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Ouch, I just slammed my thumb in between the register drawer and till. In front of a customer too, which was sort of embarrasing (he was very good looking and I was relatively attracted to him).

My preperation of this today was maybe a little haphazard and sloppy, but oh well. I used 1 1/2 tsp. steeping in 6 oz. of boiling water for five minutes, which went fine and was fairly normal. I then realized I didn’t have time before I was supposed to leave to make a second cup to pour into my water bottle so instead of steeping another cup I just poured a few ounces of hot water into the water bottle and then the cup of brewed tea. So I’m thinking this might be fairly watered down today, and truthfully I have no clue how many ounces of additional water I poured in.

I’m drinking this now and it’s at about room temperature. It smells intoxicatingly juicy and nummy, and taste wise it’s not half bad. I don’t know how this would have worked out, but the pear seems to have been watered down and while it smells juicy it’s not quite as flavourful as usual (not surprising). However, the black tea base is just as present as usual. With the way the pear is watered down it tastes kind of perfumey and it’s not sitting too well though. Actually, my stomach actually feels like it’s doing an acrobatics routine.

So, the taste of this one is just kind of adequate, but it’s leaving my sotmach feeling all flippy in a bad way. Dang, this just isn’t Perfect Pear’s day (although I’m thinking it’s my fault because of the sloppy brewing method).

Also, this is tasting note #199! So now I need to be really choosey about what I drink for my 200th tasting note. I feel like it should be fairly special.

Wow – I can’t believe the rating on this is so low. Last time I looked it was something in the seventies, and now fifty four!? Jeez… I guess a lot of people are anti licorice root. Alas, I still love this one (and considering the low rating and generally negative reception I’m thinking this wont be returning so I’m glad I’ve stocked up).

Anyway, this morning I decided I was in a black tea mood and I needed something breakfasty because, well, the tea was going to be my breakfast (although black tea itself is just good breakfast tea in general). Despite my determination to drink some of my lovely black teas today, I kept coming back to this one. My remembering this actually does have black tea in it and then opening my tin of Pumpkin Chai and realizing it wasn’t as full as I’d imagined was enough to justify making this for work.

For prep, I used a 1/2 tbsp. steeped in my timolino for five minutes (with boiling water). I was making Perfect Pear from Della Terra at the same time (the other tea I’ve brought to work today) but the smell of this one steeping completely overshadowed the smell of the Perfect Pear. My last mug of this was a resteep tasting primarily of graham crackers but this one smells boldly like chocolate and hazelnuts with sweet licorice in the background. Yum!

I’ve been stealing small sips over the last few hours because this is still really hot and a big sip would burn my tongue, but it’s very nummy and the chocolatey licorice aftertaste lingers long enough that I’m not in any rush to chug back this super hot liquid Nutella beverage. I’m glad I made this my breakfast tea choice: it’s almost as good as Nutella smeared toast (which I might have had instead if we actually had bread in the house). Oh well.

I have a swap waiting to be sent out tomorrow, so that’s something to look forward to. I’ll be getting rid of the rest of my tin of Red Velvet Cake that I wasn’t so fond of. I actually considered one last cup of it this morning instead of this, sort of as a “final goodbye” or whatever. But no thanks – I’ll pass. I hope its new home is more welcoming to it than my home was. Anyway, that’s removed from my cupboard now and I’ve got more tin space now! I think I’ll fill the tin with some Cranberry Pear, since I’m nearly out of that and definitely want more. Damn, when am I going to find time to make a DAVIDsTEA run inbetween all this work? Better yet – when will I find time to head to the bank and cash the paychecdk I’ll be getting on Tuesday. Plus buying groceries (cheese and crackers just isn’t cutting it) and doing dishes… Ick, life.

I also have dinner tonight with my Aunt Nancy (the only family I have living in town with me). Honestly, I’m kind of impartial towards her – we’re not super close and she wasn’t a large part of my childhood growing up. However, it IS a hot cooked meal that I don’t have to prepare or worry about doing the dishes for (that’s really selfish of me to think, but I don’t greatly care right now). Also, she’s a big tea drinker (the Steepster kind of tea drinker, not the “I have three different kinds of teabags and one is cherry: I’m crazy experimentive with my tea” kind of tea drinker) so that’s one thing we DO have in common. Maybe I’ll bring her 25g or so of one of the tea I have which I don’t plan to restock/desperately want to get rid of. That’s a nice balance between lovely gesture for making me food and selfishly clearing out my stash – right?

…And I just realized that I’m pretty heavily rambling now and this note no longer has much going on in the way of relevant information or critique regarding this tea so I think I’ll stop now. Oops.

From my swap with VariaTEA! It had been on my Christmas/sample list, so she threw some in for me. Today at work while I was, covertly, on Steepster I realized I’d been bulking up on the fruity teas – so this seemed like a nice switch up, plus an excellent relaxation tea too.

I tried my best to follow the steeping instructions left to me by VariaTEA, but in my quest to find something (ANYTHING) to eat as a MEAL in this household (not just spoonfuls of peanut butter like I’ve been doing for breakfast) that didn’t require saucepans/frying pans for cooking, bowls, forks, spoons, a strainer, grated anything, and a few other things (basically none of my dishes are done) I WAY lost track of time and frankly have no idea how long this steeped (at least 7 or 8 minutes). Otherwise everything else was followed (1 1/2 tsp. for 8 oz. steeped in boiling water). As for supper, I went with crackers with melted on cheese. Not exactly gourmet but better than the mall food I’ve been living on (in the last three days the only things I’ve eaten are A&W hashbrowns, chocolate milk, baby carrots, spoonfuls of peanut butter, cookie dough morsels, boba balls, and tea).

Dry leaf for this smells heavenly. I’m lost in the creamy and strong smell of the coconut with the soothing lavender. I’m pleased that these smells carry through into the steeped smell, albeit a tad bit milder. In eating my not so fancy supper, I let this sit a few minutes – so now that I’m about to drink it it’s a little cooler.

First taste, and I’m getting a wave of coconut followed by soft gentle lavender. The coconut is reminding me of when I was like seven and I used to sneak into my mom’s baking cabinet. I’d steal greedy little handfuls of things like chocolate chips or coconut shavings. Right now, I’m reminded of the coconut shavings. The lavender is nice and gentle, but I’m finding that in the aftertaste it’s sitting in a slightly less pleasant way, practically right on that line between yummy natural lavender done in all the right ways and perfumey kind of lavender. The coconut also present in the aftertaste saves it though, and keep the lavender from tasting bad.

I’ll be honest, I had to go back and reread the ingredients: I keep randomly getting little tiny inklings of licorice in the blend – nothing strong, just very brief notes in the very forefront of the sip as the liquor just hits your tongue. And then ‘poof’, gone. Hmmm. Not bad at all, just interesting. As for the rooibos base, it’s still present (I don’t mind rooibos though, so that’s not a bad thing) in an average/mild way in the body of the sip. It’s not buried under the coconut or cornflower or lavender or which ever, but it’s also not nearly as noticeable. I think the flavour notes of the rooibos and the other ingredients are ‘playing nicely’ together.

If there’s one thing I want from this tea that I’m not getting, it would be just a touch more creaminess. I’m sure a splash of milk or cream would fix that pretty quickly, but I don’t like to have to add things to tea: I want to enjoy my tea straight and then have the option to add things to play around with it and makes things interesting: it shouldn’t be a requirement to have things added for a cup to be bearable (not that I’m saying this is unbearable – it’s actually rather delicious).

Damn! Now I want to pick more of this up but as it’s on my Christmas list I can’t do that since I might receive some from family… Thanks for the sample though, VariaTEA! This was awesome. I’m glad I have enough left for another cup, although I’ll have to wait for the perfect time to use it up since I wont be getting any of this until after Christmas (either as a gift or if not, I’m going out and buying myself some).

Mmm! It’s been a while since I had this hot – and I’m really enjoying it. I mean, this is still pretty incredible cold; drinking it that way makes it almost juice like. Still – I missed this as a hot beverage. It seems a little less earthy tasting, and more like sweet tropical orange goodness. Quite tangy, if you will.

For prep, I used 2 tsp. steeped in my timolino for six minutes (with boiling water). It left the kitchen smelling HEAVENLY, which is good because the sinking is spilling over with disgusting and nasty dishes that I’m putting off washing (not gonna lie, I think I saw something molding in one of the bowls). I REALLY need a day off to not only catch up on domestic duties but just to rest and sleep. The fact I can hear my bones cracking every time I turn my neck and and my fingers and forearms and almost consistantly throbbing from lifting and moving around so much stock is NOT a good thing.

Finally, I’m thinking I should be adding denture tablets to my shopping list. For the last few teas I’ve made in my timolino there’s been an unexplained creamy white chocolate taste – and I’m thinking it MUST be some lingering flavour from another blend (like the DAVIDsTEA White Chocolate Frost I have). So, time to REALLY clean this thermos out. This lingering flavour is messing with me.

Two fruity teas today, though… I’m thinking if I have the energy after work when I get home I’m gonna crack open the sample of Jessie’s Tea that VariaTEA sent me: I could use some coconut and some calming tea! Really, I could use a day off (I’m sick of borderline pervy seniors and spoiled rotten three years olds who throw tempertantrums at my kiosk) – but that’s not gonna happen for at least another week.

Ooh! I’m on Steepster at work! Such a badass :P

Anyway, this is gonna be super helpful for writing tasting notes while I drink my work teas instead of making notes while at work and then having to type everything out at home after work when I’m already super exhausted. Actually, this set up would be perfect if only the work till had sound (for watching TV at work when it’s slow).

Anyway, I made a 6 oz. cup of this steeped with 1 1/2 tsp. in 80 degree water for 2 minutes(ish). The colour of the liquor was daker than usual, which I found out. I then steeped a half cup (around 3 to 4 oz) with the same leaves, for the same steep time in the same temp. of water. Both cups were poured into my waterbottle and allowed to cool to room temperature – and are now being sipped away at.

Today, the tea itself is average in comparrison to other cups I’ve enjoyed of this blend: it’s consistantly well balanced between the flavour notes, and tastes delicious. What’s remarable is that I’ve discovered the perfect food to eat with this tea! There’s one of those fancy shamncy serve yourself icecream/yogurt places that charges by weight right next to my kiosk (like, 3 feet away) and I’;ve discovered that it’s rather affordable to buy a full cup of boba balls (these yummy fruit balls filled with sweet fruit juice) and cookie dough morsels (and skip the icecream/yogurt) – so I’ve been doing that for the last few days and just popping a cookie dough morsel and boba ball in my mouth between transactions to stave off hunger (and also because they’re very yummy).

So, today I’m enjoying a cup of cookie dough and green apple boba balls, along with this tea. And I can’t explain it – but everything is meshing together really nicely. You wouldn’t think it, but chocolate chip cookie dough, sweet green apple (not tangy or sour), strawberry, spearmint, ginger, and green tea all apparently go together quite nicely.

I guess I’ve been working two hours now, and it’s felt like maybe 20 minutes? So good day so far. And, if I get really sluggish the second tea I brought with today is a Mate so hopefully that’ll be helpful.

This was a surprise blend that VariaTEA added into our swap. It’s also the first one out of the swap teas that I’m trying. Partially that’s because it seemed like it’d be a forgiving blend to steep for work this morning (being fruit/rooibos primarily) since I had a low level of energy/patience for brewing something finnicky. Partially it’s because I have such limited Teavana experience what with there not being a local store or enough blends on their site that I have a deep enough interest in to place an online order (only Teavana blend I’ve tried is Chocolate Banana Foster). And then the last reason I’m trying it first is because just a few days ago I remarked about how whenever I’m craving David’s Blueberry Jam I’m also always craving David’s Tropicalia (and vice versa); I had then posed the question “what if I mixed the two blends together to satisfy both cravings?”. Well… This is SORTA like doing that, at least in the way of mixing pineapple and blueberry (still wondering why I associate Blueberry Jam and Tropicalia with each other, though).

Also, I guess I’m curious about what makes the pineapple “kona” pineapple other than it being grown in that area of Hawaii – but is there really a taste difference? Whenever I hear “Kona” my automatic association is Kona Coffee, which is the only kind of coffee I still drink (and only when I’m visiting my Dad). And, I’ve had some really good white chocolate coated Kona coffee beans. Yum! And also, damn! Now I want a white and milk chocolate kona coffee tea… Whole Kona coffee beans, white chocolate and milk chocolate curls, a full bodied black base; oh that’d be heaven.

Anyway, for prep I mostly followed the instructions that VariaTEA gave me with the exception of the leaf amount. Since I was making this in my Timolino I used 2 tsp. instead of 1 1/2 tsp. The water was still boiling though, and it still steeped for 6 minutes. The smell was, well, interesting to say the least. It was neither pleasant or overwhelmingly unpleasant either. The pineapple and blueberry kind of stunk together and smelled very sour and artificial, and it kind of left my stomach feeling unsettled. There was also the more subtle creamy smell in the background though, and that aspect smelled really good. These two contradicting smells didn’t mesh well at all though. The liquor was a really pretty colour too: kinda red/purple (prettier than Blueberry Jam).

I guess I should note that at the time of drinking this I hadn’t seen the ingredients list (I’m writing now based on notes I made at work). Anyway, first few sips were interesting and quite conflicting. Initial taste was the same kind of rich creamy sort of thing I was getting from the smell of it steeping. Sorta vanilla, sorta creamy chocolate. Honestly, I was most reminded of white chocolate or those Hershey’s Cookies and Cream chocolate bars. I don’t recall seeing anything remotely chocolatey in the dry leaf though. Maybe it’s a placebo thing from thinking about chocolate coated Kona coffee beans.

After that creamy taste though, there’s this rush and really funky, in a negative way, blueberry. It’s like really artificial blueberry candy that’s supposed to be sour but instead just tastes like ass. And this nasty, sour pineapple/blueberry, and if I had to guess, orange flavour combo is lingering in the aftertaste in all the wrong ways. Although, to be fair I’m SUPER picky about nearly anything blueberry. I hate the texture of real blueberries so wont eat them, and I hate 95% of all artificial blueberry stuff and wont eat that either.

Anyway, I choked down the rest of the timolino worth of this because I was at work and I was really thirsty, and I didn’t want to shell out the money to buy a drink. I think it says a lot that I enjoyed drinking the last bottle of cold steeped Goji Pop more than I liked drinking this. I don’t think I’m gonna be in a rush to drink the last cup worth of the sample of this(sorry VariaTEA). It’ll get drunk eventually though or passed on to Robyn where it’ll likely be much more appreciated. Also, I’m glad to at least have partially answered my question about what Blueberry Jam and Tropicalia would taste like together: probably not good.

EDIT:

Just looked at the ingredients (and there are a lot of them). Hmm, I guess it could be a lot of things contributing to my opinion of this tea. Firstly, this was a green rooibos blend (my first, other than Birthday Cake which is mixed) so maybe it’s something to do with that?

Looks like I was right about there being some orange stuff going on (orange blossoms, in this case). I’ve had other things with both blueberry and orange and I personally don’t think they’re flavours that work too well together. Mallow blossoms makes sense too: I can see how I was tasting that. I actually really like mallow blossoms in most things.

Oh! Oh… Raisins! ICK YUCK NO THANKS. I can’t stand raisons. Now I can see why this is something I had never considered to buy for myself: I go out of my way to avoid blends (or food in general) containing raisins. Also, still no idea what my mystery creamy white chocolate flavour was.

Ow :(

Everytime I move, even if it’s only a little, I can either feel or hear my bones crack, and I’m so sore. I did the math this morning, and in the last 48 hours I’ve worked an hour short of 24 hours. That’s not counting all the work I’ve been doing at home either (making the schedule for example).

On the plus side, today I finally got my deposit keys from the bank (so we’re not keeping hundreds of dollars of profits in really shifty and not so secure places), the broken register was replaced with a new one, and after over a month of trying to figure it out – I finally figured how to bypass the internet restrictions (till/computer is set up to ONLY allow the company website)! Yay for going on Steepster and Tumblr at work (even if the connection is really slow)! So, in that regard I’m gonna call it a good work day. I’m still relieved to be home, though.

Made a cup of this in the morning to take to work, and unfortunately this was a sip down. For preparation, I steeped the last of the sample I had (barely 1/2 tbsp.) of this (thanks again, Lala, I loved this one) for two minutes. I wish I could say I finished this one off and it tasted super awesome mega level good, but sadly it didn’t. I’m thinking that water I used was maybe a bit too hot and I burned my leaves because while I had yummy watermelon juice taste I also had a bitter aftertaste and this ‘lightly burnt sugar’ taste that was super distracting. But even with that considered, this tea is still so good that brewed poorly it tops some teas I’ve tried that were brewed perfectly.

Can’t wait to put in the Butiki order I’ve been holding back on for what seems like ages so I can get more of this.

So, my drive to use up the last of this has sort of resulted in my being extra creative in using up the leaf. Anyway, I cold steeped a jog of this (about 16 hours cold steep) using somewhere like 4 tbsp. of leaf. After straining it this morning, I got a dark, DEEP blood red liquor that smelled a good combination of tart and melony.

I brought a timolino of this the work with me today – mostly because I felt hungover with no energy (wasn’t actually hungover though, just exhausted and sore from a late night of stocking and merchandising followed by an early morning; ergo little sleep) and couldn’t bring myself to actually steep anything and pay attention to steep time/temperature.

… Actually, I just realized that I haven’t made tea all day. The two teas I’ve had today were prepared yesterday. Ick. That’s awful. Now I kinda want to force myself to go steep one of my swap teas. I don’t think I have the energy, though. Urghhhh.

Drinking this today at work though, it tasted more like a melony fruit punch/juice that anything else. Mostly I like cold steeping fruit blends BECAUSE they’re like watered down juices (which is much better than overly strong and sugary juice). So what I’m saying is, with this I didn’t get that “light juice” effect: I got full on sugary sweet juice. To be honest, it wasn’t too bad. It just wasn’t that awesome or spectacular either (best part was that the melon taste was really present). I think MAYBE I could love this tea if I found a balance between it being too weak or two strong but I’m almost finished with my 100g tin of it and that’s just NOT happening. And with all the ways I’m made it in an attempt to use it up, I’ve found several where it was “ok” and I liked it, instead of hating it, but not a single one where I loved it…

I still have another cup or two of this cold steeped in the fridge, so I guess I’ll either feed it to Tre or drink it myself when I’m in the mood for something really strong and “sugary juice” flavoured…

Urgh. I just got home from day #1 of my store opening. All things considered, it went really well. We had a few hiccups, like the fact we don’t have a deposit key yet (so our cash profit is being kept in a fairly shifty and not all that secure place) and the fact our register seems to be broken and the cash drawer does not automatically open after each sale (so we can give back change), but all in all it could have gone MUCH worse.

That said, it was a very long day for me (12h 30m shift) – and most of my body aches. I’m severely slacking off on household chores/duties right now, too. It’s my turn to buy eggs and do the dishes but I’m putting off both of these things as long as humanely possible. I just have NO time or energy. I really should do the dishes though… The pile of dishes is now overflowing from the sink which is not good and doesn’t do much to make the house seem more relaxing. Maybe if I can hold off on doing them another 5 days until payday I can pay Tre to do them. God, I’m an awful roommate right now (but at least I have rent money).

A plus, my swap from VariaTEA came today! My landlord was the one to receive it, and he gave it to me when I got in after work. He commented that it smelled really good, like chocolate. And he was correct! The Read My Lips in the package smells VERY strong. I’m so excited to try them all (especially since VariaTEA snuck in an extra tea I wasn’t expecting) but I just have no energy to make tea right now. I’m thinking that at least one of them is going to come with me to work tomorrow though.

So with this tea, I actually prepared it last night for merchandising, but didn’t end up drinking it (I had a full timolino of Salted Caramel and had that instead). So it wasn’t exactly “fresh” when I had it at work today. However, it was still really good. It’s very sweet and rich in molasses flavour and reminds me of yummy ginger snaps (I guess I should note I drank this cold). I had neutral feelings at the start of my first time drinking this, and by the end of my timolino it had grown on me quite a bit. Well, same goes for drinking this today. As a cold tea I started off thinking “Hmm, this is ok…” and went to thinking “Wow! This is really good!”. I honestly think I’m going to be picking up a tin of this before the collection leaves. This one and Choconut Oolong are keepers for me – and White Chocolate Frost is something I want a little bit more of (but not a whole tin).

I’m trying to remember how I prepared this, and I think it was a heaping 1/2 tbsp. steeping in boiling water for 7 minutes, resteeped the exact same way with both cups poured off into my water bottle. Very yummy – hot or cold.

Set up last night went pretty well: we managed to get everything unpacked (I was worried I might have a bit of unpacking this morning), so that was a huge plus. And, I finally met my 2nd employee. She’s really nice – and I can see that she’s hard working, but she’s also partially deaf and there’s already a bit of a language gap (her first language is Portuguese) so that’s putting up a huge communication barrier.

I interview more people later today, so hopefully that’ll work out and I’ll get another employee or two.

I made two thermoses of tea last night for merchandising: a timolino of this one and my water bottle filled with Gingerbread. I only ended up drinking this, though. To be honest, I had a lot on my mind and wasn’t really making concise tasting notes or paying a lot of attention to what I was drinking. I do remember thinking that this was rather weak, though. I’m pretty sure my brewing parameters were a 1/2 tbsp. steeped in boiling water for 4 minutes – but maybe it actually got less steeping time than that? Or just needed more leaf because it was in a timolino. Oh well.

Other than being weak, I don’t recall it being unpleasant.