You know, Peony flowers are incredibly beautiful. The bushes in the front and back yard have exploded into full bloom and I took it upon myself to bring one of the flowers inside for my desk. The blossom is huge and just keeps getting bigger, and the smell is intoxicating! Apparently the petals are edible too, though I need to do more research before I dig in and start munching on them, because I think the Ents would come and take away my Naturalist license if I poisoned myself on a garden flower. Speaking of spring and flowers, I think I should have a spring cleaning sale in my shop to prepare it for the inevitable onslaught of origami, especially Kusudama flower balls.
Keeping on theme with flowers and spring, today’s tea from Just Organic Tea is Just a Taste of Spring, a blend of Green Rooibos, Calendula Flowers, Hibiscus Flowers, Cinnamon, Cornflowers, and Blueberries. This tea just screams ‘going to be a tart tea’ which has me more than a little worried. I have a real aversion to anything tart…sour I love, but tart and I have a track history of not getting along. The aroma is pretty tart, but there are also strong floral notes and hay notes. Of course there is a blend of sweet and tart from the blueberries, a delicate balance with those berries as to whether or not they will be sweet or tart. The finish is warm spicy cinnamon, reminding me of a patch of warm sunlight on a cool spring day.
The steeped leaves have a much more tart aroma and the cinnamon is much stronger. There are more subtle notes of blueberry and green wood with a touch of hay. The liquid without the collection of spring time things is a really bright blend of tart, floral, and fruity. There is cinnamon warmth that sneaks in around mid-sniff and stays until the finish, building in intensity.
Time for tasting, and I will admit I am a bit apprehensive. The taste is initially quite tart, not mind numbingly convulsion inducing tart, but still I made the pucker face. There are metallic notes from the hibiscus (it always tastes very metallic to me) and a strong blueberry presence that starts tart and fades to sweetness. Around the time the blueberry becomes sweet I notice woody notes from the rooibos and tingly warmth from the cinnamon, the finish is mildly floral. I am not sure how to approach this tea, I cannot recommend it because I am baffled by anyone liking tart things. But luckily the world is vast and everyone’s taste differs, even though I am hardly qualified to talk about a tart tea, I can certainly say this one was different than others I have attempted to try. The spicy notes from the cinnamon took the edge off and added a level of tolerance to a tea usually I would be unable to tolerate.
For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/05/just-organic-tea-just-taste-of-spring.html
I haven’t done much origami but I looked up the Kusudama flowers balls and those are gorgeous!
They are pretty awesome, fairly easy to make while also being very time consuming since you have to fold 60 petals to make a flower ball.