Scourgifying his cup, 'cause he wasn't going to switch over to another house, Ascanius found himself pondering which tea to try next. 'Course he was probably going to have to side toward Gryffindor. Because, well, obvious reasons.

Anyway, he leaned forward and grabbed their tea box and scribbled down each of the ingredients in Gryffindor's tea. Yep, yep.

Now time to actually make it.

Throwing it all together, he mumbled, "Aguamenti.... Chaudensis" Nice and steamy and it smelled kind of....sharp. A little frantic, even. Huh. How fitting.

Raising it to his lips, he took a small sip and nearly dropped his cup. HOT. VERY HOT.

She looked at the packet and smiled a little. Hey, she was right! She started writing down the ingredients and looking them up. Starting with Lemon Balm.

Quote:

Lemon Balm- good for mosquito repellent.

Well, that probably wasn't what they were looking for. She erased crossed it out and looked at the book.

Quote:

Lemon Balm- good for mosquito repellent. helps increase mental acuity, lowers stress, increased mathematical processing

Alright. That seemed reasonable. She could smell the tea near her and sniffed the cup, making a face. Well, she supposed smelling it wasn't enough. She said drink it, right? She cooled it a little and took a sip. It was like weird flavored water. Maybe Uncle Alex was right.

She shook her head and went back to the parchment. The quill felt strange in her hands. She looked around, then pulled a pen out of her bag before continuing.

Quote:

Lemon Balm- good for mosquito repellent. helps increase mental acuity, lowers stress, increased mathematical processing
Horsetail-

That didn't sound good. She eyed the tea. Ew. She pulled the other cups and made the teas all at once. There. She could wait for them to cool off, then sip each of them, and concentrate on writing.

She looked back to the book. Horsetail reproduces by spores... EWW!! What if there were spores in her tea?! She scourgified the cup and vowed not to drink anything with horsetail in it. After, she continued. She couldn't help but giggling that some types were poisonous to horses. Clearing her throat and calming herself, she started writing.

Quote:

Lemon Balm- good for mosquito repellent. helps increase mental acuity, lowers stress, increased mathematical processing
Horsetail- helps with calcium absorption, and bodily health

Well, that seemed good... without the spores part.

Okay, so... this was all about... interpretation? Toby had been ready to get his hands dirty today, quite literally. He wasn't a lover of tea, particularly herbal ones. Mainly because apparently it was SUCH A CRIME to put sugar in them. Pfft.

STILL, a lesson was a lesson, and Tobias was eager to keep up his good reputation with Professor Bentley. He glanced through his textbook for a few minutes, finding the pages that focused mainly on herbs, before grabbing one of the remaining teacups on the table (he didn't see which house he had written on his).

Tobias didn't actually know how to make tea, so instead he watched Ella, who was at his table, make hers before he commandeered the teapot for himself.

"Aguamenti!" he cast, filling the teapot with water along with the tea leaves from the Hufflepuff box. It was kind of cool to think that he'd be about to taste the house. "Chaudensis!"

While he waited for the tea to heat up and brew, Tobias read the front of the Hufflepuff tea box. Some of the words were hard to make out, but he was pretty sure he could make them all out.

Soon enough, the Hufflepuff found himself pouring some of the tea into his cup, and taking note of what colour it was. The thirteen year old took a sip of the hot liquid, but found in much too hot to be able to properly taste.

"Aaghhhh..." he breathed, waving a hand in front of his face to fan some cold air to his tongue.

Deciding he'd wait for it to cool down a bit first, Tobias instead wrote down a list of the stuff that was written on the box, and began looking them up in his textbook. You know, get all that stuff done before he did his own interpretation of the taste.

Taking the Slytherin tea Minerva made her way back to her workstation and pointed her wand filling her cup once more. It was a good thing she enjoyed tea or this might not be a fun lesson at all. Putting the tea in the cup she pointed her wand again heating the water. Sitting and waiting she looked around the room and sighed. How she was missing a certain someone especially being in this class, his favorite class. Sighing she picked up her tea and took a sip before it was ready.

OUCH


Dropping the cup and having tea go all over her robes Minerva mumbled not nice things under her breath and pulled her wand cleaning up the mess. Maybe she did that warming a little too well. *sigh* She got up and got another packet doing the tea all over again. This time making sure it wasn't bad she took a sip carefully. Now to find the ingredients for the Slytherin tea.



Minerva continued to drink this tea even though it was her least favorite so far. Now to find the next ingredient.

Tobias was scribbling away at his parchment, successfully blocking out any distractions around him and actually managing to stay completely and utterly focused on the tea work. It wasn't often that he managed to hyperfocus... usually that was reserved for Quidditch related things.

Once he'd written the basic relevant properties the book had listed, Tobias pulled the now significantly cooler tea towards him and took a sip.

And started coughing.

LIQUORICE. UGH.

The Hufflepuff spluttered a bit, not expecting to taste that distinct and strong taste he'd never developed a liking for. Toby grimaced, and pushed it away from him again. There, he'd tasted the tea, now he could just use his brain to work out the rest of what he needed to do before moving on to the next House's tea.



Once that was all done, Tobias cast a quick 'evanesco!' on the contents of the cup and got to work on brewing the Gryffindor tea, as that was the one he wanted to try next.

Anything to get rid of the overbearing taste of liquorice

The process had slowed down some, but Sophie still felt like she could get finished before the class ended. She only had a few more notes to take, and really, how hard could that be? She looked down at what she'd already put on her parchment and re-read it. Yup. It looked AWESOME.

So she took another sip of her tea and got ready to take some more notes. Ohh, lemon balm! Sophie didn't really like anything with lemon, but for the purpose of the assignment, she could probably come up with something to say. She dipped her quill in ink and got ready to add this newest ingredient to her notes.

"Aguamenti!"

The teapot was filled up again, along with the tea from the Gryffindor box this time, and Tobias was glancing at the label to see what was in this one. No liquorice... that was good. Tobias' face was still pulled into a slight grimace from the last one. How did he not realise that if it was IN the tea, he'd be able to TASTE it. GOSH.

After that cursory glance, Tobias started to heat the tea, being sure not to go TOO hot this time, otherwise this would take him forever.

"Chaudensis!"

NOT TOO HOT NOW. Nope. Tobias valued his taste buds a bit too much to let them get burnt off.

And while he waited, he listed the ingredients from the front of the box once again.

Still sipping the tea she flipped through the book. She couldn't help but let a yawn out and tried to cover it with her hand. It was obvious all the warm tea was making her comfy and sleepy, but she had to stay awake at least long enough to finish class then maybe she could take a little nap back up in her dorm later. Yes, that sounded like a great plan to have.

Finding the next ingredient Minerva started to write down the benefits that Lemon Balm had in tea. Once she was finished she moved on to Hibiscus. Wasn't hibiscus a flower? Apparently it was an herb? Maybe she wouldn't tell anyone that she really didn't know the difference that well. How would that look for a future healer? Not good most likely. She wrote down the rest of her notes on the SLytherin Tea.






Now it was time for Gryffindor's tea. Minerva got up to get the packet. As she sat back down she noticed she still had some tea in her cup. Well that wouldn't do, drinking the rest she cleaned out the cup for the next.

Tobias stuck the tip of his pinky finger into the Gryffindor tea to test the temperature.

Okay, that was cooled down enough to drink, but not so cool that it would be really unpleasant. GOOD TIMING MISTER TOBES.

The Hufflepuff took a sip of the tea, a little more cautiously this time in case it tasted nasty, and sort of paused. He really couldn't place the flavour, he just knew it really did taste... plant-y, y'know? Maybe because he was so used to constantly consuming sugar and the plants were just so obviously DIFFERENT.

It tasted kinda funky, sort of similar to the last one, so Tobias set it down while he worked.

He didn't want to be turned into a Gryffindor either, of course. Tobias quite liked being a badger.



After a final sip of the Gryffindor tea, which didn't make him feel more bold or daring or chivalrous or anything like that, Tobias vanished it with a spell again and got started on the Ravenclaw tea.

Having garnered all he could from sight and smell alone, Cutty took his wand and following the example let by everyone else including Professor Bentley, used the apropriate wand motion and uttered, "Aquamenti!". A small, but steady squirt of water poured forth from his wand into the cup with the Ravie tea. That one was relatively easy.

"Chaudensis!" The heating spell might be a bit harder to control and that the water might be scolding his first go 'round, simply for the kids extremes. Cutty plunked a finger into the brewing tea and found it to be a rather pleasant temperature. And while the Ravenclaw tea was brewing, time to explore the others via sight and smell. If he could smell anything over the peppermint.


He looked down at the Slytherin tea gave it a dry-swish around in his cup. Looking down on it, Cutty could see long strips of violently pink, almost like a raspberry, petals. He lifted one out of the cup and brought it to his nose. It had a sweet, but almost kind of hot scent to it. He took another sniff and considered whether or not he would like the way his own house tea tasted. Continuing to fish his finger around, he also found toothed leaves, another toothed variety that looked ALOT like mint but smelled more like lemons and something else...very slender little sprigs.

He flipped his textbook pages, searching for images on the things he did not know, and started on a fresh sheet of parchment having decided on a better way to arrange the information.



He peered down at the Ravenclaw blend and saw that the loose leafs had expanded, but having been emerged in the heat and moisture looked more difficult to identify. That left the other ingredients up to taste. Bracing himself for the hot peppermint drink, Cutty threw a little down the hatch. And then again more slowly. Beyond the mint and lavender there was something, possibly two somethings, like perfume and nuts. Bergamot! It tasted like his mother's perfume smelled, he thought. He was never a huge fan of Earl Grey.

As for the nutty note, what could that have been? Not sweet enough to be almonds, although he thought their reputation for a brain food would've made them a good candidate to be included in a tea for Ravenclaw. Maybe what he needed to do was reverse this process. What herb had brain-boosting effects and also had a nutty flavour? A few minutes into his page hunting, Cutty thought he could venture his guess.

Okay, two more ingredients to go for this one.

Quote:

Lemon Balm- good for mosquito repellent. helps increase mental acuity, lowers stress, increased mathematical processing
Horsetail- helps with calcium absorption, and bodily health
Nettles- improves bodily health, is a preventative, has concentrated amounts of essential nutrients, helps slow or reduce cellular degeneration (note: do not drink while pregnant, and not ever in excessive amounts)
Hibiscus- reduces stress and hypertension, can reduce blood pressure

I believe the Slytherin tea represents, and helps with, the cunning and patience of Slytherins. Slytherins are known for their ambition, and need to be in good health, as well have mental acuity, in order to proceed with their goals. The reduction in stress also helps as stress can cause one to not think clearly, and reduce efficiency in proceeding with planned goals.

She nodded. Good. That was one down. She looked at the teas, glad they were labeled in each cup. She thought of looking up the ingredients first, then remembered the horsetail spores. Nope. Get it over with. It's like knowing what's in hot dogs. Not to mention, if she waited too long, it would just grow strong and bitter, and wouldn't be able to give any of the teas a chance. She took a sip from each of them, analyzing them. Still dirty water. But she realized each one did have a distinct taste, even if she could taste the water. If she had to pick the one which she disliked the least, it was probably Ravenclaw. She had thought Hufflepuff, but when she tried each of them again, Ravenclaw was the winner.

He was getting into a decent routine now: fill up the tea pot with water and tea, heat it with the spell, pour it into a tea cup and wait for it to cool while checking the label to see what was in the tea. Then he'd add them to the list on his parchment, leaving enough space for an interpretation, before testing the tea and doing all the writing. So far he'd not really enjoyed the teas enough to drink more than a sip or two, but that could change. After writing he'd vanish the tea and start again.

After he'd aguamenti'd and chaudensis'd the tea, Tobias found himself at the part of the waiting, trying to decipher whatever the label was trying to tell him was in the Ravenclaw tea. Hm. Peppermint AND lavender? What was THAT going to taste like?

Tobias eyed the teapot warily after he'd read that, before setting the box down and pouring himself a cup. He sniffed it, and blinked a bit. Wow. That would wake him up a bit, but wouldn't the lavender counteract that? All he knew was that the peppermint was making his eyes feel like they were wider open than usual.

Before tasting that tea, he added the stuff from the label to the list in his notes.



OKAY. Tasting and then writing.

Tobias reached for the teacup to take a sip.

While sipping on the Gryffindor tea, Adi made some adjustments to his notes on the Hufflepuff tea.



Now, he was completely done with the Hufflepuff's tea! The Lion's tea wasn't so bad. The dominating herb he tasted was the basil. He loved basil. But the Hufflepuff tea was still the best! He didn't know if he was being biased but he didn't think much about it. The eleven year old bent his head and began to write:



Two Houses down, two to go!

Well... that was different.

That was really the only thing Tobias could think to say about these beverages; they were all very... different. The only non-regular teas he had ever tried were ginger and chamomile, though at different times, obviously.

He's never liked chamomile, and unfortunately this Ravenclaw brew tasted light that... probably the lavender. The peppermint definitely gave it a bit of a kick, though. Or... well it just made his eyes sting a bit, which was the same thing. Tobias just... wasn't a fan of peppermint.

Anyway, time for more notes! Tobias took another teeny sip of the tea and smacked his lips eeeeeeeever so slightly, trying to work out what he thought of the taste and also having a good think about what he was going to write.



OKAY. ONE MORE TEA LEFT.

Maybe this one would taste super good, though Tobias wasn't sure it would. If any, surely the Hufflepuff one would have tasted best to him, 'cause HE was a Hufflepuff. Made logical sense, right?

"Evanesco!" Tobias cast at the tea in the cup and started the routine for the last cup of tea.

Okay, so she had Slytherin down, spores and all. She looked over the packets, deciding. Well, Gryffindor didn't make the top two, so she didn't care what was in it. She read over the packet. Okay... dandelion leaf, of course... borage.... basil (wasn't that for cooking?)... and sarsparilla? She sighed and flipped the pages in the book. "Dandelion leaf..." She read it over and began writing.

Quote:

Dandelion leaf- sometimes used in salads, used for digestive and liver issues, good vitamin content

She couldn't help snickering. Digestive issues, huh? Did they have problems a lot? Okay, next, borage. She hadn't heard of that one.

Quote:

Dandelion leaf- sometimes used in salads, used for digestive and liver issues, good vitamin content
Borage- smells and tastes like cucumber,

Eww... No wonder it was gross. Aside from being tea.

Quote:

Dandelion leaf- sometimes used in salads, used for digestive and liver issues, good vitamin content
Borage- smells and tastes like cucumber, reduces fever and heart problems,

"Strong heart, huh? That makes sense."

Quote:

Dandelion leaf- sometimes used in salads, used for digestive and liver issues, good vitamin content
Borage- smells and tastes like cucumber, reduces fever and heart problems, when dried and burnt it

Maika's eyes grew wide. "IT EXPLODES?!" She covered her mouth and looked around. Oh Merlin, please let everyone just ignore that.

Alright so now he needed to try the Slytherin tea. He went up to the front of the room and got the teabag and looked at the ingredients before he left. Then he went back to his seat and sat down. His cup was all clean and then he said, "Aquamenti!" and the water filled the cup. Then he said the spell..."Chaudensis!" and the water got hot. He actually liked the heat from the cup. Then he put the slytherin teabag in and copied down the ingredients into his notebook.




He took the sip of the tea very carefully. It did smell strongly and he didn't mind the smell. He was getting sick of tea right now actually. His belly was starting to feel full. He took the last couple sips and copied down the ingredients purposes.




Lastly now he had to connect all the notes he took to the houses. He could do that.

Was anyone using the teapot? No? Good.

Tobias vanished the contents of that too and then put in the tea. "Aguamenti!" he cast, aiming his wand inside the teapot, followed by a "Chaudensis!" Okay, now that could brew and he could, once again, read the ingredients while he waited.

... Horsetail? Like... the actual tail of a horse?

Couldn't be... that sounded far too unpleasant, and this was HERBOLOGY after all, so it would be a plant. That lemon balm sounded good though... maybe Toby had unintentionally saved the best 'til last!

He abandoned the box temporarily before pouring the tea back into his newly empty and clean teacup again, before leaving that to cool and then adding to his notes.



Tobias figured the tea was cool enough now, and even if it wasn't was was really eager to try it and wash away the taste of the other teas. With an eager grin plastered across his face, Tobias reached for his tea cup and took a careful sip.

Vesper had been diligently taking notes the whole lesson, not really looking up too much to survey others surrounding her. There was still a level of embarrassment stifling her from Halloween and all she wanted to do these days was get her grades improved and not have to directly speak to anyone. Embarrassment, you know...

When it was time for tea testing, she flipped to a clean page in her Herbology notebook and did some decorative things to it. She liked decorative things...like flowers and mini!suns. They were related to the subject, anyway...So, it couldn't hurt.

Once the teapot and cups were placed on her table, Ves eyed them for a long moment...struck by how beautiful they were. Where could she get a set like this? It was Christmas soon...and she hadn't yet told her parents what she'd wanted. This tea set would've been perfect because she was a fan of tea. Her mother loved it...and they always had tea time together.

What flavor would be first...?

Deciding to start left to right, she picked up the Hufflepuff box and opened it, smelling the leaves before doing anything with them. The way they did it at home was by adding the leaves first...and then covering them with the scolding hot water...letting it sit for several moments. She was currently doing that, too. Filling the bottom of the Hufflepuff cup with leaves, Ves carefully picked up the pot and doused them with water. Hooooot water. She could feel the steam rising off it.

Now to let that sit for a moment...

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiip.

Tobias drank and paused for a long moment, swishing the tea around his mouth and then swallowing it. Then he grinned. Not bad! Definitely an improvement from the others. The best one in Toby's opinion, and therefore his favourite of the lot.

Feeling exceedingly please about how he'd unintentionally ordered the teas, Tobias set the still slightly steaming cup back down on the desk and finished up the last of his notes, taking another sip from the Slytherin tea every now and then.



And... that was it?

No more tea to make and interpret... so he must be finished. Nice one! Tobias grinned to himself and set his quill down, stretching his fingers and flexing his hand to get rid of the cramp that was forming from holding onto the quill so tightly for so long.

Well, NOW he could sit back and enjoy the yummy Slytherin tea, which is exactly what he did, taking care to take his time and savour it.

Mmmmmmmmm, that's good Slytherin.

Oh, activity time already? Well okay then. Kat was okay with this. She stared at the teapot and the cups in front of them though. Uhm... okay? Tea time for them? That must be good though because she liked tea (sometimes but it depends on what kind of tea it is). Guess this activity would be okay because they didn't have to use too much energy and all. SHRUG. At least all they had to do is drink tea and write stuff about the herbs inside it.

No big deal.

Kat took a cup and examined it. "Scourgify," she said. She wanted to make sure that the cup was CLEAN. Not that she didn't trust Professor Bentley though. What if her tea got contaminated with the dirty stuff? That would be bad and she surely didn't want to be sick. She took the Hufflepuff tea, just because she didn't wanna get the Slytherin one yet. Save the best for later, they say. "Aguamenti." Water was there. Good, yes. "Chaudensis," she said and then... yay, her tea was warm now. Woohoo. So... she should sip from it now? Yeah?

After several moments of just letting the tea sit and cool, Vesper picked up the Hufflepuff cup and took a tentative sniff. "Sweet" was her first thought. There was definitely a sweetness present. Probably the hawthorn leaf and flower?...Could've been the licorice, too. Finally, she took a sip, momentarily closing her eyes to think about the taste. There was something underlying...Like a fullness in the herbs. Hearty? Was that a good word to use?

It was almost like if she continued to drink the tea, it would fill her up and leave her not hungry or something like that. Well, she was getting that feeling, anyway. She went ahead and took several more sips.

Sip, sip, sip, siiiiiiiiip...

From what she'd gathered about Hufflepuffs...from her extensive research on the houses before even coming to the school, they were a happy, hearty bunch. Very sweet, too. So the sweetness of the tea spoke about that aspect of them...Maybe that was just Vesper's opinion, though.


Ves didn't fill out her notes completely yet; simply jotted down her first impressions of the Hufflepuff tea...She'd finish them after she'd sampled everything else...because tea. Tea was tea...and she liked tea. TEA.

Now that Kat had placed water and heated her tea, it was probably the right time to taste it. But before that, Kat checked the herbs that were in the Hufflepuff tea. There was caraway, chickweed, licorice, hawthorn leaf and flower. Chickweed, though, sounded like a baby chicken and a weed which made Kat cringe a bit. Must be weird to have a herb called chickweed though, but whatever. If this meant house points for Slytherin, then she was totally game for this.

Before sipping from her tea cup, Kat blew her tea a bit, because nobody wanted a burnt tongue while enjoying tea, and then sipped from it. Hmm... it didn’t taste. It was a good thing to know that Hufflepuff as tea wasn’t a bad idea. Not that she wanted that to happen you know. Then she wrote down the herbs on her parchment and the possible characteristics that relate to the Puffers.



After Kat had finished writing on her parchment, she finished her Hufflepuff tea. Uhm, okay. That was enough. Time to move on to another house tea. What do choose... hmm.

Setting the Hufflepuff cup to the side, Ves pulled the Gryffindor cup closer. This was probably the best thing about sitting alone. She could use all the cups for herself and didn't have to share and worry about emptying them out. Meaning she could get a better feel for each flavor...and taste them more. More tea. TEA!

Though, a potty break would be needed soon. Too much liquid intake and all that.

Hmm...now to get this Gryffindor tea ready...Pulling the box up for inspection, she eyed it's ingredients and then opened it. Interesting ingredients for an interesting house, in her opinion. A violent house...but still interesting all the same. She offhandedly thought about Alice, Penelope, and Jake...Intense people.

Plucking out some of the leaves, she dropped them into the bottom of the cup and poured more water...All she had to do now was let it sit for a few moments. Like she did with the other...

So, waiting...

Huuuuuuuuuuum.

Before trying out a new house tea, Kat took her wand out. “Tergeo.” So that the remained tea vanished. “Scourgify.” Gotta make sure her cup was clean at all times. It had been her habit ever since then. And because of the 5 C’s she learned in Potions class, she had applied them in her other classes too. Who knew it would be really useful in life, right? Thanks Professor Lafay for that one-time back-to-basics class last term, or was that the other term? Whatever, all she could remember was that they had that Basics Potions class to refresh their memory and that stuff. That was the least of her problems now, because she still had to choose another house tea. Since Hufflepuff was done, she’d try another one. Hmmm... oh! Ravenclaw tea, we pick you. Kat took a bag of Ravenclaw tea and placed it inside her now clean cup.

Okay, so she needed to add water in this one and then the warm it up with the Chaudensis spell they learned in the Herbology Task Force assignments. “Aguamenti,” Kat said and watched as water came out of her wand to fill her teacup. She then cast a nonverbal Finite to stop the flow of water. “Chaudensis.” That was to warm her tea. Cold tea didn’t really taste good, if compared to warm tea. They should try and see the difference if they really wanted to know. However, Kat didn’t so she wasn’t gonna do that. And warm tea for her. So, that was okay now. She could sip on her tea and ponder on the herbs now.

Alright, it was ready.

Carefully lifting the cup, Vesper took a deep whiff. The different smells confused her at first...and confused her senses. It was a combination of bitterness, sweet, and green. Yes, 'green' had a smell. It was healthy...like her mother's tofu sandwiches, apparently.

After bringing the cup to her lips, she took a few deep sips before coming to any definite conclusions about it. The bitterness was there, sorta harsh to her taste buds...and the healthy thing was still present in the flavor, too. It was like cucumbers. Ves liked cucumbers...So, there wasn't any arguments about that part. This one wasn't nearly as sweet as the previous tea, either...

So, in relation to Gryffindor house, how did it match up. That was the question.

Gryffindors were rough around the edges. Most people assumed that was the Slytherins...but in her experiences with people from both houses, there was a definite boundary line. Gryffindors lacked finesse. It was just the truth. She thought about Alice again...and then about West. Alice wasn't as careful as West was. There was a quality about him that was polished and sophisticated...where the Gryffindor Captain was just abrasive. Awesomely terrifying and talented...but STILL abrasive.

She set the cup down and jotted things.


Next tea...