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Sipdown (197/201)!

Yeah, I took the easy sipdown. I’ve been in lots of mouth pain all afternoon and just wanted something toasty, roasty, and creamy to washdown the pain medication with. I know that I’ll meet this tea again, whether that’s sooner or later, so why not make it this one?

I brewed it up like Stacy had suggested ad used boiling water for a minute. Honestly? It doesn’t really change the delicious taste a whole lot for me. I’ll have to try her steeping suggestion some other time for a more proper/traditional Genmaicha and see if there’s a noticeable change.

I also went and pulled out all the teas that are currently my favourite black blends, and either tomorrow or the day after will be a day for just my favourite black teas, since I’ve been drinking a whole lot of everything lately. That sounds like a good way to spend a day!

Oh. I needed the pineapple fix from this one today. Perfect kind of “release your tension and relax” tea…

Now back to Bones and Teens React clips…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2I2vRJ1R4w&list=PL23C220A2C5EC0FDE&feature=c4-overview-vl

I don’t really feel like writing much. Meh. Next cup is a sipdown. This one was rather flavourless, though maybe a little buttery.

I also burnt my finger and typing hurts. Boo.

Sipdown (198/202)!

Thanks Kittenna for the sample. Sadly, I’m using it all up for this mug – I would have liked to play around a little with the whole ‘sugar and salt bringing out different flavours’ thing. It seems weird to me to add salt to tea; I mean, I don’t add salt to anything, and I never sweeten my tea either so I just made this cup plain.

This is one of those teas that you just have to try because of the concept. It’s pretty weird, at least in my opinion (though nothing like Bacon tea). It definitely solicited an interesting response from my friend who was over the other day when I said “Potato Pancake” tea.

So steeped up (with nothing added) I think this tastes pretty amazing! I’ve actually had apple sauce and potato pancakes before, though only once, made by my Grandma. We don’t celebrate Hanukkah or anything, but she made them for us anyway. It was a while ago – when I was in elementary school, but I remember shredding apples for her with a cheese grater, and loving them because they were sweet enough I didn’t have to add syrup or anything to them. I feel the same way about this blend; it perfectly captures what it claims to, and I think it’s really well balanced and doesn’t really need to be swayed more to one side.

Although it’d still be interesting to try it with salt added because that’s still a weird concept to me.

I’m also happy because, to me, it doesn’t taste green. Yay!

I’m going to add this to my shopping list as well, for when I finally finish off some of the Butiki teas I have that I don’t plan on keeping around (also for when I have money). Maybe I wouldn’t want a full pouch of it, but as a sample or something to drink very occasionally or as a treat – because this was good!

I have enough for one more cup of this, which makes me happy because I think it’s a delicious kiwi tea! Now the hard part is deciding whether to enjoy it tomorrow and finish it right away or hoard that last bit for the ‘perfect occasion’.

I picked it today to pair with another green blend, in case I didn’t like the new one.

Also, I’m so glad VariaTEA sent me the sample, because I never would have bought it for myself. A) It’s a green blend and B) In store is always just smells like grass to me. Thankfully it brews up to taste nothing like grass!

I’m giving my rating a teeny little nudge closer to 100, and adding it to my shopping list.

Just Organic Tea was very kind and sent me some sugar along with my tea samples – however, I unfortunately do not add sugar or typically any sweeteners to my tea so I tried to be creative in finding a way to use this.

What I settled on, was adding about half the amount sent to me to some canned halved pears. Usually sugar added to pears or other canned fruits kinda dissolves into a sort of “glaze”, and this sugar didn’t really dissolve too well – but it did taste delicious, and I have confidence it would be a good sweetener for those who choose to add sugar into their tea.

I’m going to leave it unrated though, because that’s not really what I used it for at all.

Oh, ohhhh! God bless you Keychange for giving me so much of this because it’s beautiful and perfect and just so smooth and amazing and tasty and just great.

The cranberry is so strong and fruity and rich, but not tart – smooth and creamy because of the vanilla and almond. Mmmm! So far, this is the one Harney tea that I feel like I just wouldn’t be able to do without. I think it could be a daily black tea if I didn’t have so many options. Right along with my Monk’s blend, Cranberry Pear and maybe even Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black.

Fantastic black blends.

Packed up some of this for Courtney, and now I’m having some myself. Regrettably, I oversteeped a little bit because I was struggling to get into my email. Every time I try to log in I get redirected to an error page for an entirely different section of Yahoo. Very frustrating considering there are a few places I’d like to apply today.

This is still really good though despite the oversteep. Like burnt caramel and marshmallow goo! I like this so much better than I liked S’mores. So thank you very much VariaTEA – this uses up the last of your sample. And thank you very much Keychange for the rest of yours, because now I can enjoy many more cups!

Slowly working towards a sipdown. I think I only have one, maybe two cups worth of this one, and I wont be sad when it’s gone because this is yet another cup with no licorice/anise and I’m just finding that increasingly disappointing.

This cup is also a touch bitter and the cinnamon is really strong/unpleasant. Bumping my rating down a touch. Bleck.

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample. Yet another DT Mate to check off the list of ones to try, which is always a good thing.

Dry this smells very tart and fruity – not sure if I’d call it “berry” per say, but definitely fruity. Steeped it smells familiar, but not totally sure where from. I have to say, I’m a little disappointed though because I was bracing myself for horrifying mouth puckering tart and instead I taste… Like, a semi tart but also kid of muted hibiscus/berry jumble? Maybe it’s the earthy mate kind of holding this back? But it doesn’t taste anything really like what I was expecting. Also, the aftertaste strongly reminds me of beets. Ew.

Maybe it’s an unfair comparison, but I think McQuarrie’s Rum Cream would be much more fitting of the title “Queen of Tarts”. This is just… No thanks.

I guess I’ll try cold brewing it, but right now I’m a little less than impressed and I’m struggling a lot to get over the beets thing because it’s just so unappealing. I do not want to be drinking a hibiscus/berry/beet juice cocktail.

Also – it took me forever to right this note because I’m incredibly distracted by Season 9 of Bones (just finished the wedding episode), and Teens/Elders/YouTubers React episodes. That is distracting shit right there.

And… THE MAIL IS HERE! My/Tre’s Classic Who books from Carol Who arrived today (I’m especially loving all the tea/Doctor who quotes on the page you printed out), and the tea from Keychange showed up today too. Definitely going to have to make some Boston later today! I’m also happy to report that I’m still under 200 for the time being.

EDIT: More than half of this got dumped.