tea time (long time, no post?)

For the few followers I have, I offer my most sincere apologies for not updating in quite some time. I haven't taken any photographs from my personal camera to show you what I've done since school as wrapped up. However, I do have my handy Evo camera phone, so I can show you my excursions from today that I had with my mother at Macy's.

Allow me to back track.

As of late, my mother and I have become connoisseurs of tea, so we frequent Teavana and [my mother] visits Harney & Son's online quite often. In a surprise move, my mother got rid of her beloved traditional coffee maker and replaced it with an automatic water boiler that can heat your water at three different temperatures (185, 195, 208 Fahrenheit), rotates and has a timer on it so, if you're too lazy to wait for the water to boil when you awaken, you can set it so it is boiled and ready to use when you wake up! Perfect for any tea lover's early morning, unless you are into using the over-top stove and teapot to boil your water. But the modern technology lover, this is an amazing buy. :

Anyway, connoisseurs of tea. Today we drove out to Mayfair Mall to go to Teavana because we had two empty, vacuum-locked tea canisters and were craving new tea because, apparently, Mom bought some tea she "hated." Okay, Mom. For those who haven't been to Teavana, they typically have at least 2-4 kinds of tea that they sample, usually hot but sometimes iced ones, as well. Since we are pretty open to new tastes, we got to the tea wall/counter right away and talked with one of the self-titled "teaologists." The tea wall is amazing; it is literally a shelving unit that is stocked with tea after tea, from blacks to whites to oolongs to chais and others. In order for you to get an idea of how the tea will taste, the teaologists take the huge lids and waft the teas at you. More often than not, the end result is quite pleasant. For the record, I haven't had a bad experience there yet. Today, Mom and I got four kinds of tea.:

The one on the upper left corner is a blend of four kinds of nutrient-filled teas, which if you put them together, make for an essential super tea blend. Two of the flavors tasted amazing iced, so I'm guessing with the other two, they will be amazing as well. The Youthberry is a white tea mixed with acai berry and tropical fruit, while the Blueberry Bliss has MORE superfruit (blueberries, obviously & black currants). The pineapple adds a nice, sweet and tropical flavor to the mix, while the Imperial Acai Blueberry adds, you guessed it, more superfruit.
The awesome Romanian teaologist drinks the next tea with Jasmine Pearls, but my mom opted to get it alone. It's Honeybush Vanilla and is packed with vitamins and antioxidants.
In the next photo is the coffee-esque blend, made from JavaVana Mate and Golden Monkey. Mate teas help stimulate the mind and body and boost energy, but do not leave you feeling jittery and lethargic. JavaVana is ideal for people who love coffee/want to wean off of it. The Golden Monkey is smooth and also has mocha overtones similar to the JavaVana. Yum!
Finally, we bought the Zingiber Ginger Coconut/White Ayurvedic Chai blend. The white chai is not your traditional chai; it has red and white pepper in it and is supplemented with coconut and lemongrass, which blends nice with the ginger COCONUT. The ginger coconut is a rooibos tea, which helps combat allergies, cold relief and settle the stomach, ideal for those who have acid reflux or the pain-in-the-ass upset stomach.

That, my friends, is your tea lesson.

Tune in next time for what the hell I'm reading this summer.
(It's a lot. What else do you think I'll do on a 16-hour plan ride?)
Oh, and coming later... (end of June later)
LITHUANIA.