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So DT has recently starting selling tea infused/related snacks in some of their stores. These things are not yet up on the website (and I don’t know if they will be anytime soon) but it looks like I’m lucky enough to have one of the stores carrying them.
I didn’t really want to type up a new entry; especially because I don’t have all the information to properly fill one out – and because I’m not sure whether that “should be a thing”. But they are tea infused so I did want to note it somewhere and this seemed like a good enough “anything goes” place.
I found myself in a “nibbly” mood earlier today while out (perhaps because I’d thus far had nothing to eat?) so I was pretty easily talked into buying some. There was a lot to choose from: biscotti, shortbread, cookies, chocolates, and more that I didn’t closely look at. In hind sight I’m slightly wishing I’d gone for the shortbread but what I did end up getting was a small box of chocolate caramels that were “Sea Salt and Chai” flavour. Not a clue why those jumped at me: I don’t like salty things or Chai – but they did!
Actually, they’re very good – like fancier Caramel Junior Mints. I’m really enjoying them, though I’ve now set the box aside because pacing myself is probably a really good idea. I shared ‘em with Tre too and he also liked them! My only complaint thus far is that I bit into one and ended up biting a very large, hard part of solid salt. Yuck. But I’ve only had that happen once out of like the whole box.
I guess this was a pretty interesting impulse purchase. I probably could have picked worse, anyway.
It’s been a good evening of (very cheated) sipdowns! I’ll explain:
I think I take advantage of my local DAVIDsTEA employees just a little bit. Tomorrow I’m going to the store to replenish some favourites and pick up a couple samples and I figured that I might as well bring the employees some samples too! I refuse to admit that that’s a weird thing: you cannot tell me otherwise! I’m just sharing tea with other tea enthusiasts…
This is totally not the first time I’ve done this.
So here’s my “care package” for the awesome employees at my local branch:
- Pumpkin Pie Matcha, Red Leaf Tea
- Cola Matcha, Red Leaf Tea
- A Rabbit’s Garden (“Sipdown”), Della Terra
- Weeping Angel (“Sipdown”), 52Teas
- Pret a Portea, RiverTea
- Good Morning Sunshine, Butiki
All of these teas are somewhat older (but not ancient) blends that I’ve grown tired of but I’m hoping the DT employees will get something out of and enjoy! I certainly wouldn’t pawn off anything “bad” on them! The two sorta kinda sipdowns in there are things I’ve reviewed in length before and that I felt didn’t really require a proper send off (a “last tasting” and accompanying tasting note). I’m just going to remove them from my cupboard and kind of be done with it…
Oh! And question for you Steepsterites! Tomorrow when I go into DT I’m looking to get a “Tea Pop” to go – but I don’t want just any tea pop, I’d like to get the “most unadvised” (or rather, the “worst”) blend you could get as a tea pop. Something really, really weird. Right now I’m leaning towards Lapsang Souchong Star or Bollywood Chai! However I definitely want to hear everyone else’s thoughts/ideas before I go tomorrow!
Hi. Since I are newb, can you tell me what a “sipdown” is?
Also, what is a tea pop?
I envy you people who have actual tea stores nearby. >_<
There is a Teavana in the Galleria 50 miles from me… I never go there >_<
Basically a “sipdown” is when you finish off (typically by drinking, which is why mine are cheated here) a quantity of tea in your cupboard, and then subsequently remove it from your cupboard. Normally I include numbers as well (ex. 160/166). The first would be my “new” number of teas in the cupboard and the second would be the teas in my cupboard as well as the teaware logged in my steepster cupboard.
A tea pop is tea turned into a soda pop. Some people, such as myself, make them at home in a variety of ways. Normally I do matcha soda where I mix flavoured matcha and sugar into club soda. During the summer DAVIDsTEA will turn any of their blends into a soda pop the same way they sell “To Go” hot tea, iced tea, and lattes. There are actually two DT’s in my city. No Teavana anywhere near me, though.
If it’s not too late for suggestions, Lapsang tea pop sounds amazing(ly unadvised), I’d be very curious to hear about it!
Thanks for educating me :D haha. That sounds awesome. No DavidsTea anywhere that I’m familiar with. I wish I lived somewhere cool.
So Sipdown is basically finishing off tea and removing it from Steepster cupboard because you’re not going to get it again? Or because you didn’t like it… right?
I did end up getting Lapsang Souchong; it was the one I had in mind anyway but also the one the sales associate suggested. Tasting note later tonight :)
Oh this should be interesting.
So I needed to pack up a swap thinger for Sil but, uhh, sick – so I’ve been trying to avoid actually handling my tea or tea things too directly; somehow I convinced Tre to help me package things up for her which is a miracle in an of itself. I think he took pity on me because of the pitiful wheezing…
So, Sil got samples of things she requested specifically but also of every single Tea Desire blend I own. Really, she should be thankful for the sick because this package has less than 20 teas in it because I knew Tre was getting impatient: if I’d been doing it myself I would have flooded your cupboard with things!
It also turned into a “nibbling on things from the tin” type of night – which is why I don’t feel so bad making a “tasting note” under the generic headline. Umm, I did taste some things…
So I ate (all Tea Desire blends):
- Chocolate coated Banana bits (Banana “Tea” Chocolate Cream)
- Caramel Chunks (Caramel Pu’Erh)
- A candied Strawberry (Buddha Bamboo)
- Some Kiwi (Pricky Pear)
- A Walnut (Walnut Truffle)
Yummy!
First time I’ve ever used this, and it’s odd.
The show I went to last night was a primarily metal concert which is very much outside of my comfort zone (live music in general is outside my comfort zone – but I know nothing about heavy metal as well), but Kristina really wanted to get me out of the house and meeting people, and the metal communities in Saskatoon and Regina are both ones she’s heavily involved in. She knew a few of the people who played last night personally.
Normally, I wouldn’t be able to go to a show because they’re typically in bars and for thirteen more days I’m still underage – but this one was held in this really beautiful and lovely cafe called The Underground Cafe. It had tons of art and paintings on the wall from local artists and a giant fish tank with tons of really neat fish, and the barista who was hosting the event was really friendly and took time to talk to everyone who showed up and introduce himself and it was just a very cool atmosphere in general. It kind of reminded me of Roca House, in Regina.
Kristina and I have already decided we want to come back during the day sometime; I’m interested in trying the vegetarian sandwiches when they have the lunch bar open. The vegetarian menu was pretty extensive (always a plus) – and everything was named after The Beatles or their songs, which was a neat touch.
As far as food/drink goes, I ended up getting a cup of Chocolate Truffle black tea after talking with the Barista and confirming it was loose leaf and such (it was Chocolate Truffle or Blood Orange). Overall, it was pretty good; light black base and a fudgey chocolate taste. I think that they used leaf from Tea Desire because it tasted nearly identical to the identically named blend from Tea Desire – but I can’t be sure which is why I’m posting it here.
http://steepster.com/teas/tea-desire/39005-chocolate-truffle
It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch; they certainly have access to Tea Desire blends – and it’s not uncommon for people to label Pu’Erh as “Black” teas. But again, I’m not totally sure which is why I’m posting it here.
The concert itself was really interesting. I’ll admit, I wasn’t really into it until the second band did an amazing cover of The Cat Came Back, which is a really neat song. It was sort of “popularized” by Fred Penner as a folk/children song but it’s much older than that (it’s from 1893). I know this because I studied the origins of the song for an art piece in my advanced art course (I was doing children’s songs/poetry/story inspired Disasterware in the style of Shel Silverstein on plates). Originally it was titled The Cat Came Back: A Nigger Absurdity. It’s very much not a child’s song so it makes sense that metal bands are drawn to this as a cover piece (I know a few who cover it, thanks to Kristina).
After that, I think I enjoyed the concert a lot more, and got a lot more into it (thought not as into it as she got). The other interesting cover they did was a heavy metal cover of a Bob Dylan song…
Also, for those who are curious – here are some really neat pictures of Distasterware, which is the art style I mentioned/one of my favourite art styles. The man who pioneered the art style is ironically more famous for one of the teapots he made in the art style (the first link):
http://thewhitenetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SA_hitler-teapot-with-eyes.jpg
https://far4.net/images/products/charles_krafft_kim_jong_ill_teapot_far4.jpg
https://far4.net/images/products/charles_krafft_martha_skateboard_far4.jpg
https://far4.net/images/products/Charles_Krafft_smith_wesson_far4.jpg
http://www.antiquesatoz.com/artatoz/krafft/murder.gif
http://reubenmiller.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/05/krafft_disasterware.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e67/dezeedoesdance/ceramics/charliekrafft5.png
I find the art style just fascinating. Basically, it’s defined as: Ceramic art using traditional ceramic decorative styles to capture modern disasters or horrific images. Krafft also uses a technique called “Spone” where he turns human bone remains into ceramics.
Apologies for the art geek out.
EDIT: I forgot the best/worst part of the fishtank! There was a dead fish floating in the corner of the tank the whole time we were there (five fucking hours) – and the barista was freaking out because he had just bought it for the tank; he even crawled on to the table (in the weirdest position) to get a better look – like, while we were eating there. And then, halfway through the show all the snails from the bottom of the tank gathered near the dead fish and by the end of the show this dead fish was covered in about four or five snails.
I just couldn’t help but think how “metal” the whole thing was.
I was staring at my bagel with cashew butter I’d brought for my breakfast and got such a craving for breakfast tea with milk. I headed off to my favourite office around the bend, where they keep a lovely stash of bagged teas. Of the three ladies that work in that office, one is from Ireland and brought Irish breakfast back on her last trip home. I snagged one of this for my milk tea and bagel this morning. It’s really hitting the spot, now that’s it’s nearly lunch hour hah.
Any suggestions on a great Irish breakfast are welcome – both for my own cupboard and to share at work.
My girlfriend introduced me to chai lattes a few weeks ago, but specifically to an actual tasty one at a cafe in the city here – Gravity. Last night I may have had a dream about this chai latte. So today, between playing video games – rather than catching up on studying like we both should be – we went to fetch these amazing chai lattes.
Seriously, amazing. Perfectly creamy, which I’m sure is due to the milk, but also chai tasty underneath the creaminess.
I don’t anticipate any more sipdowns today/I’m quickly running out of sipdown-able teas. My tally for today includes:
Cheesecake matcha (sneakily swapped out to Stephanie)
Bavarian Cream matcha
Happy Banana
and 2 samples (Rhubarb Green and Rhubarb Vanilla)
I could possibly sipdown Caramel matcha, and if I continue drinking Three Friends at the same alarming rate, that one is also a real sipdown possibility.
My sipdowns may have been slowed up by receiving my Butiki order today, which was awesome. My sipdown tally for today includes:
French Vanilla matcha
Divine Temptation (just until I pick up more next week!)
and 3 samples (Good Feeling, Mind Palace, and Tamarind Pop)
Tomorrow I have an exam, so I won’t be in the house for half the day at least. We shall see what sort of sipdowns I can manage.
P.S. It’s raining! I wait all year for the one month it rains here, and my wellies are scheduled to arrive tomorrow! Perfection.
Butiki! Rain! Everything is wonderful!
Yay, wellies!
Just curious what mind palace tea is? Sherlock, clearly
I didn’t do a note because, uhm, it got dumped. It was from Beastly Beverages and was a pu’erh. Pu’erhs and I generally do not get on well.
Mind Palace? I’m assuming it came from me. Zero pu-erh in there, just a blend of Assam and Ceylon. It is a weird one though, I must admit.
Courtney – FYI rain here has been minimal for us. IE not even hikers have gotten even a little wet
It’s not pu’erh MissB? Whaaaat? I’m having a hard time with that. It did come from you, well from VariaTEA to me, but from you to her.
Sil thanks for the heads up! I’m still bringing them hehe. But I am excited for good weather there. And OCEAN.
Oh that does sound weird
I’m just finishing up a cup of Grandma’s Pumpkin Pie now. My tally for today includes sipdowns of:
French Butter Cookie matcha
SBT: Honey Ginger
Irish Cream Cheesecake
Grandma’s Pumpkin Pie
and 3 swap samples (The des Alizes, Pomegranate Sarsaparilla, and Pu Erh Gourmand)
I am happy with that progress.
Look at you go! Good job :)
Thanks! They were only 1 cup each, but I’m still thrilled haha.
A sipdown is a sipdown.
Nice sipdown marathon!
Thanks! I’m already at 3 today. Mwuahaha.
You’re a machine!
Well, since I’m picking up a bunch of teas in Vancouver, I need to make room haha. :)
Also, I’m taking advantage of the rare opportunity of being at the house all day since I’m studying for exams.
Sounds like a good plan!
First exam today, and I decided to go with LB and Cacao this morning. And a bowl of Fruit Loops. YUM.
This class has been frustrating all term and I’m finally almost through. For the exam he told us “This isn’t the sort of exam you can study for, so there’s no point in poring over your notes”, and in the next breath, “but you will need the entire 3 hours to write it”.
Good luck!
some folks shouldn’t be instructors. plain and simple. hope it went well.
Good luck!!
Good luck!! My first exam is today as well. However, it is for my pass/fail course so there isn’t much stress.
Thanks! And good luck VariaTEA, even if it isn’t too stressful. :)
Good luck on the exam! it’ll feel wonderful to have it behind you.
Tonight I mixed 2 parts Guayusa with 1 part Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble.
I always make the fatal error of steeping guayusa when I’m already exhausted. By that time, there’s no turning back. Tonight is no exception. It’s only 9pm and I’m fighting to keep my eyes open.
I hope my matcha order shows up on Wednesday. I would say tomorrow, but it’s still in Chicago, with the last update on Friday. I’m so impatient.
Sounds potent! And yay Matcha soon :)
Oh thanks for the heads up on that “tea”! I wasn’t really sure where to log that stuff, I know there’s also a “custom” label but I feel like that’s more for an established delicious blend as opposed to a “hmm I might just try this with that”.
I had my morning cup of Irish Cream Breakfast, but I didn’t write a note for it. I didn’t bring tea to school today, so now I’ve arrived home and I’m making a resteep of Japon with 1/2 tsp. of Cacao for a little extra oomph.
My stepdad called me today to invite my to Jamaica from March 28-April 3! I was so excited, then it hit me I present my conservation poster to the department March 28. And I have a psychology presentation April 3. Of course. I plan on speaking with both profs tomorrow to see if I can’t present a day or two early. What do you guys think?
Certainly worth talking to them about it? You wouldn’t want to ask and miss out on the vaca when you could have potentially gone.
That’s what I figured too Lala. I feel like if I ask to present early rather than late it won’t look like I’m just trying to get an extension. I don’t think the department presentation will go over, but it won’t hurt to ask.
Maybe you can arrange flights so you can still go, just different flights. ? I’d hate to miss a trip like that if there was a chance you could make it work
I asked my parents that but it’s a coordinated group vacation thing. In fact, they’re even flying me home to fly out from there versus the city I’m in, because apparently that’s how it has to work.
I don’t think anyone would fault you for wanting to present early if it’s possible to do so. If the March 28 one can’t be pushed up maybe you could meet them down there? I know you said it’s a coordinated thing so it might cost more to do that but it sounds like it might be worth the additional cost (within reason) to get to go as family thing.
If I can even have the April 3 one moved, I would absolutely do that Morgana. I have a feeling that’s what will happen. My mom said it would be difficult, but I think we can all pull a few strings. :P
It’s all I can focus on tonight, rather than what I should be doing haha!
Hopefully you can work it all out – a trip to Jamaica would be fantastic!
Fingers crossed! That sounds like an amazing opportunity.
I went to Jamaica once. Somewhere around here there is a pic of me with my entire head done in tiny braids. I left it in for the rest of the cruise.
yup, I had the beads too! It was great! I didn’t have to detangle my hair for almost a week, but then the rude awakening happened when it was time to take out the braids…my hair is very long…it took a very long time…
Oh man, beach vacation! That will be a blast!!!
I really hope they would let you work around this! It’s so annoying to miss a vacation because of school. Ultimately, life’s too short.
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 nearly just steeped my Laoshan Black and Cacao in the vinegar I’d had in the kettle for cleaning. Eek. Thank goodness I caught that just in time.
I’m on my resteep of 2 parts Laoshan Black and 1 part Cacao. It really just accentuated the chocolate notes in Laoshan Black, which was delightful. I’m getting dangerously low on Cacao though, I really wish my HI order would ship already. I’m trying to be patient, but it’s not working out so well.
Wow. Sounds like a sweet combo! I need to clean my kettle out, thanks for the reminder heh
Oh man. That would have been disgusting!
Haha thank goodness I caught it. Phew.
Wow. That’s an interesting combo! And I hope your order ships soon. They need to get quicker at that…
They need to stop doing 4509834509438584739 things and get a few down right first. All of these delays is part of why I haven’t bothered to place an order yet…
Yeah, that is pretty annoying. :|
I reviewed a tea after a purchase and now I have a 20% off coupon, which expires in a month. That’s a very sneaky way to entice me. But I don’t want to wait 2 weeks for it to show up when I’m in the same city!
Can anyone identify this tea packet? It’s what’s in my cup today. I’m pretty sure it’s one of the Life in Teacup charcoal roasted Tie Guan Yins.
So, I’ve been off Steepster for a while now…I’m just now coming out of another bout of major depression. There is so much stuff in my life I need to sort out now. It’s funny, because depression can hit when everything in your life is going great..But then only when you start feeling better again do you realize that now you actually have stuff to “be depressed about”…Like all of the work, chores, errands and social obligations that you need to catch up with. I apologize to anyone who I promised to send tea to, and haven’t yet. I hope to send it out shortly, and I will try to make up for the tardiness. I look forward to catching up on reading everyone’s notes soon!
I got this green tea in a swap with Meeka almost a year ago. It was labeled “Virgin Green Tea”. I tried to find the swap thread where she’d listed them, but couldn’t. I believe she said she’d picked it up on a trip to the Nilgiri region. Anyhow, I have waited too long to drink this tea, but it’s still quite good. I’m going to have to drink the other teas she sent. Thank you, Meeka!
Preparation
Tropical Hibiscus unsweetened iced tea from Panera Bread this morning!
At first it was weird, but then I kinda liked the fact that this tea is unsweetened. Like if it was sweetened, it would have been super sweet and medicine-like.
Good tea. I’ll probably try the Açaí Berry tea when I’m there next time!
Dude. Now I’m craving an Açaí Bowl now! Just looked it up, and there’s one right across the street from Panera. Welp. Looks like I’ll have to go there soon!
I used to work at Panera, and after I was told that the Green Tea and Lemonade weren’t included I the free drinks we could have, I started drinking a lot of the Acai Berry. It’s not bad, the only bad thing is that they don’t always clean the container very well and sometimes all the built up residue turns the tea sour. I would always get so mad when I would go in to close, and des over that the tea is 9 hours old and hasn’t been cleaned all day. I don’t know if you location is as lazy and disfunctional as mine was though, haha.
Oh wow. Well.. that’s just such a wonderful thought to have whenever I walk into a Panera…
Seems to be true of a lot of places, it’s easier to cut corners than to do things right. But it might not be true for your Panera!
Went to Disneyland on Sunday and my friends and I decided to get some Starbucks down Main street :)
Decided on some peach green iced tea or something and it was pretty good? A tad too sweet. Probably won’t purchase since I can make tea for cheaper on my own haha.
I’ve been so busy the past couple weeks and this was my first cup of tea since WEDNESDAY wow. VidCon was crazy (and I’m never going again… a good and a bad thing), but Disney seriously is taking over my life!
Drinking an iced jasmine tea that my roommate made :)
First time drinking jasmine iced and I actually really like it!
Dude. So I dont love my roommates, as much as my previous ones, but like my two of my roommates now DRINK LOOSE LEAF. THEY REFUSE TO DRINK BAGGED TEA AND IT’S GREAT. I obviously trump them on like… the tea craziness scale, but I’m just happy that I live with people who appreciate loose leaf :)
Actually the first jasmine tea I ever had was iced and I had it that way for years before ever trying it hot
Jasmine is the first tea I’ve ever fallen in love will, since waaaay back in 4th grade! Now I’m in college and I just had it iced.
I should really try my teas both iced and hot from now on :)
That sounds like double the tea to me…excellent :-).
I cold brew jasmine quite a bit. It’s really nice that way.
I feel you. My wife and sister both drink loose leaf with me and I have four friends who come over regularly who appreciate it too and it makes me SO HAPPY. Why do we love sharing our tea? It just makes happies in me to have people appreciate something I love so much.
Broke my no-tea-on-weekends thing because I just went to the Pacific Palms Resort with my friend for a group project and she had a buy one get one free coupon at a tea house.
Just a usual asian tea place that sells milk tea and tapioca and stuff! I just got a regular Mango Green Tea, no sugar. Really yummy, but I definitely should have asked them to add sweetener and stuff :)
I decided to do the whole Blueberry Pancake Perfect Match thing from DAVIDs (http://www.davidstea.com/blueberry-pancake-perfect-match?&TF=FF5E5B2806AF&DEID=)
1.5g of Blueberry Jam
1.5g Oh! Canada
Boiling water for 3.5 minutes.
These are two of my favourite teas from DAVIDs and I didn’t even think of blending them together for a Blueberry Pancake tea! At first smell right when I poured the water in, the maple definitely overpowered the blueberry, but now after a couple minutes, the blueberry is starting to come around.
Mmm. These two teas don’t necessarily blend but you a still taste the two separate from each other. First the tartness of the blueberries hits your tongue, and then an aftertaste of the maple.
Decent tea together. I only have enough to make one full cup of each so I’ll sip them down soon enough and appreciate them on their own :)
Preparation
I’ve been wondering about the “perfect match” idea… sounds like they may be better on their own!
Yeah, they’re great on their own! The combination of the two sounded like it would’ve been good, but they didn’t mesh as well as I would have liked. I figured that since I had the two teas anyway, might as well try it out!
