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Sipdown (124)!

Well, my Dad’s gone back to Regina after spending the day here celebrating my birthday. So, of course, presents were brought up with him/purchased. From my Mom, I got money and the DT Spring Collection (which I thankfully hadn’t bought yet) so I look forward to digging into those ones in a few days. The money went to grocery shopping; I fully took advantage of my Dad’s car to buy some bulkier things that I likely wouldn’t have otherwise, and also splurged a little and got some fancier/more expensive things.

One of the things I picked up was grenadine; I’m gonna try playing around with the amount needed to add it to straight black teas and sort of make my own Monk’s blend – which I think will be a fun, exploratory adventure. I fully expect some flops; but hopefully I can make something really tasty too!

We also went out for supper, and contacted the people with whom my, untouched, education fund is run through. There’s near five grand in there which has just been sitting since I decided that I wasn’t going to college/uni after graduating since I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Well, now I have something I’m really interested in – so we’re working on withdrawing the funds for me to complete the modules necessary to get certified as a Tea Sommelier! My New Years resolution was to get started on that; and we’re working on making it a reality! We also stopped at the post office, and I sent out VariaTEA’s birthday present. It probably wont make it to you in time for your birthday (though it’d be amazing if it did) but hopefully it’s close!

And, as his birthday present to me he purchased the Chawan from Rikyu that I’ve been lusting after, as well as this tea from Camellia Sinensis:

http://steepster.com/teas/camellia-sinensis/38823-meng-ding-huang-ya

I was showing him the Gaiwan I ordered for myself which is on the way, and I ended up pulling that tea up to show up. I explained how it’s something I really, really want to try but probably wont ever buy for myself because it’s so expensive ($20 for 25g) – but how it was fun to think about trying it ‘someday’. He read the description and I think something finally clicked for him about how the flavour notes present in straight tea are similar to different distinctions in wine – and he loved CS’s information on the estate which the tea comes from (he made so many wine comparisons). So, he bought me that too.

Seriously; we put in a Camellia Sinensis order for just the yellow tea; $20 in tea and $10 in shipping! That’s crazy – I’d have never done it. Theoretically, we paid more than a dollar a gram! But I’m really excited about it arriving! My first straight yellow tea!

As for this tea, I’m quite sad it’s gone now! So far, it’s been my favourite out of the swap from TheLastDodo – though I still have stuff left to try.

Unfortunately I botched this last mug a little bit – I was steeping it when my Dad got in from Regina – and got heavily distracted, so this grossly over steeped. It actually didn’t taste terrible but it did have a bitter edge and a kind of rusty and metallic note was brought out. Still nice and smokey though; and while I didn’t like the bitterness I actually thought that metallic taste was an interesting, albeit unexpected, addition to the flavour that didn’t totally clash.

I let my Dad try it, and he insisted that I include in my review for this one his impression too. So, and I quote, this was what my Dad thought: “It’s like smoked fish from a can.”. And then he quickly thrust the mug back in my direction and scowled. Not a fan of Lapsang, I’d say. I don’t get fish AT ALL but I can see the “can” part. Maybe he was tasting the Pu’Erh mixed in with the blend? It doesn’t taste fishy to me, but if he was picking up on it I suppose I could see where he’d draw that conclusion from.