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Near a sipdown (two cups left)…

I remember this getting cold and then tasting really gross. Meh.

(I just remembered I have episodes of The Voice to catch up on too – and that made me really happy! Oh, and Bones, HIMYM, Intelligence, Archer, and Agents of SHIELD! That’s a little overwhelming – but also really exciting!)

Had this hot in a timolino – which was weird; I usually have it cold. It was nice though; thick mouthfeel and creamy sweet Pina Colada. Mmm!

Thanks to Scribbles who sent me more of this! I’m not sure whether it was intentional, but it’s a personal favourite of mine so more (especially in a sealed packet) is always welcome!

Can you say Summer Staple?

EDIT: Also, I tried going through all the tasting notes over the last four but I ultimately gave up when I realized how many that is. So, I just went through the new DAVIDsTEA collection notes instead. I’m excited for Cool Cucumber and I think maybe Peaches & Cream too despite my fickleness towards peach.

What surprises me is the Grape Expectations. I had really low expectations for that one because it’s green and has raisins – but the positive notes on it do have me a little curious. We’ll see if I cave and check it out. Heh…

My mind isn’t made on Blue Lagoon yet. The pineapple excites me – but I don’t do artificial blueberry (in anything)…

I’m back!!!

Tre left Tuesday morning for Regina and took his laptop with him, but today my Dad and brother came up for an early birthday celebration and brought up my newly fixed laptop! I have to start from scratch; none of my old files or anything, but I have a computer again! Woot! So much to catch up on, tea related or not.

So quick summary? In my short absence from the computer I’ve:

- Gone to a metal show (which was super weird)
- Watched the first and seconds season of Pretty Little Liars; and am living vicariously through the characters (Hanna/Caleb and Spencer/Toby OTPs!)
- Finished Breaking Bad
- Acquired some new tea (birthday presents from Cuppa’T from my mom and a swap package from Scribbles)

And… Best for last!

- GOT A JOB!

I start on Monday, and I’ll be a sup. at Dollorama – working a short 10 minute walk from my house! How great is that!?

Of course, for the time being until then I plan to catch up on all my backlog, because there’s lots of it (and of course I made notes on nearly everything I drank). Plus, I need to get my Big Brother Canada game on! I’ve already watched the first two episodes I missed, and now I’m watching the after show! I’ll probably have the live feeds going in the background the whole time I’m writing backlogged tasting notes. Any other BB fans?

If anyone else is watching the Canadian season right now I’d love to have people to gab with!

My season picks (at the moment) are: Kenny, Jon, and Arlie. I can’t say I’m feeling the girls so much right now. I think maybe Heather will surprise me though. So glad Anick is gone – I thought she totally made a bad impression. And, I’m not a fan of Paul right now. Ick.

As for this tea: It was just a nice treat in my timolino that I enjoyed while I was helping my friend Kristina move into her new apartment. Her new roommate seems nice and the place is cool.

She was amazed at the concept of this one; I might have to hold “regular” tea drinking “classes” and get her some loose leaf education now that she’s living a five minute walk from me.

Today’s cup of this went totally cold before I managed to get to it (the downside of brewing three cups at once, I suppose). However, it’s totally on point!

The black tea is really leveled out and the cinnamon is super mild which is really letting the fruit shine; there’s tons of juicy mango and banana and a touch of tart cranberry going on in this cup and it’s very delightful.

Since I’m down to only a few more cups worth (I’m thinking three or four hot or one of two cold brewed) I’ve moved it into my sample/sipdown drawer in the kitchen. It should be easy enough to sipdown. I don’t think I’ll reorder though – it’s a bit too inconsistent for my liking.

Sipdown (194/196)!

Thanks Boychik for the sample of this. I’ve really enjoyed drinking it as well as the convenience of having it in sachets – and it’ll be missed pretty greatly.

However the plus side is I’ve finally found something worth ordering from H&S in addition to Boston (when I finally run out of what Keychange generously gave to me). So, in total, two teas from H&S that I actually really enjoy.

Lemon cake!

Mmm!

I’m enjoying my cup of this at a much hotter temperature today. My first cup of this had cooled down a pretty fair bit the first time I had it (dang burned fingers distracting me) so that’s what my impression was based off. It’s nice knowing the flavour is still awesome hot though – I agree with Courtney that low maintenance teas are the best teas: no wait to to steep and no wait time to drink (other than waiting just long enough I don’t burns my mouth).

I want to share this with Robyn, because I think she’d love it too – but I only have one more cup left and I’d like to hoard it for myself. Tea drinker problems.

Sipdown (195/197)!

I maybe let this one steep for a little too long. I decided to finish it off as a cold brew and just get it out of the way. I meant to strain it last night before bed but forgot it was cold brewing at all and left it to steep all night while I slept. So, in total it cold brewed for 26 hours.

…And it’s a little strong. Seriously, the rhubarb is creamy but man does it cut. It has a very strong and nearly overwhelming taste quality accompanied by a very strong presence of hops. I’m going to “blame” the strong hops on the fact there was a whole bunch of it at the bottom of the bag, though.

So overall? Decent enough finish to this blend – but intense. I’m happy I discovered it’s better cold brewed because that made it easier to finish off and it feels good to have one more Butiki blend I don’t want restocked cleared out of my cupboard.

Final tea of the night and last of the backlog.

It was just a really nice, fresh tasting tea to finish off with, and it also continued the trend of Strawberry teas I had going on during the evening. It’s still weird to me how much I like this; it’s green and has ginger. It’s the spearmint/strawberry duo that redeems it for me, though.

Much better cold than hot, which is why I drank it cold last night. I should try cold brewing it…

Also, tomorrow Tre leaves for vacation until Friday which means no computer. How very distressing. However, it looks like my computer will be fixed and returned to me on Thursday – so yay for that! It’ll be a happy time period; working laptop again, Big Brother will have premiered…

Yay!

This was super good last night!

I think I hot the perfect steep temp. and time because while I was drinking this it tasted like delicious lemon vanilla sponge cake. Mmm!

O/T: Does anyone here watch Big Brother? The second Canadian season premiers in two days, and they’ve announced the contestants (well, 14/15 – there’s a mystery contestant still). I’m super excited! I’ve been watching Big Brother since the 7th season in the States, which means I would have been… 10 years old. Since then I’ve watched every season in the States, though (and a couple from the UK). It’s my favourite reality show/competition and it’s been my dream to compete since I first watched it!

If the Canadian version gets renewed for a third season, then I’ll finally be old enough to audition which I find super exciting!

I’m a little disappointed though because the casting for this season once again has no representation from Saskatchewan. In fact, there’s no representation from Saskatchewan/Manitoba/ PEI or any of the territories (though they included Quebec this season which is cool). But seriously? Canada is more than Alberta/Ontario…

Maybe next year I’ll be the first Saskatchewan contestant, though? One can dream!

I enjoyed a large mug of this last night while watching Pokemon Black/White on Netflix. How cool is it they added that series and the original series in Kanto!? Very cool is the correct answer. Anything else is unacceptable.

I would have watched the Kanto series first – except I just recently finished a rewatch of it online (along with the Jhoto series) so I picked this instead since I hadn’t seen it before. My strongest opinion? Trip is a dick. Also, Ash’s Oshawott is adorable! She kind of reminds me of his Chikorita from the Jhoto series; the Chikorita was “in love” with him too and was pretty jealous.

The tea was a nice, sweet treat and also offset the food I was eating pretty well too (popcorn with ketchup seasoning). Sweet and savory. Best way to go, right? Right. I’ll need more of this soon, I think…