Retroactive reviews, me and tea

So, I just want to take a moment to reflect on the personal transformation I've gone through over the past two months: I went from drinking no tea ever, to drinking two cups a day, and it's all thanks to this tea blog. I have had some big changes in my life due to tea drinking, and I have connected with a whole new bunch of people who share a passion in tea, which I think is quite cool really. I never knew there were quite so many tea fans out there. Now when I think about the limited space in my wallet for emergency stuff, I have a dilemma: what do I make room for, a condom or a tea bag?


Retroactive reviews:
These aren't going to be the usual reviews because too much time has passed and I can't remember how I felt at each stage of my patented tea reviewing method. 

So, I am currently fascinated with that tea on the left:

They're good friends and excellent lovers

That would be Twinings Bright and Fragrant - Orange and Cinnamon. Now I haven't been cheating on the tea blog and trying teas without reviewing them, that is what this post is for; to do some retroactive reviews. This tea smells delicious, tastes as it should, and just totally makes the beginning and end of my day. Although it's a herbal tea with a rooibos base, it's got that orange fruit hint which kicks goals for me. I love orange, and the cinnamon is strong and present. Overall it's a simple blend, but works for me. 

The other tea on the right is Twinings Infusions - Camomile, Honey and Vanilla Flavoured. Honey in tea is cheating, I know, and I kind of resent myself for liking this one; its a guilty pleasure that smells great brewed, but unfortunately I don't know/remember what camomile tastes like by itself, so for now I'm going till I finish this box. Again, a simple tea that is aromatic and tastes pretty, without being sweet. That's another great thing about teas, is that they don't taste sweet; they just taste like the stuff that is in them (wat?). But it's strange tasting honey minus the sweet.

The other tea I tried was a blend, prepared by my friend Min. She mixed T2's Turkish Apple with T2's Strawberry and Cream and made an iced tea for me and herself. This was the first iced tea I've ever had, and it was alright. It was sweet, and fruity that's for sure, but it still reminded me of weak cordial. I mean it was super refreshing being cold, but I'm not sure how I feel about sweet tea with a million wanky, fruity ingredients. It kind of made me feel like a T2 altarboy, praying at the T2 church. You know when you go on their website and read their pretentious and purple-prose descriptions? T2 is overrated, expensive, conceited, but ultimately, underwhelming. Though, prove me wrong and tell me something to get and I'll give it a brew, bro (kiwi accent).


On the blog:
It's hard doing a daily tea blog; it's really tough doing a daily tea blog everyday, when your proverbial mug is already pretty full. It doesn't help that my internet is currently maxed out (figure that one out) and I am so reluctant to wait the half an hour it takes to upload a 2.4 MB picture. That said, the blog will continue (hopefully daily), because I am really enjoying trying new teas, as well as writing about them! It's so exciting, trying something new, everyday; I love that experience, that I get to try something new all the time, and I generally won't know what the outcome will be, it's a science at it's crudest!


Tea knowledge:
There are three types of teas from what I can figure out so far:

• real tea with green/black tea leaves, caffeinated, generally disgusting
• herbal teas with camomile/fennel/rooibos/jasmine etc.,
• fruit teas, which are basically weak, hot cordial. Fruit tea isn't real tea, but I support herbal teas supplemented with fruit flavourings.

Any combination is usually pretty good in my opinion: green/black with herbal or fruit flavours, or herbal with fruit flavours. Hahaha just kidding, most tea is shit, but these blends are more tolerable.
Fruit tea on it's own has no leg to stand on, and herbal teas on their own usually are bland.

The future:

I think once I have a solid knowledge-base and grounding in teas, I will start mixing teas like a pro, taking blends I like and mixing them with other ones. Also once I build up a solid foundation is favourite teas (roughly 10 - 20), I will be sending them out to people that have given me tea, because I think that is the great thing about tea; they are sharable, and now that I'm totally an expert who knows everything about tea, my opinion totally matters.

Well, that's pretty much it for today, I will hopefully be back tomorrow with a new exciting review, and with actual funny material rather than this self-absorbed, expositional bullcrap I'm sullying my tea blog with.