sTEAp Shoppe

My son had itty bitty little tubes put it in his ears this morning. Not a big deal at all but required him to go under anasthesia. I chose this tea for my hospital day because 1) it’s delicious 2) can be resteeped a bujillion times. I simply threw some in my travel mug that has a strainer and then filled it over and over with the hot water from the pump and dumped it into my little paper cup. Worked perfectly. As did his procedure. Just waiting for the groggy little man to be awake enough for us to head home and eat popsicles all day!

After Azzrian wrote about this tea on a couple occasions, I couldn’t resist ordering it. I love cinnamon swirl bread. Cinnamon raison english muffins, cinnamon toast, any combination of cinnamon and dough really.

The mailman surprised me with the box of teas from sTEAp yesterday and it took all my restraint to not make this last night, but I can’t have any black teas in the evening or I won’t sleep. So once I got the kitchen cleaned up after breakfast (which is always an undertaking) I rewarded myself with this one.

I wasn’t sure how much to put in my cup as it isn’t listed on the package. I emailed their customer service and they responded within minutes, which is impressive in general, but on a Saturday morning is really amazing. I’m glad I asked, too, as they suggested 1TBSP per 16oz mug, not my normal amount.

I got the water boiling and poured it over my leaves. Oh my. It smelled amazing. Luckily, I only had to wait 2 minutes to try it. This tea is not one of those teas that smells great and then tastes mediocre. It smells great and tastes even better. I have no idea how that bread flavor gets in there, but it’s there. Is that the pu her? I’ve only had pu ehr once and really didn’t like it so I’ve never been back. One of these days I’ll try it again.

Anyway, I love this tea. I didn’t add anything to it (becoming a theme lately!) and it tastes just a little sweet on its on. I bet it’d be good with a splash of steamed milk. But right now I’m enjoying it on its own. And I’ve only been through 1 steep so far, 4 or so more to go.

Ahh, rainy saturday, you can’t get me down today!

UPDATE: 2nd steep, absolutely no loss of flavor. I was scared some of the cinnamon would be lost. Nope. I’m in love.

UPDATE: 3rd steep. Still no flavor loss. Crazy. This time I added some raw honey and steamed milk. Now it’s more like a cinnamon roll with gooey frosting. Dude.

UPDATE: 4th steep. Same as #3. I just realized that 4 steeps of 16oz each is 64oz. I’ve had 64oz and I’m already thinking about when I’m going to make this again, even though I have many other new ones to try. I’ve adjusted the rating to 100. It earned it.

Thanks Azzrian

I thought this tasted like a Mint/Gingko Baloba/Licorice combo. It took me a while to realize it also had Gunpowder Green Tea in it! The flavors over power the tea itself and it taste a bit too licorice-y for me upfront but as I continue to drink it – I got used to it a bit more.

This one is alright. A nice pick-me-up and packs a powerful punch of flavor if you like those flavors.

Not my favorite but not too shabby either.

At first I thought I had only one cup of this sample left. Then I could not find it! Panic set in! Then I found it – and there is more than one cup left! WOO HOOO. Enjoying it now. One of the best puerh blends I have had the pleasure of sipping!
Such a lovely treat to cure the sweet tooth!
YUM!
Thanks Janet of sTEAp Shoppe for making killer tea blends!

Full Review coming March 8th on http://sororiteasisters.com/
Here are the snippits:

Janet does it again with her Cinnamon Swirl Bread from sTEAp Shoppe. Her blend of 2008 Loose Puerh and Yunnan Gold Needle Black tea, with just the right mix of cinnamon, cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, and maple crystals make this tea taste like you just toasted up some sweet cinnamon bread!

The aroma that fills your home when you steep it is nothing short of delicious.

Janet really does a great job with her blended teas. She takes great time and care in making sure she has them perfected before putting them up for sale. Her selection has grown slowly but steadily over time and I can say that this blend is masterful. I am not generally a big fan of cinnamon teas, or spicy teas, with the exception of an occasional chai latte, but this Cinnamon Swirl Bread tea is a stash staple.

I really like this tea, it tastes almost like raisinbread or cinnamon rolls very good for breakfast first thing in the morning.
The first steep has the best bold black TEA flavors while the second and third steeps seemed to have less of the bold TEA flavors but they have more of the flavors from other ingredients like the cinnamon and the little berries, I liked the second steep best.

I think it was Azzrian who sent me some of this! Thanks so much! At first I thought it was just a regular darjeeling but it’s FLAVORED! Woot! I really like the vanilla, here. The cardamom is nice, too, it’s NOT over done at all and adds that little bit to rustic spice to it. Very nice!

This tea is very pretty, the name is fitting because the golden tips in the Yunnan black tea are very appealing and with a good imagination the appearance cold be reminiscent of seeing gold flakes shimmering in the dirt.
1st SESSION~ You saw it on video there if ya watched, Probably not as long as suggested but still great. The Tea liquor was very thick and bold enough to probably take milk very well with hints of cocoa and slight spice tone, little bit malty almost reminiscent of a Assam, Very solid black tea, no harsh astringency but the pleasant astringency that I’d expect from a such a bold black tea not bitter at all in fact very smooth and mellow, easy to drink. Would be a perfect morning tea or a great afternoon tea to me in fact I decided I wanted to try it like a with some milk and sugar like I would some breakfast Teas so I postponed this post until Saturday after I’ve tasted it that way. Also I got 3 nice Strong steeps(which were quite consistent to me in taste/flavor), by the 4th steep it was still good but fading a little in flavor enough to not warrant a 5th try.
2ND SESSION~I used 1 and 1/2 Perfect Scoops~from Teavana~ the session I used the same and had 1 scoop extra so I put it in too since I was going to use milk and steep time was as directed(i did not time the first session).
With Milk & Sugar it stood up very well, I was just as I expected it would I knew it would be a great breakfast tea that way.
It became very creamy and much more smooth, it was as if cows were made to give milk to this tea lol. With milk and sugar the cocoa hint kinda changed into a little milk chocolate note it was quite enjoyable also that slight spice which was so slight it was almost unnoticeable really stuck its head out and started swimming in the milk and was now quite noticeable and with that little milk chocolate note it played very well.
Please Veiw my entire blog post on this tea here and check out my photos, Don’t forget to google+ it :) Thanks
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2013/02/FlecksOfGold.html

Out of milk so I picked out a tea I normally drink without milk. I have been using a digital meat thermometer which I think is much more accurate than the old-fashioned dial thermometer. Also using a timer on my cell phone (One of the few features on my cheap $8 tracfone). This tea is much better if you get the temp and time more exact than guessing at it. I am drinking this tea straight, no sugar at all, and am really enjoying it. Either the tea improved as it sat in the tin, my tastebuds have developed in the past 3 months, or the exactness of the brewing. Maybe it’s a combination of all three. Really nice blend of fruit/citrus/berry and tea.

A nice, citrus-tasting tea. Also tastes like cranberries, which I guess is the lingonberries. Slight hints of cardamon. As this tea cools I notice that it tastes fruitier. This cup I only added a touch of sugar to, but I might try it with a little milk later.

This tea almost feels familiar, which is a good thing. Not a bad tea to start the day off with.

Second steeping- about 4 minutes with 200 degree water. The cardamon is more noticeable, the citrus/berry taste is only a little weaker, same for the ceylon tea. How do they make tea this strong? Didn’t add any sugar to this cup. No milk either, on second though I’m not sure if the lingonberry would curdle milk and don’t want to risk it.

This is a strong tea, strong smelling and strong brewing.

I have to admit at first sip I was afraid I would hate this tea. I tried a spoonful right after steeping it, no milk or sugar and it was horrible, absolutely horrible! I added milk and a little sugar and my second sip was a little better. I waited a few minutes before taking another sip and it was really, really good. As the tea sat and cooled a little the cardamon and vanilla must have been doing something together and made the tea a lot smoother and more pleasant to drink.

The second steeping was even better than the first, the cardamon was not weakened and I could feel the spice prickling on my tongue. I had some M&M cookies to dip in the tea and it was amazing.

The tea even stood up to a third steeping. It was starting to get weaker but I think I might have even managed a fourth steeping but it’s getting late and I don’t want the caffeine keeping me up all night.

My Tall Tea Gift Box came today! I’m so excited! Right away I tore open the padded envelope, opened the box and started twisting the lids off the tins (Those are really nice tins too) and sniffing every tea. I decided to try the Caramel Apple first.

I may have put more tea than necessary in my tea strainer, but i hate having a tea being too weak because I didn’t add enough tea. Then I had issues with the thermometer trying to get the water at 205 degrees, I need to get a proper tea thermometer, the one I was using was inaccurate, or water boils at 200 degrees.

While the tea was still hot all I could taste was apple and assam tea. As it cooled I began to taste caramel, slight hint of chocolate. If you drink this tea too fast you’ll miss out.

This tea is fine on its own though a little sugar will not ruin it.

I decided to make this one in the gaiwan short rinse and steep times about 30 to 40 seconds. First infusion was slightly red and earthy and dull as if it could have very well been a second rinse so I tossed it after just a few sips. the second infusion is much darker very bold flavors of earthiness with slightly sweet caramel notes, the earthiness of this one is the familiar earthiness of a wet forest floor that is not a bad thing at all either I really enjoy that. the third steep is much nicer and even more earthy with just slight caramel notes and this time very woodsy, at the fourth infusion is black as sin and it starts to loose that sweetness and caramel notes and really starts to get very bold and strong of just plain earthy goodness this time even more woodsy like the bark of a big ole pine tree, fifth infusion was surprisingly not nearly as dark as the last perhaps the fourth infusion was the peak of this tea it still has it bold earthiness like the last steep but you can tell its starting to fade, I could get one more good steep if I use slightly hotter water with a longer steep time but it would be my last. Had I done a proper rinse on this one the first time and not had to discard the first infusion as a rinse and paid more attention to my steep times I could have gotten about 8 steeps out of this one easy, Better luck next time. This was a very nice puerh I love a puerh that can take me to the forest and this one did it easily.

This one started out with vegetal notes like that of asparagus to me with a pleasant astringency on the first steep the second steep was much less astringent, slightly vegetal with nutty notes of pecans and the third steep was just wonderful smooth with no astringency and nutty notes of buttered pecans. This is one of those samples that I drink up and then think Damn! I wish I had more. This one is listed a Darjeeling Oolong and like I said I don’t know anything about Darjeeling teas but this one tastes like it really wanted to be a Black tea. This one is on my wishlist, I’m going to have to get more of this one because I really want to spend some more time with this very tasty tea. This is the second Darjeeling I’ve had from steapshoppe the first one was really good too, I think I like Darjeeling teas :)

My Try Me sample is all gone. :( Definitely putting this on the to buy list along with some more Smokey Mountain sTEAp and probably a few others.

I still can’t seem to figure out how to describe this but it’s certainly smooth and very delicious.

Wow what a mix of teas and flavors in this one. It’s really very good I’m just afraid I’m going to be absolute crap at reviewing it! There are some lovely honey notes, something a bit toasty, something a bit sweet. I don’t know, it’s just really good!

What a yummy DesserTEA !
Sweet, creamy, cakey.
The cinnamon does not take over. The orange and other citrus come out lovely and are not bitter, the sweetness not over done, even the cocoa nibs are perfectly blended here!
I need to wake up or take a nap either way – when I am more rested will do a review for SororiTEA Sisters.

Hmm… this is really quite tasty. I was skeptical because it is a white tea base, and I usually prefer chocolate-y teas to be with black tea bases, but, this all works together pretty well.

The white tea base has a slight vegetative taste to it, with a creaminess that accents the chocolate and vanilla notes quite well. As a result, the chocolate and vanilla comes through nicely, but I do think that the orange is a little weaker than I would like it to be. The cinnamon is a nice touch.

Overall, a very nice chocolate orange blend. Yummy!

This one is really good tea too, the orange and cinnamon is more dominate at first then gives way to the creamy chocolate, I like to re steep as much as I can and I found that with this one the chocolate comes out more while the orange tones down some in later steeps, then the cinnamon comes back out with the chocolate, it’s a chameleon of a tea meaning its hard to tell what the whole flavor is like because it keeps changing flavors and each cups is a little different from the next to me. I like the fact that this tea changes its flavors notes I find it very interesting also I simply LOVE Chocolate Orange Teas so I will surely be buying more of this soon. If you are expecting your typical Orange Chocolate type flavors from this one it is not for you but if you are seeking a Chocolate Orange Tea like no other you’ve had before that’s sure to become a fave then Maybe this Is the one for You. Do try, I strongly recommend this Tea. I’m not going to lie at first upon tasting this tea I said to myself “needs lot more chocolate” but that was before I realized that it was a chameleon and would deliver the chocolate later, I love chocolate so I was just impatient, this one will give you your chocolate fix and then some. Also I like a flavored tea that can resteep and not loose its flavor some expensive flavored teas use up all their flavors on the first steep and then taste just “funny or fake” afterwards. So far none of the steepshoppe teas have done that to me they always re-steep at least once or more for another cup and many often times the second or third cups are the best, I ‘m really glad I met Janet from steapshoppe, she is a nice good Lady in my opinion who does great work making her teas taste good for us. I will soon have a sTEApshoppe collection as well as a Siam Tee collection in their own little corner of my tea room.
I already have an Upton collection that I need to display, speaking of upton they are one of my fav places for tea BUT unlike sTEAshop they are quite impersonal organization it seems(I never had problem with their customer service and no problems with them or issues contacting them)But it was Never on a personal level at all in any way I never spoken with the owner/operator because they are just such huge company that may not have time to address you personally which I understand But I can speak with Janet herself the owner/operator and I buy from a few other places where I can actually speak to the main person them selves and I enjoy that the most, in fact I’d rather pay even more money for teas to a place where I’m actually talking to the owner or operator of the place rather than get the same tea cheaper from a place that I have no type or customer relations with at all, you are a person and customer to some companies But you can also be just an account and order number to another company. I don’t know about you but I am a person, Janet at sTeashoppe makes me feel like a person and not a oreder number :)
If you’e made it this far i’m cool nothings wrong I just wanted to point out the things I stated above because this is a sTEAshoppe review and for me it is one of those personal favorite with a real person behind it who is very nice to me :) Thanks Janet!
This is a crazy post,I know, I totally just rambled and prattled along but I think I needed to do that a little bit, thanks for reading, I hope you could follow it :)
oh yeah See my photo of this tea here on my blog :) http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/12/chocolate-orange-white-tea-by.html

This Tea is Awesome! Lance told me I could buy me some teas for Christmas and I wanted Chocolate and I had gotten some good chocolate tea samples from sTEApshoppe and they were really good so I decided to try all the “Chocolate” teas she had to offer, We got 2 different Chocolate sampler boxes and some others :) I even got a tea spice, I was really happy when I opened my mail.
This tea is Super good even Lance likes it, it is like Milk Chocolate with a little something extra, the flavors are very deep and delicious wonderful Milk Chocolate taste with hints of caramel and spice, this is a very good tea. If you like chocolate you can get all kinds of good chocolate teas at http://www.steapshoppe.com/gift-boxes.html.
Next up Orange Chocolate White Tea!

Needed a pick me up this morning so mate it is. Grabbed a sample size of this during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale.

It’s not bad, but I’m not sure I’d purchase again. It’s got that lovely yerba mate taste (that I enjoy at least, I know not everyone does) that’s a bit herbaceous. The fruity bits add a nice sweetness, and the rose hips make it a little tangy. Getting to the bottom of my cup I am getting some slight bitterness.
I did brew this two ways, once at 150 degrees and once at 190. I think the 150 works for the mate, but the fruit flavors don’t come out as much. I think the 190 may be a bit much for the mate and may be giving it that slight bitterness.

Tea: Around 1.5-2 tsp
Water: 8 oz
Additives: none
Brewing method: Ingenuitea

Mmm this smells fantastic! The scent is true to it’s name and is straight white chocolate, delicious. It tastes great too, definitely getting some lovely cocoa notes. It really does taste like white chocolate, it’s not super sweet or cloying. Just a lovely nice light sweetness. Very smooth, tasty, really good! This goes on my sTEAp Shoppe shopping list. :)

Tea: 1.5 tsp
Water: 8 oz
Additives: none
Brewing method: Ingenuitea

I’m not a Cyber-toothed -tiger! (Cyber Monday in the U.S.A.!)

I’ve been in my pink polka-dot jammies ‘ALL DAY’ because I don’t feel well. Over these jammies, I’ve wrapped myself in a red plaid shawl …and I have red fuzzy socks on my feet. When My body aches I drink tea, go to sleep…drink tea…come here and ’I’m Thankful’ that ya’ll can’t see me!

I can’t afford all the sales that are out there today, sorry to say. Maybe next year I’ll be ready for them. We’ll see. I still have lots of tea to drink in my cupboard and some samples from sTEAp Shoppe to review!

This little tea had a curious combo of ingredients. I couldn’t imagine the tea taste. Sometimes, I have an idea of what I’m about to taste. The ones I can’t imagine can be a disaster if the ingredients are weird.
None of the ingredients in this tea were unknown to me, just never imagined together in a tea. Especially curious to me was the Lingonberry which is sweet/tarte little seed-like berries mixed with Black Tea.

Brew Time:
I set the brew time as suggested (2 minutes). My later comment to Janet at sTEAp Shoppe was that I liked a little longer steep (2.5 to 3 minutes) and a 3 minute second steep worked well also.

Taste:
I didn’t expect this tea to taste fantastic. Lack of respect on my part. I should know better!

At first, before the fruit flavors developed in the black tea, it tasted like yummy Black Tea with Vanilla.
Then, with a little longer steeping…the Honey flavor developed and a little Lingonberry, which was so light, popped up in the background.

Goodness…this tea was so full of rich, layered flavors that it caught me off guard.

Even though there are Maple Sugar Crystals in the tea, you don’t taste Maple. What you taste is Vanilla Honey woven with a Caramel Trio of Black Tea’s and a subtle hint of Lingonberry (like Jam).

This was like having a European layered pastry. A waffle!

So, good. FYI, BTW …(I sweetened my dessert waffle tea!)