The Art of Tea

Went on a hike today with the boy. He’s wilderness training me, today we did The Needles in southwest national park. Straight up, about 400m, wind blowing in sideways with a good dose of rain. Typical Tasmanian weather, and it was a bit awesome really! I did it all, and made good time and it made both of us quite happy! My body wasn’t able to cope with these things until recently, but I can now power up the hills and enjoy the weather and came back down nicely with no soreness or joint issues and it was awesome!

But with sideways rain comes a touch of coldness, so when we got home I made a pot of Mount Wellington tea and we warmed up on our insides. Comfort tea. Hmmmm……..

Finishing this from my timolino after making it to afternoon then not getting a chance to finish it at work. So well, and it goes with the rain outside. Warming and naturally sweet.

Took a thermos of this to the market today to perk me up during the drizzle and clouds. Worked well! Had a dash of milk in it, really good.

This came in my sample box from Tassie Tea Girl!

Smooth buttery sencha, with hints of rose and cornflower. It’s delicate and light but smooth, and the additions don’t overpower the tea. Lovely!

This came in my swap box from TassieTeaGirl! Everything she sent me is so unique – I never really thought about American flavors v. Australian flavors. It’s delicious. I love how it’s a Christmas tea that isn’t especially spicy. Instead, it’s really warm and almondy. The black tea is smooth. I didn’t try it with milk or sugar, but I think it would be really creamy and desserty that way! Resteeps well.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thank you TassieTeaGirl for sending me this! This is SO delicious!
Now I love it hot but I can totally see why TassieTeaGirl likes it cold because it is SO yummy that way too! A real winner! A lovely sencha base makes it perfect.

Just finished this off as a giant jug of iced tea in my takeya flash chill set on a balmy 32oC afternoon. Lovely and cooling.

This smelled nice and looked like dried whole flowers—Pretty much as the name implied. I brewed it up in my glass measuring cup so I could watch the flowers unfold. It was quite a pretty show and made me realize why some people have clear glass teapots. Now I’m thinking of getting one myself. It was a lovely meditative moment just sitting there watching the flowers unfurl in the water and catching that delicate scent. Making hot tea is one of those things that forces you to slow down and live in the now. It was very nice contemplating the pretty flowers in the water and waiting for the tea to be done.

It seemed kind of a shame to have to strain the pretty petals out afterwards (that pretty much destroyed them), and downright irreverent to dump them in my compost bucket. I kind of hated to do so, but you have to taste the tea eventually and I suppose it’s one of those things to add to my meditations…an awareness of the impermanence of all things.

It tasted…delicate…flowery… a little grassy, with a sweet honeyish implication. It’s nice—not an assertive flavor I would seek out and lust after, but a pleasant taste to reminisce and relax to while I reflect on the memory of those pretty flowers in my measuring cup. This is the sort of tea I would get a glass teapot for so I could drink one cup while I sit and meditate upon the flowers floating in the bottom of my teapot. Maybe write some haiku or something.

Had the other half make me a mug of this when I got up. So comforting!

This was the other tea I took to my yoga workshop. This was also well received, lots of appreciation for the berry taste, and a few people said how nice it would be in the height of summer.

I did a yoga workshop at my barre studio yesterday, and took in a tayeka jugful of this iced. It was well received! They were mostly tea novices, and for many of my classmates, it was the first time they’d had a green that hadn’t been burned and all bitter tasting. Lots of nodding when I explained the prefered steeping temperature for greens… I think endorsements from tea novices is always a good sign.

Had this iced this morning. Just lovely! Would never have thought of icing chai until I went to the Oriental Tea House in Melbourne a week and a half ago. Nice idea to be able to drink chais in summer. Yummo.

Another of the bf’s faves. He’s had 2 100g boxes in about 3 months, and I haven’t had a chance to taste it myself yet! But this is a match made in tea heaven for him. Being both a fan of vanilla and caffeine sensitive, its one of his favourite night time teas. Hopefully I’ll actually get a sample out of the next box and I can let you all know what I think. It smells pretty good anyway!

A perfect spot to end the backlogging…

I’ve only had one cup of this, but its really nice. A good earl grey, and excellent for a night time earl grey if you’re caffeine sensitive.

Like my other half. He’s one of those “can’t have caffeine after 4” people, and he ADORES this. His first box was bought about 8 months ago, and I think he’s been through about 200g all by himself. Just loves it. I’ll rate this for him.

I really like this one. A nice soft flavoured black. A nice morning alternative to stronger flavours like assams, or chai. The bergamot and jasmine compliment each other perfectly and the black is lovely without overpowering the scents. Hmmm… yum.

A really yummy iced tea. Juicy and sweet, great in summer. Can’t wait until it warms up so I can have more of this iced!

Took this in the lid of my timolino to have as an afternoon tea as I knew it was going to be a long busy day. Made it at around 4, but forgot about it so I took it out of the thermos at 6 when I got home. Was obviously strong, but with some milk and agave, it was still tasty. Yummmm…..

This is a lovely breakfast tea (well I usually have it with breakfast!). Creamy and spicy, its nice and warming and uplifiting in the morning. I like it with a little sweetner (honey or agave, depending on the mood) and a dash of milk. Nicely balanced, its neither too spicy or too sweet. I usually give chais a solid steep (around 5 mins or a bit longer) to really bring out the flavour. Yummo!

One of my favourite winter teas. Warming and tasty when hot, good with a little honey when tucked up under a blanket and its raining/snowing outside.

You know those days where you just NEED chocolate? Like, the world will end if you don’t get it? But then you feel guilty about breaking whatever diet promise you made to yourself that morning? Well this tea will fix that problem. So so so chocolately! Just amazing.

A lovely night time tea, sweet and calming.

(Sorry for the not overly expansive reviews today, I have a cold and need something to do besides re-watching my entire dvd collection for the 3rd day in a row…)

I’ve only had one cup of this but by golly its tasty! Its very berry-ee! Really tasty, so good iced! Looking forward to trying it hot too.

This is a lovely iced tea (and unsurprisingly goes well with sparkling white wine as a tea cocktail), with strawberries and a great sencha base. Not much of a fan of this one hot, but iced its great. A summer staple.

This one is really tasty. Hot, its very raspberry-ish, with the rooibos base giving it a nice flavour. Iced, it is sweet, creamy (hello, vanilla) and juicy. Goes a reddy-orange colour, smells sweet too! One of my favourite summer teas to ice.