Review: Jasmine Mandarin Special Grade - Lupicia

Type: Flavored/Scented Green
Producer: Lupicia
Origin: China
Brewing Parameters: 2.6 g bag, 100°C, 1.5-2 min. (recommended)
Appearance: Small, rolled green and yellow-green leaves (pan-fried) in a nylon pyramid bag
Rating: B+ | 88/100
# of Brews: 4

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Another sample bag I received in the mail from Lupicia. A long time ago, I tried Lupicia's standard Jasmine Mandarin during the 100 Days of Tea, but at this point, I've forgotten what it tasted like. Although this is a teabag, I'm cupping it today; I ripped open the teabag and poured the loose leaf into the tasting set. I'll still be brewing it at boiling temperature for 1-2 minutes, as recommended. Today's review will be quick, since I have a lot of work to do.

For the first brew, I only brewed for about a minute. The liquid came out a yellow amber color, with a very strong jasmine scent (obviously). Interestingly, the leaves had a different aroma; they were a bit more smoky and coffee-like, with a lighter floral scent. Since it's a small amount of water at a high temperature, the tea itself was slightly bitter. There's some sour kick to it with some fruitiness, which transitions to the floral jasmine flavor with bitter undertones. It lingers for a while in the mouth with a sweet taste and a smooth texture– somewhat soupy and thick.

The second brew was only 30 seconds to a minute. At this point, I've decided that I'm just brewing it more gongfu-style with a tea cupping set instead of the actual cupping style (where everything stays constant). The liquid was a much darker yellow color– hate to describe it this way, but it's like a dehydrated person's urine (now that's a descriptor!)– with relatively the same aroma. With that color, I would've guessed it would be more bitter, but surprisingly, it's not. It lost the sour taste and gained more of a sweet and vegetal flavor.

I ended up going to four brews, when the tea was starting to lose its flavor; it could still go for a few more. From the other jasmine green teas I've tasted, I think this one is pretty good. The leaves are high quality, and not broken up. It's forgiving in brewing; it doesn't turn extremely bitter if you brew it a second too long. It's not necessarily as floral scented/tasting as other jasmine greens, but it's good.

Other Notes

Today's album is Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2015. I randomly came across the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2016, while it was airing live on Australia Day, and I actually really enjoyed it. Sadly, I stayed up past 1 AM listening to the entire playlist after joining when it was around number 47. Great selections for both years, though.

Welp, let's talk about two things today: the Legion Oratorical contest and State for Competition Civics. First, round 2 of the Legion Oratorical happened yesterday, and I'm actually pretty happy about it. I had to come 2-3 hours early because I had to catch a ride with one of the organizers of the event, and I spent most of that time reading Civil Disobedience by Thoreau and studying for comp civics. When the other contestants came an hour before we started, we all actually hit it off with each other. It was me, a girl from Hayward High, and two guys from Oakland Military Institute. Compared to round 1, the guys from OMI were super cool and we all hit it off together. We spent a lot of time talking about school, things we're interested in, and politics. It was a pretty diverse group, racially, but we all shared the same interests– one of the OMI guys and I bonded over Aldnoah.Zero. Every time someone had to leave to go present, there were brohugs all around. I ended up taking second place with a score of 437– 2 points behind first place with 439 points. I'm not even mad about it; the guy who won is super nice– he even almost started crying because this was the first time OMI advanced past round 2– and I don't have to worry about practicing anymore now. As second, I took home $100 for a grand total of $300 for (admittedly) not that much preparation. My only regret? Not participating in this contest before senior year.

Oh, and also, many of the judges said that I have the speaking skills (just need to slow down) and knowledge/understanding to enter law or politics. I'm still unsure about what career I want to enter, but hey– at least I know my majors now. After talking with the organizer (the one who drove me there), I think I want to do a double major in environmental sciences and American studies. He told me about his daughter who went to Cal, what she did in high school (comp civics, too!) and college, and what she does for work now. I'm excited.

Second is state for Competition Civics. There are four days left, including today. For the most part, I think we're ready; the issue is that we're restructuring one of our testimonies now, but better late than never, right? To be honest, I don't know how it's going to go, though. Our rival school from Northern California, I'd say, is on par with us; our rival from Southern California, I'm guessing, is probably much better. I trust my unit to do their best, but I'm not sure about the rest of the team. It looks like their getting everything together, but I'm hoping we don't have to carry them in terms of points (which is what happened last round). I'll probably write a full post regarding my feelings about state the day or night we go; here's what I think, though– it's going to be a tossup. 

Review: Soleil Levant - Lupicia

Type: Flavored Green
Producer: Lupicia
Origin: Japan
Brewing Parameters: 3g tea bag, 90-100°C, 1-1.5 min. (recommended)
Appearance: Rolled, dark green leaves (sencha) with yellow and purple flower petals and red spheres (no idea what they are– dried berries?)
Rating: B- | 80/100
# of Brews: 2

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
So, I got a sample tea bag of this tea in the mail since I'm subsribed to Lupicia's monthly newsletter. I'm reviewing this the way I used to during the 100 Days of Tea– just an easy Western style brew im a large mug. Now, onto the review.

Holy crap, this tea has a ridiculously strong smell. The moment I opened the sample wrapper, the aroma of grape sucker punched my nose; if you know what grape Hi-Chew smells like, it's definitely that. This tea is very similar to Lupicia's other grape teas (Budou Green is the one that comes to mind) in terms of the concept and smell– it's a sencha with grape flavoring and apparently some matcha.

Surprisingly, it brewed up as a nice, dark yellowish-green considering that it's a sencha and I used boiling water. The aroma was relatively the same as the dry leaf, and the liquid itself was cloudy, probably due to the matcha. As for the flavor, I'm actually really surprised at how sour it was; I'm not sure if it was the grape flavoring or the sencha itself, but the closest thing I can relate it to is a very diluted lemon juice. When drinking, the first thing you taste is the sour kick, which transitions into the somewhat sweeter grape flavor (which isn't artificial at all– the Japanese are pretty good at recreating fruit flavors) with some grassy notes. It leaves a slightly dry feeling in the mouth, but not the throat, with a floral and grapefruit aftertaste.

Overall, it's alright. It's definitely been a while since I've had a flavored tea (except for Earl Grey), so I'm iffy on this. One issue I've noticed with these types of teas–the ones with matcha mixed in– is that they become bitter if left alone too long. You can take the leaves out, but the matcha powder stays in and continues to brew. I wouldn't drink this as a daily thing, but if friends were over, I'd take it out.

As a side note, I decided to brew this tea a second time, and it was a lot better– sweeter and smoother (probably because most of the flavoring washed off). If you ever buy this, I suggest trying to brew it at least a few times to see how the flavor tastes.

Other Notes

Today's album is Scenery 1976 by Ryo Fukui. This randomly showed up on my Recommended feed on Youtube a couple of weeks back, and it's a pretty good jazz album (very piano oriented).

Talking about jazz, that leads me into my next point! I watched La La Land with my family and a friend last night and it was really good. Romantic movies aren't usually my thing, but, damn, the ending hit way too close to home for both me and my friend. We both went home feeling pretty down; I still love the movie though. The next movie I plan to see is Moonlight; I'm waiting for it to start playing at the local theatres, but I've heard good things about it. I'm excited.

Anyway, today is the last day of Winter break. I don't really have that many plans; I have comp civics practice again, this review, maybe a lunch with some friends, and studying for a chem quiz tomorrow. It's weird, thinking about how this is the last winter break I'll ever have (in high school, at least). I'm kind of worried because it'll be my last semester– I want to finish with a 4.0 unweighted GPA, win state for comp civics, and do so much more– but at the same time, it's nice to finally get back to seeing people and having stuff to do. Oh well. Five months to go.

Review: 2016 Kamairicha "Gokase" by Tea Master Yoichi Korogi - Lupicia

Type: Green (Kamairicha/pan-fried)
Producer: Lupicia
Origin: Gokase, Japan
Brewing Parameters: 3-4 g; 85-90­°C; 1-1.5 min.
Appearance: Dark green, medium-small curled leaves
Rating: A | 94/100
# of Brews: 4

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Well, here's the last tea that I bought in Hawaii. Apparently, this is a special tea– made by a tea master whose specialty is pan-fried tea (which I'm assuming is somewhat of a rarity within Japan). From just looking at and smelling the dried leaves, you could tell they're quality; the smell was surprisingly strong, like basil and mint, and the leaves were a dark, deep green.

As this tea is pan-fried, it is a bit more forgiving during brewing than other standard Japanese teas (i.e. sencha, gyokuro). My first brew used relatively hot water and only brewed for a short amount of time– thirty seconds. Despite this, it came out surprisingly well. The color was a very bright highlighter yellow-green, with an aroma very similar to most senchas: grassy, a bit like the sea, and very slightly fruity. Similarly, the flavor was tangy, starting off with grassy, slightly bitter notes, which slowly gave way to a light, fishy taste. It's very smooth, with little aftertaste

I decided to make the next brew a bit shorter, considering that the leaves had opened up, and the tea came out an even brighter green color. It tasted a bit sweeter than before and had lost the fishy aftertaste, leaving the grassy notes as the dominant taste. I ended up stopping at four brews since I ran out of water, but surprisingly the tea was still relatively bright and moderately flavorful.

Overall, this has been one of the better teas I've had lately. Sadly, since this is a green tea, it's not really amenable to storage for long periods of time (which sucks, since I'd want to make this last as long as possible).

Other Notes

I hope everyone's having a great labor day weekend! All I've done was binge watch The Get Down (which was amazing, by the way).

This week, Fencing Club is going to be selling stuff at Pigskin, which is the school's big club event. Like previously, I'll be cooking yakisoba, and we'll also be selling Arizona. To be honest, we're probably going to lose money on this event (we as in me), which sucks but at least I am/will be pulling in $54/week rather than my usual $20 (TA for a teacher + tutor for the school district). Apparently most clubs make little money, and the thing with our booth is that there's (somewhat) high overhead costs.

Also, for the college search, my Comp Civics teacher recommended to me a few liberal arts schools. A few I'm interested in (like Amherst) since they're small, so it'll feel more personal in each class. However, the thing is cost, moving to the East Coast, and a few other issues. I'll figure it out, and talk about it in the next update. 

Review: 2016 Sencha "Yakushima" - Lupicia

Type: Green (Sencha)
Producer: Lupicia
Origin: Yakushima, Japan
Brewing Parameters: 3-4 g; 75-80°C; 45s - 1 min.
Appearance: Medium to large emerald green leaves, the shape of blades of grass
Rating: B | 86/100
# of Brews: 3

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
As I was preparing to drink this tea, I came to think about a few things. First off, I don't actually know that much about the differences between regions for Japanese tea; I know I've tried a bit from a variety of areas, but I haven't paid that much attention to how it affects the tea. Second, I don't think I know that much about Japanese teas in general– it just feels like I've drank a lot more oolongs or Chinese teas than Japanese greens. Why this is, I don't know for sure. It might be because I feel that Japanese greens (especially senchas) all taste the same, which gets a bit boring, but then again that might fall back to my inexperience with them.

Anyway, onto the actual review. This is an interesting shincha (I'm guessing Spring 2016), grown in Yakushima, a World Heritage site. I think it's more of a fun fact than something that has an effect on the flavor of the tea, but who knows. The leaves are a decent size– somewhat broken up, but there are leaves about an inch in length– and a dark, emerald green color. I'll be brewing with four grams, but like most other reviews, an unknown temperature (just under 90°C for sure).

The first brew was one minute long, and seemed to brew a bit weak. The color was a weak highlighter yellow, with a smell of grass, broth, and vegetables (maybe basil?). As for the taste, I thought it was pretty good– not as sweet as, say, the Tanegashima sencha, but it still had a bit of natural sweetness. The main flavor was grassy, minty, slightly sour, and just a tiny bit fishy. It's surprisingly smooth, leaving somewhat of a thick, fruity flavor in my mouth (with no dryness).

As for the later brews, the color got darker and green, with the flavor becoming stronger. However, it was also became a bit bitter (but not as bitter as some other teas; it's not bad at all). All in all, I think this was one of the more enjoyable senchas I've had recently.

Other Notes

Now that the second week of school is winding to an end, let's talk about how its been. Overall, I think it has been alright; I started TAing for my Stats teacher, and for some reason I don't have that much homework (which is a blessing and a curse at the same time).

African American Lit is interesting, but it's the class that a bunch of slackers are taking (probably because they didn't want to take the default English class/knew that they would all be together, since there's 1 period) which makes discussion a pain. World Lit is super fun; we're watching Rashomon, and the teacher is a great guy. A lot of the writing is more personal/non-academic stuff, like narratives and reflective essays, which is a nice change of pace from the writing of AP classes. Ceramics, I look forward to since the teacher is always interesting and throwing on the wheel is fun to experiment with. AP Chem is still a bit of a challenge since I'm a bit behind on conceptual stuff, but then again, a bunch of the sophomores/juniors that are in the class don't study nearly as much, so I'm sort of near the same level. AP Gov is great; I'm doing pretty well in it, and the teacher is really good at lecturing. Comp Civics has just been listening to speeches, which is a bit boring, and a lot of it is self-study, but the class is small enough that it's a chill atmosphere. I think next week it'll start picking up and I'll have something to do.

I think I have my final list of colleges I'm applying to, too:
I'll be applying to the UCs– namely Berkeley, LA, Davis Santa Barbara, and San Diego– and a few private schools, like UPenn, Columbia, and Cornell. Unless I get significant financial aid (which is pretty unlikely, because the household income is actually a bit high; it's just that, being Filipino, the money doesn't stay in the family– it's usually spent on family out of country), it looks like I'll be going to a UC. To be honest, I've been having like brief periods of anxiety whenever admissions comes up because the thing is this year, my courseload feels nowhere near as heavy as last year. I just want to take classes I'm personally interested in, but these classes don't look good on a college app (according to people at my school); for example, to be similarly competitive, I'd need to drop African American Lit for AP Calc, and World Lit for AP English Lit.

However, the thing is, I don't want to take calc because I feel like it'd be too much work for me to handle (especially with competition civics), and there are so many people in AP Lit that people don't have desks. It's even worse since I'm planning to take a science/math major in college. I don't know, maybe I can push the fact that I'm taking 2 English classes as 1. that I'm interested in history/language arts (one of my potential majors), 2. me acknowledging the fact that while math skills are great, being able to communicate is better, and 3. me doing something that anyone could do, but no one does.

Review: Mahina - Lupicia

Type: Flavored Rooibos (Tisane)
Producer: Lupicia
Origin: South Africa
Brewing Parameters: 2.5-3g; 100­°C; 3-5 min.
Appearance: Very small, orange red leaves (since it's rooibos, it looks like red tanbark) with chunks of fruit, rose petals, and marigold petals
Rating: B | 86/100
# of Brews: 3

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
So, first, let me preface this with the note that, personally, I love bananas (which this tea is flavored like), but recently have been a bit sick of them. The reason why is that I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich in my backpack a couple of days ago; I thought I finished it, but it turns out I didn't, and the bananas essentially became the consistency of juice. Said banana juice spilled out of the bag it was in, into my bag, and onto a few of my books. As a result, my bag began to smell like a mix between rotting trash (the smell of foodwaste that has been sitting in a can for a while) and bananas. I ended up having to smell that for a full school day, so right now, I can't really stand the smell.

If you've been following my blog for a while (or look at the sidebar), you can tell that I barely drink rooibos tea. It's not really that I don't like rooibos, but rather that I don't purchase rooibos that often (I usually only get it in packs of different teas). As for this tea (or tisane, if you're anal like that), it appears to be of the red type; however, the leaves are much more broken up than the other teas I've seen. I'd compare it to, say, the size of tea fannings. As for the smell, it's a surprisingly accurate banana aroma (maybe a bit overripe, but still) with a tiny bit of the cough syrup/menthol smell found in most rooibos.

Again, I brewed the tea in a kyusu (I really need to get a western-style teapot, don't I) for five minutes. The liquid came out a very deep red-orange. According to the item description, the tea has actual chunks of mango with banana flavoring, and that is very obvious in both the taste and smell. The liquid smells exactly like the dried leaf, but maybe a bit more indiscriminately fruity and less like banana. The taste is actually a bit like bubble gum at first, followed by an unsweet (unripe, to an extent) banana flavor. It ends abruptly and dries the throat a lot, to the point where I felt like coughing after each drink. The aftertaste is a minty, cooling sensation, with a slight cough syrup taste of most rooibos. To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about this tea as a whole. It's obviously one of the better rooibos teas I've had, and does banana well (I don't think I've even seen a banana flavored tea), but it's not one of the better teas I've had. I'd try it cold brewed, but it's not too bad hot. (On a good note, I noticed that the tea didn't try my throat nearly as much in the second brew, and the flavor was only marginally weaker. However, the third brew didn't really have any flavor.)

Other Notes
And that's the end of the Hawaii-specific teas! I'll be getting to the other senchas when I'm up to it and have the time to. The one I'm most excited for is a sencha from Yakushima island; I loved the Tanegashima tea, and since Yakushima is near, I'm assuming the tea will be somewhat similar (that is, if the soil and everything else there are similar).

Along with the Hawaii-specific teas, I'm also done with my first week of school! I ended up sticking with my schedule because it turns out I'm actually pretty decent in ceramics, like working with my hands, and enjoy the teacher's stress-relief and life tips (and he's very, very big on them). I also won't be able to switch into AP English Lit because almost every class has forty students; in fact, some classes don't have enough desks for people to sit in since there are too many students. When I talked to my counselor about it, she pretty much said to not worry because I'm taking two English classes already and Competition Civics (so it doesn't look like I'm slacking off senior year). I love African American Lit since it's essentially a history class with a lot of reading, World Lit since the teacher's great and I have quite a few friends in the class, AP Chem since it's a nice challenge (and other than the first test, I have been doing it pretty decently and correctly), AP Gov/Macro since the teacher's great at lectures and the topic's interesting, and Comp Civics because, well, it's comp civics.

Today, though, I ended up going to San Francisco for the final comp civics workshop, and I thought it was interesting since the topic was the Bill of Rights. After the workshop, the team went to a Chinese restaurant, which was a great bonding experience in my opinion. Tomorrow, I'll be going to the Oakland Art and Soul Festival to volunteer with the Uhuru Africans again.

There's also one thing I want to mention, too. So, my best friend has liked this girl for a while, and she's leaving to do an international exchange program. The thing is, yesterday we were hanging out when she texted him, asking if we'd like to get dinner with her. When we went to eat, they were late, and got a table without us (because we didn't want to eat, they didn't invite us to sit with them, so we were stuck outside the restaurant for one or two hours, after waiting an hour). They finally wanted to meet with us at a Starbucks when they were done eating, but when they came in, they pretty much just bought drinks, got them, and left without really hanging out or talking at all. Needless to say, I', pretty pissed about it, and my friend is heartbroken since she didn't even hug him (they've been friends for years now) when she left, and that was the last time he'll see her. I can't tell if they noticed how rude they were being, but oh well. Hopefully he gets over it soon, because on the ride home, he was very upset. Relationships, man.

Review: Palekaiko - Lupicia

Type: Flavored Black
Producer: Lupicia
Origin: India, Indonesia
Brewing Parameters: 2-2.5g; 100­°C; 2-2.5 min.
Appearance: Crushed/rolled black and brown leaves with chunks of yellow, purple, and red flower petals
Rating: B | 84/100
# of Brews: 2

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
So, when I went to Hawaii, I bought a set of mini tins containing Lupicia's Hawaii selection. It had six teas– the ones I've reviewed for the past week– but, while I was looking through the store, I found a seventh, not in the set. I'll be reviewing that one next, which means I'll be done with the Hawaii teas very soon. After that, I just have two interesting Japanese greens, and a variety of random tea bags. As for the description of today's tea, it is said to be "a sweet-tart passion fruit flavored black tea... accented with spicy ginger." Interesting.

Just opening the foil bag containing the loose leaf could I tell that this tea was going to be different. The smell was outright weird; dry, it smelled exactly like fruity nail polish remover, but wet, it smelled like tonkatsu sauce (or worcestershire sauce). The liquid was a very bright golden color– I don't know why, considering its black tea base (I'd have expected it to be darker). Tasting it, I thought it was one of the better teas in the set. It didn't really have the spice of the ginger, but it definitely had the tart flavor of the passion fruit. The taste begins with the mellow taste of the passion fruit, with a tiny bit of chocolate. As you keep drinking, it gets slightly more and more sour until you stop; then, it gradually dies out on an aftertaste. It's relatively smooth and doesn't leave any waxy feeling in your mouth. The tea doesn't seem to have a long life, however, as the taste was pretty weak by the time of the second brew. All in all, not the worst tea, but not the best; I'd recommend it for people who aren't into very fruity teas, which make up the majority of Lupicia's Hawaii teas.

Other Notes

I took my first test in AP Chem! And.... I got a D+. To be honest, I'm not that surprised; although it's much, much less than what I aimed for, I'm not that upset (at all, really). I can't tell if its early onset senioritis or what. The thing is, I have had no formal teaching for chemistry– all I know was learned in a month out of a textbook and study guide. So, in my mind, I know jack about the subject, so I think this is a good learning experience and gives me a place to start figuring out what I need to learn to catch up. Once the tests are returned, I'm going to go to the teacher's office hours and go over what I missed, since I want to be at the same level as the rest of the class by first quarter. The funny thing, though, is that I actually got over the class average (albeit not by a large margin).

There's one thing I noticed though: my class is made up of mainly sophomores, and hearing them before the test makes me a bit disappointed. On my way to class, I passed by a group of guys who were doing some last minute study, and one of them said they'd better "pass this or pass out," which I think is just a stupid maxim. Sure, it might have been a joke, but the thing is that it's representative of a growing mindset at my school– a competitive and at many times toxic mindset in which grades and GPA come before actually learning a subject. Oh well; I'll let you guys know how my chem adventure goes.

One last thing: I turned in a new form for a schedule change, but it looks like I won't be able to switch into AP English Lit (Photography is up in the air right now, and I'm still 50/50 on leaving Ceramics). I'm not too upset since I have friends in World Lit, and the teacher's great, but just a little disappointed. I guess I've bought into the idea that I need to take as many APs as possible to get accepted into a decent college (peer pressure is great!). I'll just try and figure out a way to spin my passion for American history and ELA into my essays, even without taking AP Eng Lit; talk about my two English classes, maybe?

Review: Kuuipo - Lupicia

Type: Flavored Black
Producer: Lupicia
Origin: India, Kenya, Indonesia
Brewing Parameters: 2-2.5g; 100­°C; 2-2.5 min.
Appearance: Mix of CTC and broken up rolled dark brown/black leaves, with rose petals and chunks of fruit
Rating: B | 84/100
# of Brews: 3

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Two more teas left for the Hawaii set (barring any non-Hawaii specific teas– I got a few interesting senchas that I want to review)! Today's tea is "an alluring sweet-tart guava flavored black tea with red flower petals." I don't know specifically why they chose to say "red flower petals" instead of rose petals, especially when its pretty obvious what they are, but I guess it makes it sound fancier?

Anyway, smelling the tea, I thought it was very similar to fruit snacks (Welch's?). I thought it actually smelled a bit more like cherries instead of guava, which was a bit weird. This tea suffers from the same issue that a few of the Hawaii teas– that is, the fruit smell is a bit too artificial smelling, which makes it a bit hard to discern what the actual flavor is. Brewing it, the tea had a very dark, orange-amber (more towards amber) color. The liquid was a bit closer to smelling like juice than the leaves, but it still wasn't too pleasing or realistic.

As for the taste, it was surprisingly very similar to that of yesterday. Like Anela, the texture was smooth, with the fruit flavor being the main flavor, but mellow at the same time. In short, the guava flavor lasted the longest, ending on a sharp, but short, tangy note. It stayed as an aftertaste, leaving a slight waxy texture on the tongue. This was accented by the earthy flavors of the black tea base. The one issue I have with it is that, for some reason, it had a taste somewhat similar to soap after the second brew. Overall, it's one of the better teas, but I think Anela and Hoku are still the better teas.

Other Notes
Welp, apparently, the reason why my schedule hasn't been changed is because the school office lost my request forms. So, it looks like I have to fill out a new one to switch out of World Literature (to AP English Literature) and Ceramics (to Photography). I just have a few reservations, though– I like the speed of AP classes, but I don't like the people; I just find that its too competitive for no real reason (there's the mentality that to have an A, someone else has to get a lower grade– I feel like college admissions has to do a big part). Also, Ceramics is nice, but I'm not too passionate or interested in the subject. The teacher is a great person, but he doesn't necessarily seem to be good at teaching (and even if he is, I'd rather not force myself to try and like the subject). Hopefully I get switched in,  but we'll see by next week.

Other than that, it looks like I'm pretty prepared for the AP Chem test tomorrow; in the review session in class, much of the class (at least the vocal part) didn't know some of the concepts to the same level that I'm at, so now I'm not too worried about doing that badly. Again, my goal is a B- so I can figure out my weaknesses and work with the teacher on it afterwards. That aside, I'm going to start working as a TA for my stats teacher soon, and so far I like most of my classes bar ceramics. I'll give an update on how everything goes with my next review. See you!

Review: Anela - Lupicia

Type: Flavored Black
Producer: Lupicia
Origin: India
Brewing Parameters: 2-2.5g; 100­°C; 2-2.5 min.
Appearance: Medium-small, rolled brown and black leaves with whole flower buds and chunks of flower petals
Rating: B+ | 88/100
# of Brews: 3

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Quick review today since it's the first day of school. According to the brochure, this tea is "a sweetly aromatic strawberry and lychee flavored black tea." The strawberry is definitely noticeable just by smelling the dry leaf, and there's hints of tomato. I didn't really notice the lychee, on the other hand.

Interestingly, the brewed tea, darker than the others, left what appeared to be gold flakes in my teapot despite me not seeing it in the dried leaf. The color was more of a gold orange than the others, and all I could smell were the strawberries. I thought that, unlike the other teas, this wasn't too artificial; in fact, it even smelled a bit like fresh berries or an Italian soda. The taste was similar, too. The closest thing I can place it to is a strawberry Italian soda– a slight bit sour, with a touch of sweetness. There was some bitterness, probably from the tea base (which I'm guessing is a darjeeling, based on the slight green color of the leaves in the water.

All in all, I think this was one of the more enjoyable teas of the group. The fruit taste was mellow and enjoyable, and it went down pretty smooth.

Other Notes

First day of school went alright. I think my favorite classes are African American Lit, AP Gov/Macro, and Competition Civics so far. However, my schedule change didn't go through yet, so it looks like I'll be stuck in World Lit and Ceramics for a few more days (my counselor said I can get a schedule change into AP Eng Lit, but not ceramics, if I can have my entire schedule switched, so there's that. Hopefully it happens tomorrow? Ceramics to photography apparently is next week).

As for the AP Chem struggle right now, I'll be studying my ass off today and tomorrow to figure out types of chemical reactions, predicting products, and writing equations (which didn't seem too hard when I did it at home, but when we tried in class I was clueless). Stoichiometry is okay. So, I'll be working on that for the next few hours. To be honest, my goal is a B for this first test, figure out what I need to learn, go to the teacher's office hours, and then put as much effort as I can into the first quarter so I can get caught up. Wish me luck! 

Review: Hua Ki - Lupicia

Type: Flavored Black
Producer: Lupicia
Origin: India, Indonesia
Brewing Parameters: 2-2.5g; 100­°C; 2-2.5 min.
Appearance: Very small, broken-up, rolled black leaves with chunks of fruit and purple flower petals
Rating: B | 83/100
# of Brews: 2

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Number three of the Hawaiian teas! I think for the rest of the reviews, bar one, the tea will be a flavored black tea. This one is no exception. Like yesterday (and for the rest of the black teas), I'll be brewing in the kyusu according to the brewing parameters.

Again, like most of Lupicia's flavored black teas, this has that vaguely fruity smell that is very artificial. The description only states that Hua Ki is "a tropical fruits flavored black tea... luxuriously blended with mango–" except it doesn't smell like a mango. It has the smell of tropical fruit juice, but if you didn't tell me it was mango, I wouldn't be able to guess. For some reason, it reminds me a bit of barbeque sauce, actually. Compared to yesterday's tea, the leaves were actually quite a bit smaller, with even the flower petals broken up. Also, I think yesterday's tea smelled better in general.

While I did think it smelled worse (mainly because it was just too artificial), I think it tastes much better. After brewing, the liquid came out a dark orange, clear enough to see the bottom of my cup. The mango, too, definitely came out once it brewed; the wet leaves smelled exactly of unripe mango juice (a bit sour, but still fruity). As for its flavor, it is surprisingly mellow for a black tea. The main flavor is an earthy, slightly woody taste accented by the tangy mango. It ends on a very strong chocolate note, which ends abruptly. Nothing really lingers in the mouth, but a very faint mango note stays on the breath. It made me a bit thirsty after drinking; however, it wasn't really astringent or bitter. Overall, I think this tea is good, but like yesterday's, not knock your socks off good. It doesn't seem to need any milk or sweetener to make it taste any better– in fact, I think adding any would overpower its fruit flavor.

Other Notes

Last day of summer! I just made a checklist of what I should do, like cook certain meals (french toast and tonkatsu!), prepare for school, read and study, and so on. So far, I've cleaned the new room so there aren't random boxes lying everywhere, cooked french toast and my lunch for tomorrow, had a friend come over, and wrote this review. It's a bit of a lazy day. I don't know if I should do anything special, and if I should, what it should be. I'll write about it tomorrow or later this week if I do figure that out.

As for plans this school year, I guess I have quite a bit since it's senior year after all. To go on a tangent right now (because I just really want to talk about it– I can always write my plan for the year later, and these reviews are generally streams of consciousness), there's an issue I have with my school. The thing is, being from a suburban upper class school, it's come to feel like my life depends on college admissions. I don't want to worry as much as other people– mainly, the people that I go to AP classes with– but there's just so much pressure coming from my peers (and my parents, to an extent) to go to an Ivy league. Like, it seems that UCs, the schools I want to go to (and pretty selective, too), are terrible because they don't have a less than ten percent acceptance rate. Some people even have schools like Berkeley and LA as their safeties.

This mindset has put me at odds with both my classmates and myself. On one hand, there's the idea that I won't be able to get into a "good" college (by their standards) if I don't take AP Calculus, but on the other hand, I just want to take classes I'm interested in, like African American literature. The other issue too is that I want to take a STEM major in college, but my standardized tests and coursework points toward the humanities, like English and History. Classes like AP Calculus probably would help me in the long term, but the thing is I just want to enjoy my senior year. With college admissions, it's just like everything is a rich man's game. Not an average person's. It's not easy for me to have access to the opportunities that the people at my school have (namely through family connections or just money), and in order to be competitive academically, I can't do what I'm passionate in. Don't get me wrong, I love to do math and research, but I think at this point, seeing the current state of science is making me disillusioned.

I want to make a difference in the world. But the issue is that, at this point in my life, it looks like the only people that can do that are those with money to afford fancy internships at colleges, or those with family members in science. I've tried to do what I can on a budget: do science fair projects, research on my own, join free summer camps, and so on. However, for the things that do get you into the schools for the programs I want, this isn't enough. I guess we'll see.

Review: Lanikai - Lupicia

Type: Flavored Black
Producer: Lupicia
Origin: India, Kenya
Brewing Parameters: 2-2.5g; 100­°C; 2-2.5 min.
Appearance: Mix of CTC cut and broken-up, rolled dark brown leaves; there are also lavender/bluish colored flower petals, chunks of dried fruit (unsure what), and light blue rock sugar
Rating: B- | 82/100
# of Brews:  3

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Second Hawaii tea! According to the brochure, this tea is "a peach, orange and mango flavored black tea. Its sweet and fruit flavor goes well with milk." For the sake of keeping things the same during reviews, I won't be drinking with milk– but for the record, I usually drink my black teas with milk and honey. I'll also be brewing western style in a kyusu since I don't exactly own a teapot for single brewing, and the kyusu I do have has a pretty large volume.

Anyway, as this is a black tea, I don't expect this tea to last past one or two brews, especially since it is flavored and the leaves are pretty small. Brewed for two and a half minutes, the liquid came out a dark, orange-amber color– but not necessarily as dark as, say, English or Irish breakfast teas. The smell was fruity and sweet, but I couldn't really pin it down to a single smell. For some reason, all of Lupicia's fruit flavored teas have generally the same smell: a bit perfume-like with a bouquet of fruits. If I could guess, the strongest here is the mango, with some chocolate from the black tea base.

As for the flavor, it didn't taste as rough as I was expecting. Rough, as in terms of bitterness or astringency, which is the norm for many black teas. For Lanikai, it starts off with that indiscernible fruit flavor, then moves into the orange– a bit tangy and bitter, like bergamot oil– and ends with a mango aftertaste on the tongue lengthening the sour flavor. The tea leaves a sort of waxy texture on the tongue, but does not create any sort of drying sensation in the throat.

In the end, I got three brews, with the second losing most of the fruit flavor (but still having some of the black tea base), and the third having little to no taste. Lanikai is one of Lupicia's better flavored black teas– their teas seem to be either really good or really bad– but I'm not exactly crazy for it. I'd make it a daily drinker for breakfast or something or have people who are not into tea try it, but it's not really my cup of tea per se.

Other Notes

Recently, my brother came to live with us after graduating from college, and so, we ended up renovating the house. As of this review, I'm now in a new room, which is pretty nice; in this new setup, I have a big desk (not just a drawer now!), workspace underneath a bunk bed, and most of the stuff I had in my old room– just more compact. Sadly, I won't be able to sleep in this room this weekend since we're missing a mattress, but I think I'll be moving in early next week.

As for school stuff, I got my schedule, but it turns out my counselor last year messed up and didn't file my papers for changing classes. As a result, I'm taking African American Lit, World Lit, Ceramics, AP Chem, AP Gov/Macro, and Competition Civics (in that order). I've turned in the papers for a schedule change (to switch World Lit for AP English Lit and Ceramics for Photography), but it looks like I won't have the change until after the first day of school. Since this is the last weekend of summer, I have no idea what to do, either. Most of this week I've been renovating the house, and today I studied chem for most of the day. I'm excited for school, but at the same time, I'm dreading it. Here's to a successful senior year?

Expect a few more reviews coming soon. I might do multiple in a single day, but my issue is not being able to put anything in this section. Maybe I'll just write the actual reviews in one day, save it until I have something to write about in this section (e.g. on the next day), and then publish it. Who knows.

Review: Hoku - Lupicia

Type: Flavored Oolong
Producer: Lupicia
Origin: Taiwan
Brewing Parameters: 2.5-3g; 100°C; 1.5-2 min. (recommended)
Appearance: Dark green ball oolong with small stems, yellow and blue flower petals, and metallic colored rock sugar
Rating: A- | 90/100
# of Brews: 4

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Woah, it's been a while since my last review of Lupicia tea. While I do admit that Lupicia isn't always the best quality since their teas are generally flavored (this tea is no exception), it holds a special place in my heart as the company that helped pull me into the world of tea. Anyway, I picked this tea up during my trip in Hawaii, which I just got back from last night. This will be the first of a set of seven reviews, covering Lupicia's Hawaii exclusive teas. I also bought a few interesting shinchas while there too, so expect some more reviews coming soon.

I ended up choosing this tea in the Hawaii set to start with because it's a balled oolong, and to be honest, I haven't had a decent oolong in quite a bit. Looking at the tea before I brew it (gongfu style), the most interesting things are 1. the silvery, metallic sheen of the rock sugar and 2. the very pungent, flowery perfume smell of the dry leaf. In general, however, the tea looks to be a standard Lupicia tea with the choice of flowers and shape of sugar.

For brewing, I decided to stick with the recommended parameters despite brewing in a gaiwan. The liquid was a light, golden cream color with a scent very similar to the dry leaf– perhaps even more fruity and sweet. Immediately upon drinking, the first thing that came to mind is pina colada; the first and last thing I tasted was a creamy, pineapple flavor. After that was a bit of tanginess, like that of a mango, some cooling sensation, like mint, and then the return to the pina colada. As for the texture, I noticed that it was a bit irritating to the throat, but I chalk it up to there being a bit of dust in the drink (not sure if it was from my set or from the actual tea).

In the end, I was able to get 4 brews from three grams of leaf– double what was expected. Being that it was a flavored tea, it tasted the same throughout the whole session, just becoming weaker as time went on. All in all, I enjoyed this tea quite a bit, which is saying something, since I think Lupicia's tropical-flavored teas are usually they're worst.

Other Notes

Hawaii was actually pretty fun; we did quite a bit of hiking, shopping, and eating. I was surprised to see that there was such a large Japanese population there– both tourist and residential– and that the food was so good (ended up having quite a bit of udon and croquettes). Our hotel was in Waikiki, but we visited Pearl Harbor and the museums there, along with the Polynesian Cultural Center (Ha Breath of Life was amazing) and a few other places. Matsumoto shave ice was also one of the highlights of the trip.

Anyway, it's the last week of summer. I decided not to go to Freq.Fest.SF since I don't really have the money (spent it on the tea, heh) and it can be streamed from DNA Lounge's website. In fact, the whole time I've been writing this, I've been listening to the show. As for school, I missed registration so I don't know my schedule yet, but I'll be going to make up registration tomorrow; I'll update you all once I get it. To be honest, I'm not really sure how I feel. For one, I'll have something to do and will be able to see my friends and all, but then again, I have college apps and tests and so on.

If you don't remember, the classes I signed up for are African American Literature, AP English Literature, AP Government/Macroeconomics, AP Chemistry, Competition Civics, and Photography. Here's to hoping I get all of the classes I signed up for. 

Day 100: Good Morning

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Black
Brew Time & Temperature: 2 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Dark brown/black, very small CTC tea with small, curled leaves
Color: Dark brown/amber; clear
Smell: Earthy, somewhat like puerh (the fishy smell), smoky
Recommended with/as: As is, milk, sweetener
Rating: 7.5/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
Apparently this is a blend of African and assam tea, but to be honest, it tastes more like a light puerh-black blend rather than an assam. This is because the assam seems to be masked by the African tea, which gives it a much stronger earthy and somewhat bold taste. It doesn't really have the sweetness or creaminess of other black teas, and to be honest, is a bit bland on its own. It is, however, very astringent and somewhat malty.  It does make for a good breakfast tea though, since it's not bad when milk and honey are added. Overall, it's a pretty basic black tea, but it's not my cup of tea. I'd try to write more about it (especially since this is the last review), but there isn't really much that sets this apart from others, and I have to do more studying for the AP bio test.

Other notes:
Welp, it's finally over!

But before I talk about THAT, let's see talk about how my day went. The main thing is that I finally got the balls to turn in my own writeup to AP Bio, and you know what? I feel good about it. Although I felt like shit at the time because my lab group is really pissed at me (and understandably too- I didn't tell them anything), I feel like they had it coming. They expected me to pick up all of the hard work and writing (stat analysis, graphing, the bulk of the writeup mainly), and since I didn't, they had nothing to turn in. I also admit that I should have done it earlier, since this was terrible timing (the guy who sort of screwed us over on the science fair + made me pick up all of his work the whole year has 2 AP tests and this super long writeup to do) and it would have spared me all of this grief. But, what's done is done, and I'm glad I finally stood up for myself- it's good that the AP bio teacher and my other science fair partner stood up for me since I'm terrible at doing this stuff. I didn't get to do the speech for history class (so that's tomorrow), and all of the other classes were pretty average. After school, I ended up talking to you know who for a while, which was pretty fun too. Right now, I'm just procrastinating on homework and studying since I just woke up, and trying to debate if I should still present the science fair stuff on wednesday at the street fair (especially after what happened today and I do have the AP Bio final the day after).

Anyway! For this project. Here's some stats:
1. I skipped only two days (once because I accidentally slept in, and the other because of family problems)
2. I had about ~600 pageviews (probably all bots, honestly)
3. Since I had an average of 3 teacups each day, which is around 2 cups (I'm being generous here), I've drank 200 cups of tea. 200 cups is about 1600 fluid ounces, and since 1 fluid ounce weighs 0.0652 pounds, that's around 104 pounds. I've pretty much drank almost my entire body weight in tea (which probably isn't good, considering the drought).
4. The majority of my views were from the US, with some in China, Sri Lanka, Russia, and Great Britain. Most of these viewers used chrome as a browser and macs as their OS.
4. I'll probably make up more and mention them in other things as I go on.

And for posterity, things that I've done over this 3 month period that I'm proud of are:
1. 2nd place in Botany for my first science fair (Biofuels: The Effects of Electricity on Algae Growth)
2. Actually started dating someone (and I really like her, too)
3. Kept my GPA at 4.0-4.06, and am doing great in AP Bio (it's turned out to be one of my favorite classes)
4. Gained a new found respect and love for classic movies (Ikiru, goddamn)
5. Learned a ton of stuff about tea and in general (how to make authentic chai!)
6. People actually celebrated my birthday this year (and I got an awesome tea set/tray in it too- thanks!)
7. Piano recital (played one of my favorite songs for that)
8. Sort of got some extracurriculars? They don't start until summer, so I can't really say for sure (Fencing club/classes, volunteer work at CAX)
9. History project was decent (grades aren't up for that, and I'm kind of disappointed that it got destroyed; working on it was pretty fun though- except the writing); pretty much most projects in general
10. Well I did try 100 different teas and got better at tea tasting (tip for next time: change the grading system since what I have isn't that good)
11. I'm still alive too, which is a plus (there was a surprising number of shitty days I've had, but I didn't really know I usually have this many since I haven't wrote it down before)
12. A ton of other stuff that I can't remember right now but are probably important (just social things I think)

Well it's been an emotional roller coaster, but thank you if you've read this. For the people who came here for actual tea reviews, I'm sorry that this was mostly about my personal life; I was mostly just looking for practice in taste testing. It's been fun, and I'll probably start doing serious reviews now if I can- I do have that milk oolong to review still, don't I?

I'll end this project with one of my life rules, since I haven't posted one in a while:
You almost never end up where you expect to be in life; just go with the flow, and make sure you enjoy it along the way.

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Finished!

Day 99: Kilimanjaro

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Black
Brew Time & Temperature: 2 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Dark brown, small CTC leaves
Color: Dark golden-orange; clear
Smell: Earthy, malty, a bit smoky
Recommended with/as: As is, milk, sweetener
Rating: 8/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
Shoot, it's pretty late today for this review so I'm gonna rush it (11:30). Anyway, I thought this was a pretty average black tea. It's a nice in-between, without being too strong or too weak. However, it isn't too complex- the main flavor is mostly just earthy. However, by the end of a sip, it lightens up and becomes a bit malty with a very, very subtle sweetness. It doesn't linger much on the mouth after drinking, but it does make the throat a little bit dry. Overall, it would make a good breakfast tea with milk or in a blend, but there isn't very much to it. I do like how it tastes on its own, however.

Other notes:
-48 HOURS REMAIN-
Well, the recital went okay today (it still feels kinda shitty that everyone there, including elementary kids, can play more pieces, and better than you can, but I guess that's just part of learning). Other than that, though, it was mostly just work and studying for the AP bio exam. My history group got the script and visual set up (and they actually helped somewhat, but I don't really have high hopes for this presentation), and like always, my AP Bio group didn't get anything done on the writeup. So, since I did all yesterday on my own, I'm just going to turn it in with my name only and stop being such a damn pushover (especially since it's the last real lab). I also signed up for fencing classes in June, which I'm pretty hyped about. Anyway, tomorrow is the final day of the project, and I feel kind of sad since it's coming to an end. I did have a ton of fun with it though, and I think I expanded my tea tasting ability quite a bit. I'd talk more, but it's almost 12 and I don't want to post this late.

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Good Morning

Day 98: Sencha "Omaesama"

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Green
Brew Time & Temperature: Gaiwan method today
Leaf Appearance: Small, broken up dark green leaves; sizes range from broad to thin & grasslike
Color: Dark (but bright), emerald green; a bit cloudy from particles, but overall clear
Smell: Brothy, vegetal, somewhat salty with very light sweet, vanilla notes
Recommended with/as: As is
Rating: 8/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
Looking back, this isn't really a good tea to use in a gaiwan (especially the leaves in the tea bag). They're much too small, particles get past even my best strainer, and the leaves just get everywhere. However, despite the oversteeping and light bitterness, this is a green tea with a strong umami taste. It starts off with the brothy taste, which soon turns into umami (and also some bitter) notes. It finishes off with grassy, somewhat tangy (and minty?) notes, with the umami lingering in the mouth long afterwards. It's somewhat astringent, leaving the throat a bit dry, but not the mouth. I got about 8 brews out of it, with the taste becoming less bitter and more sweet each time and the color becoming more bright green. Overall, it's a good green tea, but I've had better in this project (also having larger leaves wouldn't hurt too).

Other notes:
-72 HOURS REMAIN-
Oh shiiiiiiiiii- I can't believe I've done this for almost 100 days straight (bar 1 or 2 days). I'd talk more about how I feel about it, but there's work to do (screw this AP bio lab y'know). I'll do it later. Anyway, in short, pretty much all I did today was buy groceries, get the rest of the job application (and talk to the boss there), and work on homework. I'll start studying my ass off tomorrow for that AP Bio final + AP test, and I have a piano recital tomorrow. My first piece is super easy and not really my choice (I was going to play Howl's Moving Castle, but screw the 2nd half of that piece), but I really like my second piece (Schroeder's Failure from Darwinia). Here's to me doing well and actually doing what I set out to do.

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Kilimanjaro

Day 97: Muscat Darjeeling

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Black
Brew Time & Temperature: 3 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Mix of dark or light green darjeeling leaves, rolled/curly
Color: Light, golden-orange; clear
Smell: Sweet, red grapes or just grape juice mainly
Recommended with/as: As is, iced
Rating: 7.5/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
First thought on this tea is that it smells really, really nice, but then again, most of Lupicia's grape-flavored teas aren't that bad smelling (they're pretty close to the actual smell of grapes and not that artificial). As for the taste, I'd say it's pretty close to grape juice. The darjeeling mixes well with the grape flavoring, as they both enhance each others flavor. On drinking, you're met with the earthiness of the darjeeling, which is quickly followed by the tart, grape flavoring (and muscatel from the darjeeling?). It slowly dissipates afterwards, starting off slightly sweet and ending on a light bitter note. It's actually pretty close to real grapes (but not the sweet kind). The aftertaste isn't as good as the actual taste as it leaves a bit of a bitter, sour taste that lasts in the mouth for a really long time. This, combined with the astringency of the tea, makes it very drying to the mouth and throat and gives it a bit of different texture (which in my opinion, isn't that good- I'd describe it as kind of chewy and astringent). Overall, it's a decent darjeeling that has a good flavor, but leaves a feeling in the mouth that isn't too enjoyable. Maybe adding sugar or honey would fix this, but I'm not too sure.

Other notes:
Y'know, today was actually pretty great. School was pretty average again, but after school was fun. That girl and I (it sorta feels weird to call her my girlfriend now, but we're officially dating- we just haven't told our friends yet) went with some friends to Safeway and got some donuts/other food. We ended up leaving them to go hang out on our own in front of the school for a while, and we talked for an hour (?) or so about random stuff. She showed me the Harry Potter books if they were about Christianity (note to self: read the actual HP book sometime), and we talked about stuff from middle school. Man, now I can't wait until next week to do this again since we had so much fun. In somewhat related news, I think the name Lonzo is such a stupid, but hilarious name.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm trying sleep learning in preparation for the AP Bio final + exam (with actual studying too, of course). I don't really know if it'll have any effect, but it's nice to try anyway. This weekend is going to be a ton of work to do (AP bio studying and lab, history presentation, job application, Japanese cooking project, math homework, all that jazz).

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Sencha "Omaesama"

Day 96: Wedding

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Black
Brew Time & Temperature: 3 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Small black tea leaves with various flower petals (including rose), twigs, and dried berries
Color: Light copper; clear
Smell: Fruity, vanilla, candy-like (it's not terribly artificial however), floral
Recommended with/as: As is, iced, sweetener
Rating: 8/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
Surprisingly, this tea, despite its smell and description, wasn't too fruity or artificial tasting,which is unlike most of Lupicia's fruit blends. The black base is actually more dominant in this tea, and is followed by the floral, then fruit taste. Upon drinking, you're met with light, earthy and chocolatey notes, which are promptly followed by a tangy, floral (rose?) taste. It ends with the fruit or berry taste that can be found in the smell, which lingers in the mouth and gives the tea a nice sweet taste. There is some astringency however, leaving both the mouth and throat dry after drinking. Overall, an enjoyable fruit flavored blend (one of the better ones); I'd suggest it sweetened, hot or iced. Y'know, I think I really need to start working on my black tea identification since apparently this has a keemun base.

Other notes:
Well I can't really think of interesting stuff that happened today; I think it was pretty average. The AP World History final was today, so a lot of my friends were panicking about that. One friend (I'm sure you can guess who) brought the alpaca/llama I bought her for good luck and I also ended up lending her my good pen, so there's that. Other than that, nothing much except that I did a ton of stat work by myself for an AP bio lab, have had a killer headache from a nap, and procrastinated on history work. Can't wait for tomorrow though since we're doing stuff after school.

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Muscat Darjeeling

Day 95: Framboise

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Black
Brew Time & Temperature: 3 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Thin, curled black leaves with twigs, pieces of dull green leaves
Color: Dark golden orange, clear
Smell: Sweet, berries (a mix, but mainly raspberries)
Recommended with/as: As is
Rating: 7/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
So, short review since I didn't really have much hot water (could only fill a mug today). Overall, I thought this was a pretty underwhelming tea. It smells pretty nice, but the taste isn't that great. I could really only taste some tartness from the raspberry, and little else. The tea base was most dominant, giving it an earthiness and a bit of a metallic taste. For some reason, there was also a really light cinnamon taste. It would maybe be good cold brewed, but hot, it's not very enjoyable.

Other notes:
Oh shiiiit, it's official: I'm finally going out with that girl I like. We decided to try and keep it quiet for now and drop subtle hints to our friends, until they finally figure out (which is probably going to be fun). I'll probably give more info on that later, since I'm really tired right now and need to study. I'm so excited oh man

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Wedding

Day 94: Cameron Highlands BOP

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Black
Brew Time & Temperature: 2 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Small, broken up brown and black leaves (BOP)
Color: Dark reddish-brown, clear
Smell: Chocolate, earthy, honey-like, for some reason also little soap-like
Recommended with/as: As is, milk, sweetener
Rating: 9/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
This is actually a pretty enjoyable black tea. It's strong, has a very nice aroma, and a robust taste to boot. It starts off mainly earthy and malty, with dark chocolate or coffee-like undertones (which add a tiny bit of natural sweetness), and ends with a bit of a savory, brothy aftertaste. The malty and chocolate taste lingers long after drinking. There is some astringency and it makes the throat and mouth a little bit dry, but not so much that the tea is completely unenjoyable- I think it actually helps with the strong taste, a bit. Overall, a pretty good black tea- it's great with milk and honey too! I actually think this is the first tea I've had in a long time that I've tried with milk, and I enjoyed it both ways. Make sure you drink this one hot though, because for some reason when this tea is cold, it tastes like metal.

Other notes:
Nothing much, really. AP bio essay went decently (note to self: practice writing free responses), and every other class wasn't very notable. The FISH/Christian club had a speaker talk about gay marriage and apparently there's a shitstorm at my school now, since the GSA is crying oppression and threatening to go to the administration (even though the speaker was talking about equality in general). Pretty much my stance on it is that the GSA is overreacting- the FISH club simply wanted to state their views (and are in every right to do so), and the GSA's response is that the FISH club can't have these views. People weren't forced to go and it was all optional, but I'm pretty sure a ton of people went just to create drama. The thing is that there are bigger things to worry about right now- especially Nepal and Baltimore, and judging by response is that no one really cares. There will always be homophobic Christians (or really just people) who refuse to see any other way, and there will always be LGBT rights activists who refuse to accept that people can have different views than their own. There are people out there in Nepal who are in dire need of help and dying (there is literally 1 person who is holding a fundraiser to raise money), and people at my school just want to cause drama. Man, I don't get why people can't understand that everyone has a right to their own opinion and that their actions can have consequences.

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Framboise

Day 93: Grenada

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Black
Brew Time & Temperature: 3 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Small, curled black leaves with dried yellow flower petals, red pieces (I think it's also a flower but I'm not sure)
Color: Dark golden; clear
Smell: Fruity (tropical- the guava is pretty noticeable), a bit floral
Recommended with/as: As is, iced
Rating: 8/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
Quick review today since I'm tired and have a test tomorrow.

Anyway, despite the smell, this tea was pretty mild. At the start, it tastes average (mix of fruits), but eventually becomes much more sour by the end. It definitely tastes like the guava described, but apparently there's papaya too. I think the tea base rounds it out a bit and doesn't make it too fruity- it's a nice balance. It's also smooth, but it did leave my throat a bit dry after drinking. Maybe try it cold brewed. Overall, it's a pretty good fruit tea, but like most of Lupicia's fruit blends, a bit generic.

Other notes:
So, today was my mom's birthday and we ended up eating outside for that. The math test went decently (I finished within the time, but I'm pretty sure I got a couple questions wrong), and I turned in the English essay too. For the essay, we had the choice of writing that we added/changed stuff like analysis (which is what we weren't supposed to do, but the teacher knows that people do it anyway) or that nothing except grammar or clarity was changed. I ended up putting down that I changed some of my stuff since I know I added phrases to a few sentences that changed their meaning, and rearranged them so that it makes more sense. To be honest, I don't think I changed as much stuff as some other people in my class who wrote that they did not change anything, and the teacher probably won't even check, but I guess I feel a bit shitty lying about it. Oh, and I got a job app at the local hardware store today too. I gotta wait until Saturday to talk to the boss though and get the other page of the application since they only had the second page today.

Also, I realized something: if I studied as much as I did for this math test (which was a decent amount over multiple days), I think I could actually do really well. I actually finished and had time to check on this test, which was a first in a while. Then again, I think there's only one test left before the final since we have a month left, but it's still something.

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Cameron Highlands BOP

Day 92: Neptune

Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Black
Brew Time & Temperature: 3 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Small, black curled leaves with dried, long, yellow petals
Color: Copper/golden brown, clear
Smell: Sweet, vanilla, fruit
Recommended with/as: As is, milk, sweetener
Rating: 8.5/10

Tasting notes and thoughts:
Y'know, despite this having that vanilla smell that I dislike so, this isn't actually that bad. Instead of mostly tasting like the vanilla (which is what I was expecting), the fruit flavor was the most dominant taste. Since it is a mix of many fruits, I can't really describe or name the flavor for sure, but I'd say maybe strawberries. As for the overall taste, it's mostly the fruit flavor, with the vanilla sweetness acting as the main undertone, and eventually ends with a tangy/sour note. Only the vanilla stays in the aftertaste, but it isn't too overbearing; instead, it just leaves a little bit of a sweet taste. I couldn't really notice the tea base (it didn't have any distinctive notes), but I think it may have balanced the tea out a bit. It has little astringency and doesn't make the throat or mouth dry at all, either. Overall, it's a pretty good fruit flavored tea with natural sweetness; I'd suggest it with milk and honey (I didn't try it with that today since I'm too lazy to get that stuff out, but I'm pretty sure it'd be good).

Other notes:
Oh yeah, I also forgot to mention. So, I turned in that history project like 1-2 weeks ago, and I went to Japantown. On the day I got back, I saw that people completely destroyed the project (half the flags were broken, the tanks were pulled from their position, etc.), so I was kinda bummed about that. The teacher saw it before that happened, though, so I'm hoping I won't get dinged on having a completely destroyed project, heh. I'm not too upset about it though. Other than remembering that, today I made leche flan, studied for math and AP bio (I feel pretty confident about it, but there's still that feeling that something is going to be super hard or I'm not going to finish), and walked the dog a bit.

Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Grenada