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Yesterday was a little bit tough, last night more so, this morning…well, I was feeling pretty stressed. There is plenty that needs to be done, but instead I distracted myself with electronics until my brain said, “Enough! Do something you REALLY want to do!”

I had just read Tea Ave’s new blog post and that left me longing for my last little teaspoon of magnolia oolong, by candlelight, with soft music.

My experience with this tea was very different tonight, and it remains my favorite of all I have tasted so far from Tea Ave. I have two samples on the way from a Steepster friend so I can taste them before finalizing my order. But this one HAS to be on the list!

The aroma cup has brought me more enjoyment that I would have believed possible. I am using it with oolongs and puerhs. Tonight it was like an aromatherapy spa treatment, for the cup smelled heavenly, and didn’t stop smelling heavenly. This is the most floral I have experienced this tea so far, perhaps I steeped it differently but I am not timing anything tonight.

There is the scent of burnt sugar, and flowers, and rich cream or unseated butter. After three steeps I am still picking up the cup and inhaling deeply and I am drinking in the aroma of white flowers. As it cools and softens, I smell the soft scent of baby powder with its sharpness, side by side with middle tones of exotic flowers, deep and mysterious. The oolong has weight and thickness now.

I held up the little white cup in this dark room as I refilled it, and the candle was right behind it. The flame shone through the cup and the soft yellow tea, and illuminated the steam dancing sinuously upward. Beautiful. I wondered if this is why the Chinese revere dragons – the breath of the dragon rising from the magnificent cup of peace…

If I could, I would scent my sheets with this aroma and float off into sweet dreams. I would dot it behind my ear and on my neck, to bless those I embrace. I am seriously infatuated with this tea.

Thank you, Tea Ave.