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Last night was a bit of a disaster. I stopped studying around 11:30 at night. Watched a show for an hour to destress and then made my way to bed. My stomach was feeling a bit uncomfortable but I figured I would fall asleep and it would be fine. When I couldn’t get comfortable, I took some tums and that seemed to help a little since I wasn’t nauseous anymore. I laid back down but continued to toss and turn. At some point I gave up and watched a show for a bit then tried again. Finally I grabbed my phone to see if I could look up a comfortable position to sleep in since the discomfort turned to pain and the nausea came back full force. I was expecting it to be 3 am…it was 5 am. Then the nausea got bad and I started throwing up.

In my head all I could think was “nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach”…why don’t I own pepto?! What I do own is Gravol. Unfortunately Gravol also makes me groggy for days and seeing as exams are nigh, I don’t have that kind of time.

The vomiting stopped but then the stomach pain got really bad at some point so I ended up just wandering my apartment at 5:30 am, googling. For a second I thought it might have been appendicitis but I talked myself off that ledge b/c (1) I didn’t have a fever (though I did get the chills) and (2) the pain was not as bad as my gallstones were and I assumed it would be on par so I paced and googled. Finally I landed on home remedies and recalled ginger is meant to help and that I grabbed a bit of this from DAVIDs not too long ago.

I brewed a mug and it was agony waiting for the pot to boil and the tea to steep. When it was finally done, I tried drinking it but it was hot so I had little sips and honestly, it helped a lot. It soothed the stomach pain and nausea enough that I was able to fall asleep just after 7 am.

Of course my alarm went off at 9 am for class so sleep didn’t really happen but I have microwaved what was left in the mug and am once again sipping on this ginger tea. It doesn’t taste so good that I would seek it out just for a cup and honestly when it was boiling hot last night (I guess technically it was this morning) all I got was ginger and heat (as in from the boiling water) and so I didn’t really care. Now it is cooler and I am getting some more flavors and there is a weird sweetness that sometimes accompanies ginger that I don’t love here in the cup. Also, I think it would have been better off without the lemon…though I guess that would just be DAVIDs other Ginger blend (Super Ginger?).

Anyways, while it doesn’t taste the best, it is palatable AND it did actually help with my stomach issues so this is a definite recommend from me! Also, similar to Cold 911, its a good tea just to have around for when you aren’t feeling your best.

I was shocked to see that DAVIDs recommends 5-7 matcha spoons/16 oz. However, I added this to my smoothie by just dumping some in and honestly I kind of get it. I am not getting much flavor from the matcha so next time I guess I will need to dump a bit more. Oh well.

Tea pop to go with my dumpling dinner while I take a study break and watch this week’s Grey’s Anatomy. Everything is nice. Mostly because everything has nothing to do with Trust Law and I need this break from Trust Law.

Tea Pop Sipdown (219)

Apparently I am in a strawberry and champagne mood lately seeing as this is the second strawberry and champagne cupcake I have had in two days. I only noticed when I was posting my tea picture….weird.

Anyways, I picked this because despite it being quite cool outside, it was sunny and that had me craving a tea pop all day. This tea is a really nice tea pop so I pulled it out of the stash only to realize I only had about 3.5 teaspoons. So, I modified the amounts of everything and made a tiny 8 oz tea pop in one of my regular mugs and hoped there would be no drastic change in temperature that would cause it to break. It did not.

This just has a nice mild flavor with sweet strawberry and a touch of champagne. Some cups are more floral than others but I find the rose adds more of a sweetness coupled with the strawberry than anything.

Sipdown (220)

Yesterday it dawned on me that in one month I will be done the semester, including my four exams. That seems like it should be a good thing but that means I have less than a month to prepare for four exams that are going to come and go quite rapidly. That was a bit panic-inducing so I am in full blown summary drafting mode. That essentially means I lose hours at a time while staring at a laptop and textbook.

I finally decided to take a break to eat food and decided to treat myself to a latte. This tea jumped out at me because it is on the older side and had just enough to make a latte. Also, I usually use black teas for lattes but after my Maple Marshmallow Latte the other day, I wanted to explore other bases.

My first couple sips of this were amazing. The whipped cream and latted tea combined so wonderfully to make an effervescent but creamy strawberry milkshake. It was honestly the best I had ever tasted the tea. As I keep drinking though, that creaminess is dulled to a milkiness that is making this a little flatter. I still get effervescent strawberry but the flavor isn’t popping like it was in the first few sips.

Sipdown (221)

I drank some newer teas today so I thought it was best to also drink an older one. This has a best before date of 09/2018 so its even a year past that. Yet when I cut open the sample, I got a big burst of raspberry smell which was promising.

Tastewise I get raspberry and a little vanilla and rose. I imagine this once was much stronger but given its age, the flavor is slightly on the flatter side. However, there still is flavor and for that I am happy. I could see this have being really nice in its prime.

Matcha Milk Sipdown (222)

This was a free simple with my advent calendar…even though if I remember correctly, it is also in my advent calendar.

To me this tastes like Mermaid Matcha…but not as vanilla-y thus not as good. That’s not to say this isn’t good. I just prefer Mermaid Matcha for the vanilla frosting type goodness. This is more soft vanilla custard.

Sipdown (223)

Today has been a super chilly day. It’s cold outside and my class was also particularly cold. Now I am home and back to watching Disney+ and sipping on tea in my pajamas under a cozy blanket.

This tea isn’t my favourite. It is fruity and has a slight green tea twang to it. It’s held up well for its age seeing as even the best before date on this has long since passed but it’s nothing special or life altering.

Sipdown (224)

I took this out because it is on the older side and I thought it would make a good latte. Then I realized I was lacking the amount of leaf necessary for a latte so I picked another tea to make a latte. Then I decided that since this was out and the sipdown was nigh, I would make this too.

Unfortunately I could never get this to work for me. As a latte or plain, it just really was not what I wanted. I used to get chocolate monkey drinks at a stir-fry place called Fire & Ice and it was basically a chocolate shake with sweet banana flavor. This is more like black tea with some banana chip flavor. The base also has more tannins than I like. I am okay with saying goodbye because like I said, it never really worked for me.

Life is different! Disney Plus is out and my brother bought us a subscription and I have literally looked at the movie list for at least an hour because there were so many things I wanted to watch. It’s here and I. am. excited!!!

So now I am watching Disney movies and drinking this as a latte because in addition to Disney Plus, I also have milk again and that is also exciting.

This latte isn’t bad but it drowns out the maple flavor that I love so much in this blend. Alternatively, age has caused the maple flavor to fade but I am blaming the latte because that means there is hope for maple goodness in a plain cup.