Dragon's Fire (Formerly Smaug)

14/05/2013
it’s like when you love a song so much that you wanna play it for the world to hear!
i wanna play this tea for the world to hear.

today i’m buying more.

09/01/2013
seriously!
this tea is ONE of a KIND!
Lapsang, Candy Cane Tea, and Ginger Tea?!?! all in one cup.
i still laugh when i read the ingredients, but it is really an amazing cup. not upsetting in the least. but it is quite feisty. and precarious. the lapsang is big on the nose, but really it’s the ginger that carries the whole cup. a little cinnamon pinch on the cheek & marigold flowers to pat you on the head.
smaug is a complex and quite lovable dragon.

19/01/2013
smaug you are one crazy tea dragon and we will be friends forevah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

25/01/2013
obviously i am the only one drinking this tea.

i never give teas actual ratings because it’s seems arbitrary to me. i mean it uses so many people and so many diverse opinions and tastes and they all end up in the same 15 point range that i don’t see how it’s very helpful. but whatevs. i’m not complaining, just explaining why i don’t really rate stuff.

BUT I’M GONNA GIVE THIS ONE 100 BOOM cuz everyone needs to try it at least once.

from the website:
1. lapsang souchong – famously smoky aroma and flavor. clean and slightly cool smokiness in the aroma, like menthol. Sweet, refreshing smoky flavor, crisp and edgy.

2. candy cane – Premium black tea from Sri Lanka flavored with minty candy canes.

3. ginger – Fresh, warming heat of ginger with the rich tang of Ceylon black tea.

GROWL!

sipdown! (234) OH my dear shmiracles I’m so sorry that i can’t get on board with this tea. i do love lapsang…but opening this i was blasted by an all too familiar smell from my childhood – vick’s vaporub. I thought for sure i was off my rocker and imagining things. So i brewed it up. While there is a smokey undertone to the scent upon brewing it, it still smells like vick’s. My first hesitant sip… yup! this tastes like i imagine liquid vick’s vapo rub would taste like. I let it cool a bit to see if that would help to let the smokiness come to the forefront…it did but now all i can think of is vick’s. bah! Oh well, at least it’s another one i can cross off my list. lol

In a last ditch effort to clear out small quantities, & a get my count down by the ‘end of the the month’, I came across this one. I’ve had this for awhile, since TTB-A made it’s first round last spring!

It’s actually not bad, although I’d prefer it without the mintiness.
Sipdown!

This sample came from shmiracles, and in all honesty — I might have been putting this one off because the combination of ingredients terrifies me. Lapsang and I have a rocky relationship. One where I drink it and it hits me with a flaming campfire log and laughs. But thank you shmiracles for sharing your most coveted tea treasure. Even if it terrifies me.

I was worried this was going to be a big old cup of NOPE, but I’m surprised that I don’t outright hate it. The Lapsang isn’t quite as potent as I feared (it’s only a kindling thwap instead of the full log) and the rest of the cup is just weird. The peppermint in there leaves my mouth tingling and the Lapsang leaves my mouth tasting like I just burped smoke.

Yes. I am the mighty Smaug.

It also inspired me to toss this together:
http://i.imgur.com/wcr3te3.gif

I have a dog who’s name is Riley but we sometimes call him Schmog – which, when said outloud, is much like Smaug. So everytime I see or hear this about the Hobbit Series I giggle. I had to try this! It’s VERY unique. It has a strong Caravan or Lapsang souchoung type flavor upfront followed by a mint or candy cane whaff to it. At times I can taste something reminiscent to Cotton Candy and other times something near a cough drop. Perhaps even a watermelon type hint. This is one bizarre flavored tea but I think that is why I kind of like it. It also fits my dogs personality so it continues with the theme as to why I had to try it.

Thank you so much Shmiracles for sharing such a coveted tea treasure; the only tea that you deemed worthy of a rating. It must have been hard to part with! haha.

So I have to start with a bit of backstory: About a week ago, my father was grilling bbq chicken and he used some fancy smoke-flavor thing that my brother had given him as a gift some time ago. I took one bite of this chicken and complained immediately that it tasted like a chimney and that I was pretty sure I was exhaling chimney smoke from my nose for half an hour after eating it. But my father loves smokey flavors, so all the better for him. What he doesn’t like are most of the teas I bring for him to sample. “tastes like seaweed!” … “that tastes like seaweed too” … “too weak” … “too boring” … “SEAWEED!!!”

I had never tried Lapsang Souchong nor any blends made with it, but I read plenty about it’s smokiness and told my father that I will have to get him some. It’s not a tea I ever would have considered getting for myself as I knew it wouldn’t suit me.

So fortunate it was that I happened to get a Lapsang blend in a swap. I opened the bag, smelled it and thought “yep, this has Papa written all over it!” I took it over to my parents house this evening and told my father that I found the tea for him. And guess what? No surprise, he LOVED it. He even asked if there was more before he finished the cup that I gave him. I also poured small sample cups for my mother, little sister, and myself (because I can’t officially say that I don’t like it unless I try it). It was one awful smelly cup of blech to me and my mother wasn’t too tickled either. As for my little sister, her story is special too. She’s been sampling several teas that I bring over there and not once ever has she not liked one. Every tea is equally good in her book and I was determined to find something she didn’t like. Finally did. She didn’t even finish her sample, but gave it to Papa.

Dude. This is definitely one of the older teas I have and I’m very VERY happy that it’s a sipdown!
I love my Hobbit blends, but I’ve had them for a smidge too long so I definitely need to drink them all :)

I used to hate Smaug? I never really got used to the smokiness of the lapsang, but I’ve had other straight lapsangs, and fandom blends with lapsang in it so I’ve grown to love it :) I’m with shmiracles on this one! Lapsang, Ginger and Candy Cane!? Definitely a funny blend, but one that works for such a beautiful dragon :)
Sweet and smoky and bright and just a nice beautiful and unique cup. Probably won’t be purchasing again, but I’ve definitely enjoyed my time with this gorgeous beast :)

Sipdown! And… disappointed. I drank this last Friday, but have literally zero memory of it, since I was at work. I have to assume that it was generally unremarkable because of that – I don’t really know what I was expecting (heat?)

Thanks (indirectly) to Jump62359 for the sample!

ETA: Wait!! Now I see it had lapsang, and I definitely remember at least steeping it – it was quite potent. The lapsang mustn’t have been too potent, as I drank it straight – so probably a decent tea. Wish I could time travel and think a bit more while sipping.

This was a sample sent to me by Shmiracles. I usually try to stay away from lapsang blends but this one had a different aroma to it. It pulled me in. The flavor is so much more than smoky lapsang. It’s tingly and slightly spicy. The peppermint and ginger/cinnamon make the lapsang a little less overwhelming. It’s a delicious blend and would make a nice winter time tea!

TTTTB

With a name like Smaug this tea was far too tempting…I decided I had to have a cup as a companion for my first set of physics problems. The ingredients were a bit strange, to say the least, but I had high hopes.

And this is a very odd tea. It’s richly smoky – like standing near a campfire – and there’s an underlying spice and sweetness…it tastes rather like kissing a dragon would, if one were into such things.

It also tastes remarkably like my tin of Huber’s Shoe Grease smells – a little of smoke and an almost maple syrup note – and lingers on my tongue in a very strange manner.

I think I’m enjoying it enough to finish the cup, but not enough to make another one. Into the swap bin it goes, I’m afraid.