Of Toys and Co: Tea Time Part V

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Tea Time Part V

Here's a bunch more teas to share with you ^.^

***Disclaimer: I'm *not affiliated* with any of these vendors. Just sharing the goodies I enjoy is all.

Last fall, my reader and friend Julia recommended to me a tea from the German brand Ronnefeldt (thank you, Julia!), a flavored green tea by the name of Morgentau which was one of their best-sellers. So I did some googling and found a tea shop in the USA that carries it: Mrs. Robinson's Tea Shop. While browsing their website, I also stumbled upon a Strawberry Genmaicha that sounded different and yummy enough, so I picked up some of both.

- Ronnefeldt Morgentau (Morning Dew): totally my jam, a green tea with crisp citrus notes. Love!

- Strawberry Genmaicha: sadly, isn't as good. The strawberry is too sharp and artificial, and it drowns out all the genmai notes. I'll just stick to Morgentau with the next restock.

For my order, I also received two samples with my order, one serving each of Over the Moon and Raspberry Rhubarb. Just from the name, I thought I'd prefer Over the Moon better since rhubarb is always a bit too tart for my taste. Turned out I was wrong. Raspberry Rhubarb was superior to Over the Moon. Over the Moon was pretty mellow and wasn't as flavorful.

This Joy's Teaspoon haul was from last summer, actually. Since they discontinued the phenomenal Creme Oolong, I stocked up on a pound of Milk Oolong instead, among a bunch of other teas.

- Milk Oolong: pretty darn good! Not as creamy as the Creme Oolong but there's more room for the Jinxuan's floral notes to come through. Hubby drinks this pretty often and it's almost time to restock again.

Aside from the Milk Oolong, I bought a bunch of other teas to try and gift also, all flavored green, black, or a blend of both.

- Magic Moon: gifted this so I can't describe the flavor but from the label it sounded yummy!

- South Sea Magic: gifted this one also.

- Earl Grey Creme: I kept this one. It's not the best Earl Grey cream I've had, but it's pretty good. Initially, the cream flavoring in this tea has that burnt note. However, it mellows out once brewed and is nowhere near as strong as Brewing Market Earl Grey de la Creme. Probably won't repurchase.

- Butterscotch Button: identical to my favorite Butter Truffle from The Whistling Kettle of New York, so I gifted this away also. They probably came from the same tea blender!

- Japanese Cherry: there's nothing Japanese about this tea. I'm not even sure if the cherry here is the sweet cherry fruit that I see all the time at the groceries (Prunus avium), or cherry blossoms (sakura), or fruit of the cherry blossom tree (sakuranbo), which is more tart and bitter than the sweet cherry fruit. The label says sour cherry pieces, and indeed the tea has a tart cherry scent. It's okay. I won't repurchase.

- All That Jazz-mine: a lovely green tea with balanced jasmine notes that don't hit me over the head. Hubby really likes this tea. Recently, I've been using this tea to replicate my favorite selection from the local boba tea shop: jasmine ice tea with winter melon flavor. Really hits the spot!

- Sun-kissed Jasmine: Gifted this one.

- Strawberries and Cream: sounds delicious in theory, but the strawberry flavoring here is too tart and artificial also and it overpowers all the cream. Will not repurchase.

- Sunny Passion: gifted this.

- Enchanted Forest: gifted this.

This Kaleisia Tea Green Rooibos and the beautiful pink sakura washi tin were presents from one of hubby's old colleagues. Hubby and J. worked together for a few years and when we moved home from Tokyo, he gifted hubby a really cool calendar. So I returned the favor and sent hubby to work with a tin of Lupicia Jardin Sauvage for J. because he loved tea but had banned caffeine from his diet. Apparently he liked it a lot, and when he had a chance to go on a business trip, he brought these goodies back for us ^.^ This is unflavored green rooibos, as in no additional flavoring was added. It has a sweet and grassy taste and is pleasant for when I just want to chill out and not in the mood for any flavors. It happens.