Tea and coffee experiences

What I've been noticing about the tea and coffee I drink…

When we buy tea we tend to get something different each time, within three categories: a plain tea for breakfast (e.g Earl Grey); a flavoured tea for other times (e.g. Stockholm Blend); and, to try to train ourselves in the pure tea experience, a fancy tea with no additives (i.e. ones with lots of letters in their gradings).

Here are some recent teas we have tried:

Earl Grey Special - nice but not as nice as the original (it's a bit too lemongrassy for me).
Tea for Sunday - the vanilla pieces actually make it taste a bit odd; it needs a bit of sugar. Not as nice as:
Vanilla - with vanilla bean pieces.
Ritz Carlton - with Vanilla and a bunch of flavourings. Quite pleasant.
Poobong FTGFOP (Darjeeling first flush) - really lovely, delicate and, if brewed just right, actually sweet.
Makaibari FTGFOP (Darjeeling Autumn) - a good normal tea. Quite nice but I like the Poobong better. I'm still interested in trying other Darjeelings (such as second flush).

When I started drinking tea I didn't mind whether or not I had milk in it. As I got used to the taste of tea (as you should know, tea, like coffee, is an acquired taste) I found that I preferred tea without milk. Now I will only drink tea black. (I know there are schools of thought about whether tea is better with milk or without. I have two tea snob friends who fall into both sides. I understand that there are some teas that are better with milk (English Breakfast) and some that are better without (Poobong) and some that can go either way (Earl Grey). I just don't like milk in my tea so I won't drink teas that require it.)

As a parallel, I have recently started to notice that I am starting to like my coffee with less milk. I started off with lattes, often with caramel flavouring/sweetening. I found that I no longer required it to be sweetened. I started ordering cappuccinos when I went out for coffee because they have a bit less milk in them than lattes or flat whites. Then I discovered the piccolo latte (like a normal latte but with less milk). I had a great one this morning with breakfast. Should have taken a photo…

One of the best sound experiences you could ever have…

One of the best sound experiences you could ever have will be seeing Sigur Ros live in concert. I saw them two years ago at the Enmore where they were utterly amazing and I have been eagerly awaiting their return.

They will be playing at the Horden Pavillion on Sat 2 August. Tickets go on sale Fri 23 May.

I'll be booking tickets as soon as possible. Does anyone want to join me? I guarantee it will be worth whatever they are charging (assuming you can cope with something beyond the Top 30).

(There's also a new album due to be released next month which I'm looking forward to.)

Uninformed and arrogant vs intelligent but unsure…

The context is a bit too nerdy for me, but I liked this thought:

Am I in the "unintelligent or uninformed and arrogantly confident" camp? If so why and how can I get humble? Am I part of the "intelligent and well informed but unsure and apprehensive" group? If so why and what can I do increase my tolerance for risk and decrease my fear of being wrong?

(You can see the source article here if you like.)