This was the other tea I drank while finishing Chuck, also from VariaTEA. I know Keychange is planning on sending me some, which is why I didn’t request any in the swap this came in, though VariaTEA was very kind and through it in as one of the many extras. Since there’s more on the way, I really hoped I liked it!
I’ll be honest, it smells very good – nice black base, burnt caramel notes and marshmallow cream (yes, there is a difference between marshmallows and marshmallow cream). I was a little skeptical about the taste, since I wasn’t a fan of Della Terra’s S’mores, which seems a little similar in that they both exploit marshmallow as a key flavour.
My parameters for this mug were 1 1/2 tsp. of tea in 8 oz. of boiling water, steeped for about four minutes. Hot, this tasted very strongly of burnt caramel and the black base with light touches of marshmallow – it was pretty good. But, cold is where this is at! For whatever reason, once this gets cooler the marshmallow flavour is seriously kicked up so it’s more like drinking a cup of sweet, liquefied marshmallow goo with background notes of caramel. Very sweet, but not cloying, and super yummy/creamy!
As a bonus, the aftertaste sticks around for a really nice long time, so it’s easier to draw out the time it takes to drink the cup and really enjoy it.
Thank you VariaTEA – it appears I had no reason to be skeptical, this was delightful. I’m happy there’s more on the way.
Sorry – our cats leave the bulbs alone and try to pull off needles instead.
Heh, cats and Christmas trees are always an interesting challenge… Aside from not putting lights on the bottom row, you could try spraying the wire with diluted Tabasco sauce, or bitter apple.
Before needing to have a cat free home (my in-laws are allergic to cats :( ) we had one cat that loved to eat tinsel, and another that would climb, yes you heard me climb, into the tree and sleep about two boughs up. White cat in a white tree; we couldn’t figure out where he had gotten to.. :S
Ha! Cats crack me up. :)
My husband is sure she’s going to be too busy toppling the entire tree to bother with the lights or wires. I guess we shall see.
We stopped putting lights on the tree once we noticed some of the bulbs chewed off. Yes, we have a chewer. My cat actually believes our artificial tree is her personal seasonal jungle gym.
Oh no! That’s not good. Maybe I’ll have my husband take them down. Better safe than sorry.
Thanks for the advice and cute stories, everyone!
We have a little 4 foot tree that we actually put on a small table this year to try to keep the cats away. Didn’t quite work since now they’re launching themselves at it from a nearby chair and knocking the whole thing over. Between the cats and the lights going out, I figure I’ve redecorated the tree about 5 times now. No chewing though, thank goodness! I hope your cat loses its appetite for tree. Maybe try some of that bitter spray so she doesn’t like the taste of it?
Does your cat have a history of being interested in cables and such? If not, I don’t think you need to worry. Pull the plug out of the wall when you’re not using it and only have it turned on when you can keep an eye on it. That way at least she won’t electrocute herself. With our cats the lights were never a problem. They were only strung around the top 75% of the tree just to be safe, but other than that, it was left alone. It was the other decorations on it that were in danger. We are avoiding any that are made of glass, so everything on our tree is made of metal, paper or plastic and can stand being played with. Well, the paper things can only take so much playing, obviously, but those are homemade, so they are easy to replace. :)
Turn off tree when you aren’t in the room. Hang bells down low so you know when the cat is messing with the tree. Give kitty a shiny non glass ornament to bat around the floor. Mostly be prepared to grab the cat and tell it NO when it acts up. Don’t stress and just enjoy the antics.
After watching her for a while I figured out it was the blinking lights that were the problem. She loves chasing and eating bugs, so maybe the lights reminded her too much of insects. So I stopped the blinking and she quickly lost interest in the lights. Now she’s more into batting at the ornaments, but that I can handle. :) I will still unplug the lights when we aren’t in the room just to be safe.
Hooray for tree decorating!
Tazo has been wrapping himself around the base of ours. Makes it a little challenging come evening eviction time.
I ran across a video earlier that had me immediately thinking about this thread. Enjoy the cat antics!
Cats vs. Christmas Decorations – http://www.dump.com/catschristmas/