I want to take time to say a very special thank you to the companies who helped me discover tea in a new way by allowing me to try their teas and for the communications we had.  Many of those companies have become ones that I drink from often and constantly recommend to others.  Without their generosity I would not have been able to explore the world of teas as much as I did.

I think that one of the most important things I have learned in my tea journey is that drinking and tasting teas invoke feelings or thoughts and is not just about taste.  Often those things are hard to put into writing.  So many times I drank a tea and could come up with no way of describing what I was experiencing.  Perhaps because I am just not skilled enough with written words or maybe those feeling weren’t meant to be told but instead experienced.

I wish that time and my life had allowed me to document every moment of every tea I drank and continue to do so for a long time but life is taking me on a different path.  I will still be around drinking as much tea as I can each day, so feel free to drop me a line!  I hope that all of you will continue to enjoy tea.  Experience tea.  Share tea.  And make tea a part of your life everyday.

I wanted to give you a quick update on where things stand in my life and where things are going here on the blog.  In October of last year, I got married!  So you may notice that my name is now Jenn Broda.  The time has absolutely flown by since then.  Working, going back for a master degree and learning how to live with another person imposing on my time has kept me quite busy!  Tea is still a huge part of my daily life and I cannot imagine what each day would be like without the enormous amount I drink.  I do feel awful that I have not been documenting that here.  And so, I want you all to know that I am contemplating where to go with this blog from here.   I will admit that I feel a little out of the loop in the tea world since I have not been keeping up with tea news for a while now and my life is quite full of many hobbies/loves.  One of those in particular I am connected to in a way that makes it the only thing I want to do in my spare time!  But I often think about how much I miss writing here and how much I gained in my tea journey as I did so, yet my life seems to be taking me in different directions.

With that said, I would like to share a quick tea story with you as well as pictures of the wedding and then I shall wrap this post up.  My husband and I just returned from our belated honeymoon to Alaska.  I had sadly left my selection of tea at home (one always forgets something) and was without tea the entire trip because I refused to drink the crummy tea bags offered to me.  Not saying all tea bags are crummy.  These were, I tried them.  But all was made right the last day of our trip which was spent in downtown Seattle.  We had lots of tea as I insisted we stop in every tea shop we came upon.  There was no agenda that day, we simply explored.  We discovered a lovely Chinese tea shop and the sweet owner, whose husband did not speak a word of English and was enjoying tea with some friends, made us Ali Shan as well as another, higher elevation Oolong and two Yunnans.  My husband and his father (who spent the day with us) were a little leery when I pulled them into the shop for the tasting.  They figured I would look around, buy what I wanted and then leave but instead we spent over an hour drinking tea and having a great time!  The owner even offered to order an Yixing pot from their supplier when I admired one that wasn’t for sale and I hated to tell her that I wouldn’t be around to pick it up since I was returning home the next day.  I think my favorite part of the time we spent drinking tea that day was watching my husband and father-in-law experience teas in a way that they never have.  Watching people react to and enjoy tea brings me great pleasure.

And now to finish off this post I will leave you with a few pictures from my wedding.  Our lovely photographer agreed to let me use a few of the photos and if you would like to see more of her work from the wedding or the other amazing things she documents with her camera, you can visit her blog here.

That does it for now folks.  As I give more thought to where to go with this site and make a decision I shall drink lots and lots of tea!  As if I didn’t do that already…

Company: Tea Forté

Type: Herbal

Cost: $48 for 48 pyramid infusers or $15 for 35 serving canister

Since I am out of town on vacation this week I thought it would be the right time to post this tea which I have already reviewed over on Teaviews.  I actually really, really like this herbal tisane but if you would like to read the whole review click the link below:

Raspberry Nectar Review

Company: Tea Forté

Type: Green

Cost: $24 for 20 infusers, $15 for 35 serving canister

Tea Notes:

• Steeped in water that was 175 degrees for 3 minutes.
• Dry tea leaves in the infuser are a nice size.  They do not appear to be severly broken.
• Aroma of liquor is obviously jasmine.
• Taste is too strong and perfume-like.

Thoughts:

I love jasmine teas as long as they are done right.  Their soft sweetness and floral qualities reminds me of pure elegance.  I was really hoping that Tea Forté’s Jasmine Green would be a wonderful treat but I was a little disappointed.  This jasmine green is very, very strong and has an odd soap taste that is quite unpleasant.  I could not taste any green tea so I cannot comment on that.  However, I didn’t detect any bitterness so I am going to assume the green tea they used wasn’t of a bad quality.  I prefer my jasmine teas to be a little bit more delicate and subtle but this one overpowered my senses.  Now that I think about it, my over all preference for teas leans towards the more gentle teas and I don’t like anything too strong.  I am starting to feel bad that every tea I try from the tea chest is falling very short of my expectations and my tastes.  I know that there must be some gems in there, I just keep picking ones that I end up not liking!

The product(s) included in this post were sent to me to be considered for review by the company mentioned or by a PR agency that represents them.

Water is another issue as we don’t have filtered water where I work so I bring in several water bottles that I refill at home each morning.  Part of my morning routine also includes picking out tea for the day.  Sometimes this causes me to be slightly late as I contemplate tea choices, but we won’t get into that.  All this enables me to make tea throughout the day at my own little tea station much to the amusement of my students.  I can’t imagine having to go all day without several cups of tea and so my setup fits with my work routine.  And despite the fact that I use tea filters and infusers, I enjoy my tea times during the day and I don’t think the taste suffers too much.  I would rather have tea all day long in slightly less than perfect brewing conditions than none at all.

Here is a picture of my tea station.  Not the most beautiful or serene place in the world, but it gets the job done.  How do you enjoy tea at work?

Company: Tea Forté

Type: Oolong

Cost: $48 for 48 infusers or $12 for 35 serving canister

Tea Notes:

• Pyramid infuser has a very strong perfume smell.  I think it is from the paper wrapping.
• Steeped for 3 minutes in water that was just under boiling.
• Taste was roasted and woody.  Slightly drying in the back of the mouth.  None of the perfume smell came out in the taste thank goodness.

Thoughts:

I am still very new to the world of Oolong teas.  They truly intrigue me but I always feel nervous trying them because of their unique and special characters.  I guess I am afraid I won’t be able to pick up on their subtle qualities.  I know, it is a silly thing.  What can I say.  But I shall push myself to new adventures and get over my weird hang-ups in the tea world.  This tea reminds me of some Wuyi Oolongs that I have in my tea cupboard.  It is roasty and a little bit woody with no sign of anything floral.  There was a slight drying effect in the back of the mouth and I noticed that as it cooled off it got this very odd brown bag taste.  Not that I know what brown bags taste like, but I can use my imagination.  I don’t think this tea is horrible and as long as it stays warm it is actually quite nice.  I had a cup while I was making dinner so I have a feeling it cooled off more than I prefer while I was running around the kitchen.  Again, not bad but not something I would keep around since I already have teas that taste quite similar.

The product(s) included in this post were sent to me to be considered for review by the company mentioned or by a PR agency that represents them.

Company: Tea Forté

Type: Black, Chai

Cost: $24 for 20 pyramid infusers, $15 for 35 serving canister

Tea Notes:

• Steeped in boiling water for 4 minutes.
• Aroma is a typical chai but not overly strong.
• Taste was incredibly strong by itself but mellowed out with soy milk and agave added (see below).

Thoughts:

I do not make chai often.  It seems like more hassle than it is worth to me to steep the tea, add milk and sugar and make sure all the proportions are right.  I would much rather just make a cup of tea and drink it without adding anything to it.  However, since this week I wrote about spicy teas I figured it was a good time to try Tea Forté’s Bombay Chai.  At first, I thought this tea was not going to be strong what-so-ever.  I had to stick the infuser right up to my nose to smell anything and ended up with a nose-full of cinnamon.  I recommend you avoid doing that.  After steeping the tea I took my first couple of sips without anything added to it just in case this was a chai that didn’t need anything additional.  It is not.  This tea demands something in it to round it off.  It has a very, very strong chai taste that is not very pleasing.  So out came vanilla soy milk and agave nectar to join the chai in my cup.  I rarely use regular milk for reasons I’m sure you don’t want to read about, so I substitute with soy milk.  Once I added the two ingredients mentioned only moments ago the chai came alive.  It was sweet and tasty though still a little heavy on the clove taste in my opinion.  Not bad at all and was quite happy to have an enjoyable cup!  While not the best chai I have had, this is definitely drinkable and has an overall nice chai quality.

The product(s) included in this post were sent to me to be considered for review by the company mentioned or by a PR agency that represents them.

Company: Harney and Sons

Type: Flavored Black, loose

Cost: $6.50 for 4oz tin

Tea Notes:

• Dry leaves are covered with cinnamon powder and omit a strong but heavenly aroma of sweet cinnamon.
• This was steeped in boiling water for 3 minutes.
• Taste is sweet and the cinnamon is obvious.  The black tea neither sits in the background or overpowers.

Thoughts:

This week I am featuring some spicy teas that are wonderful for the colder months but would be nice any time of the year as well!

I love cinnamon.  Honestly, the more cinnamon something has, the better it is to me.  I can eat atomic fireballs one right after another and never tire of the tingle they give my mouth.  When I picked up a little sample of this tea from Harney and Sons and gave it a sniffy sniff, I knew it was going to be love at first sip.  Hot Cinnamon Spice has a base of black tea with cinnamon, orange, and cloves mixed it.  This is quite a bold flavored tea that is sweet and spicy at the same time.  I don’t find this tea as strong as an atomic fireball but it has the same type of flavor minus the fire.  The Harney and Sons website says that this tea “sets off miniature fireworks on the tongue” and I totally agree.

This flavored black tea is right up there on my list of favorites.  The small amount of my sample is going to quickly be replaced with a much larger quanity because I love it that much.  I think it will also make a wonderful iced treat for the summer months.  Of course some people may think cinnamon isn’t something you want to have in the summer, but as a cinnamon fiend I don’t think there is ever a wrong time to drink or enjoy cinnamon treats.  If you, like myself, enjoy the incredible power of cinnamon then you will be pleased with this tea.

The product(s) included in this post were purchased by myself or sent as a free sample along with a purchase.

Company: New Mexico Tea Company

Type: Flavored Black, loose

Cost: $9.60 for 4oz

Tea Notes:

• Dry tea is a beautiful mix of tea, orange peels, cinnamon and rose petals with a subtle spicy aroma.
• Steeped in boiling water for 4 minutes.
• Aroma of steeped tea is similar to dry aroma but with a hint of fruit and flowers.
• Taste includes cinnamon with an interesting mix of rose and citrus.

Tea Thoughts:
This week I am featuring some spicy teas that are wonderful for the colder months but would be nice any time of the year as well!

Before I talk about the tea I want to clarify what I mean when I say ‘spicy’.  Coming from New Mexico I normally view the term spicy as meaning hot.  I eat a lot of hot foods, which includes the wonderful and amazing green chile, but when I’m talking about spicy tea I am referring to the spicy qualities of a chai.  That said, Sandia Spice is not a chai but can still be put in the spicy tea category because of the cinnamon.  However, this is unlike any cinnamon tea I have had.  There are apple pieces, orange peel, almonds, and rose petals in addition to the cinnamon bits.  All of those ingredients mesh together with the black tea to produce a truly unique taste.

I found myself spending a lot of time with this tea trying to figure it out.  After a whole pot of it this weekend I finally had to decide to just drink and enjoy it rather than pick it apart or analyze it.  The cinnamon is obvious in the taste but there is an orange taste as well as a rose taste that peek out every so often underneath the black tea and cinnamon.  It seemed like every sip tasted different and special.  I happen to love teas that have a cinnamon punch to them, but this one is softer than other cinnamon teas and has such unique qualities that I can’t imagine anyone being turned off or afraid of the cinnamon in it.  If overly spicy teas aren’t your thing, you might give this one a try.

The product(s) included in this post were purchased by myself or sent as a free sample along with a purchase.