Sweet Surprise

Made this one as a latte and it tastes good. Glad it was only a small sample from the advent calendar though. Tastes floral and nutty.

Sipdown (146)!

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample! I THINK this may be the last one from Tea Taxi that you sent? But I’m going on memory so I could be wrong about that too. Regardless, thanks again for introducing me to the company! I feel like I got to try a really nice range of the teas they offer thanks to you.

I drank this one from a teacup while indulging myself with a bubble bath before bed. The caffeine may or may not be a bad idea; I guess I’ll find out soon. Regardless, I needed a little indulgence and “me time”. Even though I did pretty well nothing today but run down the clock until tomorrow could begin that’s really only because I’ve been trying really hard to keep myself constantly preoccupied and distracted this week. I’m not gonna lie; it’s been a really hard and painful week not having Kyle to talk to. I feel like I lost my best friends in a lot of ways. The parts that have been the most emotional, awkward and difficult in general like having to work with him and the fact he wont look me in the eyes right now are the things I would normally turn to him to talk about if they were going on with someone else. And that’s not an option…

Mentally, I know that my relationship with him did NOT define me as a person and I don’t regret ending the relationship in anyway but at the same time it feels like a big piece of me is missing right now and I’ve just been filling it with other things, like Netflix, icecream, and tea. And distractions. So many distractions. I haven’t told anyone this in person, but apart from the day I broke up with him I’ve only cried once and it was after waking up from a dream where he had started dating a friend of mine the day after I broke up with him. He was so happy, and all our other friends were so supportive and kept saying things like “This is so much more right for you” and it’s irrational, I know, because it was just a dream/nightmare but that hurt SO MUCH. I’m not ready to deal with that yet…

BUT ANYWAY:

This tea! It really hit the spot when I just tried to stretch out with all the bubbles in the tub and just release all of the pent up stress, and frustration, and hurt I’m feeling. The soft sweetness and silky flavours really matched up with the mood I was trying to achieve. I hadn’t looked at the ingredients of this tea prior to brewing it up so the flavour was a “blind one” to me. That said I felt like the maple element of the tea was really, really well executed. It was subtle but definitely very distinct. I WAS surprised to see there aren’t nuts in the blend: I was sure I was getting the rich, sweet flavour of pecans or maybe walnuts? I guess I was getting the sweetness of the chocolate; but still it really did taste nutty to me. As for the other elements of the tea, I can see how the honey was coming through in overall sweetness and the delivery of those sweet notes. However the jasmine/rose are totally lost on me: I didn’t get anything floral out of this.

I think this may be my second favourite of the Tea Taxi blends that VariaTEA sent my way though; tied with the Cranberry one with the green base and closely following Choco Blues which is my favourite overall.

Oh, and a song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ideQmMCE7ws&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=7

Every good bubble bath needs mood music.

Sipdown (145)

Maple? Not so much.

Chocolate? Maybe a hint of milk chocolate at the end of the sip.

Honey? Hello honey! You are most definitely present and quite delectable. Paired with the malty base, this is making for a nice blend. It’s weird because if I had to guess, I would have assumed this was a straight black as opposed to a flavored blend.