Read My Lips

chocolate and light. sssssslightest bit of mint.
it sweetens and it deepens.
matching the christmas eve sky.
here is a poem for you to enjoy.

by ee cummings

if in beginning twilight of winter will stand

(over a snowstopped silent world)one
spirit serenely truly himself; and

alone only as greatness is alone —

one(above nevermoving all nowhere)
goldenly whole,prodigously alive
most mercifully glorying keen star

whom she-and-he-life ifs of am perceive

(but believe scarcely may) certainly while
mute each inch of their murdered planet grows
more and enormously more less:until
her-and-his nonexistence vanishes

with also earth’s
—“dying” the ghost of you
whispers “is very pleasant” my ghost to

warning, fitness-centric post!

so first things first, i use myfitnesspal to try to keep reigns on my eating so that i don’t out grow my pants and so i can continue to progress at running. today i added a category for tea hah! it goes TEAS, breakfast, lunch, dinner. duh should have done that long ago.
i also add every tea i drink to the database, even if they are adagio fandom blends and i’m the only person who will drink them. i love seeing bilbo or sherlock names when i go to log food.

now, i have also registered for a relay race in October. it’s usually a relay of 12 people but this year we are doing and ‘ultra’ team which means we each run twice as much over the 30 hr race. about 33 miles each person is the estimate. since i prefer long distances i’d have it no other way.
we need a name for the team, so i’ve been brainstorming puns. the race is 6 people in a van, 1 person runs at a time, and if you can decorate the van for a theme it’s even better. the first round of punny names include:
Repo Van
Vando Calrissian
Encino Van
Vans Labyrinth
The Hobbit: Van Unexpected Journey
VAN Hell Zing
The Van Who Wasn’t There
A Van with No Name

I’m all out of this as of last night. Of course it meant I had to immediately place a DAVIDs order for this and a couple of other favourites. (I’m not even gonna bother removing it from cupboard since it will be back in by mid next week)

This is such a good peppermint chocolate tea. This and butiki’s Peppermint Patty are head to head for me in the peppermint category. You have to have them both if for no other reason that one is herbal and one is black.

It smells heavenly of mint, both brewed and dry leaf, it is very forgiving with steeping screw ups, it is not astringent, has a nice mild base and takes sugar oh so well. It’s just delicious. A staple for me.

Since it’s a chilly 15 degrees and rainy here today, I decided to whip out this tea this afternoon. I had exactly enough left for one glass, which is fine because I’ve got another 100g on the way to get me through the winter.
I knew that I loved this tea, and I know it’s my favourite but I hadn’t had it in a few months and kind of forgot what it tasted like.

IT TASTES LIKE AFTER EIGHTS MELTED THEMSELVES INTO A CUP, THAT’S WHAT IT TASTES LIKE!

Ahem. It’s very chocolatey but also noticeably cool and minty. I like that it’s cool and minty yet the mint doesn’t push everything else out of the way. Once I smelled this steeping, the reasons that I love it all came rushing back in a hurry. I foresee myself drinking a LOT of this and Pumpkin Chai this fall and winter.

Another tea I get to cross off my TEA Bucket List thanks to Daisy Chubb!!!!

This reminds me of DT’s Santa’s Helper and I really like that! I think that one is a little more mintier and candy-like but this one is darned dandy, too!

It’s chocolate and mint and sweet and satisfying…might have to make some minty DT purchases soon! :) Thanks again DaisyChubb!!!!

Bit of a backlog: My mom needed me to come in to her store today and price-sticker stuff for their grand opening on Saturday, so I did that. On the way there I picked up some steamed milk at SBUX to make this one into a latte when I got there.

I had nearly forgotten how good this one is. It basically remains the best chocolate tea I’ve ever had.

What’s really weird about that is that this is also a chocolate mint tea. And I hate chocolate mint, to the point that the smell of it can literally bring bile to my mouth if it’s strong enough.

But I like this one. Why?

I guess the mint is soft enough, perhaps? It’s like the mint is cushioned in a soft blanket of cashmere chocolate, while other chocolate mint things are like I’m being stabbed with peppermint and cocoa. Ugh.

Also, I picked up a bottle of caramel syrup from Second Cup on the way home (haha, gotta spread out my small bit of coffee-shop business) so I can mix it up with my vanilla syrup. I’m currently having a caramel matcha latte made with vanilla almond milk. HOLY BALLS, it’s amazing!

I finally made it to the new store in manhattan (Bleeker) and I just love the staff there. So friendly. They were impressed that I came In with a list of teas. I am a dork, obviously. They were sampling this tea today and I’m pleasantly surprised. I didn’t expect to like it this much since mint blends tend to be overly minty and I’m not usually a fan of black tea but this is good. The tea base actually acts as a malty boost to the chocolate with a minty brightness keeping it interesting. I was almost tempted to get some. Instead, I left with about ten .5 ounce bags of different teas to try.

I’ll be back to try others. Yaaaay. I’m so excited that DT opened here.

Sipdown (121)!

So this came in one of those adorable as hell Easter Egg tins from DT; my sister hid three of them (I don’t know if they’re sold individually or as a set) in my house for the holiday – I’ve passed one of the three along to Tre to give to a friend since it’s one I’ve tried and don’t really need/want around right now (Forever Nuts) and the other is Chocolate Macaroon which I don’t really love but I’m holding on to because there are a few creative ways I think I could prepare it.

I don’t have good memories of this one – but it’s also been over a year since I last had it so I thought I owed this tea another chance. I’m drinking the sample as a cold brew because back when I first had it I hadn’t discovered the joys of cold brewing, and since then mint/chocolate cold brews have become something I consistently enjoy. This is NOT working for me though – something about the smell alone is turning me off. Like, remember that ridiculously acted/overly dramatic scene in Breaking Dawn where Bella is craving eggs and then they go to make the eggs and she just instantly goes into morning sickness mode? The smell of this is making me nauseous in almost the same way as I imagine morning sickness would.

But; I’m trying it anyway…

…And, nope! This one is so very much still not my cup of tea. The chocolate has such a wonky taste to it – and it forces itself on you in a really questionable way; it’s borderline chemical tasting but definitely artificial. Cheap chocolate; that’s what it is. I’m sure the stupid sprinkles don’t help much either. The peppercorn? Nope – I’ll echo my thoughts from a year ago; what is it doesn’t in the blend!? It adds nothing of value, and it clashes with the already not so delicious taste of the chocolate. The mint is sort of the only redeeming thing – but even then it kind of tastes… Old?

This one is such a big flop – and it’s matching with all the negative memories I’ve got from a year ago, except worse. But even still; I rated this 72!? What was I smoking!? I’m dropping this rating down to where it deserves to be and the rest of this foul, nauseating brew is getting dumped as it should be. Who actually likes this crap?

Big Brother Update (not that any of you care – it’s more a tally for myself):

Goddesses/Divine Beings: Sarah, Naeha

Love: Brittnee, Johnny, Sindy

Kinda Like: Zach, Jordan, Kevin (even after tonight’s roller coaster episode),

No Opinion/Neutral: Ashleigh, Risha, Pilar (START PLAYING THE FREAKING GAME!)

Scum of the Earth: B*bby (Bobby), Craigslist/Egg/Grogg (Graig), Br*n* (Bruno), Wallow (Willow; but she’s sort of on the road to redemption), Flopfrey (Godfrey)

this is another tea I got from softrevolution.
If everything continues like it smells it’s going to be fantastic. This has to be the yummiest smelling mint chocolate tea I have smelt. The peppermint is fantastic and the chocolate smells like real chocolate, not artificial like many others.
Upon being steeped it looses most of the chocolate smell… oh no :( it tastes nicely pepperminty however the chocolate barely comes threw at the end. as it cools a bit more the chocolate comes through a little more. However I didn’t want my tea to cool today it’s a chilly morning.
Overall I wish there was some more chocolate flavour to it. but still very enjoyable.

oops I forgot about my strawberry zabaglione that is steeping

Yum-yum, December 1st. Had this before, loved it then so there was no doubt I’d love it this time too!!

Tea #7 from Traveling Tea Box C

Oh my goodness – someone dipped Monty Python’s wafer-thin-mint into a cup of tea! Take cover!!!

…

Okay, since no one seems about to explode, this is a surprisingly enjoyable cup. It really does taste like a thin mint, complete with the minty-fresh aftertaste to finish it off. The little red lips didn’t seem to do anything (they’re still mixed in with the steeped leaves) but those little dollhouse-sized kisses are long gone. This is a really nice change after the last firey chocolate tea, and it really seems like I’ve just finished off dessert.