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Have you ever felt SO happy but because you had no specific reason to BE happy, your brain pulled a 180 and left you feeling miserable instead? I’m having one of those nights…

I made another trip to Janet’s today. I had to pick up a couple things I promised to send a few people, this included, but I grabbed enough for myself to enjoy too and tonight I’m sure glad I did.

This is a slightly malty black with lovely maple flavour. Not sweet maple like syrup, but unmistakably maple nonetheless. It feels like waffles in a mug and is getting me through this bit of a slump.

I predict another sleepless night. Bah.

I took Amariel down to Janet’s today so she could pick up samples of some of the teas she’d been eyeing up (and I set her up with some healthy sized samples of the rooiboses I already had in stock, in hopes of helping her find a rooibos or two that she actually likes). Of course I was more than happy to take her down there, because really, I can ALWAYS use an excuse to go see Janet ;)

Last time I was in, I’d mentioned the Grapefruit Earl Grey I have from Bayswater, and she was VERY excited that such a tea exists because she LOVES grapefruit, but her suppliers haven’t been able to source grapefruit :( So today I took her a little bag with a few cups’ worth and she was SUPER excited about it!!!!! I’m thinking of getting either my sister or one of my mainland friends to pick up more for me (250g, I think), and giving Janet a full 50g of the grapefruit goodness! She’s always so kind to me, it’s the least I could do!

So, of course, I couldn’t leave empty handed, and as my Visa cried I ended up with more pumpkin pie rooibos (because between me and the lovely people I’ve been sharing it with, I was almost out already), more boysenberry black (because I can see myself drinking a LOT of it in the near future with the way the weather has turned), lemon rooibos, cranberry rooibos, a lovely oolong, and this red goodness.

I’m honestly not a rooibos fan, but Janet does flavoured rooibos right! It tastes like yummy things, not just sticks!!!

A friend of mine picked this one up last time we were in, gave me a bit, and I was instantly addicted. Sweet cherries, a pop of goji berry, and a slight tang from the hibiscus, this is a really refreshing cuppa hot or iced!

I LOVE cherries and cherry flavoured things. I’ve struggled to find a tasty cherry tea since Teaopia went away and took Wild Cherry (a cherry fruit tisane) with it, but this is actually even better! It’s sweet, but the hibiscus cuts the sweetness enough that it doesn’t just coat your mouth like cherry syrup. I almost want to make some double-strength and add soda water and vodka and make my own version of Mike’s Hard Cherry (a vodka cooler available in local liquor stores, and one of my favourite coolers)…

Holy crap, today has been go, go, GO! Finally have a moment to settle down, add a few of my most recent Janet’s finds to the database (and my cupboard), and make a cuppa!

I LOVE Janet, she is a total hoot and I always come out of her shop with way too much tea even if I didn’t actually spend that much money. Seriously, almost 500g total for under $40? Hard to beat that!

So last time I was in, I was curious about two flavoured blacks – boysenberry, and elderberry. She immediately said that elderberry is “shit” (god I love her crass sense of humour) and that boysenberry is infinitely better. Took a sniff of each and she was right! Elderberry had some weird sour/bitter smell to it, and it just wasn’t appealing. But boysenberry? It was like smelling fresh homemade jam! Sweet, fruity, with a nice rich black base. I went home with a 50g bag and I’m already planning to pick up more.

I feel like the base is a Ceylon. It has that richness I love in a good Ceylon, and the liquor is not that dark. The berry just shines through and makes me feel like I’m sipping jam on toast!

I’ve also made this one iced and it’s perfect cold too! I’m contemplating making some popsicles out of it once there’s room in the deep freeze again. It’s currently full of fresh farm raised chickens we got off a friend of mine, haha!

Yep, really like this one, even more than her Blueberry black I had a cup of while shopping!

Received a sample from Fjellrev a while back, but for various reasons am only getting around to it now.

I don’t get vanilla or cinnamon from this, I actually get bourbon! I love a good bourbon, and the rich base black gives the tea the mouthfeel I like when sipping bourbon.

I’ve had a fustercluck of a weekend, so this is a really comforting cuppa to get me through the day til I have to head back to another insane night of work.

Thanks Fjellrev!

Such a good way to kickstart these early mornings, especially now that my tastebuds are back to normal! Seriously, what kind of med has a side effect like “rusty metallic taste”?! Yuck! Sooo glad to be done with it.

I got a generous sample of this one from Roswell Strange and I’d been dying to try it once the metallic taste went away. I really like guayusa, and I LOVE a good citrusy tea in the summer, and boy does this deliver!

I’ve had some issues with appetite loss lately, another med side effect, so I’ve been trying to sneak healthy stuff into myself in ways that don’t end in nausea. That’s how I discovered the epicness of chia seeds! I tried a chocolate chia pudding with protein powder, almond milk, and chia seeds, and boy was it tasty! That got me thinking of other things I could do with chia, since it’s so high in protein (4.4g per serving) and it quickly poofs up and gels when added to liquid. So I decided to try adding it to some iced tea as a pseudo bubble tea and OMGYUM!!!!! SO tasty! Perfect texture, and it fits through a normal straw!

So that’s what I had for breakfast. Good Morning Sunshine chia seed bubble tea. yum!

A pot of this and my Ativan-on-steroids strength meds and I was down for the count last night. Not a restful sleep though, lots of nightmares.

It’s not my favourite tea, but boy does it do a good job at knocking me out!

Now to shower, change, and head back to the youth clinic to see the doctor, tell her the meds aren’t helping the way they’re supposed to, and if she has no other suggestions I’m off to the psychiatric emergency ward. Bah.

Sorry tea frens if I disappear again for a while.

I made this into a DIY-Tea Pop. I figured it was a bit of a fitting choice since I’m manic as hell.

I had this crazy dream about a friend and I being locked in the loony bin together, and we caused total mayhem. Making murals on walls out of mashed potatoes and gravy, running down the halls in our underpants, rearranging all the furniture in the common areas… I think we made some of the staff quit in that dream. oh dear.

This is great as a tea pop. It tastes like cheap champagne but without the burn of alcohol. a bit of sweetener makes it better, but I forgot to before I finished my drink.

I have a ton of energy and need to go run around or something before I explode. Wheeeeeee! :D

Got new meds from a doctor at the local youth clinic yesterday, and unlike the ones the walk-in clinic gave me a week and a half prior, these ones don’t make everything taste like rusty metal, so I can actually ENJOY my tea!

Sadly, I taste absolutely zero peach in this. It’s a sweet, lightly floral black. Nothing to really write home about.

I’ll finish what I have, but it won’t be a restock. I prefer the Royal Abkhazi and Victoria 150 Anniversary blends better when I want sweet and floral.

I felt like this would be an ironic tea to sip right now, given how royally effed up life is at the moment. Well, not so much life, just my brain really. I feel so beyond hopeless, but I WANT to live. just….not like this…

Irony aside, this is a tasty cup of apricotty, nougatty, almondy goodness. It reminds me of the apricot nougat used to make ice cream sandwiches by a local small-batch creamery.

Crap, now I’m craving a rosemary and sour cherry sammy….