Terri HarpLady

I’d like to apologize for being such a whiner last night. My head was throbbing & my allergies were so bad that we had to turn on the air conditioning, which I’d rather not do this soon in the season. I also started drinking Nettles, which I should have been drinking for a few weeks at least. After 24 hours, I feel so much better!

1 cup dried Nettles (yes, that is a lot, but it’s not a pricey herb)

Put the nettles in a quart jar, fill with boiling water, put the lid on & leave it sitting over night. Strain it in the morning & enjoy a cup. Refrigerate & drink throughout the day, either a cup at a time, or sipping occasionally. Make another quart before you go to bed.
Drink a quart everyday! Once your symptoms are alleviated, you can probably drink it less often, & it will keep in the frig for about 36 hours or so. It’s high in Querticin, & other good stuff!

Places to order Nettles:
www.cherylsherbs.com (a st louis herb company)
www.frontiercoop.com

You can also probably pick it up at the health food store.

This is not a particularly strong earl, & that’s ok by me. Because it is most likely a ceylon, & the bergamot scent wasn’t too strong, I added extra leaf. Then I added stevia & french vanilla coconut creamer. It was a pleasant cup, which I enjoyed. For awhile I didn’t care much for Earl Greys, & some of them are awful, IMO, but I’ve been trying several, & finding that some are very pleasant. This will not be a favorite, but not bad.

In the latest version of my ‘Tea Inventory’, which I updated & printed out last night, I made a note in the margins of how many of each type I have (like 34 black teas!). I’m attempting to drink a cup of everything in my entire stash at least once a month, LOL. I tend to play favorites (who doesn’t?), mostly drinking lots & lots of black tea. No more! I’m hereby officially pledging to award equal drinking rights to ALL of my teas. There is one exception: if I serve a tea to a guest, that counts!

To celebrate I went to the farmer’s market, where there was a chick who has her own local tea company, fairly new. I bought 4 1/2 oz samples:
Celtic Cottage Tea – which is an Irish breakfast type – Assam!
Lemon Meringue – rooibos
Peach Melba – more rooibos
Gingerbread – rooibos
Why so much rooibos, after claiming I don’t like it that much?
Basically, I’m trying to get myself to quit staying up til 2am playing my harp, so no caffeine (except puer, which doesn’t keep me up) after…ah…6:00…or so…

My son Leif brewed a pot of this to take with him to classes today. I resteeped it, then left the tea in the water & stuck it in the fridge to coldbrew a little longer. After a few hours, & put it in a sippy cup with a straw & went back out into the garden for more weeding.
It’s a decent chai, especially with a little stevia added.

Lovely Laoshan Black!
Earlier today I steeped this:
1 T x 3 Min. While I was drinking that one, I resteeped @ 4min & 5min. Those 2 steepings were combined into my sippy cup, & out to the garden we went. I sat there, clipping weeds in the Gazebo area, sipping tea, just as happy as I could be!
The gazebo is a wrought iron affair with 6 trellis sides, having entrances in between them. It’s directly on the ground, & I grew a bunch of stuff under it last year. There are still Turnips, whose seeds must have sprouted a month or so ago. I found a radish & some baby lettuces today as well, just getting started.
This tea was a wonderful companion, although lately I haven’t been enjoying the ‘bean’ taste on the later steepings as much.

Although I’m not a huge fan of white teas, I love this one. Stacy is the Mistress of the Art of Flavorings, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve gone through several orders of this tea now. So my 2nd student wanted something white but fruity, & this one hits the spot to perfection. We shared a pot of it, lightly sweetened with Sweetleaf (stevia). Another mild but lovely tea.

My first student of the day requested something “orangey”, so I brewed some of this. It is an herbal tea that I used to really love, back when I wasn’t drinking anything with caffeine in it, & I still enjoy it’s mild herbaliness once in awhile, usually with students who don’t want caffeine.

First tea of the day, & a sipdown…sort of. I emptied the container, but then I immediately refilled it because the Tea Spot sells refill size packages, which I bought recently.

I hate allergies! My head’s been throbbing all day, my eyes are watering, ears itching, sneezing…ghaaa!
This evening I’ve been sitting around, making adjustments to the list of my tea collection on my computer. There were several sipdowns, so those items were removed, & I added all the teas I purchased recently. I now have a total of 260 teas! This includes samples, bags, tins, everything.
While I’ve been doing this, I’ve been sipping on cups of Nettles tea, as it is rumored to be helpful for allergies. I used to take massive doses of Shaklee Alfalfa tablets for allergies, & it really helped, but these days I just can’t swallow that many tablets (20 tablets, 4 times a day, that’s what it took to keep my allergies away). So I’m drinking Nettles, & I’m using BioAllers Homeopathic Sinus & Allergy spray.

Nettles tea is a natural anti-inflammatory & anti-histamine, & isn’t unpleasant. It just tastes green, with a bit of a minty sensation to it. For years I’ve drank a mix of Nettles, Oatstraw, & a pinch of Horsetail (herb), which is a good tonic for women, high in bone building minerals (according to Susun Weed, herbalist).

Stacy sent me a sample of this with my last order. I drank it on Saturday, while sitting around in my PJs & it was delicious.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take notes, & I’ve drank so many cups of tea since then, that I can’t really say anything specific, except that if Stacy adds it to her catalog, I will most likely add it to my cupboard!
Thanks so much Stacy, you are awesome!

I played my monthly ‘Tea’ gig at the retirement home today. I enjoyed a cup of this while getting ready. It’s really tasty sweetened, but it’s also really tasty unsweetened, which is how I drank it today.

It also resteeps well, & I took the 2nd steeping with me in a sippy cup to enjoy during my gig.

This is a sipdown, as the rest of my sample is on it’s way to Canada. HowEVER, I have more coming on Thursday!

another sipdown from yesterday…

Yesterday I spent about 4 hours in my garden, weeding & mulching my asparagus beds (for a photo of the newly emerged asparagii, visit my FB).
This box of lemon zinger has been in my cupboard for a long long time, so it became a candidate for sun tea, which is quicker than cold brew.
It’s not my favorite, not by a long shot, & I don’t care for it hot, but it was refreshing enough iced.

Another sipdown, with the final bit going to Canada!

I have enjoyed this tea, with it’s mix of Hazelnut, vanilla oolong, & black. Sometimes I sweeten it, sometimes I add a little french vanilla coconut creamer, today I’m drinking it straight.
It’s also a sipdown, & I’m sending the last bit to a friend :)

Little terri is a grumpus today, we are having allergies, which goes way beyond irritated sinuses to an overall sense of irritability. She’s clutching this cup of tea, like most kids clutch a favorite blankie, harrumphing at me, & saying, “Mine! Leave me alone!”.

As this yummy, malty, bold & savory brew draws closer & closer to sipdown stage (I think I have 2 cups-worth left), all we can do it savor every sip, resteeping the leaves as many times as possible.
We’re on the 2nd steeping now…

Another tasty Assam from Stacy, very nicely malty & Bold.
This one is very different from the non-upgrade version, & I won’t compare them to one another, except to say that this one has almost a Dian Hong mouth feel to it, & the taste even leans a little bit in that direction, in my opinion.

Admittedly, I haven’t drank a lot of darjeelings lately.
I drank some years ago, & since I don’t follow instructions well, I think they were steeped at too high of temperature, or for too long.
I tend to fawn over Yunnans & Assams, mostly, but am trying to expand my horizons. So I followed the instructions.
The dry smell: kind of earthy fruity
The wet leaf smell: hmmm…it seems like most teas have a stronger wet leaf smell than dry. This is the opposite.
1 heaping tsp + 12 oz
“boil water, cool 1 min (203F)”
I did that, then steeped 3 minutes
The resulting cup: fruity & earthy. There is a brightness to it, a sweetness, a bitterness (which I kind of like sometimes), & an earthy muskiness.

Little Terri fixed Breakfast, & the girl knows how to cook!
If you’d like to see the photo: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200556320925902&set=a.1840459966648.2104718.1095023403&type=1&theater
Wow, that’s a long link!

Nothing goes better with a breakfast like that than a malty cup of Assam! Although this Organic Assam is not as bold & thick as Tea Spots (not organic) Assam, it is still malty, with a lightly sweet essence & smooth body. A nice start for my day!

Yesterday after my wedding gig I rewarded myself with a(nother wonderful) cup of this!
Then Tony & I went out for dinner & to hear some of friends band play.

Did ya know it also resteeps nicely?
I usually start my day with something bold & unflavored, but this morning I resteeped these leaves,
Because I didn’t want to waste their awesomeness.

Oh, I have missed this tea!
My Butiki order came a few days ago, & I think sometimes you don’t realize how much you miss something until you have it again, ya know?
This is a rich, bold, spicey, tasty, malty Assam with amazing looking leaves. So good to be drinking this now! I’ve been on an Assam jag lately, & this one is SO satisfying!

2nd cup of the day! I do recommend 2 tsp @ 3 minutes! Yum!

This was my first cup of the morning, so satisfyingly sweet, malty, & bold.

In an effort to broaden my SO’s horizons, I have been providing him with samples of various Earl Grey’s, since EG is his preferred tea (although he’ll also drink straight black teas).

He loved this one! He especially liked the lingering aftertaste, & his actual words were, “Where can I get more of this?”
Win!