momo

AHHHH I GOT A C IN HEALTH ECONOMICS SO I DON’T NEED TO RETAKE IT. I’m pretty sure I did worse than that but I guess he realized he was terrible so everyone deserves a C. (C- = retake. BLEH)

Anyway I had this last night because I wanted to see if it would make me sleepy. I cannot tell you about the “aphrodisiac uses” but I will tell you about the 1 tbsp in 12 oz of water method of gettin’ sleepy.

It works quickly! It tastes terrible though, at least to me. Very effective, but has the flavor of cedar chips.

I’m not sure if this would taste very good if you tried to sweeten it but ugh, it made me tired but the taste was not worth it. I think I’ll try mixing it with the Schisandra berries I got just to get rid of that bitterness/woodsy flavor. I mean, it is bark so obviously there’s no way to get rid of that.

But it’s definitely a cool herbal tea, especially for falling asleep. And you feel warm and fuzzy first. If chamomile fails you, catuaba is here to back you up.

Still meh about this one. I have had it for awhile now but it’s been stored properly and everything. Given my last note from it, I think my tastebuds have just grown out of taste for this one. There’s still enough for a couple cups though, I think it might be interesting in the oatmeal experiment.

It still smells so good, but I just don’t get the sweet flavors that I used to taste. And I know I’m not the only one who was in love with it with the first cup and subsequently didn’t like it after that.

Ohhh earlier this afternoon we went to Delta’s small museum and I picked up a teacup for 50 cents and a box of prepackaged green tea sachets for $1. Seriously the gift shop was just as cool as all the planes and memorabilia. You could buy cups, mugs, plates, utensils, etc from first class. They had vintage posters, postcards, travel brochures, first flight cards, pins, models, stickers. I really want to go back just to buy utensils, they were fifty cents each! But the teacup I am really excited about. I’ll get a picture of it later.

All right, I just used this to make steel cut oatmeal. I added mint chocolate milk because I honestly have no idea, but it is actually okay. I like the combination of mint and cinnamon, and they’re both coming through. This seriously worked better than I thought. I steeped one bag in 6 oz of water for 3 minutes then cooked the oats in the microwave. I can definitely taste the cinnamon and even the vanilla and it tastes much, much better with more substance like this than it did by itself.

I wouldn’t get this tea again but I’ll definitely use the rest of the bags up this way, maybe with regular milk next time haha, this is about too rich!

Hey maybe I can finally write this note today.

Last night, I decided I was going to conduct a coconut rum Tropicalia experiment. First I put 8 or 9 tsp of the tea in a 2 cup measuring cup, then covered that with about 1 1/2 oz of coconut rum. While the water was boiling, that was soaking, though I don’t think it really mattered. Then I filled the measuring cup with boiling water and left it to cool, so it was super concentrated.

I planned to try it out last night but this whole go to Cartoon Network thing this morning ruined that. IT WAS SO COOL. The parking garage had the Powerpuff Girls all over it, and everyone’s cubicles were filled with toys and cartoon stuff. This was just the floor with the digital/marketing/research people so I’m hoping next week I can help again on the upper floor.

The thing that amused me most is since this was Turner Studios, across the courtyard was TBS. One of the windows over at Cartoon Network had 3 green pigs from Angry Birds in the window. I didn’t realize until we were getting a final tour before leaving that across the way was a red angry bird.

Anyway, back to this. So obviously it isn’t that strongly alcoholic, I was just wanting a little bit more coconut flavor without adding milk because I don’t really care for this with too much creaminess. And since it was super concentrated, I had to water it down too. This stuff gets pretty thick if you make a really concentrated steep, but it’s just so good when you use 2 – 2 1/2 tsp per cup.

It definitely helped to cut down on the sweetness and make it a bit more coconutty compared to the pineapple. I think it might actually be even better if I also added a bit of pineapple juice, which I of course don’t have.

So of course now I’m almost out of it but I think I’ll be okay until spring anyway.

So tomorrow morning I am helping my coffee friend at Cartoon Network!! by taking video of him making them better coffee. I have to wake up soooo early and now I’m all excited to do something useful during my break.

I had this earlier before going off to a yelp holiday party, and I can’t say I’m a big fan. It came out super smoky and not very blueberry tasting. Definitely didn’t get any cream at all.

I don’t remember now what the water temperature was but I think I could drop it, but the steep was only 3 minutes. I’m glad I’ve given a lot of this away in swaps because it’s not my favorite. I’d rather have Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish.

So apparently there are a couple weather models that claim it’s going to snow her last week. It was 70 for about a week. I can’t deal with this. But it is cold again now, so I am feeling a bit more wintery now and also find myself needing to try the rest of these boxes I bought. This one smells so good after its steeped, like I just baked up cinnamon rolls.

Its taste does not live up to its scent. It seems too fake for me. I find it hard to believe they need to fake cinnamon and vanilla like this, but it just doesn’t taste good. And it’s not the base tea, the black tea is not bad at all for a sachet. The flavors are just not good compared, and it brings the whole thing down. This could be sooooo good if it didn’t taste so artificial.

I added almond/coconut milk and agave and it helps round out the flavors a lot. I love this milk so much, especially in this tea because I think it’s really helping tame the vanilla. The cinnamon, not so much, but I’m not sure what I can do about that.

I’ve really been in the mood for cinnamon vanilla teas but all the ones I had disappointed. Good thing I got an ounce of Glitter & Gold, at least that’s close enough to what I’m after to not have to drink things that taste like stale bread or fake cinnamon.

I think I’ll just use this one too for oatmeal. Or it might be good as a latte with brown sugar.

Hilarious, my Art of Tea order that took them seven business days to bother to ship came a day earlier than UPS said. Well at least I can say I’d use UPS again.

So after learning that a 1 minute steep is good with this tea, I did just that, and poured it over ice. It definitely tastes like wine, but it’s a stretch to say it tastes like champagne, I think. That could easily be fixed in the future with some club soda, I suppose.

But it actually tastes to me like it’s maybe a wine with a name I forgot. Sauvignon Blanc? Something like that maybe. I’m lacking in my wines right now, oops. Pretty sure SB is the one with grassy notes, which you get in here, and then peach and pineapple fruitiness.

Not really champagne. But that’s okay. We’ll see if it gets closer if I involve club soda in some fashion. It might work best if I make a tea syrup and add it, because to me champagne always has that mouthfeel to it.

Second steep: I added agave and didn’t really notice much of a difference, but then again it was the second steep. I had it cold too, but kind of was tired of the tea for the time being.

So I ended up splitting the leaves between two jars and cold steeping them overnight for two final glasses from this bunch of leaves.

Now it reminds me of champagne, I may have to add agave to the second glass when I have it later. This first one without it has this amazing white grape background to it.

Will report back on the other cup later. I didn’t realize how cold it was outside and went out with just a fleece jacket on so hot tea is calling me.

Made this for on the way to school, except my travel mug wouldn’t open :o after messing with it while waiting for the professor to show up, I finally got to my precious mate.

I had felt pretty groggy this morning thanks to the weather. I wasn’t as bad as Sebastian, who went right back to sleep after I uncovered his cage LOL… Well I had turned off my 8:30 alarm because I woke up at 8:20, and slept until the 9:00am one. Still had plenty of time to fully come up with an answer to the exam’s essay question, check out Steepster, and make this tea.

I was so certain I was going to take a nap when I got home, but finishing off the entire mug has made that out of the question now.

This is still really tasty, though today it seemed to be more spiced elderberry than minty. Though I think I could have steeped it longer if I had enough time. I actually almost left without the tea.

Next, I really want to try it iced.

Yum! I added some chocolate mint coconut milk to this and it’s incredible. The Assam definitely comes through, and the real mint tastes even better than the flavoring of the milk on its own.

My original plan was tea hot chocolate, but I paid $3 for the quart of this milk, and it’s been extremely disappointing to drink on its own. I’m definitely finishing it up in this tea in the next couple of days because it’s so good this way.

I would also like to announce that I found my parakeet the perfect seasonal Songza station for him: http://songza.com/listen/acoustic-guitar-christmas-songza/ He is a very content feathery puffball now.

I didn’t even know the name of this one changed, I think I got it right before that happened. So let’s see which one is more applicable! Haha, judging by the ingredients, the new one is fitting.

I really do not want to study right now. I want to clean. I don’t get it because I am almost done…just this one left. I think rereading the stuff from my second exam in this class, I have no idea what I’m reading…but I got a 92 on that exam so I am wondering if I just got lucky at this point.

This is pretty funky. It definitely tastes like cider, but there is just waaaaay too much going on with the other herbs for me. It tastes fine at first, but that sweet aftertaste of fennel is too much for me.

Or is it the anise? Or a combination, I can’t do it. It smells great though, but I don’t have the tastebuds to handle it.

Hmmm…this is probably the best first flush I’ve had, but I’m still not feeling it. I don’t like how thin it tastes. It’s too light for my tastes, I guess, since it does slightly remind me of the nutty notes I like in second flushes, but way sweeter, and of course lighter with floral notes.

Other than it not being something I really go for, it is a really, really good tea. And when I looked it up to add on here, it was almost sold out for the year.

I am on a banana kick now, although I’m not sure if I like this one or not.

On one hand, it was absolutely astringent with a 5 minute steep, which is what they recommend. I can’t imagine getting the chocolate and banana flavors with any less time. But on the other, it does taste good with milk and sugar. So maybe this would be better as a latte like Pumpkin Chai.

The banana flavor is so good, but the chocolate is somewhat lacking, and I’m not getting any creaminess really, even with the added milk.

I’m thinking when I make a latte, I’ll use a little chocolate syrup instead of another sweetener.

Wow I don’t know what I was thinking, but I wasn’t going to write a note because I thought this was too old to drink because it tasted like bread.

HURR HURR Hot Buttered Banana BREAD. Totally on it today.

The banana is not as strong as I’d like it to be, but for its age this is decent. The walnut is probably why I can’t taste the banana, I’m sure I can fix that with agave or something. Walnut always seems to take away sweetness for me…not fond of them in tea, or in general actually but they always make their way into baked goods, so I accept that.

I may have to add a bit more leaf too to make it taste more banana-y, but it does taste like toasty bread, so that’s good!

A friend of mine pointed out Dryad Tea to me on Etsy a couple of weeks ago, and since they also participate in this Out of the Box Sampler program, I saw that they would be doing some Black Friday deals. So I ordered about 9 samples of the teas for $10, and am finally getting around to trying them. There are two different levels of teas with different price points, so six regular samples is $6 and six from the fancier collection is $7. And then they also have three samples you can pick. So I did 3 regular and 6 Pandora Celtica.

Each sample is supposed to make 3 cups, but I’m using my Perfect Tea Mug and didn’t even use half the bag so yay for awesome, large sizes!

I just got back from eating pho and drinking half an avocado shake. An avocado shake is as amazing as it sounds. Hooooly cow. I had to put the rest in the freezer and now I need green tea. Jasmine and lychee sound very good right about now.

I steeped it for 2 minutes, since that tends to be my preferred time for flavored greens, and it does not disappoint.

It’s very floral, but the lychee adds a nice floral/berry twist to the typical flavor of jasmine. It’s not blowing me away, but the flavor is excellent. The jasmine almost makes the lychee taste juicy in the tea itself.

This was kind of a well I don’t know what else to get but it sounds interesting choice. So I can’t wait to try the ones I really, really wanted!

Also I let it cool off completely and that makes it a lot more tolerable when you’ve had enough jasmine. It seems to mostly be lychee tasting at this point.

Jeez, this one has star anise too? Not as obvious as Ceylon Star but I think DavidsTea has a new favorite ingredient hahaha.

This one seems heavy too, I got an ounce of it but I don’t think it’s going to make much at all.

This is very, very Christmas to me! First and foremost, the flavor is cranberry with spice notes. Then the mistletoe adds a unique almost spruce-y type flavor. Not too strongly, but just enough that it reminds me a bit of a Christmas tree.

I completely forgot this is a green tea because it really seems more like an herbal. I do like it though. It’s sweet and spicy, with just a hint of earthiness.

I like it!

I didn’t bother to read what Ceylon Star was when DavidsTea first posted the note, I just read the name and assumed a straight ceylon for some reason. And that would have been okay.
Then once we reached December, I reread it and ohhhh yes.

So last minute text messages went out on Monday to my boyfriend of “can you make sure to get me half an ounce of Ceylon Star? It’s new!” So all the tea I made him get me, all $42 worth, $42 I don’t even have right now for tea, is finally mine. I couldn’t decide where to start but I knew I wanted one of the black teas I picked out, and I am on a white chocolate kick so it’s perfect.

There is a lot of star anise. The smell of the tea reminds me of the pizzelle cookies my grandma used to make.

The tea is sweet and slightly spicy from the anise and coconut. I didn’t really get much of the white chocolate, though I’m not even sure any made it into my steeper. It wasn’t as creamy as I was hoping it would be.

They used quite a nice Ceylon for this, because after steeping it I thought, wow, I really don’t like Ceylon when it’s steeped more than 3 1/2 minutes. But this, I might even save the leaf to resteep tomorrow morning because I’m sure it has a bit more life in it, and the star anise is the FULL star so it must still have something to it too!

I kind of wish I got more than half an ounce, I’ve never actually cooked with star anise so I didn’t realize how heavy it is.

I really love this one. I am pretty sure I absolutely blew it on my final today, but I had this with me. Granted, on the train ride back home it ended up all over my pants and in my bag because it turns out the leakproof claim of my mug only holds true when it’s full.

I really like that I can taste each aspect of this tea without it being ruined by whatever it usually is that ruins Adagio flavored teas for me. It’s creamy, it’s clearly earl grey, and it’s got some berry notes to it. I don’t need to add milk or sugar whatsoever to enjoy this.

It’s also not so bad cold, either. When I got home I just wanted to eat lunch and go back to sleep, so I poured the rest of my tea into a glass of ice and had it iced. I love berry earl greys when they’re cold. This one I might have to also try cold brewing when it’s warmer again.

I think it’s been a LONG time since I had this tea so I made a big teapot full. I’ve had this tea since May 2011 and it still tastes the same, that makes me happy!

I’m trying to study but I had to call my mom for a weekly chat and to remind her to send me half of the 12 days of Christmas from 52teas because it arrived the day after I left after Thanksgiving. And she of course deflated my entire mood for the day with some nonsense about how she won’t cosign for the last loan I’ll need for next fall as she doesn’t want to be on the line for it when I can’t find a job. Really nice coming from your own mom right? She seems to forget I’m not my brother’s idiot friends who have degrees that are serving them no purpose, like sports marketing. So irritated it just was so INCREDIBLY RUDE of her when she will never, ever have to pay them because that’s my responsibility and she apparently has no confidence in me? Not cool.

Okay. To the tea now that I’ve finally gotten that out.

I still love this tea very much because it’s kind of malty but still tastes like vanilla icing in tea form. I’ve still got a bit in my pot and it still tastes good even cooled off. Definitely not one I’d regularly drink cold but I think it actually gets kind of a creamy taste and even consistency this way.

I’m going to be sad when I run out of this tea, which is soon.

I really should have brewed this in the gaiwan but I was in need of tea ASAP after the peach fiasco.

My favorite part of keemun is how it has the most delicious honey notes, almost better than honey itself. Although, I just say that because keemun isn’t sticky and therefore is less messy to handle.

This one is really tasty, very sweet, and all around a good black tea in the morning to just drink straight.

I left a bit in my mug when I went to start prepping my spaghetti squash and it was even good cold, yay!

Nope.

That’s really all, just nope.

I made it hot this morning, it was horrible. I thought, well since the peach oolong is better chilled, maybe it’s the peach flavoring they use? Maybe it’d be better chilled too?

Nope.

In this case, it’s not a problem at all with the Adagio Ceylon for once, it’s how horrid this peach flavoring is. Maybe I’m spoiled in the peach state (that doesn’t even produce the most peaches, shhhh) since all the other notes on this tea are rather positive.

Hey, at least it was a free sample.

Well, since there’s no way I’m drinking this, I tried cooking with it. I infused butter with some of the leaves and brushed it onto a spaghetti squash to roast. Then I added a bit more in there, and tried it that way. Couldn’t take it.

I ended up making avocado sauce too (lemon juice, garlic, avocado, salt, pepper) and that went along even better, though the raw garlic is pretty strong.

I just don’t like the smokiness. I am going to try it with meat instead, maybe spaghetti squash isn’t savory enough for me to enjoy lapsang (not that it tastes like anything anyway!). I will find a way to make the smokiness enjoyable!

Today this tea tasted really peppery! It’s not one of my favorite Darjeelings now that I’ve had far more, I rather like second flushes instead of anything else. I’d even put autumnals below first flushes.

Pepper, honey, and a little orange. Not a bad combination, but not my favorite.

I just got the video from Jaguar of my 0-60-0 run…I got to 88mph! https://www.facebook.com/kimisicecream/posts/398137203600120 You can skip a lot of the beginning, it’s me talking like a nervous idiot because I was freaking out.

This is note #800, wow. It’s not even in chronological order because I had it this morning! I just wasn’t feeling up to writing a note on it until now.

My boyfriend is in Chicago right now and I of course sent him to DavidsTea up there and probably ruined a surprise in anger. I apologized but seriously pretending something I want is out of stock when I just discovered I spent 70 minutes getting downtown and standing around waiting for class to start to only have class for 12 minutes was not good for my poor angry mind! So now I have to pretend I never knew.

I feel bad I ruined the surprise but I am still raging over how dumb it was to make me come all the way down for turning things in. I could have done that last Wednesday if she let us know about the feedback form for the class before then. Now I have to use the official school feedback form to complain again. Actually I just want to complain about this entire semester, because today was the last day of class. A Monday! What on earth is that?! Get over the loss of Labor Day, jeez.

This one just doesn’t taste as amazing as it used to. My bag is so full of blueberries so I assume it’s more of a lack of actual tea that’s causing that. This is one of the few black base DavidsTeas that I can steep according to the directions and not have a horrible, bitter mess. Then again, I’m steeping it at the low end of the recommendation.

However, I didn’t finish the cup before I left for my useless excursion downtown. So I came home really thirsty because I had to trek to the leasing office to get my Verdant package, and it’s SO warm out there today, so it really hit the spot. I think I actually like it better cold. Now that I think about it, it just feels like blueberry is a better flavor cold to me.

Before I close out this note, I have a request if anyone can help. Sebastian has been a very chirpy bird today, but he has specific music tastes. He really likes Jason Mraz and John Mayer. I, on the other hand, really don’t. He especially likes Jason Mraz’s song “I Won’t Give Up” so if anyone knows of similar songs I want to make him a Spotify playlist of similar songs. I’m guessing it’s the acoustic guitar that gets him. He also liked the sound of trumpets in a Doctor Who episode I was watching earlier, but when I’ve played him jazz, he doesn’t chirp.

He also apparently likes commercials for ham.

Has anyone else tried this in a gaiwan? I forgot I had it, and so I got it out for some gaiwan steeping.

I also paid no attention to how long it was going. I’m gonna guess 10 seconds for the first steep, because I counted to 15 for the second.

It’s so sweet! I don’t really taste anything other than sweetness in this, but it’s soooo good. Like sparkling sugar.

I ended up steeping this a total of 7 times in the gaiwan. None of the steeps were as good as the first two. I am not sure I like gaiwan steeping for this tea because it loses out on that baked sweet potato taste. I could smell it in the 4th steep at least, although it was very citrusy/orange. But it didn’t translate into the taste at all.

Oh well. I also got a sample of more of this in my last Teavivre order because I wasn’t paying attention at all. But I’ve had this one for a long time so maybe I’ll try that one out with this style of steeping.