Tea Punk Teas

Its been a crazy few weeks, and yesterday ended in a client yelling at me. Sigh.
Also Daylight Savings Time is annoying me. I used to like the autumn adjustment best, but now I find I cant stay asleep all the time I should be asleep. Bleh.
But this morning it is raining, huge, satisfying rain.
This is an apple cinnamon tea, which is pretty nicely balanced between the apple and the cinnamon. Thats great, as I don’t want the cinnamon to overwhelm.
A nice cup of tea and some rain will do a lot towards making this week ok.

So this tea is almost straight up cinnamon, and maybe a smack of clove. Its a very heavy sort of tea.
I wish there was a more “muffin-y” element to this tea.

Is it only Wednesday? Ooof.
Monday was a good work day- something I’ve been working towards finally came to pass, so I’m excited.
Tuesday I forgot to add water to my oatmeal and turned it into a charcoal brick, and then the work day also exploded in my face.
Also a friend, who is always where he says he’ll be, missed a schedule call. I had a bit of a panic, worrying something terrible had happened to him, but he was fine, just a scheduling disaster.
Whew. At least Tuesday is over.
So this is an apple cinnamon tea, and so far I’m finding it a bit heavy. Hmm, more tinkering required.

I’m doing my usual September dance, where I drink autumnal teas in an attempt to force the weather to cooperate. That this has never worked before will not stop me.
This is an apple cinnamon tea, emphisis on the cinnamon. I may need to steep this a bit less next time, but I’m looking forward to my next cup of this.

Is anyone else surprisingly sad about the death of Queen Elizabeth? I found myself really knocked off kilter yesterday, feeling grim and sad and a bit disoriented. I lived in England briefly when I was younger, and that was a wonderful experience, so perhaps I feel a kinship to that nation.
But also she was a constant in the universe- water is wet, tea is great, England has a Queen.
Its the end of an era, and I’m never very good with the end of eras.
I’m trying a new tea today, but maybe not in the right frame of mind to review it.

Mmmmmm……….. delicious smokiness

So I asked my fiance to make me some tea today (something black, as I need the caffeine), and he chose this one. Not sure what temperature he got it to, but the tea ball it still there, and it got lukewarm by the time I got to drinking it (Note: This is not a problem for me).

There’s that beautiful smokiness that reminds me of hickory or mesquite wood smoking a barbeque. There’s an extra warmth to this flavor that comes out at a cooler temperature, along with that tiny hint of sweetness that comes out when you brew at lower temperatures (it actually adds a little to that barbeque feeling). I get the feeling I’ll be drinking a lot more of this in winter.

Mmmm…. dry, this tea smells like I’ve been running my smoker for awhile.

I actually took the tea ball out of the tea this time. This is smoky with a very subtle sweetness to it, with a smooth bitterness following.

I like this. I like this a lot. I haven’t had much lapsang souchong in the past, so not sure if they’re all like this (I got to try another souchong blend from this company, unreleased, that I also loved, except I got a bit of a rubber scent and taste from the first few sips. Then it disappeared into beautiful smoke). I’m curious to try something like a souchong/chai blend, see how I like a bit of smokiness mixed in with the chai flavors – I think it could be great, as long as the smoke doesn’t overwhelm the chai.