Ohio Tea Company, Maple Roasted Almond

https://www.ohioteaco.com/Maple-Roasted-Almond_p_698.html

Chinese black tea, roasted mate, hojicha, almond slices, natural flavors

I added some sugar leaves to the tea.  Just for some fun color. I also shared this tea with friends and I added the leaves to their tea too.  I think it just adds something unique to it.

This is a Mate black tea, so you will want your water over 200.  You will want to steep for 4-5 minutes and have 1 tsp per 8 oz of water.

This tea has great "fall" soothing flavors. I gave it 4 tea cups.  It has a nutty and maple flavor that come through really nicely.  I like it a lot and I have tried it with milk and I like it that way too.

The mug above is made by my friend at Rudy Whistle Pottery.

https://www.facebook.com/RudyWhistlePotteryStudio/?ref=br_rs

She has LOTS of beautiful pieces and is always creating new items.  You should follow her.  She ships too!!  I love her mugs!

Pioneer Coffeehouse, Hugo Gui Shan Oolong Tea, Dalton Ohio

**POST 1,500***

A nice quiet day in October I had some errands to run, but I also new I needed to prepare for my Sunday School class lesson the next day.

https://www.pioneercoffeehouse.com/

So, I grabbed my Bible and my lesson plans and stopped at this coffee/tea shop for an hour of devoted study time.  

This Oolong tea was really great.  I love that Pioneer gives you a pot, a cup, and a timer.  This lets you create the PERFECT cup of tea.  My only recommendation would be that the cup would be a little bigger- so that you could pour the entire cup of tea into the cup.  The tea that doesn't fit in the cup then over steeps and is no longer good.   But, what you do get in the cup is wonderful.

https://www.hugotea.com/products/gui-shan?_pos=1&_sid=97f8b6f9b&_ss=r

The Oolong flavor is great.  I pick up notes of spice- like pepper.  Also a bit of sandalwood. To me there is something about the Oolong flavor that I can pick out so easily in a cup of tea, and I definitely found it here.

I really enjoyed this tea.  I love a good Oolong. There are notes of sandalwood and pepper along with the great Oolong flavor.  I give this tea a 5- the price is good and the flavor is excellent.  I also really appreciate that they take the time to be sure to get the water temp and steeping time correct.

Friends Cafe Lego Building Block Set

So, this year my office did this awesome thing where they gave each a $100 Amazon card and a name of someone in the office.  We then got to play Secret Santa for each other.  I love that my office did this!  What a great idea for us employees to buy things for our co-workers.

Below is what I got!  I love it.  I have always wanted the Friends Lego set, but I would never pay the $50 for it.  Now, I was able to ask Secret Santa for it.  

https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-6283895-Ideas-2019-4/dp/B07PX3X5WL/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAiML-BRAAEiwAuWVgggd5P15-IQpjtqQCgLBveYQ7GasensLoctwwuogThdsyfQTlYiretBoCo3YQAvD_BwE&hvadid=178134123534&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9015520&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14240102858830491848&hvtargid=kwd-31389023086&hydadcr=2994_9919015&keywords=friends+lego+set&qid=1607551908&sr=8-2&tag=googhydr-20

It took a bunch of steps, but they were super easy to follow.  The hardest thing was keeping Earl Grey out of the box and out of the way while I worked on it.

This one took me a few hours to do.  I worked on it several nights for a few hours each night.

Earl Grey loved to help me too.

Thank you to my office for Secret Santa this year- this was so much fun!!

Here is my Lego Tea Set up....

Maybe someday these can be displayed in my tea cafe....

Japanese Tea House

Chinese Tea House

DavidsTea Sticky Rice Oolong

https://www.davidstea.com/us_en/tea/sticky-rice-oolong/10659US01VAR0044326.html?bvstate=pg%3A2%2Fct%3Ar

Oolong tea, Sticky rice leaves (Nuo Mi Xiang).

From the Website, "We used a Chinese herb called Nuo Mi Xiang (aka “sweet rice tender leaves”), which naturally tastes and smells just like sticky rice.What makes ours unique? The rice leaf and oolong are processed together, so you get that authentic taste naturally."

I love Oolong tea.  There is something wonderful about the Oolong flavor.   One of the give aways when you see tea rolled into balls is that it is probably Oolong.  When the tea steeps the balls unfurl, it's beautiful.

Below are the unfurled tea leaves.

Oolong tea is somewhat delicate, so you don't want to bruise the leaves, you want the water to be around 180-185 degrees.  You steep for 4-5 minutes.  The aroma is so sweet and you notice it as soon as you open the bag.

Oolong tea is really good with Asian food.  Ever since I learned that Oolong pairs great with Asian food, when I make Asian food or pick up take out, I make Oolong tea.  And what better tea then Sticky Rice Oolong!

I gave this tea 4 tea cups.  It had that Oolong flavor I love and the notes of sticky rice were there too.  It was amazing how this tea really tasted of sticky rice.  The only reason I gave this 4 and not 5 tea cups is because there were some salty notes too.  The saltiness took away from the tea, but it was still really good.