flava

I am eating lukewarm rasam w rice. I added snake gourd juice to it. The store had green tamarind, and I made a broth from that to sour the rasam. It's really good even though it's concentrated and salty because I left it on the stove for too long.

I have not read this whole thread although I plan to. Will someone please explain to me, how is it that pu erh is an "acquired taste" for many? I find it consistently more palatable and smooth than astringent unfermented teas*, and I have drunk many an abused pu erh - triple concentration, fishy, overbrewed, cheap quality, stale, etc. All good to me. When I was little the only tea I drank/had access to was pu erh because we would go to dim sum a lot, and I drank it just fine. Then as I got older I was introduced to other teas and I wondered why I disliked them so much. Perhaps I was always just drinking scorched tea made from shit municipal chlorinated water, but I can't imagine the dim sum places used anything but. In general, the less oxidized the tea the less likely I am to like it. My second favorite tea is Assam Again, it's probably my lack of access to unchlorinated water that makes me intolerant to more delicate teas. Not tryna sound like a snob here, far from it. I mean I drink pu erh with milk and call it bo lei au lait. See, I play with my food.

I like a lot of hot drinks, but usually I drink rooibos, usually with milk, because it's healthy and unchallenging in flavor and preparation, and it's caffeine free so I can drink it at any time without having to go through a decision process. Or I will drink hot water when I am at a restaurant, but I do this year-round because it's the most comforting temperature. No hate but the american general preference for "ice cold" is silly. I do recommend simmering, not just steeping, rooibos for longer than 10 minutes. Since it can be simmered for hours or re-steeped multiple times, I've come to feel that it's a waste to throw out rooibos after one steep of less than 10 minutes.

Do diabetics tolerate coconut sugar? Eatingevolved's coconut butter cups are bomb. They're noticeably low in sugar, but that's not a detriment. They're just food-like, savory, and satisfying.