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Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
January 2022 → A tea with bean notes

After two failed attempts at finding legumes in my tea, it seems that I’ll be following suit and using vanilla bean for this sipdown prompt. I’m stealing this fabulous idea from the others who have already used it. Thank you, friends.

This is a really beautiful tea, as so many here can attest. The flavor and aroma are pure vanilla bean, not vanilla flavoring (though I like that too). Seeing so many vanilla bean specks swirl around in my cup reminds me how special this tea really is.

I’m buzzing from all the caffeine I’ve had today, but I want to sneak in one more cup before it gets too late. I might regret it by bedtime, but I’ll deal with that later.

Personal update on our TNR trap session – we caught our stray kitty! He’ll be off to the vet tomorrow and then hopefully released right back in our yard on Tuesday. Happy day!

This is the only other tea in my stash that mentioned possible green bean notes on Steepster, but I taste no green beans here. I honestly didn’t expect to from a black tea, but someone else did so I thought it’d be worth a try. Plus, I didn’t mind having a strong black tea this morning.

This was meant to be my pick for one of the sipdown prompts (a tea with bean notes), but I don’t taste anything bean-like here. I saw one note that mentioned soybeans, so I went with it. I’m no connoisseur of green teas which is probably why I’m only picking up the most obvious flavors (jasmine). I don’t love it, but I also don’t love green tea all that much either.

I’m settling in for trap session No. 2, so scroll past all my notes today if you don’t want to hear me go on and on about it. :D We released our first cat on Thursday, and I can’t think of many times in my life when I’ve felt so proud. We’ve had to put the fostering on a hold for a bit, so I’m really excited to have found something else to learn and do in the meantime. Planning to drink lots of tea today while I wait.

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
January 2022 → A spicy tea

When I saw the prompt for a spicy tea, my mind immediately went to this blend. I have other teas that are spiced but this one is actually spicy. It smells chocolatey, but it goes beyond chai spice and offers up some heat at the end of the sip.

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
January 2022 → A cream-flavored tea

I don’t usually care for the EG blends with lavender, but this one wasn’t overpowering like some can be. The base was strong and fortifying – I really enjoyed it.

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
January 2022 → A new tea

I picked up a box of this with my latest igourmet order. I’m a huge fan of strawberry black teas, so I was excited to see it. They didn’t have the variety I expected, but there were some new-to-me teas there that I might want to try at some point.

James loved this one and asked me to immediately add it to the wishlist so that we don’t forget when we run out. He’s already had a few cups. Today was my first, and I have to say that I’m not too impressed. There is a musty smell after steeping, not quite sure what that’s about, and some strawberry candy flavor, but there isn’t really anything exciting about it. I’ve certainly had others that were better.

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
January 2022 → An apricot tea

An all-time favorite tea. Surprisingly, one of the few teas I have with apricot too. It’s slightly floral and full of that stone fruit flavor. Love it.

Oh this one is delicious! I can’t quite pick out all the fruit flavors, but I’m definitely tasting something like orange.

We’ve spent the last couple of days preparing to learn and attempt TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return) for the first time. Someone from our local cat-loving FB group came to our house last night and taught us how to use and bait the traps, and so today we’ve been trying to catch the two ferals who live in our community. We tried for a couple hours last night and now again all day today, but we haven’t seen either cat at all (which is very unusual). I had reached out to my neighbors earlier in the week to make sure the cats were indeed feral and received some pushback about trapping them. Apparently at least one of the neighbors thought I was trapping the cats to hurt them, which makes me really sad, and now I’m starting to worry we’ve been sabotaged. I explained what I was doing and why, but I don’t know if they were convinced. My brother says the cats are probably feasting on a gourmet buffet down the street, so they aren’t at all interested in my smelly mackerel. I’m a little bummed, no point in pretending I’m not. I don’t know why I thought we’d get them on the first try, but I suppose this is a good test of my patience.

So while I sit here, with one eye on the trap and the other on my inbox, I’m sipping on this mug of deliciousness. This tea is oh-so-dark and deep and smoky and bittersweet. Just perfect for this chilly afternoon. Bonus: I can drink it inside with the heat on, at least until dark.

Possibly the only one of my Joseph Wesley teas that is still going strong! Lovely chocolate notes in this one.