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Mmm!

This cup is very refreshing, and super tasty. It’s like this perfect combo between refreshing, almost melon-y, cucumber and sweet mango! It’s definitely a “spring” tea – although today didn’t really feel like Spring; it was snowing really heavily all afternoon.

I think cucumber teas are something I’d want to keep exploring…

My first “tea cocktail” type thing. I think I may have used a bit too much vodka; it’s really strong! Though, I’m new to this so I know some experimentation is definitely in order.

Basically we’re looking at: 2 tsp. of tea (no bunny grahms; I thought it’d be weird to steep them in the vodka), two shots of straight vodka, and a splash of wildberry vodka.

And you know what, aside from the pretty intense/strong vodka (which is burning my chest a bit) this isn’t that bad. The Ruby Pie is surprisingly present despite the powerful taste of alcohol; if I were to serve this to my roommate I can pretty much guarantee that he’d taste the strawberry in it. Maybe the rhubarb? That’s a little less clear, though. I think the wildberry vodka in this maybe cancels it out?

Of course, he wouldn’t like it because he hates strawberries… But he’d taste it!

I feel so very “adult” drinking this.

I’ve tweaked my measurements a little, and I now have a cup of Vanilla Vodka and DT’s Creme Brulee going the the fridge. Maybe I’ll have that one later tonight?

Sipdown (169/171)!

Home from work it feels odd to be home this early, and I decided to take advantage of the fact that the only cold brews I currently have going are vodka shots. So I took my empty mason jar and made a pretty flowering tea!

Last time I had this one, I don’t remember being impressed with the aesthetics of the bloom – but maybe I just had a crappy bloom because this one is really pretty! It had a fair bit of colour to it, and the tea liquor itself has steeped up into this very pretty “blush pink” from the hibiscus.

The tea flavour? Well, it’s still pretty much very light hibiscus and a more vegetal “leaf” kinda flavour – which isn’t the best combo for me personally. That makes it easier to let go of this one. I think I’ll have to go back to McQuarries sooner than later though to nab a few more blooms to experiment with though; they’ve got a pretty fair variety to choose from.

I hope both Cavocorax and VariaTEA have success with this one!

Also I’m going to plunk this adorable video of fancy rats doing cool tricks, for anyone interested. It’s super cute! Although, it’s really making me miss my fancy rat, Eloise. I didn’t write about it when it happened because I was really upset, but she passed away about a week ago. It wasn’t totally unexpected because she’d been sick for a long time, but it still wasn’t easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7g2rxtWu_FM

I especially like “Famous” – she’s just really precious, and her little beady red eyes are too freakin’ cute!

In a timolino for milk, with a tiny splash of milk.

I just could NOT resist having this one, again, so soon after trying it. I think I’m really falling in love with this Pu’Erh (a phrase I thought I would never say). I feel highly compelled currently to go pick up a nice tin for it, and another 50g. I want this is substantial quantity…

But I should probably wait until I have it a few more times before I make my mind up on that. I don’t want to rashly by a new and exciting tea in a large amount; I’ve made that mistake before!

I get the impression this would resteep really well; I hardly ever resteep blends because I want to enjoy as many teas in a day as possible, but I’ll probably make a special effort to try and resteep this one.

Made a cup of this in the morning, didn’t have time to drink it and poured it into a thermos to drink at work. I actually ended up finishing it en route.

It was very good cold today; I actually got a bunch of mint from it which was odd because that’s one of the many varied flavours in this blend that almost always escapes me…

Not that I’m complaining ;)

I think the next cup of this is a sipdown. Not sure if I should take advantage of that tomorrow morning or try a postpone it. Hmm…

Anyway, I had to get up this morning at 5AM to get ready for work (ick) – it actually wasn’t so bad though because I went to be really early last night. But this was my morning “pick me up”, whisked into cold milk. It frothed so well for me! Really, it was super enjoyable. Although, I think I got a bit more chocolate than coffee.

I’m thinking part of why I love having this in the morning is that the coffee “tricks” my mind into thinking there’s more caffeine than there really is.

And hey, while I’m reviewing a matcha, everyone should go vote for new matcha grade names here:

http://steepster.com/discuss/7378-contest-for-new-matcha-names-50-dollars

And I’m totally not just saying that because two of the top three ideas were mine, and I want the extra matcha money. Like really, I actually voted against myself…

Sipdown (170/172)!

Now that I I’m logging this one, I feel more excited about drinking it. It’s another easy sipdown for me to get in!

I mixed this with a bit of plain vodka (I also picked up vanilla and wildberry vodka) to kind of get my “sea legs” for it again; when I used to drink illegally vodka/whisky were my drinks of choice, but it’s been a long time since then so I’m easing back into it.

It was… ok.

Made this in my timolino for my trip to the mall; while I drank most of it there I didn’t finish it, so I’m having the last bit now… I believe I received my sample from Lala.

While on my fun little excursion I took the opportunity to stop at the post office and mail of my package for Cavocorax, so hopefully that makes it to her soon! I also checked my work schedule and much to my dismay it looks like my shift starts at 7AM(!) tomorrow morning – so it’s going to be an early night for me. Bleck.

I also noticed that next week’s schedule is up and I get Monday to Wednesday off; add that in with Sunday from this week, which I also have off, and that’s an awesome four day stretch! Since I know now that I have time next week to stop at DAVIDsTEA, I decided to hit up the liquor store instead; my first time going into a liquor store. I definitely look right on the cusp of 19 (I could fall either way on the “age line” or whatever) so I got lots of shifty looks, and one of the employees was following me around in store.

In the end I picked up a whole bunch of different kinds of vodka. Why, you ask? Well, I figured that’d allow me to make some tea infused martini type thingers – and that seemed like a cool idea: I’m always excited to explore different ways of drinking tea – and this is a way where maybe Tre will get into it too. Plus I’ve been 19 for a month now and haven’t popped my “legal drinking age cherry”, and that’s just sad – right?

So, there’s some of Butiki’s Ruby Pie cold brewing in a few shots worth of vodka in the fridge right now. Not sure how long I should let it cold brew for. Hmm…

Anyway this tea is pretty good. I added milk to it but lord knows why; apricot and milk are not really foods that are that associated with one another. It still works though. Before I get into it, can I just get a “hell yes” about the fact there’s no peach in this though? I mean, HELL YES. Apricot is not an automatic companion of peach.

But yeah; this is good even with the weird milk I added. In addition to the apricot which is fairly strong (and really creamy from the milk) I get strong notes of honey and then some lighter, faint chocolate notes – both I’m assuming from the base tea.

I still have another cup left, so I swear I’ll have that one straight to see how much my evaluation holds true when there isn’t the weird(ish) milk component involved.

Sipdown (171/173)!

Finally through with this one; it’s a good feeling!

This isn’t the worst cup I’ve made of this one, actually. In fact it’s pretty good compared to the others; there’s no bitterness/astringency, I can almost taste the fruitiness of the black current in each sip, and the vegetal qualities are leaning more on the “buttery” side of things and are less grass/seaweed like. More like spinach, really.

I’m sending some to Cavocorax, so fingers crossed she finds it more enjoyable and gets cups like this one, not like the bitter sludgey cups I’ve gotten in the past.

I need to go into work today to check when I work tomorrow – but I keep putting off doing it. I’m so cozy at home; I don’t want to leave! I don’t trust my foggy recollection of my schedule to get me there on time tomorrow, though…

Maybe I’ll get ready after this cuppa, and then reward myself by tacking on a trip to DAVIDsTEA for some tins and Cool Cucumber/Superberry (I’ve decided I don’t need more Bamboozled when I have Buddha Bamboo)…

I need to make that trip sooner than later anyway, what with Superberry soon to be discontinued.

Took advantage of the fact the tin of this was out (I was packaging some for Cavo) to brew myself up a mug of it! I haven’t had it in a while, so I thought “why not?”. This is a more expensive one to refill so I don’t have it on a regular basis – but it’s so good that I totally could.

It’s basically a super yummy cuppa of hot, liquid caramel and coconut. Mmm! So sweet and indulgent and rich! Plus you can still slightly taste the silverneedle which is awesome because I really enjoy silverneedles…

Watching the BBCan2 live feeds now, and someone just made a cup of green tea. It had me thinking that, should I ever make it into the house (which I hope to, someday) then I’d have to go without all my tea. It’d be one of the hardest things to do, but for Big Brother I think I could do it…

I’d try to smuggle in a few tins, though ;)