Steepster Freeze 2021 #3: 02/14/21
I swear the Dashboard freezes are directly coorelated with the Sipdown Challenge days… of the three outages already this year (seriously, it’s only mid-February!) two of those have fallen on those “fun theme days”, of which there are only five a month… what gives?
So, whenever the site is working again, I guess I’ll post this. It’s Valentine’s Day (a holiday that I, as an aromantic asexual person have never celebrated anyway) but I will gladly drink a chocolately tea. Especially as I’m trying to finish off these little Piper & Leaf samples…
This is a black tea with bits of fig, coffee, and lots of cocoa shells/chips. Steeped 3.25g to 350ml for 3 minutes at 205F. The brew has a strong coffee aroma, but also a dark chocolate scent that, together, are making me think of a mocha only darker and sans the creamy milk. Smells a little like spices as well, sort of a mixed chicory/pepper/cinnamon aroma.
Flavor tastes much like the aroma. May be “luck of the scoop,” but I’m getting coffee first, cocoa second. I’m fine with that, as I like the rich and slightly bitter flavor of black coffee, and with the cocoa, the cocoa is presenting more as an extra dark, bittersweet chocolate, rather than something really fudgy and sweet. It also veers the tea away from having that waxy “thin artificial chocolate” sort of taste like most chocolate teas. Still getting a sort of chicory/peppery flavor though neither are in the blend… not sure where I’m picking up that particular spice note.
It’s a nice cuppa, one I’d consider more of a “coffee” tea than a “chocolate” tea, but I’m digging that not-too-sweet-not-too-bitter balance of the flavors.
Flavors: Cocoa, Coffee, Dark Bittersweet, Dark Chocolate, Spices
Preparation
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Valentine’s Day just seems like a weird commercial thing to celebrate anyway. I’ve been with my partner for many years and we’ve never done anything for it. Ideally one does nice things for other people throughout the year and not just on the day it’s mandated!
Meh, I think my major disdain is that we will manufacturer and market a holiday for romantic love, but not any other kind of love… and since coming out as an Ace (several decades ago now) it’s made me a bit bitter cause it just feels like one more thing that isolates/hides asexuality from the world. shrugs and doesn’t want to get on that soapbox…
That’s a really interesting perspective, and so true! Ay if there’s a national pizza day, we could definitely make another more inclusive holiday!
I find it stupid that one day of the year is set aside for folx to ‘show their love’ to a spouse/partner. If you are in a good, solid relationship, be it a married one, a live together one, a monogamous but not living together one, a deep, solid, platonic/asexual one, a really good friends with benefits one-or whatever your definition of love relationship is-then you do NOT need one day out of the year to do anything out of the ordinary. The real, nitty gritty stuff that keeps you together or in the same orbit happens all the time and does not demand candy, flowers, cards, expensive food and drink to prove anything. To me, a bouquet of flowers or a bar of good chocolate ‘just because’ on any day of any week in any month means far more than an obligatory tribute on a specific, manufactured day of a month.
Y’all are just a pile of wet blankets. I am in good company.
The freeze pattern I’ve noticed is Saturdays in the western hemisphere. That’s when we used to get bombarded the most by spammers from across the world.
Yep, everyday should be a Valentines day with someone you deeply care about.
Valentine’s Day just seems like a weird commercial thing to celebrate anyway. I’ve been with my partner for many years and we’ve never done anything for it. Ideally one does nice things for other people throughout the year and not just on the day it’s mandated!
Meh, I think my major disdain is that we will manufacturer and market a holiday for romantic love, but not any other kind of love… and since coming out as an Ace (several decades ago now) it’s made me a bit bitter cause it just feels like one more thing that isolates/hides asexuality from the world. shrugs and doesn’t want to get on that soapbox…
That’s a really interesting perspective, and so true! Ay if there’s a national pizza day, we could definitely make another more inclusive holiday!
I find it stupid that one day of the year is set aside for folx to ‘show their love’ to a spouse/partner. If you are in a good, solid relationship, be it a married one, a live together one, a monogamous but not living together one, a deep, solid, platonic/asexual one, a really good friends with benefits one-or whatever your definition of love relationship is-then you do NOT need one day out of the year to do anything out of the ordinary. The real, nitty gritty stuff that keeps you together or in the same orbit happens all the time and does not demand candy, flowers, cards, expensive food and drink to prove anything. To me, a bouquet of flowers or a bar of good chocolate ‘just because’ on any day of any week in any month means far more than an obligatory tribute on a specific, manufactured day of a month.
Y’all are just a pile of wet blankets. I am in good company.
The freeze pattern I’ve noticed is Saturdays in the western hemisphere. That’s when we used to get bombarded the most by spammers from across the world.
Yep, everyday should be a Valentines day with someone you deeply care about.