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Happy Easter! Forget the eggs…may you find Joy today instead!

The more I drink ToL, the more I like it, and the more I like it, the more I’m puzzled, because bergamot is not usually on my preferred flavorings list, and there it is, right smack in the list of ingredients. Can’t detect it for the life of me. I guess there’s just so much good fruit-n-honey going on, the berga-meister just doesn’t assert itself much.

After a month of temps dancing 10-20 degrees above normal, we’ve plummeted back into a wet, raw, typical early April day and I am chilled to the bone.

This not-quite-coffee with a little sugar and milk is hearty enough to stick to your ribs and warm you a bit.

(Hope it warms up for tomorrow—thinking about my poor, skinny little fifth graders who will insist on wearing their sleeveless Easter dresses to church regardless of the weather and will show up with frostbitten little arms and legs :)

A rare just-the-two-of-us excursion for hubby and me yesterday. Springfield, MO. Home of THE Bass Pro Shop (for you outdoor enthusiasts) and a plethora of yummy used bookstores. Lunch at Zio’s…chicken manicotti that’ll put you in an alfredo coma.

And since I spent all my discretionary fundage on books, when we hit the Seoul Oriental Market, I couldn’t not try a new tea, but it had to be a Cheapster. So at $2.15 for 25 bags…why not?

Very little English on the box, so it was a mystery steep. And a nice one! This is a really pleasant bagged oolong. Given oolong-ish parameters (< boiling, about 2 1/2 min), it has a golden oak furniture finish and tastes uncannily like Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit.

Cookies for breakfast!

At least that’s what this tastes like—those fine little tea biscuits that come in tins. And for a such a light tea, the sweetness stays on your tongue an amazingly long time. Enjoying mine straight up, but I’m thinking a little milk would make this spectacular.

Fine stuff. Not for hurry-up mornings. Enjoy this one on a Good Friday as you watch the fog lift from Turkey Creek and revel in a morning of cool spring sunshine while you listen to a sparrow sing. Count your blessings while you drink it. (This leisurely tea moment made possible by the always-thoughtful and encouraging ashmanra.)

This time, I let Clipper Gold just barely shake hands with the water (2 min), and it was still sharp and wakey-uppy, but I could taste the subtler notes (burgundy/fruit) and my tongue wasn’t numb ;)

Shorter steep time is a plus when you oversleep and you’re dashing around to get out of the house, huh?

Holy Basil/Tulsi + chamomile (2 parts tulsi to 1 part chamomile)

I’m discovering that tulsi is a really nice and versatile base to lots of herbal combinations, especially for a clumsy alchemist like me. Its sharp lemony flavor nicely balances with chamomile, which doesn’t adapt to much and always tastes like chamomile.

A good evening unwind and very inexpensive when you buy both in bulk.

Funny…now that I’m far enough along in my tea journey to be at least a little discriminating in what I like and don’t like…standards go completely out the window when temps warm up and I need iced tea. My guideline for cold tea … aaah, that’ll do; whatever!

This bits and bops mixture from the lovely Jacquelinem fits the “whatever” category very nicely. I’m not much of an EG fan, though I try to be. But the bergamot, which annoys me hot, is cooling and refreshing after an afternoon in the fridge. Will be a nice fridge standard.

This is another one that needs to be treated gently, or it’ll grow muscles and walk off without you. I think I slightly overdid/oversteeped, but even with that said, this has a nice fruity background note that adds a little sophistication to the morning Assam kick.

This came to me during the Shabby House months, so it was forgotten and stored poorly. Found the rest of the sample while pawing through a basket. (Of course, this has never happened to you.)

The first time I had this, I noted that it went bitter pretty easily, so I kept everything on the light side—just barely 3 minutes—and it came out nicely. Good black tea base with the juicy fruit as an afterthought. More papaya than pineapple, I think.

Wish I had time to make one more batch and throw it on ice this morning — we’re having a bizarre spring heat wave — but I need to get the morning started. First Sunday with my fifth graders in three weeks, and since it’s April Fools, our story this morning will come from the book of Hezekiah.