food reviews

Loose leaf tea

Yum! I got a small sampler pack from https://verdanttea.com. They have a 5 for $5, no shipping to U.S., deal for new customers. It looks like they aggregate tea leaves from “small business” farmers, and their package came with a handwritten card. Overall really nice purchasing experience, super appreciate their vibes.

I’ll fill this out as I, y’know, sample them. In chronological order or tasting:

1. He Family Laoshan Green Tea 5g Sample: harvested “Autumn,” consumed in November, since apparently their blog says green tea keeps the shortest. Really nice! I guess green tea is the kind Chinese restaurants use. Warm and nostalgic in that regard. I like the “warm fuzzy” flavors more than the sweet ones, as you might gather from this page, so I’m very excited at the idea of more tea going forward.

2. He Family Laoshan Black Tea 5g Sample: I got the dragon pearl something or other from the pack, and imagine my surprise when the tea was literally a ball of packed black tea. That was pretty cool. Tasted good, I have to say I know what the descriptor “dark” means for taste now. Yeah, I don’t really know how to describe it except yeah it tastes “darker” than the generic Chinese restaurant complientary tea.

3. Qianjiazhai Wild Arbor Tea 5g Sample

4. Li Family Wuyi Oolong 5g Sample

5. Master Zhang Anxi Oolong 5g Sample

La Prima (CMU Campus)

• really nice hot chocolates, comes with milk foam

• mmmmm strawberry lemonade

• canned San Pellegrino Italian sparkling drinks

  • limonada: by golly is this sour. drink to get punched (maybe you’re into the taste)

  • aranciata rossa (sparkling orange/blood orange): reasonably! Tastes like blood orange, what do you expect

Yi Fang in Squirrel Hill

• hot pineapple soy milk tea: was really surprisingly delicious, actually. Their recommendation for 0% sugar was correct, the pineapple supplied all the sugar needed. (These guys’s typography is really pretty too, notice how the Taiwanese regular script(?) decorating their wall is hand-painted/sharpied!)

• strawberry latte: I GOT SCAMMED jkjk but yeah it’s like, a slushi? I have been informed by my compatriots that it is a latte in the sense of “has milk” and not the coffee sense. It’s quirky that something named latte has no “comes hot” option. Tastes really good tbh, but very cold (I am weak to cold). The sugary syrupy after-texture of sugary syrupy stuff is… not the greatest though. Very filling; dense.

• red bean tea: yum, talk about texture and red bean physical inclusion and literally tasting like red bean

Misc. things that are good

• fruit loops.

• I. Think I like pesto? I’m not entirely sure what it is but I’m choosing to believe it’s the vaguely green sauce in these wraps and such. I can see myself wearing out the flavor if I eat it too often, though.

• Bao on Craig Street is really nice. I especially love their tomato beef noodles.

• I’m kinda a sucker for lots of things with tomatoes, actually.

• Chipotle’s chicken option is not bad! (At least, the one on Forbes)

Misc. things that are bad

• Overall, try to understand what you want, because it will vary through time. Do you crave flavors right now? Or if you consumed flavors, would you curl up and pass away?

• coconut flavor: hi this is second future Wade with another disclaimer. This was about off-brand artificially flavored coconut drink. I have now quite convinced myself that a good, high-quality consumable containing coconut will also provide a high-quality flavor. On to the rest. DO NOT DRINK THE COCONUT FLAVOR. eat CAN work BUT BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!! DO NOT DRINK THE COCONUT FLAVOR!!!! (Hi this is future wade here to elaborate. This is the coconut artifical flavor. It’s like some people’s aversion to artificial grape or cherry. (I looove artificial grape, tending neutral toward artificial cherry) Real coconut juice (cream? soup? milk?) is fine.)

• ramen: I swear, this is always so mid. It’s alright, but like, it’s always JUST noodles. I could make this at home. Don’t waste your money.

• double scoop of ice cream: TOO MUCH ICE CREAM! YEOWCH! This extends to all things that you think might be too much sweet. Ice cream floats are delish though.

• cotton candy: good for the teensiest of bits. make sure you’re eating with friends.

• pulled pork: uhh. it’s alright. could be better or worse. really think about getting it.

  • generic milk tea has gotten old.

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