Maddy Barone Send Message

I cold brewed this and I don’t believe I care for it iced. It’s not by any means bad, but I definitely like it better hot.

My morning cup. So good in the morning! Today is supposed to be in the mid 70s. UN-believable! The average hi for today is 36, so that is almost 40 degrees above the norm. Too warm for hot tea this afternoon, so I put some of this to cold brew. We’ll see how it is cold.

I did it! I wrote THE END on the rough draft of the manuscript. 123,849 words long, which exceeds the publisher’s requirements by about 24,00 words. So clearly, I have a lot of revisions ahead of me. But I finished it! So I made a pot of Cranberry Pear to sit down with now. I am exhausted but unable to sleep. This tea is supposed to have low caffeine. It is as usual mild and sweet. This is certainly not the greatest tea in the world, but it remains a dependable favorite. It’s a “comfort tea”, like mashed potatoes and gravy are comfort food.

Such a lovely, delicate tea! I chose to brew this one up this morning. Usually I like a black tea for morning, but I went with this one and don’t regret it.

This tea never disappoints. Even when I ( as seems to be my habit these days) let it steep way too long, it remains smooth and not bitter. This manuscript was supposed to be in to my editor a month ago. I tried to write tonight, I really did. The words must be outside playing in the spring weather. At least I have good tea!

I’ve never enjoyed iced tea. Probably because growing up we always had the sugar free sweetened tea powder you mix with water. Then in the ‘70, ’80s, and ’90s, my mom made sun tea out of Lipton bags. shudder You see why I wasn’t an iced tea fan. But now that I’m a little more knowledgeable about tea, I want to drink it all summer too. I’m trying to control my horrible mountain dew habit, so iced tea will be my ‘thing’ this summer.

All that intro is to say I made iced tea! I looked at what I had left of this tea and decided it was time to try the cold brewed method of making iced tea. That was this morning about 12 hours ago. I’m just now sitting down with a glass of it and I have to say, this tea rocks as an iced tea! Seriously, it has flavor without being at all bitter! It’s kind of sweet, but I didn’t add anything to it. Oh, boy! Now I can not wait to try other teas cold brewed!

This was my evening tea to help me stay awake while I plowed on in the manuscript. Tasty. Spicy warm. I think this is a fall tea, not a spring tea. I have a friend who LOVES this tea. At the moment it is her very favorite, go-to tea. I don’t love it as much as she does, but it certainly is tasty. Wonder what it would be like iced?

I decided to brew a pot of this for my afternoon drink. So nice. The flavor is smooth and almost sweet. I’ve had good luck with my What-Cha purchases. Enough that I’ve placed another order even though I said I wouldn’t until summer. Oh well. I plan on brewing a LOT of iced tea this summer, so it will probably go quick, right?

This was my morning tea. It’s a great tea for the morning, robust and smooth.

Yesterday I went to an ENT for the first time in 8 years. I know I have nasal polyps. I’ve had 4 previous surgeries to deal with them. The last surgery was at the Mayo Clinic and cost $42,000. But polyps come back very quickly. Well, I’ll only have to pay about $6,000 of it probably. But guess who doesn’t have $6,000 laying around? Of course, this new ENT thinks surgery is a must. The polyps are so thick that on the CT scan it looks like I don’t even HAVE sinuses. No wonder I feel so blech all the time, right?

I have to decide if being able to smell my tea (and shampoo, and cat box, and food) for 3 or 4 months is worth it. Polyps are generally not fatal. In very rare situations they can lead to terrible complications, but generally they are benign. It’s just that you can’t breathe or smell, have continuous headaches, and pretty much feel like you have a cold all the time. For a measly four months of salary I can feel well for a little while. Is it worth it? That’s the decision I have to make.

Meanwhile, I’ll go brew another pot of this and imagine I’m smelling and tasting all those delicious flavors.

I can’t even begin to tell you how horrible today has been. Ketchup in the hair (don’t ask) was one of the nicer things that went wrong. Home from a late meeting now, and brewed up a pot of this. It’s low caffeine and tasty and comforting. When I finish this pot I think I’ll go suck my thumb for a while and rub the edge of my blankie over my cheek. "Cause I’m a grown up, dammit.