Shmiracles

i forget that this tea is actually two herbals mixed with an irish breakfast. for some reason i always assume it’s 3 black teas and so i don’t drink it as often. but when i do decide to open the tin i’m always thrilled with the sweet vibrant scent. note to self: drink this more.

the irish breakfast is a blend of a hearty black tea from Ceylon that has citrusy notes and a malty Assam. it’s a nice nice base and compliments the other teas in a manly sort of what you see is what you get kind of way. i can see watson slumped in a chair now.

the berry blues tea is made of blueberries and apple pieces and a tiny bit of hibiscus. but since this hibiscus is only a small part of one third of this overall blend it’s barely there. it’s mostly just appley if you ask me. down with hibiscus! sherlock agrees with me, i asked.

the rooibos vanilla chai is a strong vanilla component with ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon pieces, and orange peels. i do so like orange peels in my tea blends. and this is where the spice comes in. i kinda wish there was a tiny bit more spice. like a small smooth bite of ginger. perhaps if i steep it longer at a lower temperature……. !!!oh damn i just remembered that i should steep the adagio blends at a lower temp for 2 min. see THIS is why i need a tea journal of some sort. dangit. (i’d make another cup right now but i only brought one scoop with me to work whomp whomp)

i think this tea has slightly more heart than mind going on. and that’s more than fine with me. it’s what keeps us sane.

sherlock + watson = BFFs4Evah

03/12/2013
my boyfriend just popped his head in my door saying “it smells like chocolate in here”
the power of the tea!!

the mint is a little fresh pinch at the end of a sip. the balance of chocolate and vanilla is a tad off from perfect. cuz i think i might like more chocolate. MOAR!! but it’s just not that kind of tea is it.
no no, this is a classy and patient tea.

this tea is extremely gentlemanly. pleased to meet you Mr. Wentworth.

24/01/2013
just watched the last episode (xmas special) of Downton Abbey.
idk
i mean really?
ijdk

i added coconut milk and sucanat! i NEVER do that! what a super treat! and wtf! caffeine at 8:30pm! i’m coo-coo bananas!

toasty and delicious.
we all know how unique this tea in general is. tastes like comfort food in your cup.

It’s my first time having this and I don’t know why I didn’t get excited about this tea sooner!! how lovely!
I’m wiped out after my 8 mile run this evening all I wanna do is lay down asap. so I didn’t sip this slowly like I wish I had. But next time I will give it plenty of attention. Probably tomorrow even.

i read somewhere on steepster within the last 24 hrs that someone figured out that steeping adagio teas at a lower heat for 2 min got the best results. i looked real hard for the post but can’t find it now.
anyways, that is what i did. and it did definitely bring this tea more to life!
the lower heat gives it more room to breathe really. not so smothering.
sometimes you just need to charm the flavors out from hiding.
though Robin would probably just use his smile.

the oriental is mild. i guess it’s assam forward?
’builder’s tea’ is accurate!
hello handsome.

i drank this several times many months ago but noticed i hadn’t logged it. i’m cleaning out my virtual cupboard and wanted to make sure i have note of drinking this tea once-upon-a-time.

this is the tea i bought after i threw out my previous cup of tea that was so puke awful.

it was not a good cup, but at least i did not have to dump it out.

warning to the wise: don’t ever drink tea at Rostov’s, or order a cup from a place that serves Rostov’s, in Richmond.

I dumped it out. bleck!

i’m watching the final Fringe episodes right now!

update (2 months later)
cuz that wasn’t a review hah

well, i remember when i first tried this i was not impressed. it kinda just smelled like other teas i’d already had and the taste wasn’t as strong as other teas. but this time the scent just kept wafting from the brewed cup. and i just kept looking down at my little cup on the floor (cuz i sit on the floor a lot) and thinking – wow i don’t remember you smelling so good little tea. xo

so this is a chocolate desert tea yes, but i feel like it has a sense of humor. i don’t know if i would really buy it again but i do know that i will enjoy the steeps i do have left with a bubbly attitude.

oh ps: and i do have a used teabag cold brewing in the fridge so i’ll let you know if that turns out interestingly.

Carytown Teas version of the famous Harney & Sons tea.

enjoyed this at Black Hand Coffee with Emily after a movie
http://instagram.com/p/Ut3wjOIc-2/
they only have 2 teas to choose from, but at least they are good teas.
they used to have 2 teas and a mate, but they stopped carrying the mate. idk.

the tea is nice. very delicate and fresh.

Kuba Kuba with Emily before we went to see the beautifully awful Bing Crosby movie.

of all the samples i ordered from Harney, this one did not really stand out.
but i really think i understand tea better now, and i’m not speeding through my tastings the way i used to. these days i take more time. which is important. SO when i do decide to order from Harney again i will probably throw another sample of this in the cart and give it another whirl.
cuz a jammy and honey kissed chinese black sounds like a very good idea.

i’m kinda over rooibos teas. at least for this month.
so let me tell you about some food i ate today for lunch.

i am usually vegan, but my roommates and i have part of a “cow share”, which means that we all own a part of a cow along with other local people and then we all get to drink the cow’s milk, raw with no pasteurization. so though i don’t drink milk in general cuz i just don’t really like it, i DO enjoy raw yogurt yum.

so here, if you take half a cup of plain yogurt and put like one whole chopped up gala apple in it, and then maybe a banana chopped up if you’re in the mood, and maybe even a tad of granola or cereal or something if you want texture. THEN add 1 tablespoon of peanut butter to it and mix it all up. it basically tastes like you are eating a peanut butter milkshake. or like, a bowl of peanut butter. or something.

basically i’m saying that it turns one tablespoon of peanut butter into a whole bowl of peanut butter and it is delicious.
you can also add raisins or cinnamon and nutmeg or whatever. forever.

what a perfect tea on a snowy day!!
i brewed it very short, cuz i’m trying to reduce my caffeine intake. and it’s still perfect.

i’m reading ‘Devil in the Details’ about an OCD girl and really i just wanna leave work and go read and then watch my whole hulu queue at once. you know what i’m talking about.

i blended the dregs of 4 different mapley chocolate teas.
3 of the 4 are herbal and 3 of the 4 are della terra teas.
i was organizing my tea because my tea tins arrived!

LOOK AT THIS!!!
deep drawer: http://instagram.com/p/Uh6GZyIc-N/
shallow drawer: http://instagram.com/p/Uh6QRIoc-a/

there are still a few labels i need to make, but i’m basically there.
i am pleased with the aesthetics. i went to art school you see.

i’m coming to the sad realization that i need to reduce my caffeine.
it’s going to be very hard.
very very hard.

i’ll start this week by not drinking black tea or the like after 2p, and no caffeine at all after 4p.
then next week i’ll do no caffeine after 2p.

i’ll try at least. try until i succeed.
sorry i just realized how dramatic this kinda sounds. BUT IT’S TEA WE’RE TALKING ABOUT!!

see, in 2010 i lost 60lbs and in 2012 i ran 6 marathons and an ultra.
and i used to tell everybody who asked that of all the healthy changes i made in my life, quitting caffeine was by far the best thing i’d ever done for myself.
quitting caffeine relieved me of my sad moods and general prevailing anxiety. it made my pms/pmdd almost go away entirely. it made me feel more whole. and i felt like i could do anything, any time of the day. (instead of feeling like i could do anything only after a cup or two of tea and only for some times of the day.) sure quitting removed those wonderful poetic highs, but it also relieved me of the grey and irritable lows. and if you know what i am talking about, then you know that the grey lows are nothing to mess with. they get in your skin, in your mind, and in your heart.
point is, it effected me in a very positive way. in fact, it’s what brought me to tea!! i became obsessed with herbal tea and bought as many kinds as i could find. then i branched out and had a white or two. maybe a green. and before i knew it i had 100 teas stocking my cupboard. oh lovely lovely teas.

but the honeymoon’s over, and i gotta reign it in.
i say this because i know you will all be able to relate or commiserate with me in some way. i’m not even slightly suggesting that anyone else should quit no way!!! and i will try to find a balance and a way to still drink tea regularly no doubt. just not as MUCH tea is all. just not as much.

Josie Jade and Cavocorax have been discussing Toasted Marshmallow recently and it made me wanna have a sip too.
i used a teabag for a change. i decided i’m gonna try using tea bags for teas that tend to have floaties and gummy residue in general. you know the ones. the gummy residue on top of some cups tends to really distract from the enjoyment for me so i’m sure this will be helpful.
the scent of this tea is really delicious and weird. it smells like marshmallows,… but it doesn’t.
it brews a golden foggy honey color. i guess it’s slightly too sweet of a cup for me. plus i wish it had more cinnamon in it. something sweet with a kick. i’ll try adding a cinnamon stick next time i brew this! great ideas, i’m full of ‘em!
i have a nice amount of this tea left and i’ll save it for dessert on the weekends. yummm

i haven’t even tasted this tea yet and i can tell from the reviews that i’ve oversteeped it…

aaaaand i did oversteep it. but i love the smell very much. and i’ll try again soon enough.

actually i just did a weird thing. i put maybe 1/3 a pack of splenda in my cup. i have spelnda in my desk but it was put there under a moment of insanity. i was not quite myself when it happened and i am NOT a splenda/stevia user. just to be clear of where this is coming from. but because of the over steep i figured i had nothing to lose so i added the tad of splenda and now the tea has no bitterness at all, and it’s not even really sweet! but it is still dry and the smell is still wonderful.
not that i’m gonna start using the splenda or anything, but i figured i’d get creative cuz it was already kinda not a good cup. and my experiment paid off :) cup of tea resuscitated!
good way to end the rainy blah work day that’s for sure.

i feel tired and nervous and wrong. off and wrong and i want to go lay in bed and be sullen. i oversteeped this tea but the berries and vanilla are still there. thank you thank you. i want this tea to comfort me. but it might be too tall of an order on such an overcast and drizzly day.
(i think i’m just too hungry and tired and it’s making me feel wrong. i ran 14 miles this weekend,didn’t eat enough last night to fuel my tired muscles, and stayed up until 1:30am because i made lunches for the week and tried to paint our renovated bathroom too late. also i’m out of my protein powder.)

chocolate and light. sssssslightest bit of mint.
it sweetens and it deepens.
matching the christmas eve sky.
here is a poem for you to enjoy.

by ee cummings

if in beginning twilight of winter will stand

(over a snowstopped silent world)one
spirit serenely truly himself; and

alone only as greatness is alone —

one(above nevermoving all nowhere)
goldenly whole,prodigously alive
most mercifully glorying keen star

whom she-and-he-life ifs of am perceive

(but believe scarcely may) certainly while
mute each inch of their murdered planet grows
more and enormously more less:until
her-and-his nonexistence vanishes

with also earth’s
—“dying” the ghost of you
whispers “is very pleasant” my ghost to

warning, fitness-centric post!

so first things first, i use myfitnesspal to try to keep reigns on my eating so that i don’t out grow my pants and so i can continue to progress at running. today i added a category for tea hah! it goes TEAS, breakfast, lunch, dinner. duh should have done that long ago.
i also add every tea i drink to the database, even if they are adagio fandom blends and i’m the only person who will drink them. i love seeing bilbo or sherlock names when i go to log food.

now, i have also registered for a relay race in October. it’s usually a relay of 12 people but this year we are doing and ‘ultra’ team which means we each run twice as much over the 30 hr race. about 33 miles each person is the estimate. since i prefer long distances i’d have it no other way.
we need a name for the team, so i’ve been brainstorming puns. the race is 6 people in a van, 1 person runs at a time, and if you can decorate the van for a theme it’s even better. the first round of punny names include:
Repo Van
Vando Calrissian
Encino Van
Vans Labyrinth
The Hobbit: Van Unexpected Journey
VAN Hell Zing
The Van Who Wasn’t There
A Van with No Name

good morning steepsters!!
it’s friday!
i love tea!

“Good Morning!"

“What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”

“All of them at once”

have you seen Prometheus?

did you like it?