Because you can't open a new shipment of tea without cats.
Apparently.
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I should warn you that since you haven't had to put up with a lengthy post about tea for a while, I'm not going to have much sympathy if you get bored. My place, after all, and I feel like talking tea. Especially since there hasn't been any new tea since Christmas. As I said a while back, I was sort of surprised about how empty my various canisters were getting. It's the problem with using canisters at all, I suppose. It's much better for the tea to have it away from sunlight, but you don't really have a handle on how much you actually have at any given moment. Ah well. It's not a problem for a while now. Shall we begin?
First, the reorders. Quangzhou Milk Oolong is rapidly challenging Darjeeling for the spot of favourite general tea in my life, and that's saying something. It's so very smooth, though. When I saw that I was nearly out it was no question that there was going to need to be more.
Then, Saigon Chai. This one's a nice, basic chai with no black pepper. Yeah, I know that lots of people like chai with black pepper, but I guess that I'm a little hypersensitive to it. Not that I dislike black pepper in cooking; it just doesn't turn me on in tea.
Now, the new-to-me. To get my chocolate fix I decided to give Coco Canela a try. I'll fill you in when I try it. Oh, and if anyone's wondering about all of these stimulant teas... well, that's what I was out of. I guess you can tell that I do a lot of my tea drinking in the morning at work. Yes, I'll often make a non-caffeinated tea after supper, especially in the winter, but my supply of them is still in decent shape.
That's it for the specific teas that I wanted. After that I headed to the sale section and picked up a small tin of Cocomint Cream, which I won't link to since the sale link will probably die soon. It was one of the teas in my Christmas gift and I was sure that I wouldn't like it. Apple, coconut, blackberry leaves, peppermint, and spearmint? Coconut and mint? Ew. Or not, actually. It's kind of surprising.
I also got their Take Me To India set, which consists of Assam Banaspaty, Organic Pure Chai, and my old friend Second Flush Darjeeling. Still my all-time favourite. For anyone who's not had a Darjeeling, a first flush will be much like a green tea (and usually too expensive). I personally like second flush. If I want green tea I'll buy green tea.
Lastly (ah, quit yer whining. I'm almost finished), they always send along three samples with a shipment, and here's where I can give you a couple of reviews. Last night I tried Lime Gelato. Yep, I did. Oh, it was ok -- it tasted like lime-flavoured green tea, really. And I like lime, but maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it in tea. I dunno. A perfectly passable tea, but not a buy for Yours Steepingly.
This morning's sample was Buddha's Blend, which is white tea based and apparently a Fan Fave. Now, I have a basic problem with so-called white tea. They'll tell you that it's delicate blah blah blah but what they really mean is that it has no flavour, and that they charge you a lot for it. Having said that, this was an enjoyable tea. No surprise, really; the ingredients are white tea, GREEN tea, jasmine pearls, hibiscus blossoms, and flavourings. See how much help white tea needs to taste like anything? It's a good blend, though, and I might consider it sometime.
The last sample made me laugh. It's Coco Chai Rooibos, and it's the tea that got me started with this particular company. My sister-in-law brought me some, no doubt after she'd read my complaints about Teavana (have I mentioned how little I like Teavana?) for the umpteenth time.
I think she created a monster.
I'm surprisingly ok with that.
Lunch time now. You've had plenty of words out of me today anyway.
Even if they were about tea.
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