Roswell Strange Send Message

Cracked open the 30g package of this that I bought for myself; basic grade, distinctive level flavouring. To field test it 1/2 tsp. was whisked into a cup of cold milk and, honestly, it was really rather unremarkable. That’s maybe a touch foreboding/worrisome. Hopefully it was just an off cup and the whole 30g wont be like that…

Sipdown (123/130)!

Thank you Cameron B. for the sample! I’ve only had one other Ginseng Oolong prior to this one, so I was definitely excited about the opportunity to try another one and compare. Additionally, I believe this is my first Simple Loose Leaf blend, so that’s kinda exciting too.

This was prepped in my timolino and steeped very carefully; I did not want to burn the leaves. At work, I shared some of this with Bobbi and she made a face; not her cup of tea I suppose (awful pun somewhat intended). Personally, I didn’t think it was awful. Certainly it was drinkable; however somewhat to my surprise I think I liked the DT version better – that one just seems like it was more flavourful overall.

And additionally, I think this one took advantage of a green base oolong, and I’m not so heavily a green tea or green oolong person, so I suppose that contributed to not enjoying this as much. I mean, the ginseng was sweet, natural and relatively woody and that was good – but the base just wasn’t as agreeable to me.

Oh well. I’m still glad for the comparison, and like I said this was not bad; just not as good.

Cold Brew in my new water bottle!

I didn’t expect this to be anywhere near as good cold brewed as it actually was; I just wanted to use up the leaf, and I thought that at the very least I’d get some nice peppermint black tea water. In reality, I think this was better cold brewed than it is hot! It was like drinking creamy, smooth mint chocolate chip icecream; all three main flavours were UBER present.

Mint? Check. Chocolate? Check. Vanilla? Very Check.

And, I played a fun “guessing game” with Bobbie at work! I poured her a small cup of this one cold brewed and had her guess what was in it. She got all three ingredients and the base tea correct! Just shows that A) she’s learning and B) this was SUPER on point! Mwah ha ha.

So I brought a tsp. of this in a little baggy to work with the goal in mind of stopping at Subway on my break and buying several bottles of their Vanilla Milk so I could drink this one at work in vanilla milk and then take some bottles home for later use. I’ve been dreaming about this one in vanilla milk. Mmm!

Sad news though: Apparently I have bought all of my local Subway’s vanilla milk and now they need to reorder/restock. So I guess I have to wait a while. So I settled, and I got a bottle of plain milk (because I didn’t see this one and chocolate milk going well), and I regret settling. This just felt so… flat. There was no “wow” factor, just sorta dull pear. Wah wah wah.

So now I know; if I’m gonna enjoy this one in milk it’s gotta be vanilla milk! Otherwise, we’re sticking to pear matcha soda; gotta love that sparkling pear soda.

Apparently I didn’t rate this the last time I had it; not really so sure why but I’ll do that this time around!

When I made my mug of this I was kinda in a “meh, this’ll do” mood in regard to picking out this tea; I knew I wanted rooibos, but I wasn’t sold on this particular blend. However, it ended up being delicious and very satisfying. The orange was very, very juicy and made my whole mouth sorta salivate (as sorta gross as that is to share?). I felt like the orange flavour kinda penetrated every surface of my mouth. And then, the orange was complimented by a vaguely generic nut flavour; although I think I can somewhat confidently say it was slightly more specific to Pistachio – just from the sweetness of it. Next time I have this I’ll have to look specifically for that pistachio flavour; this time around I was more fixated on the orange. I guess there’s also almond in this one and I suppose that could also contribute a sweeter nut flavour; you know, Amaretto and Marzipan are sweet almondy nut thingers (words; what are they)…

As for the spice (as always, my biggest concern) it was very light handed and I more so just picked up a “cinnamon sugar” lightness and sweetness on the end of the sip with some faint coriander. On the whole I think that just contributed to the warmth and comforting quality of the whole cup, and made the orange even juicier.

Kudos to Cuppa’T for that fantastic orange flavour.

Unrelated, my tooth pain is sorta coming back. Not in the same place as before (exact opposite side of my mouth) and not to the same tear inducing degree, but it’s been somewhat consistent all week. Guess I gotta book another dentist appointment. Man, I hate doing “adult” things and adult responsibilities. But hey, at least I’m at a point where I can afford dental work now, without assistance from the parental units.

Sigh.

Matcha Milkshake! Here’s my recipe tea frens’(!):

- A Frozen Banana
- Two Scoops Vanilla Ice Cream
- 2 tsp. of this matcha (Base Grade; distinctive flavouring)
- 1 cup of milk

So pretty much this was a Strawberry/Banana milkshake! And, I loved it – I thought it was insanely rich and flavourful and just very very fun. Tre however, did not like it; and somewhat surprisingly his complaint was that it was too sweet which I think is shocking for a person who typically adds like 4 tsp. of sugar to his tea. But maybe it’s worth mentioning because, yeah, this was pretty sweet. I thought it was just right, though.

Smeh.

Sipdown (124/131)!

Finally finished off one of my oldest teas! This quite possibly will find its way back into my cupboard because of its brilliant butterscotch/coconut notes and versatility, but not for a while; I’m kinda sick of it now, heh…

But yeah, you can read about how I finished this one off in this tasting note: http://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/259110#likes

And I’m laughing so hard right now. I tried linking to my tasting note from BBV where I wrote about this one, and apparently I didn’t copy the correct link initially so this is what I initially linked to: http://clannyphantom.com/post/94674716350

THANK GOD I CAUGHT THAT!

Sipdown (125/132)!

So I finished this one off while also finishing off my Buttered Rum from DT; I steeped this one like normal, then added a splash of milk – and then I steeped about a tsp. of the Buttered Rum (all I had left) into what was already made.

It was pretty good actually; it reminded me of hot chocolate despite the overwhelming absence of anything actually chocolate flavoured. And I mean, I didn’t pick up chocolate notes at all so I don’t know why I’m making that connection; but I am. So, uh, that. What I did taste was a whole lot of smooth vanilla from the BBV with some mild butterscotch notes “floating” over it. It was very silky and smooth. Delicious.

Still not much Bourbon; but I’m over it.

Oh, other news: I started watching Gossip Girl (a friend recommended it) and I’m really loving it. Right now I’m in the middle of season two! Anyone else on Steepster watch it when it was airing? Am I crazy for absolutely loving Chuck Bass? He’s kinda despicable, but really cute about it? I’m also loving Jenny’s story line and I wish there was more Eric…

Honestly, there aren’t any characters I dislike except for maybe Vanessa? But I don’t dislike her – I’m just impartial. I lied; I DESPISED Georgina.

Ok, I’ve spent the morning lounging around talking to Steepster people on the chat thing, playing OctoDad, and watching TV – now to crack into the backlog I’ve got going on. Even if I don’t finish it, I feel like I owe it to myself to at least start it. Urgh.

I drank this one after my visit with my father, which went pretty good overall I suppose; he took Tre and I grocery shopping (I mean, we paid for our food – he just provided a car so that for once we didn’t have to make the awful walk home with tons of food or make several very small trips to the store), and then we went out for supper. And he actually brought me some “teaware” (at least, that’s how it’ll be used) from his trip to Yellowstone at the beginning of the month: a new 30 oz. waterbottle/thermos (it’s lavender purple and sleek with a cute blackbear on it) which is awesome because I’ve been meaning to replace the nasty, old dented red one I’ve had for years now (since 10th grade? So… Four years). Seriously; the red one at one point had this very elaborate Cthulu design on it which wore off the bottle two years ago; that’s how well used that water bottle was!

This new one is amazing though; aside from looking pretty it has yet to retain funky smells/flavour and make tea taste mildly metallic which is amazing; because those traits certainly put a bit of a damper on drinking cold brews at work.

He also brought me back this huge ass motherfucking Yellowstone mug. And, the mug is beautiful – it’s shiny black on the bottom half with silhouettes of different wilderness things/stuff related to Yellowstone and then the top half is a semi-matte metallic dark blue modeled to look like the night sky. Problem? Well, it’s easily 30oz. if not more – which means that brewing stuff in it? Not so much an option. I’ve been using it for matcha milk (but not totally full; that’s be ridiculous) and for matcha milkshakes.

Anyway; this tea was a sweet treat to end the evening with. I added in some milk and had it in my glass perfect octopus mug from DT and it was so beautiful; maybe even the prettiest tea I’ve enjoyed in that mug thus far. It was this amazingly soft, pastel pink! And it was a bit of a mind fuck too; because it tasted like sticky delicious caramel popcorn (just like the name) – but that’s not pink. So pretty! I think that’s the only way to drink this one now.

So glad I redeemed points for more of this one! I couldn’t have justified getting more any other way, and it’s delicious so I’m happy to have it around!

Very rarely do I post teas out of order from when I’ve had them – but tonight I really want to make an exception because there’s something I feel like I really need to talk about. For those on Steepster who don’t know, the amazing comedian Robin Williams died today; apparently he took his own life.

I found out today while at work; they announced it over the radio and immediately my heart sank and I felt a huge pit in my stomach. I had to take a moment and stop what I was doing; celebrity deaths (and of course death in general) are sad but this is the first one in my life time that has really hit home. Robin Williams was a huge part of my childhood growing up and, while I know it’s not my generation alone who will mourn him, I feel like this one hits especially close for my generation. Jumanji, Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire, Dead Poets Society, and of course many of his other brilliant works have been such an integral part of growing up for me.

And I think the fact that he was such an amazing comedian who brought so much laughter to so many people is a huge part of why this is so hard to stomach for me; but it’s an important reminder that even the happiest seeming people can be going through so much deep inside; something I think I know all too well about myself.

So tonight even though my matcha milkshake/smoothie should taste sweet and tropical (raspberries, pineapple matcha, milk, vanilla ice cream) everything is bitter sweet and sad instead. Even Tre, who normally has so much to say, is being quiet tonight while we both mourn the loss of such a beloved man.

Tonight to honour Robin we’ll be watching Dead Poets Society; Tre’s never seen it, but it was a really important movie for me in high school and probably my favourite Robin William’s movie other than Aladdin.

And of course who can forget his amazing guest appearance on Whose Line, which is undeniably one of my favourite shows ever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35YHvoNXxAA

RIP Oh Captain, my Captain!