too much dang tea in this house

hi i’m rachel i have a cabinet full of various teas here are my thoughts on them

[milkteasandstrawberries]

what’s up guys it’s me ya girl with a head cold

since i feel like death it’s time for my least favorite tea in the whole world- lemon ginger

we’re doing the twinnings version of my beloathed today

(this is normally where i’d put pictures but i’m too tired today all apologies)

why do i hate lemon ginger tea? mostly because i’m such a picky bitch about lemon in drinks- it gets undrinkable SO quickly for me

however, i’m a fucking adult and know that it is good and useful when you’re feeling poorly, so here i am. suffering

in terms of lemon ginger blends, i dislike twinnings the least of the ones i have had, since it tends to be milder with both the lemon AND the ginger

the citrus really comes through but is not overwhelming, and the ginger is a lil nippy rather than biting. i think it’s well balanced but obviously take my opinion on this one with several large grains of salt- my husband is a ginger fiend and wishes there was more of it present here

anyway, this is a solid dependable guy here to save the day even though you’ve never enjoyed his company. will bring you the best healing soup but rearrange your kitchen in a way you don’t like. kinda pushy but you know he means well.

just don’t drink it iced

[milkteasandstrawberries]

all the stuff going up on the top shelf with the teapots- the blueberry mint earl grey, the decaf chai, mystic dragon, blooming tea, rooibos, and puerh mini suns!!

and all the rest!! most of this is the stuff i got recently on vacation and stuff one of our friends brought us back from india

and so the final super full but orderly cabinet:

i am actually very excited abt drinking this all down since we are going to japan in december and uhh. well. you can see how that’s probably going to work out for me.

[milkteasandstrawberries]

i was gonna do one long reblog chain for these but then i decided that would be irritating lmao

more boxes of things. some of them were gifts- the tulsi rose, the jasmine blooming tea, the little loose leaf blend in the the last photo. i’m going to consolidate down all the boxes in the first picture because the pukka has only like 5 bags in it left

and now to do a little musical chairs with the square tin in the last photo

there is so little of the milky oolong left and that jar would be much better served so- the aurora is going into that and the remnants of the oolong are going to the square tin and i’m drinking that last bag today!!

last ones for this update- unopened masala chai that was a gift from my sister, and vanilla green tea

so with all that seen to, an update on the cabinet:

[milkteasandstrawberries]

it begins…

gotta put my other teapot in its spot on the top shelf and the echinacea and hot chocolate are already in their spots..

time to Organize

[milkteasandstrawberries]

first things first: the miscellaneous singles clear glass canister

the Collection- various things that have been gifted to me piecemeal and/or the last few bags from a box that all got slung in together. i have no idea what the chinese teas are- my husband step-mother and step-sister gifted them to me so i’m looking forward to the surprise soon!

i try to keep as many of the small bags of the loose-leaf teas in here as well so i don’t have a bunch of little bags floating around the cabinet

anyway here it is all packed back up now that i’ve sorted them and remembered what was in here haha:

[milkteasandstrawberries]

it begins…

gotta put my other teapot in its spot on the top shelf and the echinacea and hot chocolate are already in their spots..

time to Organize

[milkteasandstrawberries]

hello once more my dear friends i say as though i have been posting this whole time!! what break in posting?? oops

but yes hello it is me ya girl back again this time bringing you a delightful Iced Tea

check out them pearls!!

today’s tea is one of my current faves: Milky Oolong! this is normally where i’d link to where i got it but apparently i have misremembered and now i have No Idea From Whence This Came which sucks for y’all right now and will suck for me later since as you can see i am running out!! boo hiss!!!

apparently you can get this multiple places so we are not collectively sol but i am still cross!!

anyway!! i did not take a picture of the brewed leaves because i forgot to but the little pearls unroll into delightful whole thin leaves and are very fun to look at and make less of a mess when you miss the trash can when you throw them out!! this was a very scuffed brewing experience

i brewed the first infusion for 8ish minutes and the second infusion for 9?ish? and poured both in a plastic pitcher and shoved that in the fridge for the last few days and now here we are:

the tea is delightful, especially as it warms a bit. fresh from the fridge the first notes are bitter and refreshing and then mellow as you go, but after 10 minutes or so the tea is still cold but you really get the nuttiness characteristic of an oolong, softened further by the silky mouthfeel milky oolong specifically is known for. it tastes like the last days of summer, where the days are getting a little shorter and there’s the barest hint of a chill in the air, like flowers going to seed, like the first blush of red and yellow on a tree, like the dream of fall during the dog days of summer.

if you already like oolongs definitely give this one a try. if you don’t, this one is unlikely to change your mind.

join me next time for something hopefully less scuffed! maybe over the weekend i can do a deep dive into what is actually in the dang ol tea cabinet as an excuse to organize it?? let me know your thoughts.

[milkteasandstrawberries]

i have too much tea, i said

i definitely won’t buy more tea on vacation, i said, i already have too much!!

foreshadowing is a literary device

so about the tea i bought on ocracoke island

summer sniffles, bourbon street vanilla rooibos, and strawberry basil white

leaf & bean, sippin on the pizer, pirate camp, and ocracoke yaupon

very excited to go in depth on all these

(except the sippin on the pizer, which on closer inspection turns out to have stevia in it- stevia and i have a long standing feud going in which i tell it that it tastes bad and it gives me a headache- so we are hoping that it is drinkable and i don’t have to gift it away)

pray for my tea cabinet please it is already so cluttered

[milkteasandstrawberries]

it’s mystery teabag time folks!!

what, the fuck, is this??? whomst knows but i’m drinking it

i found it today as i was configuring my tea stash to take on vacation this weekend. i opened a small case, intending on putting in some roobios bags, to find it had been housing a nightly calm, an irish breakfast, and this mystery guy. what is he? where did he come from? how long ago did i put him in there?? much to think about

anyway let’s drink some tea

well first off bad job me for picking a mug where i cannot tell what color the tea is, no points. but after squishing the bag on the tea rest turns out we got a green tea fam

this seems to be a very chaotic day ig since in trying to adequately smell this i almost poured very hot liquid all down my front shoving my face in the mug sooooo. anyway smells kinda vegetal with a hint oooooh just a touch of mint in there.

it is a very drinkable green, with a grassy aftertaste and a minty finish. a very nice afternoon jaunt in a park, very cooling off on the veranda after throwing frisbees with your golden retriever. this tea has planted a pollinator garden with local species but has encouraged its neighbor it doesn’t like to plant mint as a ground cover. it’s gonna look great, it said, lounging in the shade of a large deciduous tree, trust me on this one.

a very nice tea for summer, anyway, wish i knew what it was so i could buy more of it. but i suppose that some experiences are meant to be enjoyed for what they are, not with an eye for recreating them. 9/10 a great mystery

[milkteasandstrawberries]

husband is not feeling well so here’s the tea we had last night to make him feel Just A Little Bit BetterTM

this is the eucalyptus boost wellness blend from one of our local tea shops, shafa blends tea & spices! they are lovely folks and have a delightful selection of things and ONE DAY i am GOING to buy one of their tea sets but i digress

also check out the tin!!

we got it from a like health food store?? in a tiny town in eastern france where no one spoke english and everyone thought i was very cute with my broken french lmao. anyway we always keep some sort of tea blend for colds in this!!

this blend is a combo of eucalyptus, mullein leaf, ginger, thyme, tulsi, and peppermint and boy does it taste like you should be in a koala onesie whilst drinking it.

like i cannot stress enough how much this *feels* like you are drinking hot leaf juice. it is very good hot leaf juice and i’ve found it useful for soothing sore throats, helping clear sinuses, and dealing with nausea, but this is NOT a subtle tea. this is a tea that will bully you into taking some cough medicine and call your mom to tattle on you when you don’t get enough sleep. it wants you to be well and it is agressive about it

anyway i highly recommend it but only if you drink it hot!! this one is not great when you let it get cold or even room temp.

it also just told me you should drink some water and stand up and stretch so do that!!

“i feel like a proper koala” - my husband’s review

[milkteasandstrawberries]

good morning gamers let’s get this bread

(i had a bagel for breakfast)

i woke up with a massive headache so i’m indulging in one of my favorite blends: mystic dragon

today’s mug is my newest addition from our recent trip to nyc: van gogh’s irises from the met shop! it has it’s own nestled infuser which i love and it’s so small and fits well in my tiny hands

anyway like i said mystic dragon is one of my absolute faves. it’s from the spice and tea exchange, which i first fell in love with when one opened up in asheville when i was in college there. this particular tin was purchased in mystic connecticut on a road trip to maine with my family a few years ago, but we liked the tea so much we reordered it when we started running low!

it’s a mix of two green teas- sencha and dragonwell- with sunflower and cornflower petals, and strawberry and rhubarb flavoring

it’s so tasty - the flavors all meld together really well and it has a delightful mouthfeel. it’s strong enough to hold it’s own against a simple meal, but it’s complexity is somewhat subtle and delicate

the only quibble i have with it is there is a lot of tea dust in every cup- as you can see above- which makes the last few sips pretty bitter, where the rest of the cup is almost sweet

but since i ruined my tastebuds in college by having several hundred too many mugs of oversteeped irish breakfast during all nighters i don’t really mind the bitter, but, you know, drinking dust leaves a lot to be desired. pretty bad experience, 3/10

BUT don’t let that scare you off this delightful little treat of a tea! it’s delicious, especially with something semi-sweet or like a bagel cream cheese for breakfast, or as a dessert tea

the packaging on the little tin is like TRY IT ICED and that reminded me that yeah, i really should do that again because 1) it RULES, and 2) summer in a swamp is literally begging for iced teas

anyway 8/10 definitely recommend this one

[milkteasandstrawberries]

guys guys guys i am!! so excited!!

i’d been ogling this very adorable little travel tea set with a case for ages and then when i was on my big biannual “i’m spending money on Things that i want but don’t Need” spree last week the stars aligned and it was on sale and so i got it!! (everything else i bought was like.. knitting patterns lmao)

anyway it just arrived, the box absolutely covered in tape. like comical amounts of tape here.

i laughed so hard trying to open this box

but the little set and carrying case are so cute!!

it’s got a little jar for loose leaf tea, a small teapot with a removable infuser, and three tiny teacups

it’s so lovely and i can’t wait to take it to the beach on the fourth to have little tea parties with my mom and sister

[milkteasandstrawberries]

good morning tumblrinas it’s tea time

i decided to be lazy today and do a good ol english breakfast. the vanilla latte of breakfast teas

featuring my beloved goat mug from blue hen pottery

the tea was a gift from my mom, who got it for me because she thought i would like the tin. (she was right.) personally i don’t love the plastic sachets as i prefer my tea with as few microplastics as possible, but free tea is free tea and i’m hardly gonna waste it. besides, i’m so full of microplastics as it is a few more won’t hurt

ignore the yogurt please i was having breakfast and was too lazy to move it out of the shot

this particular iteration of english breakfast is perfectly fine. a good solid “c’s get degrees” kinda guy. it is a warm liquid which tastes of english breakfast tea so i am satisfied, but i’m not wowed or amazed or even particularly excited. he’s not as flavourful a tea as other brands’ offerings but if you’re looking for a cute tin and a perfectly okay drink, maybe check him out. just yanno. maybe try to find it in teabags instead of plastic sachets.

[milkteasandstrawberries]

sometimes you look at your tea cabinet and go, hmm. i’m going to blog abt this now. and then google how create a sideblog on mobile because tumblr is a bad website actually and now here we are. on the blog. amazing what you can achieve when you put your mind to it

anyway here is the tea cabinet that i will be sporadically making my way through one cup at a time for your assumed entertainment

so full of future beverages

let’s hope this goes better than the sandwich blog i ran with a friend for like 3 months in 2014 lmao