#ark's tea posts

[arks-tea-party]

May 8, 2021

(Sorry for posting late: I forgot to finish and post this yesterday.)

Today’s cup is this teapot cup, with a little strip design on the handle. It’s kind of cute. This tea cup is also holds about 8 ounces, so it’s easy to make tea for one person in it.

Today’s tea is Chamomile Medley from my April Tea Runners subscription box [as always, not sponsored]. To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m going to like this one. I didn’t pay enough attention to the ingredients of this tea before getting it, which has spearmint. I don’t really like minty tastes, and the tea leaves really do smell minty.

I followed the steeping directions, which is 1 teaspoon for every 8 ounces of 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) water, for 4 minutes.

(I forgot to take a picture of the tea in the cup, but it’s a yellow colour when fully steeped.)

The aroma is a bit less minty and more flowery in the cup. The taste is flowery with a bit of lemon, and yes, there is mint, but it’s not overpowering as I had feared. As to be expected, it has a mild calming effect. If you hold it in your mouth for a moment, you get more of the lemon taste. The aftertaste features mostly lemon with a bit of mint.

My final thoughts are it’s not bad. For something called Chamomile Medley, I would expect more of a floral taste. I think the lemongrass and spearmint overpower it. But to be honest, I don’t think this is a tea I would get for myself again.

[arks-tea-party]

April 26, 2021

Today’s cup is my 16 oz Grumpy Cat mug a high school friend gave to me around 4 or 5 years ago. It’s missing some of its patterning due to age.

Today’s tea is cold brew iced London Fog (Earl Grey Latte with ice). I don’t have lavender, vanilla, or a syrup sweetener, so the ingredients are just Earl Grey teabags, cold water, 1% milk, and ice. I am using the Stash brand Earl Gray [not sponsored, I bought the tea myself and I’m not being paid to write this], and I left the tea leaves in the bags because I don’t have a convenient way of straining the tea leaves yet.

I followed some instructions I found online, which is 1 and 1/3 of a cup of cold water with 2 tea bags, and keeping it in the fridge with a cover.

I ended up leaving it to steep for quite a while: around 16 hours and 40 minutes, since I slept longer than I thought I would and didn’t set an alarm, and I also realized we don’t have ice so I had to find, clean, fill, and freeze an ice cube tray.

I filled about half of the cup with tea and the other half with milk, and added some ice. The ice is in a stick shape, so there is a bit more ice in the tea than it looks. Gave the tea a stir. (Probably should have stirred the tea before adding ice, but hindsight is 20/20.) This is my first time making an iced tea and making a latte.

As for my opinion on the tea, I really like having it this way. The tea is not bitter despite the long steeping time because of the cold brew method. It’s spicy and citrusy, without being overpowering, and the sweetness of the milk is pleasant. The aftertaste is mostly milk with hints of spice and citrus. It will be nice to enjoy during the summer. I’m definitely going to make this again. (But I won’t be leaving it to steep for so long. I would like to drink it a bit faster and not have to deal with caffeine headaches.)

[arks-tea-party]

I won’t be having any teas with caffeine in them for a while. I think it might be agitating my health problems so the Early Spring Snow Buds White Tea review will have to wait.

[arks-tea-party]

I bought an insulated tumbler online so I can enjoy iced tea and cold water for many hours while I work in the yard this summer. It’s also really pretty, has a teal to purple gradient with sparkles. The item has hundreds of good reviews, so I know it will be good.

There isn’t an estimated shipping date yet, so it might take a while to get to my place. But I’ll be more than happy to show it off when it arrives.

[arks-tea-party]

I’d also like to say that this blog isn’t just going to be Tea Runners stuff. I will buy and try more teas from other vendors and brands as well. Tea Runners is what I have the most of right now, but I plan to get some things from DAVIDsTEA (they have free shipping with no minimum right now for Frequent Steepers) as well as some tea from various brands from Amazon and Etsy.

I’m also inclined to head to my local specialty tea shops too. There’s going to be a good variety, don’t worry.

[arks-tea-party]

My second box for Tea Runners arrived in the mail today! The reviews of new teas will keep coming.

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Wow, DAVID’s Tea is having these livestreams on Instagram now about their different teas every Tuesday, with tasting and conversation about tea.

I would try the tea along with the lives, but if I did every time, my bank account would be drained of money in short order. (Though I suppose that tempting people into spending is the whole point.)

There might be some tea tips which I might find valuable, so I’m going to give watching them a chance anyway. If I find it’s too heavy on advertising I’ll drop it.

[arks-tea-party]

My Teapot Arrived Early, But...

It arrived destroyed.

The box was undamaged, but the glass teapot was pretty crunched. It’s entirely unusable aside from the lid and infuser.

Of course, I will return it to get my refund, but it really sucks I had to do that in the first place. Especially since hundreds of people got theirs in the mail just fine. It’s not like I really needed a new teapot (I actually bought it for the infuser, and the teapot was a bonus), but I was really looking forward to trying a glass one :(

But, I guess that’s why you should buy stuff like that in a physical store rather than online...