You can say that in a way, I got my Christmas present early.
Earlier in the month of December (on the 9th of December to be exact), one of my friends came excitedly at me with a piece of good news which kinda stunned me at first. I mean, I didn't expect to win it but...
I won. Like, got in as a finalist for the SGMA Anime Award (Writing competition section) organized by Cherry Credits (kudos to the MA crew for holding this writing and art contest!).
Up till now, when Melissa, the content producer for the popular mobile game - Million Arthur (which Hubs and I are both still currently playing regularly and which we had cosplayed from recently for AFA haha!) contacted me just this morning regarding minor edits done to my short snippet of a story of "Emmanuel the Healer", it still feels kinda surreal in a way haha!
But, I'm sure looking forward to the upcoming finalist works showcase at Jurong Library on 8th Jan because I want to see how Emmanuel looks like when he's being given form to by the finalist artist from the art contest section. That, and I want to meet the artist who drew him too haha!
Another sorta "early" Christmas present was this tea from Coffee Beans and Tea Leaf (I got it from the Marina Square bistro branch). Eversince I bought my first two teas (Cherry Blossom and Vanilla Ceylon, if I recall correctly) from their E-Hub branch, I became a somewhat die-hard CBTL tea fan haha!
If I'm to recommend, Hubs's love their Earl Grey tea to bits because it's strong but yet delicately balanced at the same time. Just the way he likes it for his somewhat unique palate ha! Cherry Blossom is a cherry blossom flavoured sencha (like ok, duh), which people who don't like cough syrup (I'm not talking about the usual brown codine laced suppressant, but the glaring magenta pink Fedac) would definitely stay clear of it.
Estate Darjeeling, on the other hand, is surprisingly on the strong tasting side, which took some time for me to get used to it because my palate's already spoiled by Whittard's Darjeeling (which is close to tasting like water). First Flush Darjeeling (their organic series) is not so strong as compared, and is accompanied with a pleasantly sweet grassy tone which is not too over-powering either.
Vanilla Ceylon is just plain delicious because well, who doesn't love vanilla ya? Haha! That and it has a caramel undertone which balances it out just right. Swedish Berries is tangy, but not too sour that it bites your tongue. Anniversary Blend (laced with yummy acai berries) is my usual order at CBTL (unless they run out of it) and I have to say that I enjoy every cup of it because of its light-tasting nature with an equally as light overlay of addictive berry sweetness.
Although yes, as you can see, CBTL does very well at their tea mixes, but, there is one which I am not particularly fond of after giving it a shot. That Pomegranate Blueberry one is awful, or maybe I am just not a fan of fruit or vitamin teas. I can't taste a hint of pomegranate anywhere and the blueberry flavor was just so overpoweringly sour that it cemented my mouth shut for at least a good five minutes.
That aside, there is one particular tea which I had been wanting to get my grubby hands on but it was like gone just within less than a month after it was first released. Their "Gunpowder Green" tea is the one I'm talking about here and I really, really hope they bring back this limited edition collection soon!
So anyway, back to their Christmas tea series, I was actually hoping to ferret out a tin of Gunpowder Green (but yet again, a futile attempt) at the Marina Square bistro branch when I happen to catch sight of these two pretty dark sapphire blue and bright siam red tins - "Winter Dream" and "Peppermint Stick".
Once I saw the "Winter Dream" tea is cinnamon-flavored, it was like "SOLD!" and ta-da! I got it the next moment (since I just got my pay from my part-time work as a receptionist at the Japanese school which I am currently studying at now ha).
Excited to try it out, I had it brewed the very next day. The first thing which struck me was how similar the tea bag looked like to that of the Swedish Berries, because you can see them in their chunky and grainy goodness, unlike that of the other usual tea bags with pressed or rolled tea leaves.
First sip and what will register in your brain almost immediately is, "Cinnamon tea." Not very unlike the Twinings's Velvety Vanilla Flavor Chai Latte, though, the cinnamon packs a much heavier punch here and it's actually quite akin to taking a bite out of a festive cinnamon flavoured fruitcake.
I didn't brew it another time because one brew is honestly quite enough. That, and I only finished half a cup before I called it quits because it was honestly getting too heavy and cloying at the end.
I guess for a person like myself, whose tastebud range from light to medium, this tea is a little too heavy for my liking.
Though ok, the cinnamon is good, but still.
Well then, for now, back to TERA on my sorceress! Just ding-ed 50 and I'm like, "Phew FINALLY!!!" I had been crawling so long from Level 48 and running through countless runs of Golden Labyrinth and Akasha's Hideout (supposedly dungeons eligible to Level 48 and above, but my experience bar was still moving just as painfully slow...), before I finally ding-ed in one of the Golden Labyrinth runs.
Feels good to finally clean out the bank and don on the Level 50 gears and equips which were (fortunately) acquired when Hubs run me through both dungeons on his Level 59 Elin Reaper.
And a fresh change of scenery is sure refreshing after being stuck in the chilly and snowy mountainous terrains of Westonia for such a long period of time. I gave up on the main quest halfway in Necromancer's Tomb because one, I'm too over-leveled to queue for it and two, I can't stand seeing icy white snow and listening to the frigid winds roaring ever so fiercely by my ears for the umpteenth time.
So yes, booyah and hello to Ostagarth - where the capital of the Castanics, Castanica stands looming majestically over a dark, sinister and charred landscape! What quests awaits me here, which will eventually lead me to the chained main quests in Golden Labyrinth and Akasha's Hideout hmm?
I could only wonder haha!
Before I pop back into TERA, make a guess as to what is the next tea I will be reviewing? Definitely not from CBTL because that would be just too predictable haha!
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