Saturday 31 January 2015

Lime-Coco


Ingredients: black tea, lime wedges, coconut chips, flavour, marigold blossoms.




Tea Desire tea. I wish that I got to shop there more often, but they are in a part of the city I absolutely hate driving in.

I LOVE lime. Everything lime is just my thing and I must try it.

It smells like lotion from Bed, Bath and Bodyworks. I actually used to use the lotion, so just smelling this, knowing that I have to consume it, is incredibly awkward for me.

One sip and I have to say
NOPE
NOPE
NOPE

This tastes like that lotion was mixed into a cup of earl grey. It tastes like nothing but artficial flavours and chemicals.

Absolutely do not recommend.
I'm so disappointed right now... Wow.


~K

Wednesday 28 January 2015

Bear Valley Rescue!

I've started to volunteer with Bear Valley Horse Rescue!

I'm going to start making posts on Wednesday's having a feature animal, some progress reports, donation information, contact information, etc.

About The Rescue

"Bear Valley Rescue was founded in 2004, and we registered federally as a charity in January of 2005.

Back in 2002 or 2003, I was reading the novel 'The Grave Maurice' by one of my favourite authors, Martha Grimes.  It's a murder mystery, but part of the plot involves a pmu (pregnant mare urine) farm.  I'd never heard of 'pmu' before and started researching it.  Finding out about all the foals being born each year to pmu mares, with no future but slaughter ahead of them, started me thinking: If only people knew about these horses...!  From there we learned about horse auctions and horse feedlots. On our first trip to a feedlot, we went with our 2 horse trailer and came away with 12 horses (no, they didn't all fit in our trailer - the feedlot owner delivered them for us for free!).  Then we started buying pmu mares (all pregnant, of course) that were being culled, and had the privilege of meeting Jennifer Kunz through pmuFoalQuest (she is now the manager of Duchess Sanctuary in Oregon).  The rest, as they say, is history.  The Rescue has taken on a life of its own, and we now have well over 100 horses in our care, along with other residents such as rabbits, chickens, pigs, goats, and cows."

I hope that these guys capture your heart like they've captured mine!

Here's all of their contact information!

Facebook
Twitter
Website
Linkedin
Donation (cheque, money order, paypal, and ATB cares  payment methods all available!)
You can also sponsor a horse for $50/month!
Charity Focus

Many thanks!

Laura

Tuesday 27 January 2015

Immune Boost

This is another tea sample from Katie! I'm not sure if it's also from the same place as the last one.

It's called Immune boost. And seeing as I'm still sick (although less than last post), I thought it may be a good idea. That being said I have only a slight clue what's in this tea. I saw some lemongrass, some fennel, and some other stuff.

I taste some peppermint, and the fennel isn't overpowering either! It actually tastes a little like DavidsTea's Cold 911, which is fab for a cold.

Honestly, both are super great, and I'm enjoying this small pot of tea.

Would do again,
L

Tuesday 20 January 2015

Happy Kombucha

Happy Kombucha smells pretty fruity, just like in the description. It's also an oolong tea, which is a
bonus because you all know my love for oolongs.

This is a really nice tea! It's light and fruity and everything just blends together so pleasantly.

I do wish the flavor as a whole were a bit strong-the exact same taste, just more powerful.

And sorry for no pictures! I was doing taxes and making sure all my adulthood duties were done and I totally forgot!

Enjoy another London trip picture, and get this tea for yourself!

-Laura

Friday 16 January 2015

Bai Hao yin Zhen

White tea from the mountains of the Fujian Province


Nothing quite as refreshing as a classic white tea.

Incredibly smooth and fresh. It's a bit grassy, so I can't imagine everyone would be in to it... but I encourage everyone to at least give it a try. It's incredibly delicious.

A very non-invasive taste, it does not linger but it still has a great flavour as you sip at it.

I think it is an excellent tea for someone to start down the natural-tea path.


Happy Steeping,

~K

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Vanilla Orchid

trip selfie
Woop woop! I'm baaaaack!

Sorry this took so long to do. My jet lag was deadly this go 'round, and my trip was full of first world problems that left me feeling exhausted.
And in my first week back, I had to call in sick because I swear I was gonna die. Protip, I'm writing this review sick and sore. So pictures are not gonna happen.

So I did a tea review. Because oolong tea is always a treat, and I got lots of tea stuff for Christmas so I felt like using it.

Today's review is Vanilla Orchid by DavidsTea. I've never had this tea before, so I'm pretty excited.

This tea smells divine. Like someone slapped me in the face with vanilla pre-steeping, then after it was a beautiful not subtle yet not overbearing level.

It's a nice tea. The first sip at first made me go "whoops no 'nilla taste." Then I let it sit and I began to taste it more.

Tis good. Steep at least twice!

Now off to bed.

Saturday 10 January 2015

Egg Nog Tea

Ingredients: Green rooibos, white chocolate chips, meringue powder, natural and artificial flavouring
 Contains: Milk, eggs, and soy.


First, my apologies for this being late, especially after my holiday hiatus.

I tried this tea for the first time at my best friend's house just before Christmas. She made it as a latte with eggnog, and it was pretty fantastic. Well, now I am trying it without anything added.
Unfortunately, I have left this a little late and this tea is nearly GONE. But! If you are feeling ballsy, or just have some disposable income, they are selling 250g for 40% off online, and I'm sure the DavidsTea stores may still have it in stock.


I steeped until the chocolate was melted, stirring twice during the process.
This tea smells excellent. Well, if you are a fan of eggnog, and if you know me, well! I LOVE eggnog.

It looks positively unappetising, with a strange, murky orange sort of colouring, but don't let that throw you off. It's simply the chocolate giving it that dirty-water sort of look.

High in spices, I can't say that I really tastes the chocolate (which there was a generous helping of), and it reminds me more of a weak chai that has had the smallest wisp of milk added to it.

It really isn't a terrible flavour at all, but I definitely prefer it as a latte. It certainly tastes like it was meant to be made with generous helpings of either milk or eggnog. In which case, I would recommend going about 50-50 or 25-75 in favour of milk product, and brewing the tea really strong.

I would have to say this one is up in the air for me.
It's an interesting treat around the holidays, and really great for those who can't have eggnog or find it too rich.



I hope that everyone had a lovely holiday.

Happy Steeping, and keep warm.

~K

Friday 2 January 2015

Holiday recovery

I have been insanely busy and trying to enjoy the holidays.

Regular updates will resume next week.