Faith

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Packing boxes while 23-months-pregnant is… interesting, to say the least. BUT my 2-year-old is actually napping for a change so I had best make use of this precious toddler-free time!

You never really realise how much STUFF you have until you’re attempting to cram it all into boxes. With a husband who majored in Political Science that means we have so many books. Heavy books. Wordy books. Textbooks. Books about war and dictators and genocide. Lovely. I sold most of my old textbooks back in university to get back some of the money… my husband? Kept. Them. All.

All this packing calls for a London Fog break, stat! A dreamy, creamy, bergamot scented break… perfect.

LOTS of changes around here lately:

1) WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!! Simultaneously scary AND exciting at the same time. One the one hand we will be SO POOR because our savings have gone towards the down payment, lawyer fees, land titles, taxes, and then the mortgage twice a month. On the other hand we won’t be renting anymore! This makes me incredibly happy! If there’s a problem it’s up to us… and yeah we’ll have to foot the bill, BUT no more waiting on landlords who don’t do anything anyways and make us resort to solving the problems of mice infestation, exploding stoves, or unshoveled walkways ourselves.

2) The terrible twos are upon us. My precious, well-behaved 23-month-old has just this week decided that that was all an elaborate charade and that she just wants to scream and whine for whatever she wants now. Who is this child? Cuz she sure ain’t mine…

3) Baby boy is quite a busy little bee in there. I’m officially 23 weeks along and the little gaffer must be a break-dancer because I can feel him twirling and kicking like there’s no tomorrow.

4) My doctor also happens to be pregnant too, which is weird because she was also pregnant when I was pregnant with my first! This means that she’ll be going on maternity leave at the end of January and I’ll have to go to another doctor for the rest of my prenatal care. Sigh.

5) Which actually segues to this tea, I promise. I haven’t been the best preggers around… I don’t take my prenatal vitamins (I was taking them before I got pregnant, but then the nausea hit and I could barely keep water down, let alone hard-to-digest horse pills), I definitely don’t drink enough water, I was losing weight for a while and have just started gaining some of it back, etc. So, my Doctor was all, “I know you have trouble with the pills and keeping food down, but COULD YOU PLEASE DRINK MORE FLUIDS!” So, that’s where this tea comes in because I figured I might as well enjoy the fluids I drink, right? Thus I’ve been steeping + icing a bunch of my more summery teas in an attempt to motivate myself to get more fluids coursing through my system. This one hits the spot: fruity, light, flavourful, and delicious. Bottoms up, Dr. H!

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This tea… it just feels right.

I’ve actually been scheming to blend these two teas for a while now, but for some reason the Toasted Marshmallow triggered something in my pregnant nose/taste-buds that made me abandon it after the first cup. However, when mixed with Cookie Dough both teas compliment each other perfectly! Like drinking liquid s’mores or macadamia nut cookies. And made as a latte? I’ve died and gone to tea heaven…

Sidenote: My 23-month-old likes this latte just as much as I do, good thing I made double so we can share.

Ever since the pregnancy nausea/vomiting ceased I’m finding I can finally tolerate rooibos again. Prefer this much more to Salted Caramel since when latte-d up it tastes exactly like those caramel candies that you can buy in bulk from most stores. Yum yum!

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(First off, what is up with Steepster?? Every time I type in the web page initially I get the annoying “Oops. Someone left the kettle on…” page! What is going on? Is it just me or are other people experiencing this too? Okay, rant over.)

Alright, on to this tea.

The moment I open the bag I am hit with memories… memories of tea with my proper Scottish-descent Grandma in her china laden dining room, and of my dad taking me out for tea after my ballet class at the age of five (always loading my tea with far too much sugar + cream) to the local tea house. Strange how smells can elicit such strong emotional responses. To me, this is the tea people drink during “afternoon tea” or in tea houses. This is the kind of tea that an English (or Scottish) person would drink when feeling homesick for the homeland of their ancestors, as my Grandma and her son, my Dad, do.

It’s strong, malty, slightly smoky, and holds up to milk + sugar. The tea of memories…

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This tea. As a latte. Nirvana

I’ve had this two ways in two days, here’s my verdict…

Straight: I definitely taste more mint than coconut or apple, which is okay, but makes me wonder why I don’t just brew up some Peppermint Amour instead?

Latte’d: Much improved! With the addition of frothed milk + sweetener the coconut becomes much more noticeable. The apple, not so much, but I wasn’t really looking to taste apple anyways! I’m trying to put my finger on what the flavours remind me of… and I’d have to go with those pastel pillow mints that I always seem to find at weddings! Yep. It’s uncanny. I can almost feel one melting across my tongue as I take a sip of this latte… mmhmm.

“Are you baking? And this early in the morning??” inquired my husband upon smelling this tea as he prepared for work…

“It’s tea, silly. Liquid cookie dough tea,” I reply and he goes about his morning preparations.

Yet another flavour my gluten-deprived tongue has been longing for; the taste of raw, unadulterated cookie dough right out of the bowl. Yes, there are gluten-free recipes, but currently my stomach does not appreciate chocolate as much as it should. So, I have been left wanting… until today!

When I heard that DAVIDsTEA was releasing this tea I knew I HAD to try it. Yes, all the cake teas are satisfactory and delicious, but if it comes down to cookies or cake? I’ll pick cookies almost every time. This tea does not disappoint! It’s sweet without sweetener added and no awkward stevia either. I can see myself going through this tea pretty fast… might just have to buy a tin.

Went for my 20-week ultrasound on the 1st, everything looks good and… it’s a BOY! We’re refraining from telling anyone but a few select individuals (who can keep a secret) and, well, my fellow Steepsterites! I figure the chances of me seeing any of you in person or any of you telling anyone I know are pretty slim.

Since I’m feeling pretty good lately—the nausea is mostly gone, my stomach hasn’t spasmed in 4 days (knock on wood), and I can tolerate most teas again—I thought I’d celebrate with a big mug of Amaretto Latte. While the tea didn’t brew up quite as strong as I wanted, it does pair nicely with hot, frothy milk, which brings out its more marzipan-like qualities. Delicious. And baby boy must think so too because I can feel his little kicks…

200th Tasting Note!!

Thanks to Alphakitty for the swap, I can break out of my DAVIDsTEA rut! Don’t get me wrong, I do own other teas besides ones by DT, it’s just that all the other places are a little trickier to get to and DAVIDsTEA is a mere 15-minute bus ride away.

I digress though, so on to this tea… which to my gluten-deprived (AKA intolerant) taste-buds highly resembles a brewed loaf of bread. Hmmmm, odd indeed. I do get a little of the melon at the end of the sip, but mostly all I can smell and taste at this moment is liquified baking bread. To solve this I simply plug my nose while drinking and it transforms into the delicate, melon-laced white tea I was expecting… to which my husband says, “You look ridiculous.” To which I say, there are certain baked goods that do well in tea form—cake, pie, cinnamon buns—and bread is not one of them.

“One minute you’re defending the whole galaxy, and, suddenly, you find yourself sucking down Darjeeling with Marie Antoinette… and her little sister.” -Buzz Lightyear (I quote this because every time I mention “Darjeeling” my husband busts out this line from Toy Story. Every. Single. Time)

Now this is a Darjeeling!

In fact, I was so excited by this tea that I made my husband take a couple sips in order for him to “taste the Darjeeling-ness”. His verdict: “Not bad for dirty water” (He’s a coffee + rooibos drinker) and with more prompting, “Yeah, it does taste better than Red Rose or Tetley.”

My verdict: fresh and surprisingly light for a Darjeeling! It dances on my tongue in a way that only a Darjeeling can, rich, mildly astringent, with a woodsy/vegetal finish that reminds me of drinking tea with my Gramma. This is a tea that would make a tea party complete, even one with Buzz Lightyear or Gramma.

I’m no great aficionado of oolong teas—having only really tried DAVIDsTEA’s Milk Oolong, Citron Oolong, and Prairie Berry—but who could resist the cute little packet of this for $1?

To my untrained taste buds the first steep of this reminds me of a less milky Quangzhou Milk Oolong, vegetal, creamy and smooth. I lost the second steep due to a maple bug flying into the water and dying (YECH), but the third steep still had much of the flavour of the first, just less intense. I’d try for a fourth, but it’s late now and I’ve had enough tea for today. Maybe next time.

Yesterday was a dreary October day on the Prairies and my toddler was driving me crazy. So, I packed her up, got on the bus, and headed downtown to see what my DAVIDsTEA had in store.

Ended up with 50g of Pumpkin Chai, 2 sample packets of the new teas, and a delicious take-away cup of this. Not a bad haul for under $10! Except now I’m regretting not buying some more of this because Holy-Mother-of-Moses it is everything they said it would be! And my store wasn’t even supposed to get some!

Others have described this better than I could, so I’ll say this: it’s malty with hints of honey and a light floral finish from the jasmine. I might have a new contender for my perennial favourite Nepal Black! Try this if you have the chance, you won’t regret it.

It seems I have some catching up to do since I haven’t even tasted this tea again since my last review.

Had a cuppa with my breakfast of buckwheat waffles and mom’s plum jelly, quite a nice combination if you ask me. Now that my tastes are settling I could see me drinking up the rest of this in no time!

At last count I had 47 teas in my possession, not including tea blossoms (they’re all on one box so I counted them as one) or bagged tea. As my husband would say, “You have an addiction.”

And I do, I don’t deny it.

Thus in an attempt to make a dent in what he’s called my “doomsday tea stash” I’m forcing myself to drink more tea (or trying to anyways) even while 17 weeks pregnant and still not completely over my nausea. I can’t really give a good review since my tastes and stomach are severely off at the moment, however I’m sure that if I was feeling better I would LOVE this tea. Right now though it’s tasting far, far too sweet to me, much like Birthday Cake without the rooibos base. Besides, there are far better reviews of this tea out there…

Hmmmm. Not nearly as potent as I remember, but then again i did buy this back in March! Drinking down the last of this since I want to purchase some of the new Just The Leaf collection, but need to whittle down my current stash first.