Majestic King (Formerly Thorin)

oh thorin, all of your bravado, greed, and loud warrior spirit still can’t mask your warm and oversized heart. no matter how hard you try.

i bought this because i love thorin and the hobbit and also i’m on a puerh kick. so i felt like they made this tea just for me. or that basically i love thorin because he is like puerh?

also if you were paying attention you will know that i already love Richard Armitage. (http://steepster.com/shmiracles/posts/149839) and if you don’t love him after watching North and South then i can’t help you. oh swoon.

so analysis shows that in fandom blends
armitage is to puerh (guy, thorin),
as cumberbatch is to lapsang (sherlock, smaug),
as freeman is to irish breakfast (bilbo, watson)

this tea may be a blend of 3 teas but really it is a puerh with other hints thrown in. the puerh is the star of this tea show. it is soft and earthy and full of body. wet, earthy body. (hubba hubba)
the puerh dante tea is described on the site as “a clean, damp forest aroma, dried mushrooms, leather and earth. Some sweetness of figs or dates and a slight creamy flavor. Mellow and grounding.”
…. thank you universe, for always putting Armitage in leather.

grounding. such a beautiful and accurate word. for both thorin and this tea.

assam melody adds some pungence and maltiness and astringency to the cup. (if you wanna go there you can think “dwarf sweat”) agitation and short tempers. an edginess that is palpable.

the ginger and cinnamon and orange peel from the gingerbread tea is faint. it’s mostly overpowered by it’s company. but it’s absence would be immediately missed. it ads a touch of added warmth and sensitivity.
and like thorin’s bright blue eyes, when the orange peel pops out i pay attention.

and then lastly, the cocoa nibs add a small layer of darkness. deep and brooding. so subtle, but it is there. like the weight of thorin’s responsibility, and the difficult memories he still carries, that never seem to give him true rest. (until perhaps sometimes when bilbo the zen master is there.)

The first of many adagio teas that Terriharplady was kind enough to send my way. I had terrible luck the first few times i tried adagio teas, which soured me against them. Since terri had a bunch in her cupboard i asked if she’d be kind enough to send me some in case there were SOME adagio blends out there that were nice enough for them to redeem themselves.

This one? It tastes pretty bland. I suspect i could have brewed it for a bit longer but i’m always wary of getting that bitter taste from adagio blacks. If i concentrate i can taste the puerh and the chocolate notes. But over all, it’s a fairly lackluster tea. Once again, happy to have the chance to try so many teas :)

Drew made a pot of this while we made breakfast & I drank a cup.
We made Paleo pancakes, coconut milk whipped cream, & berries.
This has been finals week for both of my sons, & they both had today off, so a fancy breakfast together was in order!
Honestly, I haven’t really been a fan of this blend. I’ve tried it plain, I’ve tried it sweet. Although I like the idea of it, & the ingredients all sound like they’d work, it’s not for me.
There is enough to make one more small pot, & I’ll probably try it that one more time, & then it will be gone.

I sum this one up best as a burley man tea. It’s definitely reminiscent of Thorin, but not the tea for me. Thanks anyway Shmiracles!

The pu’erh in this one scared me so with that in mind and given the flavors, I decided to have it over milk. That may or may not have been a bad choice because the milk is giving this a thickness that is leaving me very confused. At first, I was really put off because the drink that hit my tongue was so thick that it seemed like I was drinking pudding except slightly mushroomy pudding because that is what I was anticipating from the pu’erh. However, I think I might have been so put off because I was expecting to be put off because as I continue to drink, I am getting the flavor of gingerbread more and more. Still that hint of the base lingers and that is enough to make me not want this again. I am grateful to my tea twin, Roswell Strange, for the share though as it is always fun to try new things. 166.

Ok, this one must have gotten blasted with the Febreze during Tre’s cleaning rampage because surely it can’t be this disgusting all on its own.

Firstly; I can see how the Chai comes into play here – but it’s not even the spices in this that are grossing me out. It just tastes oily and dirty. Not “earthy” – but dirty. Like someone dropped food on the kitchen floor and then waited like ten minutes before picking it up – only to discover it’s now coated in lint/dust and little bits and chunks of spoiled food. Like, one of the things that came to mind to describe this was “sour milk” – but I didn’t even add a touch of milk to this nor are there really any dairyesque things in this blend to begin with.

I seriously don’t remember it being this bad cold brewed. I mean, I don’t remember loving it – but I’m pretty sure it was drinkable…

EDIT: I just went back and read my cold brew tasting note; apparently it was worse than I remember it being. I used the word “slimey” to describe it, and that seems like an apt description here as well. So maybe it’s not Febreze – and I’m just not a fan of this one in the slightest.