Sipdown #3, dedication to the sipdown cause is in the house.
And now I am learning the hard way about being an Adult with fine bone china. I thought I’d be fancy tonight and drink my (properly steeped) first flush from my lovely Old Country Roses teaware I was given as a farewell gift from my last workplace. (I got two trios, a sugar bowl, a milk jug and a biscuit tray all together, it was lovely and very thoughtful of them.)
One of my trios has been on the shelf and watered somewhat regularly for the last 18 months. The other trio has been up in my top cupboard. I pulled the cupboard trio down tonight—and probably none of you are surprised to hear that the cup has a great big crack in it. I am a little bit heartbroken! Oh dear. I immediately watered the rest of my set (it’s all fine) but that just indicates to me that this stuff needs to be used more often.
In any case, I did real good tonight.
#1: 90°C 1.5mins. Not quite long enough for my tastes—a very light and delicate cup.
#2: 90°C 2.5mins. From the same teapot as #1, left for an extra minute! Basically perfect for me. I still don’t have enough of a palate to be able to describe teas, but let me try. Light, grassy, a little nutty? Ah. Good. The T2 website says “fresh and floral”. Yep, I don’t know what I’m talking about. But I like this.
#3: 90°C 4.5mins. Second infusion. And the magic seems to be gone already. I may never get the bliss of cup #2 back…
