Nostalgia

Nostalgia-a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. (Defined by Google).

This is the perfect tea for me at the moment. I have had a very retrospective and nostalgic past day or so. Coming up soon is the beginning of my fourth year since the first of my life-changing brain injuries.

What ifs and questions about existence and consciousness are always interesting to think about. Though the thoughts aren’t very productive, I enjoy the feeling of being mind-blown from time to time. This time, this beautiful and powerful music was playing in the background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcihcYEOeic

I had lunch with two old track and field teammates from high school yesterday. I also had a lifelong friend over for supper. The conversations brought back good memories but also wishful thinking that made me want to go back in time when life was easier, simpler, more fun, and less painful. Life goes on however, and I must “forge ahead” as my Dad says and be thankful for everything that I do have, including my memories—good and bad.

Now on to the tea: The shui xian is at the forefront. Personally, I wish that there were a little less of it as it’s a bit overpowering. I’m getting the vanilla in the background, and I’m not sure what sandalwood tastes like, but I have about 5 pieces of it in the steeping container (I made it Western). Though it’s not my favorite, it is a very enjoyable tea for these moments. Thanks Andrew for everything that you do for the tea community. And thanks to everyone else. Tea has been something that I look forward to every day, no matter how I’m feeling.

dexter sent this one m way and sadly it falls flat. I followed suggested steeping times and all i’m getting is a sort of black blend. there’s no vanilla or cocoa…just black and oolong hanging out doing weird things together. Oh well, happy i got a chance to try this one a couple times – just couldn’t make it work. thanks for the share dexter! appreciate it!

This is a nice vanilla tea, but it still just (and just by a hair) misses for me. I think it’s too oolong and not enough black tea. The vanilla is really nice, but the oolong is too strong and I feel that the mineral/roasted notes of the oolong doesn’t quite go with the vanilla. The black is just barely present. For my tastes I would prefer there to be more black and less oolong – I think the oolong belongs but it should be in the back ground adding interest and depth rather than being the star of the show. I didn’t get anything from the sandelwood. Others have said cocoa – I’m not getting that. Again I think if the black was more prominent there could be some natural chocolate notes from the black and that would be a nice addition.
Don’t get me wrong, I like this but it’s just not quite right.

I’m not getting vanilla out of this. There is a sweetness at the back of the sip which is quite pleasant. It is also very smooth. While I can tell this has black tea in it, it isn’t bitter. I think next time I will try a sweetener to see if I can encourage the vanilla :)

Andrew, you kicked butt with this next brew. I taste the same notes that I posted before, only the Vanilla is meg umphed. I actually prefer this now to French Toast Dianhong. The Shui Xian lead this time, but the dry woodsy and smoked quality balanced incredibly well the vanilla. I’m very glad I grabbed an ounce of this.

I’m officially topping this as one of my favorite vanilla teas.

If you bought this, don’t read unless you have drank it.
Anyways, I guess I lie a lot… I said I would drink this on my birthday but I changed my mind and dank it today because I received tea from a few Steepster members as a gift so I would like to drink those on my birthday instead :)

Anyways, here’s my few words on this tea: https://liquidproust.wordpress.com/2015/08/08/tasting-nostalgia/

P.S. it’s also this tea https://instagram.com/p/6IHb6wRYGr/