No one was more surprised than I was when I picked up a bag of Starbucks Arabian Mocha Sanini at the Starbuck’s Kiosk in the grocery store. It was more expensive than what I would normally pay, especially considering that I am at the point where coffee and tea companies send me free samples to try.

But… I wanted to taste a 16.99 a pound coffee. I expected this post to be sarcasticly biting, somewhat like the flavor I expected from the coffee.

But it wasn’t.  And this won’t be either.

I loved this coffee. It was extra dark, smoothly silky in texture with lingering clove, raisin, and berry flavors. It had none of the usual acrid over-roasted taste that I normally associate with Starbuck’s, but was smooth all the way through, with a pleasant aftertaste that was almost a cardamom, although some might describe it as citrus.

I didn’t think the aftertaste was clean enough to be citrus, it was more mysterious and exotic, thus caradamom. This is a complex coffee, well worth the 16.99 I paid. I know, I am shocked myself, but there you go. Miracles do happen.

Give this one a try. I think it is seasonal so it won’t be around for long.

Image: Starbucks

I had heard of the Boca Java before, and had it on my list of coffees to try…but since they were not one of the companies that sent me FREE coffee it was on the back burner, so to speak.

Then I read about Mike having the Maple Bacon coffee and I was intrigued..still waiting to get it but intrigued.  THEN I discovered the Farm Town Ap on Facebook and found out if I ordered a trial amount of their coffee I  got 20,000 or so points fo buy farm animals with.  Who can resist a deal like that?

I now have replace my horses that I had to give away last summer with cyber horses.

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I picked up Tazo Vanilla Apricot White tea because I wanted a unique flavor to use in the frosting on my daughter’s birthday cake.  It turned out fantastic by the way! I definitly recommend it as an ingredient!

In drinking the tea I was surprised by the lightness and delicacy of the flavor.  I think I would have preferred a little more apricot flavor but all in all I thought the tea was a nice afternoon tea- something that would go well with shortbread cookies, or a light snack.  I think it is too light for a breakfast cup and not rich enough for an evening cup, if that makes sense.

The liquor is pale golden with a delicate apricot flavor which is followed by lasting notes of light vanilla.  Not theheady bourbon vanilla, but just a hint of vanilla flavor that enhances the sweet peachiness of the apricot. I do not think i would hold up well for iced tea.

I am most impressed by this tea in its ability to flavor baked goods from frosting to scones.  I am thinking of  making a mousse with it.

All of my kids are tea drinkers as you know, and all are sold on this tea.  If you like a flavored white this is a good one to try.  I do not like it as well as I like their blueberry white tea that I reviewed last year, but it comes in a close second.

Image:Amazon

When Truvia contacted me about trying the new sweetener I was pretty stoked.

I have used stevia a long time. I just am not into chemicals and I don’t trust the FDA.  Well, truthfully I don;t trust the government, medical personnel, or most others that have been corrupted by"the establishment".  Yes, I am a throwbback from the 60s.

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This was the second coffee that I tried from Community Coffee.  FIrst of all, if it has been awhile since you tried their coffees they ahve a totally different flavor than they used to.  I loved the Sumatra that i got.

The Rwanda is a medium roast.  I was interested to read that the coffee trees used were form fifty year old root stock.  That guarantees that there has been no tampering with the DNA!

But there is more.  This is from the website:

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I got an unexpected package in the mail the other day.  When I opened it it was a beautiful box, with a cheerful ribbon, filled with tea.  There was a note enclosed from Cindi Bigelow.

How sweet is that?  It wasn’t just that she sent the teas but even the box was pretty!

Oh man, and the flavor selection…wow.

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The first tea that I cupped from Teatulia was the white.

White tea is normally very delicate and if not done well it can be best described as being weak and watery.  Well, that is not the way that I would describe the Teatulia White Tea.

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Well, to be perfectly honest with you I have been frustrated with this blog for a couple of reasons. One is that it is hard to write sometimes because I don’t have access to all the cool elements for a cutting edge tea and coffee blog.
And so, I was sorta thinking of maybe, you know, letting it go. And that was such a sad, sad thought.

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I have heard everywhere that burr ground coffee is so much better than blade ground that I decided to take a deep breath and get a burr grinder.  Actually it wasn’t that deep of a breath because I found it at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a reasonable price.

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I am seriously going ot have to start ordering coffee since I think I have gone through all of the Starbucks coffees.  It stinks that I can’t pick up coffee locally because it makes it so much easier…I am sort of spontanious (read that unorganize) so it is hard with my time constraints to hunt down coffees.  Anyway..Just for you.I tried the Komodo Dragon Blend, from Indonesian grown beans.

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