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Sipdown (276)

This is less than a year old and something just seemed rancid about it. The mug got dumped. The tea got dumped. It was sad.

Sipdown (277)

It’s fine. Rose and clove are the main flavours. Not really anything special so this one cup is enough.

Sipdown (278)

Finished this one last night while I wrote thank you cards for my sister and nephew for baby gifts. Figured her and her husband literally had their hands full with the baby so I wrote while she dictated.

I remembered enjoying this one but I genuinely couldn’t say why. I wasn’t really paying attention but I do remember thinking it was good and I finished off the mug quickly enough.

Today’s #septembersipdown is about blending teas, which I don’t usually do. I was trying to come up with something and a recent conversation about lapsangs with Sil and Roswell Strange came to mind. In particular, the fruity lapsangs that Roswell Strange has been trying lately had me intrigued.

Then I remembered Sil always recommends maple syrup in lapsangs so I thought blending Maple Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha and a lapsang could be cool – maple and smoke but also the idea of toasted marshmallows came to mind. However, this tea and that one are brewed so differently that I didn’t want to start guessing what would be the best steeping parameters. So, I tried to think of something else that was sweet or fruity that might pair and my copious amount of Cotton Candy tea sprung to mind.

So how does the combination of this tea and Cotton Candy by DAVIDsTEA taste? Like someone put sugar in a lapsang. I guess that is accurate since cotton candy is largely just sugar. It makes for a smokey top note and sweet underneath. Nothing mind blowing enough that I would do it again but not bad.

Thank you Roswell Strange for sending me a sample of this! I’ll save rating it until I have an unblended taste.

Sipdown (279)

This last cup was not as good as the other two I had of this. Perhaps because I didn’t drink it right away but it just seemed like the honey sweetness was weirdly distinct from the more sour kombucha. That was never the case prior so that’s odd and a sad way to finish this off. It’s not bad but it’s just always been better.

I don’t know how I stumbled upon a random Canadian Etsy tea shop but I did and I was able to get free delivery just by ordering one tea. The tea was on the expensive side, especially when I realized how small the package was but it was cute and I was intrigued. So this is one of the newest teas to arrive in my house.

I made this tea as a latte and drizzled some caramel syrup on top. It’s good but it’s also more a chai than it is butter beer. I say this because I had butter beer at the wizarding world of Harry Potter and this is a lot more spiced and a lot less buttery/sweet. I mean, there is caramel but that’s likely more from the syrup than the tea. What do I get from the tea? Spice. A lot of cardamom. It’s actually nice because the spices don’t have that muddiness to it that some chais get. However, it’s not worth what I paid and it doesn’t live up to its namesake so this won’t be a repurchase. It won’t be bad finishing it off though. Check out my pic of the latte here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFDvfHYgEBA/?igshid=1dj8d43frzth8

Speaking of new…my sister and brother-in-law brought home their newborn today! He was born on Wednesday. He’s so tiny at just 6 lbs, 2 oz (he lost an oz since birth which is normal). His name is Grayson Benjamin and he is wonderful! I might be biased though since he is my nephew after all. Check him out here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFDmINhAWZj/?igshid=yklphxnsmhen

Sipdown (280)

Finished this one off while being rather un-lazy and listening to my employment law lectures.

I was actually talking to Roswell Strange and Sil this morning about how even if I like a tea, it takes me forever to finish it off if its a green tea or a white tea. I don’t know why but I just don’t reach for them often.

This tea is an exception since I was so close to being done that it was an easy sipdown. I received the 16 grams sample of this one in my July My Tea Box subscription. I had it iced and got a nice pineapple flavor. Today, as a hot tea, it is all mango. Juicy and ripe mango with a pineapple tang lingering in the back of the sip. I don’t taste the green tea base at all really and that’s preferable for me. All in all, it’s a good tea and one I think I prefer hot to my surprise.