this week in beverages

Check out my sweet new tumbler:

Fact: when Foodbuzz contacted me telling me they’d send me a Tervis tumbler, I knew a tumbler was something you put liquid in in drank out of but honestly I scanned over their description and really wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d sent me a coffee mug or a sake cup or a martini glass or… whatever. I was delighted by this space-age looking creation, branded with a label of “tastemaker”. It makes me feel like I am part of an elite.

I was impressed with their claims of durability. Cups/glasses/mugs live hard in my house (ahem, like my FAVORITE MUG that I HAND PAINTED my sister, for reasons best understood by her, filled with tea and put in the FREEZER, thus giving it a FATAL FRACTURE). So if you’re going to say your’re tough, tumbler, show me you’re tough.

My tumbler arrived, a free sample from Tervis through the Foodbuzz tastemaker program, and I decided I’d test it by putting it in the… “hands” of what can be a very destructive force.

(Yeah, that’s a sock filled with catnip.)

Anyway, she kind of checked out the cup from a safe distance, gave it a sniff…

And ultimately ignored it, preferring to attack my laundry basket, bafflingly her favorite toy.

    

Wow, my blog posts have been very cat lady lately, haven’t they?

Tumbler. Beverage holder.

I like my Tervis Tumbler for enjoying a nice smoothie on a surprisingly not-cold day.

 

My sister, though I labeled her a mug destroyer earlier, did come up with the idea of kiwi in smoothies, which is shockingly tasty and refreshing.

I one-upped it by suggesting that she FREEZE the kiwi, since we all know frozen fruit makes the best smoothies, because when it melts it doesn’t make your smoothie watery, it just makes it fruity!

To that end, this simple smoothie contained frozen kiwi, frozen mango, and enough milk to make it a smoothie. I like my smoothies slurp-with-a-spoon thick :D

Other beverages I’ve been enjoying of late.

I met up with my friend Patricia for coffee the other day and then didn’t get coffee. It’s so hard for me to resist sodas in glass bottles. They’re so retro! Environmentally friendly! Satisfyingly clink-y (I don’t like beer, so it’s the only clink I get.)

And this particular brand makes a mean black cherry.

Patricia, meanwhile, commends Caribou Coffee for taking their turtle latte seriously. It’s not some regular old latte with caramel syrup in it.

No, this was literally a cup of coffee with whipped cream and candy on top. Love it.

 

My main beverage of choice lately, though, as anyone who’s had to pull over to gas stations or tolerate my every-fifteen-minute-bathroom-run at work can confirm, is TEA!

And my house is… a ridiculous source thereof.

In descending order of caffeine content, we begin with rocket fuel:

Mate, I love you so much. As does my mom, which is apparently the reason we had two identical bags plus a new box. Consolidated after photo!

Steve has a friend who’s trying to quit smoking but realizing how inextricably bound his morning cigarette and morning cup of coffee are. So he’s trying to quit both at the same time, eesh. BUT he tried mate at my house and enjoyed the flavor and mate gives you more oomph than regular tea, though not quite that of coffee.

Buena suerte, Jeff.

This is my usual morning tea:

Trader Joe’s Irish Breakfast tea is SO delicious (and weirdly cheaper than English breakfast tea. Huh.) We buy it in bulk and just keep it in that cannister. Trader Joe’s Mango black tea is totally delicious and sweet without adding anything; a wonderous mystery. The black cherry stuff was an impulse buy at Entenmann’s discount bakery and unremarkable.

The chai department:

Obviously, I love chai. With a variety of caffeine contents.

Fruity:

   

I don’t love either of these. Teas that are just herbal like all those Zinger ones tend to taste really astringent to me. The Green peach was another Entenmann’s discount buy.

The tummy soothers. Man, you’d think we had some serious issues, eh? I think the dark peppermint leaves just blend in in the back of the cupboard and we think we’re out and buy more.

  

The anise is particularly delicious. It’s the hot new tea in town. A steal from Lebanese Butcher! I love my variety of tea sources.

Finally, the creme de la creme. My faves:

Good Earth we buy in bulk at Entenmann’s discount because they have an unsteady supply and I can’t find it anywhere else for not frighteningly expensive. It is the most sweet and spicy, delicious tea in the world. That pumpkin spice rooibos I bought in Annapolis more than six months ago and I’ve been rationing out like some kind of drug addict whose dealer has moved away. I guess I should just go to Annapolis again. Anyway, it’s as amazing as it sounds. Which is very, as far as I”m concerned.

And finally, the tea I don’t drink because I loathe chamomile and am peacefully resigned to insomnia.