This week’s tea of the week! Your friend and mine – Liquid Proust – suggested to me some months ago to try blending Houjicha and Shou Mei together and I’ve gotta tell you – it’s genius! The combination creates a flavor that’s a little roasty-toasty but not quite as aggressively roasted as a straight Houjicha. The Shou Mei lightens the flavor just enough and adds some pleasant fruity notes to the toasted nutty flavor of the Houjicha. When I first tasted the two teas together (without flavoring or other components), I enjoyed the ‘foresty’ flavor of the blend. Immediately, my mind started entertaining ideas of what this flavors this flavor combination might work best with.
This is my first of a couple of ideas – Gathering Berries! To the base of Houjicha and Shou Mei, I added golden mulberries, elderberries, black currants and blueberries. And seriously though – the taste evokes thoughts of hiking through the woods just as the autumn leaves have begun to fall and gathering some of the last ripe berries that nature has to offer. (Just no nightlock, please!)
Yummy!
I didn’t blend a large quantity of this tea (why? Because the leaves are large and bulky and I can’t fit a lot of the tea in my blending vessels!) so after sending out all the subscriptions, I have very few of this tea left – so if you find yourself interested at all, you should grab some quickly while it’s here!
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Berry, Fruity, Toasty
