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I’ve been looking for a tea to drink before going to sleep, I don’t know if it’s some kind of curse-of-the-late-twenties, but I’m having such a hard time going to sleep if I drink tea in the evenings (but tbh, my fucked up sleeping schedule isn’t helping). like, am I becoming more sensitive to caffeine? it’s a nuisance, and for some reason I thought this was caffeine free? but it definitely smells and looks like it has some lapsang souchong in it and I have zero complaints about this. and while I’m not a huge fan of the very smoked lapsangs, I love it when they are in blends, there’s something so warm and cozy-baked-goods-ness about them in blends. cinnamon, currants, ah yes. half-way through the cup I put in some almond milk and /chef kiss/ it was perfect.

all I want is dianhongs, give me all of the dianhongs.

okay, so, here’s the thing. I’m partial to roses, not simply bc my surname is quite rosey, or because my grandma had a million rose bushes that I constantly would run into and therefore, as a child, was constantly cut up. but also the SMELL of roses, I find to be comforting, and make me think of my grandma (we were partial to yellow roses).

HOWEVER, rose flavoured things are scary because sometimes they just straight up taste like perfume or weird floral soap and that’s not something that I’m into. Steven Smith Teamaker has an EXCELLENT rose genmaicha (Rose City Genmaicha, pls go and try it, it is one of the best non-52 teas flavoured genmaichas I’ve ever had), and because that exists, I try to trust rose flavoured or scented teas. I was worried when I smelled this because….it is VERY rose-y, and I worried about drinking perfume, but it’s not perfume-y at all. the only downside is that the rose really overpowers the dianhong, which is a pity. I can kinda taste that dianhong-y sweetness, but then it’s mostly the rose.

um, so this is beautiful. is that weird to say? I wasn’t going to get this because of the price, but I probably ordered it while in a sleep-deprived fugue, and then it showed up and I was like ???? guess SOMEONE has to drink this, and since I’m the only tea drinker here, it had to be me. the indignity.

the dry leaves are like the dried remains of some lovecraftian beast, long and pointy and full of doom. I don’t know how to describe the smell, other than complexly delightful, which again is weird since describing the leaves as lovecraftian and full of doom. delightful. BUT DAMN FRIENDS, this was chocolatey, malty, and beautiful and I’m gonna have to save the rest for a Special Occasion. this is Special Occasion tea. also good for watching-the-rain-with-your-cat days.

although I have often recommended MMU03 to people and called it “perfect” (it is, truly) I find that MMU01 is the one that I personally prefer and it was really sad finishing off the bag :(

I don’t think I’ve tried enough ‘floral’ teas, or maybe I’m just some kind of cretin, but this just makes me think of pickles and I’m not mad about it.

bonus: these lil’ buds look like teeny pumpkins.

I slept for like 12 hours today and then spent the next several hours drinking this. I can’t say how many steeps I did, but I liked it? maybe it made my stomach hurt though….I don’t know. today was a weird day and ?

this is all I’ve been drinking bc it is like drinking a bit of old forest and I love it and regret only buying 1oz.