Angrboda

I need something with a bit of kapow and sizzle this morning. So I’m not sure why I chose this one, which I stated earlier could definitely have benefited from having a little more of kapow and sizzle in it. Maybe because it’s new?

Dramatic evening was dramatic, as Luna is a very naughty patient indeed and have lost all but one out of four or five stitches. So it’s back to the vet we go today and see about getting her patched up. I suspect the Cone of Shame is in her near future.

Hence the need for something sturdy.

I have guilt squared! Just dropped the kitties off at the animal hospital for spaying, ear tatooing and vaccination. Luna was looking at me as I left, betrayal painted across her little face. Will be picking them up again between 2 and 3 o’clock this afternoon and we’ll see if they hate me horribly then. In the meantime I must have something to soothe my frazzled nerves.

This is the last of the three I ordered from J&J, the three in my cupboard from them that I have left to try are the three free samples they included. I’m not sure why I bought this one, actually, given my reservations towards the Grey family. I think it’s some sort of thing where that’s a kind of tea that I have decided that I would like to like, so I can’t quite get myself to completely ignore it. The straight up Earl Greys are not the problem. It’s the variations that attract me. This one, I think, had me at ‘Girlie’.

Now the aroma of the leaves does indeed very much resemble the description by J&J, as ‘a boudoir in a cup’. I can easily pick out the bergamot, and lemon is not hard to find either, given the huge chunks of dried lemon in the leaves. And not just lemon peel as has been seen before by other companies. This is the first time I’ve actually seen actual dried lemon pieces in tea leaves. Peel and fruit bits and all!

Secondly there is vanilla and rosebuds, giving the aroma a sweet and floral aspect respectively. These two are what actually provides the majority of the girlie quality for me. It doesn’t smell quite pink, but we’re definitely in the lightly purple area here.

All in all, the aroma is quite pleasant, if a bit heady.

The flavour is very smooth and citrus-y. The vanilla is giving it all a creamy sort of feel to it and the bergamot is not too strong. It’s very clearly present, but it’s not overwhelming and it seems quite fresh and crispy. I think it’s the lemon that’s giving it that lift. It seems to me that I have a tendency to enjoy the Grey family more in general if there is either smoke or lemon involved. Perhaps one of these days I should try to make myself a classic EG with a slice of lemon in the cup.

I’m not sure what the rosebuds do here. I can definitely find some floral notes in the tea, but that might as well just be bergamot top notes. I can’t tell one kind of floral from another, so I can’t be certain of this at all. I choose to believe it comes from the rosebuds in this case.

This is a tea with a whole lot of stuff going on in it. Bergamot AND lemon AND vanilla AND floral rosebuds. It’s a very busy cup, which I find somewhat confusing to drink. It’s hard to get a proper grasp on the flavour as a whole, I think.

On the other hand, if it didn’t have so much going on in it, I’m not sure I would have cared for it much. A lot of these things are things I normally wouldn’t care much for but here are evening each other out in a pleasant way.

I think I will rather enjoy this tin. I’m not sure I’ll buy more of it after it’s gone though.

Oxford. I always get associations to something rather posh when I think ‘Oxford’. Same with Cambridge really, but having actually been in Cambridge, these days my associations with Cambridge have more to do with excessive book shopping to be honest.

Anyway, the tea smells rather posh too, and although the chap on the tin is definitely Oxford-y, he looks rather too mischievous to be associated with this sort of posh smelling tea.

The tea is blended of Assam and Keemun, and I have to say they’re pulling it off extremely well. I can easily pick out both flavour profiles. The high, slightly astringent notes of Assam, with semi-cardboard flavour and raisin notes and the grainy undertones of Keemun providing the body, with floral flower-y notes and smoothness.

It’s really a very pleasant blend this, well suited both for mornings and afternoons, and I suspect if you were a milk-in-tea-er, it would carry milk nicely as well.

My first order from Jeeves and Jericho has arrived and it’s full of goodies. I ordered three tins of tea and a strainer shaped like a leaf.

I have received three tins of tea, a strainer shaped like a leaf, three samples of tea, a plastic measuring spoon, a button with their logo and a postcard.

The leaves have a lovely smoky aroma, which I could smell as soon as I got the lid off the tin. Smoky and wood-y and remarkably sweet. Like dark, dark caramel. Not just dark, but daaaaaaaaaaaaaahrk!

After steeping it’s almost the same, although the wood-y parts of the aroma has been rather turned down. Now it’s mostly smoky and dark, dark caramel. I can detect something vaguely floral now as well.

All this bodes quite well for the flavour, I should say.

Surprisingly, the first sip is Darjeeling. Forcefully so. Some of you may remember I had the Samovar blend from Kusmi, which I suspected of containing Darjeeling. I can’t remember, though, if it was merely a suspicion or if it was confirmed to have Darjeeling in it, and to be honest I can’t be bothered to look it up now. (I think it was confirmed) This tea reminds me of that blend, mainly because of that very bright initial meeting with Darjeeling in the flavour.

With the Samovar blend, I was mildly sceptical at first, but it really did grow on me, so in spite of my usual misgivings about Darjeeling in general, I am not concerned. Besides, I did know from the beginning that it would contain Darjeeling. But you see it also contains Lapsang Souchong. And LS trumps all!

Anyway, we have established that it reminds me of the Kusmi Samovar blend. First sip, Darjeeling. Bright and cheerful, bouncing up to say hello to the tastebuds. Slightly grassy and slightly spicy, but not offensively so. Hello to you too, Darjeeling.

Second sip is larger and contains more smoky notes than the first, but also more Darjeeling. That Darjeeling creature really is all over the place in this blend. It’s like a little over-eager dog who’s trying to greet every single family member simultaneously and so is bouncing up and down and around, very nearly actually succeeding in being in five places at the same time.

Let’s ignore the unruly Darjeeling for a moment though, and maybe it will calm down and behave itself.

There’s a grainy note as well here and something floral, which tells me the Keemun is present and accounted for. It’s very subtle though, and easy to overlook if one doesn’t pay attention or if one is overwhelmed by aforementioned Darjeeling. I could very much have wished for this aspect to be stronger.

I should have liked the LS and the smoke to stand out a bit more as well. As smoky blends go, this one is pretty mild. A beginner’s smoky blend perhaps. (I shan’t say a ‘girly kind of smoky’, although it was the first thing that popped into my head.)

Last night we had Italians for dinner. As in, a colleague of the boyfriend’s and his wife, not actually for dinner.

The menfolk having that icky fermented grain beverage, Mrs. Italian was interested in trying this tea, which suited me fine because I’m not that keen on it myself so it was a good way to use some leaf. Actually, when I asked her what sort of tea she would like, she answered ‘something spicy’ and I suggested this one to her. In truth, I think it’s actually the only real spicy tea I’ve got. I don’t really do spices in tea.

Anyway, I made her a big pot of it so she could top up if she wished, and it got me rid of a large amount of leaf. I have to admit though, that I forgot to ask her what she thought of it, but she didn’t look like she found it unpleasant, so I’m going to assume that she did like it.

From Ricky again.

This is quite pleasant, but frankly I’m not super blown away by it. It’s smooth and soft, somewhat buttery and there is a hint of apple in the flavour along with a whole lot of floral-ness.

It’s a pleasant cup to have while reading, but it’s not one that sends me into throes of ecstacy or invites long moments of contemplation.

(I know I haven’t been around much lately, and lurking when I have. I’ve got a new stack of books and am also terribly distracted elsewhere on the internets for the time being. I shall return as soon as possible to my usual patterns)

Another tea from the Steepster Select August box that dear Ricky sponsored for me.

I was in the mood for this. I’m not sure why, I just was. It’s weird because I’m not actually a Darjeeling fan at all. I tend to find the grassy, spicy notes rather too prickly and sharp. I used to really appreciate it, but things change.

But today this was really nice. Of course I do have that sour aftertaste now which is making me contemplate what tea to have next to make it go away with, but otherwise it just really hit the spot. Possibly because it wasn’t really all that offensively strong on those aforementioned prickly sharp notes of grass and spice.

Election day. I have been to cast my vote, fingers crossed for the result I’m hoping for.

I didn’t really have anything in the collection which I thought fitted with the whole election theme, so I picked one which could sort of represent the result I’m hoping for.

If you can work out how this tea does this, good for you. If not, I’m not likely to tell yet, although there may be a reaction to the result later on. (I try to keep these things strictly to myself, but you see, I’m just not very good at it.)

A short post, as it’s before dinner tea. In dry form it smells rather like Kusmi’s smoky Earl Grey, but with spices in it. After steeping it’s still the smoky EG, but not as spicy. More sort of slightly sugary sweet, and then a little spice underneath.

Taste wise, it’s still the smoky EG with spices. It’s not very heavy on the bergamot, which I approve of, and it’s got a heatlhy amount of smoke in it, which I also approve of. And then the spices just adds a little touch of the unexpected. A little exotic pinch. A bit of hey-where-did-that-come-from? It leaves a very slight burn on the tongue, as if I’ve just had something with a pinch of chili in it.

Quite nice. I’m glad I was recommended this one. It scores pretty high and would be a competitor to aforementioned Smoky EG from Kusmi. Wether I prefer one over the other, though, or they are more or less interchangable, I haven’t yet decided.

My Shui Tea order arrived today. It’s my first experience with that company so it’s rather exciting. The closest I’ve come to them before is having their Moscow After Hours recommended to me. (Yes, I also bought some of that. It was my primary reason for placing an order, as a matter of fact. This one was the bonus) So I was adding them to my cupboard, on two different tabs because Steepster is a slow-poke, and when I came back later to see if they had been added, Steepster had opened a post window on this one. Well, that decides which one to try out first, then, doesn’t it?

There was one small detail, by the way, when I opened the envelope and checked the contents. I really rather liked the personal touch of the handwritten in blue pen “I hope you will enjoy this. Cheers, Jim.” on the packing slip. (Jim being the founder of the company) I’m aware that he probably does that routinely to all his customers, but it does rather make a person feel like a Very Special Customer.

Secondly, on a more amusing note, the two pouches I had bought came wrapped in a piece of silk paper, which had taken on some of the aroma of the two pouches. Apparently that is super-interesting smell if you’re a cat. I had to take it away from them as I didn’t really fancy sweeping up microscopic shreds of paper from all over the lounge…

The dry leaves smells very fruity. I can detect both kiwi and pear in it, but I can’t for the life of my decide which one I think it smells most like. Kiwi, I think. No, pear. No wait, kiwi. After steeping it’s the exact same problem. Kiwi, but pear, but kiwi, but pear. A pear-y kiwi. Or possibly a kiwi-y pear. It’s like whole new fruit really. The tangy, stabby, sharp notes of the kiwi and the rounded, juicy, soft flavour of the pears. (I’m thinking those big yellow pears here, the ones that you have to eat quickly or you’ll have torrents of juice running down your arms. Impossible to eat in a civilised manner)

Oh my word, this is rather nice! I’ve had a similar flavoured white before, although that one was kiwi and strawberry, and I remember being concerned about the fruit flavouring overwhelming the delicate white tea. I can’t actually remember what I thought of that one at the time, only that I needn’t have worried. Neither is there any need for worry with this one.

In the flavour I’m finding primarily pear and then the kiwi tangyness on tops and edges, framing the flavour. Underneath all that there is still the unadulterated nuttyness of the white leaves. And you know something, Steepsterites? These flavours and this tea, they suit each other so wonderfully.

I’m glad I bought some of this, only if it’s only a sample. A large sample, but still a sample. I can see myself coming back for more of this.

Gosh. We have fleas. Or rather the kittens have fleas. Not many, I think, but I have seen a number of live ones. Killed them on sight, of course, but the thing about fleas is they jump. And when they’ve jumped, they’re gone.

Have therefore been on a super-detailed hoovering mission in the lounge and in my room. When the boyfriend comes home, he will find himself nagged into doing his room as well. Under the furniture. Not just around it. Every nook and cranny and all the cracks between the floor boards. Kittens acted kind of like if getting rid of them involved that sort of racket for hours on end, they would rather prefer the fleas, thank you.

I’ll do the rest of the house tomorrow and am considering a second dose of Frontline even if it hasn’t been four weeks yet since the last one…

I’m knackered now. What better in this situation than a tea that says GRAWRRRRR!!!!
I have even deliberately steeped it twice as long as I normally would have, and it does indeed both roar and growl.

Funnily enough, getting twice the steep has made it change character altoghether. Where’s the hay? Yunnans always taste heavily of hay, so why is the hay suddenly missing?

It’s drier now, more wood-y than hay-y, and it reminds me a bit of dark chocolate and not-too-strong coffee. It has never done that before. I think I quite prefer it this way.

(I’ll trade you all the fleas we’ve got for one piece of dark chocolate.)

I’ve been really enjoying this lately. I might have to start going easy on the leaves and make them stretch out a bit, because otherwise I’ll find myself having to decupboard it long before I’m emotionally ready to do so.

Just that feeling of citrus-y tangerine on the tip of the tongue. It’s exactly like biting a lovely juicy orange citrus fruit. It’s such a treat.

The boyfriend just asked me if this was a Standard and I had to disappoint him. I know channels have been opened now for me to shop at Shang Tea, and my dear Wombatgirl (whose name was unbelievably hard to spell just now) has also issued a standing invitation of buying and forwarding for me. But either way, that’s just to convoluted a way of shopping for me to make it a Standard. That’s a shame. :(

It is, however, still one I’ll revisit when shopping with Shang Tea again either by myself or through my middleman. Er, middle-woman.

This didn’t go as well with pancakes as I had imagined it would. Pancakes had rather too much flavour to really be able to taste this tea. Secondly, there wasn’t really enough leaf for the size of pot I was making.

What I did get out of it, though, was something bordering on caramelised with floral edges and pinch of cocoa. Also something rather raisin-y in there.

That’s it really. This was another one of those teas I could have sworn I had posted about before and so therefore I wasn’t paying too much attention to it. Also, pancakes.

This one courtesy of Ricky (I love that I finally have a good system for remembering where stuff came from!)

I don’t care that it’s not christmas yet. I have discovered that when it’s warm, my room seems to be one of the hottest in the house. When it’s cold, vice versa. This is what I get for having a room with no windows in it. So since the whether has been decidedly autumny as of late, I’m freezing to bits. Or I would be, had it not been for the fact that I’m under the slanket.

Nice hot cup of tea, then. This one, in spite of it being a holiday blend, seems appropriate.

Now, is there a cheat sheet somewhere with what the blend is made with? The leaves smell kind of Keemun-y grainy to me. And with a touch of Assam-y raisin notes. After steeping it strikes me as very Keemun-y and with something else that gives it a chocolate-y note. I’m suspecting Fujian in play here, but I’m far from certain. (Notice how my mind works in primarily Chinese blacks? I haven’t even considered the possibility of Ceylon or Kenya in the mix…)

I was using the timer for something else when brewing, but I thought I would be able to remember to got and pour before it went off. I wasn’t so it’s had an unknown length of steep but definitely longer than it ought to have been. There is a certain small amount of oversteepedness to the flavour now, astringent but not truly bitter. Actually, to be honest, it’s handling this little mistake admirably.

There are definitely Chinese involved here!

The astringency comes across here as that pseudo-smoky note which I associate with Keemuns. It’s got a whole lot of flavour this one. I’m very pleased.

I don’t like this hot at all. I find it insanely bitter and unpleasant, and yes I do know to pay attention to temperature. It just doesn’t appear to be working. Unless it is actually possible to oversteep something when only giving it 30 seconds.

I have discovered a really nice way to use this tea!

I baked a lemon cake today, I thought we could have it for dessert tonight. The icing on it was supposed to be made with lemon juice and icing sugar, but I was making a cup of tea to enjoy while drinking and my eye also fell on this tin.

I followed the whim. Made about half a liter, quite strong and chilled it. Have just used that instead of the lemon juice to make the icing for the cake. It doesn’t really shine through all that much in the icing, but it does give it a slightly funny colour and adds a subtle bit of pizzazz to the icing. I don’t like it hot at all, but apparently this way I find it quite enjoyable.

Now, obviously I didn’t use the entire half liter to make icing for just one cake so I used the rest to rinse the mug I had made icing in. Stirring the remaining icing well into the chilled tea and mixed it back with the rest. I thought it would be an obvious way of sweetening it and also saving on the washing. (I do have a dishwasher now, but old habits of 15 years or so die hard!)

Frankly for a chilled beverage it could have done with a little more sweetening and it hasn’t taken that bitter edge out of the green tea that I was hoping it would. It is, however, still oodles better chilled than warm.

I shall have to try a cold brew of this. That should definitely take care of that bitterness.

All in all this was such a positive experience that I feel generous and will give it a few more points than the original 15.

My cup has been cautiously sniffed. Lots of nose-wrinkling and backing away followed. I can therefore conclude that cats don’t like LS.

Good thing I’m not a cat, then. slurp

I think this must have come to me from QuiltGuppy. Not that I can remember for certain, but it was in one of those little pouches that I asked her to get a package of for me.

I’ve had one milk oolong before, from Nothing But Tea, and I was a bit torn about it. I liked the flavour but I thought it smelled like heated dairy. This one has a bit of that as well, but not the cloyingly sweet hot yoghurt that I remember from the other one. There’s more tea coming through here. Sweet and green. This pleases me.

The flavour is… thick. So so thick and almost creamy. It tastes exactly like it smells. A bit like warm dairy but also very clearly of a green oolong. It’s slightly nutty at the beginning of the sip and then the milky bits just take over, almost to the point of covering all other flavours. And the weird thing about that is that it’s more a feeling, not really a taste of anything. It’s like trying to taste something through a soft duvet. At the end of the sip I get an apple-y aftertaste, but it’s not super strong and doesn’t seem to want to show up on all sips. Just here and there.

It’s very nice. I think I prefer it non-milked, though.

So it is possible to ruin a chinese black through oversteeping. 45 minutes should do it. Poor thing rendered undrinkable.

Why do I not have a rating on this? I’ve had it before, I know I have because I had two samples of it at one point. I had one left now, which I’ve ruined, but I must have had an opinion on the first one… Odd.

Out of the Select box so generously provided by Ricky my first try is this.

I’m… uh… slightly frightened. I don’t have a very good track record with peach flavoured teas. If it’s a naturally occuring note of peaches that’s fine, but peach flavoured not so much. I’m also not a big fan of ginger.

Frankly, I thought these leaves were dreadfully stinky. Probably due to above caveat, but still. After steeping it’s more peachy and I like that aroma a lot better, although I remain sceptical about this whole peach thing.

Oh gosh. Ginger. Actually it’s not as bad as I had feared, but it’s not really surprisingly nice either. It’s just… ginger. Spicy and prickly and… gingery. This is a very primary note for me. I’ll give it 10-ish points though, for not being totally horrid in spite of being ginger.

The peach is rather more subdued, difficult to find under all that ginger and mainly present in the after taste. That really takes care of my peach reservations, because it’s not very pronounced at all. Subtle and discreet. That’s a rather pleasant surprise and it shows me that there are ways in which I can like a peach flavoured tea. It just has to be quite faintly flavoured. So fifteen bonus point for that.

The base is a Fujian black. If it was a basic black that would have been at least 80 points right there, but as it is flavoured and therefore not supposed to be the primary anything, I’ll have to say only 30 points on that account. Besides you could have totally fooled me about the base. You can tell it’s Chinese because it’s so smooth, but Fujian-ness? Can’t find any for all that ginger.

That’s a middleish score then. I shall have to try it in a cold brew also and see if that changes things any.

A while ago Kashyap had a fund raising contest in which donaters could win a VAST amount of this tea. I was lucky. And I do mean vast. I haven’t seen so enormous a bag of tea since the time the Black Powder blend was taken off the shelf at my then local teashop and they let me relieve them of the remainder of the stock. (I do miss that Black Powder…) Anyway, huge amount of tea. Have tinned some and put the rest away and only now got around to trying it.

Disclaimer: I’m very very ambivalent about EG. The majority of the time I find them slightly unappealing, but there have been a few famous exceptions. Kusmi’s Smoky Earl Grey, for example. That one is made of awesome. This one, in the company description, also mentions smokyness and other related sorts of words. I find that a good sign.

For the aroma, I’m getting mostly bergamot. Citrus-y and sour, but without that dusty dry sort of association that I got from those EG’s I found the most unpleasant. This actually smells like something that is edible, not like licking a storage shelf.

Rather a lot of that bergamot on the flavour too. A little too much for my taste to be honest. It makes a very tart-ish cup, although a deeper sort of tartness than biting a lemon. Also a touch of dustyness right at first on the sip.

It’s early in the morning, and I can’t really get any closer than this. It’s Earl Grey. Those who like EG with lots of bergamot in it, might find this very nice. Me I find it drinkable, probably in the better end of drinkable, but still just that really. I’m sure I’ll get through the big enourmous bag sooner or later, though. Probably I’ll share some of it.

Ricky is a kind soul who sent me stuff. All I did was notice that the new Steepster Select deal was not yet available for us international peeps, and then, what do you know! He offered to send me a box, as apparently he had some stuff he wanted to share with me anyway. Isn’t that nice of him? I’ve already started putting some serious thought into what to include in a return package.

I had the seriously first stroke of luck this whole week and managed to get home, in spite of having a small adventure with bus stops and bus routes not going where I thought they would, to get home just precisely in time to pick the package up before the post office closed. Awesome! I’ve had serious Positive Stuff deficiency this week, I thought I had earned this break.

Anyway, I got it home, confessed to the boyfriend that I had managed to nearly get lost between home and the bus stop (I find it easier to do this straight away and give him the cheap laugh. It always seems to slip out eventually anyway), and unpacked the box. There were the Select items in it and also some other goodies. This one was the one that struck me as the most immediately interesting of the lot. I’ve had so many good experiences with 52teas’ various berry blends. That raspberry and blackberry green blend, the name of which I can’t currently recall, springs to mind.

Anyway, I made a pot of this for dessert this evening and stretched my generousity a bit to make it a large pot to share iwth the boyfriend instead of the small one for me. Because I’m nice that way. When it suits me.

The aroma of the leaves and the steeped tea is more or less identical, and it’s so awesome. I sat there for several minutes just sniffing the tin! Berry-like and sweet, and with a strong note of something that weirdly enough remind me mostly of dates. That’s odd. I don’t like dates. Not one little bit. Why would I find a smell that remind me of them so pleasant? If I try to put dates out of my mind though, I think it smells sort of coconut-y vanilla-y with a touch of licorice. It reminds me of sweets. That must be the explanation then. :)

I’m getting a lot of berries in the flavour as well. Mostly blueberries, I think, with blackberries following closely behind, especially in the aftertaste. And underneath that I’m still getting the black tea, slightly astringent (ahem, I think that was my fault…) and slightly grain-y.

This is super-nice and right up my alley! I suspect it would work well on a green base also, bit like aforementioned rasp/blackberry number.

I’m just sorry that I can’t have more of it and surprised it hasn’t been posted about more on Steepster.

It’s been ages since I had some of this, and today it seemed just the thing. I’m glad I picked it. Somehow it gets even yummier when had seldomly rather than when had often.

It got about twice as long a steep as I would have normally done, mostly on a whim. yu76tyggggg oh look, a cat on the keyboard. This is not a tea that I’ve had a lot of bad oversteep experiences with, and I suddenly decided to see if a longer steep (I do short steeps normally) would have any impact on the result considering how much leaf I normally use.

It turned out just as it should. Maybe even with a little more depth to it, but I’m not sure if that’s not just something to do with how I remember it. It is a good while since the last time I had any of it.

I’m on the second steep of it now, same time as the first and my normal second steep time. Less berry, as much oolong. Still very nice indeed.

I think I’ve said it before, but I feel sorry for all you americans who can’t just go and get some of this whenever you like. Not unless you’re willing to pay some probably pretty fierce shipping.

And there are now 2 tins and 6 samples to go before I’m allowed to get new orders in. I’ve decided which companies I think I want to shop with and what I think I’ll want to buy. I think. Maybe.

There’s a race on now. Can I finish these requirements before my new Visa/debitcard arrives or will the card get here first? Yeah, following the theft of the phone the other day a colleague told us to have our cards closed as well, because all the thief would have to do was write down the information on the card and then they could abuse it online. So I’m now not only phoneless, I’m also penniless. I’ve got money. I just can’t get to it. The boyfriend is providing me with cash for the next few days until I get a new card, but GOSH it’s irritating. And limiting!

So we’re still sticking to really good teas, because I’m still in a foul mood. I’m glad I’ve got another vanilla tea in stock though. It took me a while to really come round to it, but I have reached a point where I must have something black and vanilla flavoured in the house. It’s just a question now of finding the perfect brand as well. The Chi of Tea vanilla Nilgiri famously briefly held the spot, but since that has now been out of stock since, it seems, the dawn of time, I’ll just have to look elsewhere. I’ve got a few different ones planned for ‘auditioning’ and if all else fails, I believe I might be able to blend my way to perfection. What I really want is a vanilla black, vanilla primarily and then just a touch of coconut. Just enough coconut to add depth, but not enough to necessarily be immediately recognisable as such. As a variation, also in combination with a sort of fruit, like the strawberry zabaglione 52teas had at one point.

My brand new mobile phone which I’ve only had for a month and barely started paying for yet has been stolen. Warrenty does not cover theft.

My favourite teapot is in the dishwasher.

I’ve been rained on both to and from work.

I accidentally stepped on a kitten paw coming home (thankfully no injured kitties followed)

Apparently we’ve run out of one of two kinds of cat food. They’ll have to make do with a second breakfast instead of dinner.

I’m in bad need of comfort and calming down tea. Making things right in the world again tea. Tea that reminds me of happier and luckier times and the wonderful friends I’ve made here.

Again, thank you, QG, for sending me this. You saved my day this evening.

Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I’ll go somewhere else and be bloody enraged for the rest of the day. I’m going back to only second-hand mobiles. They’re much safer from stupid thieves. >:(