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Made with honey and half and half, frothed into a latte. So good. almost like a light cocoa.

Today shall be a fibery day, in between the chores. I started a load of laundry, emptied the draining rack, and took out the trash. It’s time for browsing my knitting forum while I sip, and then I have singles to ply into yarn, and a shawl that needs a knitting.

This was included in a swap on Ravelry, from a person from the Netherlands.
I don’t know what kind of tea this is, other than what Google translates it to – “Yellow Fruit Tea” On searching for “Gele Vructen Thee” and using Google Translate, I found one site that listed it in a box with 4 varieties, and said (in Dutch) “The yellow fruit tea has a refreshing, fruity flavor of lemon, apple and a hint of peppermint.”

It does seem fruity, like it’s an herbal tisane, not camelia sinensis. I’m not detecting peppermint. But I think I do detect lemon and apple. Plus there’s what I call the “wet washrag” taste I get on a lot of herbals.

I’m nervous that it might have rooibos in it, as it’s listed as an “African Original.” I guess I’ll know if I get a stomachache.

Brewed, it’s a deep reddish-brown liquid. It smells fruity, maybe similar to Orange & Spice from Bigelow.
It tastes all right, but not something I’d hunt down or request more of.

I’m lowering my rating on this tea, not because I think it’s worse than it was, but because after starting to explore more tea, I find that I set this one too high to begin with. It’s a reshuffling of my own rating system rather than a commentary on the tea.

It got the breakroom tea treatment this morning, and it’s all right. Not much to say about something so basic!

I have had this sample kicking around for awhile, and apparently never remembered to add it to my Cupboard here, or review it. It stands up well to breakroom tea abuse (not optimal water temp, splenda, and room-temp plastic tub creamer). Not bitter, fairly mild. Probably better for a rainy afternoon than for a wake-me-up tea though.

The blue cornflower makes the unsteeped leaves quite pretty. I am not sure what it does for the taste, I’ll have to look that up someday.

sniffle, sniffle, sob sob

My prince is gone. I steeped the last of it up in my Brown Betty, and shared it with my husband. I must like that man to share one of my best teas :D

I am still on a high from last night’s concert (Indigo Girls played with the Dallas Symphony Orchesta, and it was aaaaaaamazing!), so I decided this morning required a treat. On the way out the door to work, I grabbed the sample packet of Black Dragon Pearls.

Drinking plain. Nice color, tastes very good. Goes well with the leftover chocolate cake from yesterday’s celebration of August birthdays (I work for a good company!). No bitterness or astringency.

Not getting much smellwise, but my allergys are acting up.

I am working from home today, so I can have any tea I want. That is so nice. I chose St Petersburg this morning based on smell. It was the most appealing to my nose.

I let it steep while I showered, so it’s probably oversteeped, but it doesn’t taste like it. Made with sugar and half & half, then frothed. It’s not too heavy, it’s sweet, and is a good way to ease into the morning as I work while the sun comes up.

In spinning news, my order of bobbins should come today. Maybe I will get to spin at lunchtime! I have a concert to go to tonight, so spinning tonight won’t happen. I’d pout, but it’s a concert for my all time favorite group, the Indigo Girls, with a symphony orchestra! That’s going to be awesome!

I’ve had this tea before and really enjoyed it, out at a restaurant. Once. The first time I had it. But then every time I’ve tried it after that, it has had a bitter taste to it that just stops any enjoyment of it.

I bought a box of it, determined to see if I could recapture that first cup. This morning it gets standard breakroom treatment – splenda and a creamer tub. Bleah.

Tried adding a second packet of Splenda. Still not really good, but tolerable.

I will have to try a shorter steep.

(Waxed my spinning wheel last night. It looks so much better. Waiting on bobbins and a driveband tension knob to be able to spin.)

I got my spinning wheel! happy dancing
It needs some work – the wood was never finished, and it’s fairly dry. I woke up to rain though, so I can’t sit outside and do the feed-n-wax treatment I was wanting to do. The feed-n-wax doesn’t seem that stinky, but it has Dire Warnings on it that say to be in a ventilated area. Maybe I’ll pull hubby’s truck out and sit in the garage.

Now I am sitting with a mug of Kusmi Caramel frothed up with half&half and sugar. Nummy. And I’m off to do some wheel repair research. The thing that moves the mother-of-all up and down to adjust the drive wheel band tension is missing altogether, and the 1 bobbin it came with needs an end glued back on. I am wondering if I should order a new tension thingy or if I can find a bolt to use at the hardware store. And I am not sure if I should put some feed-n-wax on the bobbin first and then glue it, or glue and then feed-n-wax. It’s very dry, and I don’t know how it will affect things.

I am waiting rather impatiently for someone to get back to me about selling me a spinning wheel. They were supposedly available yesterday but didn’t return my call… argh…

So I am having a cuppa to try and be patient, along with some oatmeal for breakfast. Cream and sugar, but not frothed, as I did not leave room in the cup.

The citrus is really coming to the forefront this morning. My tastebuds don’t generally pick out bergamot separately from everything else, but it’s coming through this morning. Tasty.

I can’t wait to get a spinning wheel. Tea and spinning go so well together. I already spin on drop spindles, and it’s lovely. But the addition of treadling while spinning will definitely be meditative. And hopefully good for the muscles in my legs. :D