Main Squeeze

 

Main Squeeze from DT

 Ingredients: Green yerba maté, candied papaya, pineapple, safflower, natural flavouring*.   Contains sulfites


I drink this tea EVERY. DAY that I go to work. It is the first thing that I do before getting myself set up at my desk; prepare my tea. 

Every morning I put a generous perfect spoonful of main squeeze in to a DavidsTea draw-string tea bag, wrap the string around the top to secure it, and pull off the tab. Why? Because I keep that sucker in the water the ENTIRE TIME, so this prevents the water climbing up the string and dripping all over the edge of my mug. 

No steep time, it sits in the water and stays there. 
The key is to just let it sit, I swear.

No, it is not over powering. It is perfect. I have never had a single cup where I have found the flavour too strong, AND it stays strong enough for at least a second cup. Perhaps even a third. (Honestly, I tend to get so busy that I get half way through my mug by the time my tea gets cold so I just top it off)

This tea is my coffee.

Only it tastes a million times better. I hate coffee, it's bitter, overwhelming, and it lingers like tribbles.

This tea is fruity, mostly a papaya flavour, with a nice strong base of the mate. I really enjoy the taste, and it has the wonderful added bonus of giving you that much-needed jolt on a weekday morning.


I recommend this to anyone and everyone who wants a tea that isn't black for their wake-up.



Happy Steeping,

~K

The Last of Us: Mixing of Obsessions Part 2

On my first steep, I used once scoop with my David's Perfect Spoon and steeped it for about 5 minutes. There honestly isn't much of a smell to this tea, and it doesn't taste bad. A little herby, but not savory or sweet. So, for a tea made for healing instead of flavor, I'd say that's pretty ace. BUT if you steep it too long it becomes bitter and completely undrinkable.

Now, for the true test, out of all my steeps did it work for what the ingredients are supposed to do...

The answer is a resounding, kind of. Since there were no steeping instructions, I can't be sure I was even doing it correctly.

I did have a decrease in pain by about two points when I had it. (5/10 down to a 3/10 etc) But nothing super spectacular that made this worth using when we have access to pain killers.

BUT in the world of The Last of Us, steeping this on a cold night, when you're bruised and sore and have nothing else to soothe it, a tea like this would be awesome and incredibly helpful!

In the end, this is perfect for the apocalypse if you are in the North Eastern USA or Iceland!

Oh yeah, and here is the video I promised you.

 

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No, seriously,
We DO NOT take responsibility for any possible consequences from any use of the information provided by this information, or information contained in this blog. The post of this information does NOT constitute the practice of medicine or replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider(s). Please seek the advice from your doctors.

Sweet Strawberry

White tea, strawberries, rosehips, 

white Silver Needles, hibiscus, stevia, natural flavouring

This tea is basically its name.

Sweet Strawberry by DavidsTea is a white tea. A light, beautiful, white tea.

So I started with one heaping scoop of tea using David's Perfect Spoon. Set my kettle to the "white tea" setting (185F). Then steeped it for about 4 minutes. Let it rest for about 4 minutes. Then started drinking. (I finished the entire pot)






Now, you all know by now how I like a really strong tea, but this light tea is just so nice. I always need to have some hanging around.

When you smell it, you'll know how it tastes. It doesn't taste as strong as it smells, but it tastes the same. Every time you take a sip, you smell the strawberries, taste the strawberries with a gentle backer of the white tea. So light, sweet, but in a light way.

This tea would be amazing, amazing, iced on a hot summer day.




As you can see, this tea leaves me feeling excited. It's just so nice.

Now excuse me while I go enjoy my strawberry bliss, which you should enjoy too. So should your friends. So should your family. Coworkers. Everyone. :|

EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT IT HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED. BECAUSE OF STUPID REASONS NO DOUBT.
LUCKILY. I ORDERED 250g LIKE A BOSS.

-Laura

Just Peachy

no picture right now
sorry

Ingredients: Apple, sweet blackberry leaves, peach, natural and artificial flavouring.

I tried this for the first time this Saturday while waiting for Chris to get a hair and beard trim. The barber shop was only two stores down from DavidsTea and I could not resist popping over for a nice cold drink. I also wanted to try something different and new, so I went with Just Peachy.

Wow.

The biggest wow. I was SO surprised by this tea. So surprised, in fact, that I went back and bought some less than five minutes later, literally.
THIS is a peach tea!

It tastes almost exactly the way that it smells. So peachy and delicious. It's not sweet, but you don't need any sugar added. Nothing needs to be added. Peachy heaven. I was afraid that the apple would over power the peach, but it definitely does not. It tastes like apple and peach juice, without a bunch of sugar-y junk in it.

I made myself some at home the very same day! Does this tell you how in love with the amazing iced tea I am? It should. Especially since I have a whole jug of a "cluster fruit" (as Laura so awesomely called it) of iced teas.

I have yet to perfect the making of on the spot iced tea, like they do in store... but soon. Soon...


Bravo, DT. You made an iced tea that I am just crazy about.

The Last of Us: Mixing of Obsessions Part 1

Ellie is basically amazing. Image source here

This has to be a two parter. I'm sorry, but the information portion (this portion) is simply too long to be combined with the tea review portion! I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO. BUT YOU BETTER READ BOTH BECAUSE I PUT A LOT OF TIME AND EFFORT INTO THIS.

This is literally the only game I'm going to play the entire way through, mostly ALL BY MYSELF. I've watched it be played online  numerous times and in person (Thank you, fiancee). So, I'm pretty well versed in the game itself.
Did I forget to mention I've watched ALL of the behind the scenes videos and googled the fuck out of things and have completed the DLC? No? Well now you know.

As you can see, this obsession has reached the same level as my tea obsession. So, I decided why not mix them together, and see what sprouts out?

The tea I found is actually an Icelandic Tea. It's closest to what I wanted, without having to basically make my own. One of the ingredients is pretty specific to where it is made. LUCKILY, the one ingredient that is not located in the USA, has a counterpart in the USA. SO IT'S ALL GOOD YA'LL.

Okay, so let's start with The Last of Us map. Basically every chapter has been mapped out and color coded! 

Image source is here

Now, let's move on the plants in the tea!

• Birch (Betula pubescens) [1] [2]
• Iceland moss (Cetraria islandica)
• Angelica (Angelica archangelica)*

The angelica is the only non-American plant; and even then, it is only that specific species of angelica.  The North American specific angelica is Angelica Atropurpurea. Flavor and health benefit wise, it is basically the same.  Props for edible plants.

Image source here

All of these plants (replacing the Angelica archangelica with the Angelica Atropurpurea), are located in Massachusetts, and/or Pennsylvania, and/or Wyoming, and/or Colorado, and/or New England. Which, happily enough are all on The Last of Us map! As for the angelica, we have to pretend.

Now, let's go over the health benefits of all of the
stuff in this tea. You know, the thing that makes it something people would actually WANT to brew. Since just boiling water is easier than making a tea with barely any supplies, it has to be worth it. Otherwise, fuck that noise.

Birch: [1] [2]

• Source of vitamin C. Vit C helps with collagen production. Collagen is required to help wounds heal. It also boosts your immune system.
• It helps treat UTI's by increasing the amount you pee. Flushing out bacteria is rad
• Helps treat arthritis/aching joints
• Helps treat skin rashes

Iceland Moss: [1]

• Helps with dry coughs/bronchitis/common cold
• Helps treat indigestion
• Helps treat fevers
• Helps treat irritation of the mouth and throat
• *It can be applied directly to poorly healing wounds
• *It can also be used as an emergency food source

Angelica (Angelica Atropurpurea): [1]

• Helps treat heartburn
• Helps treat gas
• Helps treat arthritis
• Helps induce menstruation *see health warnings for more details
• Abortive qualities would be beneficial if being pregnant would be a health risk

My plan is to actually take this tea before my period is due, and when I am in a bit more pain. As someone prone to joint and muscle pain, as well as someone with a uterus, I figure timing it out that way would make things a tad bit more scientific. If I have heartburn or gas at the time, I'll let you know.

Health warnings!

Image source here

Birch: [1]

• Do not take if pregnant or breast-feeding
• Do not take if allergic to mugwort, wild carrot, or celery
• Do not take if you have high blood pressure

Iceland Moss: [1]

• Do not take if pregnant of breast-feeding
• Do not take if you have a stomach or small intestine ulcer

Angelica:  [1]

• Do not take if pregnant or breast feeding
• *It is suggested that angelica can cause uterine contractions

There seems to be a theme of DO NOT TAKE WHEN PREGNANT...

Oki Doki Smokey!  That's the end of Part 1! 

Now that you are up to date as to WHY this tea would be beneficial, available, and the potential health risks, next week we can do the actual tea review! 

Thank you for bearing with me!

Endure and survive until next week!

-L

I may even include a video of me playing TLoU. I'm not good at it, so it will be funny.

Again,
We DO NOT take responsibility for any possible consequences from any use of the information provided by this information, or information contained in this blog. The post of this information does NOT constitute the practice of medicine or replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider(s). Please seek the advice from your doctors.

Banana Dream Pie

Let me start off with this will probably turn into hate speech against this tea. You all have been warned.

I really, REALLY don't recommend steeping this in water THEN adding milk. It just tastes...wrong. Too strong. Too bitter. So, if you are going to steep it, just steep it straight in milk. Trust me. It tastes better.

For one, not enough banana. Like, they fucking skimped out! I have gone to the store to see how expensive huge amounts of large bulk slices of banana are...and it is really cheap. I mean, c'mon! DT, you are just being cheap as fuck.
Number two, the cocoa nibs just really fucking kill the white chocolate. Why not, instead of cocoa nibs (I've never had a banana cream pie with those in it!), put in say, white chocolate and some vanilla yogurt stuff? Or white chocolate and some vanilla bean? You know, shit that makes some fucking sense with bananas. Or a tea trying to mimic banana cream pie.

BUT, it did taste better than their Pure Chai (I can only speak for Pure Chai, not any of the other Chai from DT)

When steeped in straight milk, it taste very creamy, and very rich, and quite chocolatey. I literally got through maybe, MAYBE 1 cup of it. I actually felt a little gross after, so I made some Organic Detox tea to feel better. Like it doesn't taste BAD...but it doesn't really taste good either.

3/10. Would not buy. I regret my choice to pay for 50g of it.

-Laura

PS. If you own it and haven't tried it, follow these steps. I just asked DT about it being available, and it's apparently part of the Winter 2012 collection and no longer able to be bought. Which is weird...since I bought way, way after.

See, I found my invoice. Notice the fact it was purchased
JUNE 15TH 2013. So either people really hated it and there was some left over for months, or I just have to give DT major a major sideeyeing. WHO WOULD THINK ABOUT BANANAS FOR WINTER?????

Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon from DavidsTea

Ingredients: Candied pineapple (pineapple, cane sugar, citric acid, sufur dioxide), blueberry, lemongrass, elderberries, cornflower, natural and artificial flavouring. Contains sulfites.


Well, "SULFUR DIOXIDE" did not make me feel comfortable reading as an ingredient in my tea... but I do this for you, dear readers.
UPDATE: Apparently it is a preservative... a SCARY sounding preservative. 

 

Very interesting colour. In the dark it looks BLUE.

The entire spring collection smells like alcohol (at least when dry) to me. Is that weird, or does it have something to do with the ingredients? WHO KNOWS. It smells like blueberry liquor. I'm not entirely keen on blueberries, though sometimes they surprise me... and I really don't like lemongrass... This is a play-by-play, don't expect a positive review, is what I'm saying; I have no idea what to expect.

Like with the peaches and cream, the scent is very strong, but I have my doubts as to the strength of the tea. Even though I did steep it for the longest recommended time (DT's times I take as a guess more than instruction).

Surprisingly, the strength is fine! AND I am not repulsed by it like I honestly expected to be. It's not jump-up-and-down fantastic or anything, but there is something about it that makes me nod my head in quiet appreciation.

The lemongrass is smooth and lemony, and you can really taste the blueberry and elderberry! It's a little like the blueberry candies from those fruit basket candies you get from the quarter machines at like... swimming pools and what have you.

This would be really nice iced, I think. It's very different, and that is refreshing as well. It isn't often that you find blueberries in tea. And blueberries are super good for you!

This is something worth trying to get your hands on as least a sample of. Go out of your comfort zone, like I did, and it just might surprise you!


Happy Steeping,

~K


PS.
Sorry I write so much sometimes. I hope no one minds!
I love treating this more like a blog-y, thought-process type thing than a "HERE ARE THE FACTS" kind of review.

Goji Pop

Okay, I'm cheating when it comes to steeping this one. I put it in a bag. I WANTED TO REVIEW BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO CLEAN UP. DON'T JUDGE ME.

Today's review? Goji Pop by DavdsTea.

Since I have a tin of it, it's pretty obvious that I like this tea. As a general rule of thumb, for me, buying 100 grams of tea means it's a keeper.

So I used two scoops of this tea using my David's Perfect Spoon, put them in the DavidsTea drawstring tea filters that I got from Kayla. Steeped it for extra long (aka the bag didn't leave the pot) because, well, it's in the bag and doesn't get to spread out as much.

This tea is sweet, but not too sweet, and quite smooth.  I get a lot of honeydew flavor, but it can change depending on the proportions of fruits you get in each scoop. IT'S LIKE A SURPRISE EVERY TIME. I honestly don't find that it has much of a smell.

Either way, it's a good tea.

Get the good tea.

Much tea. Very good.

-Laura

Cool Cucumber

Cool Cucumber from DT

Ingredients: Black tea, honeydew melon, cucumber, sunflower, blue mallow blossoms, natural and artificial flavouring.


Yet another you-can-only-get-this-in-the-spring-collection tea. Even though Laura gave me her bag from her collection, I actually tried it for the first time at DavidsTea in store the other day. I had a free tea for joining some frequent customer thing or something (I wasn't paying too much attention and only heard "FREE TEA"), so she suggested Cool Cucumber on ice. Why not?

I was nervous... the smell of the tea is strange, to say the least. Like... gum? It's a very sweet kind of peppermint and it is quite strong. But Chris smelled it and said I was being weird and should try it, so...
Is this tea supposed to be like a cucumber mojito??

The melon and the peppermint are both outstanding flavours, but you do get a good taste of the cucumber as well. The closest flavour likeness that I can think of is the melon flavoured Hi-Chew (like a delicious Japanese starburst kind of candy). The flavour is nowhere near as assaulting to the nastebuds as the scent is to the nose. Light and sweet with a really cool twist of peppermint. It's very unique, and I actually would not mind buying more. I found it really relaxing to sip at. And it would probably make an excellent cocktail base!

Chris even tried it and said that it was not bad. THAT'S A BIG DEAL, GUYS! He also said it reminded him of watermelon fruit roll-ups.
General consensus; it apparently tastes like a variety of melon-y candies.

I have not tried this hot, but I'm quite sure that it was not meant to be enjoyed that way... at least not by me! I may update in the future when I feel like giving it a go, but for now... try it iced; very lovely.

It grows on you.
Yup, I need to buy more!


Happy steeping,

~K


PS No pictures because I drank it all while we wandered the mall.

Tea at Sea Sample x2

Hey all! Today, we do samples. Two of many, many sample packets I have.

Luckily for me, Tea at Sea gives samples large enough to make a full post (unlike DT where some of their samples are only enough for one cup). Also, their sample packets are resealable. So if you only want to make a single cup to try, you can and you won't have to throw any away! It can also work as a little travel pack to take some looseleaf to work. Plop it in it's matching sample bag, and off you go!

I have a deep rooted love for Tea at Sea's product, as small as it is. It's down to Earth (no frills and no fucking coconut), all natural, all tea leaf. Sometimes it's nice to ground yourself in the basics again, to refresh yourself from all the fancy flavors from this, that and the other thing. Appreciate the natural, and different, flavors that comes from different preparation and growing methods.

Also, their tins and sample packs and labels are cute.

The first pot I made was of their Ceylon Sencha. It's a Sri Lankan green. The dry leaves smelled almost fruity, but upon steeping it smelled a little more like seaweed. The tea itself smells warm, and light.

The flavor is exactly as described on the label. Smooth, mellow, mild taste with a slight sweetness. It's earthy and relaxing. I just loved this pot of tea. I wanna buy some! So. Fucking. Good.


The second tea I made was a pot of their Ceylon FFEXSP (Flowery Fannings Extra Special). This tea is Sri Lankan and steeped at about the same temperature as white tea. Yet, it does not look like a white tea, or smell like one. In fact, it smells like a black tea.

It's yummy, but it's not as yummy as the Sencha. It is nice and earthy, and very smooth. It's really, in the end, just not the tea for me.


One good, one not so much for me. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me! Thank you Tea at Sea, for never disappointing me.

-L

Peaches and Cream

Peaches&Cream from DT

 Ingredients: peach, apple, vanilla pieces, peach crunchy (peach puree, tangerines, strawberry juice, black carrot juice), safflower, sunflowers, natural flavouring.


This tea smells like booze. Dead serious. This tea (which you can not buy save for a limited time as part of the entire spring collection - no tins of this baby for you) smells like peach and strawberry schnapps.
It's surprising, but also very enticing and delicious. It gives you high hopes.
After a strong seven minutes (I wasn't confident in the amount they provided in the little sample pouch) of steeping, I made our entire basement smell of some kind of over-priced cocktail on steroids. The aroma is... well, pungent. Which really intensifies the underwhelming flavour of the tea.

It tastes (barely) of peach flavour and strawberries with a nice creamy punch of vanilla. If this were, say... at least five times stronger, I would most likely really really like this tea. But I would need more of it, which I can't actually purchase without getting four other teas you possibly have zero interest in. And you won't get a lot of it.

This was so close to being something fantastic. So close.
I am really on the fence about this one. I want more, but I don't want to fork out $25 for the entire spring collection just so I can get 25 grams of it.
Unimpressed.


Happy Steeping,
~K