Global Tea Time

I don't know what makes a regular Irish breakfast super. Maybe it's a breakfast that is really really Irish instead of average Irish? Maybe it's just better than most Irish breakfasts? I guess I'll never know. You know that this is Irish because the package is green. Usually green packages are for green tea, but this one is black tea. I wanted to use one of my mugs with the ceramic tea strainer in it, but I didn't want smaller bits of loose leaf tea floating around in my tea. By the time I was making this tea, my 16 oz tea pot, my gong fu set, and my 12 oz teapot were all in need of washing. In my defense, I went out with friends the night before, so I was tired from staying up late. As for the tea, it was pretty much your run of the mill black tea. I would probably need to brew some other black tea blends and try them next to this one in order to figure out the differences. After a frenzy of lace making during the holidays, I took a little break. Now I'm b...

Today I decided to try my orange spice tea. I kind of wanted something sweet, but there was nothing in the house. Fruit flavored tea will have to do so I chose my packet of orange spice black tea. When I opened the package, there was a nice orange scent. I brewed my tea (and forgot to take a picture). This is a pretty good tea. It has a nice orange flavor with a little cinnamon and clove added in. It tastes like the holidays even though they are over. I woke to the sound of a blade scraping the parking lot. Thankfully there wasn't a whole lot of snow accumulation. While it did snow more after they did the parking lot, the snow has melted off of the hard surfaces. I fear winter is here to stay for a while. Now to tat some decorations for my home.

Much to the annoyance of pretty much everyone, I stick to a low carb diet most of the year. I get a little crazy at Christmas and indulge in sweets and carbs. This usually lasts into the first week or two of January until my gut stages a revolt. I made this tea on that day. I was still craving something sweet, but after a big plate of fried rice with very sweet (to me) tasting beef and broccoli with crab rangoon at the delayed holiday lunch at work my gut made it clear that it had had enough. Very clear. I decided that I wanted something fruity sweet. As I was waiting for the water to boil (with the tea bag waiting in the cup) it occurred to me that I don't really like mangos or passionfruit. As I look at the ingredients I also see licorice root. I brew the tea and it is as unexciting as I anticipated. Kind of a cardboardy trying to pretend to have a fruity flavor. At least it has a nice color. It's also a good way to remind myself that fruit isn't so fantastic. Sugar i...

The end of the year holidays are a strange time of year. We have Christmas where people pretend to like their family and spend way too much money on trying to make their life into something it is not. Then there's the new year when people pretend that things will be different and somehow better. I also have a friend who is dying a horribly painful death thanks to a brain tumor. I have another friend lamenting on social media how Christmas seems sadder and more subdued this year. She recently shared that her cancer spread to her brain and she was given a year or less to live. Thankfully I have some friends who are not dying, and I was able to go to their house for Christmas. It was a smaller gathering than usual because of all the respiratory illnesses going around. Thankfully I can get free COVID tests through my health insurance, so I shoved a swab up my nose, and went to brunch when I got the all clear. This year's tea related gift was a box of 52 Stash brand tea bags. All to...

Today I decided to compare the cardamom spice masala chai to the blooming rose black tea. To be fair, I did take this picture after I scooped out my tea to brew. As you can see, I'm getting down pretty low on the cardamom spice masala chai. Mercifully I went to my favorite tea shop with a friend when these tins got so low, so I got more tea to drink. Of course shortly after that trip my sinuses started to act up really bad, and when it was all over I realized that I really couldn't smell anything very well. Now my sense of smell is back, and I have teas to compare. The rose petals don't look so pretty when they are brewing. The rose tea is on the left if you couldn't guess. The finished brews are quite different looking when you see them side by side. I was intrigued to see that the rose tea had saffron in it. I can't say that I taste saffron in it. It is a milder tasting brew, probably because the rose petals displace some of the black tea. There's also ...