Review: Constant Comment - Bigelow

Type: Black
Producer: Bigelow
Origin: USA
Brewing Parameters: 2 minutes, 1 2g teabag (recommended)
Appearance: Paper trapezoidal teabag with black tea fannings and chunks of orange rind
Rating: C | 77/100
# of Brews: 1

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Short review today, and probably for the rest of the teabag reviews– there isn't enough to really write about since I'm drinking a single mug/brew of the tea.

So, this tea is another one of the teas I got from my Cal friend. I think I've had this tea at least once before, but I've forgotten its taste long ago. It says it has orange and spice in it, and I'm a big fan of orange teas (and orange chocolate, too– I've had a lot of that lately). After brewing this tea with 90°C water, it came out a deep, ruby-amber color. It smelled sweet; somewhat like the perfume of a potpourri, with a light orange scent. Although I brewed it for the recommended two minutes, it tasted a lot more bitter than I expected. I'm not sure if the temperature was too high, or if it's just the tea, but it definitely had the astringency and bitterness of an overbrewed tea. The other tastes, however, are very earthy. The orange is mostly in the background, giving the tea a slightly fruity and sour taste. You can't taste the spices until the end, where they leave a very vague aftertaste. It tastes exactly as it smells. Overall, it's not bad, but it's not great. If I had more teabags, I'd give it another chance because it feels like it's more bitter than it should be.

Other Notes
Today's album is Pink Season: The Prophecy by Filthy Frank. Surprisingly, Filthy Frank (or Joji) makes some pretty good rap and electronic music. I've been a fan of 88rising, an Asian producer, that he's been working with, so I was pretty excited when this EP came out. Best song is Fried Noodles (Getter Remix) in my opinion.

Yesterday was interesting. Biked with my dad in the morning the usual thirty mile route, and in the evening, went with my unitmate to get some food. Afterwards, we went to a concert my friend was putting on, which was surprisingly better than I expected for some small, local rock bands. We played a lot of cornhole, too, before going to get some soft serve. I'm a bit bummed since I dropped my phone (or it was knocked out my hand, not really sure) and the screen cracked pretty badly. I'm getting it repaired tomorrow, but it's a bit expensive– $75– and I haven't been able to get shifts at work. The pay for my internship also doesn't come in until next month, so I'm just going to have to eat the cost. I need to figure out my finances in college; I want to be able to follow a strict budget to save money, especially since I won't have an income for a while.

Today was fun, though! I went with my dad to Berkeley and we hiked quite a bit. Went up Panoramic Way to the lower Fire Trail, then the Botanical Garden, and then Big C. From the BART station, it's about 7-8 miles, and it's very steep, so I'm really sore right now. On the way, I did realize, though, that I made the best choice for college for me(in the whole Cal vs UCLA debate I've had with myself). I love the beauty of the nature around Cal (since I'm interested in environmental science, it's probably best I didn't choose to go to downtown LA), the nice people, the fact that there's access to so much stuff through public transit, the professors, the nerdiness and weirdness, and so much other stuff. It sucks that we're known for being so politically charged/liberal, which makes everything very tense in this political climate and people judgy, but that's expected to come from Cal's historical reputation. Anyways, since I love Southern and cajun food, we went to Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen for lunch and we shared one plate of fried chicken and one plate of fried catfish, with mashed sweet potatoes and hush puppies. Before we left, our waitress gave us a free order of beignets since someone canceled their order. Now, I'm writing this review.

This week, as I've mentioned before, is going to be a busy one. I have lunches with friends and teachers, another competition civics session in San Francisco, an essay due, shopping for college, my driving test, and so on. I really want to work at the ice cream shop to get money, but at the same time, I kind of have a lot on my plate and there's a lot of competition for open shifts– too many workers and not enough shifts. It's weird; I don't want summer to end, but I'm excited for college, but I don't want to start that transition in my life, and I don't want my friends to move, and I don't want the stress, but I'm gonna have to face it at one point, and on and on.