Rosie Earl Grey and Cardamom Black Reviews- Teas from New Mexico Tea Company.

I went ahead and tried both the Rosie Earl Grey and the Cardamom Black last night, and I thought I would share my views of both.

Rosie Earl Grey

There was about a tablespoon of tea in the sample of the rosie earl grey, Just enough for my rooster tea pot. ( yes that is a davids tea perfect mug infuser, I like using it in this teapot, because it is exactly the right size.)

I went with 208 F water, and a 3 minute steep. I have such an aversion to earl grey, just because of a bad experience with it being too strong, and it making me ill, that I wanted it to be fairly moderate in strength. The pot made 2 rooster mugs and a small mug much like this, only a darker shade of brown.,

I had husband and mom-in-law try it as well, because they usually like earl greys, so I had to put their opinions as well, since they are different from my own.

This may become something I buy to drink regularly

The opinions are as follows-

Me: Has enough rose to not make me violently ill from the mental association I have with straight bergamot flavored earl greys. Nice and floral, with a citrusy finish, not overly malty, I believe because of the Qimen base. 6/10

Husband: Alright, but since having eaten something spicy just before drinking it, it was too subtle for me to be able to taste as well as if I had drunk it at a different time. Tastes decent though. 4/10

Mom-in-Law: I like Earl Grey and this is a nice variation. The rose isn't overpowering, and since I dislike floral flavors, this is a good thing. It has enough bergamot to keep me drinking it, and enough rose to make it different from regular Earl Grey. 5/10

Cardamom Black

I put a tablespoon of this tea into the infuser, and brewed it at 208 for 4 minutes. This one I drank on my own.

I snuck a couple of little shards of frozen ginger into my mug after tasting a bit with a spoon, It is good plain, but I think with a touch of ginger it just got elevated.

This tea tastes like how a warm hug from a favorite aunt feels. So calming, so soothing, and it just made me smile. I can not find good words to describe the warmth that this tea gave me. It was more than just the comfort of a hot drink on a cold rainy day, it was sunshine and rainbows. It is simply a very good tea, and well executed. 8/10

Mini Haul of Flavored Teas from Purveyor New Mexico Tea Company, with first "scent-pressions"

Yay! A treat from husband for being a good kitty-kat! (I know, I am strange)

I had not ordered any teas from New Mexico Tea Company for the past two years, and I had not bought ANY flavored teas since before christmas (and I didn't even buy the one flavored tea I got after that time, it was from my mom). I do usually prefer "plain" teas, but sometimes I just want a flavored tea.

I went with mostly 1 oz pouches, I find that to be a good "starting size" for teas, they are easier to store, and much easier to finish.

I HAVE NOT STEEPED ANY OF THESE TEAS YET.
These are just my first impressions of scent.

Below is the entire haul- including the requested free sample.

• Russian Caravan, this one is weird for me, because I am EXTREMELY scared of smoked teas in general, but this one was not as scary seeming, so risked the $2.00 and bought a single ounce. It does not smell near as scary as I thought it would. To me, it smells exactly like smoldering mesquite wood chips after you let the barbeque burn out.

• Black Jasmine Cream is more my style, You all know how I love the Sunflower brand jasmine tea in the friendly yellow tin. This takes it to me, to the next level. It has a vanilla-cream black tea with green tea and jasmine flowers. It smells like my gramma's perfume, sweet and floral with that creamy vanilla coming after, it is a very soothing scent.

•  French Blend, another jasmine and vanilla blend, this time with the inclusion of lavender and rose. This smells like a garden. The musky floral lavender with the smoldery rose, light playful jasmine, Ooh-la-la indeed.

• Essential Lemon is just that, lemon balm, verbena and grass mixed with peppermint, spearmint, and a little hibiscus. I LOVED lemon zinger from celestial seasonings, back in the early-mid 1990s.  Then they must have changed the formula on me, because it just doesn't taste right any more. This smells how lemon zinger used to taste. I hope the flavor lives up to the scent.

• Wild Blackberry is really for husband. He loves everything blackberry, and I thought he might like this one. The smell is like a fresh out of the oven cobbler, with LOTS of fruit, very little goo, and a crispy, golden, pastry top.

• I very rarely get rooibos, I like it, but it's hard to find it in flavors I like well enough to keep on hand. Bourbon Street Vanilla may change that. It has almond slices and it smells like REAL vanilla. I am PICKY about vanilla teas, even "Natural" flavors can sometimes be vanillin, which is made from WOOD PULP. Natural, yes, appetizing, absolutely not. Taste will tell,  and I am hoping this sports real vanilla and not imitation.

• Ginger Cinnamon, how much you smell like winter time, I hope I don't run out of you too fast. I plan to use you in a tea down on the list to make a clove-less masala chai.

• Coconut Black, how well you smell like a certain chocolate covered coconut confection. I hope you taste as good as it does.

• African Summer smells just like orange, lemongrass, and rosehips. I'm hoping the honeybush will be more pronounced in brewing, but if not, I am seeing this as more of a Sicky-Icky day tea

• Vintage Earl Grey, I did not expect to "connect" with the scent of this tea like I did. It must be the rosemary, because my mom has rosemary plants all over her property, and they bloom mid summer, and they get very fragrant at that time.

•  ok, y'all should know by now that I love oolongs. I haven't met one I don't like yet. Yet again, I have never had a flavored one, other than a random ginseng oolong I got as a sample. Orange Blossom smells like a Florida orange grove, mid spring, when the blooming starts. This is one of the four teas I bought more than an ounce of.  Just two ounces total, but still, that's a gamble on something I was not sure of,

• Yes, I do this one homemade all the time with fresh ginger, but a little convenience NEVER hurt anybody. Curiously this Ginger Green is made with chinese sencha, which is kinda interesting.

•  Black Currant, oh how I love the bagged version from Twinings. I hope this is as good as that one, if not, I'd have to go down in quality to get the flavor I want, luckily it smells good enough that my fears are very minimal.

• Cardamom Black, this may be my holy grail morning tea. I DREAM about swimming in oceans of cardamom infused teas. And this is the ONLY one I have found from a vendor I know that has one that doesn't contain any other things. I HATE CLOVES. This, with the ginger/cinnamon allows me to make chai that does not have it. all I would have to do is toss in a few mint leaves from my mint plant while it boils. It smells like spicy exotic perfume, or the spice aisle in an indian market. MINE, NO TOUCHY!!

• And here is my requested free sample, which, I am probably going to make  today, there looks to be enough for one go in my rooster teapot, which is perfect for husband and I, because it fits two matching mugs perfectly. It smells like earl grey and roses, there isn't much to really elaborate on here, I picked it because along with the other 'Grey' blends, I am trying to get over a bad experience I had with badly done starbucks tazo earl grey.

My husband purchased these for me as a gift. They were not provided by anyone outside my family, and I have no affiliation with New Mexico Tea Company.

Why the hiatus, I'll tell you

I'm sorry for not posting in over a week, but life has gotten in the way. 

My husband had to have neurosurgery done on his spine due to a herniation of a lumbar disk on February 12th. 

If you know anyone who has had that kind of spinal surgery, you know that the surgery is only the beginning of a long healing process. 

He has been, for the most part, totally helpless due to the surgical pain. 

The medicines for post surgery pain only help so much.

I ask you to keep him in your thoughts, and be patient with me, as I try to get him back in order. 

He is the most important person in my life, and he has to come first, as such, posts will be brief, and probably sparse over the next 6-8 weeks.

How to Gong Fu for one, Featuring the Enigmatic Mystery Shou!

Meet the mystery Shou.

I found him ( I think of this one as male, he's very earthy), at my "local-ish" asian market, when I realised that they no longer carry my go to oolong. So sad. BUT- I found this baby for 9.99, which even if it is a dud, it's not a bad price to pay for adventure!

It came in this box, which I know to be a generic pu'erh gifting box.

Even the paper wrapper is generic, and tells me absolutely nothing, only by the color I see through the wrapper do I know it is indeed a shou pu'erh.

Again, just a generic note stating what pu'erh is and where it is generally from.

 the cake is dark, and smells mildly of earth. I had HELL breaking off enough, and when I did break off a chunk I ended up with 7.2 grams

The leaf peices are not very big, indicative of a cheaper pu'erh. 

Into the gaiwan it goes

I started with 208 degree water, I wanted to start off a little cooler, to try and mitigate any fishy-ness.

A gaiwan works just like a teapot, KIND OF. You pour water into the gaiwan, and after a short time (my rinses are three seconds, my first steep was fifteen seconds, increasing by fifteen seconds for each subsequent steep.) you decant it into a small pitcher or your cup (I am using a creamer pitcher I got from a resale shop for $1.25), preferably through a strainer. Practice with cold water first, to get the hang of pouring it, then move on to hot water, you may find you have to adjust your grip based on WHERE your gaiwan tends to heat up fastest. Then move on to making tea with it after revising your grip based on the hot water test.

See all those tiny leaf fragments floating to the top, not a good sign.

  

First rinse did not smell fishy at all, thank the almighty gaiwan, but I went for a second three second rinse, just to be sure.

Both rinses got thrown down the drain, that's just my preference, and since the entire point of them is to get dirt off the tea, I wouldn't drink them, just my two cents.

 NOW ON TO THE PROPER BREW-

My makeshift "sharing pitcher" can hold 3 brews worth of my gaiwan, which is 125 ml per brew, translating to 375 ml of tea.

Again just strain it into the pitcher, note the small strainer on top of the pitcher, that's to catch any leaves the lid can not catch.

Dang this tea brews up dark. Smells straight up like fresh hay as well. 

After a trial sip i tossed a packet of sweetener into the sharing pitcher, it had a very slight mud flavor that was taken care of by the addition of the single packet.

I got 9 more steeps out of this tea before it gave up the ghost, and I have to say, it maintained fairly consistent throughout the tasting, the mud flavor did dissipate after the second set of brews, replaced by a slight mushroomy flavor. The most consistent flavor throughout my tasting was that of fresh hay, which, although I don't mind that flavor at all, I wish this pu'erh had been a tiny bit more complex, but for 9.99, I am NOT going to complain.

 I give this tea a 65/100, and since I have no clue about the actual manufacturer of this particular tea, I can not provide a link. I feel that this tea would be best iced, or even cold brewed after a boiling hot rinse, it might bring out quite a bit of sweetness that I can almost taste in this tea brewed hot.

This was by far not the worst shou pu'erh I have ever tried, that honor belongs to the yellow mini tuocha,but it is not the best, either. I feel that 6 months of being aired out may bring out more complexity, or even dull that muddy flavor, and I may revisit my review at that point.

As I often do, I implore you to explore the tea aisle in your favorite ethnic market. You may find something fun, weird, and maybe even delicious.