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Thanks for the free sample from Teajo!

Not-Tea Notes

It was nice to see this in my mailbox today – such a good day!

In Shakespeare, we all had to prepare the same scene from Richard III. My professor announced today that we were having a surprise “callback” – he was going to pick scene partners out of a hat. We decided that the two best actors would get to pick monologues for our professor to perform for us. As far as I know, none of us have ever seen him act.

I was the last Elizabeth to go, and the universe was on my side – the Richard I was put with happened to be the girl I rehearsed with most often. I won out of all the Elizabeths (and I’m not even really an actor, I just love Shakespeare SO FREAKING MUCH) and so the Richard winner and I performed the whole scene – he was someone I’d worked with too, so we already had a sort of rhythm going, and it was surprisingly different from the first time I’d done it.

And now we get to see my professor do a Don Pedro monologue from Much Ado and a Hal monologue from Henry V… the latter of which he’s never performed in front of people before. Happy spring break, professor! :)

Tea Notes

I smelled this one, and thought “ooh, that’s strong.” I don’t have any straight Earl Greys because I’m not a huge fan of bergamot – I prefer EGCs. But I like to have one in my collection.

I put two heaping teaspoons in my 20oz Amsterdam pot, boiling water, 2 min.

The first cup was surprisingly light. It was a really beautiful Assam base, and it wasn’t overwhelmingly perfumey. The bergamot was supported because the tea itself is of a good quality.

Later cups got stronger, perhaps because it cooled. I thought it might have been due to broken pieces left in the bottom of the pot, but there’s hardly anything there.

It was smooth enough for me to drink straight. I might do milk/sugar next time, just because of personal preference, but it really is a great Earl Grey!

Cold-brewed this overnight. I was afraid it was wayyy too long (24 hours?) when I looked at it. It’s almost black. When I pour it into a glass, it pours dark, dark purple. It looks almost like grape juice.

It tastes surprisingly light. I definitely get the raspberry and lime. I am tasting a bit of grape, but that could be a side effect of the color. I’m not a huge fan of grape juice.

Still, good!

Yup… the way to drink this one is blended with a bit of NMTC’s Cream Vanilla. Even then it’s blah. Eh. Don’t love it, don’t hate it, but I need the caffiene.

Dipping Girl Scout Shortbreads into this.

Oh happy day.

Eurgh. I do not feel good. Here’s to hoping this settles my stomach down a bit.

All throughout Shakespeare I was craving this. I had a cup of Golden Monkey, and this is absolutely the opposite. Smooth and sweet and scented and buttery… ohhh I’m in tea heaven right now.

I feel like I’m getting sick. Oh no!

Big cup of this with lots of honey. Neither of which I like, necessarily… but both of which will help. Am I the only one who doesn’t really like honey?

Long, spindly thin black needle-leaves.

Yesterday I steeped a tumbler of this hot, and it was good. In between classes, though, I didn’t have enough time to heat water and wait for it to steep, so I just filled my tumbler with cold water and let the second steep cold-brew on the way to class.

It was so good! There was a beautiful honey-like sweetness that blended surprisingly well with the smoky notes! And any astringency or maltiness had faded, so it was a much softer brew.

This is from Summer 2012. It came courtesy of Autumn Hearth

I’ve been hoarding the last few cups of this in my stash. It’s so good I don’t want to waste it. At the same time, it’s been a long time since I’ve had any really good tea.

I’m having a hard time breathing today so I’m trying to stay away from caffeine. I don’t want to make anything worse. And I decided that I’ve had a rough couple of weeks. I deserve some good tea.

Brewed Western-style, ~2tsp /16 oz. 30 sec first infusion.

So light, but it’s so thick and creamy and delicious. It’s sweet and sparkling. It has that nuttiness that I love about Dragonwell. And ohhh the lingering aftertaste.

Breathing is good. So is this tea. :)

Nom noms. Deep and rich and hearty.

I’ve spent all night touching up the photos of my school’s winter show, and they’re finally up! :)
http://on.fb.me/15I7CKr

(this post more an advertisement than an actual tasting note XD)