Roswell Strange Send Message

Last tea of the night.

Since I’ve been doing it as a cold brew, I thought that maybe I’d try it out hot and see if it was entirely terrible that way.

It smells soapy, but thankfully it doesn’t taste even close to soapy. I’m wondering if the soap smell is because I pulled the mug out of the fresh batch of clean dishes in the dishwasher. Honestly though, my first impression of the taste was that it was like McQuarrie’s Rum Cream blend just not sour – but then I took a moment to pause I try and break it down a little and I noticed that it’s really heavy on the raspberry taste and maybe a little bit of other berries (though not strawberry).

I think this isn’t super hibiscus sour though because I was really cautious with my steep time and kept it short. I’m happy I decided to set some aside for VariaTEA though; I feel like she’ll at least enjoy it, if not love it.

PS. It’s still better cold brewed.

Finally trying this famous and tasty Genmaicha!

I swear I got a sample from Courtney but I apparently lost it, and Dexter3657 was super kind and sent me more so I could try it. Steepster people are amazing!

I’m really iffy on if I steeped this correctly; the package instructions were pretty weird. I don’t know – in the end I compromised and met them in the middle. Next cup maybe I’ll do things my way. Regardless, this tastes really good though. It’s not quite as flavourful as I expected, meaning that the nuances are more subtle than I was anticipating (Genmaicha is usually pretty straight forward – though I guess this is no normal Genmaicha).

I get the toastyness of the rice, but in a lesser concentration than I’ve grown to expect from a Genmaicha – but that’s ok because the other flavour components are made up of a really great black base and a nice, light chocolate component which makes this sort of taste like a light kind of chocolate puffed wheat cake. There’s also a buttery quality coming from somewhere which adds to the puffed wheat cake feel of it.

I’m happy I have more to go through! Mmm!

Sipdown (168/170)!

I wonder if I could make 150 by the end of the month. Probably not. I guess I’ll leave it as an “absent minded goal”. If I hit it, great. If not – meh.

Anyway, I made this to go in the timolino but without milk so I could get an impression of what it tastes like straight. I almost regret doing so though, because even though the fruitiness of the apricot came through and there’s was still a honey like quality to the black tea there was also a lot of astringency and some underlying bitterness. I steeped it the same way as last time too (minus the milk added after steeping) so I don’t think I can really blame user error.

Hmmm…

Anyway – it wasn’t awful, just not particularly good either. I don’t think I’ll really miss this one…

Overnight cold brew for work! Something like 13 hours?

I missed the bus today, so I had to hustle to get to work on time (I just made it). Thankfully I live a reasonable distance away, but since I had planned to bus it and take advantage of my monthly pass I didn’t leave myself much walking time.

When I did show up I was really parched though, so the majority of this was chugged almost immediately after arriving. It was the perfect thirst quencher and, if I may indulge in a horrible pun, ‘absolutely’ amazing tasting.

Yeah – that really was horrible. Sorry.

But really, I love that this one is just simple, straight forward and delicious.

My second go at a “tea cocktail” type vodka drink, this time with adjusted amounts. Instead of 2 tsp. of tea, I used a tbsp. to cold brew and only about a shot and a half of vanilla vodka. I also let this cold brew for slightly longer before straining it.

The smell of this one is incredibly rich and delicious; seriously the almost pudding like caramel aroma is very intensely emanating from my cup – no smell of vodka at all. As far as the taste goes, I think this is more of a success than yesterday’s cup (but maybe that’s because I’m using a tea that I enjoy a bit more). The “burning” sensation of the vodka is less strong, and the vanilla/caramel is very rich and flavourful.

It saddens me a little how much leaf this used of my precious Creme Brulee blend – but I’m very happy with the results! Even Tre remarked that it smelled really good. I think the next one I want to try is Blueberry Jam in the Wildberry Vodka…

Made up for work! By the time I got to it, it had mostly cooled down in the timolino. I guess it was sort of “Lukewarm(ish)”.

Work went very smoothly today; no problems with anything during the shift or with cashing out/doing paperwork tonight. We even got out a little bit early. Morningstar, my coworker who is also a Keyholder, and I make a very good closing team (closers are always two keyholders); not that the other keyholders aren’t good at closing. It’s just that she and I have a rhythm and set of strengths/weaknesses that really compliment one another.

Anyway – this was super light on the bergamot, but that didn’t mean it was weak in flavour. The cream/fruit elements were very strong in this mug! Although, disappointingly, the fruit was mostly a generic “berry” kind of vibe – not expressly blackberry. Still, I very much enjoyed this mug and the switch up from the usual flavours I experience with it.

Cold Brew: I’m still trying to find a replacement for my beloved Coconut Grove and this was the next tea up in the list of potential replacements. All in all, I think it cold brewed for about 15 hours?

Going into this cold brew I knew this blend would have a place in my cupboard either way. It’s really good hot!

However, this actually made for a really good cold brew. It was weird, I really got the “pudding like” filling quality that made it almost believable that I was eating ‘pie guts’. And then the crust like, almost “graham” component was exaggerated as well. I really, really enjoyed this as a cold brew and I will totally have it that way again!

Now, down to the real business… Is it a good Coconut Grove replacement?

Well, both were/are amazing, but although they both include coconut as a main ingredient I really don’t find them that comparable. Coconut Grove is incredibly light and tropical and this was a bit heavier and much more dessert like. So, I guess my search still continues…

The other morning cup I’m enjoying with my extra, unexpected time. It’s nice having a few hours to kill before work. Usually I just get up maybe an hour before I start work for the day, and I typically spend that time getting ready for work; showering, making my lunch/supper for when I’m on break, brewing tea for my shift. And then I walk to work.

But anyway; I brewed this up extra strong and the resulting tea was extra good! It feels…

Serendipitous.

I woke up several hours before I needed to get ready for work today feeling completely rested, which was very strange. I swear, that never happens. It’s nice though; it gave me time to enjoy some TV, and to make a few glasses of tea – including this one.

I’ve been using this matcha for matcha soda, but I decided today to try it in cold milk instead. It’s not a flavour I would automatically associate with milk but I figured it’d make for an interesting enough drink, and I recalled that Keychange had tried it that way and not hated it – so why not?

Honestly; it was far from bad. The watermelon came through and there wasn’t any negative juxtaposition between it and the milk, which is always a concern pairing fruit and milk together. It was pretty candy like, honestly. Then again, this is also candy like as tea soda too.

I think, maybe, I prefer it in the soda form? However I’d drink it in milk again if I was looking the shake things up in my “matcha routine” – mostly what I have in cold milk are the dessert flavours.

Surprisingly good.

Mmm!

This cup is very refreshing, and super tasty. It’s like this perfect combo between refreshing, almost melon-y, cucumber and sweet mango! It’s definitely a “spring” tea – although today didn’t really feel like Spring; it was snowing really heavily all afternoon.

I think cucumber teas are something I’d want to keep exploring…