81 Tasting Notes
In the past, I had always steered away from this tea bc I’m….not a fan, usually, of smoky teas. or at least I wasn’t, this past year year though? give me all the smoky teas. also, give me all of the dianhongs. so, I was surprised (and excited) when A&D finally had some teas in stock and jumped and bought their custom set and uh. I love this. I was worried about too much smoke, but this is perfect.
plus, the lil guitar pick that came with it? perfect.
the 7th tea of Christmas is also exciting, but I was in need of something stronger this morning. I’m ready to go home and try it.
6th tea of Christmas
I did actually drink this yesterday morning, but forgot to write about it. I hadn’t tried this blend before and IT IS SO GOOD. upon opening the bag, you get this nice whiff of maple. MAPLE!! BANANAS!!!! PANCAKES!!! these are all things that I love.
however, WAS THERE COCONUT IN THIS? O.O I kinda don’t think so, but it also kinda tasted like a hint, a small suggestion, of coconut and I made a face and a co-worker came and asked if I was okay (I’m sure my face was all puffy, but for very different reasons), and I was like ? is there coconut? and it was weird. why am I this way?
5th tea of Christmas
I woke up too late to want to drink a green tea this morning (ended up making Black Sunshine from A&D), and then when I got home I almost immediately fell asleep, so I’m drinking this at like 1:30am. and honestly, I drank this too fast, it’s a tasty green tea, but I’m unsure of the custard tart-y flavour? I mostly just tasted the green tea base and blackberry. it’s a very lovely tea.
I’m very excited about the tea for…uh….later today. I will be making it in a few hours when my dumb alarm goes off and I drag myself to work.
4th tea of Christmas
YES. I missed out on this one when it was released and was quite sad about it. this is perfect. opening the bag, you could smell the soda-ness. my only complaint is that there could be even /more/ ginger. but also it’s wonderful the way it is? so maybe that’s not even a complaint. I bet this would be phenomenal iced.
2nd tea of Christmas
firstly, I just want to say that these little mystery teas have been a really nice thing to look forward to. Yesterday I had to take my cat to the vet and talk about an impossible choice regarding his quality of life. well, it’s not an impossible choice, but rather a very hard one. however, my cat does seem to have more of an appetite today than he has had the last couple of days…I think it has a lot to do with the treatment they put in his ear. these are things that are hard for me to deal with and often I just need a break with music and tea.
The tea from yesterday was…Coconut Fog? Foggy Coconut? I gave that one to my mom because, unfortunately, I am not a fan of coconut, but she loved it. today though? I love genmaicha, and especially enjoy all of the various flavoured ones that Anne has created, and this was absolutely no exception. the roasty toasty-ness of the genmaicha flavour with vanilla and peppermint? YES, thank you.
I’m glad that you had someone you could offer the Foggy Coconut tea to!
I’m so sorry about your kitty buddy. It’s not an easy decision with any animal. What helped me with my cat years ago, was my aunt saying ’it’s time’ and that really made it easier having that ‘second opinion’ sort of thing. It wasn’t just my decision. I was basically a teenager though, but my aunt had many cats, so I trusted her opinion. Keep listening to that music and drinking that tea though.
@Anne, my mom doesn’t really drink “hot tea” at all, so I was kind of surprised that she actually tried it. she sent me a text saying she took Foggy Coconut to work with her and later in the day sent me a picture and gushing about how much she loved it :)
@tea-sippper, it’s both an easy and hard decision. it’s easy because 1) he has chronic kidney disease, which has no cure 2) his body is at a point where it cannot fight infections and he is having a harder time bouncing back from those infections. in the last couple of months he’s had four infections, 2 urinary tract infections (one of which was some kind of awful bacterial infection that was resistant to most antibiotics. ugh. he had to take a hardcore antibiotic for 2 weeks, every 12 hours and it was a lot), an infection in his arm, and most recently a yeast infection in his ear. these infections also come with the side effect of him not feeling good and not eating. not eating/losing weight rapidly can cause some nasty liver problems. it’s hard because he’s been my best friend for 15 years and I can’t imagine what life will be like when he’s not here. but I also know that living a life full of illness isn’t fair to him. I cried at the vet’s office while discussing this with his doctor, I cried driving him back home, I cried when telling my mom about my decision, and I cried some more yesterday while he was sleeping by my feet. it’s a lot and I wish I were a lil bit stronger.
@annie – I’m so sorry about your cat. The cat that I had when I was younger had chronic kidney disease also – and it broke my heart to have to put him down but there was also a sense of relief that he was no longer suffering. He too was my best friend through my teens when I was going through lots of stuff – it was so hard to say goodbye and that’s a pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I’m so sorry.
I basically was going to say everything Anne just said. My cat in my teens also had kidney failure. You ARE strong and it ain’t easy. He has had a long life with the most caring of owners.
<3 We also lost a cat to kidney failure. He was only 12 and it broke my heart. My parents made the decision after we tried basically all heroic measures aside from a kidney transplant (that’s probably not an option but I was looking for anything). I cried for days. What I had to realize was that his quality of life was more important than my desire not to lose him. We probably waited longer than we should have; his back legs stopped functioning near the end so he basically couldn’t do anything anymore. :’(
Sending hugs and strength as you go through this rough time.
one of my absolute favourite savory oatmeals is miso with cooked spinach + mushrooms, aahhh. yes. I bought this specifically to make with oatmeal (steel cut oats), aaaaand I could have put more in. I was a little scared of putting too much but honestly, it could have taken more. I didn’t have spinach or mushrooms to stir in, so I just put some furikake, and despite needing more of the matcha/miso mix, oatmeal lunch was very good. I can’t wait to try this again tomorrow, and also in the future as a ramen base.
this is a nice malty/honey assam that was included in my Sipsby box this month. perfect for these colder mornings we’ve been having (bc texas, it’s colder in the mornings and then goes right into the mid-60’s to mid-70’s in the afternoons).
my cat, Spooky, is acting more and more like himself, which is such a damn relief. I took him to the vet this past Saturday, just for a re-check which was actually perfect timing because sometime between Wednesday evening (I took him to the vet AGAIN on Wednesday bc I could not COULD NOT get his tiny little pill in him bc he is old and awful) and Friday evening he licked his little arm (where they had shaved him to administer the fluids) raw! it was so red and awful looking and I felt so bad that I didn’t see it sooner :( they had to give him an antibiotic shot and a steroid shot (to help with the itching). but anyway, yes. he’s acting like himself, yelling for food and not giving a shit about my sleep schedule.
ahh, it always feels victorious finishing one of these tins. I’ve had this one forever and will miss it. it is everything I enjoy in black teas: malty, bready, stone-fruit-y, bright & brisk.
does anyone know what’s going on with Andrews & Dunham? both last year & this year they didn’t release their Oktoberfest blend :( I don’t even think they released their Christmas blend last year either (could be wrong).
