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I set some of this to cold steep a few days ago, although I’m only getting around to drinking some now. Basically, what had happened was I realized I really wanted a cold, creamy drink – milk or juice or something. Well, we haven’t had milk in the house for a couple of weeks now (which has been all kinds of a pain to me) since it’s Tre’s turn to buy it (amount lots of other things like bread, laundry detergent, cheese, and olive oil that I’ve been living without for a while now: I’m down to my last few pairs of pants and socks) and he’s broke. I’m trying to be a good supportive roommate with patience sinhce I know he has a job now and I just have to wait until his first paycheck: the bulk of which will be going to rent and then the last bit for laundry detergent, milk, and bread…

I decided that a good fix in the mean time would be to set up a ton of stuff to cold brew – it wasn’t an instant fix, but next time I was craving juice I’d have a good alternative! And that happened to be today.

When I set everything up, I used my normal jug of cold water but I was kinda light on the leaf: I used 1 tbsp and 1 tsp for the whole jug when normally I’d use a lot more. This is one of my favourite teas, and I’m only now realizing how quickly I’m burning through it (sadly it’s seasonal and might not even come back next year) so, admittedly, I was being stingy. To compensate I gave this an extra long time to sit and do its thing – about 30 hours.

I’m drinking it now at work and you can’t even tell I was light on the leaf: this is super flavourful! I find that one of the key differences from when you drink this cold and when you drink it hot is that cold it’s very much a sweet pineapple and not a tangy one, and the coconut is much richer and appararent (more apparent than the pineapple), and super creamy. I love this tea both ways the same amount but for slightly different reasons.Today this is tasting like Pineapple Lifesavers or a pineapple milkshake.

I have two mail related things I feel like talking about, but neither are super relevant to anything so feel free to guiltlessly stop reading at this point ;)

First, I almost knocked down a poor little old lady today while at the post office. I was sending out two swap packages – one for VariaTEA and one for akgrowngirl and was admittedly really rushed since I started work in 5 minutes (post office is only 15 ft. or so from my kiosk, but still). After paying for everything I quite quickly rounded the corner and basically crashed into this poor old lady. After apologizing profusely and having her reassure me to, firstly, she was perfectly ok and, secondly, not to feel bad (she hadn’t checked around the corner either) I left and went to work… But damn! I feel really bad :S

The second, is that I HATE working with UPS for delivering my weekly paperwork to head office. They only come every few weeks to bring me stock, and my paperwork is due every Monday so I have to call and arrange a pick up. That’d be fine, but the mall acousits make it nearly impossible to hear someone over the phone or be heard over the phone – and UPS’s pick up service is automated. I had to repeat the tracking number, my address, parcel weight, number of packages, time of pick up and all this other stupid information like ten times because I was struggling to hear this automated voice tell me instructions and because the automated voice was having issues hearing what I was saying. Gah!

Plus side, the UPS guy who comes every week for the pick up is SUPER adorable. He’s just the perfect amount of “man” and “cute/innocent” combined. He reminds me of Dean, Castiel, and Sammandriel (I don’t even know if I spelled that right) combined in the most perfect way… Yeah: you can tell I’m firstly watching too much Supernatural, don’t do enough other than drink tea/work, and definitely don’t have enough in person human contact other than as an employer/salesperson…

But dat smile and dat ass…

Another pet peeve – when people try to ask me questions when I’m RIGHT IN THE FREAKING MIDDLE of ringing someone’s purchase through. It’d piss you off if someone interupted the sales lady/man as they were ringing your stuff through the till so why do it to other people!? And, it’s especially frustrating when I’ve told them, kindly, “I’ll be able to help you out in just a moment” and then they still cut me off mid sentence as I’m ringing stuff in to ask something stupid like “How much are the calendars?”. Christ! They’re not all the same price – and while I know most of the prices off the top of my head I certainly don’t know the price for all 500+ calendars we sell.

Anyway – that’s been my day so far. Knocking down helpless elderly people, frustrating phone calls with UPS, hot UPS pick up men, and stupidly impatient customers. I least I have this nice, smooth iced tea to bring me back into a state of calm and near nirvana – though!

Sad sipdown: but only temporarily, though! I have an ounce of this currently on its way to me as part of the giant Butiki order I put in a few days ago!

I want to thank Lala again for the sample and introduction to Butiki!

This is so good tonight! I’m so happy I have more coming my way. Honestly, I do prefer Watermelon Xylophone (I ordered some of that too, though) but this is nearly as good.

Also, I just put in my first 52Teas order and I’m excited about that too! I flip flopped a little about what to get but decided on:

Pancake Breakfast
Butterscotch Banana
Very Big Hill Dew Honeybush
Cucumber Mango Shou Mei and
Butterbeer

The other ones I debated were Turtle Cheesecake Black Tea (but after reading reviews decided against it), Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha, and the Maple Bacon Black tea.

The Maple Bacon was a hard call for me, honestly. It’s something I’d love to try at least one (such a unique concept) but I doubt I’d like enough to get through a full pack. And, even though it’s vegetarian, I don’t know how well it’d sit with me since I haven’t had bacon (simulated or real) in well over 10 years – which is more than half my lifetime. Yet, it still calls to me “you have to try me!”. Same thing with the Pineapple Bacon Rooibos (though thankfully that’s not in stock so I couldn’t be tempted by it).

Anyway, back to this heavenly cup of tea, my alphagettis (you know you’re immature when you’re immature when you’re having WAY too much fun spelling inappropriate words with the letters or when you had a tough time deciding whether tonight was a “letter” night or a “Spider Man” night, noodle wise), and the yummy brownies baking in my over. For the time being, this is nirvana.

See tasting note here:

http://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/204685#comments

I certainly had fun coming up with a way to list this here on Steepster… I like the analogy of using assorted teas to create some kind of Frankenstein’s Monster of tea.

Side note: I will hunt you down and punch you in the face if you make the mistake of calling the monster itself Frankenstein: Frankenstein is the scientist! It’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine when people mix that up.

Anyway, I’m getting tired of trying to find new ways to use up the leaf I have from my DAVIDsTEA Earl of Lemon, DAVIDsTEA Goji Pop, and my McQuarrie’s Ontario Ice Wine so I figured why not try and kill three birds with one stone and throw some of each leaf into a teaball and steep myself a random mishmash of tea. I fully expected to hate it, but figured it’d use up some of everything so I might as well TRY it and then if I had to dump it I could feel somewhat justified in doing so.

Preparation was kinda tricky: I had to balance the steeping requirements of three different teas. Fortunately, I didn’t care a whole lot so I more so went with simplicities sake. I used a somewhat heaping 1/2 tsp. for each tea – bringing me up to around 1/2 tsp. for the total amount of leaf used.

Temperature wise, I used closer to what would normally be used for the Ontario Ice Wine since it’s the most sensitive to temperature (approx. 80 degrees celsius) – and then I left this to steep in my 10 0z. mug for around 8 minutes (closer to the steep time of Goji Pop). The liquor turned about the same colour as gingerale.

Well, colour me shocked… Because this isn’t so much a “monster” of a tea but a miracle of one. Somehow this has worked out to be DELICIOUS! It’s like the best aspects of each blend somehow are the only present flavours. There’s a gentle sweetness and tartness from the Goji Pop that marries nearly perfectly with the bergamot and light lemon flavours from Earl of Lemon, and then as the tartness fades there are these really gentle berry notes from the Ontario Ice Wine. And somehow the white bases from Earl of Lemon and Ontario Ice Wine work quite nicely together. The aftertaste is a lightly “red berry” kind of fruitiness with very gentle lingering bergamot.

Damn I am a happy camper! I suddenly feel like MAYBE it wont be so hard to drink down the rest of these blends. If someone sold a tea just like this one I’d certainly buy it. It’s gentle but still flavourful and none of the things I greatly hated about each blend come through. There’s also no astringency or bitterness despite this being a long steep time for the white teas – and it feels quite refreshing.

For this FrankTea blend, my rating would be around an 85-88.

Hmmm…

Something definitely went wrong when I made this in the morning. I have no clue what though…

For preparation, I used 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf steeped in 75 degrees Celsius water in my timolino for about 3 minutes. I’ve had a couple cups of this before (this is my third try) and each time I’ve been trying to switch up the brewing method a little bit so I can find the sweet spot on this one (like I did was Raspberry, also from Tea Desire). Today I certainly didn’t find the sweet spot.

I’m drinking this right now and it sort of just tastes like tepid water, with some very light oolong present in the aftertaste. However, light is the most important word used there. How strange. I saved the leaves, so I guess I’ll resteep when I get home and see if I can coax out a bit more flavour.

I’ve been trying to decide whether to restock this or not – but right now I’m definitely leaning towards no.

So close to finishing off the 20g bag I had of this (and then there’s still an unopened 50g bag for the rest of the year) – but not quite yet! I think there’s enough leaf left for a mug or so.

I like this one though! Except the peppercorns, but they’re sort of getting to a point of comfort for me. They’re bugging me a little less each time I drink this. I’ve learned that the very best part of this tea is the first sip: somehow it’s EXTRA creamy in comparison to the rest of the cuppa.

(Also, for prep I made this the same as usual – nothing special today)

Side note: nothing is as jarring as reaching for the thermos you think has your iced White Chocolate Frost in it and instead taking a big swig of piping hot Milky Oolong. Damn that took me by surprise.

I’m getting really excited about Black Friday, and the 12 Days of Christmas swap too (11 teas to try!). I’ll admit, secretly I’m kinda hoping that I get the second day. I have SUCH a good idea for it. Maybe I’ll ask specifically for that one (it appears requests are being taken).

And – gonna ask again because I wasn’t answered yesterday: did 52teas do anything for Black Friday last year and are they expected to do anything this year? I’m trying to decide whether to place my order now (to save out on the risk of a blend I want running out) or whether it’s worth it to wait until Black Friday. One of the blends I want only has like 2 pouches left…

I hate these nasty awful teabags: Lipton is far from a favourite brand of mine, and green tea (especially straight) and I just don’t mix so the combination of the two creates a tea that I want nothing to do with – and yet I have SO many of these teabags because my Grandma saw them in store and thought that it’d be something I would enjoy.

Honestly, I had planned to pawn them off on Robyn or, if she didn’t want them, just chuck them out: but then I cut my gums under my lower lip. All day the cut has been KILLING me and everything I’ve drank has only irritated my already tender and sore gums, and after some browsing online I saw a “home remedy” suggesting that I apply a green tea teabag straight to my gums after steeping a cup with the bag (like normal). I guess the tannins in straight green tea are supposed to help with the pain.

I was sceptical, but I also had a TON of green tea teabags sitting at home that weren’t being used for ANYTHING else so I figured that I might as well try it (what’s the worst that could happen after all?). So, now that I’m home I’ve steeped myself a cup of this tea. I took a few sips of the actual tea, just because it’s been so long since I had it I thought that MAYBE my tastes had changed. Well they haven’t – AT ALL. I spit the tea straight back into the cup and then promptly dumped it down the sink.

The teabag on the other hand went straight into my mouth. It was so hard not to spit it out – SO gross, SO nasty, just no. After about five minutes though of suffering through it I realized, however, that my gums hardly hurt at all! Easily, the pain was half (if not more than that) gone. After ten minutes, I wouldn’t have even known I’d cut my gums at all. Holy crap! I guess Lipton green tea is a miracle cure for sore gums. Now I can’t throw those damn teabags out because I actually have a use for them…

So, I’m not rating this because I have two very conflicting feelings about the tea. Taste wise, I want to compare it to sewage water. No thanks. However, as a home remedy for gum pain I will literally sing this tea’s praises. HELL YES.

Unrelated, does anyone know if 52Teas will be doing anything for Black Friday/Cyber Monday this year? Did they do anything last year? I have an order of about five teas I’d like to get – but if I can get them discounted or something like that I’ll hold off on putting it through. However, if not then I’ll just make my order now so I don’t have to risk one of the blends I want running out.

This was the second tea that I brought with for work. Last time I had it was cold brewed, and I really thoroughly enjoyed it that way (one of the best tisanes I’ve ever had as a cold brew). The only other time I’ve had it hot was in store, so I wanted to see if I could recreate the delicious fruit loop sort of taste that made me fall in love with this blend in the first place.

So for preparation, I used about a tablespoon steeped in my timolino (boiling water) for 10 minutes. At the same time, I was making Cherry Cola & Cake from Della Terra and the two smells were not meshing well, so I was getting a poor idea of how this tea would taste. I’m drinking it now though, and it’s delicious!

It tastes exactly like that first yummy cup I tried in store, and I’m so happy about that. I love when it’s so easy to recreate the flavour of something you’ve had made for you in store because not every location steeps their blends as per the recommendations they use on their packaging. The more I drink this, the more I love it: it’s super refreshing and I’m getting to be able to identify the individual fruits in the blend that come together to make this wonderful Fruit Loops taste: Strawberry, Pineapple, and sweet Red Currants (Tea Desire does currant blends so well).

Also, I’ve been brainstorming for what tea to pick for the 12 Days of Christmas swap here on Steepster – and I think I have ideas for each day except Six Geese-a-laying and Seven Swans-a-swimming. I’ve also been skimming the internet for “home remedies” for sore gums (stupid cut) and one thing I keep seeing it to hold a teabag straight to the sore area (green tea is the suggested tea) – so I’m thinking maybe I’ve finally found a use for all the awful, nasty Lipton green tea bags I have lying around. When I get home I’ll have to test that out!

God Dammit Steepster! Eating my tasting notes while I’m at work… On this stupid work till I can’t copy/paste so there’s no way to save my notes. Plus side? I have plenty of time to rewrite it…

Anyway this morning I went to make my work tea and I saw that the package of this was out on the counter despite my not having it in several days and definitely not bringing it out last night. Maybe Tre pulled it out and made himself a mug? That’d be out of character for him (especially since he hates Cherries) but I guess not totally unbelievable. I did just mail away the last of my Red Velvet Cake (I hated it, he loved it) so I suppose he has to find a replacement tea to drink now.

I decided, though, that why not make this as one of my two work teas? I haven’t had it in a while, and it’d be a good contrast to the other tea I had in mind. So for preparation, I used a level 1 1/2 tsp. in 10 oz. of boiling water for 4 minutes. I also steeped my other work tea (Buddha Bamboo, from Tea Desire) at the same time and the two teas steeping together, both with very strong aromas, created this really, really weird smell.

This was was poured into my water bottle because I figured I MIGHT like this better cold – I seem to have a problem with hot cola flavored things (coke just isn’t supposed to be hot – it’s not comforting and off putting). So, after the nice chilly trip to work this one is pretty cold. I can start sipping at it now!

Taste wise – the cakeyness is REALLY coming through strongly today. Everything else, though, is just a garbled mess where even though I know I’m tasting each listed ingredient the blend is just too busy and overwhelming for my to pin point anything in particular. However, occasionally in every few sips I am getting this very sharp note of cherry (like those cherry coke gummy candies) that bites through the mess of other things going on. However, that tastes fades back into the clusterfuck of other things going on just as quickly as it emerges.

Halfway relevant to this tea drinking experience, when I was making my tea this morning I forgot that I had cut open my gums under my lower lip – and each sip I take is irritating the cut and my poor, swollen, and tender mouth. I doubt the Buddha Bamboo is going to be much nicer on the mouth (but maybe on the taste buds) later today either. Ow :(

And, totally not related but on a more positive note, I’m happy to note that my mall seems to have invested in a few more holiday CDs (I’m convinced they were looping one, maybe two, with lyrics and then another one of all instrumental music). Maybe that’s because ‘Santa’ is coming to the mall today (his first day all the way until Dec. 23rd) and they wanted some variety and ‘newer’ music (what they’ve been playing is all old timey type of carols) for all the children and younger parents who’ll be in the mall.

Something else neat? When he shows up today he’ll be bringing his reindeer. That’s right – you heard me. There will be live reindeer in the mall today for a couple hours (though not 12, just four).

I don’t appear to be in much of a mood to write long tasting notes this evening, but oh well. I think maybe these shorter notes are a refreshing switch up from the novella like ones I usually write.

For preparation, I steeped a level teaspoon in about 10 oz. of water for five/six minutes (somewhere around there, I was only loosely keeping track). Despite being slightly underleafed for the amount of liquid used, this is still very yummy. What I’m finding is that by underleafing the mint is more mild, which normally would bug me because I love strong mint flavours – except in this case the mild mint flavour means I can taste the caramel a lot stronger and caramel is also one of my favourite flavours (enough so that I’m willing to compromise on the mint).

It’s been a while since I played Pokemon Y (busy work schedule and all) so I think I’m gonna spend some time doing that. If I remember correctly I left off right before catching Yvetal…

(PS. I just had mozza sticks with a marinara sauce on holy butts did it taste good)