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