1360 Tasting Notes
I don’t always crave this one, and I often forget about it because it’s high and semi-out of reach in my cupboard. I do really enjoy it though. The peppermint is bright and revitalizing, but the creaminess of the coconut makes it so it isn’t too intense. A great herbal to have around. I also threw some of this in the fridge to cold-brew for later on, but I have a feeling it may just be minty water hah.
It seems I popped a blood vessel in my eye, and not a small one. Last night it appeared there was blood dripping throughout my eye. This morning rather than a concentrated area, it’s spread out through a significant portion of the white. So that’s delightful. My friend asked if I was turning in a zombie. :P
This is a great first tea of the morning. Bold, with a touch of maltiness. Now to determine if I want French toast or my oatmeal with maple syrup and blueberries for breakfast. Hmm.
I’ve got a lot planned to do today for school, but I think it’s manageable and if all goes well, I’ll be back on top of things again. Yes!
Flavors: Malt
This tea is wonderful. It was actually one of the few teas I enjoyed from my Tealux order. It will definitely be a reorder. A nice black tea to wake you up, with a soft creaminess, so it isn’t too harsh.
I’m working on compiling the data I’ve found now, and the annotated bibliography is due for this research project Wednesday. I was stressed about it yesterday, but today I felt I had things back under control. I just checked my calendar and the e-version of my poster is due in less than 2 weeks. Which means this project needs to be done in less than 2 weeks. Along with the 3 midterms I have this week. AGH.
Preparation
You can do it! :)
Thanks :)
Are you working on your masters OMGsrsly?
Nope! Je refuse! My grades weren’t high enough for Arch funding, but they’re high enough for Science funding. Since I can’t follow my dreams, I’m having fun working in science. :)
Being paid is kinda rad.
Haha I agree about getting paid! I think I asked before – it’s a protein lab you work in, right? I’m working on inching my GPA up in this last year so I can continue with bio. :)
Yep yep! It’s funny, I started taking Arch courses for the easy A’s, and ended up loving it. I especially love surveying and sorting things. :)
Haha that’s awesome! I’ve never taken one sadly. There are so many course options and not enough time or money. I started taking psych for easy A’s and ended up with a minor in it. :P
I was warned about the psych courses at my school. A friend TA’d some at one point and said they’re like the calculus or organic chem of the arts. 50% fail rate. Ugh.. :/
Shudder, organic chem of the arts sounds horrid.
I’m sure you’ll do absolutely fine, Courtney! But it’s most definitely scary looking at your calendar and honestly wondering how you could possibly get through everything.
Were those psych courses usually placed on a bell curve, OMG? I took one psych course and I found it quite straightforward, but my last university loved those bell curves, especially for the 100- and 200-level. So unless you memorized every single thing in the textbook, no A’s for you. Kind of pointless, really.
I don’t remember. I mean, maybe? I know my math and chem courses were curved up. It’s one of the reasons I liked arch so much – your grade was your grade.
Good luck! I’ve also found myself using tasting notes as a mini journal entry of sorts, haha.
Thanks Fjellrev! I’ve only had handful of profs that actually marked on a curve, but that can definitely affect your grade.
Haha Jennkay, thank goodness it isn’t just me. I enjoy reading about everyone’s day along with their tea. :)
I sort of miss school…heh
Yeah, foreign languages are like that too: no bell curves. And linguistics too, except maybe the intro courses. That’s how it should be!
I did however once have a prof who put every single question on the midterm on its own bell curve, so I ended up with marks like 12.62/15 and 7.93/8 on questions. And that was in Norse mythology. So obnoxious.
I’ve been trying to get in a few coconut chais here and there, and this one so far has been my favourite. I’m always extra impressed because it’s a bagged tea too. The creaminess and spiciness work so well together here. A chai I can get on board with. I’ve only got 2 teabags left, but I picked this up at a store just down the street. Easily accessible teas are awesome.
Also, I just cleaned both my infusers with Bar Keepers Friend and heyo! They look better than new.
Where do you find your Bar Keepers Friend? I’ve been looking for it for ages, and thought it wasn’t available in Canada!
Canadian Tire haha! I checked their website because you can see which stores have it in stock. :)
Awesome! :)
ZOMG. All my pots are going to be SO SPARKLY. :D
Good morning!
I steeped up 2 parts Laoshan Black and 1 part Cacao this morning. This tea is delightful. I do so love both teas on their own, and usually I wouldn’t think to mix Laoshan Black with something, but my friend gave me this idea, and I’m quite happy with it.
I specifically woke up bright and early this morning, solely so I could sit and enjoy a cup of tea before going to work. Saturday is the only day I work all day, so I like to have a perfect start to the day in case I have to deal with idiots. :P
I didn’t get all my papers read last night, but I have only two to go. I still felt good about that. I tried so hard to read those last ones, but I was at the stage where my head was held up by my hand and I would doze off and fall off my hand, causing me to wake up. Not a good scene. But I’m thinking I’ll be able to read one before I leave for work and fit in one at some point during the day. Yes!
someday i’ll be able to try this haha
I can send you Cacao you know. :) I’m assuming you have LB.
Hope the idiot ratio is a low one today!!
Hope it’s nonexistant! Luckily I don’t have to deal much with the idiots, unless it’s a coworker and he’s harmless and leaves around 2.
Haha I hope so too keychange, and Lynxiebrat I love how there’s a specific idiot. :P
Yes, working in customer service has shown me so many idiots over the years.
oh, good idea! are you using cacao powder? or the nibs?
Cacao tea from Herbal Infusions TeaBrat :) Although I have Cacao nibs I add to overnight oats!
courtney..that would be great! and yes…yes i have LB haha what’s your ratio??
LOL I feel your pain…worked retail for 12 years, now working fast food, (Not as a Cashier thank the gods!) so occasionally we get idiots, but I rarely have to deal with them. My coworker, yes an idiot but also a sweet guy.
Rereading the tea combo….mmm that does sound good.:)
Sil I do 2 parts LB and 1 part Cacao. I’ll put some on the mail!
That sounds amazingly delicious!
no rush courtney but as always, much appreciated..and let me know if i can ever return the favour heh
Hehe you may need to send some more Cream by TeaG, I’ve been airing it but it still smells like delicious banana medicine.
haha THAT i can do :)
I’m enjoying the last of the sample Stephanie sent me as a cold latte. My weapon of choice today. I have a long night ahead. I plan on finishing reading and highlighting 14 more scientific journal articles. And my Steepster feed is so quiet. I suppose that’s good for getting work done. :P
This is even more delightful as a cold latte. Perhaps when my coconut matcha comes in, I’ll try to recreate this by adding sugar. Of course my cold matcha latte addiction would hit when I’m fresh out. Hopefully my order crosses the border quickly!
Flavors: Coconut, Grass
In continuation with the cold matcha sitting in the fridge for hours method, this was the next logical option. And it is delightful. The banana goodness is there, and the milk just makes everything creamier. Yum!
Also, I may have placed a Red Leaf order, and of course I added this one in.
You make me wanna try this SO MUCH. I love banana!
Haha poor J. I always liked the banana-flavoured medicine. Made strep throat FUN haha.
Does it make the milk taste like banana milk?
What did you get?!?! Also, you have been saying you have too much matcha so I have not been sending you any to try. I will keep this in mind for future packages :P.
Mem you should try it! I’m picky about my bananas, in that they have to be pretty much green for me to eat them. But I love banana bread, and banana matcha milk now haha.
Fjellrev it totally does! Banana milk is amazing.
VariaTEA Gasp! I just sent off the last of my matcha to Roswell Strange actually haha. I drink it at the pace of a snail though. But now with my two new methods, and being back to drinking milk, I have a feeling I’ll be drinking more.
I think it’s tough to get down here in Australia—I’m just gonna have to hope I can find some international swappage. Shall investigate!
Ahh Australia! When my order comes in, I’ll happily swap some with you. No guarantees that I won’t also come in the envelope. :P
hahahahah that’s too funny
Woohoo! All welcome ;)
Green bananas are the best! :) But I have some ripe ones. Maybe I’ll make banana bread.
Good call OMGsrsly! Something about ripe bananas doesn’t work well with my stomach so they always get made in banana bread. Or peanut butter banana bread. :)
Oh that’s an even better idea. Hmm.
This one came as a surprise in my swap with Ysaurella.
For some bizarre reason, teas with fig just smell like baby food to me. So there’s that. The fig here is apparent, yet not overwhelming. I’m finding it most in the aftertaste and the scent. There’s a bit of a floral quality that drowns out the fig in the initial taste. If this one didn’t have a floral quality and was only fig and vanilla, I may have been able to get on board. It’s more up my alley in the fig department than was Figue Fraiche.
Thanks for the opportunity to try more from Mariage Freres Ysuarella!
P.S. I love how “fish broth” is a flavour option, but “fig” isn’t.
ahaha Fish broth…and not fig…Steepster is quite weird sometimes yes
lol, I hear you on the flavor options! I’m surprised at some of the flavors that aren’t listed.
I’m forever searching for that perfect fish broth tea.
Being a Swedish chef Fjellrev, herring would be best.
Yeah, fish broth is so specific. I wanted to use “broth” but not fish and it wasn’t an option. And most of the flavors I try to find aren’t there.
I’ve sent three flavour emails now Morgana and they haven’t been added in yet. I sent the first one well over a week ago, maybe even two weeks now.
Sil sent me such a generous amount of this matcha. Thanks!
I read all the tea notes on this one last night, and ultimately decided to use Cavo’s method and add some matcha to cold milk and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Every sip is different. One sip I’m thinking this is pretty decent, the next not so much. I’m getting some sort of syrupy taste mixed with the peanut butter that’s more or less drowning out the actual peanut butter.
However, this new matcha overnight with milk thing is genius. I’m just mixing Banana & Cream matcha with milk to enjoy later this afternoon. This may bump up my Red Leaf order so I can try more matchas overnight with cold milk. I wonder how the Peanut Butter Pie compares?
I should add this was distinctive flavouring.
How does putting it in milk overnight compare to just mixing it with milk and drinking immediately?
Kind of the same to be honest. I had a couple sips before I put it in the fridge and I didn’t notice a huge difference. I also tried it in hot milk the night before. That was a disaster for me.
My next plan is to try it with a banana smoothie. :)
this wasn’t really peanut butter for me..it made me sad
There was something else that was much stronger, and not nearly as tasty as actually peanut butter I found. Alas, Im always happy to try new flavours of matcha though. :)
This tea is a nice treat. It satisfies the need for something sweet, without actually being truly sweet. Tricky, tricky. I love the graham-ness. I said last time I would consider rotating this one in, and this time around I ordered a sample rather than a full 50g. I need to remember next time to just bite the bullet and get 50g.
Update: Oh yes, I’ll definitely need more. I finished off my cup far too quickly, without even realizing it, then stared longingly into my empty mug.
The flavours I want to add are never options. I shall send a third flavour email now.
Preparation
LOL @ flavour email. Also, I should check out Herbal Infusions’ teas. I don’t think they had this one at the Toronto Tea Festival (and I don’t think I’ve ever checked out their website).
This one is tasty Kittenna. I’ve found their teas “real” tasting, which I love. None of the over-the-top fake sweetness. :) If you’d like I can send you some. I only have a handful at the moment, but I’m more than happy to share.
They were supposed to add a sample of this to my last order but it never showed :(
Oh no! I can send you some if you like. :)
I wouldn’t want to take it away since you only have a sample. I think I might want some more Strawberry Justice so I can toss in a sample them. However, I may take you up on the offer if I haven’t tried it by the time you decide to stock up :P
Oh hehe, I have a cart going already, specifically so I can buy 50g. I talked my friend into ordering more Cacao since she was out. :P
I was looking at building a cart because I want more Strawberry Justice. However, $5 shipping on $6.50 worth of tea is hard to justify.
I absolutely agree. Did you want to add the Strawberry Justice to our order?
That is nice to offer but I imagine shipping from you to me would probably be over $5. Thank you though.
Unless you are planning on dropping by Montreal anytime soon :P
There are some attractive people here :P.
I realize this thread is now from 7 months ago, but it sounds like, aside from the pokey shipping, you guys seem to rather like a bunch of HI stuff! I may have to nab samples from someone(s) at some point.
Yikes! I hope that will clear up soon. That’s only happened to me once but yours sounds a lot worse.
Not very pretty, but hopefully it’ll heal quickly. Thanks!
Yeeeouch
You talk about your eye bleeding so casually, haha. I hope it’s recovering quickly!
Hope your eye heals up quickly.. Sounds scary looking.
Might have to consider this one when I eventually order from S&V. I like coconut & mint and the flavor combo sounds intriguing.
This one is tasty Suziqzer. I really enjoy S&V flavoured teas.
My list to order from them keeps growing :)