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“So, in fact … You-you mean …”
“Yes.”
“I’m your … … best …”
“… man.”
“… friend?”
“Yeah, ’course you are. ’Course you’re my best friend.”
John watches with interest as he takes a long slurping drink of his tea and then swallows.
“Well, how was that?”
“Surprisingly okay.”

i had NO idea i would like this tea this much. seriously no idea.
it has cinnamon in it for heavens sake. so, maybe, just maybe, cinnamon isn’t my problem? or maybe the apples and oranges balance it out nice?
it does have a kinda spiced cider flavor to it almost.
i’m really surprised.

it’s like this strange balance between fruity and dry, and maybe even a tad idea of salty? probably the puerh.

it’s definitely a weird kind of tea. not normal. and after reading my reviews for over a year you probably know right away that that’s why i respond to it. i like it weird. beautiful things are usually a little lopsided. i like the flaws and imperfections. or as Frances Ha said, “I like things that look like mistakes”. that’s where the art and magic of life is.

“The game is something.”
“On.”
“Yeah, that. That.”

what a light and bright cup! and earthy too!
i’m so glad i bought this. i love black teas most, but i am certainly always searching for a good dazzling green tea with heart. something i can gulp regularly that has weight but isn’t dense.

“What a couple of lightweights. You couldn’t even make it to closing time.”

the flavors in this blend are strong. so i’m not sure how resilient it will be for the long haul. but tonight i brewed it short and sipped it casually. and i enjoyed it’s stoic freshness very much.

perhaps someday i could even try it with a side of limoncello.

“He’s clueing”
“What?”
“He’s clueing for looks.”

holy crap steepster looks so different! i love it. looove it!

and TAGS!?!? we are working with TAGS NOW?!!! that is so cool. i hope it becomes an awesome and beautiful and messy and poetic world of tag chaos. this is gonna be good :)

but seriously, i’m not really serious enough of a tea drinker to take the time to record the amount of tea i brewed in what amount of water i used. so now i will just proceed with ignoring that part of the review process details along with how i have always ignored the steep time and water temp questions. but HECK am i glad that there are tea drinkers that are patient enough to do this!! so you, yes you! thanks!

this tea IS chocolatey-ish i guess. and it is kinda cinnamon-y i suppose. it’s not bad or anything, it’s actually pretty nice. it’s just also a little flat i think? idk. i’ll drink a cup again soon and re-write this when i feel differently.

thanks as always to jump62359 for this fandom sample!!

public service announcement: always confirm consent before touching the butts.

“There’s another bedroom upstairs, if you’ll be needing two bedrooms.”
“Of course we’ll be needing two bedrooms.”
“Oh, don’t worry. We get all sorts ‘round here. Mrs. Turner next door’s got married ones.”

i’ll be honest. this cup of tea is really very good.
i’m not sure that the half-a-sample-tin i’m splitting with moraiwe will be enough. it’s basically just assam and almond tea. simple.
and yet it tasted like old quilts and warm cookies. so warming and cozy when i brewed it first thing this morning! maybe i’m extra sensitive and susceptible first thing in the morning, but i’m still looking forward to another cup tomorrow :)
and i’m gonna have it with tea biscuits then too!

2014/02/06
finished my sample up as i packed up tea swaps to mail tomorrow. there was something i really liked about this tea and if i keep considering it for weeks to come, which leads to buying some of my own or at least getting more in a swap, i wouldn’t be surprised.

.

“Well then. Short version. Not dead.”

thanks to jump62359 for this sample! it’s such an earthy mellow brew.
smoky and smooth i suppose the gunpowder kinda takes over a bit in the personality category. that, paired with the afternoon mediumness of the ceylon, it’s a very mellow and fairly flat cup.

which is appropriate for this theme!

so sad and angry and frustrated and relieved i abandon all reason and collapse dramatically on the warm loose flat earth. hands at my sides and flat on my belly. it’s over.

not dead.

let me tell you what happened.
i got this awesome swap from jump62359 and i just started enthusiastically drinking them. dove right in.

however, it seems that 3 teas i picked in a row to try from the swap all had chai in them. chai chai chai. and this tea itself was so kinda dull, that i just kept procrastinating making a note. and then i would brew another cup. and try to pay better attention while sipping. and maybe figure the tea out more. maybe it would click or something? but nope. not this one.

(i would brew it. taste it. taste it some more. i would get bored. it would get cold.)

what i do love about this tea is that it makes me think of Elementary’s Sebastian Moran who i thought was very good and menacing. and still i “felt something” for the man. he was cast very well. (i suspect casting is why Elementary has grown on me so strongly.) (also the show has/had a trans-woman casted and portrayed it and not in any kind of weird or outlandish way, she was written and acted with depth and nuance.) (also all the women on the show (all two of them? hah) aren’t annoying. which is basically unheard of on american tv.)(i ramble…)

the other thing i like about this tea is that Tea Sipper apparently loves it! she has a much more sensitive palate than me. i can say that with confidence and very little background information because basically EVERYBODY has a more sensitive palate than i do!! hahah
i still have a few more cups of this so i will give it a rest for a while and then try again, while channeling Tea Sipper through my brew. i love the learning puzzle that’s sometimes tea.

Phil Coulson!
the original fan boy!
(and who wouldn’t be for a captains uniform like Steve’s)
(now come to think of it, it’s pretty easy to imagine Phil drinking tea. it goes with his suits. and perhaps he’d swap samples with Bruce and Natasha.)

it snowed last night and i was hoping for a snow day so i could stay home and drink all my new tea that arrived yesterday. that didn’t happen, but i did still try my first Coulson cup as i tried to watch the opening scene to Agents of Shield. (problem there was no new episode last night)

keeping my story long, i didn’t know what the ingredients were in this blend. i just wanted to get to know Phil. so 30 min later when i was yellllling with enthusiasm at my sister about fanish things while we were trying to defrost her car. i HAD to calm myself down and wonder aloud, ‘what was in that tea’…

maté. the answer is maté.

which i never drink. but i should probably drink it before every party.

i think this was my gateway maté.
also, it’s very strong. it’s for when you need to bring out the big guns. and that is totally Phil Coulson.

the smell of this tea is delicious cuz anytime you put adagio’s chestnut or caramel or hazelnut teas in a blend it takes over and smells like cake. yay cake.

so at first the flavor i got from the tea was confusing because i didn’t know it was maté. but now that i understand what i was tasting, i declare Agent Coulson’s tea BADASS. i seriously enjoyed the toasted maté sample i got in a swap way back when, i even thought about buying more, and this is the best way ever to buy more!

i suspect i will be able to get my boyfriend addicted to this tea cuz he’s the real maté drinker in the house, and then i will have an excuse to ALWAYS buy more Phil Coulson if i want.

Agent, report.

oh Watson!
“Does yours rub off too?”
“Are you going to keep that?”
“Seriously it’s not a joke, you’re keeping that?”
stiff upper lip and all that…
this fuzzy tea is irish breakfast with a crumb of chai. not too much chai.
(that was really my main concern you see. balance.)
but it’s yummy! yummy like john.
keep the ‘stache john! you’re an independent man! celebrate!
you go gurl!

what am i even saying, we all know john is, well, maybe not entirely that.
john is in pain. and this tea is comforting. comforting like the little blanket he has there on his upper lip.

thanks so much to the darling jump62359! this was the tea, that lead to the swap, that started it all.

fyi i’m looking for fandom blend swap buddies
http://steepster.com/discuss/5155-us-tea-swaps-for-us-to-us-only?post_id=117664#forum_post_117664

from my shinny brand new swap with jump62359! it’s definitely past christmas time, but there is snow on the ground for the first time this season, so this tea,…still appropriate. :)
i stared at the little white nodule that was in the tea bag for a long time. still not sure what it is. haha i love a mystery. …
… but now that it’s steeped the white node is gone, so i’ll assume it’s sugar. made to be pretty!
between the bold fruit flavor and the sugar pre-added, it’s definitely a sassy cup. this really is the most apricoty apricot tea i’ve tasted. it’s very apricot. and not really chocolate at all. (but maybe steeping the bag a second time will be different.)

this cup, and the snow covered ground, and my giant office window, and my giant mug, goes well with the Bach Partitas i’m listening to. (insert ‘ilovespotify’ rant here.)
delicious.

i have a dance class tonight i’m already looking forward to. counting down the hours.

this is seriously one of the best rooibos teas i’ve ever had. i thought i was done with rooibos all together. but here is green lupicia rooibos proving me wrong.
if you have a chance to try this tea you really should.
i steeped every last drop of flavor out of this first tea bag.

thank you jump62359! thank you so much for sending me this great swap!
it started so innocently on my part, all i wanted was to try Watson’s Mustache. (cuz i love Watson! but i kinda don’t love chai.) simple plan and all.
and next thing i knew, i was hyper-ed up about getting to try lots of hobbit blends i thought i’d never get to taste! (boyfriend called them contraband. i’m gonna re-sell them on the black market for top dollahh!)

this honey dew tea was an uber bonus to the swap. uber uber.

other news:
i also received a new big fat beautiful mug in the mail yesterday too
http://instagram.com/p/jfJ6R-Ic52/
so i may have over done the tea a bit today haha

btw, if any of you who follow me have ADHD chat me up in a message! i wanna talk about how tea may or may not effect you.
when i say i drink a lot of tea, i’m not sure other people understand, and it’s definitely different than coffee ya know…