somethingnew | Entries tagged with drink

Sometimes it's really easy to do something new without actually realizing it. That's the case for me today. I sat down at lunch, made myself a cup of tea with a tea bag from a sampler gift from a friend, and started thinking about what my new thing was going to be today. It wasn't until I was on my second sip that I realized I was doing it.

The whole purpose of the tea sampler pack was to try new types of tea. In the case of this particular cup, the Harney and Sons Japanese Sencha Green Tea. I'm not much of a green tea drinker, I prefer herbal teas (specifically Celestial Seasonings Country Peach Passion or Echinacea Complete Care) with the occasional black (or flavored black - I adore Lavender Tea) mixed in. And while I have had green tea before, this was my first cup of this particular kind of green tea.

This green tea was very good. Sweetened a tad with honey because I have a cough that won't go away. Definitely something I'll drink again. Except that I only had the one tea bag. So it's Earl Grey for me the rest of the day.

Current Mood: thirsty

A colleague mentioned recently that she was trying Hansen's soda (or pop as we call it around here) and that she really liked it. Which turned into a conversation about pop and flavors and so forth. And how pop using cane sugar taste better than those with high fructose corn syrup. My addiction, weakness, favorite, whatever you want to call it, is vanilla flavoring in my pop. Or, more specifically, Vanilla Coke Zero. (Note: I grew up in a household with a diabetic family member. We only kept diet pop on hand and as a result, non-diet pop tastes like cough syrup to me. I think it's the HFCS.)

So, when she gave me a can of the Hansen's Natural Cane Soda in the Vanilla Cola flavor, her comment was "it isn't diet". I had to laugh, because "diet" defeats the whole purpose when you're going for something sweetened with real sugar over HFCS.

It had a very different flavor than I'm used to, I hadn't realized that even "diet" pop had a syrupy taste until I tried this. It didn't seem as "thick" as what I'm used to.

Regardless of the differences, I rather liked it. It's more expensive than I usually buy, so it isn't something I'll be getting regularly. But it is something I'll be trying again.

Current Mood: thirsty

We celebrated anti-Valentine's Day a day early, heading out to the fancy restaurant in town with a group of girlfriends followed by a trip to one of the "grown-up" bars. (This is a college town, so the "grown-up" bars are those where you have to be 21 to enter and you're much less likely to run into one of your students.)

I think that in the future, if we do this again, I'm just going to pass on getting a drink at the restaurant. It was okay, but not sweep you off your feet awesome. That was at the bar. The martinis were wonderful. (How did I not know the bar had awesome martinis?) But I started out by telling the bartender what I did and didn't like and they suggested a Pond Scum.

Regardless of the name, it tastes pretty awesome. It was a bright fluorescent green, which really surprised me (but has me fairly certain that the recipe using Midori is the correct one). Definitely something I'd get again in the future.

Current Mood: sleepy

I've been a zombie for most of the day. There was little sleep to be had last night, for reasons that begin with "noisy" and end with "neighbor". As a result, after my meeting this afternoon, I spent a little time reasoning with myself. I had that brand new shiny ID card account with $20 on it*. And $5.05 of those dollars that had been earmarked for this week wouldn't be used since I was brown-bagging it. So I headed to the coffee shop for my caffeine pick-me-up.

I was all set to get my usual (tall mocha with whipped cream) when I looked over the menu and saw the chai latte option. Hmmm...

Technically, I've had chai before. Back when it started getting big, or when I started noticing it getting big, I bought a box of chai tea bags at the grocery store, brought them home, and made a cup just like I made hot tea. It tasted awful. I mean, horrible. So the box got relegated to the back of the cupboard where it was promptly forgotten until I moved. At which point it was expired, so I had an excuse to throw it out.

Guess what I noticed when I was getting ready to throw the box away? That I made it wrong. Apparently you're supposed to make it with milk. Who knew? (Um, people who read the instructions on the box.)

So, while I've had chai before, it was at least five years ago and not prepared properly. So I went for a tall chai latte instead.

Verdict? Not bad. Definitely better than when I made it myself. While it isn't going on my "I'll never drink that again" list, I'll probably stick to my mochas instead. They're cheaper and chocolaty. But I'm glad I gave it a try.

*Ended up not using the brand new shiny ID account because as while the register could "see" the money on it, it couldn't access it. Oi. But it should be fixed now. I have my fingers crossed.