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Know those little cheapie wafer cookies with various and sundry artificial flavored cream between the layers? (Lemon and strawberry are my favorites, especially chilled in the summer.) Imagine a smaller, chunkier, version filled with matcha and not-so-sweet cream—that was my afternoon break today and a lovely little birthday treat from my son. The office HVAC is out of whack, which meant it was way too sultry to steep something hot to accompany them, but once the universe is in balance again, they’ll pair nicely with something nice and green or nice and lemony.

A thoughtful birthday treat from a friend, and a welcome one—it’s unseasonably warm today and a little stuffy in the house, so chilled tea is the order of the day. (Way too early in the year to kick on the AC. We’ll rough it.)

Normally I avoid bottled teas because of the nasty citric acid that hits you first. This one uses ascorbic acid instead, which doesn’t curl my tongue quite so much. Along with preserving the drink, it bombs you with some nice healthy Vitamin C. A healthy shot of anything is appropriate when one … is no longer 21. As to the flavor, it’s a solid workhorse green base that reminded me a little of barley tea—somewhat toasty instead of vegetal.

Gotta text the friend and find out where she got it locally…this is worth a repeat.

While this rich peaches-and-cream blend is tasty hot, I’ve been waiting for warm weather in order to try it iced. Stellar. My only regret is that I used it for a lawn mowing tea, which means I was getting mouthfuls of dust and leaf mulch as well.

(Couldn’t get a picture to load as I added this tea, but there’s only a picture of the label on the website anyway.)

I always associate chai with fall and winter weather, but Nashville Tea Company has brightened and lightened their blend to make it spring-appropriate. Cinnamon first, then the lemongrass, then the remaining spices. It takes a very long and neglectful steep quite well, and is a nice warmer-upper on a rainy morning.

Tomato plants out (we named them Juliet and Phoebe), banana pepper (Doctor Pepper) tucked in his container, zinna tubs seeded, pots for the apple mint cleaned out and refreshed, lawn mowed on the sides where the neighbors look. What better way to top it off than some garden-variety oolong that looks like mulch?

This is another that comes in to our indie grocer in huge bags and sold from a bin, so I’m clueless as to source, brand, or any other helpful details. It’s ridiculously cheap—haven’t priced it in a while but still way under a buck an ounce. While working outside, I threw leaves in a wide-mouth mason jar and topped it off with a Christmas gift—a really nice cold brew tea filter (like this: https://www.theteaspot.com/products/craft-cold-brew-tea-filter?sscid=41k8_7fqzo).

Result: stout, dark, brown-leaf-juice with just enough lift in the flavor to make you say, “Yeah, I guess that’s oolong.” Suitable.

As we don’t have anything blooming in our empty containers yet (though I’m hoping to plant zinnia seed tomorrow), I put some sweet little flowers in my cup this evening instead.
Not perfume flowery, not mulch leafy, just liquid gold with a little honey flavor around the edges. Here’s lookin’ at you, derk!

My house is irrefutable proof of entropy and chaos theory. Just this morning as I removed a bag containing two petrified bagels from the kitchen table, I wondered, “How long have those been there?” This, of course, does not happen to you.

The scientific principle carries through to this tea as well. Some of you who are schooled tea blenders may have a name or explanation for the breakdown of flavored tea over time. I loved the buttery overtones of this when it was fresh and new, and it is still absolutely acceptable, but the artificial flavoring just seems a little more artificial after a couple years. It’ll be fine as a “drink with” as I get it sipped down, just no longer a stand alone standout.

Martin, thank you for sharing two bags of this herbal blend—I am afraid I have not done the first one justice because I preceded it with several extremely sweet marshmallow chicks that were in my Easter basket. So my first flavor impressions may not be very accurate. It definitely leads with a nice, fresh peppermint vibe, with an undercurrent of dried flower petals—that must be the echinacea.

I’ll stay out of the sugar before I try my next cup, but even with a candy-coated mouth, it is pleasant and calming. I could go for some calm—last night, there were three tense, pacing adults and three pacing, yowling cats in ready-to-duck mode while a series of nasty storms went through. Tornado warnings missed us by just a few miles, but all is well. Just a handful of small branches down in our yard. Amen and amen.

Happy Easter! It was a morning of holy chaos (spell that w-h-o-l-l-y) with 23 marshmallow-bunny-juiced 12-year-olds. We played 25 Words or Less and did trick shots with pom pom shooters. Try it sometime: knot the end of a balloon, snip off the top, pull it over a toilet paper roll, secure with tape. After chatting with a newcomer about his skills and interests, he asked to use the marker board, and while my back was turned, had mapped out an algebra problem that looked like something from “A Beautiful Mind.” Just another day at the Warehouse. (Oh yeah…I may have attempted to teach something, too.)

…which leaves me so very thankful for a quiet backyard, enough sun to warm my toes in, and one of my favorite “indulge” teas. I think we’ve hit its one year anniversary, so I’d better get on with drinking it, but is has not yet lost any of its lemon pastry goodness. The black tea base (maybe a Ceylon?) is mostly just a carrier for the lemon zest and yogurt granules that make it taste so citrusy-creamy.

Hoping you’ve found a reason to celebrate today, too!

My legs felt like rubber after the first push-mow of the season, which included a good deal of leaf mulching. And since the wind gusts blew a good deal of the fallout right back into my face and throat, I wanted something simple to wash out the muck and recharge.

Enter this very nondescript green low-end looseleaf from our local indie grocer. It’s quite possible that the wholesaler changes from time to time, but there’s always a bin of sencha-ish leaf mulch to be had cheap. It isn’t fussy, it isn’t bitter, and has a little bit of a sweetgrass finish.