It always seems that when I come back, that a layer of dust has covered my Steepster account…. and man, it’s been a minute since I’ve posted on here…. Lots of stuff has been going on lately, lots of crazy, hectic stuff… I still drink tea during my hectic schedule, but I don’t get much time to do so. Most of it is at work, with unfiltered water and using tea bags…. Quite sad actually… I still find time to drink the good stuff at home, but it doesn’t happen as often as I’d like…. But I’m off of work today for a change, trying to relax…. and as I sit here writing this, drinking this Blood-Orange Smoothie Tea, I can’t stop this sense of jitters that I have… No, it isn’t from this tea that I’m drinking, it’s caffeine free… These are more of a nervous type of jitters…. I just made the final few design contestants in Adagio’s tea shirt contest. I’m both excited and nervous about it at the same time. I’m not going to lie, one of the reasons I wanted to post about this tea I’m having is to ask you, my fellow Steepsterites, for help in this contest… If you could possible head over to the facebook album page for the contest and vote for my design, I would greatly appreciate it (it’s ok if you don’t like it and choose to go with another design I guess, thanks for taking the time to vote at least). If you do give me a vote, I greatly appreciate it… Maybe even ask friends and fellow tea lovers to do the same? ;) …
My design on there is #2. I went for a Wabi Sabi thought process and aesthetic with the design I chose. There is a rough feeling with the brush strokes of the cup design to mimic that of an uneven surface. It is simple, yet so in depth. The simplicity touches on the notion of Less is More. With Wabi Sabi, you learn to find the most simple object to be interesting, fascinating, and beautiful. It can change your perception of the world to the extent that the individual, uneven brush strokes makes it a more interesting object and gives it greater meditative value.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150814106620495.751070.368656650494
Once again, thanks very much if you vote for my design. I really appreciate it. :)
And now, on to actually rating this tea and talking about it more in depth! Brittany recently went to San Francisco to check out a grad school, and she happened to come across The Spice & Tea Exchange and stopped in to pick up some stuff for me. She got me some of this Blood-Orange Smoothie Tea, some Coconut Oolong Tea, some Green Tropical Tea, and some Green Tea Mints (Lychee flavored!)… This tea instantly reminds me of a dreamsicle when I smell the dry leaf. One thing about this tea that I wish they changed though was to put steeping instructions on the bag. They give a general steeping instructions card, but I didn’t realize that I had this card until after I had steeped my tea. I just went with a general steep for rooibos with this tea to play it on the safe side. This tea tastes quite good. It is naturally sweet, naturally tart. It has a strong orange taste to it, but that smell of dreamsicle that I get from the dry leaf, doesn’t translate very to the taste very well. If anything, there is a slight dreamsicle taste to it, much less than I wished it to have. Don’t get me wrong though, it is still a very good tea. I want to try it served latte style like the bag recommends, that might give it more of the dreamsicle taste that I am wanting. It is a great night time tea since it is caffeine free. I enjoy this tea so far, I just need to experiment a little more with it. I can’t wait to try the other Spice & Tea Exchange teas…
