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So last night I was sitting outside with friends. It was a lovely evening, albeit a mosquito filled one since those little buggers love me. Today, I got to suffer the consequences of that lovely evening. My mosquito bites always swell up to huge, hot red bumps…always. Normally, its just an itchy, slightly painful bother. Alas, one tiny jerk got me right by the knuckle of my pinky finger so when it swelled, it swelled over two of my knuckles and actually left my fingers immobilized for a bit. Not fun at all. Anyone else get reactions like that?

With that said, I couldn’t be too upset because aside from my mosquito bite failure today was an awesome day. My family and I got to go see Cirque Du Soliel’s Luzia and it was one of the best Cirque Du Soliel shows I have ever seen. We also got to go to the VIP tent and was served all the tasty food and drinks we could want. Then, since we were downtown anyways, we went to Wvrst for dinner for even more tasty food (btw Salted Maple Rosemary Ice Cream with Duck Fat Fry Bits is one of my new favorite desserts…yum!). Then I got to come home and break in my new wood bears nordic mug with a tea and song pairing from my tea twin. Now I am sipping on this, a happy tea, that is always a comfort. So ultimately, despite the hot swollen bumps, today was a pretty great day.

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So my awesome tea twin, Roswell Strange, sent me a package with tea and song pairings. I was so excited when I received it a few days back but only now got a chance to sit down and actually listen to a song and appreciate the moment.

This company and band are both new to me so I was really intrigued about what my tea twin had in store for me. However, apparently there is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to tea and song pairings. I put the song on and immediately thought I had to drink the whole tea in the 5 minutes. Of course, when I started drinking, it was too hot. I decided to let it cool and then in my usual fashion, started doing a thousand other things and then realized the song finished and two other songs had played. So, I went back to the song, made sure the tea was an appropriate temperature, and tried again.

The second time around, things went much better. I did have to resist starting my note while I drank, which is what I normally do, and instead focused on the music and tea. I let the two consume me. My goal going into this was to try and determine why Ros picked this song for this tea and with this particular pairing, it did not take long. The two are so smooth. There is a sweetness to them that is peaking through and yet there is a smokeyness floating above it all. In the song, this came through as the low almost whisperlike singing that is comforting yet also just a bit haunting, especially when layered atop the soft, mellow music.

As I drank, I couldn’t help but think this is what I think scotch would taste like. Now, I have never drank scotch (so don’t get mad at me if you drink this and it tastes nothing like scotch whatsoever) but a lot of people close to me love it. My brother-in-law recently got into it because he said it tastes like burnt caramel. One of my best friends drink it because she likes the smokiness. Both elements are present in this tea, all floating on a smooth black base, hence the comparison.

I could see both this tea and song being enjoyed on a sort of quiet, drizzly night. Just relaxing and enjoying the calm.

Thank you Roswell Strange for the tea and music suggestion. I enjoyed both quite a bit and the experience was a lot of fun. I look forward to drinking the others and seeing how they work with the music.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5soixb2U6xM

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Had this with a strawberry-basil marshmallow from Nadege. It was a super tasty combination and a great send off for this delicious tea.

My sister made me tea while I showered. She overleafed this and whatever else she did, she did right because I am getting a lot more apple this time than I did previously. Plus, there is a nice dose of toffee to sweeten everything up. There is also base peaking through but not in an offensive way but rather it is adding a different layer to this, albeit one that isn’t entirely cohesive with everything else. It is a nice way to end the night but I think that even though I enjoyed this sample, generously given to me by Sil, I am okay saying goodbye. Its pleasant enough but nothing I need in my life, especially since toffee/ caramel apple teas are everywhere.

I forgot midway through how many scoops I put in the steeper so I think I overleafed this. Add to that the fact that I realized I was out of bananas after prepping this and had to resort to other fruits in my smoothie, this made for a weird drink. It was brisk from the tea and more tart than usual from the fruits. This left a disconnect that was only heightened by the seemingly out of place chocolate pudding/ peanut butter. It wasn’t terrible but it also wasn’t the nightly smoothie I have come to know and love.

Anyways, I should be asleep but DAVIDs sucked me in with their 2 for $35 nordic mugs so that order happened and once I had tea on the brain, figured I would come write my note. I will probably regret this in the morning but that’s a problem for a later date…literally. Though I guess I should turn in so good night steepster!!

This is a whole lot of parfait and lacking a whole lot of rhubarb. I need more tartness to create balance but its just not here.

Tea smoothie for the night and mostly it’s just added some sweetness to the other ingredients. Though, that means the peanut butter is standing out more which is nice. With that said, as I near the bottom, the clove and cinnamon is coming out more which is pairing nicely with the chocolate. Omnomnom!

Made this as a tea pop with grapefruit perrier and for some reason this is not as good as it was in the past. This is a little on the sweet side and at times this can be a bit waxy in taste. This is one of those times. Also, I think my can of perrier was a little flat because this is missing the sharpness of carbonated water. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Melon strawberry goodness. I am really loving this one.

My tea twin, Roswell Strange, reminded me about this tea which I actually tried about a week to go as an iced latte to go while wandering downtown Toronto looking for stuff to buy for my sister’s bachelorette party.

The sales person told me that as an iced latte, it tastes a bit like an iced cap. Though I am not sure I would go that far, it definitely had a chocolate coffee flavor, similar to the iced capps made with chocolate milk…but much thinner. When I let my friend try the tea, she said it “tasted like vanilla smelled…which I guess means it tastes like vanilla”. Once she mentioned that, I noticed it too. Also, that comment made me laugh which meant noticing the vanilla made me laugh too.

Ultimately though, most of this got tossed because at the end of the day it was like a thin flavored milk drink and in the hot, hot sun, milk wasn’t really sitting well.