16741 Tasting Notes
After how frustrating today was, I definitely needed this tea.
The apartment is freezing now: probably in part because of the awful weather we’ve had all week. It seems (knock on wood and fingers crossed) that the internet is working now, so I’m casually job hunting while all curled up in bed. I’ve got a nice big bowl of Cream of Celery soup with noodles in it, and that’s keeping me warm and helping me feel cozy.
I really wanted a black tea with lots of rich coconut in it, however I’m also craving chocolate. So, I made myself a week cup of hot chocolate, and then steeped my tea in it. Finally, I topped it off with some milk. As it was steeping, it smelled quite strongly of cocoa and coconut. Holy butts does it ever taste divine!
The drink is so smooth and creamy, and leaves the most heavenl taste in your mouth. All the best parts of Buttered Rum are there: the strong coconut taste, the creaminess, light notes of the black tea base, mild notes of butterscotch, and of course the taste of rum. However, the hot chocolate part of the is equally rich and brings out completely different notes such as English toffee and a much more rich vanilla taste. Actually, that’s it! This tastes just like you’re drinking English Toffee flavoured hot chocolate.
If you have the supplies to make hot chocolate, I HIGHLY suggest that you make yourself a very weak cup of it, steep this tea, and then add a touch of milk or cream. I’m confidant that you wont be dissappointed.
Preparation
Today has sucked so much.
For whatever reason, I got out of bed way too early this morning… And for once I actually do mean morning. While I’m usually up at around 2 or 3 PM – I woke up at 10:30 AM this morning. WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!? So, I decided that since I had so much time I’d do an extra amount of job hunting online. Well, that didn’t work out so well. I’ve ben internetless ALL FREAKING DAY.
Seriously, I’ve had internet for a grand total of 20 min. now… I can’t do anything without internet. ANYTHING. I’ve tried everything I can think of, but I just can’t figure out why I don’t have access. My roommate, Tre, is able to use his laptop with NO PROBLEM – but I can’t use mine. I keep disconnecting and reconnecting to the internet, and I’ll get access for like 3 minutes but then it cuts out again.
I managed to squeeze in one application during one of those three minute gaps, but I think it was rather sloppy considering how rushed I was, so I’m not expecting much to come of it.
And, on top of all that, Tre was supposed to print me out a whole bunch of copies of my resume from Siast today but of course he forgot (for the third day in a row), so now I have to wait until Monday even though the plan was supposed to be to send out paper copies of resumes over the weekend so that I don’t have to rely solely on online applications. Urgh.
Does he realize that if I don’t find a job I wont be able to make rent payments on time? You’d think that’s something he might be a little concerned about…
But regardless, I have managed to enjoy one somewhat decent cup of tea today. I was really hoping to be able to sip down a relaxing cup of this citrusy Earl Grey in between fighting with my computer, and I sort of accomplished that. Unfortunately, the computer ended up distracting me whilst I was brewing my cup and I oversteeped it.
This led to a really bitter cup of bergamotty tea. I had to add a lot of honey to the cup to make it palatable. Blah. Basically I drank a cup of bitter honey with bergamot flavour. Not exactly what I was wanting.
Anyway, sorry for the angry rant… But, well, today just isn’t going my way and I had to vent somehow.
I guess this is an evening for green teas? Well, flavoured green teas. Odd.
I feel like lately I’ve been favouring certain teas over others. Well, I know I have. Usually that doesn’t bug me, but since my collection of teas has expanded to be quite large (in comparison to the size I’m used to it being) and will likely be growing larger I’d like to drink some of the teas that have been a bit more forgotten what with my trying to drink samples and making an effort to drink white teas. Basically, I want to drink my teas a bit more evenly.
Anyway, this is pretty good. I’m feeling this one tonight – glad I decided this was a good one to drink tonight. Both my DT’s flavoured greens looked like they could use some love, and I have a TON of this left. It’s a nice warming cuppa, perfect for the lousy weather we’ve been having.
I’ve literally spent the whole day doing nothing. Well, maybe not literally – but I certainly haven’t done anything of importance. Basically, I painted my nails (this really pretty colour that reminds me of red wine) and applied a few more places online (although, I admittedly don’t have high hopes). Also, I watched four episodes of Supernatural.
So, I figured why not reward my laziness with a nice hot cup of this tea, and a bowl of frozen yogurt with sprinkles. As far as the frozen yogurt goes, I’m regretting the sprinkles. For whatever reason they taste really soapy, even though they usually taste fine. Tea wise, it’s a bittersweet cup.
I’m finding drinking this one painfully nostalgic – it’s reminding me of working at the theatre, and the time I snuck a mug of this into the movies with me. Basically, it’s reminding me how much I miss all my friends and former co-workers. It is a really good cup though; very smooth and buttery.
Personally, I find that with this tea you can trick yourself into forgetting about the apple if you focus more so on the butteriness of the tea, but as soon as you consciously start thinking about the apples in the blend all you taste is apples. It’s like the gif with the dancing ballerina: depending on how you look at it she’s either spinning left or right and with enough concentration you can actively switch your perception of how she’s spinning.
Still, I think after this cup it might be time to set this one aside for a while. Sometimes being really nostalgic can be a negative thing.
Preparation
Sipdown! I’m tired, so I think I just want bagged tea with supper. Actually making the meal itself was exhausting enough, I don’t know if I have the patience to make anything really finicky.
I was craving lemon, and the only other lemon tea I have lying around that’s bagged is the Lipton Lemon that I keep around for guests – and that stuff is just disgusting. So, I settled on this.
The dry leaf smells more like spice than lemon. Although, steeped it smells actually quite lemony. First few sips aren’t half bad – the lemon doesn’t initially taste artificial or “neo citron” like, and the spices are pretty well balanced. Something in the back of my head is telling me I didn’t like this one though, and that I had some left not because I was “reserving it for later” but because it took so long to drink the box and I’m putting off finishing it.
Oh. That’s why. I’m like a third done the cup and only now am I really being hit with the aftertaste. It’s this really overwhelming spicy flavour with bad artificial lemon taste, and it’s sort of making my tongue feel a little bit scratchy (if that makes sense). Bleck. It’s sad, because the initial taste isn’t really so bad – but the aftertaste (which is really quite delayed) ruins any potential this tea had.
Sorry Bigelow, I don’t think I’ll be restocking.
Cold brewed a small jug of this in the fridge overnight. I think it sat there cold brewing for probably close to 18 hours? Just under that, most likely.
If you’ve seen my previous notes on this one, you’ll know it’s one of my favourite herbal teas and that, typically, this one taste incredibly close to a creamsicle whenever I drink it hot. Even though I can taste the spearmint in the blend, I usually don’t find it very strong and it’s certainly never overwhelming.
Well, this batch I cold brewed is VERY heavy on the spearmint. I can taste the creamsicle, that’s for sure but damn if I don’t just get punched in the mouth with spearmint every time I take a sip. I must have just gotten a lot of spearmint in the dry leaf I used because this is WAY more spearmint than I’ve ever tasted in this tea. Holy crap do I love it! Mmmm!
Drinking it this way, with the gooseberry creamsicle flavour still there, this is such an incredibly refreshing tea. I don’t know why, but it makes me want to go do things! I don’t know what kind of things exactly, but the sort of activities that require you to actually leave the house, maybe?
I wish we had popsicle molds… I can imagine this as a DIVINE and HEAVENLY popsicle treat. It’d probably be more appropriate as a summer treat, but whatever. Autumn popsicles should definitely be a thing!
Preparation
Day started off with some good news and some bad news. I got the call back from the company my interview was with: the decided not to hire me for the branch at which I’d applied because my availability wasn’t open enough (I don’t work before noon – as I’ve mentioned, I sleep on a reversed schedule since I’ve been accustomed to working evenings, meaning getting off work at around 2 AM, for the last year), BUT they are going to hire me for a full day of merchandising, which is an eight or so hour pay period and that’s sure better than nothing! Also, they’ve forwarded my application to two other branches closer to my area so hopefully they’ll hire me!
Since I finished trying my Teavivre samples from Lala, this is my reward tea sample! I figure I especially deserve it this morning after hearing that I’m not going to be hired. Blah. I NEED MONEY.
Dry leaf on this smells lightly like cantaloupe. It’s very sweet, and fragrant in a mild way. The little yellow flowers are so pretty, too! Steeped this one following the exact directions given! The smell of the tea is stronger and more fragrant than I found the dry leaf to be, and very much cantaloupey. It smells creamy, and it’s likely a trick of the mind but I swear I smell an ever so slight amount of vanilla.
Taste wise, this really truly is cantaloupes and cream (although did I really expect otherwise). It reminds me a lot of Watermelon Xylophone, but I think the comparison is pretty obvious given that they’re both white teas meant to taste like melon (albeit different kinds of melon). I think I like Watermelon Xylophone better, though only slightly, but that boils down to the fact that I enjoy watermelon better than cantaloupe just in general. Still though – I’m really loving this tea! Everything about it is pleasant, and it’s making my somewhat crappy start of a morning a lot better.
Big elaborate sigh…
This just makes me want to place a Butiki order even more, but I still can’t afford to do so. The job hunt continues!
EDIT: Got a pretty good second steeping of this after steeping for about five minutes. Third steeping was weak, however, and not worth drinking.
That’s a great idea!