Ginger Sparkle

First time I’ve logged this and actually agreed with the “last drank on” box.

Anyway. I like tea again! Yaaaay! And today is St Patrick’s Day, so I decided to start it off with a green (see what I did there?). Now, it’s a big deal for my family. We go out, get blind drunk by noon, and then sleep it off until six. However, I don’t drink any more (yay medication! boo medication.), but I finagled it so we’re hitting up the pub that has the Mystery Box of Tea. Tea for me all day!

Re: the tea. I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. This tea is simply the best. I do think I oversteeped it, which means the grassy notes from the sencha start to fight back against the tingle of the ginger.

Okay, call me crazy but I was craving koolaid and tea at the same time. So I decided to kill both cravings with one cup, and it worked! I brewed this one up normally (80C for 2.5 min) and made up my lime koolaid at full sweetness. Then I mixed both 50/50 in my cup. And wow is it delightful!

The base taste is the koolaid, but there is a tea note to it, and the afternote is pure sparkle. Yes reader, the sparkle remains! Definitely going to be enjoying the rest of this “pot” I made!

First steep of this, I was not impressed. It was WAY to gingery for me and lacking in the fizz. but… the second steep, was pretty darn great!!! Just the right amount of ginger, not too much agave, and a little pop for the fizziness. Wow. If I can get the first steep like that, I might actually buy more of this one. Which surprises me given that I generally dislike ginger. and greens.
Next time, I must remember to give this a little wash before the real infusion and see if that helps. and iced, I need to do this baby iced!!
So… I’m grading this based on my second cup here. It feels a little wasteful but then I have so much tea I can’t really judge!!

Interesting! I was so scared of this one, but it’s not abrasive like I expected from the scent. It’s actually quite sweet, and the citrus balances out the ginger really well. Actually, it didn’t taste like a ginger tea to me. I could taste ginger, but not GINGER. Tasty! I can see why De likes it so!

I had entertained trying this tea before, but I wrote it off as just another generic ginger tea. But when I came across this one in my Tealish sampler, it was love at first sniff. The dry leaves remind me of Jelly Babies. (Which happen to be my favourite British sweet)

The flavour of this tea is soft and whimsical, which I’m finding is true of many Tealish teas. It’s pleasantly gingery, but without being too strong, and somewhat sweet and citrusy.

If I keep having success with Tealish teas, I’m going to have to take a trip to their store in Toronto…
(Though it does bother me when tea companies recommend people use boiling water, even on delicate green tea leaves)

This is my wife’s all time favorite tea, and I’ve curious about doing a second kombucha ferment with tea, so this is my first step down that road. I brewed it strong and added sugar before mixing it with my kombucha and letting it sit on the counter for three days. After the third day I stuck it in the fridge to cool and today I tried a sip while I was pouring it for the wifey. It wasn’t bad at all! I think she’ll really like it. It got just as fizzy as the other brews and I would call it a rousing success!