5 happy things vs. work [sigelphoenix]

Today is one of those "THIS IS WHY I WAS AFRAID OF GETTING THIS JOB" days. :/

To combat that, here are 5 happy things:

1. A rousing game of Red Dragon Inn, played last night with friends. :D

2. My kitty. :3 Kershach continues to be a snuggle-monkey in bed, and will let us drape an arm over him when he lies down next to us, or we can even hold him like a teddy bear. It's best when he's lying on my chest, and I wrap both arms around him and snorgle my face into his fur while I listen to him purr. ♥

3. Adagio's herbal tea. A while ago I grew tired of fruit-flavored (black) tea, because the flavoring added to tea leaves either tastes fake to me, or the leaves themselves make it taste weird. So I decided to get some herbal tea from Adagio, which is just made of fruit and flowers. Their Wild Strawberry is quite yummy, and I plan to get more flavor samples with my next order.

4. Speaking of Adagio orders, I have one coming in today. XD (I'm not addicted. Er.)

5.

ratzeo continues to be my partner in all ways: best friend, boyfriend, roommate, fellow kitty-parent, and co-conspirator in all things geeky. ♥

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I'm thinking about ordering their electric tea maker.

Even though it's not cheap, and it's REALLY extravagant. But it'll stop me from getting distracted and over steeping my tea at home, and that's VERY IMPORTANT.

I like the Wild Strawberry a lot. It's one of the few I'll add a little sugar too, and it ends up REALLY tasty. I also like the Honeybush Chocolate, Rooibos Vanilla and some of the other herbals (lack of caffeine in the evenings and "dessert' tea). I want to try the Pina Colada one, eventually.

I need to go make that Adagio order now... I've been putting it off since this weekend ;) I'm out of White Cucumber and White Peach, and those are two of my favorites!

(Enabled!)

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Huh ... I just looked at it and it does seem quite useful. I've toyed with the idea of getting their temperature-variable electric kettle before, but this is more appealing. I mean, if you're going to shell out big bucks for convenience, you might as well go all out and have timed steeping and warming ...

(Gah! I have a perfectly good electric kettle already. Temptress. ;) )

I'll try some sugar in my Wild Strawberry next time. I'm actually not a big fan of sweet teas - other herbals that I sampled didn't work for me because they were too tart, and required a lot of sugar to take the edge off, so thus became too sweet (I ended up using the Wild Strawberry as a sweetener itself, mixing it in with the tart flavors to mellow them out). But I think a light dose of sugar, to enhance instead of mask, would work for me.

I'm already trying to hold off from making another order already. :P I have so many jars of tea already that I really don't need to get more ... although the real reason is just that Adagio hasn't gotten another shipment of hojicha yet. ;)

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Teehee. I ordered my electric tea maker yesterday. Part of the reason I held off is because I love the pouring of the tea from a little pot into my little cups, but the trouble with is that I'll over steep if I get distracted, and most of the time these days, I'm just interested in the result, rather than the experience of the preparation (which seems more appealing when I'm doing it for guests than when I just want a mug of something warm while at my computer fighting crime).

But, then I can just pour the tea into a teapot if I really want that ;)

I'm waiting for hojicha, too. That "coming in..." has been there since March, and keeps pushing back every time the date is up. :( I could order form another company, but I KNOW I like theirs.

Oh, speaking of temptation, the new BPAL (http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/limited.html) stuff is up, and there's a lot of yummy stuff... I think you'd like Water Phoenix.

Oooh. Do tell me how you like it so I can ~~be convinced to buy my own~~see how it works. I'm with you on preferring the result to the experience most of the time ... when I'm at home I just want to make a giant pot of tea and nurse it over the course of the evening, rather than boiling/steeping/pouring every few minutes.

Uh-oh, that's not good news about the hojicha. D: I may have to get my fix elsewhere ... (I know that Market Spice's oolong fills the same taste niche for me, though YMMV.)

The only thing keeping me from pouncing on the BPAL is my incompatibility with musk + resin. XD Otherwise Water Phoenix does sound really pretty. D:

Bah, I didn't see the frankincense :(

Resins are pretty insidious. ;) I bet it would smell lovely on a person with more compatible skin.

P.S.: Got the tea maker yesterday. Based on a whoppin' two brews, I would call it fabulous and totally worth the money if you're a tea guzzler like me. The tea turned out perfect (I tested this with teas I have made many times). The quality of the tea was on par with the stuff I was making when I first got my IngenuiTEA, and was more anal about steeping times and temperature than I am now that I'm lazier.

It even keeps the tea warm when it's done. No more cold cups of tea forgotten next to me. The only thing that might be bothersome is the beeping. It beeps when the water is heated and starts filling the steeping chamber, and it beeps again when the steeping is done and it fills the carafe. Mike and I have characterized the signals as "cool" (especially re: getting distracted with my tea making) and fairly white-noisey, but I can see others not liking it, and there's no way to turn it off that I've found.

Yay for a good tea trinket ... damn because it's 99 bucks. :P It sounds like it does everything I want from it, though, and would allow for an essentially hands-off tea-making process. Plus it would mean I could stop heading to the microwave every few minutes when my tea cooled ...

One question I have is, does the temperature control have actual numbers? One thing about the utiliTEA kettle that seems potentially annoying is that the temperature control only has color-coded ranges, rather than a numbered dial. I can't tell what the triniTEA has based on the picture.

The controls on the triniTEA are really simple, but are pretty much what you need.

There's temp 1, which is for green, white, etc. (180f I think?) and temp 2 (212f, I'm guessing) for blacks. That's all I've seen any of my teas need, so it seems to work out. There's a timer (up to 7 minutes) for steeping, and an on (start)/off button.

Plus it would mean I could stop heading to the microwave every few minutes when my tea cooled ...

I just top off my cup with more (hot) tea. LoL

sigelphoenix

5 happy things vs. work

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January