I feel like I’m finally getting back on track with things, tea being one of them. It’s been a rocky couple of months health and work-wise and I know I let a lot of things slip, but this last weekend felt like an improvement on how things have been. I feel more interested in stuff/life generally than I have since well before Christmas. I celebrated that on Sunday by having a tidy up/sort out, which has made me feel better still – fresher and more organised. Part of the sort out involved my tea box – I had a look through and pulled out some older teas, and some in papery packaging that’s been a concern at the back of my mind for a while now. Chief among those were Whispering Pines and Bluebird Teas, so they’re now out of the box and readily accessible for drinking. I’m going to try and start drinking my “proper” tea – by which I mean all my loose leaf special stuff – at home again and not just at work. I’ve been drinking bagged Twinings/Clipper at home in the evenings and at weekends since Christmas, so it’s definitely time for a change. I can cope with making a cup of loose leaf tea when I’m tired, I’m sure. What I’m less sure about is what the hell happened to me over the last 3 months. Now I’m coming out of the fug, I feel like I completely lost track of the things that matter to me, and that make me who I am. It’s odd to look back on a recent span of time and feel like that.
Enough of the soul searching. This is one of the teas I pulled out, and it’s definitely been neglected enough. I used 1.5tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3.5 minutes in boiling water. I added a tiny splash of milk, but only really because I was drinking it late on. Ordinarily I wouldn’t, I don’t think.
I appreciated this all the more given that my tastebuds are pretty accustomed to bagged at the moment. It has a beautifully strong, rich, malty flavour with gorgeous baked bread notes, sweet potato flesh and a distinctive background pepperiness. Drinking this reminded me why I like Yunnan blacks so much – this is a phenomenal tea, flavourful to drink with beautiful leaf to boot. There aren’t the words to describe how glad I am to have this one back in my rotation.
