Lazy sunday afternoon….
Yes, so I am finally reading Fifty Shades of Grey… I resisted all summer long, being constantly hassled by friends: «Oh, you MUST read it, Oh Christian Grey this, Oh Christian Grey that!», I’m telling you, a bunch of puberty high school girls! (giggles)
To the point that I thought for sure this book was overrated, too much fuss and publicity surrounding it.
I was kind of suspicious of an author made famous instantly for writing a few hot and steamy sessions. But my curiosity got the best of me, and I caved in! I will admit that Mr.Grey has something on the collective fantasy world of women… Not highly intellectual literature, but hey, can a girl have some pure entertainment readings once in a while?
So I thought I’d pair this book with a «hot» tea, something sexy of course…
Mmm, some Ginseng love potion?
My first ginseng tea ever…I ordered 100g strictly based on *Roughage*’s review, he had mentioned he could taste Fisherman’s Friend cough drops. I adore them and thought it would be wonderful to find a similar taste in a beverage.
Dark bluish green little nuggets, how unusually shaped they are! I am so curious about them… I brewed the tea in my glass pot in order to watch the leaves doing their dance. 90 sec. They barely opened up, they are rolled very tightly. The infusion turned slightly green, darker than most oolong.
The aroma is definitely oolong, with a twist of…je ne sais quoi…
The taste:
Miaow…This is really fifty shades of flavour! How can I describe it?
I understand the cough drop reference, some kind of eucalyptus freshness surfing in my mouth and tingling my tongue, coating and warming my throat along with the buttery taste of oolong.It also reminds me of some vintage candy my grandma used to give us, in french, they were called «Boules Noires» (doesn’t translate so well in english, but if you want to know, there you have it: Black Balls)
That’s exactly what they were, little black balls, hard as a rock and as you’d let them melt in your mouth, they would change colours… Lots of fun and very tasty! As I remember, they had a sweet liquorice fresh menthol feel to them and this tea is very reminiscent of that. I am really enjoying this.
Second steep and the leaves are on their way to unfurl, but not completely yet. I know some of you mentioned that the ginseng powder was pretty much gone after first steep, but I still get quite a bit of that flavour. It is more subtle though, and the oolong is more present. This oolong is very buttery, in a baked cookie kind of way.
I don’t know how many infusions I will get out of it, but this is what I’m having for the rest of the day!
It was the perfect choice to pair with what I’m reading at the moment… just like the book, it made me blush a little :-)
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never heard about these famous boules noires in France. We had “boules magiques” an awful enormous hard candy with several flavor layers and, in its middle, to finish a chewing gum.
I wonder how these boules magiques didn’t manage to eradicate all French teenagers by suffocation …it was really a huge ball…
The tea seems amazing (not sure for the book…but Frenchs have Le marquis de Sade !)
@ysaurella: Oh, we had those awful «jawbreakers» here too, that’s what they were called «casse gueules»! that’s literally what they were! And for the book, I know it just came out in french, it is called Cinquante Nuances de Grey, but I’m reading the english version. I’d say not quite as twisted and tormented as the original Le Marquis de Sade! More of a romantic version :-)
Fifty shades of Grey = Twilight fanfiction with character name changes. Really. Someone found her original work and put it into one of the websites that can find plagarism, compared it to the book and it was a 95% match to the original. So. Bad.
@momo: I know I am also one the last woman on earth not having read the twilight series so I’m afraid I can’t compare…But if it is 95% of the same, than I don’t understand the big fuss about twilight either! However, I still find it somewhat entertaining :-)
never heard about these famous boules noires in France. We had “boules magiques” an awful enormous hard candy with several flavor layers and, in its middle, to finish a chewing gum.
I wonder how these boules magiques didn’t manage to eradicate all French teenagers by suffocation …it was really a huge ball…
The tea seems amazing (not sure for the book…but Frenchs have Le marquis de Sade !)
@ysaurella: Oh, we had those awful «jawbreakers» here too, that’s what they were called «casse gueules»! that’s literally what they were! And for the book, I know it just came out in french, it is called Cinquante Nuances de Grey, but I’m reading the english version. I’d say not quite as twisted and tormented as the original Le Marquis de Sade! More of a romantic version :-)
Fifty shades of Grey = Twilight fanfiction with character name changes. Really. Someone found her original work and put it into one of the websites that can find plagarism, compared it to the book and it was a 95% match to the original. So. Bad.
@momo: I know I am also one the last woman on earth not having read the twilight series so I’m afraid I can’t compare…But if it is 95% of the same, than I don’t understand the big fuss about twilight either! However, I still find it somewhat entertaining :-)