#tea tasting

“I keep saying ‘it’s not my favorite’ and then taking bigger, greedier sips like a fucking liar.”

“…with a very strong aftertaste that lingers in my throat so long I should ask it to start paying rent.”

“Safe to say I will definitely NOT be gifting this to anyone.”

“I’m burping orange peel flavored burps right now, though.”

“I am drinking goddamn tree bark right now. I definitely can’t say I hate it, though…”

I've... I've got some time now to drink these.

Battat Tea: Good lord, this one is strong! It'd certainly be something to wake me up in the morning. I like it! It has a nice little lavender-tasting foam on the top which gives it a nice bit of sweetness amidst the strong sorta coffee-ish flavor. Gives it a nice and well-rounded sorta feel to it. It really reminds me of those long work days where all that's keeping me going is knowing I've got a pal at the end of it, waiting for me at a seat somewhere in the studio. Smells like Fridays after work at the bar.

Pluey Tea: This one is also really strong, but in a different direction? Like a punch of frosting kinda feeling! Like buttercream frosting, not that gross plasticky stuff they sell at supermarkets. Homemade sorta taste to it. It feels fluffy and elegant! It's got a mild earthiness to it, which you can almost miss through all that sugar. It's got an overwhelming flavor, but it feels safe. Smells a little bit like early mornings sitting on the couch with a cat before the work day picks up. It's calming, in a strange way.

Jongler Tea: Smells really floral, but somehow like metal? Like metal spurs on those old timey cowboy boots. Tastes like hot air and the wind in your face, if that makes any sense. It's sweet, but it's somehow got this honey-ish flavor to it? It's what I'd give to Kris and Asriel if they were sick. It's also got this sorta gentle herb-y taste to it? It blends nicely with the honey. The texture's a little strange though, like too much honey was put in it and now the water's different. Even so, it reminds me of home. The Dreemurrs.

Finally, named after yours truly.....

Tenna Tea: It... Tastes like static. I don't like that. It feels like spun sugar got caught in my teeth, despite it just being a normal liquid tea like the others. Like I really can't get it out, and my teeth are gonna suffer for it. No floss or toothbrush can help me here.

Despite that, it feels normal. Good normal, I think. Like this is a better version of it. Like if someone were to work around with the recipe for it, it could be better? Feels stupid to hope though, it's just tea after all. Smells like dry cleaning, and painkillers after a long day.

I... Have a confession to make. I saved the Spamton tea. It's embarassing, especially since he'll probably see this... But I felt an obligation to. I'm mixing it with the Tenna tea.

Spamton & Tenna Tea: It tastes like whiskey, cigarettes, and long drives out somewhere quiet and safe. It smells like horrible liquor and worse decisions. It tastes so, so familiar. And at the same time like it's miles away. I want more, badly. But that's stupid. It's just tea. It's just tea, Ant. It's just tea.

I'll mix the Tenna and.. Well, Mike trio tea.

Tenna and Mikes Tea: Wow, this is actually pretty nice! Was expecting the weirdness of the Tenna tea to screw around a lot with the other teas, but it turned out okay, all things considered. Still feels like I have something stuck in my teeth awful from that Tenna tea though. Wish I could improve it, but I doubt the tea-makers would listen to me! I'm just some 'ol TV host! Really like it though.

In conclusion I think they have to change the tea named after me. And maybe discontinue the one named after the mailman.

Tea-drinkers of Tumblr

If I like Black Chai (with sweetener)

Refresh mint by Tazo

Style: teabag

Flavor profile: peppermint, spearmint, tarragon

Fragrance notes: mint, menthol

I've been pondering on this for a while. I want to learn about the different ways to make tea from all around the globe. I want to know how you make your tea, and to learn how I can make it too if possible. I would love to hear some stories, myths, legends, memories and foods or snacks that go along with the tea. Or as long as it's connected to tea anything goes!

And I would like to share it all here on tumblr, either through pictures and text, and maybe some filming (if I'm feeling brave enough).

The how's and when's is not planned yet, and some input is welcomed. Maybe have people send in submissions? idk...?

This project is inspired by Beryl Shereshewsky's video so I'm sharing this as well. It's fun to watch, and made me really want to do something like this as well.

Link to the video here: https://youtu.be/eWX9Ab7AQBE?si=CTOxEPvMMpjvDGb_

We’ll begin with Mabel’s alt-tea, or rather, alt-tisane. I had been putting this one off, and actually meant to put it off even longer, so it would be the last tea I sampled, because I really didn’t expect to like this one at all. The issue, dear reader, was the raspberries.

Raspberries. My mother loves raspberries, but I have never been able to stand the things. I have never even seen pink dust, never mind licked a wooden shelf coated in a solid inch of the stuff, but all I can usually think of when I taste is raspberry is “I just licked a mouthful of pink dust.” This is not an experience I imagine as particularly pleasant. Maybe more pleasant than some other hypothetical colors of dust, but still not especially pleasant.

Another brew with those bits that looked like teeth! Wish I could figure out what those are, just out of curiosity.

Maybe this time they look a bit more like a cross between cut-off corn and very tiny cubes of apple?

Brewed up three minutes with the sand timer, very red color…and it…actually smells very nice. I don’t know exactly what I think it smells like, but it smells really, really nice….

…and it tastes very, very nice! Nothing like pink dust at all. Very, very nice. I am thoroughly enjoying this cup.

Could it be a fluke? I put it to the test and made a small pot of it. This time, I got to watch it brewing, and it was weird! At first, the liquid stayed completely clear…but then, red started slowly seeping out of the infuser basket. The immediate impression was of blood seeping into the water, which would make for an excellent Halloween brew. I take a risk and brew it for double the time I usually brew anything.

However, it seems I didn’t put quite enough of the mix in my basket, because the color is noticeably lighter than before. Oh, well. It still tasted really good. Weaker, but just as good.

Dang. Don’t judge a book by its cover, I guess, because I actually really, really like this! I’ve got one more episode left on the second disc of Flashpoint Season One, so I have thrown caution to the winds and put the rest of the sample tin in my infuser basket, resigned to probably buying more of this in the near future. Nice ruby color again after a lengthy infusion, which once again initially looked a lot like blood seeping into water, but that’s all right.

Again, a delicious accompaniment to a Highly Emotional TV Show, this time with my kitten Audrey curled up against my side and purring at top volume, as is our custom before bedtime. I am beginning to believe that either spearmint is a magical agent on par with the Philosopher’s Stone or that @sovonight is a wizard, because this is now two red fruit blends I have actually kinda wanted more of after I polished them off!

My other two reviews of the day are, I fear, less interesting, though one does include a Cute Anecdote about one of my cats. I started the day off with the Lapsangless Stan, dumped the rest of the sample into the infuser basket…and was back to only tasting rooibos and ginger. Still, made for something warm to sip on while crying my way through the first three episodes of season one. Once that pot was exhausted, I did the same with the Lapsangless Ford, which…I think I registered it as vaguely spicy and more interesting than my first pot, though I only got to drink about a cup and a half of that one - while I was busy crying through the first episode of disc 2, my little kitten Grace did something she has never done in her ten months of life, and decided to stick her nose in my tea! Normally she looks at it from a safe distance and then walks away, but apparently this one smelled intriguing enough that I looked up from the sofa to the ledge behind it to find her having a sip. So the rest of that cup had to be poured out. I couldn’t even really be mad, though - how, after all, does one stay mad at this little lady?

Or, if she looks too striking there (or can’t be seen at all there, since the picture started giving me an error message after I hit post) at this face: