Glitter & Gold

I’ve definitely changed my opinion a bit that this tea and Pumpkin Chai are super similar, but they are still closely related, IMO. Love the sparkles in this one, even though I don’t much get to enjoy them in a travel mug. Anyhow, sweet, cinnamony, sparkly goodness.

I’m going to allow myself a break in the midst of an otherwise fairly chaotic week. This has been an incredibly stressful week, and I feel very close to being at the end of my tether. The exam is this upcoming Tuesday and Wednesday though, and then, for the time being at least, I’ll be able to heave a sigh of relief and my life will resume some semblance of normalcy.

I also had a really troubling encounter the other day with someone who seemed to have a lot of trouble with handling my disability. I won’t really get into details, but the experience really shook me up, and made me question my overall competence. I came home that day hating the world, and sobbed for an hour. Then I went to check the mail, and noticed that the package JustJames sent me had arrived. And he had come up with a labelling system that I could decipher so that I was immediately able to tell which tea was which. using raised stickers, he put different variations of them on different packages and sent me the legend. I must also say here that absolutely everyone who has mailed me anything has asked if they could do anything to help me discern the packages, but the sticker idea only came to me very recently. steepsterites are wonderful, wonderful people. and I held the package in my hands and realized that so much of our experience, so much of how happy we are depends on how we are perceived, and how people respond to us in all our complex and wonderful and awful glory. And they love us anyway. Isn’t that great? that they love us despite ourselves.

Anyway, just James didn’t send me this sample; i actually got this the last time when I was at David’s. I just wanted a break this afternoon, so I tore into this one because I suspected I would like it a lot. And as I sat and listened to Polyphony’s rendition of the Masaya, I was once again reminded of the beauty in this world, and how it continues to exist even when we’re in the midst of our own turmoil. If you’re into that type of music (or even if you aren’t), I urge you to listen to Polyphony’s recording of it. It’s as if angels themselves descended from the sky and the beauty of their voice is enough to make you sink to your knees.

Yeah, the tea. Sorry. So in the bag, it smells quite Christmas-like. Not entirely unlike Sugar and Spice, but perhaps slightly softer, a little less intense with the gingery cloves. This is one of the teas that remains strong even in taste, and I was correct in comparing it to Sugar and spice, although with the cloves and ginger muted, this does not taste like a gingerbread cookie, but it tastes wonderful nonetheless. I even used only one tsp of sugar instead of my standard two, and really enjoyed it. I know I’ll be finishing up the sample, and will very likely purchase more. It always makes me happy when I find a David’s tea that I like, because they’re local and I can keep restocking if I want to. I only wish their tins were larger because I tend to use a lot of leaf when preparing. This time though, I just used a David’s perfect teaspoon in eight oz of water. Steeped for seven minutes!

This an exciting one because it’s my 5000th tasting note!

When I realized last night I was at 4999, I reached out to my tea twin Roswell Strange to ask what tea she thought I should have for this special occasion. She pointed out Lime Gelato by DAVIDsTEA was the first tea I ever wrote a tasting note for but I don’t have that. I also don’t have Birthday Cake by DAVIDsTEA, which was the whole reason I got into tea in the first place. It’s why I went to the store. Queen of Tarts by DAVIDsTEA was the first tea I actually tried from my first haul but that’s not in my cupboard either. What is in my cupboard is this tea, my recently purchased bag of Glitter & Gold.

The OG Glitter & Gold blend was the first tea I really fell in love with. It’s the first one I bought 100 grams of because I enjoyed it so much…back when the only way I knew how to make tea was western style and brewing it hot in a non-variable temperature kettle. So, I thought what better way to celebrate this momentous occasion than with the new version of an old favourite? Not to mention, the sparkle aspect of this tea just screams celebration!

I got to making the tea and the first thing I noticed was no shiny balls. That’s what gave the tea sparkle in the past but this new version had sparkly and non-sparkly stars…so there was hope for that fun glitter effect. Alas, the new version doesn’t quite have the same sparkle the OG blend had, even after I added 3 more sparkly stars to the cups.

The lack of sparkle was disappointing but I suppose taste is what matters. It’s interesting revisiting something I loved when I just started my tea journey since I know my tastes have changed. Plus, I have tried so many blends that things that seemed amazing back then pale in comparison to some of the things I’ve tried along the way. Plus, while this is Glitter & Gold, it’s not my Glitter & Gold. All of this is to say that this is not a favourite anymore. Personally, I think the changes DAVIDsTEA made are mostly to blame because where this gets me most is in the slightly oily mouthfeel which I think is coming from the stars. There is also a stronger citrus quality than I recall and I could be wrong but feel that might be oily too. The older Glitter & Gold blend I remember being cleaner with sugar and clove and a hint of orange. Granted, it may be more of a fond memory than an accurate recall but this seems lower quality in a way and just a touch more artificial.

All in all, this rating is getting dropped from the 95 of yesteryear because whether it’s my tastes or the blend, this is not the tea it once was for me. With that said, I think it was a fun tea to revisit for a significant tasting note. In fact, after all that discussing with Roswell Strange, I almost stupidly saved a placeholder note for the Wild Honey Matcha smoothie I drank this morning to keep my counts accurate. Instead, I’m glad I waited for a bit of an experience.

SIPDOWN! had this tasty little treat to finish off with dinner. Still not a fan of david’s tea but this one is alright by me. Nice to finally get through my 12 days of christmas teas…well except for the matcha from azzrian…can’t bring myself to open it yet hahaha

Shared a pot with the SIL this morning and it was perfect on this chilly fall morning. All sparkly and cinnamon with some clove and vanilla notes today

Its my birthday!
I was given a lot of tea, and a lot of tea ware, and even a pair of earrings that look like tea cups. What fabulous things!
I started the day with this. Softly sweet, with a nice hint of sparkle. It seemed like a good way to start this age!

Thank you Indigobloom for sending this to me!

Very pretty display in the dry state.
Nonpearlis remind me of being a kid because my great great grandmother used to let me nibble on these often!
Smell is cider like or Chai like more toward the cider or chrismas wasselish.
Smells like a clove orange!
Also VERY sugary smelling.
It tastes nice.
Today it is cool and rainy even though it started out VERY sunny it turned really fall like in the weather – we live in kansas so this can happen quickly without notice.
So here I am sitting with the windows open letting the air flow in – nice cool breeze – sipping what seems to me to be a fall/winter/holiday like treat.
Nice!

Sayonara, Glitter & Gold. I enjoyed my last cup with some coconut almond milk, and it was a lot better, but still lacking some sort of balance.

Lollerskates, I didn’t realize until after I submitted this that this is my 600th note. Oh well, it’s only a number!

Oooh I like the pretty glitter!

I’m not a lover of orange peel and cloves in most teas, so this isn’t a tea that I would jump to restock, based mostly on my personal taste. I got 2 good steepings out of the leaves with only minimal deterioration of flavor in the second steep. So the quality of the leaves is decent compared to some other David’s Teas I’ve had lately. I enjoyed my little sample, and by next Christmas I might want to try it again, but this is another seasonal pick for me. It’s a good tea, just not a great match to my personal taste.

I can’t believe I haven’t gone back to this tea after all these months, and that I didn’t make the mistake of not getting more when my boyfriend stopped at DT for me. So this is finishing what Kittenna sent me, and then I have that.

I also got my replacement bubble teapot but I think it’s still not up to par, but now I feel like a jerk if I ask them about it again. I know it’s their job to make me happy and all but now I’m like seriously, is everyone with this gold winter tree one having paint chips and I’m just really picky? If they weren’t so obvious flaws I guess I wouldn’t be so bothered but I feel like once you notice them, they become obvious flaws.

Anyway. I remember the first time I drank this I really didn’t notice that it was so glittery (duh, name) because I used a t-sac..although I can’t remember now if I used one of my white mugs or black mugs, which could also have probably made it difficult. So I used my black mug and wowowow SO PRETTY.

The spiced orange flavor is perfect for a day like today, overcast and at the time I was drinking, it was still raining. I steeped it below the recommended time but I think it could do the 4 and not be terrible for me.

It also went perfectly with my breakfast, pumpkin pie oatmeal I cooked in a water bath in my slow cooker all night. Sooooo good. Since I used that Nutcracker Sweet tea for the water in the recipe, there were already elements of this tea in there, in addition to adding more cinnamon and cloves in there. Perfect match!