Caramel la tea-Dr. Tea's Tea Garden

I stumbled upon Dr. Tea about a year ago by complete accident. When I was working at Starbucks I started to get into loose leaf tea. I was looking up all I could about Pu-Erh, and found Dr. Tea's podcasts. One of his tea offerings are the coffee teas. They are oolong tea that is roasted and blended to be a coffee substitute, and help coffee drinkers to drink more tea. I can tell you that I love my coffee but I started cutting back on how much coffee I drink and replacing it with tea and can feel the difference. Drinking maybe one cup of coffee or none a day, from drinking 6-8.
I do purchase a lot of my tea from here and have found some of my favorite teas here. This is a great one in the coffee tea collection from the Tea Garden. So I admit that caramel happens to be one of those sweet-tooth weaknesses that I have. The dry leaves have a nice roasted and sweet aroma. The liquor...well it looks a lot like muddy water. Cloudy but that doesn't deter from wanting to try this treat. Yeah! This is a good one. The smooth buttery caramel really comes through in this tea. It's exactly like the coffee tea, but add that caramel and it really makes for a treat. It's also good with a splash of almond milk. This tea is going great listening to Nikka Costa's-Pebble to a Pearl album on Rhapsody.

Rose Toucha-Tao of Tea

2/01/2011
So I have smelled rose black tea at the market and was somewhat turned off by it, but I was keeping an open mind since I like my Pu-Erh. First of all I love the tin it came int to see the little Tuochas. So I’ve tried one other Tuocha. I got it at a place called Special Teas ect in Volant, Pa and liked it a lot!
So it’s smells a bit sweet in the paper like sugar in the raw. I used too big of a cup for the first steep. Second steep was dark like coffee…..this is how I like my Pu-Erh! Very smooth and earthy. Third steep more orange-ish. Tastes kinda like mushrooms but still pretty good.
2/01/2011
So I’m trying this one again in the studio using a method I have dubbed as Joboo’s Studio gongfu: using 2 cups, a strainer and a butter knife. On a side note now I’m going to have to break down and purchase a gaiwan. So as I have previously mentioned I’ve been formally put off by the aroma of “rose” teas…..however I think I have changed my thoughts on this.
30 second rinse.
First infusion: 1minute. Whoa! Hello Rose. And yes I think Rue Mcclanahan talking to Betty White in the Golden Girls. The rose over-shadows the earthiness of the Pu-Erh almost mellowing it. More orangish hue. Not very dark but very good.
Second infusion: 1 minute. A lot darker. Cup of coffee dark. There is more earthiness. The rose is a little astringent, and it reminds me of the autumn leaves. Fall is definitely my favorite season. Very smooth though.
Third infusion: 1 minute. More of an amber color. I wouldn’t describe it as earthy of rosey, but still very smooth. I am really enjoying this. You might even describe it as giddy.
Fourth Infusuion: 1 minute………I think the rose garden is dead and it’s time to plant tulips. I’m upping my rating on this one. I had just a wonderfull experience with this tea….and I have to clean up my mess in the air studio. :)

Yunnan Golden Pu-Erh

This is my first tea from Adagio and my first golden Pu-Erh that wasn’t in a blend. I am very much a fan of the darker Pu-Erhs. Out of the can a nice bright brownish/orange color. 1st steep 3 minutes. Drinking this while doing the dishes I thought…nice earthy but not quite as smooth as say an Imperial Pu-Erh. It’s not as full bodied either.
Second infusion a little bit darker, and smoother. I think my favorite aspect of this Pu-Erh is that it 4 steeps until it took on the mushroomy flavor on the 5th steep. In my opinion once you hit that mark your Pu-erh is done. I like this tea a lot….however I don’t see in shelling out fifty bucks for 3.2oz as it says on the website, and I would rather pay half that for my favorite Imperial Pu-Erh for the same amount of tea. For being my first Adagio selection A+