Oh. That bitch.

Hey all, it’s been a while, but a couple of things have happened, during my long absence, so I decided to come back.

First off, I left because I got tired of always typing out “had [insert tea] this morning that’s exactly the same as the one I had yesterday. I’m writing the same thing I wrote yesterday. Why are you even reading this?”

Ok, maybe that’s not exactly what I wrote, but that’s how it felt.  It got even worse when money started getting tight, because suddenly I didn’t even have the money to buy enough teas to at least keep that daily list a little bit varied from day to day.  That thing were I got a cup of tea at lunch?  Yeah, not happening right now.

So I just…stopped. Altogether.

But what is so exciting that I’ve decided to drag myself out of super-lameness start up again?

Mostly, it's a new spreadsheet.

I’m such a nerd.

The spreadsheet isn't the only new thing I have to talk about though:  My local haunt, World Tea House has a fancy new website!  It's gotten a big facelift (actually, more like a face transplant), with a full list of teas, (all of which have gorgeous pictures) teaware, and they ship to other, far-off lands! (As in, outside of Canada.)  You should definitely go check it out. If nothing else, you should go and look at the pretty pictures of their teas. :3  Now stop what you're doing and go to worldteahouse.ca right now.  Don't worry, I'll wait.

OK, you're back now?  Let's continue:

In other news, I've had a tumblr for a while, but just now I finally decided to make a twitter account for BWATC.  Why?  Because the world needs to hear when I have a random thought relating to tea, apparently.  @BitchwATeacup.  The twitter limit was just one character short of actually being able to type out BitchWithATeacup. Motherfucker.

Now, what about that spreadsheet?

I’m a teensy bit crazy, so I’ve decided to try and keep track of different things I do on a regular basis.  This is purely because I like to play around with displaying data.

I just needed to get some data to play with.  Why not collect data from stuff I do? I might just learn something about myself.

One of the things I’ve started tracking is food and drink, and specifically tea.  Tea now has it's own seperate spreadsheet detailing how much tea I've had, what type it was, when I had it, and eventually I will have a column for estimating just how much caffeine I've ingested.

In terms of listing teas, I’m basically doing exactly what I used to by blogging about tea, only this time there are NUMBERS and SPREADSHEETS and….STUFF.

This is exciting, right?....right?

Yeah, I’m a nerd. D:

So yeah, expect more of the same “Here’s the tea I had yesterday.” Posts, but this time I’ll sprinkle it with a few tea reviews, tea-related things that have happened to me, and pretty, pretty graphs about my tea (over) consumption.

That's it, I'm done!

...with Monks Blend tea.

For now.

You know how I said before that I go through morning tea phases?  Well, for the past while that phase has been Monks Blend tea from World Tea House.  I like it a lot, but I've just had too much of it lately, and I'm ready to move on to something new.
And I've STILL got a redeemable tin of "tea of my choice" to bring in to the tea house some time.  Time to try something new, I think!

Oh, speaking of the tea house, the tea house will have a new website soon.  I can't wait to see it. :3

'Til next time!

Inspiration and Kicking This Morning in the Face

Fuck you morning, I am wide awake. Wide. A. Wake.

My roommate got a fancy new blender and, despite it being incredibly cranky and hard to clean, it makes a great smoothie.  For the next little while, I think breakfast will be breakfast smoothies.  I'll get the exact recipe from him later, but for now, this is what I imagine the recipe to be:

Banana
Fruit Juice
Crapload of frozen strawberries
Chia seeds

Just to make things interesting (read: awesome) he puts in some matcha powder.  You can really only taste it a little bit, since it's pretty much overpowered by the strawberries, but it still hits you like a matcha should.  That, combined with a cup of tea that I had before I remembered what breakfast was, has me awake now, but luckily not totally wired.

Side note:  make sure you brush your teeth after drinking one of these if you have anyone to impress right away.  The seeds keep getting stuck in my teeth.


Finally, inspiration.  I'm just not as inspired to talk about tea as much anymore.  I've gotten comfortable with my tea-drinking habits.  I'm not trying as much new stuff, so I'm not writing about it as much.  I don't want to just keep a daily log of tea I've had every day like I used to.  That just turns into two-three months of me saying "Started the day off with [insert tea]".  I go through predictable phases.  I've developed favorites.  I don't have as much to write about anymore.

This makes me kind of sad.

I want to find a way to make myself excited to write about tea again, but if I'm only writing about my own experiences currently, there's not much to write about.

I guess I just need to go get me some more experiences, no?

Oh. That bitch again.

I'm back, bitches.

First, the usual apology, I've been busy, lost track of time, blah blah blah, the usual.
In my defence, I did just move.
That's right, I finally moved out, got a sweet place in town and will now be able to throw the wildest tea parties ever.  WILD. CRAZY. TEA. PARTIES.  Thanks to that tea pot that I won from filling out all those frequent buyer adventure cards at World Tea House, I can actually serve tea to more than two people at once.  See?  Like I said, wild and crazy.

Second, even though I've been pretty much dead here, I've only been MOSTLY dead on tumblr, which you should totally check out right here.  There's pretty much nothing that I've written myself there, but there are lots of pictures of tea and tea-related things.

Third, I'd really like to actually go to different tea places around town.  I live a bit closer to some of them now, so watch out posts on places other than my usual hangout.

That's all for now.  Just giving you all fair warning that the Bitch is back.

Easy Teasy!

Remember when I said that if I married any type of tea I'd be unfaithful?

Well, being such an easy tea drinker (Let's call it being teasy) is not without benefits!
I popped into World Tea House after a very good Yoga class at Serpentine Studios (which I am still recovering from today) and found a lovely surprise waiting for me:  A new teapot!

Turns out that Phil had a secret contest where to see who had the most completed adventure cards.  The whole aim of the cards is not only to reward loyal customers, but to get those customers to try different kinds of tea.  Once you've filled out all of the sections, you can get a free tea of your choice.

I don't feel bad revealing what the secret contest was, because I have no idea what his next secret contest will involve.  Maybe it'll be a draw from whoever has gives him cupcakes...

I'd be lying if I didn't think the odds were just a teensy bit in my favor with this contest that just passed, what with me being so Teasy and all.  Ha! My wild tea drinking ways have served me well!

I'm really happy for the new pot, and not just because it would have cost me $50.
I only had a small pot that holds two cups, and a tea pinch for just one cup.  I didn't have anything for any occasion where I might serve tea to than one guest.  With my new pot, I can now throw a wild, wild tea party!  Plus it matches the set of glass cups that I picked up in December.  How awesome is that?

Before I left I chatted with Phil about how I could never settle down with just one kind of tea.  He's pretty much in the same boat.  He said he couldn't even be faithful to just tea, since he occasionally drinks coffee.  I can't stand the taste of coffee, but I will never say no to an offered hot chocolate.

We agreed that we're both tea sluts.  I think I'd like a different word though, if only because I love looking looking up terms for being easy.  Tea Hussy?  Tart?  Trollop?  What else could be used?


Oh yes, because it was St. Pat's day yesterday, I decided to treat myself to a green tea latte:

My beverage of choice for St. Pat's.  Much less likely to get me in silly situations than beer.  Better tasting, too.


'Til next time!

Tea + Food: What Goes With What?

Alright, I have to admit to something:  I don't usually put much thought into how food will taste if I drink a particular kind of tea with it.  If I feel like a particular tea, I usually only think about the tea, not what I'll be eating with it.  This has lead to some awful mistakes in the past.  I'd put thought into it if I were choosing wine, so why not tea?

The one exception to this would be if I'm about to eat something spicy.  My favorite tea to drink with spicy food has to be mint.  I like the cooling sensation after deliciously burning my mouth.

I suppose I also like black tea with sweet things like cakes and cookies.  That's a pretty common thing though, to balance out bitter tea with sweet treats, right?

Anyway, I will try to pay more attention to the tea I drink with food, and how I put them together.

Does anyone else have any favorite teas to drink while eating different foods?

Marshmallow Latte and Pretty Things

Well.  I needed to head into town today to pop into Pretty Things Boutique.  I needed to actually get around to paying my application fee for Pretty Things' So You Think You Can Prance contest.   If you're a)around and b)not related to me, you should totally come check this out!
Anyway, because I had to come in to pay it, this of course means that I need to stay in Halifax all day unless I want to walk home.  Since I have a bellydance class later today, I might as well just stay.

Stupid bus strike. :/

Anyway, now that my errand has been run, I've decided to sit down and enjoy some tea.  Big surprise, right?  After having tried the vanilla black/russian caravan mix at home, I decided to try it as a latte here today to see if it tasted more marshmallow-y.

I think the ratio I used of 1/4 russian caravan and 3/4 vanilla black was a bit more marshmallowy, but it's still pretty yummy.  Maybe it would work better with just Lapsang? I think it's a recipe that might need some tweaking, but I think it'll be worth the effort.

That's really all for now.  Til next time!