Global Tea Time

I finally decided to try blooming a taller looking tea marble in a glass. I opted for the orange one today (it does not smell like an orange)! Tha alien slowly emerges from its pod... And slowly sinks to the bottom of the water... And looks like a sad pile of spent flowers... So many of these wanted to be taller than the teapot, so when I finally gave one room to grow, it didn't. Just like all the other let downs in life. This alien reminds me of the end of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" where the aliens died because they lacked immunity to the pathogens of Earth. I even tried using a fork to see if it would stretch up taller. It didn't. As an aside, I found a rare bagged tea that I do like. It actually fits the theme of this post because it is orange flavored. It smells and tastes like an actual orange! I had heard good things about it, but was hesitant to try it due to the inclusion of licorice root. Thankfully, there is no hint of licorice flavor. On to...

Today I'm reviewing another disappointing tea from my order in January. This is from the place I order my favorite chocolate tea from. I decided to be brave, and try some new flavors of tea. Once I received my order, I promptly regretted my adventurous spirit. After trying the terrible chocolate teas , I decided to give "strawberry festival" a try. It's a green tea that one would think was strawberry flavored based on the name. I bet you already know where this is going... I opened the bag and smelled papaya. I knew with immediate disappointment that I had met this tea before. It was just like a "strawberry" oolong I had ordered years ago. That oolong had a strange taste to me. I did drink it, but it was not a favorite. I look at the ingredients: green tea (sencha), papaya + strawberry pieces, natural flavor. This looks like a less precise sencha. I know this company buys all of their "Japanese" teas from China over concern for possible radiation...

It's Sunday morning and the house is a disaster because I'm sewing. I'm making throw blankets because I have the material. I also discovered that I overheat less at night when I use a throw instead of a full size quilted blanket. Well, that was the case until it got cold again. I still haven't gotten out the full size quilted blankets because the reality is I'm cold for the first half of the night, and hot for the second. I need to remember to fill my hot water bottle before bed to help out with that. Anyway, I have a week off of work, and a lot of projects to work on. That's a good thing considering the price of gas (along with the price of everything else these days). Yesterday at the grocery store I saw some of those little capsules that you put in hot water, and sponge animals pop out. They still make them! Unfortunately they were $3.29. If they were a dollar I would have totally gotten some. $3.29 will buy you a majority share in a gallon of gas these days....

Happy March everyone! The weather is living up to its reputation for this month. Yesterday it was so warm and sticky I had to take my coat off outside. We also had thunderstorms with a few tornadoes touching down across the state. This morning the puddle of water on my patio table is frozen. I'm not taking the plastic off of the sliding door yet. It's a good morning to enjoy one of my favorite Japonese teas. Ryokucha is a beautiful, flavorful, grassy, spring like tea. Since I've alreay posted about ryokucha before , I will post about some new teas I got from the place that sells my favorite chocolate tea . When I placed my most recent order with them, I discovered to my delight that they also had a strawberry chocolate herbal, and a chocolate green tea. The green tea advertised 2 types of chocolate flavor, regular chocolate, and white chocolate (vanilla) flavor. I had to get a bag of each since they were in stock. Look at the ingredients, they seem like they would be so go...