Peppermint Amour (Organic)

This tea is kind of turning into a nightmare tea for me. First I loved it – greatly, and couldn’t get enough. And then it just tasted horrible and nasty and “turned”, so I dialed back the amount of leaf I was using an it was ‘ok’ – but still not the same wonderful peppermint it was before. And now this…

When I went to make my timolino full of it (I thought it’d be a kinda neat Valentine’s Day themed tea), I was portioning out the leaf when I found ‘shell’, if you will, of a dead maggot. I wish I had taken a picture, but my stomach was so turned that I just acted on impulse and dumped the whole tin worth in the trash immediately. I then remembered I had a 25g package from someone as a gift, and I prepared some of that instead, but the whole time I couldn’t get the maggot out of my head, and I just felt so sick drinking the timolino worth that in the end I dumped the 25g package too, making this a very much unintended sipdown.

I also don’t think I’ll be able to ever get more of this. The experience has really, really ruined this one for me completely and the only satisfaction I have is knowing that I gave about 40g of the “bug infested” batch to that asshole James, whom I was sort of dating a few months ago. He was such a dick, that I think it’d only be right if he ended up drinking some maggot tea.

Anyway, I think it goes without saying that I’ve drastically reduced my rating on this one, though I haven’t made it horribly low either because I want to reflect that this was, at one point, my favourite tea and also the bug thing is a pretty much entirely isolated incident.

Ugh! First cold/flu I have had in two years! This definitely calls for a strong minty tea. If I didn’t have a pile of boxers on my lap I would take more medicine.

It’s really starting to feel like Spring. The sun is shining, I can hear the birds chirping, and the crocuses are already popping up. As much as I enjoy the coziness of Fall and Winter, I always look forward to shaking off the cold weather chills and welcoming back the bright and sunny days.

Quite fittingly, this tea reminds me of gardening. When I was a child, my Dad used to have a vegetable garden in our backyard. Once the weather would warm up he’d be out there, pulling weeds and preparing the soil. The garden had a small rock pathway, which at times would be taken over by mint. If you’re not familiar with growing mint, it grows like a weed and can easily take over a garden. Despite this fact, I used to enjoy stomping across that garden path as a child to tell my Dad about the latest adventure I went on with my neighbor’s cat; all the while taking in the fragrant scent of mint rising up from under my feet. This tea brings back such lovely memories of those times. In fact, I think next spring/summer, once the renos are done and my hubby and I are in our new home, I will consider growing mint myself (in containers) to make tea like this. But until then, this tea will suit me just fine.

So I had an incredibly stressful day at work yesterday. If I said that a girl went home sick and we had to re-do the zoning schedule on the fly and my best hour on the wall got cut, that would make no sense to most of you. But that is what happened – although it was okay in the end, I still kicked butt. We all did, so we’re going to have fun beating that by ten percent next year. But my day started out on that bad note.

And then someone at work cheerfully told me (as a joke? I guess?) that they had a dream about making out with me and I reacted by stiffly freezing and slightly panicking because I am horrible with social interaction stuffs which are not work related. So we both ended up horribly embarrassed and not looking at each other, and they apologized for freaking me out, which they did not in the way I think they mean – I think they think it is a sexual orientation thing because of that comment, which means they may be offended in that, “oh that was threatening to you, was it,” way, but I am actually bi and just a huge goober SO WHAT A MESS. And I do not want to talk to anyone else at work about it to sort it out in my head because I am in a leadership position and that is the worst position to be in and spread gossip.

ARGH.

And then I came home and binged (which I actually have not done in I-don’t-know-how-long, I have been good about fishes and veggies and fruitses and moderation) on baklava, macaroons, popcorn, ice cream, chocolate, brownies, candy, Turkish delight, 7-Up with vanilla syrup and orange extract (tastes like orange cream soda), and a donair in there somewhere to pretend I was actually eating dinner and then I fell asleep.

Then I got up this morning and was like, KILL ME. And I can’t even drink a detox tea because I have to work. Oh, and I forgot about the time change, so I’m up super early when I could have slept in.

So like.

Peppermint. Tea.

If nothing else, I can calm my stomach because it’s making threatening twinges like it wants to go into murderous spasms of betrayal. I mean, like I said, I’ve actually been treating it well lately. It took me forever to find the 10g of this I have, and now I really know the ridiculous number of teas I have. Wow.

I probably should have read the other tasting notes before I brewed this up. Other people are saying 30-60 seconds. Um. I left this steeping on the counter for like, 10 minutes. Well, now I know why people say only a few seconds. OH MY GOD, THE MINTY BURN. coughs

I might actually have to stop drinking this because the mint is so strong that I’m getting that funny feeling in my stomach you get when you accidentally swallow toothpaste. It’s just such a huge kick-to-the-face peppermint taste.

Some weeks ago, my mother took me out for dinner for my birthday, and since the waiter wouldn’t tell me the brand of tea they offer, I played it safe with a peppermint. I remember that pot very fondly, but the difference between that bagged tea and this is mind-blowing.

I don’t want to rate this until I’ve tried it at a shorter steep time! It’s not unpleasant taste-wise (I absolutely love both peppermint and spearmint), but it’s a bit tough to handle at this strength.

Steep time, beware!

Brought the rating down a bit. I love mint teas, so it can be hard to differentiate one pure mint from another in terms of uality or taste. This one is quite bold, and so minty (if you steep it a good amount of time) that it almost seems cold – if you’re not a true mint fan I do not see this being the thing for you. I had a big cuppa this morning as part of my efforts to reieve a migraine (which worked, yay!) and really enjoyed it. I find myself turning to the milder spearmint from Davids Tea more often that not, but the Peppermint definitely has a place in my heart.

Tummy was feeling off today so this was required. One of those days I’m grateful when herbal tea remedies exist.

I had this last night as well as tonight because my stomach has been acting up a little and I thought this might help to settle it a little. It worked last night, but hasn’t worked tonight so far, so here’s hoping!
I am still working on sipdowns because some of these teas are getting super old. I doubt mint goes bad though.

i don’t know what i’m doing. i made 3 pots of tea today and i let them all get cold before i could finish them.
we are painting the living room ‘honey cream’ and ‘cherry red’ with a ‘chocolate’ colored trim. i was too busy to drink them properly. i should have used my timolino.

i read in bed and then painted for almost 10 hours straight.
then suddenly i felt very sad. (probably due to exhaustion)

is it possible to own a tea for every mood?
like music?
or poetry?

what am i searching for when i continue to buy more tea. and organize it. and taste it. and smell it. and buy the cups. and saucers. and teapots. to hold. and feel. and admire. in colors. and sizes. and textures and weights.
(i have more teas than i can possibly drink in a year, and i still search for more)

Wonderful cold steeper.

I left this overnight in the fridge, although I think it’s palatable much sooner than that. Peppermint has always been a flavour I’ve enjoyed, so this more than met my expectations.

8 tsp in a 1 liter jug, steeped overnight