Now’s the part of my backlog where I get to get into all the really fun stuff I did on my day with my brother! Hooray!
The day started out with a trip to Market Mall where I mailed off my package for 221Tea (which cost a lot less than I was anticipating, which is always a pleasant surprise). We then stopped at my Dollarama and I returned the work phone, which I brought home with my Saturday evening. Oops. It looks like they managed fine without it, though.
We took the bus from there to the downtown mall. My brother was both amazed with and pissed off at the bus system here in Saskatoon. The bus fare is more than a dollar higher than what it is in Regina, and of course he didn’t have a bus pass so he was unimpressed with paying the high fare – and then even less impressed with how long it takes to get anywhere in the city. Saskatoon is a fair bit bigger than Regina. That said, once we were on the bus he was really amused by the fact there’s a digital read out of the time/streets we’re on as we travel (which is hilarious, because I remember Tre and I being amused greatly by that as well on our first bus ride in Saskatoon), and the fact there are buttons not cords you push (instead of pull) to let the driver know where you want to get off.
Once we were downtown we only made one stop; DAVIDsTEA. Mostly we were going there for me: I bought my first perfect tea mug (the glass one with the octopus tentacle), 100g of Superberry (since it’s soon to be discontinued), 50g of Redberry Tonic, 50g of Cool Cucumber, 50g of Guava Cadabra (to top off my tin at home), 10g of Coconut Oolong, a brown Pu’Erh tin for my Caramel Pu’Erh (from Tea Desire), and this as a To Go, iced. I also signed up for the rewards program! Hooray!
Much to my surprise, however, my brother picked up 50g of Bamboozled (which I had causally pointed out was being discontinued earlier in the morning when I was preparing our cold brew of it). I didn’t even do any pushing. He just did it.
And of course his sales associate was my favourite (extremely cute) one! Jealous. In true excellent DAVIDsTEA service fashion he made my brother feel at home in the store (he looked painfully uncomfortable as he bought his tea). He asked how his day was going and why he was in town (I’m not totally sure how he knew he wasn’t from Saskatoon…), and Liam (my brother) said he was here visiting family. It was a nice exchange and I think my brother felt more at ease.
I’m wondering if maybe he knew he wasn’t from here because he recognizes me as a “regular” and I’ve mentioned in the past that I moved here on my own… Hmmm…
Anyway, this was the To Go tea I picked out because I wanted to try another of the Spring blends and this has fairly solid reviews, plus it has pineapple in it. It was iced. I have to say, I was pretty let down by it though. I vaguely understood the comparison to Blue Whale candy but mostly I thought it tasted very artificial in a negative way and also very weak and flavourless in general, except for the aftertaste which I couldn’t get rid of fast enough: there was something very chemical about it. I don’t handle Blueberries very well; they can’t taste artificial or have a realistic blueberry texture – so that may have tainted my view. I’m happy I decided not to buy any.
My brother loved it though. I would have just tossed it out once I’d left the store but he really, really enjoyed it and said it tasted pretty great (although he agreed that it could have been made stronger). I’m really proud of him; he used to reject any notion of tea or tea drinking but he’s really opened up. Although he is pretty set in what he likes: it has to be cold brewed or iced and typically he only goes for blends that are fruity and herbal.
After DT we went to the movies and saw Divergent. I honestly didn’t expect to love it as much as I did, but it’s been about a day since I’ve seen in now and I still cannot get it out of my head. I want to read the book series so badly now! In fact, next paycheck, I might splurge and buy the series since I’ve already set aside rent for the month of May so the only think earmarked in the next paycheck is groceries.
Seriously, go see it! It was surprisingly fun with good action scenes, comedic moments, and a fun, almost “surrealist” aspect with the fear simulations – and I really, really like Tris/Four as a couple. There’s that too.
All in all: crappy tea but a good day!
http://www.davidstea.com/blue-lagoon?&TF=&DEID= its back! you can buy it for a limited time right now!