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And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

First the tea stuff, and then the personal rant type stuff.

The Jabberwocky is one of my favourite poems of all time; the other two it’s tied with being Chaos by G. Nolste Trinite and Invitation by Shel Silverstein. I’ve very heavily considered getting a string of words tattoed somewhere, like on a shoulder but I can never pick just one section so it’s likely not going to happen (since I don’t want the whole poem tattoed on myself). So, obviously, I was dying to try this tea. So thanks Marzipan for making that attainable.

Dry I honestly couldn’t smell much, but steeped up (in a timolino) this is so fantastical and complex and that’s why it’s perfect as a Jabberwock tea. Just like you can take many of the words in the poem to mean whatever you’d like, I can see how there are so many layers of flavours in just this one infusion that it can be interpreted so many ways. It’d take a multitude of cups to really come close to doing this one justice describing it, but I’ll definitely give it a stab – with the Vorpal blade-.

Overall, there was a sweetness to this tea, and it was very smooth. While there was easily a dozen flavours going on in here, the ones that stood out to me the most in ranging intensities were honey, wood, molasses, earth, and stonefruits like plums. There was also this kind of “rust” like flavour, but sweet rust – if rust is a thing that can be sweet. I wont bother to rate this yet because I’m sure I’m not even close to understanding it yet, but it’s definitely going back on my wishlist and something I’ll be looking to get more of.

And now the personal rant sort of stuff…

So yesterday I started work at 7AM; personally, that’s REALLY early for me but I set my ability like that and I was prepared to do my shift without complaint. As it happens, it was an eight and a half hour shift. So, a long one. And because buses don’t get to that area of the city as early as seven on Sundays, I walked. It’s a 40 minute walk, in the freezing cold. And that is to say that come 3:30 when I was supposed to be off, I was fucking tired.

There were eight of us who had started at 7AM and were supposed to be done at 3:30 – one for every till. I was on till #1 yesterday, one of the busiest tills (because it’s on an end), and the farthest one from Guest Services where people sign in and out. Come 3:30 I was just drained, and ready for the evening cashier to come and release me. But only five cashiers were scheduled for the evening, and they took off tills 4 to 8, leaving the people on tills 1 to 3 stranded with no relief. This is opening weekend; it was fucking busy, and like I said I was on one of the busiest tills so I had a huge line up. The evening supervisors had just forgotten we were there, and I definitely couldn’t have walked away and gone home without stranding all the people in my line, which is just a dick move.

At 3:45 I called a Supervisor to ask why we hadn’t been taken off. She said she’s go ask. At 4:00 a different supervisor came back and explained to us that no one was scheduled to take over, and asked if I was ok staying until 4:30, because she asked nicely I agreed to stay until 4:30. At 4:45 I called down a supervisor and asked, again, to go home. She said that “sure, you can go home but no one will be taking over your line so all these people will have to wait again”. She said it in front of the people. Holy Hell guilt tactics! So, I stayed – reluctantly and pissed off. At 5:00 she came back and told me to go home. I asked it someone was taking over my till. No. So, I left because I was ordered to, but everyone who was in my line had to go wait in another line including the people who already had their stuff on the belt.

I worked a ten hour shift yesterday, and I was so mad about it. Honestly, if they had been straight forward and asked me to stay late I likely would have said yes because of the overtime, but it’s the fact they just forgot I was there, and then assumed I’d be cool with staying late that pissed me off the most. And, it happened to three of us. Because they let me go at five I couldn’t catch a bus until 6:30 (Sunday bus hours), and I didn’t get home until 8PM, when I should have been home at 5PM. I was supposed to have the evening the rest/relax because I have to work both jobs all week…

Ugh.

Cheri

I’d have been fuming. You are too nice of a person.

OMGsrsly

That is really terrible on their part. I do applaud your niceness in staying, but yeesh. :/

Lynxiebrat

Ugh…and people want to know why I never EVER want to work retail again.

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Cheri

I’d have been fuming. You are too nice of a person.

OMGsrsly

That is really terrible on their part. I do applaud your niceness in staying, but yeesh. :/

Lynxiebrat

Ugh…and people want to know why I never EVER want to work retail again.

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Bio

Hello! My name is Kelly, though many people in the tea community call me Ros or Roswell.

I am a mid-twenties tea addict, blogger, and all around nerd. I grew up in the Prairies, but a few years ago I relocated to Quebec to pursue a career with DAVIDsTEA in the tea industry! I’m still working on getting my French language skills down…

My first introduction to tea, in any form outside of instant and bottled iced tea, was about seven years ago when I happened to stumble upon DAVIDsTEA while looking for a birthday present for a friend! I tried their Birthday Cake rooibos blend, and I’ve been hooked on tea ever since! In those seven years; I was introduced to the online tea community, expanded my interest in flavoured teas to include a deep love and appreciation for straight teas and traditional brewing methods, got a tea themed tattoo, started reviewing teas, amassed a sizable tea and teaware collection, became a TAC certified Tea Sommelier, & even came full circle by beginning a career in the tea industry with DAVIDsTEA!

I consider myself a Jack of all Teas, and strive to have a knowledge and appreciation of all tea types, formats, and styles of drinking. I don’t like to feel boxed in to just being a “flavoured tea” or “straight tea” drinker – my expectations may vary depending on the type of tea or how it’s been processed/prepared but if it’s good tea, it’s good tea no matter how it’s been made!

You name it, I probably drink it- and I’ll absolutely try anything at least once.

My default method of preparation is hot, Western style, and straight – but I’m not opposed to additions if I’m in the right mood. If I ever add something to a tea or use a different method of preparation I will ALWAYS call it out in the tasting note though.

I like to listen to music when drinking tea, especially when I’m brewing a large pot at a time or steeping Gongfu. Often I curate very intentional tea and music pairings, and sometimes I share them here in my tasting reviews. Music is something that I find can deeply affect the experience of having tea.

I’m also one half of the “tea and fandom” podcast GeekSteep where, weekly, we discuss newly explored fandoms over tea as well as try to figure out the perfect tea to pair with each fandom. You can find us on Spotify and Apple & Google podcasts.

Favourite flavour notes/ingredients: Pear, lychee, cranberry, cream, melon, pineapple, malt, roasty, petrichor, sweet potato, heady florals like rose, hazelnut or walnut, sesame, honey (in moderation), and very woody shou.

Least favourite flavour notes/ingredients:
Lemongrass, ginger, strongly spiced profiles (and most Chai in general), mushrooms, seaweed, chamomile, stevia, saltiness or anything that reminds me too much of meat that isn’t supposed to taste like meat…

Currently exploring/obsessed with: Sheng from Yiwu, Yancha (Qilan in particular), anything with a strong sweet potato note. Also, I need to try ALL the root beer teas! Searching for a really good caramel flavoured blend, ideally with a black tea base.

Please contact me at the instagram account listed below if you would like me to review your teas.

Currently I’m employed in the tea department of the DAVIDsTEA head office. While I’m still sharing my own personal thoughts on new & existing DAVIDsTEA blends, I am no longer numerically rating them due to the obvious conflict of interest. Any comments expressed are a reflection of my own thoughts and opinions, and do not reflect the thoughts and opinions of the company. Any DAVIDsTEA blends you currently see with a numeric score were reviewed prior to my being hired there and have not been adjusted since becoming a DAVIDsTEA employee.

Location

Montreal, QC, CA

Website

https://www.instagram.com/ros...

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