2967 Tasting Notes
So to my absolute delight, my local grocery store has a tiny section of English Food, and I found a tall cylinder of Rich Tea biscuits. Its not even my fancy grocery store! Just the normal one! I had been hunting for hoisin, and found that next to all the specialty Asian ingredients was the tiny little from England section. Who knew? (And, really, wine gums? We are importing wine gums, of all things?)
I am ashamed to say that when I went to college in the UK I was not a tea drinker. I think I had a few cups (and I distinctly remember a few, but more for location than for the tea), and didn’t develop the currant passion until I landed stateside again.
But I did develop a love of the English Tea Biscuit. It is a thing of great joy to me. They are not cookies, as they are not particularly sweet, but nor are they the (admittedly delicious) bready things that us Yanks call biscuits. They are a cracker-cookie hybrid, and they go along so well with a brisk cup of black tea that I could weep.
So I’ve brought a few along to work, and nibbled a few between sips of this blend, and just felt cheerful about everything. Its Friday, and I have Rich Tea Biscuits. What else is there?
I have reached the point in my sipping down where I now only have teas with a lot of leaf (for the most part). I’ve got plenty of lots of blend, and the time between me and autumn, which is my favorite tea buying time, is getting perilously short.
Certainly time to throw the shoulder in to it and be aggressive. And a little sad, as it means I will be approaching sipdowns for teas I like a very great deal.
This is not yet to sipdown point, which I’m glad about, as I quite like it still. A sugared rose, which is not something that everyone likes, but I certainly do.
I have a few more pots of this in my future, out of my pretty tin, but I am working on cultivating the seasonalality of my tea drinking, and this is a spring-summer blend. I don’t exactly want it to carry on into autumn winter.
So, a drinking I will go!
This tea is a lovely afternoon cup. Its basic, in the very best sense of the word, the way a little black dress might be basic.
I can brew it easily, it goes down smooth, and it doesn’t have the temper of finickyness that some Darjeelings have had, in my experience.
I like it! Its a fantastic tea to have at work.
Love non-finicky tea, and I agree—Darjeeling tends to be a little snippy if you don’t handle it properly.
I like your description, “Its basic, in the very best sense of the word”. Ahmad is my comfort tea company of choice. If you enjoy a mild hint of bergamot, try their English No 1.
I do like bergamot! I shall have to try that.
We are entering another stretch of 100 degree days. Current forecast shows about a week of these temps, which is going to drive me nuts.
So, light, fruity teas it is!
I picked this up in one of my last tea binges, as there are several Lupicia blends with strawberry in them that I like, so I figured why not try out the purer version?
The trouble is that I do not particularly care for this. Its not awful, but its not the lust and delicate strawberry that I was hoping for. It is, in fact, sorta boring.
Ah well.
You know, I just like to watch the “times drunk” counter go up sometimes. Its satisfying to watch the count on a neglected tea go up, until its eventually sipped down.
I still don’t love this, but its pleasant enough, and its holding its own as a work tea, that is certain.
Its all over! The frustrating rehearsals, the annoying management, the whole summer theatre experience is over with!
It actually went just fine, but I’m happy that its over.
I am celebrating this morning with my final cup of this blend, which was a lovely, delicate flavor. Now that I can get more usual rest, I can have something gentler in the mornings.
This was a lovely addition to my cupboard. Whispering Pines does such a nice job with its blends. Its not my very favorite WP blend, but its perfectly lovely.
And now, a sipdown.
Its opening night! I’ve done just about everything there is to do in the theatre. I’ve acted, I’ve built sets, I’ve sewn costumes and been a dresser, and now I’ve been involved in the production team. I can say that I was most nervous for opening when I am acting, but its also oddly more fun. There is something exhilarating in it when its you on stage.
Tonight I’m backstage, and that’s an interesting kind of observational nervousness. At this point we’ve done all we can do, and its up to the actors to make it shine.
But in the mean time I have a normal day to go through. Also rehearsal went absurdly late last night. I am going to float through this day in a combination of exhaustion and the wound up quality that comes before anything big and new.
So I reached for an old favorite for my morning cup. This is a staple and a classic in my cupboard, and I hope it lightens the day!
It is kind of weird to see imported items in international sections that we already have, like wine gums or a certain type of chocolate. But I’m thinking that maybe expats still like having the stuff from their actual country (because it may be made slightly different than the stuff that’s distributed here). Who knows!
I know that when I was living in Sweden, it didn’t take long for me to start missing peanut butter, so I found some in an American section and it was a brand made in Scandinavia and not in North America, and sorry to say, it was quite sub-par. Not at all like the peanut butter here!