White Christmas

you know…i wish i didn’t have to say “well another one of those days” every day. at a certain point you look around and realise that every day is one of those god awful days and you just have to deal with it. :) Let’s see if i can remember what i had to drink today since i pretty much was at my desk from 7:30-6, minus one bathroom break. i hate issues.

I had this as a latte…it’s about the only way i’ll be finishing off this package. I can’t stand it as a straight tea, only a latte. BUT this at least helps me sipdown my 52 teas and work on that goal.

Sipdown…. but another one that doesn’t change numbers, because it’s another one from Christmas. Sigh. Anyways, this cup is too pepperminty for me. I need a solid dose of chocolate with my peppermint, I’ve found, and there just isn’t enough in here for me. Pretty decent blend for those who enjoy peppermint though. I’m just not one of those people.

It’s my birthday, so I’m treating myself to my favorite teas and enjoying a delicious cupcake made by my sister, who studied professional cooking. Banana cupcakes with cinnamon frosting… even I am enjoying them, and I don’t like cake. http://distilleryimage0.s3.amazonaws.com/b30c2c94ca3511e2b66f22000aa81a39_7.jpg

Anyway, this tea is quite possibly my favorite black tea ever. It’s so creamy and minty and smooth and amazing. Just kind of perfect. I will be very sad when I run out, so I drink it quite rarely. Today is a treat day.

Yum.

I LOVE Christmas :D

But today marks the last day of the 12 days of tea – BOOOO!

I couldn’t help but feel like Janet Jackson in her video for “Miss you much” where she smiles and dances the whole way through and as a finale she sweetly inquires “is that the end?” (Video link for those who want a little flashback http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVF0zcqr9Dg ) The 12 days of tea made me smile and dance (well, if you call spinning around in excitement waiting for the water to boil as dancing.) Thankfully, I have a bit of each tea left so I can relive them at least one more time – hooray!

Today’s tea was another nice balance of flavors on a black tea base. The candy cane mintiness is paired with the soft sweetness of marshmallow. Such a lovely and festive tea.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Backlog:

I really like this blend. I’ve found all of 52Teas Marshmallow blends to be very enjoyable, and I love the combination of marshmallow, peppermint, and black tea … the black tea has just a barely-there chocolate note that keeps me sipping. I found that my palate would be like “did I just taste chocolate” and I’d need to taste it again to make sure I got it right.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/02/24/white-christmas-black-tea-blend-from-52teas/

Are sipdowns always going to be so bittersweet? Finishing off the remnants of the holidays is not something I relish doing. I got a lot out of it though. This blend made me realize I need to always have a good peppermint tea on hand!

This tea needed milk.

So I gave the rest of this away to the tea group yesterday, but kept just enough for 1 cup just in case not having 2 oz staring at me in the face would make me more appreciative of the tea itself, and not the number of cups I was committed to in the future.

And now that it’s gone, I can say that it is still as good as I thought. I like it, but don’t need it when I have Read My Lips.

52teas 12 Days of Christmas Sampler 2012 – Day 12

I’ve finally made it to the end of the sampler, and it’s a bittersweet achievement. This tea is already sold out, so this is my only chance to try it and hopefully enjoy it too. Let me just say two things to Frank up front: 1) What a gorgeous iconic Christmas label! I love it!, and 2) THANK YOU FOR USING PEPPERMINT (and not spearmint)!!!

The dry leaf aroma is peppermint candy wonderland! But the brewed tea aroma is kind of…weird, for lack of a better word. It’s pulling at something in my memory, but I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is. DAVIDsTEA Read My Lips maybe? While I wait for the tea to cool, I’m going to tell a quick short story.

My phone just rang. I answered, and it’s a recorded voice telling me I won a cruise. Press 1 to talk to someone and 2 to decline the offer and be removed from the call list. I pressed 1. I figured it’s probably not a free cruise in reality, but it’s worth a couple minutes of my time to find out. What happens next? I’m put on hold for about two minutes. And then…another recorded voice tells me that all representatives are busy assisting other customers and I should leave my name and number after the beep and they’ll call me back later…Are you kidding me?! YOU called ME you stupid people!!! Clearly, I didn’t win anything. What a pain. I’ve never heard of this type of scam before but it really annoys me.

Anyway, back to the tea. First sip sans additions was a pleasant surprise. After that weird aroma, I wasn’t too sure how this would turn out. But it’s a yummy peppermint-y dream! It has a nice creamy aspect to it and a natural tasting sweetness. It’s like drinking liquid peppermint candy!! Yum!

It really is a great cup of tea just the way it is. But I’m curious what a little Truvia and skim milk will to do it. Hopefully, I don’t ruin a great thing. As I suspected, it doesn’t change things for the better. Luckily, it didn’t necessarily make it worse either. More of that weird aroma makes it into the flavor as it cools. I prefer drinking it piping hot!

I’m not getting any chocolaty notes that others have. Quite frankly, the base is sort of elusive here. It’s covered by the cream and peppermint. This was a yummy experience all in all. The second cup was just as delicious as the first. :) But I’m not disappointed that I missed the chance to scoop up a bag. I’m happy with the amount in the sample.

I’d love to know what the other flavors are in here, but I drank it this morning (with like, french toast meets a bloomin’ onion). I got the coolest hat ever from my boyfriend: http://instagram.com/p/Tqmfe-pa6P/

This is a bit like a candy cane tea to me…maybe with chocolate? Not sure if that’s the tea or a flavor. I was kind of hoping for candy cane white chocolate, aka the best combination ever, but maybe not. It’s pepperminty and creamy, but in that department I definitely have a favorite already there, so this would have to be REALLY AMAZING.

It’s good, but I’m still on the fence if I will get more of it. Maybe. It was really good this morning!

I was looking forward to finding out what the twelfth tea was going to be this year. Aaaand surprise – there’s more marshmallow!!! Good thing I like marshmallow. ;P

Adding the cool mint give the tea a flavour that makes me think of candy canes. I bet it would be great with milk too – next time. ;)