812 Tasting Notes
right on cara mcgee. [twohandhighfive]
this tea has bracing notes of a stale coffee flavor and smells like the breeze cast off a used ashtray.
in the best way of course.
i’m really digging it.
i’m sure anybody else who likes toasted mate likes it for this reason.
it’s sometimes like a mouth of dirt. juicy dirt.
(ya know, the same way green tea can taste like damp grass)
anyways,
maybe i’ll get a chance to listen to an episode or two of this podcast today.
i’m up to episode 6.
oh gawd guise i’ve been so MIA!
i’ve been setting up my standing desks at home and work and restructuring my entire life from the ground up in slow motion.
it takes a long time.
(and swappers, hi, ya you, i swear i’m putting your boxes together tonight. i swearit.)
i drank this tea on sunday as my roommates and i embarked on a house cleaning day.
cleaning day went awesomely but this tea was kinda lame. just flat.
but i’m glad to see so many other people got a kick out of it!
cuz if nothing else, tea should be fun :)
CAN DEEEEE!
thanks to Eva for swapping this with me so i could try it!
i saw the gifs of the DWARVICISE yesterday on tumblr for the first time.
so here you go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx60bm_6QvI
thank you jump62359 for the dwarven party!
hey i think i’m improving my blending abilities! either that or i got lucky :)
either way, i still kinda win.
this current blend is blackberry, caramel, and mocha nut mate with cornflowers added.
i hope to add cocoa nibs to the next batch i think?
you don’t have to really know what i’m talking about here. this is just me trying to parse out what taste profile i’m going for and then trying to judge if i’ve come even a little close.
i was going for a dark earthen tea base with a kind of unsettled sweetness incorporated? i figured the mate would add a rougher kind of masculine note and the dark berries and caramel could help create a slightly salty yet decadent tone. the tea basically needs to be sensual and intense and troubled and sad. comforting but still very very sad. and i wasn’t aiming for it, but the mate definitely has a sort of riding crop flavor-tone to it.
so beautiful it hurts and so stinging it’s beautiful. i’ll keep drinking this bag, get to know this version better, make some changes and then see what else i learn.
Bach’s Chaconne Partita No.2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7qe3RrRL2Y
i started today having this blend because i saw Cavo’s note first thing yesterday and also it has safflower accents in it. safflower is not very common in the adagio blends overall. but i like the way it looks and i’d like to use it in my own blends. so i wanna try to get to know it better.
(safflower is also an accent in the ’sherlock’s experiment’ blend.)
so i prepped a good amount of leaf to brew 24oz worth of tea.
i poured the water …. and then forgot about it. woops!
it happens.
(it probably brewed for about 5 – 8 min? idk. i’m a susceptible victim to time gremlins. so i’ll ask one of them how long forgotten tea brews, if i ever catch one.)
but the over-steep didn’t completely demolish the cup!
in fact, i think the long steep really just brought the cinnamon out a lot more.
Shadowfall and Cavocorax both described the tea very accurately.
damp and earthen and mossy and cinnamony.
i do like the cup.
it would be a tea for the days when i’m feeling equal parts brave & sullen.
idk what the safflower does.
i think it’s just there to look pretty. totally fine by me.
earl grey creme with cinnamon! very nice.
no, really. i drank this hours ago and i’m still remembering it fondly.
it was a great way to start this monday.
me and cinnamon, we are getting to be better & better friends. happy ending :)
i have several of you to email and put swap boxes together for.
don’t worry i haven’t forgotten you!
i just, get, like, distracted and stuff. and i know full well that i’m not really great at prioritizing. and i tend to get 90% done with a task and then kinda stall out a bit? but i spend time telling non-tea people all about how steepster is fun in so many different ways and how we can be a sea of all different types and walks of people and still have so many things in common and how it always impresses me and how i have a fondness for my internet buddies even if i chat with you lots or barely at all.
(okay brace for blab city now)
i lurk some of you, sure i do, i see your tea reviews and read a little about your day or your morning tea or whatever, and i may not have much to add, but i see you and i get it. i see you! hi! i understand you a little! hi!
this site is kinda all about the love, and the complete acceptance and freedom to love/hate any crappy/pristine tea you darn well want to.
and you can tell because instead of clicking a little thumbs-up at the bottom of a post, you can click a little heart! proof!
party on heart clickers!
hug we see you too!!!
I thought that first line was “earl grey creme with coconut” and I got excited despite the bergamot.
And I love the lurking comment! I enjoy reading about everyone’s day along with their tea notes too.
ditto on that courtney…even without commenting on most of the tea logs, i love hearing about ppl’s days…enjoying them experiencing teas that i like..that i don’t like.. it’s just a great place to be.
Courtney! you! you
were the VERY FIRST person i ever mailed tea too!
it was 10 months ago in early May (waaaay back when) and i bet if i was to see what i sent and how i packaged the tea now, i would have a good chuckle :D
also, all your fault… i immediately went on adagio and started making an EGC w/coconut blend. and THEN i noticed that now i can add 2 accents to my blends instead of just 1? i guess cuz i made and bought 4 for myself? so of course i proceeded to spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME altering my DIY blend accents. endless fun. for reals.
Do you have any of this???? It sounds so good! I don’t see it in your cupboard though :(
ZOMG, Shmiracles! Are you making personal blends, or fandom blends? :D I might have to bump an Adagio order up in the queue and try some of your stuff.
>>>> runs to the cupboard >>>> yes i can give you 1 perfect scoop worth? not ideal, but enough to get a taste :)
we have 2 earl greys in our cupboard at the moment, but after they’re gone, i’ll probably get either this blend or one kinda like it to replace it. mix things up a bit.
Yay! Actually I remember how you packaged that swap because the box it arrived in became the box that all my swap samples now hang out in. That blend sounds amazing! Perhaps we can do another swap if you end up creating it. :)
i’m not a huge white tea fan, but i actually to honest goodness loved this tea!
i bought it for oddree because it has roses in it, it’s a thing i do. find a tea with roses, buy it for oddree. but i really didn’t expect to like it much. basically figured i’d drink it once or twice and the rest would be hers. so what a nice surprise to find it to tasty. especially since there are several low ratings by some other steepsters that i follow.
i brewed it and put the lid tightly on my timolino and then put it next to my bed and drank it first thing in the morning. it was still warm. it totally was.
today i took a spontaneous trip to ikea a couple of hours away and spontaneously bought a standing desk and i am writing this review while standing at it. this desk is SO BEAUTIFUL. fukin A. and it was a glorious day to drive with my sister and talk about fanfiction the WHOLE way there and back. warm fuzzies. super warm fuzzies.
Ooh! Which desk is it you got? I’ve been thinking of switching.
okAY! i’m gonna nerd out now! you’ve been warned hah
i got a 59 × 29 table top. so it’s HUGE! and then i got the extendable legs called GERTON Legs. they go up to 42 inches tall. the legs were BY FAR the most expensive thing i bought. (the legs were basically half my bill. and that’s including all the cookies i bought hah) but when my boyfriend was like ’that’s not a lot of $ for something so good like a nice desk’ i was like OKAY done! hah (enabler!)
then i made a small monitor stand using EKBY VIKTOR shelf and the CAPITA legs. totaling like $18. i got the 6inch legs so the monitor would be right at the perfect eye height.
i spent A LOT of time trying different configurations and measuring very closely. because apparently even an inch too height or too low can become problematic eventually. but dude did my diligence pay off! cuz it is SPOT ON in height. (i can’t tell you how many times i wished i was shorter though. haha)
i’ll probably post a pic and link it once i get my room cleaned up.
i also bought this configuration http://iamnotaprogrammer.com/Ikea-Standing-desk-for-22-dollars.html
so i can take it to work. i’m not sure how much i will use it at work? it might be too weird (like that fad of sitting on those big yoga balls at your desk that was happening for a while?) but it was very affordable so i felt it was worth a try.
there are a lot of ideas out there! and many very affordable ikea hacks. it’s kinda cool. like this desk http://shortbluesky.blogspot.com/2012/10/my-diy-standing-desk-with-ikea-parts.html i already have the shelves and could have just gotten the tiny legs and tabletop? which would have been only $20, but it was still too short for me!
have someone measure from the floor to your bent elbow while you are standing with ideal posture, and basically if you need a 43inch or lower desk you will probably have many more options :)
I can’t wait to see the desk! Also, OMG NIGHTSTAND TEA FOR THE MORNING. Also, I tried the Cherry Blossom but didn’t have enough water so it wasn’t a full steep, but I could tell that I loved it anyways, so thank you for this tea (I even saved the full rosebud at the top of the tin for later). Also, yesterday was fun! Fanfic and meatballs.
Oh, sweet! I like that little desk-top standing desk. That might be a good place for me to start. I’m on my feet a lot at work anyways, so I’m not too worried about that… but I sit on my butt a lot at home. :)
I have considered bringing a yoga ball in to sit on at work, but we tend to have pipette tips strewn all over the floor, and they are definitely strong enough to pierce a yoga ball. Not sure I want to risk it.
I wonder how many people that has happened to, OMG! :D
Haha! Not sure anyone would really want to advertise it, Tea Sipper. :) Seems a little embarrassing – messy lab, etc. My desk is beside the tip box filling area, though. Thankfully they’re all clean!
So I’ve measured, and I’m working up a plan for a standing desk! My elbow is 40" off the ground, now to see what will work for me, yay. :)
Oh, that’s awesome that you are listening to it! I think the Sandstorm is my favourite, but you’re a ways away from that.
I think I stopped listening around episode 6 or 7…