An insight into my personal psyche AKA- I miss my dog

Normally, I'm not one to cry and mope about things I can't help, but right now, I really miss my dog, Bonnie.

No, she's not dead.

and 

NO I did not give her away when I moved.

and

I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT abandon her.

She is safe and sound with my mother in law.

Being that she is a 9 year old chihuahua with a terrible time with anxiety, we thought it would be best if she stayed with my mother in law.

We were terrified that if we brought her with us, she might die from the stress.

And take into the fact that because of her bad eyesight, she has trouble with aggression, and my sister in law already has her Big Bonnie ( a pharoh hound mix ) and we were pretty sure that those two would not mix. And it would not be Big Bonnie's fault. It would be my dog's fault (if I had brought her) if they got into it.

That being said-

I really miss my dog.

I miss her wagging her tail so hard that her front paws even wag.

I miss her licking my leg as I go to sleep at night.

I miss waking up with her head on my pillow.

I miss her sitting in my chair with me as i drink tea.

I even miss her silly little wail that she does when she hears the word "outside". 

I especially miss, when I am feeling down like I am today, her crawling up into my lap and licking my face until I can't help but to laugh.

I heard from my mother in law that unless it's time to eat or sleep, she pretty much has been staying in her crate. (we always leave the door open so she can come and go as she pleases, and we keep pillows and blankets in there so it's comfy.)

So she knows I'm not there, and she misses me, which somehow doesn't make me feel better at all. It only makes me more sad.

This is my Bonnie-

I normally don't whine like this. Please understand.

If you have an animal you love dearly, remember, they love you just as much, if not more.

An explanation for my absence, as well as an in depth review of YunnanSourcing's Spring 2014 "drunk on red" mini black tea cake

I feel bad about not posting, but I have a good reason. When my husband and I left on our "vacation" we had no real knowledge if we were going to move permanently or not. So, we decided to not bring our heavy, bulky desktop computers to Texas, and as it turns out, with my husband finding a new job, we are moving back to Texas, and as such, except for the rare chance when I feel like I can beg/borrow a laptop from my husbands family, I have no real way to write blog posts. (And I am completely sure they would let me borrow their laptops more often, but I'm pretty shy about asking.)

So please forgive my sporadic posts until my computer is returned to me later this month (my mom-in-law is bringing it and my husband's down from Arkansas with a little help. I hope you all can understand my predicament.

Now, ON to the review of Yunnan Sourcing's spring 2014 "drunk on red" mini cake, (this is the one without snow chrysanthemum, I have that one as well, but that will be a separate review.

 The way this tea is packaged is almost exactly like a cake of pu'erh, I have not seen many black tea cakes, but this line seems to have been quite a hit for YS, so I thought I would break down and buy myself a couple (one with and one without snow chrysanthemum), at just over 4 USD a cake, it isn't too big of a risk.

According to YS the tea is "The tea is picked, wilted, fried, bruised by rolling, wet withered under the sun and then finally sun-dried completely." To me, that is a lot of trouble to go through for something being sold by the cake for a lot less than a lot of people spend daily at cafes and coffee shops.

 The cake is a very pretty mottled brown/black with hints of gold tips sprinkled throughout.

 I am still learning how to break into tea cakes, so forgive the large amount of dust, I am sure much of it is due to user error.

 10.8 grams went into my 120 ml gaiwan, which comes out to just under a tenth of a gram per ml.

195º F water, trust me on this, any hotter and to me black teas turn astringent and foul far to quickly, even when brewing gong fu.

And, I am being lazy with my gong fu today, I am not using a tray, which is kinda scary as just below my Zojirushi sits all of the tea I have with me. a spill could spell disaster. That's me, crazy and living on the edge.

 15 seconds of steeping, and into the pitcher. I really need to work with the lighting in this kitchen, as this photo doesn't nearly to the light maple-y color of the tea justice.

 First steep was astoundingly fruity, as if I had taken a big bite of a honeycrisp apple. Sweet and bright. with no hint of astringency's awful bite. ( I do love it in sheng pu'erh and green tea, just not in black, oolong, white, or shou, there is a difference in the feeling between astringency in a green and that in a black, just sayin'.)

2nd Steep- this time for 25 seconds.

Lookit how pretty the tea is in the cup. It is still very fruity, but now with a slightly acidic undertone, more pear than apple perhaps?

I have a feeling that this would snack well with a small fruit and cheese plate. Extra sharp Irish cheddar, and maybe some good swiss with a green pear and maybe a nice Braeburn apple, prehaps with melba toast if making it a meal.

Third steep: 35 seconds

This steep disappointed me a little bit. I was so hoping that it wouldn't turn astringent on me, and I was very careful to try and keep it from happening, but it did. Not horribly, mouth puckering, dry throat astringency either. Just enough to let me know that the tea was turning from fruity and bright, to bitter melancholy. I might just start brewing this one western style from now on, because, bang for buck wise, I would get more out of doing this in a big mug with quite a bit less tea. Of course that's not to say it wouldn't go bitter that way too, but that's no reason not to try.

I give this a 5/10, and at $4.20 a cake, that's not a bad deal.

I can't stop listening to that song Uma Thurman by Fall Out Boy recently. I don't know why, it's not as good as many of their other songs, I'll chalk that up to hype.

My new Ben Shan Green Clay Teapot and it's Sheng Pairing

A few weeks ago I finally received my birthday order from YunnanSourcing.com, since I had to go on a trip (that I am still on, long story, will have it's own post) and ended up getting strep throat (yuck, I hate being sick, it saps what little productivity I have), I have been delayed in posting ANYTHING for the past 3 weeks. I am very sorry.

 Thank you for the birthday message that came in the box, it made me smile.

 This is the pot this post is about. A cute Ben Shan Green clay teapot. I boiled it this afternoon in filtered water (as the tap water in the area I am in is unsuitable for drinking). I decided to try and pair it with some Sheng Pu'erh (coincidentally I had gotten quite a lot of sheng pu'erh in my birthday order) I used a 2012 sheng tuocha to test the pairing.

 8.7 grams for 120 ml looks about right to me, and I'm glad I didn't go any heavier because the tea turned out quite strong.

I LOVE the pour on this pot. It's very strong, and does not dribble, until the very end of the amount of liquid. It pours nice and fast too.

 The pot is way more than big enough for two people, and I ended up getting 4 sipping cups full out of each steeping. I think I got lucky, because although the tea came out very strong, it was pleasant, and very smooth to taste. I THINK that sheng is the perfect choice for this pot, and although this sheng was nothing "special" to start off with, I enjoyed it very much, and  was pleased by the way it came out.

I am listening to my Icon For Hire Radio on Pandora. If you haven't heard of Icon For Hire, and you like upbeat rock, totally check them out.

Orange Blossom Oolong, New Mexico Tea Company

Stephen Daniels, who won my little facebook contest, requested that I do New Mexico Tea Company's Orange Blossom Oolong.

the pictures on their website show a much greener, less roasted oolong, which is NOT what I received.

This tea poses somewhat of a paradox. NORMALLY for oolong teas, I use my gaiwan.

But for flavored teas, I use either a gravity steeper, or basket infuser in either a mug or teapot.

I went the route of gravity steeper today, since I just have trouble getting more than 3 steeps out of this tea, even in a gaiwan.

That would be 2 teaspoons of leaf in my gravity infuser, as you might be able to see, I put cheaters marks on my gravity steeper so that I don't accidentally overflow a mug. (I'll be doing a whole post on my gravity steeper later.)

at the one minute mark you can see the tea is already fairly tinted. 

I almost never go to the 3 minute mark with this tea. I go to 2 minutes then I put the steeper on top of my mug.

This tea has HUGE orange flavor. it does not completely occlude the flavor of the oolong, but almost.

I'm almost disappointed that it is not the tea shown in the photos. I feel that with a greener oolong, this tea could have an almost creamsicle like flavor. 

That being said- it is a very tasty tea. Earthy, with that orange punch.

The higher oxidation on the oolong comes out when I steep this a second and then third time, with nutty, bready flavors.

It doesn't do well past the third steeping though, becoming astringent and wan.

7/10- I wish it were the same version they show on their website, I think it would have tasted much  more smooth and cohesive. the earthiness is nice in later steeps, but it distracts from the orange flavor.

My husband bought this tea for me in my NM Tea Co mini haul.

I am currently listening to Pentatonix radio on my pandora. They have such good harmony and collective tonal range.

Starting small, then going big. Adagio and Simple Tea.

Today I got two packages, one through the regular post, and one through UPS.

The first package was rather small, containing the three samples I ordered from Adagio using frequent cup points (and the fourth I got for hitting the "Share on Facebook" button).

The apricot green and valentine's blends were suggested by one of their tea docents. The other two are just a couple of flavored white teas that I just thought I ought to try.

 White Chai

 White Tangerine

I have not tried any of these yet, as my second package of the day took up much of my time.

This next package I solicited from Simple Tea, a specialty site focusing on corporate gifting and private label branding.

It gets kind of complicated from here, but hear me out.

My father used to work with the wife of the owner of this company, before he (my father) retired due to ongoing health issues.

Danny, the owner of Simple Tea, agreed to send me some things to review, but only after I asked, and probably only because his wife used to entertain me in her office when I was a child, to keep me out of my dad's hair. His wife is a really sweet person, and it's thanks to her that I got in touch with Danny in the first place. That being said, ON TO THE TEAS (and such).

 That's the front of the card that he sent with the items, the back had a personally written message and his contact info, so I did not feel comfortable taking a picture of that, to avoid spam on his personal email account and phone line.

First off, Oriental Beauty, which I will be reviewing at the end of this post. I am probably most excited about this tea, because I have not ever had a tea of this type before.

This one is really unusual for a jasmine green. It's made of a pearled green tea, with loose jasmine blossoms. It smells fantastic, like a garden.

You all may laugh, but the only Tae Guan Yin I have had previously was one with a bit of roast to it, so I am pleased to see this one is a greener specimen for me to play with.

This is what I assume is his "house" oolong. Very green, large pearls with a slight (not heavy enough to be a Jin Xuan) creamy scent, I am guessing that it is Taiwanese in origin, but I could be wrong.

And next is what could possibly be the COOLEST thing- A tea tumbler with basket!!!!

As you can see the basket is almost four inches long, and maybe an inch and a half in diameter. nice and big, perfect for those oolong teas I just got, perhaps? You shall see.

Another new thing, blooming tea. This one is called "Beauty of the Season" The tea bunches were in a vacuum sealed bag, but I took them out of it to show y'all what they look like pre-brew. I will do a singular post to show you all how they turn out, they are pretty fun.