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Thanks, NayLynn, for sending me this sample in the gigantic package of tea you sent my way! Honestly folks, this woman is beyond generous.

I’m always excited to try new matcha, and I’d planned to try this today anyway. When I woke up feeling as though I was taking a bath with the devil in hell, I thought this was as good a time as any. I have no idea why our place was so hot last night, but at least I had a cold drink instead of a hot one. I had this in cold milk, and probably should have blended it for a bit longer, as there was still some powder floating around in the milk once I was done. I could drink most of it, though.

Had I not known this was bubblegum flavoured, I don’t know that I would have necessarily identified it as such, although it is certainly more of a candied sweet taste as opposed to a more generic sweet taste, so there’s that. And it was enjoyable and certainly not at all offensive or anything, but so far at least I don’t think I’ll be including it in my eventual RLT order. I’ve got enough to try again though, and so I’ll probably do just that. It made for a refreshing first glass of milk in the morning, and I’m so glad for the chance to try it. Thanks, Nay Lynn!

Also, let’s be honest: every time I drink matcha I’m inevitably comparing it to the bananas and cream flavour, and to date none has really lived up to that one quite yet.

Thanks again, Nay Lynn!

Sipdown! I actually went through 100 g of this faster than I thought I would, because I cold-brewed it a fair bit. I’ve liked this tea less and less over time though, and today’s cold-brew is refreshing but still manages to taste weird. There’s a sickly pineapple taste that insists on filling my mouth here and it seems a bit too sharp against the candied blueberry, which I admit I wish i could taste more of. Ah well, not a repurchase, but at least I made use of what I did have.

ETA: I was all excited to remove this from my cupboard when I realized I’d never added it! fail.

I’m still alive, guys!

Although I don’t think I would have been saying that so enthusiastically even a few days ago. I woke up last Monday morning with a mildly sore throat. You know, the “it would feel nice to have a warm drink this morning” type. Well, not even a few hours later, I was shivering, had a raging fever, and could barely swallow without literally crying in pain. Two days later, a doctor thought I had strep, so gave me antibiotics. Four days later, they still weren’t working at all, and the pain in my throat and ears was so awful that even breathing hurt. Then, I began puking violently. You know the kind where you’re on the floor clutching and lurching, thinking for sure you’re going to rupture something because of the force of your heaving? yeah that kind. Anyway, I went to the ER a few times to get hydrated. We’re thinking the antibiotics on an empty stomach for four days wasn’t such a good idea, either that or it was the wrong antibiotic. I was also blessedly given some really effective pain medication, even though they refused to give me anything for the pain the first time around. They were like “yeah, take Advil.” and I was like “I really think I need something stronger.” and they were like “Well we can’t give you narcotics!” and I was like seriously, wtf? there has got to be something between Advil and morphine you guys can give me. Sure enough there was, but advocating on your behalf when you’re sick is annoying.

Anyway, needless to say I didn’t have much tea at all. I sipped half-heartedly at this cup this morning, because it’s a very soothing and gentle tea, but my heart just wasn’t in it. It’s kind of disappointing, because I also just got my rivertea order in the mail and it all smells amazing. Oh well, I’ll hold off on drinking new tea until I’m feeling up to it.

It’s good to be back though!

I’m not typically drawn towards chamomile teas, although I distinctly remember liking the few I had as a child. But given that I’m sick, an herbal tea seemed appropriate for the night. I ordered a sample of this with my last h & s order, although I can’t remember what exactly brought it to my attention.

Anyway, I read that this tea is fairly mild, so I gave it a six minute steep and took it without any additions. It’s odd, because I don’t really get a strong chamomile flavour; rather, I get a mostly non-descript citrus flavour that holds its own against what seems to be a base of something slightly more than hot water. I expected the chamomile to be stronger, but am actually ok with the balance of flavours in this blend. I am also pleased that hte citrus in this blend is not at all tart or bitter, so it doesn’t irritate my throat or make me cringe. I have enough left for another cup, and it does seem like a good sick tea, so it shouldn’t be terribly difficult to finish off. That said, I don’t think I’ll be ordering it.

Some more backloggin. I decided to try this since cavocorax and I (possibly along with variaTea) will be placing a group order with adagio, and I figured I’d better start trying some of the samples that steepsterites have so thoughtfully shared with me. This one comes to me via shadowfall, so thank you!

I was really intrigued by this blend. Not necessarily because I’m an Austin fan (I’ve only read one of her books), but because the combination of flavours seemed to be fail-safe. Blackberries, cream, black tea? Sadly, I didn’t pick up on much in the way of berries either in the scent or the brew, even after I added my requisite milk and sugar. Keep in mind though that I tried this tea while my taste buds were a mess and my throat was living in the pits of hell, so that might have affected my ability to pick up on much. Mr. Keychange had a sip though and also couldn’t pick up on much in the way of berries. I’m going to try it again though, hopefully under better conditions. It really did taste just fine as a black tea; I just didn’t get much more out of it than that.

Wow. So I woke up yesterday morning with a bit of a sore throat. I thought it was odd, because it wasn’t really accompanied by any other symptoms, so I just went about my day. Not even a few hours later, I had a raging fever, was shivering as though i was naked in the arctic, and felt as though I was swallowing razor blades. I just can’t believe how quickly this all set in. I loaded myself up with drugs and went to bed. Of course I was alternately hot and freezing in the middle of the night (I distinctly remember tearing my clothes off only to scramble under the covers shivering a few minutes later), and needless to say was not in any shape to go to work this morning. But of course you know I considered it. You know, to stumble in all stuffed up, cracking voice and clammy face to be like “I’m a good employee! look at me! I’m here even though I’m about to keel over!”. I quickly realized how ridiculous that was, but still wish we lived in a world where we didn’t feel loads of guilt any time we couldn’t fulfill a commitment because of being sick. I think the key to dealing with that is to work on organizing your priorities. recovering quickly>worrying about how someone will perceive you in a split second, only to move onto other thoughts because let’s face it: we rarely matter nearly as much as we think we do when things like this happen.

Anyway, I have a bit of backlogging to do, but I had this tea when I finally crawled out of bed an hour or so ago. It felt amazing on the throat, and is such a gentle tea. I’m actually really proud I remember having it. It’s one of the few bergamot teas I really, thoroughly enjoy. I think I might get the loose-leaf version of this tea next time I place an H & S order.

And that’s a sipdown. Thanks again, charlotte0!

I tried my last serving of this tea with half the amount of sugar I usually put in, as well as a bit of cream to thicken it up a bit. I still can’t say I was all that taken by it: I found the tea to still taste far too thin, and the flavouring was just rather lackluster for lack of a better term. I also occasionally get hints of something sort of metallic, and it seems to be more often in French teas than other types, and I’m not sure if it’s just me, but even if it is, I don’t really care what a tea tastes like in anyone else’s mouth anyway LOL. All’s well that ends well though, as I don’t know that i can afford to fall in love with these rather pricey teas.

You’re awesome for having shared this with me, charlotte0!

I’ve put all my untried samples into two drawers in a small cabinet in my living room, and it’s so fun to reach into them and grab a sample at random. Thank you, starfevre, for so thoughtfully including this as a bonus in the package you sent me!

Actually, it’s good timing, because I’ve been toying with the possibility of creating my own blend on adagio’s website, but figured I was in way over my head a) because I know nothing about blending; and b) because I hadn’t tried a single adagio tea!

This tea is pretty much exactly what it purports to taste like. I would say, however, that even with milk and sugar added, the chocolate used here is certainly of the darker, almost but not quite bitter variety, and the strawberry makes a fleeting appearance at the end of the sip, but isn’t distinctly strawberry—it merely adds a slight tang. Because I’m not typically a fan of chocolate-covered strawberry-flavoured things, I can’t say that I’m a huge fan, but I found this tea to be an excellent Adagio introduction, and it was entirely pleasant and drinkable. It actually has me a little excited to try more of their teas at some point.

Thanks again, starfevre!
(speaking of starfevre, any news? I haven’t seen posts in a hwile)

This tea felt divine against my sore throat while at work today. I made 16 oz of it to get me through the day, but greedily chugged it and it was gone before lunch. It really is a lovely jasmine, but I do lament the insane pricetag. Angel from teavivre is very kindly sending me a few ssamples of their jasmine teas, so perhaps I’ll find a gem there. But this tea is so perfectly balanced, and by that I mean that I get mostly smooth jasmine with the barest whisper of a base, that could just as likely be a white as a green. To be fair, I haven’t tried many other jasmine teas, but it might be tough now since I feel a standard of sorts has been established.

Despite the fact that I’ve been drinking tea, I’m find it difficult to actually write tasting notes that I think are worth reading. Not sure why that is, but it feels kind of silly to write if my heart isn’t properly into it.

It could have to do with the fact that the right side of my jaw and neck are sore; I think a wisdowm tooth might be crowding its way into my life, because it’s a kind of pain I’ve felt before, but it eventually went away on its own. Who knows what’ll happen this time.

Anyway, this morning I was in the mood for a tea that was plain but delicious, and this fit the bill. I didn’t have to think too hard. I do wish I’d brewed it a touch stronger, but it was still a reasonably satisfying cup. I still think I’d like to experiment with other darjeelings, as although I like this one, I can’t say I’m particularly in love with it. I’m still working on developing a vocabulary to describe darjeeling, but the first darj I ever had was from Art of Tea, and it had a very appley feel to it. It didn’t taste remotely of apple, but it somehow felt like the skin of one nonetheless. And smoothe wood. Somehow I’m not getting that from this darjeeling, although I’ve also had this package for a while, so this may very well be my fault. I’m also a bit intimidated by the fifty million darjeelings that many companies seem to have with different letters and numbers and it’s all just so overwhelming!