Today’s blog post is another review of the teas I received from Masters by Adagio Teas. Today I am reviewing the Ali Shan Special oolong tea . See here for my thoughts on Masters Teas and its website in general. As a disclaimer, I drink a lot of green tea—sencha, genmaicha, and hojicha—and I’m a big fan of various black teas prepared British style with milk and sometimes sugar, but I don’t drink much oolong tea. I prepared the oolongs the way it recommended on the MastersTeas.com website, but since I don’t have a lot of experience with oolong, I used this article on the smithtea.com website as reference for steeping the oolongs Gong Fu style. I have a small Japanese tea pot which I used for all the teas. I took pictures of the tea before steeping and after steeping, but because the light is different on different days, I also included some rosemary and chocolate mint sprigs so you can compare the color of the tea. Ali Shan Special: According to the website: “Our 2019 ...

I was thrilled to hear about the MastersTeas.com website by Adagio Teas. I was even more thrilled to get a chance to sample some of their teas. Masters Teas by Adagio are all freshly harvested and from small tea farms. My mom always liked to buy the expensive “first flush” or freshly picked teas at her local Japanese store, shipped straight from Japan, because she likes the superior flavor of the tea, so a website completely dedicated to freshly harvested teas is really neat. First flush teas typically have an expiration date from 6-12 months after harvest, and I could really tell that the quality decreases after a year, even if the teas are stored properly. As of this blog post, the sample packets did not have instructions for steeping (it would have been nice to have instructions on the packet), so I had to look it up on the MastersTeas.com website. I received 2 oolongs, 2 green teas, and 1 black tea sampler. Today, I’ll review the Formosa Fancy Bai Hao oolong . As a discla...

I got a chance to review a really awesome Advent Calendar from Adagio Teas ! It’s supposed to be for Advent but I couldn’t wait so I opened it right away. :) As with other Advent calendars I’ve used, the best part is being surprised by what you get each day. I would open the calendar and drink whatever tea I got for my teatime each day around 4 pm, so I ended up eating a lot of cookies and pastries with my tea. :) I’m really impressed with the variety of tea in this calendar. There was everything: plain black tea as well as flavored black tea, oolong, green, flavored green, white, flavored white, rooibos and herbal. I admit I’m not a huge fan of oolong or rooibos, but I ended up liking some of the tea I got despite my bias. Since I don’t want to spoil the surprise of what tea is in it, I’ll only highlight my favorite flavors. I liked the flavored black teas the best, but especially the winter and Christmas themed ones. The chestnut black tea was surprisingly good. I usually don’...

I’ve been watching the anime Violet Evergarden on Netflix and it is possibly the most beautiful anime series I’ve ever seen. The animation by Kyoto Animation is top notch, the storyline (based on the light novel series ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン by Kana Akatsuki (暁 佳奈)) is emotional and unique, and the original soundtrack by Evan Call is out of this world. The vocal songs in the series are also really beautiful, but the best one is the opening song, “Sincerely” by TRUE. She not only has a beautiful voice, but the melody and lyrics are absolutely gorgeous. I can’t rave about this song enough. 知らない言葉を　覚えていくたび おもかげのなか　手を伸ばすの Each time unknown words come to mind, I reach my hand toward the traces they leave. だけど一人では　分からない言葉も あるのかもしれない But there may be words That I can’t comprehend all alone. さよならは　苦くて アイシテルは　遠いにおいがした 例えようのない　この想いは とても怖くて　だけど　とても愛おしくて “Goodbye” is so bitter, While “I love you” carries a far-off scent. This incomparable feeling Is so very frightening… bu...

About a month ago I got the opportunity to choose a lamp from Brightech for review, and I picked the Lightview 2 in 1. It’s a lamp and it also has a magnifier, and it can be used as a floor lamp or as a desk lamp. I purposely did not ask my husband for help to set the lamp up, because I wanted to see how easy it was to set up by myself, and I did it all within fifteen or twenty minutes. The only thing was that the base of the lamp is extremely heavy so I had to be careful when picking it up. But the heavy base also makes the lamp extremely stable, even on the carpet of my office. My previous (cheapo) floor lamp had a light base and was rather unsteady on the carpet. The lamp is a bit large for the top of my coffee table, as you can see, so I ended up putting it on the floor next to me. The lamp has an option to add an extender so that you could use this with a table and the magnifier would be right at a usable height. However, when I work, I switch between a standing desk and sitt...

Gion District at night from r/japanpics This photo is photoshopped, but it’s so beautiful and inspired this short story. The Pixie Dust Sky Java’s grandmother always told her that pixies were allergic to iron, and when they sneezed, they released pixie dust into the air. When there was enough pixie dust, it made the sky appear closer, which was probably why the sky was always full of stars here in the blacksmith’s quarter of Flammelia. Java had finished her last order and had put the carefully dried and crushed herbs away on the shelves when the clock was striking midnight. She didn’t like working so late at the pharmacy, but lots of orders meant money for food and eventually the home she hoped to buy once she had saved enough. She locked the heavy wooden door to the shop, tugging a few times to make sure it was solid and strong. Rarely did anyone bother to try to rob her, since lack of medicines could affect everyone, including thieves, but once in a while, some teens would...

This fantasy romance short story was inspired by this photo prompt: Shizuoka Sengen Shrine (3428x2301)[OC] from r/japanpics The Assassin’s Homecoming The assassin had not been back to his hometown in many years, and everything seemed both strange and familiar to him. The leaves were bright green with the warmer weather, which was in contrast to the cold fortress he had left in the north. Here, life was vibrant and everything was shouting, "I am awake!" Even the practical vegetable gardens of the villagers were steeped in cheerful color. It was still daytime, but he made his way to the manor house, disguised as a traveling merchant. He would scout out the house and plan his assassination, which he would execute tonight. The manor house was on an extensive tract of land, so he had to enter the estate from the woods at the backside so as not to be seen. Security patrols were sparse, almost nonexistent here—if it had been the secret base and training facility where he...