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My daughter woke me up this morning to tell me that she had made birthday biscuits for breakfast! In the kitchen, the pink sparkly bag was waiting with this tea and a Snoopy plushie, so soft and wearing his little aviator cap. Cap? Helmet? Leather hat?

She told me that she bought this tea mostly because she knows I like “tea for a cause” and since reading Alexander McCall Smith’s books set in Botswana I have been ordering tea for education in Malawi from Rare Tea Company. This tea benefits the women and children of Kenya. It came in a foil bag, that was inside of a plastic bag, in a cardboard box that has a front cut out as a window for a little piece of handmade artwork as decoration. I will keep that piece after the tea is gone and display it somewhere. It is textured paper that I initially thought had a traditional scene painted on but realized on close inspection is actually little pieces of paper cut out and glued on to depict a scene in Africa of women in bright red dresses in front of a hut, one chopping wood and the other resting on the fence.

Happy Lucky said in their description “above all, strong” and they were right to emphasize. GMathis, you should have been here. Combat boot tea. Sam Vimes would love this.

The instructions say 3-5 minutes. I put one teaspoon in my infuser that holds seven ounces of water and after one minute I saw by the color that I dared not let it go longer. I did a second steep for thirty seconds and added it to the first steep in the small pot. The tea, when poured into my cup, is almost as black as coffee.

As richly dark as it is, it is drinkable without additions even though HL recommends them. This has that bold, cherry/fruity flavor and body I associate with Assamica teas. I drank most of it plain, but I decided to try it with cream and sugar as well. It is really lovely that way and still very strong.

It occurs to me that this profile is probably brilliant iced and sweetened, so I think that will be my next adventure with this tea!