberries, Lemongrass, Pomegranate, Blueberries.

The perfect tea for when you're taking a break fighting Super Villains. This tea is packed with superfruits, giving you the power you need to save the world from evil. Or coffee, which is the same thing, more or less." 

Thank you so much to my wonderful friends for this gift, I absolutely love it!  The taste is just right, the tea flavor is fruity without being too harsh with tart.  The color was exactly what you would expect from a green tea with some dried fruit adding a bit of color difference once they become moistened in the hot water, releasing their tasty tasty fruitiness. (for any of you that did not know, I am possibly one of the biggest fans of fruit in any form that has ever existed.)

So next up was Wild Strawberry from Adagio Teas.  It is an herbal tea, so no caffeine, but I don't hold that against the tea.  The Wild Strawberry description is,

"Fresh strawberries, apple pieces, hibiscus flowers and rose hips create a mellow, almost dessert-like tea. Sweet strawberry and sugared rhubarb aroma, beautiful warm berry color, pleasantly aromatic and not super sweet."

This tea was bright and delicious, I allowed 10 minutes for it to steep properly and when I poured my cup, the tea had a beautiful red color and the aroma was absolutely delicious.  According to some reviewers, this tea will be delicious iced - I cannot wait to buy more, so I can have some iced after winter is over.

Finally I had the Whistling Kettle tea, Strawberry Green, a:

"Green tea, Freeze dried strawberries, Safflower petals"

This tea only takes about 3 minutes to steep and is delicious with or without honey.  I really really like it.  While I am ruined for any usual green tea since the ITO EN green blend the other day, I still enjoyed this one.  Strawberries will always hit the spot for me, this did not disappoint.  I would definitely point to this for a well rounded green tea with fruity delicious aroma and flavor.

So...I guess the moral of today's lesson is, if you're feeling like you need a pick me up...pick a fruit...tea :D

Warm and Tasty Afternoon

Had a new tea from the Whistling Kettle sample pack, Angel's Dream.  It is a black tea with maple and blueberry notes, I loved it.  I really like the Whistling Kettle's black teas with the "American" twists.  I would really suggest this for any one wanting a good and tasty black tea for "tea time" with a nice smooth taste.

Draco-duck approves!

Chocolate-Infused, Snowy Morning

We had a 2-hour delay today for the Capitol Complex.  It wasn't a horrible storm that came through but it did dust up the road a bit.  So at about 11pm last night we got the message about the delay and I had to call my staff, which also meant I didn't need to call anyone in the morning and I could sleep in a bit more.

Got into work and it was the usual song and dance, lots of reports to compile and send to managers and clerical for entry and tallying.  YAY!  SO BORING!  So while I was at compiling the numbers and waiting for the last of my staff to come in to the office I opened two chocolate infused tea pouches.  I tried Chocolate Chai first.

So Adagio Teas' Chocolate Chai is stated to be blended black tea, cinnamon bark, ginger root, cocoa nibs, natural cinnamon flavor and natural chocolate flavor.  Honestly, this is a delicious mix of chocolate and the flavors and spices of Masala Chai. It's a good mix and it is a good flavor.  The Ceylon black tea is chocolate infused, the Masala Chai spices blended with cardamom, ginger, cloves, cinnamon.  I like this with milk and some raw sugar.  I usually take my Chai with cream and sugar and with the cocoa nibs added, I definitely wanted that extra bit.

Now, in addition to Chocolate Chai, I also had Chocolate which is a black tea blended with cocoa nibs, powder, and a chocolate infusion.  This was amazingly delicious and was a grown-up but non-alcoholic version of hot cocoa.  Definitely a big win with me.  I steeped this a little longer than 3 minutes but definitely not more than 5 minutes, most black teas with this kind of infusion do not seem to be forgiving for long steeping.  I drank about half of a cup without milk and sugar and it wasn't a bad taste but I really like cocoa with milk, and it was cold outside so I wanted a cup of hot cocoa (tea).

Made for a nice morning.  YAY!

Draco-duck wanted to sit in the tea cup :)

Chocolate Chai with milk

Quiet Sunday

So today I woke up with a massive migraine and body aches from hell.  We had to go to an Alliance LARP Gettysburg staff meeting in Lancaster, hosted at Kris and Em's house.  I sadly was not in good mental or physical shape, so I wasn't really on point.  I forgot to eat anything and had a bit of water and juice today, so I am sure my meds were not helping the headache or my mood.

Chatted with Alex on the way to Lancaster and the way back, he's in Berlin at present and having a blast.  I am having fun living vicariously through him.  I would love to go to Istanbul and Berlin...wow what an adventure.  Of course if I went to Istanbul I would have to go have properly made tea and coffee, because seriously Turkish tea and coffee is spectacular.  I was even looking through Amazon for some mixes to make proper coffee.  And of course the Turkish tea and coffee sets would be AMAZING!

So we got home tonight and the weather had started to turn crap, my joints started freaking out and my headache and nerve pain decided to ramp up.  So I made myself some nice ITO EN Oolong tea.  This is nice and delicious and I like it a lot.  Thank you again Chris!!

No photos of tea today but here are some fun pics with no reason but they are fun with tea involved.