Tea and Tell Tuesday: Darjeeling

Tea and Tell Tuesday is back! I drink enough tea to keep this section of the blog in business for years so let's do this! 

The past few weeks in my tea world have been shared with my very strong friend, Darjeeling, from the Darjeeling district in West Bengal, India. Also called - "The Champagne of Teas" - Darjeeling is a little full of himself, but being quite a strongly caffeinated black tea, I get it. I tend to hang out with Darjeeling's black counterpart but the tea also comes in green, white and oolong. 

To brew a nice, black Darjeeling tea:

- make sure you have a nice boiling pot of water - about 185 degrees

- rinse out your tea cup/mug with hot water

- add one tablespoon of tea leaves per 8 ounces (or one tea bag)

- pour heated water over tea into mug

- steep for 3 to 5 minutes 

- Try it without milk the first few times to taste the fruity and brisk qualities

Darjeeling and I have become good pals but I am quite interested in his relatives green, white and oolong. Have you ever had green, white or oolong Darjeeling? How does it taste?

♥ Kenzie

Tea and Tell Tuesday :: White Chocolate Mocha

It was definitely a coffee kind of day folks. White chocolate mocha that is. And a pumpkin cream cheese muffin on the side sounds good too. The lunches of college students are always so healthy, are they not?

Midterms are in full swing around these parts and you can feel it in the air. Everyone is and has been, back in the RISD mode, working their little behinds off. Luckily for the textiles department, we have the best teachers ever and they decided to space out the midterm due dates, so that we're not all going crazy and not sleeping for full weeks at a time. (not kidding. This happens often.) Really, best teachers around. We love them.

But, nonetheless, coffee was a necessity today. It usually is at the beginning of the week. I always feel like coffee gives a nice comfy feeling when it starts getting chilly too. White chocolate mocha is probably my favorite warm drink from Starbucks, but, I must say that I still need to try the pumpkin spice latte. It looks delicious. That will be soon I promise!

What's your favorite Fall Starbucks treat?

♥ Kenzie

Carmel Apple Spice

To me, fall is apples. Apple pies, apple cider, raw apples, apple cake... I could keep going.

I grew up in Upstate NY a.k.a. apple country so I can't really help it. Every year, around this time, my body starts craving them. Upstate apples are something you have to try. Soon after, you'll be craving them too. I promise.

Because my cravings can't be fulfilled by NY apples at the moment, I settle for Rhode Island apples and Carmel Apple Spice from Starbucks. The drink = so delicious, though very sweet. It's hard for me to finish a whole one. It definitely fixed the cravings though. 

And on a cool fall day, it's perfect. I took mine on a walk through the park. It was a really great afternoon.

♥ Kenzie 

T&T :: Black and Green Breakfast Blend

Sooo, I missed T&T on Tuesday but I have a great tea blend for you today! 

When I was home this summer, I found a tea called Breakfast Blend. It was black and green tea and it was delicious.

When I came back to school, this tea could not be found in my local grocery stores and I had no more in my tea box or in the tea overflow that fills my cupboard. 

Until yesterday. 

Back in the depths of my tea-filled cupboard, one little lonely tea bag popped it's head into sight and I was instantly ecstatic. I had totally forgot about this amazingness in my life. 

Since I only had one tea bag left, I decided to make my own blend since I have lots of black tea (obviously) and some green tea around. So, here's what I did:

You'll need: 

- black tea

- green tea

- a tea diffuser or you can make these cute tea bags to mix your blend

1) In a diffuser, mix 1/2 teaspoon of black tea and 1/2 teaspoon of green tea. 

{You can add more if you like it stronger}

2) Add boiling water.

3) Let infuse for 3-5 minutes.

4) Enjoy with a yummy breakfast!

What are you blending today? 

♥ Kenzie

Not feeling super colorful today for T&T...

Don't ask me what brought this on but all of a sudden I'm sick. 

I've been sleeping enough. 

Eating well. 

No cough, nothing. 

Then, BOOM I'm feeling like crap. 

I'm guessing it's the colder weather we've been getting. I love it but apparently my body, not so much.

But I'm drinking a Yogi tea today which will hopefully help me feel better. It's called Cold Season and it has ginger and licorice root in it which should help. It's not my favorite tea to drink {for obvious reasons} but it helped last winter when this happened.

I'll also be gargling salt water today for my throat and keeping a scarf on. I usually sleep with a scarf on when this happens to keep my neck warm. {though I was skeptical at first}

What do you do to feel better when you're sick? I'd love to know!

Hope you all are feeling healthier than me today!

♥ Kenzie

Tea and Tell Tuesday

I have a story for you today. It's not super exciting, but I'm going to tell it anyway. 

It was exciting for me.

Ever since I spent that semester in Argentina, I have loved club soda. {also known as sparkling water or agua con gas} It's a nice refreshing drink without all that weird stuff that soda has in it. 

Today, since it was a little warm outside, I decided to pour myself a glass of club soda. As I sipped away and was thinking about the remainder of the day, I thought about zee blog and T&T and had this *genius* idea to mix two of my favorite drinks. Club soda and tea. Genius, I know. 

Okay, so it's been done before, but at the time, I was pretty darn proud of myself. 

Step two was to find the perfect refreshing tea to mix with the club soda. I immediately thought of a green tea and to make it even better, I had Harney & Sons Citron Green tea which is simply fantastic. Citrus-y iced green tea. With club soda. I mean really.

Final result? Perfection. 

Perfectly light. Perfectly flavored. Perfectly perfect.

It might be my new favorite drink.

It's nothing too complicated >>> Brew the green tea and let fully seep. Then, in a glass with ice, pour half green tea and half club soda. I poured even a little more tea then club soda. 

I think it would really be good with some mint leaves in it too! Or a lime to compliment the citrus in the tea! Oh the possibilities...

Have you guys ever tried this? Or something similar? 

Tell me about it!

♥ Kenzie

Tea and Tell Tuesday

You all are in for a treat if you take my advice and go grab a tin of this tea. I promise! 

This *may* be my favorite, FAVORITE black tea ever. {Well, that I've ever had} Harney & Sons is amazing and no matter what tea you buy from them, it'll be delicious. But, this tea... this tea I love to pieces. 

It's a great afternoon black tea. Not too caffeinated that you'll be up all night, but just enough for that afternoon boost. It has a little touch of vanilla and is a little fruity. It doesn't make your mouth pucker like some black teas do either - it's nice and light. The scent is just *amazing* when you open the tin too. 

It is a little on the expensive side {for a college student} but honestly, it's worth it. Even if you just buy one tin once a year. Which is probably what I'll be doing... 

What are you drinking tonight?

♥ Kenzie

Tea and Tell Tuesday :: and some ridiculousness

I bet you've been anxiously awaiting these videos since I mentioned them last week, huh? I have been too. And Blogger finally stopped being mad at me or maybe it just got annoyed that I didn't give up. We'll never know...

Above is the actual, sane video response to Miss Malori's Vlog.

Below, well, that's what happens when you drink too much tea and your video isn't going the way you want it too... you get bored and just leave the camera running. It provides for some awesomely embarrassing material to show the world. 

If you know me personally, below is every day with Mackenzie.

If you don't, I promise I don't bite. And, sorry if you were expecting something different, but this is me. {And honestly, what were you expecting when you looked at that header?} 

I hope you enjoy them! 

And tell me - Whatcha drinkin' today?

♥ Kenzie

Tea and Tell Tuesday... is postponed. for now.

... but bunny in a mug?? Sooo cute!!

{sorry I don't have a source!! :x}

My laptop sat open all night and blogger tried really hard, I swear it did, but my video has not been able to upload... sad. And I tried today too... a couple of times. I think Blogger is mad at me for some reason but I'm not going to hold this against it because we've never had an argument before, so I'll let this one slide. I know you all reallyyyy want to see my video. Like ants-in-pants excited right? 

Well, guess what? There's TWO. Oh yeah. I made two. One is the normal one and the other one is the one you really wanna see that shows you how truly nuts I am. Good stuff. Be excited.

Until the day that Blogger stops being mad at me and lets me upload my video, I'll post other good stuff. 

And just to keep you wondering, the tea I'm going to share has to do with a "weed" that nobody likes in their lawn during the summer.  Can you guess what it is?

(I love guessing games!!)

♥ Kenzie

My stomach is making funny noises.

Guess what I'm doing tonight? Can you tell from the picture?

And it's Tea and Tell Tuesday again! And from that title, some of you might already know that I'm drinking my beloved peppermint tea. Why? {some readers might ask} Well, let me tell you:

 Peppermint tea is probably my 2nd best friend after my car {click here if you wonder what the hell I'm talking about} It solves all of my achy breaky stomach problems. {see what I did there? Went all Robbie Ray on you guys.} And because my stomach decided it wanted to talk to me tonight, I decided that it might be a good idea to brew a cup of this delicious goodness. 

I sometimes drink it after dinner too as it helps with digestion. {I think I talked about that here -- p.s. how about that model face? dayum.} 

Anyway, in other news - don't you love that photo up there? I used the ClassicTOY app on my iPad. {I swear I'm not trying to brag... but it's really awesome.} It's amazinggggg and free! It has sooo many different films and is super fun and I highly recommend it. I might carry this thing around and use it all the time instead of a camera. I think it's a good idea... although people might look at me funny... ah well.

Do any of you have this app? And what are you drinking tonight folks?

♥ Kenzie

Tea and Tell Tuesday

Today's tea: Chamomile. with brownie on the side.

I love me some chamomile tea. When I was in Peru, we had it every day - cold and warm. So, the smell and taste reminds me of the week I spent there every time I make it. It's a super happy memory. 

The brownies were sitting on the counter right below the microwave. Why my mom had to make them, put them there and tempt me is beyond me, but it happened. And the brownie went down nice with a bit of warm tea. Yummm.

In other news: today's events involved housework, going on a hike and getting chased out of the woods by bugs {literally mom and I ran to the car} and making yummy pasta with yummy sauce for dinner. 

It was an eventful day.

Oh and I'm super obsessed with a new guilty pleasure tv show - Heartland - a Canadian drama about a horse ranch. Basically the characters are living my dream... 

What are you drinking tonight?

♥ Kenzie

Tea and Tell Tuesday

That's right folks. You heard it here first. Tea and tell has moved to Tuesday! 

Why? Well, it sorta rhymes so I think that's a good enough reason, don't you?

If you've never been around these parts before, T&T is a day when I take goofy PhotoBooth pictures with my mug, drink tea and write a post about what's in that mug. And since I drink tea like they were throwing it off the Boston docks again, I'd say it's a pretty good day. I like it anyway. 

So today's tea is just what the were throwing off the Boston docks {maybe} - English black tea - Tetley to be exact. I got a big ol' box of this caffeinated goodness at Wal-mart. What better place is there to buy a huge box with 80 tea bags? 

This tea is excellent is you'd like to replace coffee. After two cups in the morning, I've been shaken awake. But literally, I shake. And like I said - I drink black tea constantly and I'm pretty much done with the box. So, no, you don't build up an immunity to it. If you're like me, and you leave your tea bag in the water until it's super dark, you might experience the same problem.

What kind of tea/coffee/drink are you drinking tonight?

♥ Kenzie

p.s. Did you check out that fabulous earring I'm wearing? Limette is pretty awesome...

Tea and Tell, Thank Yous and first Vlog!

First vlog ever! {a.k.a. "video blog thingy"}

It's a little weird listening to yourself on video, but enjoy!

That tea again is called Yogi Cold Season. It's pretty good at helping me breath a little better and stop coughing so much. Recommended! 

Also - Thank you again to my wonderful Aunts and Mother for *all* the great gifts! Love them all and miss you guys!

Have a great Sunday everyone!

♥ Kenzie

Tea and Tell ♥

Little late this week but better than never right? :) 

I have some fun tea that I got from Tealuxe at the mall. 

It's pretty. That's right. Pretty tea. Just look:

Starts as this weird lil ball thing... then...

Magic!

It's called "Peach Momotaro" and it's delicious.

You can also go to Tealuxe and just taste free samples. That's fun too :) 

I have more updates later! Pinky promise. 

♥ Kenzie

Tea and Tell ♥

Peppermint tea tonight!

The one I'm drinking is by Traditional Medicinals. Peppermint aids in digestion and my stomach has been kinda funky lately {...not going into details...} so I figured it would be a good idea to get some and drink it up! Plus it's super yummy :) 

And as for taste - this one is pretty strong and very peppermint-y. Some peppermint teas are a bit lighter but I think because this one is specifically for medicinal purposes, they packed it in and strong. I don't mind though! {That being said, you don't need a "medicinal" peppermint tea for the same effect. A lighter peppermint tea will still do the job.}

What are you drinking tonight?

♥ Kenzie

Welcome to my new feature: Tea and Tell!

It's sorta like "show and tell" but with tea. And mostly me doing the showing. And telling.

I'm quite the tea drinker. Drink it 24/7 and multiple cups per day. So why not talk about it? 

Each Sunday I'll have a different tea to drink and talk about. I'm no connoisseur and it won't be all fancy. Just me drinkin' some tea. 

Today, I'm drinking Darjeeling tea. It's a lighter black tea that I drink for just a little kick of energy when I need it. Or when I want some black tea taste and not too much caffeine. I've read that it's the "champagne of black teas". {Oooooo} I kind of feel fancy drinking it because of that. 

The box says: "Fine black tea from the foothills of the Himalayas expertly blended to deliver a delicate tea with a slightly sweet taste and fragrant aroma." If that doesn't sum it up for ya, I don't know what would. 

I hope you like my new feature!

Have a wonderfully tea filled Sunday!

♥ Kenzie

p.s. That hair style is called: Kenzie-just-woke-up-from-a-nap. I know you all want it.