16396 Tasting Notes
Had this one this morning at work as a hot tea but double the leaf that’s normally used for a hot tea; I didn’t get much sleep at all last night and I really, really needed the caffeine but wasn’t feeling an iced tea. Flavour wise, doubling the leaf didn’t actually hurt the taste that much though – it was a very intense, pretty sweet tangy strawberry lemonade with undertones of sweet, earthy mate and raspberries. Just a little bit tart.
Trigger Warning: Discussion of Animal Death Below
I debated whether or not I was going to write about this or not, but Steepster has always been a place for me where I’ve felt comfortable talking about pretty well anything and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want some community support right now…
My guinea pig Eilert died yesterday quite suddenly and traumatically. He’d been somewhat sick for a while now and had been losing weight at a very noticeable rate along with not eating as much as he usually did. We had plans to take him to the vet at the end of the week to see what could be the reason he was losing the weight/not eating.
Last night I had him on my lap, on my bed and was trying to coax him into eating a baby carrot – his favourite treat. He wasn’t eating it, so I started rubbing his back to try and soothe him at the very least. Without warning he just sort of freaking and jumped from my arms towards the edge of the bed, which was right next to a bookshelf. He hit the bookshelf head on quite hard, and almost immediately started gasping for air.
I immediately picked him up and ran upstairs, calling out to my mom that we needed to get him to the vet immediately because something wasn’t right. The entire time he was cradled in my arms desperately gasping for air, not making any noise. He died in my arms on the drive to the vet. We’re having him cremated and will bury him in the Spring when the ground has thawed out.
It looks like he snapped something in his neck upon impact.
I don’t really know what I’m looking for right now; but I feel awful. I can’t help but feel like I did something to cause this – if I hadn’t tried to make him eat, and if I hadn’t obviously pet him in a way he didn’t like, and if I had better reflexes, if we had left the house sooner…
I know that’s probably the wrong way to think about things, but I can’t help it. And I can’t get the feeling of his small, warm body going limp out of my head. And I can’t sleep.
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
From earlier in the week.
I’ve been on a pretty hard core Bob’s Burgers binge – Netflix just added the series and it’s basically sucked up all of my free time. I made a mug of this one to sip on while watching some of the episodes, and it ended up getting sipped down pretty mindlessly without much observation to it. Kind of malty, and the same sort of rye/cumin/cinnamon/wood notes as normal I guess – I don’t know, it was another cup.
Not a stand out one, obviously, but not a bad one either. Just liquid warmth to enjoy with a good TV show…
So, funny story…
I generally bring little premeasured bags of tea with me to work to drink there, and the other night I had a few left over still on my way out at the end of the night; this one and W2T’s Little Red. I decided to make a cup of Little Red on the way out, and I just dumped the tea in a sachet, poured the water in a cup along with some milk and away I went.
It wasn’t until I started sipping on the steeping tea that I realized something was really weird. Why did the Little Red taste so incredibly buttery and floral? I could MAYBE see a touch of buttery sort of creaminess coming through because of the milk but not to the extent I was experiencing. It was really weird. Of course, I was on the bus at this point so I couldn’t exactly pop the lid off and inspect the tea leaf up close so I just sort of adjusted my expectations for the cup and kept drinking.
Later when I got home I went to unpack my work bag and I noticed the premeasured bag of Little Red still in it. Yup; 100% swapped the tea bags without realizing it and steeped this one up using the parameters I’d have used for Little Red. It explained SO MUCH of the weirdness though…
Early evening tea.
Hmm, not enjoying this one nearly as much as I did the first time I tried it. It’s still a nice mixed berry soft or flavour all around, with some emphasis on the blueberry and cranberry. Actually, maybe more so on the cranberry? There’s a bit of crisp tartness on the top of the sip that I don’t think I experienced last time. The big change that isn’t working for me isn’t the cranberry though; it’s that overall the cup has quite a bit more astringency and I don’t like that it’s not as sweet and smooth. A little bit of astringency I can handle, especially with things with cranberry in them, but this is just taking over my mouth and it’s not the best sensation.
I mean, it’s still a very nice tea overall but if my next cup leans more towards this experience than the first I think I’ll have to bring my rating down and blame the first cup either on ‘new tea excitement’ or just call it a fluke overall.
Sipdown (465)!
Very, very happy to see that Steepster is back up and running!
M Mack very kindly sent along a few extra samples with the teas I purchased from her and this was one of them. I don’t know much about it though because the bulk of the packaging wasn’t in English except for the name.
I was hopeful that I’d like it – but brewed up I’m pretty sure that this was a green tea, and not the most pleasant one. It had a strong buttery grass sort of overarching flavour that I wasn’t feeling and the mango was really artificial tasted. Also buttered mango shouldn’t be a thing. Happy to have tried it though, and still keeping my hopes up for the other sample sent along to me!
Also, always happy to try something new in general.
Ditto on Steepster being back up. I was sort of nervous all day. Who knew logging teas had become such an important part of my day?
YES! I was feeling more than a little stressed as a result of its absence.
All of us were worried.
I wondered whether it had actually gone. You know, for good. Glad it’s back!
Another from M Mack’s stash sale!
I’ve tried this one before, but only once and we get a lot of people in the store looking for it/sad its been retired so I’ve been interested in revisiting it for a while to see what the fuss is about and revaluate. This stash sale let me do that, so I happily snatched up what she was selling.
Today I iced it because that’s how I’ve heard so many customers say it was most enjoyable. I guess actual ginger beer is something you would generally drink cold anyway, so makes sense. It genuinely does remind me of a less sweetened sort of ginger ale kind of flavour, and I guess that’s essentially what ginger beer is? I don’t love ginger that much personally, and when I am into it it’s generally when it’s paired with something sweet or fruity. I get some fruit from the apple and raisin so I’m like half satisfied overall but I definitely want more of a sweeter ginger ale kind of flavour overall. I could probably achieve that with agave, I’d just rather not sweeten this if I didn’t have to.
Yeah, it’s not bad overall – for a ginger tea and as someone who isn’t normally into that flavour it’s completely drinkable and overall pleasant; it’s just not blowing my mind the same way it has for the people who come back to the store frantically searching for more of it. I’m glad I revisited it though; from a work perspective it’s always good to have familiarity with the blends we don’t carry anymore so I can offer the best possible replacement when people come looking for a top up we’re not able to give.
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Sipdown (465)!
The tea I bought from M Mack’s stash sale showed up today, so I’m revelling in having some retired teas back in my cupboard – in particular the Tropicalia!
This one was just a little ‘bonus’ tea that she thoughtfully tossed in for me; and it was actually the perfect sample because I’ve been craving Grape Freeze so intensely lately. It was very, very good timing for a cup of it to just show up in my mailbox and surprise me!
It’s not nearly as intensely grape flavoured as I’ve been remembering it and craving, but it is very smooth and it does still pack a pretty good flavour punch for being so old. It’s a mix of like grape pixie sticks/candy and a more natural raisin-y grape with very soft grassy undertones. I think MUCH of the green tea base flavour has diminished over time though; but I’m far from the person to complain about that given my general distaste for green tea. It was a REALLY satisfying cup overall; and really scratched that grape craving I’ve been nursing for so long.
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Cold Brew Sipdown (458)!
This is a really sad sipdown! However I think I did this tea justice and gave it a good send off; with plenty of snacks and sipped during the tense moments of tonight’s new episode of Marvel’s Runaways – which I have to say was DEFINITELY the best episode yet. I’m super ready for the next one.
Maybe it’s because I was chowing down on some buttery popcorn but I definitely got those buttery banana bread vibes that I experienced last time again with this brew. Not a complaint; there’s always room for more banana pastry/baking themed teas in my life. In fact, I’d probably sell at least a portion of my soul to Anne if she felt inclined to make a Banana Cream Pie themed white, black, or honeybush tea. winkwink
I’d also settle for a reblend of this though because it’s probably the best flavoured green tea that I throughout all of 2017 – which is high praise for someone who doesn’t like green tea that much. I feel like I have to bump up my rating for this one! It’s just…
Flawless.
With agave and milk, and gleefully sipped on during the bus ride home.
I’ve definitely been in the mood for a nuttier teas all day, and this really hit the spot! A good mix of walnut, almond, and pistachio notes with a solid foundation of warming spices (cardamom, cinnamon, allspice) and sweet, lightly fruity undertones of apple and papaya. As much as I got, and appreciated, the nutty notes and creaminess of the milk I was mostly reminded of apple spice cake while drinking this. You know, the kind of spice cake that has really good apple puree/applesauce (the kind made from scratch) mixed into it! Big, thick slabs of moist cake like your Grandma bakes…
I think it was the agave; it really drew out the sweetness of the apple and made it pop in a way that was really lovely. Apple and cinnamon is such a dangerous combo when done well.
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
It wasn’t something you did. You cared enough to try and feed him. That care is just your love for its well being as you were making an attempt for his well being.
I am so, so sorry for your loss. I understand how you’re feeling, but you can’t blame yourself – you cared enough to try and help, and that can’t be wrong.
Poor, poor thing. I am sorry for your loss, Ms. Strange. It is not your fault that Eilert died. Be very kind to yourself, Ms. Strange.
Oh, I am so sorry! That second guessing is perfectly normal, and feel awful. I agree with the others, its not your fault. Please be gentle with yourself, and you have all my sympathy.
I’m so sorry to hear about Eilert! It is so hard to lose our animal family members, and you did all you could to help him. Peace to you.
I’m so sorry to hear about your fur-baby. Guilt is a normal part of the grief process; it is completely unfounded, but there is nothing unusual about feeling it, either. Relax with cuppas that sooth you and work through that grief and now you have plenty of fellow tea-lovers sending you positive energy in your hard time right now.
Aw, I’m sorry about your loss but you did the best you could. One of the reasons I haven’t owned a pet in a long time is knowing it will eventually go and the sadness that comes with it.