Teavana

Wonderful tea, though I haven’t yet had the new batch with the raspberries. Much cheaper than it seems due to the 5-6 steeps you can get out of it.

I didn’t get too much raspberry taste out of it, but I bought it right before they added real raspberries, so maybe it was old? Will update when i try the new stuff.

Great aroma, though the taste wasn’t anything to write home about.

I mix this in a Pyrex bowl and listen to small links of sausage sizzle in a cast iron skillet while Virginia birds announce the spring. The morning sun seems as slow to start it’s day as I am with mine. The tiny bubbles on the surface of the green tea start to pop and pop quickly. I wonder about those bubbles and then all of creation.

The matcha bender continues.

I put back a bowl of this just before going to “show tunes” night at a gay club. A friend of mine from out of town was having a bit of a reunion there. Somehow I know my life is a bit more complete after seeing a bar full of gay guys sing along with a clip of Whoopie Goldberg in Sister Act, specifically the “My God” song.

Also, I was encouraged to try and pick up “fruit flies”. Personally, I’m not one for hitting on females in a establishment that serves refreshments of a spirituous nature. Also, I’m not sure if picking up girls with a title derived from an creepy and/or crawly is a good idea, i.e. “black widow”. In fact, I’ll wager that any female that has a cool nick name is a horrible girlfriend by day two of the relationship. Day one, fantastic. Day two, you’re locked in the bathroom, on the phone with the police, hoping they get to your door before she gets through the bathroom door.

As a tea drinker, this wild life is simply not for me.

The past few days have been a matcha bender. Purchasing a traditional bamboo matcha whisk changed my matcha experience from a mixed one to an absolutely positive one. Prior to the bamboo whisk, I’d been using a standard metal kitchen whisk, and not a very flexible one at that. For tea veterans, I’m sure you can appreciate why that was a poor choice on my part.

Matcha poorly made can be particularly bitter and heavy. That’s how I’d make it before, and I’d reserve it for a time of focusing before something of significance, like meeting someone new or prayer.

Drinking it now, my mind hangs on to my old ceremony of having some sort of reverence for the task at hand during and after drinking the markedly better made bowl of matcha. Drinking matcha and thinking about the direction of my life while I listen to the Moth podcast or find some music I think is appropriate for this kind of mind, like Radiohead’s Idioteque or a live version of Tool’s Pushit.

The tea itself is different from any other tea you’re likely to taste, being the whole tea leaf dried and ground and immersed with hot water. If you’re going to take the time to try this, I’d encourage you to get the whisk, get a decent bowl, and get the water temperature right the first time. This will greatly increase your experience.

Mixing this stuff with vanilla ice cream and splash of vanilla soy milk is also fantastic.

Suddenly, and surprisingly, finding myself single, again, I find in myself, first a feeling of relief, but secondly, the returning feeling of being alone. I spend more time at work and the gym to have people around me, and avoid coming back to my apartment because here- I am alone. The cleaning here has found itself incredibly de-prioritized. While sencha in the morning with my waffles or eggs, of course, has not been.

Okay, that relationship is over.

This morning’s sencha was well accompanied by waffles with peanut butter and agave nectar syrup.

Recently, I discovered my energy costs go up over 600% in the Ohio winter, partly exasperated by an apartment that bleeds heat like a clumsy archer leaks blood. So, I only really have two rooms in the place, and decided to stop heating one of them. I imagine my bill at the end of the month is going to be markedly less than last month, but because I decided to heat the bedroom, I don’t get much done.

Today, I didn’t even put clothes on, which is a special challenge when half of a person’s living space has almost no contrast between the winter just outside the front door. Interestingly, this seems to have had some influence on my metabolism, as I haven’t eaten today because I have no appetite.

I’m working through a pot of sencha hopin’ it’ll remind my blood that it needs sugar or protein or something.

I’ve got a woman who seems solid. It’s still new. A couple times recently she asked me about my past with one girlfriend or another and I spent too much time answering her questions. She questioned if I was still attached to these other people… The people who were, generally, long gone. One is not. She tries to cling on, and I’m well practiced at ignoring her.

Now, I have something good, and something I really want to see go forward, and maybe be made permanent. The echos of my past though, are tainting this new and good thing. I decide it’s time for a purge. I delete a few photos of old girlfriends, and some other general physical house cleaning of such things.

Some time ago, I had torn out a dozen or so pages of my journal, most, or maybe all, had been of my most recent ex, but whenever I had done that, I hadn’t the ability to discard them, so put them in an envelope and saved that decision for another day. The envelope was tucked away in a drawer, and then forgotten. Recently, I re-discovered it and decided it was the best way, symbolically, to start to let my memories of some pains and some failures decay was to dispose of the contents of the envelope. To add to that, I removed a few more pages from my journal as well, about a few false starts with a couple of people… Really only a few pages of a couple hopes.

I had sent my mind on some matcha, as it is my choice of teas before anything that ought have ceremony or ritual to it, but then choose two things:

1) Sencha, as this would be a day like any other, except I’d be throwing away a few pieces of garbage.
2) There would be no ritual to this, because these pieces of paper had no significance. This morning would only include a trip to the Dumpster to throw a few pieces of paper and an envelope into it.

The only problem with decision #2 is I’d already soaked the pages in alcohol.

The flames melted a bowl in the snow, and pieces of blackened paper floated up into the air like the feathers of a crow.

I stood in my doorway and sipped on my tea. With a screwdriver I poked through the pages, spreading them out so they’d all burn. I saw words like, “hope” and “happy” which felt like it should be difficult to see, but I knew I was cremating these inscribed memories for all of the other words.

The sencha turned out perfect. My skin smells of smoke. And today- I’ll forget.

It’s quarter after nine. Forty five minutes ago I should have been in bed, but I re-use the leaves I used for my breakfast in the morning, and eat some food whose cuisine could be described only has hauté-bachelor. Above average, but still garbage. I watch a few scenes of Sin City and try to not identify with Dwight too much. A guy you can count on to save the girl, but not someone you’d lend five bucks.

The winter creeps into the apartment. I’m faced with the decision between the luxury of a higher electric bill or the frugality of a single male with a below average income. If I found myself feeling entitled to a lament, it wouldn’t be spending the night cold, but spending it alone.

The last two months have been some of the least lonely of my life… But the night doesn’t know that.

Today was my day off. Making the best pot of sencha I’ve ever brewed up is my only accomplishment.

Iron is made by the death of a star. Iron is required for me to live. It is time for tea.

A bit down on myself today. I’ve been listening to Cat Power’s Werewolf on repeat for an hour, and later I’ll go see a friend’s modern dance piece later. Sencha is something that feels so common that it seems to meet my mood.

When looking for something grassy, this is my current favorite.

Today I needed something with an extra boost. I have a lot of crafting I want to do today as well as moving plans to make. Wish me luck!

The raspberry and lemon notes become subtle and balance well with the mate after brewing. I was a little concerned that they would be overpowering; the loose tea smelled like raspberry-lemonade flavored candy. Previously I have found some of Teavana’s flavored teas to be overpowering, but this one is a keeper.

I prepared this tea using my Fine-T Gourmet Tea Maker on Setting 7 (160 degress for 5 minutes). Beautiful color and great with or without sweetener. I used German rock sugar to sweeten my second cup.

Fruit and flowers added to rooibos blend very smoothly together. A very enjoyable red bush blend that reminds me of warmer days.

I love Silver Needle. That is all.

Reminds me of sweet grass! It’s good hot or cold. Mmm antioxidants!

Mixed with Samurai Chai Mate… good stuff! Back on tea drinking tasks.

Mixed with White Ayurvedic Chai… good stuff! Back on tea drinking tasks.

love to drink this traditionally prepared in a matcha bowl, but my favorite way is to make matcha lemonade with it!! yum :)

i really like the assam in this tea. not too overpowering. im not as afraid to overbrew this as i have some irish breakfast