Rabs Send Message

I used up the last of my sample today but didn’t have quite enough left for a pot. So I mutated it a bit and added some Samovar Russian Blend to it. I had a fixed car to celebrate (see below for details on that) and wanted to break the possible “curse-o-Samovar.” Plus I’d forgotten to put Lapsang Souchong on my GTC order and the uber-fantastic Daniel Mann added some to my order after noticing my oversight. More celebration! This is actually one of the best “mutant teas” that I’ve done — but hey, two yummy teas comprise this cup. It’s about 1& a half tsp LS and 1 tsp RC. TG

The car is fixed — I get to pick it up at 1:00! It had a bad computer and I’m still under warranty ::happy dance:: And since my insurance covers towing the grand total of this stress is $65. The $65 comes from the first shop it was towed to for them to say “we don’t know what’s wrong with it” which is exactly what happened the last time they looked at my previous car. Only back then they’d caused massive damage to my break system that could’ve killed me. So why did my car even end up there? My dad: gods bless him. He believes they’re great because they’re “Christian.” But I can’t get too upset since my Dad’s the one who took care of everything when my car wouldn’t start and he also let me drive his car to work for most of this week. When I found out that he’d towed the car to that shop and not Toyota I let him know I wasn’t too happy about it. I shall try and figure out a way to let him know tactfully that I never ever want any of my cars going back to that place. I’ll also be adding rental car coverage to my insurance policy asap.

Thank you to everyone who said a little prayer or sent me good vibes since Monday. Y’all are awesome! :D

Weight Loss Tea
A Tea Dialogue in 3 PMs (paraphrased):

Rabs: Um, Daniel, I don’t know how to say this, but there was this big honkin’ chunk-o-fused tea thing in my Weight Loss tea sample. I thought you should know. Should I be worried? Do you know what it is?

Daniel: No need to be worried! What you found is called a Toucha ball.

Super-cool explanation follows regarding Toucha balls.

Rabs: Hooray! I’ve learned something new. Thank you :D

::runs back to teapot and adds the Toucha ball for her second steep:: TG

I ordered more of this last night after the wonderful Daniel Mann from the Georgia Tea Company gave me a discount because of my car troubles. I waffled on this one a tiny bit because I’m still not sure how much my car repairs will cost, but then I went back and sniffed the sample bag and it’s still like my mom’s homemade angel food cake. SOLD!

Since I’m currently out of my Earl Grey Cream I decided to see how this one handled the JOEmo thermos treatment. So far this morning it’s awesome. Angel food cake inna cup! TG

This was my “oh lord, I drank some beer last night which always upsets my system so I feel horrible in the morning and I need something soothing” tea this morning. I found it very soothing. The sweet floralness really was perfect. This one’s growing on me. It’s like it has the “NERDS! taste but healthier.” I’m gonna bump the rating up a little (the original being a solid 80). NE

I finished off my cold brewed iced tea pitcher of this tonight. This puppy’s been in the fridge for…at least two days, and this extra time has (not surprisingly) given it more depth. It’s still very cherry, but it also has more cake to it. Pineapple is still elusive — I get a tiny bit in the aftertaste peeking out from behind the cherry. It’s a good way to end my day :) NE

I had a mutant form of this tea today since I think I was delusional overly optimistic about having enough sample left for my JOEmo. So I ended up trying a mix of 1/2 tsp Earl Grey Cream and 1/2 tsp Colonille by SeredipiTEA (courtesy of JacquelineM). Eh, it was okay but I felt that the combo wasn’t the best for either tea. It ended up being a mellow vanilla black tea.

But I am not upset! Why is Rabs not upset that she’s out of her precious Earl Grey Cream? It’s because the super-awesome Daniel Mann made this tea available online for me!!!!! Hooray! Huzzah! Yippee! Even though my car problems seem to be getting more dire I still shall order this. I’ll have to refrain from going too nuts on ordering this evening due to money constraints, but by golly Rabs needs her nummy tea! Today’s version was a solid NE.

Dear Black Dragon,

Thank you for bein’ in my cupboard. You’re great at curbing my anti-morning homicidal tendencies. Good job!

Yours Truly,

Rabs

This tea was my moment of zen in my craptacular day. I think that I look at is as more of a desert tea than an Earl Grey.

I have enough of my sample left for one more JOEmo thermos-full. This gives me stress.

Will this tea be available to order soon? I can has yummy tea?

I swear. Samovar and I are not meant to be. I feel like somehow our relationship is cursed.

I finally feel less frustrated about the whole took-forever botched-up order (I still need to drop off the return box). So I felt that I could try and give this tea a fair shake. I had two really pleasant cups and took the remainder of my second steep along with me in my commuter mug. I got into my car. It died. I chose to irrationally blame the tea. It is a tea of doom.

Okay, so it’s not really a tea of doom, but my eyebrow did raise and I kept looking at my cup outta the corner of my eye. When I got home from work I decided to keep steeping this tea to both 1. dispell my fear of a cursed tea, and 2. get my moneys worth outta this tea.

It’s quite a good Lapsang Souchong. It’s on the less smoky side of LSes and it does have a nice sweetness. And perhaps I still feel a bit jaded about the whole first order fiasco, but I just can’t imagine spending my money on a full tin of this. I have one more sample (as a result of the fiasco) so I’ll try it again at a future date and perhaps give it a more thorough review (and an even fairer shake). But if I have car trouble on that same day, well…doom. Doom! DOOM!!!!!

I’d rate this as a kitten purring on my “cat noises scale” for LSes. NE