Shmiracles

i went to the post office to mail of some swaps and then on my way back to the office walked through the big ritzy Jefferson hotel that is a block wide. so when i say ‘walked through’ i mean took a short cut through the hotel to the next block over haha.
then decided to get a cup of tea.
they have a small to-go shop on the lower lever and i looked at their tea list and the special blends include ‘richmond blend’ from rostov’s coffee & tea. …. the only cup of tea i’ve ever paid for and then dumped out.
(rostov’s is a local business here and the first place i bought loose leaf tea. and they sell their tea in plasic ziplock bags and as i drank more tea as a newbie i eventually threw them all away and didn’t finish a single bag of their tea once i learned better.)
this does not bode well for my chocolate high tea reservation at The Jefferson in a few weeks.

this green tea is NOT from rostov’s. but the notes and ratings on this tea from Mighty Leaf are not so great either. however, personally, i think this tea is fine.
i did understeep it, cuz i was walking with the paper to-go cup and understeeped is WAY less annoying than over-steeped. the green tea is fine and the fruit is just a nudge.

i don’t know. i drank 2 cups of this today trying to get to know this tea. but it just wouldn’t open up to me. i’ll try again in a few days. some teas just aren’t quick to trust.

omg!
Dinosara!
my first matcha!

i started timidly. 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk. 1 teaspoon matcha. 1 teaspoon agave syrup (cuz the milk is unsweetened). and a little hot water to mix with the matcha.

i loved it. and i know i could make it better too!
i loved it.

this tea is exactly what it says it is! in an amazingly accurate way.

but seriously i love orange in my teas. when i’m pulling a scoop from a tea blended with orange bits, i consciously try to not be too greedy with the big rind chunks, cuz if i let myself go wild i’d just have a canister of plain tea by the time i got half way through. the jasmine softens out the mandarin. brightens and lightens. and the tea itself is confident and relaxed.

maybe Mariage Freres only lets you buy tea in 100g increments because they know better than you do that you’ll need that much after you taste it and get to know it. they’re like “we know what’s good for you. now take your tea and move along.”

thanks again and again Dinosara for sending me such considerate quantities to sample.

when i have a lot of teas i’m excited about trying i tend to brew small little 6 or 8 oz cups.
this one i brewed once, and then brewed again immediately. i just wanted to be sure is all.
i wanted to be sure that what i thought i tasted was really what i thought i tasted.
and i’m just gonna go for it and declare …Apricot.
i don’t even know why apricot.
i mean, no pineapple or mango. i feel like apricot.
APricot!

thanks Dinosara! it’s a euro tea adventure!

as of today we’ve only been back 2 weeks, and yesterday my boyfriend was already googling all sorts of variations on “the cheapest way to fly to europe”.
it was inevitable.

oh Macaron Mangue Jasmin you are fairly stunning, but see, i have already fallen for another Dammann Freres (…or two hah). alas my heart is spoken for.

again i feel very lucky to have tried this tea and to have a couple more cups to go! i mean, have you seen their catalog it’s HUGEMONGUS! how would anyone expect a girl to get through that on her own. we all need the help of our tea friends don’t we.

Dinosara gave me this sample too. she showered me in the classiest of teas. (you should probably read her posts if you wanna actually know about the tea. she said it so well.)

ya know what, this is a musky earl grey, and weirdly i will admit, i think i like it more than more usual earl greys.
i’m not a person who is drawn to earl grey. i could take it or leave it kinda. and sometimes they seem too puckery. but this one is more moody. it’s a slight nuance i think, but i feel it.

(note to self: i liked the 2.5 minute steep slightly better than the 3.5 minute steep.)

thanks again Dinosara!

a sample from the awesome Dinosara! and this IS a breakfasty kinda desert tea…
jammy dodgers! it’s jammie dodgers tea.
it just dawned on me.
YUM!
i’m gonna make a second cup and watch yesterday’s Doctor Who episode.
(after i rewatch the xmas episode and then rewatch the end of the previous episode, because Clara’s story is explained in there somewhere i’m sure of it.)

okay i re-steeped the pot. and i’m not a person who usually does that. like i basically never do that. so i’ll take that as an indicator that i like this tea even more than i realize i do.

THIS ONE IS A 100% BUY for me!

my very first swap sample received from Dinosara!

i really like this simple tea. the green tea is vegetal and fresh and the vanilla is low key and cheery. i know it’s not blow-your-mind delicious or anything, but i’m very glad i got a chance to try it and that i have a good 3 more cups worth.

i just finished watching Bridesmaids. i’m glad i watched it. also if you haven’t heard Adam Scott on the podcast Doug Loves Movies do yourself the favor cuz then you’ll love him even more.

hmmmm, i don’t get the chocolate really but my sister was like “super marachino city!” and i was all AWWW cuz i basically bought it for her. she loves teas with flowers and rose petals in them.

also, dry in the canister, it definitely smell like wine to me. it’s a very true and strong wine smell. almost like a turned wine, like a white wine that has sat opened in the fridge too long. i certainly like it more than i expected to.

Igor Stravinsky’s “Les Noces”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi-5mugSiX4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiazdmmZF_8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-ni8XUOqdM

“Nijinska’s Les noces is considered to have feminist elements. Les noces deserts the upbeat nature of a typical wedding, and instead brings to life the restrictive nature of a woman’s duty to marry. The dark and somber set provides the backdrop to the simple costuming and rigid movements. The individuality of the dancer is stripped away in Nijinska’s choreography, therefore displaying actors on a predetermined path, as marriage was regarded as the way to maintain and grow the community. The choreography exudes symbolism as, huddled together, the women repeatedly strike the floor with their pointe shoes with rigid intensity, as if to tell the tale of their struggle and ultimate reverence. The Russian peasant culture and the dutifulness it evokes in its people is represented in Nijinska’s piece.”

i was a dance major for half of my college life. i also was a dance major in high school. basically i danced every day of my life from when i was very young until i was 21. (yes i’m counting all those dance routines to Prince songs i made up when i was 7.)

i know Les Noces is not for everyone, first of all it’s full of the typical Stravinsky dissonance and also choc-full of operatic singing in russian, second of all… it’s weird.
but there are parts in the second act that will ALWAYS make me wanna bound around the room and dance wildly when i hear it.

this tea is dark and no frills and a little dour. but just a little.
point is. i can see it sitting and steaming on the lid of stravinsky’s piano.
and i can see the Russian peasant girls brewing it before their wedding.

this tea really is 50% blossoms like the picture shows.
smooth jasmine and all the citrus is on the nose but not even slightly tart. almost creamy?!
nicely done little oolong!

this song goes out to Sam and Dean.
cuz this tea is pretty romantic.
“please just save me from this darkness”

Snow Patrol – Make This Go On Forever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4giE9QhJ48

mock me if you want, but if this song gets stuck in your head you’ll be sorry.

yesterday my sister asked me what my spirit animal is.
i told her Sherlock.

this tea is total yum.
like eating those raspberry filled godiva chocolate bars.

i keep feeling like it’s friday. (it’s thursday)
i can’t seem to focus and just want to read books all day.

umm this has 120mg of caffeine per can.
it’s 11:33pm and i probably shouldn’t have even had the half a can i did.
it tastes nice. but the flavor is really kinda hard to describe. i mean, basically it’s carbonated and sweetened mate tea. i’d definitely buy it again. i don’t drink soda but i could easily enjoy this regularly.

the bottom of this tasting note is an over caffeinated note from last night.

i watched the full “Victoria Wood’s Nice Cup of Tea” part 1 and 2 this morning.
the program is very fun and i’m shocked i hadn’t learned about it earlier. it never occurred to me that there would be shows about tea! how exciting!
while watching there was one moment that was totally weird, but during the first episode they showed a grandiose dance performance in china that was about the story of tea, where at the end of the performance they gave the entire audience each a cup of tea. and for some mysterious reason, i started crying.
i mean really?
i was so moved i actually started crying.
i think i’m in too deep. whew!

i like this tea much more this time around! the rind adds a strong pithy flavor to the tea. earthy and pithy and oddly dark in flavor. i don’t know much about what a white puerh should taste like. it is a complicated balance of both delicate and dark flavors. which makes sense. i’m glad i bought this when i did.

Hell! tonight was shot becuzzzz…..

JacquelineM got me started with this awesome vid! (THANKS!)
Morrissey talks tea with Victoria Wood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSqp73xSvbg
and then i went here
Doctor Who’s Matt Smith Talks Tea – Victoria Wood’s Nice Cup of Tea
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu4E92Joeig
and then naturally here
Mark Ruffalo acts out a fan’s dream conversation – The Graham Norton Show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GwRis0CZhQ
and then i naturally progressed to the Martin Freeman episode of Who Do You Think You Are. and on and on.
you know.
internet binge.

i love tea! i’m so grateful to have it in my life! i know i sound crazy! but seriously. what other simple things are this easy to enjoy?!

now don’t get angry but i did dump out a tiny little tea tin this morning. it was a tiny cup’s worth of root beer tea. my sister wouldn’t drink it and i was tired of looking at it. this Berry White tea was also in the orphan box. (box of teas my sister said she wasn’t gonna drink and mostly they were samples i’d given her cuz i wasn’t gonna drink it either hah) i drank this one again because i had never reviewed it.

[side note: i have a ‘tea purgatory’ and a ‘tea orphan box’. ‘tea purgatory is where i keep teas i don’t have room for in my cupboard yet, and ‘tea orphan box’ is where i keep the last bits of tea that i didn’t really like and don’t wanna try again but there’s just that little tad left] [oh the science of tea organization systems]

it’s very red red pink liquor. and it tastes just like that. it tastes pink. and by that i mean it tastes like it’s hibiscus trying to be a larger variety of berries. but it’s not awful. it tastes kinda festive i guess.

now off off off to mail some swaps! (and then a lame subcommittee meeting zzzz) (but don’t worry i have some watson tea for the meeting so it will be alright i bet)

very orangey at first. but i might have steeped it aggressively? so added a bit hot of water back to the already brewed cup. definitely still orange, but gentle and fun!
i love blood orange in my tea.
whod’a thunk?!
(i mean i have a decadent blood orange puerh in my cupboard and i would have never thought that those go together so well.)

last weekend we filled in the old fire pit in our back yard and built a new one.
this new one is WAY BETTER.
http://instagram.com/p/Yn64JJIc-M/

i am gonna go home and prep some tea swaps. …and can i just say that i’m absurdly giddy about it?!?! it’s not even the getting part, it’s the giving! i find it so exciting!

wow this one is kinda good. the spicy part is just kinda a delicate nudge and really brightens and deepens the chocolate flavors. and it’s all very well balanced with the tea. i know we have some mexican hot chocolate in our cupboard at home and it tastes very accurate to that flavor.
i steeped it for over 4.5 minutes cuz i know kusmi does fine with longer steeps. i probably could have let it go even longer.
well done kusmi! well done.
NOW DANCE!
The BPA feat. David Byrne & Dizzee Rascal – Toe Jam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A-ZpPq_stM

the scent is bright and exciting like:
http://instagram.com/p/X5NjPqIc8Q/
and the taste is smooth and fresh like:
http://instagram.com/p/X5Ny4Boc8h/

i went to the opera house to take pictures and they were selling this tea in the store. i didn’t buy it because i recognized that i was falling for a consumerism trick.
but when i went shopping at Mariage Freres a few days later this tea still stood out with it’s boldness and beauty. and it was my official green tea purchase of the day.

i’m so glad i have a tin of this ready in the wings for spring and summer. so very glad.

not my favorite.
and i like mint teas.
i’m suspicious of the stevia.

once upon a time i bought this tea from the grocery store.
i was new to tea.
i did not like it very much.
i thought i did not like tea,
but the punch line is that i just don’t like chamomile and didn’t know any better.

from the Zhena’s stackable sampler, i remember this tea being my FAVORITE of the four teas by leaps and bounds. it was absolutely delicious. for a store bought tea, it’s an perfect 10.

aka “tea of dreams”
i guess i didn’t know this was lower in caffiene, and now i’m super glad to hear it. cuz i had 4 cups of tea today already and i’m about to have 2 more.

i made this in my timolino to take to the movies. me and a friend went to go see “Inherit the Wind” which is about Darwinism vs the Bible Belt and stars Spencer Tracy and Gene Kelly and the guy who plays Darren on the original Bewitched. the movie was very fun and full of zingers. i was definitely entertained. also sometimes it’s sad how some arguments from fundamentalists never change.

this is another tea that i bought while in Paris and my sinuses were infected and i couldn’t smell anything and i would ask my boyfriend to describe the smell. so we did our best. the tea is flowery and fruity and the smell is strong to me but the flavor is mellow. and i love it way more than i thought i would. which is even awesomer since i have more of this tea than any other right now. yay!

now i am home, have re-organized my room a bit, and am drinking 221B Tea as i watch the new ‘Elementary’ episode and next i’ll watch the past 2 weeks of new Doctor Who while i drink the ‘Weeping Angel’ tea i just brewed. i’m gonna end this weekend on a high note.