The Republic of Tea

I had some of this with a sea salt and peanut butter cookie today. Wowza! Maybe not the worlds greatest food/ tea paring, but both were delicious and I enjoyed them a ton.

Today is going to be a whopper. Only about one break, before a madhouse day between two jobs, in the busy season.
Eeep!
So, a dependable cup is required. Thank you, vanilla almond black! Now, to get dressed and get going.

Curse you early morning! You ripped me cruelly from an awesome dream about Shakespeare and suchlike. It was awesome, and unfortunate to have been pulled away from it.
Thats the sad thing about dreams, is that I never have them again. I dont have repeat. Curses, I wanted to see how this one ended.
Well, a cup of sweetness to soften the blow and ease me into my day.

Wha-? I’m awake. I’m awake……… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Help, Vanilla Almond, to get me going where I need to go!

It is Halloween! My favorite holiday of them all. In a moment I need to put on my clothes, a costume today, and go to work.
But fist, a cup of tea!
Its my favorite day, so I’m only drinking tea I like. First up, this cup of autumnal goodness!

caffine…. caffine! Give me the sweet wake up juice!

I’ve got a work training this afternoon (on a Sunday! Boo!) and I doubt there will be tea.
I’m making up for yesterdays lack of tea with tea I really like. This is a good follow up to Boston, as its got a simalar flavor profile. What is it about almond that seems to very autumnal.

Thursday mornings are hard, and I have to get up extra early, stumbling around, gasping for tea and crying at the injustice of a world that would make me get up that early.
So my mental facilities are used up in all this A.M. angst, so I often go for bagged teas. Its good to have one or two on hand, when needed.
This is my go to. Its sweet, and nicely balanced, and I dont need to focus too much on it, which is good.

Its so cold today (hooray!). I needed a quick, warming cup this morning. This was it.

I’ve altered my orignial score of this. It was my very favorite during the early days of tea drinking, and while I no longer am so compleatly devoted to it, its still nice.
This is sweet and mellow, with a pleasant lightness. On a morning, like this one, where I do need a quick cup of tea, its exactly the right thing.

Uggh, it was extra hard to drag myself out of bed this morning. I rewarded myself for managing to actually get up with a cup of this. Almond pastry in a cup. It helped to make my bitter morning a little sweeter.

I like Vanilla Almond. I can really taste the almond, which is a flavor that I love. I admit that I don’t get a very full vanilla flavor, but its got a sweetness to it. Like an almond croissant! I like a cup of this in the morning. It makes the coming day a little sweeter.

My last pot of this and I managed to pour some of it across my desk. At least I missed my computer.
Its rapidly turning into one of those mornings!
Sipdown!

Goodness. This was a solid wall of rosebuds this morning. I guess they all settled to the bottom of the tin, and now that I’m nearing the end, I have found a ton of them.
I also think I understeeped this this morning. Its a little light this morning.

Its amazing how fast someones tastes can change.
Earlier this year, when I was just starting to get into loose leaf, I got this. I had heard that is was pretty good and I was feeling adventurous.
And I liked it! It struck me as being a very good rose tea. But now that I’ve tried more tea, my affection for it has waned a little.
Its still a decent rose black, but I have discovered better ones. I’ll still drink this up without problems.

My sinuses are still unhappy, making every breath feel dusty, and making it painful to swallow. Tea helps this a lot.
Today I needed a good tea, but perhaps not a great tea. Something I enjoyed, with a good amount of flavor. Bingo. Rose Petal black for the first cup of the morning.

Last morning of duck/cat/parakeet/canary covering. Whew!
Time for another trustworthy pot of tea.
I still really like this, but now that I’ve had Rose Sented, I can see that its not the current front runner of rose flavored teas.

Ah. I like this. This is a no frills rose tea. I realize that its a polarizing topic, but I really like rose teas. And this one is as straightforward as a rose black can be. It has a soft and (yes) perfumy aftertaste. I like this, but I realize that its not everyones cup of tea. But on a cold and rainy morning (in June! What up, weather?) its just the right thing.

Good hot and cold, plain or with honey. It can get quite bitter though if you over steep it, so be careful. The color of the brewed tea is quite pretty. I also appreciate that they actually put real pomegranate pieces in with the green tea. It’s a very delicate tea so if you don’t like your first cup try again with the same leaves but steeping less or more and maybe adding some honey.

The end of this. A sipdown for the new year.
The guests slept till noon, and I fed them honey bread and bananna bread and some tea (they wanted noncaffinated tea, so I gave them that).
I had my last cup of this oolong, which was a nice and comforting tea. On to new and exciting oolongs.

Cooking and the final desperate stabs at cleaning commences for my party tonight!
The dishes are all traditionally lucky new years dishes. I’m making Soba Noodle salad (no idea why this is lucky, actually), Hoppin John (rice, black eyed peas, bacon. Lucky because the beans look like money) salad (green like money) with honey spice cake (for sweetness in the new year), and shortbread, to be eaten at midnight. And champange, of course.
So I am sipping on something soothing, to help with the headache that I’ve got budding behind my eyes.
To the kitchen! That cake is not going to bake itself.

Will I ever be done with this? Actually I’m pretty close to the end of this, but its still seeming like a lot of tea.
Decent oolong, but not overwhelming. I’m not sure I’ll restock when I am done with it.

This afternoons cup of tea, a break from tidying.
I’m almost through of this. It will be good to be done with it, though there is absolitly nothing wrong with it.