Day 47: Ume Vert

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Green
Brew Time & Temperature: 2 minutes 30 seconds, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Broken up, dark green leaves; they're small, but the larger leaves look like blades of grass. There are also large white tea leaves and very small pieces of dried apricot added
Color: Bright yellow-green; clear
Smell: Fruit - somewhat similar to the other cherry tea I had earlier
Recommended with/as: As is, iced
Rating: 7/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
I can't tell if it's just because I'm more used to stronger tea now (because of the gaiwan), I'm just brewing the tea wrong, or I'm still sick (allergies, ugh). For the past few days, including today, the tea just tastes very plain and the smell is very weak. I tried to brew it longer to try and fix this, but it only made the tea bitter very quickly.

Anyway, despite the weak taste of the tea, I could definitely feel a fruit taste. I wouldn't be able to tell it was plum if you let me try this tea, but I could feel a tart aftertaste in my mouth. There's little astringency and its actually quite smooth and sweet. There are some notes of green apple, but as I said before, it's too weak for me to tell. Overall, it's okay, but I might need to do another tasting again.

If I keep getting a weak taste for the next few teas, I'll try using less water while brewing and see if that fixes it.

Other notes:
I feel a little bit weird saying this, but I like to believe that everyone has the potential to succeed in school (gradewise, and probably otherwise too) if they have the motivation or try to put effort into their work. However, I feel like I'm slowly losing faith in that belief. This isn't only because I see people in school every day that just don't give a shit any more, but because I feel that despite my best efforts, I'm slowly getting worse. I stay up late, have terrible sleep, and stress constantly because I want to learn or at least get better at what I'm doing. Then, when I wake up and go to school, I see and hear about people who have much more work than me but are still very well-off. Most days in math class, I spend an hour or more on the homework, but it only takes the people at my table only 15 or 20 minutes. On some tests, I do much worse than I hope even though I spend hours studying, and then one of my friends spends barely any time studying and does much better.

I just don't know. I guess life's unfair like that sometimes, but I guess I just have to go with it. One of my life rules illustrates this very well:
Despite your best efforts, you will never be the best at what you do. There will always be someone better than you, and you just have to accept that.

It sounds kind of depressing, but for me, I see it as motivating in a way. Sure, there will be someone (or even a ton of people!) better than me, but if I work hard enough, I'll eventually be able to be good enough at what I do to be better than most, and I can get closer to that person ahead of me.

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Keemun Special Grade