Whatever works, right?

Wasn’t feeling great yesterday.  Ended up getting a sore throat, a kinda stuffy head and just generally drained.

The good ol’ ¾ ginger ¼ licorice worked pretty well for two of those things, at least.  Cleared up my head and definitely helped my throat.  Didn’t wake me up any, but since there’s no caffeine, I wasn’t really expecting it to.

There’s really only one problem with it:  It doesn’t actually taste that great.  It’s not bad, and as far as sore throat cures go it’s probably one of the best, but as a regular cup of tea?  Not really a fan.  I love ginger, and I love licorice, but together it’s just…blah.  Maybe if there were more flavors blended in or if it was the just ginger, then I’d like it a bit more.  I guess I’m very all-or-nothing when it comes to my teas.  And by “all or nothing”, I mean “many or just one.”

After that I had a cup of hot rod, and was basically a lazy ass all day.  I must have done something right though, because once I was done what I call “the morning shuffle” I felt pretty bright-eyed this morning.

The Morning Shuffle is when I first get up in the morning and I can’t quite manage to walk correctly, so I just slowly shuffle around the house with my eyes still closed.  It is best not to try and talk to me at this time since all I can manage are grunts and whining noises, and I usually can’t actually understand what anyone else says to me.  This morning I think my mom said something about supper while I was still in shuffle mode.  I’m honestly not sure what she said.  I didn’t get to ask again because she left before I got out of The Shuffle.

Every day I’m shuffelin’

I know that a nice cup of tea would get me out of The Shuffle a lot quicker, but since I, unlike my mother, don't have any way to program anything to make my hot beverage of choice for me so that it's ready for me before I’m actually awake, I don’t bother.  By the time I’ve made the tea and it’s cooled down enough for me to actually drink it, I have to leave.  If I take a cup of tea that I made earlier with me to work, by the time I get to work it’ll be cold.  Instead, I just wait until I’m about to leave to make my tea, and let it cool down on the way to work. This way I'm not disappointed by not getting to drink my tea while it's still hot and I also avoid having to do anything more that might tax what little mental power I have in the morning.  Plus I usually get to take a nap on the bus.

See?  Public transport has its upsides.  Just imagine what would happen if someone driving a car tried to do the same thing.

This morning I cuddled a nice warm mug full of Hot Rod while dozing on the bus.  It's a pretty good way to start the day when you can get a seat.

Right now I'm at World Tea House for my lunch break again.  It went from nice autumn weather to "Get ready for winter, motherfuckers!" overnight a couple of days ago and it hasn't warmed up since then, so I decided that some nice, hot tea was needed today.  Masala Chai it is.  Spicy like my attitude, and black as my heart.

Okokok, the tea isn't really black.  It's more of a dark brown.  I do drink it without milk or sugar though, so in a sense it's black.  It's a classic fave of mine, and I know I've blogged about it in the past.  Last winter, around the time I started this blog, it was what I drank pretty much every morning.  (If you don't believe me, just go back and read the entries from last January.)

Every chai from every tea place is always a little bit different.  I like the Masala Chai here because it's a pretty good balance between spicy flavour and still tasting like tea.  Sometimes you end up with basically straight black tea, sometimes you end up with a bag full cinnamon.

At World Tea House at least, there are two kinds of tea with "chai" in the name:  the masala chai and temple chai.  The temple chai is a bit less spicy and has a hint of vanilla.  I prefer that one iced, since it's a little sweeter.

Anyway, that's all for now.  I'll go get my hot rod re-steeped as usual and head back to work. 

'till next time!

SNAAAAAAAAKES

I was up late last night sewing rubber snakes onto a hat, finding out that the hat was too small, trying to sew them onto a scarf, having them fall off the scarf, figuring out that I could attach what I had already sewn to a headband, ripping up skirts, and generally hating everything.

I really should have had some tea.  I mean, why the hell didn't I drink some tea?  The situation had everything that usually calls for tea:

I was stressed

I was trying to get something done

I was trying to stay up late

These are all awesome reasons to brew up some tea.  Why the hell didn't I drink any tea???

Anyway, I had tea today.  I had tea and finished my snake headband, had some more tea, and actually had a pretty good day despite not having had much sleep.

Hurray!

Anyway, today there was Hot Rod, then more Hot Rod.  I didn't get a lunch break today, so I didn't get a lunch break, so no tea for me.

It is now currently "after work" time, and now I'm enjoying a pot of Hojicha at World Tea House.  It's a new one at World Tea House.  It's like the Kuchika twig tea.  It tastes like roasted bark.  I hate using the term "earthy" but this is pretty damn earthy.  More bark like than pu-ehr which is more "earthy" in the sense that it tastes a bit like dirt.  Delicious dirt, but still dirt.

I had a card full, so I got myself a free cup, too.  Yay!

In short, today was a good day.  Even if I never want to see a rubber snake ever again.

'Til next time.

There's really nothing to report at the moment

Nothing that is both tea related and particularly exciting has happened to me lately.  Other than forgetting my travel mug at the Studio again, that is.  Whoops.  Plus I forgot to keep track of what I have been drinking for the past few days.  Double whoops.

I know that on Tuesday I had some sort of oolong tea at the studio during dance class.  I suspect it was peach oolong, since that what was being served the next day.  The fact that it tasted like an oolong is also a pretty good hint. I helped myself to a mug full both days.

Today I had a cup of hot rod to start the day and a cup of coconut cocoa pu-ehr for lunch.  I forgot to get my hot rod re-steeped on my way out.  I was in a bit of a rush because I had to get a cup of tea for a co-worker before leaving, and I had left it until the very last moment.  I'm a horrible procrastinator...

I actually meant to get a latte at lunch, but I ended up getting a cup instead.  I've got a full adventure card waiting for me at the tea house, so many next time I go I'll finally try the the coconut cocoa pu-ehr as a latte for free(ish)!  Or maybe I'll try the speciali-tea this week, the Raspberry Creme.  It's so hard to choose!

Anyway, that's all the news I have for now.  I've just put the kettle on, so I should have another cup of hot rod pretty soon.

'Till next time.

New Tea Smash?

Hey world.  I'm at World Tea House, and though I managed to finish little bits of what I needed to do, I didn't actually finish everything.

Oh well.  Maybe if I stay up late enough tonight I can get it all done.  I just can't let myself start shimmying.

Anyway, I decided to try out another new tea to the tea house, Super Green.  It's sencha with matcha.  When it brews up, it is bright how-is-this-even-natural-hulk-smash green.  It tastes like a high quality green tea.  I think it smells a bit like fried chicken.  But that could just be me.  I seem to be the only one that thinks this.

I think the taste is  a bit too much for me by the end of the second cup, but if you were a fan of the taste in the first place, you'd probably love it right till the end of the pot.

When it comes to the re-steep though, it kind of looses a lot of it's super-powers.  It seems to have calmed down into a regular-ol Bruce Banner.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing in my case, since it's a bit less intense of a flavour, but I don't think I will be buying another pot of it unless I happen to have a specific craving for it, since it is one of the premium teas, and thus a bit more expensive than the regular ones.

In short:  Not bad, but not my favourite, personally.  If you like a very, very green tea, this would be perfect for you.

Next time I'm here to work, I'll just get a pot of silver needle.  I always love silver needle.

'Til next time.

Sunny with a chance of productivity.

...K, so there are a few things I really, really need to get done.  There are other side things (like my budget spreadsheet) which would be really nice to get done, but don't really have a deadline.

And I don't want to do any of it, because I have the attention span of a - Squirrel!

....Uh, so yeah, I don't always get as much work done as I should.

But I'm pretty sure that I have filled out yet another adventure card at World Tea House, and so I will go, use it, get a pot of a premium tea that can re-steep a billion times and get. down. to. work.

As much as I love writing, I hate writing when I have to, you know?

Anyway, the problem with this plan is that as soon as I start actually getting any work done I'm going to run into someone I know and start chatting instead of working.  Because that's what always happens at the tea house.

You might even wonder why I'm still trying to get any work done when I know that there is a fairly large chance that I won't get anything done while I'm there.  The answer is because there is still a chance that I can get something done.  There is a chance that I may be able to concentrate if I just get enough tea in me first.  There is a chance that I might even be able to talk about what I'm writing with whoever else pops in.  There is a chance that no one else I know will show up at all.

And there is absolutely no chance that I will get anything done if I go home.  I will turn off all the lights and dance around in my living room, shimmying until I am tired, then I will waste time online, then I will go to bed at a time that makes me feel like an old lady, especially since I don't work tomorrow.

Trying to get any work done at home just never works.

So.  The tea house it is then.  Tea and work, and a chance of actually getting anything productive done.

Oh, right, and I should probably give a quick list of the tea I've had to drink:

Morning, Hot Rod
Lunch - Earl Grey
Afternoon - Re-Steep of Hot Rod.

When I go back I will probably get a pot of Silver Needle, rather than trying out the new Super Green.  I'm not in the mood experiment, I'm in the mood to work.  Or at least, I'm in the mood to want to work.  Or rather, I'm int he mood to want to want to work.  Yeah, that sounds about right.

Til next time.

Weird how my mood works...

And how simple it can be to raise or lower it.
This morning I was back to the cranky, stab-happy person I was yesterday, and now I'm feeling fantastic.

I was running late. Again.  On my way out the door, I went to grab my backup tea mug because I had left my usual one at the tea house last night.  Anyway, I went for the backup mug and found that it was dirty (which worries me because I haven't used that mug in a whiiiiile.  I'm afraid of what might be growing in it right now.)  In a rush, I decided to just bring a tea pinch and a tin of tea with me to work.  We have a kettle at the desk, so it shouldn't have been a problem.  I almost put the tea pinch in my purse but after seeing how many other things were in there, (laptop, deodorant, nintendo DS, books, wallet, a pair of shoes, etc.) I decided to put it in the bag with my loose (and ridiculously comfy) dance clothes to keep it from getting crushed....

...And then I forgot that bag at home.  I was tea-less, and didn't have proper clothes for my lunch time hula hoop class.

Eventually I made it to World Tea House and I grabbed another coconut cocoa pu-ehr, but I got it iced this time.  It is really good iced.  I still have to try it as a latte.

While I was there I picked up my mug that I had left there the night before...

Hurray!

Now I've got a mug full of more coconut cocoa pu-ehr.  Why so much of the same tea?  Because it's chocolatey tea, and both chocolate and tea are the keys to happiness.

Well, those and a bowl full of homemade curry squash soup made by my mom.  With that for a lunch, my mug returned, and a chocolatey tea in my system, it's pretty much impossible for me to be cranky.


PS:  It is hard for me to twirl a hula hoop around my knees at the best of times.  It's pretty much impossible for me to do it while my skirt kept getting tangled.  Not that I could have done it very well in pants anyway, but at least I wouldn't have tried to get the hoop spinning with one hand while trying to hold up my skirt without flashing anyone with the other.  Talk about awkward.

Somebody has turned the cranky up to 11 today.

I’m going to try and write this out without murdering anyone.

I’m working on this cup of ginger mint tea right now because I usually try and limit the caffeine consumption during this time of the month.  I don’t know if it actually helps at all, but it FEELS like it helps, and that’s enough for me right now.

Except that mornings have suddenly become an enormous struggle to not punch everyone I see in the face.  (Except my mom of course.  No matter how cranky I am, I would never want to hurt mom.  Because I know that she would make me suffer for the rest of my life.)

Caffeine is very good for random face-punching prevention. Ginger mint is not really as good for that, although my tummy was feeling a bit wibbly wobbly earlier, and now it seems to have settled, so I guess it’s a good thing I have my ginger mint with me.

I brought a tin of Hot Rod (World Tea House), just in case.  For the sake of everyone else’s face, you understand.  My stomach may end up being calm as a silvery pool of water on a windless day, but my mood definitely isn’t. If I get too stabby, hopefully that will calm me down enough to put down the letter opener.

You know what I think will fix all of this?  That coconut cocoa pu-ehr I posted about earlier.  Chocolate + Tea = everything I need to calm down. I don’t care if it isn’t caffeine free I want it anyway.

I got my cup of goodness.  I feel significantly less like punching faces now.  The cup + one toffee oatcake has lifted my mood significantly.

Actually, I just really want some chocolate.  And a nap.  The chocolate at least, I know I’ll have time for after work. The nap, not so much.

Here's to not stabbing people.

And once again from The Tea House

Drinking at World Tea House again.  Just had a pot of ginger mint mixed up.  I was feeling crampy and gross, and I'm hunting for rubber snakes which I can't seem to find anywhere.  This medusa costume idea of mine may never happen.

Right now, I'm chatting with my friend, because that's what always happens when I come here.
What's kind of funny is that despite the fact that I'm typing this right now, he hasn't stopped talking.  I wonder if I can type everything he says right now...

Nope, can't quite do it.  Obviously, I need to work on my typing speed.  This new keyboard is still slowing me down.  Plus I really need to work on some bad typing habits I have...

But anyway, the tea! This pot of tea I just got was just what i needed.  It kind of brightened up my day.  I needed a hot drink, but I didn't feel like having any black or green tea.  I wasn't actually nauseous, but it still made me feel better. :3


Moral of story:  Ginger Mint fixes everything.

I'm done messing around with this

....for now anyway.  I'm sure in a few days I will find something else that bothers me and fix it, only to end up completely changing the layout again.

Oh well.

There is absolutely nothing tea related about this post.

Now that I've regained the will to blog...

So.

I originally had a bigass post all done up, and one little finger twitch had me closing the page.  With no prompt if I wanted to leave, and nothing recovered when I came back, it was all lost.

I hate having to go back and do something over, so here's the short version:

Was inspired by the tea hair rinse described here at Crunchy Betty (seriously, love that blog liekwhoa) and was asking Phil at World Tea House which would be better to get a concentrated tea:  To steep the tea longer, or to use more tea?  He said that since I wasn't using it to drink, I might as well just steep it longer.
Then he said that you could even simmer it for a while.
Then he said that you could even just boil it down to get everything out of those tea leaves.

Thanks for the beauty tips, Phil! *gigglesnort*

So a good boiling is what I did.  I boiled down some black tea, and after I was done boiling it down to a bit less than one cup, I added some honey and lemon. After washing my hair rinsed it out with the tea rinse and had myself a lovely, lovely bath using the rest of the coconut milk and some more honey.  Used a little bit of the tea concentrate with some water and used it as a toner, since tea is astringent.  Mostly I tried it because a) I had some already and b) it smells about a million kajillion times better than apple cider vinegar.  After all that, I was pretty much soft as a baby's ass from head to toe.  Managed to stay that way when I woke up too, although I was significantly less damp by morning.

Don't ask me what tea I actually had to drink that day, since I had a list of it all, and then lost it with that little finger twitch.

Anyway, yesterday I had a pot of Hot Rod while at home, which I re-steeped once, and a cup of lukewarm rooibos chai while I was at my dance class.  A new pot was needed by then, but the tea balls couldn't be found. Oh noes!

Today so far it's been:

Pot of ginger-mint (I drank that in the morning instead of Hot Rod in the hopes that it would clear up my nose. It kind of did.)
Cup of Vanilla Black at work. (I was in a rush after my yoga class, which was just before I started work today, so I didn't get a chance to grab a cup of tea at the studio like I usually do.  That's too bad since it was White Coconut Creme today - one of my favorites!)
Cup of a new tea at World Tea House: Coconut Cocoa Pu-ehr.
Re-steep of the vanilla black

That's where I'm at now. Now I must talk about the new tea:  It's not actually up on the shelves yet, but I got to try a cup and I must say that I really, really like it.  I don't mind the usual dirt taste of Pu-ehr, but it's not my favorite.  This though is a nice chocolatey tea with a bit of coconut.  It's like the cocoa and pu-erh just kind of blend together.  I would absolutely love to try that in a latte.  I think it would be fantastic.

That's all for now.  Til' next time!

Live, from Serpintine Studios!

Aw yeah, guess which awesome studio has wifi!

So, I had a big long post about tea that I'd had and a tea hair rinse and toner I made, but I lost the entire post and I haven't had the will or time to re-write it since then.

So instead, let me talk about a dance studio that I go to.  It's Serptentine Studios.  Right now I'm taking two bellydance classes, a hula hoop class twice a week, and I mere minutes away from my first yoga class here.

What does any of this have to do with tea?

They serve tea from World Tea House here.  And every time there's a new pot of tea, it's usually met with  great joy.  Which makes me wonder:  What is up with bellydancers around here and tea?  Is this a common thing in other places, or is it just Halifax?

Anyway, I just finished my cup of ginger mint to clear out my nose this morning.  Now I'm off to fill up on a fresh cup of White Coconut Creme.  Yay tea!

Live, from World Tea House!

Hello, it's been a while.

Like, a long while.

Like, a looooooong whiiiiiiiiile.

But that's ok, because I still like tea, and I still want to write about it.  Also, I now have the ability to update my blog WHILE I'M OUT DRINKING TEA.

....as long as I have my laptop with me, anyway.

Like right now?  Cuppa Earl Grey.  It's perfect for rainy days, of which we are supposed to have in abundance this week.

Besides drinking tea, I've also used it in a few other things like cookies and even a face mask. (My skin was baby's ass soft afterward, btw)

In short, I am back, drinking more tea than ever, and better able to keep track of it all.  Expect lots of posts.