Tea being made
We have cherry blossoms, not peach, but they must have heard the tea-making too…
They were peeping through our window in April 2013, and they’re here again now.
“The sounds of the tea being made invite the peach blossoms to peep in through the window.” —Sasaki Sanmi, Sadô Saijiki
If you are reading this anytime between 6:30 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, chances are I have the kettle on, or just now made tea, or will be making tea in a few minutes. Assuming Sanmi is right about the blossoms, I’ve got an invitation going out pretty much all day every day. Blossoms of all kinds are welcome…and so are you!
Are you joining me before noon? You might like to share some of my favorite black teas for the caffeine energy boost. Today I have something very special to offer. Our friend from Nepal has given me a box of delicious Tokla Tea, grown and produced in his home country, and I’ve been enjoying its rich flavor almost every day lately. I highly recommend it, but I also have other choices including several varieties of Earl Grey and English Breakfast tea. And of course, I have plenty of the spicy chai flavors that are among my favorites.
For those of you popping in during the early afternoon, let’s indulge in an extra healthy cup of green tea. After years of mixing it with black tea, I finally have cultivated a taste for green tea on its own, though I still usually mix it with black. Shall we try some of the jasmine green variety? Or a fruit flavor such as raspberry or peach? Or we can have unflavored green tea in one of my favorite brands, Ahmad, which never fails to produce a tasty cuppa.
Assuming you drop by in the evening, we have lots of caffeine-free options. In addition to your choice of fruit or herbal flavors, we can try some Rooibos; it’s available in ever-increasing varieties, all delicious. One of my recent favorites is the lemon hibiscus green rooibos that Jeff recently gave me. I had never even heard of green rooibos, but one great thing about being a tea lover is that there are continual new discoveries. A disclaimer: these are unsolicited recommendations for which I get no remuneration. I mention the specifics just to prove I’m not making all these fabulous flavors up.
How fun to have so many choices! And I haven’t even scratched the surface. What will you be having? If you can’t make it in person, I’ll gladly send you a tea bag or two of your choice (except for the green rooibos, which is running low). We’ll cover the dessert teas (such as chocolate raspberry or marshmallow macaron) some other time. The blossoms showed up early this year so we’re all set…
Friday evening, March 25, 2016– from our bedroom window on peak bloom day.This post was first published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: blossoms, brewing, enjoyment, invitations, sipping, springtime, take a break, tea, tea flavors, visitors
Defeat Despair 
Good morning, Julia!
After reading the array of delicious teas in your collection, I immediately searched Amazon, and they have let me down!
Have you found a source for either the lemon hibiscus green rooibos or tokla teas?
If I mix lemon hibiscus with green rooiboos, is it likely to turn out all right, or is the balance very important (as I suspect it is)?
Susan, I’m not a good person to ask, as I’m not picky about how things turn out. I mix my tea flavors fairly indiscriminately, for practical reasons (as in “I have just a bit of this leftover, I’ll throw it in with what I just brewed”). If it has caffeine (in the morning) or doesn’t have caffiene (in the afternoon or evening) that’s my primary requirement. I have no idea whether the flavors I mentioned in that post 7 years ago are still available. I am trying to use up my VAST collection of teas, but when I do (rarely) buy more, it’s almost always Chai, or strong blends of Assam or black tea, such as I bought in Scotland last year.