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Doulton’s Shakespeare: a Tasting Note in 5 Acts
Act I scene 1

For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In complement extern, ’tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.
Othello Act I, scene 1, 61-65

Today my Shakespeare prize that Doutlon created arrived to a standing ovation. I am rather overwhelmed by her generosity and will definitely “pay it forward” in the future as soon as I can put together something even half as lovely as what she did. There’s even a lovely handmade knitted tea cozy included – I’ll create a flickr account just so I can post a picture. It’s so perfect for my teapot Tim! There’s a beautiful block print card featuring a scene from Julius Caesar with a handwritten note. Thank you so much Doulton!

Now, to the toughest part: choosing the very first tea. After oohing, aahing, and squeeing over all the samples I knew the one that would persuade me. The one that I’d been avoiding because I knew my heart might break once this series was sold out. Caravan by A&D.

Throughout these “Shakespeare” tasting notes I’m hoping to label each tea either a comedy, tragedy, history, sonnet, or character. This one’s a character and one of my favorites: Iago. Here’s the persuasive bad boy whom I love to hate (and vice versa). I really didn’t think I’d find him so soon into this box if ever. This is different than any smoky tea that I’ve had so far. Most smoky teas remind me of campfires. This is not a campfire. This is the remains of a forest fire that happened at least a year ago. It’s rugged and masculine and it makes me jealous. I do not want to share this tea with anyone. There’s so little of it for such a short period of time and it brings out the irrational MINE feeling.

I think that I won’t fall into the same trap that Othello did. Or at least I hope that I won’t. I feel like I’ve finally made peace with all “limited edition” teas and am willing to have my heart broken when they’re gone. I shall openly wear my heart on my sleeve and be willing to have the jackdaws peck away. No ulterior motive. No jealousy. I just want wonderful tea while it lasts. TG

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
Cofftea

Purely epic post for an epic giveaway.

Shanti

Doulton is so kind and writes awesome tasting notes, too. I wanna have her babies! Or at least drink tea with her. EITHER IS FINE.

Cofftea

I just noticed your teagasm reference in your profile and I definitely believe that tea (as well as other things of course like coffee and food) can have the same effects on a person as being with your special someone. My ex used to say “that’s orgasmic!” when drinking a spectacular tea or coffee beverage.

Ewa

Awesome post! (This is why I signed up for Nabokov instead of Shakespeare – I could never pull this sort of thing off :D )

Erin

I am so excited to read the rest of your posts from the Shakespeare box! Keep it up, I loved this!

__Morgana__

Lol. Fun read and nice theme idea. I am so for the tasting note as creative outlet!

Rabs

While reading all your comments I’m grinning like an idiot. I was sort of worried that you’d think I was being a bit pretentious. But I really wanted to make Doulton proud. My background’s theater and English Lit, so I felt even more pressure to make these notes intelligent and fun :) Thanks so much for the encouragement!

Doulton

Thank you for writing such a great note. I like what you say about Iago and can see him as this tea for sure. And in the end he usually just stands on stage smiling or smirking. Shameless like a nicely audacious tea!

Rabs

It’s so very much my pleasure Doulton! I’m delighted that you approve :)

sophistre

These notes are so fun to read.

I ♥ NewYorkCiTEA

Love the formatting and stylization of this note. I can totally see “the remains of a forest fire that happened at least a year ago” for this tea.

Rabs

Aw, thank you! ::blushes::

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Comments

Cofftea

Purely epic post for an epic giveaway.

Shanti

Doulton is so kind and writes awesome tasting notes, too. I wanna have her babies! Or at least drink tea with her. EITHER IS FINE.

Cofftea

I just noticed your teagasm reference in your profile and I definitely believe that tea (as well as other things of course like coffee and food) can have the same effects on a person as being with your special someone. My ex used to say “that’s orgasmic!” when drinking a spectacular tea or coffee beverage.

Ewa

Awesome post! (This is why I signed up for Nabokov instead of Shakespeare – I could never pull this sort of thing off :D )

Erin

I am so excited to read the rest of your posts from the Shakespeare box! Keep it up, I loved this!

__Morgana__

Lol. Fun read and nice theme idea. I am so for the tasting note as creative outlet!

Rabs

While reading all your comments I’m grinning like an idiot. I was sort of worried that you’d think I was being a bit pretentious. But I really wanted to make Doulton proud. My background’s theater and English Lit, so I felt even more pressure to make these notes intelligent and fun :) Thanks so much for the encouragement!

Doulton

Thank you for writing such a great note. I like what you say about Iago and can see him as this tea for sure. And in the end he usually just stands on stage smiling or smirking. Shameless like a nicely audacious tea!

Rabs

It’s so very much my pleasure Doulton! I’m delighted that you approve :)

sophistre

These notes are so fun to read.

I ♥ NewYorkCiTEA

Love the formatting and stylization of this note. I can totally see “the remains of a forest fire that happened at least a year ago” for this tea.

Rabs

Aw, thank you! ::blushes::

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Profile

Bio

Proud all-around nerd, designer, fibromyalgia manager, and Assistant Library Director/Creative Director.

After being a barista for almost a decade it wasn’t until 2010 that I discovered loose leaf tea. Now I’m hooked.

I’m quite loose when it comes to tea prep. I also ended up using Steepster to find my “daily” teas which I mostly have accomplished.

There’s really nothing remarkable or noteworthy of how I rate teas. I do take it a tiny further step to help clarify the muddled middle grounds for myself. TG is a definite repurchase. Anything below that is less and less likely.

TG=Teagasm
NE=Nice Enough
M=Meh
GA=Gods-Awful

Location

Midwest, USA

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