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I had success this morning getting the liquid antibiotic into the cat today. At least, more went in her mouth than on me, so we’ll call that a win.

To celebrate, I brewed a pot of this tea. A lot of times I really love a flavored black, but this one really hit the spot this morning. It’s rich, a little malty, and smooth. Off to brew another pot.

had this tea on my afternoon break. Still enjoy it. Light, slightly sweet, and comforting. It’s a bit cold out there today, 1F. At least it’s above zero.

Miss Dixie seems to be improving. It’s still a tussle to get that liquid antibiotic into her. Poor little kitty. She’s not stupid. She sees me coming with the towel to wrap her paws up in and she takes off. I’m finding it difficult to hide the towel. This morning I spread it out over the rocking chair, then picked her up and carried her backward to the chair. Success! Got most of the meds into her I think. Three more days.

I decided on this tea for the afternoon after I got back from the vet because I wanted something soothing and comforting.

My sweet little Dixie kitty is very sick. So sick that she has to be seen by a kitty cardiologist. An X-Ray today revealed that her heart is irregularly shaped and also in a different place than most kitties hearts are. In addition, the Xray shows a hazy shadow around her flattened heart and her white cell count is extremely high. It’s possible that she has an infection around her heart. I should be receiving a call from the vet any time now to tell me what the cardiologist thinks.

Anyway, this tea is marvelous.

Edited to add: The vet called, Dixie’s condition is treatable. Expensive, of course, but I won’t be having her put to sleep. Suddenly, this second pot of Golden Orchid tastes even better!

I know I just had this tea, but I’m having it again tonight because I need a treat. My littlest kitty, Dixie, has been lethargic and not eating since Friday afternoon. When she had no interest in eating her favorite can food, I got really worried. So I spent the afternoon at the emergency vet clinic while they identified she had eaten a corner of her fleece blanket and it was obstructing her little butthole. Poor little baby. They had to sedate her and manually clean… Well, enough detail. She will be fine they think, but they’re keeping her overnight to recover from anesthesia and for observation. I don’t know what this is going to cost me. I guess my newly paid off credit card will no longer have a zero balance after I pick her up tomorrow. Sigh. Drink more tea.

I made a pot of this to drink while I worked tonight. Sometimes you just feel like having something you know you enjoy. And enjoy I did. I also got my friend’s birthday gift together for her party tomorrow night. You don’t know how hard it was for me to include the unopened the pouch of this tea in with the rest of the present.

This is the 2nd of the teas I received from Dachi Tea, and I think I like it better than the Sky High Oolong. This tea is also rolled into pellets which unfurl into broad greenish-brown leaves as it steeps. This one is roasted, and I think it adds depth to the flavor. At first I felt like it has an almost sweet, vegetal taste, but as the cup cooled, it tasted almost nutty. Anyway, of the two I’ve had so far, I prefer this one.

A while back I supported a Kickstarter campaign for Dachi Tea. I kind of forgot about it to be honest. I’m not an Oolong lover. But I figure I want to support new tea ventures, because TEA, right? Well, today i received a package of four 10 gram samples from Dachi, sent all the way from Taipei City in Taiwan to Fargo in North Dakota. I received this one, Iron Goddess, Frozen Summit, and Honeysuckle, and this one won.

My description might be awkward and amateur-ish, because 1) I have no sense of smell and thus don’t taste much and 2) I am still pretty new at drinking high quality teas. So, please bear with me as I try to tell you what this tea is like:

The dry tea is greenish, black, and golden brown leaves rolled into irregularly shaped pellets. I think these are called pearls? I put 6 pellets into a T-Sac and steeped in almost boiling water for 2 minutes. The resulting tea is very pale and delicate in color. The tea tastes (and again, please remember I can’t taste much because of no sense of smell) smooth. There is no sourness or bitterness in this tea. It is not cloying or sweet. It seems to have light body to me and a pleasant mouthfeel. I really can’t bear bitterness, sourness or astringency, so this tea passes my personal test for a good tea. I am really interested in hearing what a smelling person thinks of this tea.

I’m still feeling a bit cold, and I’m dying for a Mountain Dew, so I reached for an old favorite this afternoon. I like this one so much better than the Ginger Pear tea. I ought to like the Ginger Pear, because I love pears, and I love ginger. But, there you go. Since I’ve been drinking soda pop and eating girl scout cookies for the past week I gained a pound. So, strictly back to tea.

I haven’t had this one for a while, so I decided to make a cup this afternoon. Again, I’m a little disappointed. I put in significantly more this time, carefully observed the water temp and the steeping time, but it still doesn;t have much flavor. That might be me, of course, with my lack of smell and sense of taste. The second cup was better, a little stronger, a little sweeter, but still not going to be a favorite.

I accidentally left the window open a crack when I went to bed last night, and the temp dropped to -5F, so it is a bit nippy in here today. I had a two cup pot of black tea with breakfast, but I decided I NEEDED more tea! I pulled this out of the cabinet this morning for my mid-morning cup. Delicious! The elegantly understated spices make it especially warming. I think I’ll have another cup, maybe with a few drops of maple syrup.