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This was the other tea I drank while finishing Chuck, also from VariaTEA. I know Keychange is planning on sending me some, which is why I didn’t request any in the swap this came in, though VariaTEA was very kind and through it in as one of the many extras. Since there’s more on the way, I really hoped I liked it!

I’ll be honest, it smells very good – nice black base, burnt caramel notes and marshmallow cream (yes, there is a difference between marshmallows and marshmallow cream). I was a little skeptical about the taste, since I wasn’t a fan of Della Terra’s S’mores, which seems a little similar in that they both exploit marshmallow as a key flavour.

My parameters for this mug were 1 1/2 tsp. of tea in 8 oz. of boiling water, steeped for about four minutes. Hot, this tasted very strongly of burnt caramel and the black base with light touches of marshmallow – it was pretty good. But, cold is where this is at! For whatever reason, once this gets cooler the marshmallow flavour is seriously kicked up so it’s more like drinking a cup of sweet, liquefied marshmallow goo with background notes of caramel. Very sweet, but not cloying, and super yummy/creamy!

As a bonus, the aftertaste sticks around for a really nice long time, so it’s easier to draw out the time it takes to drink the cup and really enjoy it.

Thank you VariaTEA – it appears I had no reason to be skeptical, this was delightful. I’m happy there’s more on the way.

Well, I’m back to sobbing like a baby – but this time because I just finished watching Chuck (finally done the series!) and it was really emotional and made me a blubbering mess. Also, I hate that ending! Fuck open endings – I want happy conclusions!

Anyway, I made two new teas to drink with the last episode and this was one. Sample is courtesy of VariaTEA. This is something I was curious about, but not enough so to have bought for myself – so getting a sample of it was great. Dry, it smells a little like peanut butter and has a sort of sour “tang” to it that I imagine is intended to be the cheesecake.

For steeping parameters, I went with just shy of 2 tsp. in 10 oz. of boiling water. I’m not sure how long this was steeped, but it was a while. At least five minutes.

Taste wise, at first I wasn’t getting a whole lot. A little bit of very light chocolate and peanut butter flavour, and a sort of peppery taste from the honeybush. Then, the more I drank the more flavour I got. The honeybush lost the peppery quality it had, and the peanut butter got a bit more intense, though the chocolate stayed about the same. I also started to pick up a tangy and almost sour flavour in the aftertaste which would be the “cheesecake”. The colder the tea got, the stronger I found both the cheesecake and peanut butter notes to be, so that by the end of the cup I would say that, yes, this was a cheesecake tea (especially in the aftertaste).

I’m quite happy I have one, maybe two, more cups of this because it did get a whole bunch better by the end of the cup. My mind isn’t made up yet about whether I’d want more, so I’m glad to have a few more cups to decide that as well. In any case, I’d have to wait for a reblend and I’d want my cupboard to be more under control.

Thanks, VariaTEA!

I needed a little calm and tranquility to settle my head since it’s just being pulled in so many directions right now and I’m so stressed out. I also wanted to get in my ‘two new daily teas’, or at least start on that so I pulled this one out over my Jasmine Silver Needles. Since I’m not sure if I’ll have regular computer access for awhile I think I’m going to review as many new things as possible today – not just the daily two I’ve been working towards.

Anyway, this was a Christmas gift from my friend Robyn, and dry it smells very pleasant despite being green. It definitely smells like a sweeter jasmine tea. My parameters for the cup were 1 heaping tsp. for 10 oz. of near 80 degree Celsius water, steeped for about three minutes and steeped up it smells lightly of Jasmine.

Taste wise, the green base is hardly present at all which I like a lot. However, there’s also some bitterness to the tea but maybe that would be preventable with a shorter steep time. The jasmine is sweet and relaxing, and only just touches the “perfume” level of floral – without really diving into that area. So overall, I think this is pretty good and I’m sure I’ll finish it up without too many problems.

I doubt I’d restock, just because I prefer the Jasmine Silver Needle tea I have – and I do have a lot of it.

I think I might cry. I’ve been having a really, really bad month.

Anyway, last night at around midnight my laptop sort of just froze while I was in the middle of browsing Steepster and doing a virus scan, so I force restarted it. Except, when the computer restarted it didn’t really restart… Instead what shows up is:

Reboot and Select Boot Device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

Tre says that means my hard drive has failed, and that I need to go in and have it repaired. I guess I’ve lost all my information for the last nearly two years, since it wasn’t backed up. I just can’t handle all this fucking stress – and I have no idea what the cost is going to be for a new hard drive, but it’ll probably be a fair bit and on top of all the dentist costs I have, I doubt I can afford it. Like, WHAT THE FUCK. There was no warning – what the hell caused it to crash? I really wish I was technologically inclined because I need my laptop.

Anyway, at least there wasn’t a whole lot important on my computer anyway. I didn’t have iTunes or any meaningful pictures, no downloaded games or really much of anything. The one thing that comes to mind is my resume, but I actually have that saved in my email and sent to Tre…

Thank God I have an interview tomorrow, so fingers crossed I’ll set a good impression and get hired because I could really, really use an income right now.

So anyway, I’m using Tre’s laptop for now while he’s at school – but likely am not going to have regular internet use for awhile so don’t expect me to be on Steepster as often, sadly.

I think I’ve said it a million times this month in between all the unfortunate happenings, but at least I have tea in the mean time to hold me over. Tea is reliable, and it doesn’t tend to spontaneously crash on you.

Heh, I forgot I steeped this up and it’s been sitting for like 20 minutes in my kitchen – and here I am like an idiot playing Pokemon and wondering why the house smells so yummy and buttery when no one’s cooked anything or used any butter or anything like that all day. At least I apparently took the teaball out before I forgot about making it…

Derp.

So actually, the original reason for making this was to work on using up some of the really old leaf (meaning, from late August /13 – which I suppose isn’t too long ago) I have from DAVIDsTEA. This was one of my very “first” discoveries. I think it was actually from my first big purchase, to be honest. First DAVIDsTEA purchase, for myself, was Birthday Cake – and the second was 100g of six or seven different teas. I bet, if I thought really hard (or just read the labels on the tins) I could remember which ones they were, too…

Birthday Cake
Buttered Rum
Peppermint Amour
Salted Caramel
Pink Flamingo
Love Tea #7
Movie Night

Yeah, that sounds right. I still enjoy most of those quite a lot. Yay me, for picking out some really good ones as beginning teas! Anyway, this cup in particular is really coconut heavy and rich – but sadly the butterscotch notes I usually enjoy are a bit milder than I would prefer. I’m a little tempted to go make a mug of hot chocolate infused with some of this, because that’s really tasty. But I think not…

It’s getting a little late considering I’d like to get back to having a more ‘work appropriate’ sleep schedule, for when I inevitably have a job again. So maybe no more tea tonight. I had a pretty good tea day, though! No really major misses out of the new teas I tried.

So I picked this up and I can’t really remember why, but anyway I have about 50g of it now. So I thought I’d finally try it to see if I even like it.

Dry, the smell is kind of nice and kind of off putting? The orange and sandalwood are both very strong with only faint whiffs of the walnut (what I’m most interested in) and then a ‘medium’ rooibos base – wood chippy, but not medicinal. When it’s steeped up, it’s a bit more of a mishmash of all those flavours and it just smells ok.

Taste wise, I’m actually pleasantly surprised how strong the walnut is. It’s actually the most dominant flavour overall, and is consistent throughout the sip, sticking around well after you’ve actually swallowed the sip. Very tasty. Unfortunately, I feel like the orange/sandalwood really detract from how great this one could be. The orange is pretty present in the first part of the sip, and I don’t feel like it meshes well with the walnut at all. The two aren’t competing, but they just don’t get along. And, as far as the sandalwood goes, it’s distracting too and appears in weird and inconsistent aspects of the sip.

I wish this was just, ultimately, about the tasty walnut. So, my conclusion here is really mixed because the walnut is great but the rest is just a complete mess. I’m not sure if I enjoy the cup – so I think it’s pretty obvious that I also highly doubt I’d restock. I know Tea Desire has some other walnut options, so perhaps I’ll get around to exploring those to see if they capture the same tasty walnut notes.

So after making the plain version of this in the morning (ok, not the morning – but it felt like the morning to me) and being a little disappointed but then receiving some good feedback from different people, I decided to make the other cacao sample that VariaTEA had sent me as an “early evening” tea to take a break from the bulk of black teas I’ve been having today.

I used more leaf this time (2 tsp. for 10 oz.), and left the teaball in the mug the entire time I was drinking it because I knew it wouldn’t get bitter. Drinking it this way/with this variety, I actually enjoyed it a lot more. While I did still find it kind of weak, there was definitely more dimension to the tea from the strawberry and I think the fact that made it less “flat” (mono-tasting) was a huge plus.

The strawberry actually reminded me of Strawberry Nesquik milk flavouring, which is definitely my favourite. That said, obviously that has a sort of artificial quality to it but it’s one that doesn’t put me off. I don’t get “cream” in the flavour, but that could be remedied with some milk – except I’m all out at the moment (and only have myself to blame for it) so that’ll have to wait for another day to be tested.

I wouldn’t get the plain Cacao again, but I’d consider maybe getting more of this one.

Underleafed and oversteeped. I’m actually really not noticing the hibiscus at all because the guava, and to a lesser extent the mango, are so incredibly strong. Still was a nice mug – good both hot and cold. I should drink this more often, I like guava. Not really sure why I don’t.

I overleafed in the hope to finally draw out the star anise (2 tsp. to 10 oz of boiling water). However, same anise-less cup with a sort of waxy quality to the liquor. Also, just like last time it sort of made my tongue feel numb?

Yeah, I hate to say it but this definitely isn’t for me. I really want anise, and I just don’t get that at all. Plus too much cinnamon…

The leaf for this one just looks so pretty! I’d be seriously tempted to keep it around (if it wasn’t limited edition) just because it’s so fun to look at. That, and it smells absolutely fucking incredible. Fresh, rainy garden smell and vanilla! I want that as my ‘signature perfume’ if I ever become famous. I know Stacy does tea, but she’s a miracle worker – if I’m some day ridiculously wealthy I’d have her make me my own Vanilla Frosted Carrot Cake perfume. She could do it. I have faith.

Anyway, often the taste of this falls short for me, which is why I didn’t mind sharing it with VariaTEA or Kittenna, but today I overleafed it in the hope to get more vanilla and I must say this is definitey more accurate to the smell! It’s earthy with carrot notes and a cakiness to it, and the vanilla is actually relatively present and creamy. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that there’s not a ton of spice notes today. Icky spice notes – they’re not needed in such abundance.

So yeah – best cup of this yet. I’ll remember to overleaf in the future; I’d much rather have less cups but them all this tasty than more cups but they’re much more mediocre.