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I purchased this from the fantastic Shadowfall and was very excited to try it, especially after starting to watch Doctor Who this last week. However, I didn’t actually make this cup for myself. Instead, it was made for my brother Liam. He’s a huge Whovian as of late, but greatly despises tea. This one or Weeping Angel were the only ones he would even try…

I picked this one because it’s Earl Grey and most non tea drinkers seem to enjoy Earl Grey, so I figured it was a safe guess. I steeped 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in boiling water and handed him the cup with the tea ball still in it. I told him to take it out after three or four minutes, but an hour later the cup was sitting on the table untouched with the tea ball still in it.

I didn’t want the tea to go to waste, so I took the teaball out and begrudgingly drank it – though like expected in was incredibly bitter and I really didn’t taste anything but bitterness, astringency, and a little bergamot. So, on that note I’m holding off rating this until sometime I can sit down and properly drink it myself (maybe while watching Doctor Who). Thankfully I purchased enough to still have several cups worth.

It was an interesting first experience with Adagio, though…

Yay! My family is here and we’re celebrating Christmas! Although, the “not yay” part is that my mom is being really bitter about her recent break up with ‘he who shall not be named’ – and I literally mean he shall not be named, I’ve been forbidden from even saying his name. Anyway, lots of yummy baking and such.

As part of our Christmas traditions, we all opened a present early on “Christmas Eve”. For me, that meant I got 50g of DAVIDsTEA’s Jessie’s Tea and 50g of DAVIDsTEA’s Guava Cadabra! I was only expecting to get one kind of tea, so I’m definitely a happy camper!

Also, my brother leaked to me that my Dad (who I wont see until January) picked up the DAVIDsTEA Christmas sampler pack for me, which I SPECIFICALLY said not to do because I already own more than half of the teas in it (in large quantity – 100g of Gingerbread and 190g of Choconut Oolong because Tre bought me 50g of that for Christmas too – and I already had 140g of it), and the third is one I don’t enjoy at all. I’m actually kind of pissed off about it, honestly, because the last time I saw him in person was the day before the Christmas teas came out and I made a BIG deal of telling him I was going to be buying them to try for myself, and the last time we talked on the phone he asked what I wanted for Christmas and I mentioned that if he was even thinking of getting me tea I had already sent a list of blends I wanted but did not have to my mom and he could check with her. Otherwise, I DID NOT want him to pick something out because it was too risky because I have so many DAVIDsTEA blends and he has no idea of knowing what I do and don’t have. He didn’t listen at all.

So, I’m basically begging my brother to convince him to return it. Maybe it makes me an awful person, but I don’t think I can even fake being happy about receiving it. I told him to tell Dad whatever he needed to in order to make that gift go away, be it that someone else already gave the exact same thing to me (he could say that was the present Tre bought me – he’d never know any better) or that he saw my collection and I own everything already (not a total lie). I was very specific about receiving tea this year, so whatever it takes…

Anyway, on to this one…

I recieved this as a sample from Red Leaf Tea and wasn’t really planning on trying it currently because my mom was supposed to be bringing actual eggnog (but she forgot). However, my mom wanted a Christmas tea to drink and since there was no eggnog in the house I listed this as one of the options (I did not list Butiki’s Creamy Eggnog though because I do not have a lot and I didn’t really feel like sharing it…) and it was the one she picked.

For preparation, I used 1/2 tsp. of matcha in 12 oz. of cold milk, which I then split for the two of us. Honestly, I did a REALLY horrible job of mixing it and it looked quite gross. I could have probably done a better job but my sister was rushing me because she wanted to open her present.

My mom, although surprised it was a cold drink, really enjoyed it though and said it tasted very much like actual eggnog. I have to agree – despite being poorly blended it was very rich and creamy tasting and nice and smooth going down (despite lumps of unblended matcha). I can’t imagine this would be good hot, and I think it might be weird cold shaken in straight water so I’ll likely be finishing the rest of my sample in cold milk.

I’m quite pleased with my latest matcha experiences. The first ones I tried where just awful (cold shaken black cherry and unflavoured matchaccino mixed into milk), but this one and orange matcha cold shaken and as tea soda were a definite improvement. Enough so to keep me from flat out righting off matcha altogether!

Eureka! After over TWO MONTHS of trying to do it, I’ve finally figured out how to turn on the volume for my till! This means many good things: I can listen to music on Youtube and drown out all the AWFUL Christmas carols the mall keeps playing on repeat, and I can also watch TV while I’m on shift…

Yup, it’s confirmed. I’m the worst manager. I take every opportunity I can to slack off, but in my defense we’re almost always absolutely dead so there’s not much I could be doing anyway.

Anyway, this was work tea #2 – and I’m not totally sure what I was thinking? It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, but I remember very specifically liking this one better when it had cooled down and since I’m drinking it in a timolino it’s not really getting the chance to do that.

Anyway, for preparation I used 2 tsp. (slightly heaping) steeped in the 12 oz. timolino for three minutes with boiling water. Like I said, I think this tastes better cool, but it’s not BAD hot. Actually, usually I get a very sweet banana pudding type of taste (I figure it’s from the butterscotch sweetening the banana, which makes it very candy like). Today it’s more of a realistic banana taste, though. I think maybe that’s because I got a large hunk of banana into the dry leaf I used so there’s more contributing banana flavor than usual. I like this both ways: banana candy or realistic banana.

Today is Christmas Eve (well, for me anyway)! My family will be getting in tonight at roughly 10:30 PM (just in time for some late night tea), and then I have all day off tomorrow for “Christmas”. My Aunt Nancy who lives in town even stopped by early this morning before her show and dropped off some Christmas cards for everyone (and I gave her a plate of baking).

I am a little bit ticked off though. Today my shift wasn’t supposed to start two – so I had set aside the morning to finish the dishes and tidy up because, lets face it, Tre and I are not tidy people. However, that didn’t exactly work out because one of the other locations in town for our company was severely understaffed today, so they pulled the employee from my store and had me come in early. So, my sink is still spilling over with dishes from baking, and my 7 and a half hour shift turned into a ten hours one – with no break. Ughhhhh…

Anyway, I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat – so the plan was always to have a lemon tea, probably Lemon Chiffon. However, since I realized I was REALLY going to need the extra energy, I decided on this one instead because it hit the energy and lemon criteria.

I’ve discovered I actually like this a lot better watered down – it just seems a bit creamier and smoother that way. So, I actually only used 2 tsp. of leaf for about 18 oz. of water – steeped in boiling water for six minutes. Despite being significantly watered down, I think this still packs quite a punch.

Also, since this was partly for an achy throat I added about a teaspoon and a half of honey (just generic store brand, because I don’t use it enough to make use of a higher quality kind). The honey adds another dimension to the tea, and actually is sort of reminding me of meringue? So – basically lemon pie filling complete with the meringue topping.

Also – my landlord just stopped at my store to wish me a Merry Christmas, thank me for the baking I brought him, and to ask if I’d hire his daughter…

Well, that was an awkward conversation. I feel like, maybe, that qualifies as a conflict of interest? Anyway – I can’t do it either way: we’re not busy enough to warrant my hiring another employee – she’d get next to no hours. I did recommend applying at one of our other locations (namely the one that was so busy it resulted in my having to work extra hours today) because that seemed like a happy medium to not pissing off my landlord but not hiring someone I can’t justify (morally and financially) hiring.

I’m so proud of Tre! It seems like, fingers crossed, he’s maybe starting to get more explorative with tea – and he’s finally making some for himself when I’m not around. Which, I suppose could be a bad thing too because there are some blends I’m not super keen to share…

Anyway, earlier in the day while I was at work I guess he resteeped the leaf from the Vanilla Orchid I made (I’m super impressed he even retained that leaf can be resteeped), and then while I was baking he told me he’d had some matcha.. That threw me off because I keep the matcha in a seperate location from all the other tea, and I haven’t shown him where that spot is. Turns out he meant mate (close enough), but him bringing up matcha reminded me that I wanted to try this as a tea soda! So, that’s what I did!

Because club soda has a taste all its own, I decided I would use more matcha today to compensate for that and cover up the slightly more salty taste of the club soda. So instead of the 1/2 tsp. I used yesterday I used a full tsp. today. This was dissolved into about 2 oz. of hot water, and from there I just poured in the full can of club soda (in my water bottle, because I find matcha easier to drink when I can’t see the colour).

And, it’s really good! Basically, I’ve recreated the taste of those fizzy vitamin C tablets that dissolve into water and make it all carbonated. I love those! I bet with sugar I could make this a little bit closer to orange crush type soda. Actually, knowing that it’s not all matcha I dislike and after having pretty good success make this into a soda, it makes me want to buy some more of the fruity matcha flavours to keep doing this…

I do have some Pineapple matcha on the way from VariaTEA, so I’ll definitely make sure I try it this way!

Yay my Christmas baking is done! Somehow, even though I knew exactly what I was making, I imagined there’d be less though – which is perhaps why I wanted to make so much? It was weird logic. Anyway, the entire fridge is absolutely filled with baking – every last shelf. And, I’m not above saying that I HEAVILY indulged. Hell, it’s Christmas ;)

(Tomorrow is my Christmas Eve… How weird is that?)

Anyway, I was talking to Robyn (well, texting her) while I was at work and she brought up craving white chocolate peppermint bark, which of course only made me crave it. So, I had the next best thing! A cup of this tea while I was baking. Mmm, super creamy!

Sipdown (120)!

I think I actually would have preferred Butiki’s Root Beer Float, but I happened to have the perfect amount of this one left to make it in my timolino and I couldn’t resist another sipdown what with my cupboard growing so quickly.

I still can’t get the stink of Currant Affair out of my timolino! I’ve scrubbed and scrubbed, but it wont go away; though I don’t get the taste of it, so I’m thankful for that at least. I’m beginning to wonder if the smell of Currant Affair is even there at all, or whether I’m just imagining it…

Taste wise, this is sweet without being cloying and I’m really enjoying it. Like I said the first time I had it, this still reminds me of an “old fashioned rootbeer” rather than a float because it has that medicinal taste to it that I associate with old fashioned rootbeer (except, that’s not a bad thing). I’m sad to see this go because I do love old fashioned rootbeer, but I’m not too sad because I have Butiki’s version and I personally find that one better.

Also, I ordered Mexi-Fries from Taco Time for lunch today (back to mall food…), and they asked if I wanted hot sauce. My reply was “mild” but upon dipping my mexi-fry, it was most certainly NOT mild. I ended up doing this weird coughing and sneezing thing with it was in my mouth which resulted in half a mexi-fry lodged up my nose. Not an impressed person, though thankfully I have tea to make me feel better.

I finally started my Christmas baking!!!

That’s really good, especially since it has to be done by tomorrow evening (family gets here Sunday morning). So, I did two out of five recipes, and when I get off work I’ll be doing either the big one (carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing) or the two smaller cookie recipes (pistachio pudding sugar cookies and butterscotch pudding sugar cookies)! And then whatever is left will be done tomorrow before work! This is super exciting because I was worried I’d procrastinated too long and wouldn’t have time to do everything I wanted.

Anyway, in the middle of baking my brownies, my tea samples from Keychange arrived (this being one of them). I finished my baking, logged everything on my spreadsheet and on Steepster, and then set out to make myself a mug of this one. I chose this one in particular because I’m realizing that I have a TON of smaller sample amounts from DAVIDsTEA and I’d really like to work through some of them – especially the ones that are part of the permanent collection and, ergo, don’t need to be hoarded.

(On that note, I used up all of my sample of DAVIDsTEA’s Kanpe tea sent to me from VariaTEA today by setting it up to cold brew – although I’m not counting it as a sipdown yet since it hasn’t actually been consumed)

I was also excited to try this one because I’ve seen lots of reviews on it lately (ok, maybe not lots – but at least two). So, I guess my curiosity was especially peeked.

I steeped 1 tsp. in 10 oz. of water, at about 80 degrees Celsius for four minutes. I had sort of just assumed this one needed a lower water temperature, but after looking it up I guess the recommended temperature is 92 degrees Celsius. I was all ready to try this hot, but then I took a look at the clock and saw that I only had 30 minutes until I started work – so in a frenzied panic I dumped it into my water bottle and rushed to get ready and to work on time (made it with five minutes to spare!).

So now I’m drinking this cold – although keychange was very generous in the amount she gave me, so I have more than enough to try this hot as well. Taste wise, the first thing I notice is the very floral aspects of this tea: definitely orchid, and some other things as well though I can’t exactly put my finger on them. I’m finding them borderline ‘perfumey’, but not quite there. Next thing is the very creamy vanilla taste. Because of the very thick mouthfeel this has, it sort of results in a “vanilla pudding” type of taste. I actually normally hate vanilla pudding (except, oddly enough I like tapioca which is just vanilla pudding with little gelatin bead type things) – but this is working pretty well with me. The fact this is cold is also probably only accentuating the vanilla pudding thing, as well.

I’m really enjoying this though – and I don’t think I’m gonna have any issues getting through it. That said, I can also see this as something I would get very sick of if I was having it frequently, and for that reason I doubt it’s something I’d ever keep regularly stocked or stocked in large quantity. I think it’d be awesome for an occasional treat, though!

Ughhh…

I feel like I accomplished none of the things I wanted to this evening to make up for my horrible work day, and that just leaves me feeling kind of defeated (as if I let the day get the better of me). I was going to start my Christmas baking (which I REALLY need to have finished before Saturday evening) and reward myself which yummy cookies, and I also had two new teas set aside to try (this one and 52Tea’s Cucumber Mango Shou Mei) as well. I guess I just didn’t realize how physically exhausted I was from work on top of feeling mentally exhausted, and I just never started my baking and I kept putting off trying the teas I had set aside…

Eventually Tre and I started to have a really good conversation that lasted several hours, and by the time we were done it and I had thought “hmm, lets go try that shou mei!” I looked at the clock and it was midnight. No more time for baking, and definitely not time to properly enjoy two new teas…

So, I am making a note for myself that tomorrow I need to start my baking before work and actually finish at least two of the five recipes, otherwise they will not be done in time!!!.

I decided I had to pull at least something out of the wasted evening though, so I’m having one of the teas and that will have to be enough. This is the one I picked, primarily because I figured making it would require the least amount of effort. I received this matcha in the “take it away” thread from Iridium who, I believe, received it from Lala in the same thread. Pair that with the fact that my only two other matcha experiences were definitely both negative ones (funnily enough, both other ones I’ve tried were from Lala as well), and I did not have high hopes.

Dry, the matcha actually smells pretty good. It reminds me of fizzy vitamin C tablets you put in water to make them dissolve, and then the water got all carbonated. My dad used to make my brother and I drink those all the time back when he was going through his “super health junkie” type phase and obsessing over my brother and I having poor eating habits and being obese. Normally, the stupid shit he used to try on us (so many vitamins…) really pissed me off and tasted disgusting, but I actually really liked those fizzy vitamin C tablets. They tasted kinda like orange pop but less sweet.

I should note I have NO clue what the “specifications” of this matcha are (whether it’s robust or distinctive or otherwise)…

For preparation, I decided to cold shake this because it’s probably the easiest way I know how to do this given I don’t really have any of the “tools” to make matcha. Also, it’s fast to do. So, I used 1/2 tsp (I think last time I was using full teaspoons, but I was really cautious this time so I definitely made sure to use less) of the matcha for a grand total of 20 oz. of water. I’m pretty sure that’s watered down from where it’s supposed to be at.

I’m actually gonna admit that a small part of why I cold shook it has to do with the fact my water bottle is not see through, and this small superficial part of me cannot get over drinking something that is green (and not an appetizing shade of it) that – in my mind – should not be green. Oranges are not supposed to be green, eggnog is not supposed to be green, etc. It’s hard for me to get over that – and by drinking it this way, I visually can’t see the green. It’s easier to forget that way…

As far as smell goes, I’m still getting “fizzy vitamin C tablets”. It actually smells quite nice, in my opinion.

As far as taste goes, this is more akin to chewable orange flavoured vitamins. There’s actually even a “chalky” taste to it that I associate with those kind of vitamins. And really, those are my favorite vitamins – and I, oddly enough, am loving the taste here! Although, I think in my unflavoured matchaccino review I said something to the effect of “yuck, YUCK, YUCK_, *_YUCK*” – so suppose it’s not really hard for this to be much of a step up.

But no – I don’t think I’m gonna have any issues getting through this! Which, I’m frankly finding really odd…

Also, has anyone tried making matcha tea soda? I feel like this would be really easy to do in comparison to regular tea soda because it’d be much more easy to manage the concentration level. I bet with some club soda in here, I could really make it taste like fizzy vitamin C tablets…

Maybe I’ll have to try that tomorrow?

Sometimes it’s impossible to communicate how much I hate working in retail sales, like today for example. Our debit/credit pad is broken (again) which means we can only accept cash transactions for the time being. 90% of people are genuinely very accepting and patient, but it’s the other 10% that just make me feel awful.

At this point, after only being two hours and 30 minutes into a four hour shift, I’ve had three people flat out say “Fuck You” to me, one person literally just dropped the calendars she was going to buy on the floor (and then walked away without a word), and one person demanded to see the manager. I just so happen to be the manager, so when I (I thought rather nicely and patiently, given the shift I’m having and his attitude) told him that he responded rather cruelly with “You can’t be the manager – you’re too young! You just don’t want to get in trouble!”. Get in trouble for what exactly?

Like, I get that it’s an inconvenience for people (it’s inconvenient for me as well): everyone wants to get their Christmas shopping done as soon as possible and not everyone carries cash with them. However, I’ve done and am doing everything I can – including troubleshooting the pad for the first hour of my shift, contacting our tech repair guy while doing this and reporting the problem and arranging for someone to come in to fix it (they wont be here until tomorrow morning), and letting every single person know that the pad isn’t working as they approach the till. It’s not my fault it broke, and I’m doing my best. Please don’t take your frustration out on the sales person.

That’s an attitude everyone should have in any kind of sales position: whether it’s at the movies, dealing with waiters or similar at restaurants or shopping at the mall (etc.). Most of us work horrible hours for minimum wage – and that certainly isn’t enough to deal with your bullshit.

Anyway – ranting and frustration aside – I’m very thankful to have a hot timolino full of this to sip on in between terrible customers. It’s creamy and buttery and delicious, and the perfect comforting drink for this stressful day. I feel like I got some extra coconut taste today – which is awesome! It’d be perfect, really, if my timolino wasn’t retaining the smell of that awful swill from yesterday that was Currant Affair. At least it’s not retaining the taste, right? That’s a positive.