Sugar Junction

So I’d meant to add a sample of pu erh spice to my Adagio order today, and apparently clicked on pumpkin spice instead. I’m honestly not the biggest lover of pumpkin spice, so there may be a sample of it up for grabs shortly, depending on whether it changes my opinion or not… (And I was really looking forward to trying the pu erh spice. Oh well.)

Also, does it bother anyone else that we’re still producing romantic comedies predicated on the question of whether a guy and a girl can be just friends? Like, if they can’t, I’ve got a lot of male friends to disappoint and never speak to again. This would be sad. Especially as I’ve dated girls to, which basically means that romcom logic dictates I literally can’t be friends with anyone apart from the person I’m married to. Bummer.

At least this tea’s still a pleasantly caramelly delight. I’m not 100% sure what the hop flowers are bringing flavour-wise, but it’s just a little bit marshmallowy and nice with a splash of milk.

Remember that time I spent pretty much the entire year I lived in Manchester meaning to get around to visiting Sugar Junction and sampling its menu of interesting teas? Yeah, it took me until the day I officially handed over the keys to my Manchester flat. Whoops.

If I was going to sample just one tea, it pretty much had to be Northern Quarter Blend. I mean, it appeals to me in both flavour and spirit: it’s redolent with aromas of rich, deep caramel, and its named in honour of the neighbourhood where I used to buy all my art supplies and wool. FEELINGS.

As for the tea itself, well. It’s chock full of darling hop flowers and little caramel cubes, which I enjoy muchly (and the latter of which I had to be stern with myself about not just picking out of the bag and eating like I used to do with the marshmallows in my Lucky Charms). A three-minute brew reveals a tea that’s got that characteristic briskness of a Sri Lankan tea, with a lingering caramel sweetness that sits around the edges of the palate. Letting it cool a bit (albeit not much of it, because I hoovered most of this pretty quickly) brings forward a very subtle flowery note from the hops, and it turns out that adding milk gives it almost toasted-marshmallowy overtones. Oh, I do approve of toasted-marshmallowy overtones, all right!

And it’s nice to know that hop flowers also have the added benefit of helping to calm anxiety, stomach complaints, and lady trouble. Yeah, finding out that I don’t actually have a new work contract lined up for next week after all has kind of put a damper on things, given the whole I-have-no-money-and-just-paid-rent-on-two-apartments thing and now don’t know when I’ll have an income again. Yippee!