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Cold-brewed a big ol’ bottle of this to sip on in my second-last day on this contract (FROWNY FACE). So far today, I’ve done about 20 minutes total of work, and otherwise started knitting a new piece for etsy, edited a page of a short story for which the deadline is looming, and investigated how the heck to stay in the UK after my 2-year visa’s up.

(It’s not eligible for renewal and a trained monkey could do the kind of administrative work they seem to think is all I’m good for here DON’T YOU PEOPLE KNOW I’VE GOT A STUPIDLY HIGH IQ AND BAGS OF EXPERIENCE FERCHRISSAKES so there’s no chance in getting the uni to be able to sponsor me, when it’d be so much easier for them to just hire somebody else to do my job, if I even have one in 9 months time, so guess who’s probably going to get married next spring so Gentleman and I can continue living in the same place? Not as romantic a proposal as I’d have liked, but there you have it.)

This tea is still lovely. I expect I’ll crave it less as the weather gets colder and I want cozier things, but for now, it’s magnificent, sharp and melony. I can’t believe I’m the only person who’s reviewed it on here!

Are the Steepster servers still being funky? I have no idea. I’m using Internet Explorer at the office so I just kind of expect every website to look a bit screwy anyway.

I actually had this cup of Donna last night, but later-noting because servers and whatever. It’s still really cozy and cinnamony and I just wish the flavours were a lit-tle more forward, but I do think it’s probably my favourite of these New Who blends I’ve had the opportunity to try.

(Speaking of which, I may have slightly gone ahead and made my own Twelve blend, rather than waiting to see what somebody else comes up with!)

Oh Donna, there’s totally like only half a serving of you left now, and I’ll miss you when you’re gone. Will I invest in a whole thing of it? Probably not? But I still really like it.

I’m liking this less today. I don’t know, it’s just a bit… not as bang-you-over-the-head sexy as I’d like it to be, and I’m really feeling that right now. It’s okay.

Also, I’m pretty sure I’ve become my parents. We spent most of the holiday Monday morning in bed listening to Motown, and today I actually got really excited at work because I got to build a new spreadsheet. This feels super wrong.

I think I stole this tea from the craft services table at something I was filming. Or possibly the breakfast bar at a hotel? I don’t really remember. It’s been in a bag of random teas in the cupboard for a while, in any case. Today, I decided to give it a go, because what the hey.

And it’s a good ‘un! Surprisingly so. Really sweet, but there’s still just a little of presence of actual black tea somewhere under the forest fruits flavour, which for some reason tastes to me mostly like apple? But, like, a really nice, juicy apple flavour. Which is actually really lovely, albeit unexpected. If I didn’t have so many teas already, I might stock it. I’d certainly choose it if it were on offer at other film shoots!

Ok, so apparently jasmine is one of those flavours that you apparently smell and go “ooh, splendidly pretty” or “OH GOD GET IT AWAY FROM MY FACE NO NO NO NO NO” because I was at T2 in Shoreditch yesterday with Gentleman and a friend of ours, and somebody discovered how much they hate the smell of jasmine.

(Not me.)

(I love it.)

I cold brew this one quite a lot to take to work, but today I made it warm with a pinch of peppermint thrown in. Oh, hello soothing magnificence, warming and cooling, lightly floral and sweet. What a perfect combination.

It’s new Doctor Who night, so I figured something reasonably calming was in order.

It was good. I’m not feeling articulate enough to actually go through what I liked and didn’t about it. Gentleman and I are already reasonably confident we’ve guessed the twist.

I still really love the living heck out of this tea. You’d think it’d be a candidate for cold-brewing given the ingredients, but I just like it best hot, and what that brings out in it. It’s softly pear-ish and lightly sweet and sometimes you get a little spice coming through, and it manages to balance lightness and cozy. I’ll process my Who feels better after a good night’s sleep. Who’s seen it? Did you like it? Do you love Petey C? I think I’m in crush a bit.

And HAS SOMEBODY MADE A TWELVE TEA YET?

What did I do before milk oolong? Seriously, what? I honestly don’t know. Bumping the rating up on this one a little because I just love it so much.

I’m on, like, my fourth litre of cold resteeps of this spoonful of leaves and I swear they’ve STILL not fully unfurled and every new tea is as magnificent as the last. SUCH JOY. Such creamy, green, almost melony joy. It’s the Friday before a long weekend, and everyone in my office has buggered off to the department head’s leaving do, so I’m all on my lonesome, catching up on tea and deciding where I want to go when I head into London with Gentleman on Sunday. It’s positively glacial in here. Bliss.

I have learned a valuable lesson: lapsang and my thermos do not mix. Good Gosh, I love this tea, with its warming spice and smoke cutting through a background of smooth dark chocolate, but it’s going to have to soak in warm water and a squirt of washing up liquid for the entire bank holiday weekend, lest whatever I decide to have on Tuesday morning taste like campfire. How the heck does a stainless steel thermos retain so much flavour? I honestly thought I’d be safe with stainless steel!

It was totally worth it, though.

Thank goodness it’s Gurpgork. I’m watching Captain America and oh, bless Bisexual Stevey Rogers’ little magical super face. Also, grilled cheese and tomato soup and SO MUCH TEA. I love that it feels less like oppressive summer and I feel like I can eat real food again. I love less that I totally didn’t sweat out any of my winter blubber over the summer. Ho hum.

Tea, though. I always think this is going to be crazy sweet, but there’s this sort of depth under it that keeps it in check and it’s just, like, a bit quietly sassy. The fruit lends a bit of sharpness over the caramelly richness and I might have been a touch overzealous in the sugar application today, but I might have also forgotten whether I’d put in one spoon or two and put in like half of a third by mistake. It’s still good, and I do have something of a sweet tooth, don’t you know.

Oh civilisation! Tea! Actual tea! I’m so happy I could weep!

I like breaking the don’t-drink-earl-grey-with-milk rule more often than not, and always do with this one, and it’s so bloody precious. Can I describe a tea as precious? It’s got this creamy, slightly flowery fruitiness and a teensy bit of orangey sharpness, but mostly it just sort of makes me want to hug it. And tea and hugs are my two favourite things in the world, so yeah.

Also, got the advance copy of a book I did some art for today, and eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee IT IS THE BEST THING.