1403 Tasting Notes
Day two of no caffeine after three.
Honeybush, or at least the type that Anne uses, seems to have an affinity for dense grainy butter and brown sugar type pastry flavours such as muffins and streusel topping for fruit crisps and such. Certainly works here delicately sweetened with the blue-est of blueberry flavours.
After I steeped this tea, I promptly dropped a full container of fresh blueberries into the most crowded area of my living space. Well, yay! I predict I will be discovering trapped and suddenly mobile blueberries for days to come. Hopefully not by stepping on them in the middle of the night.
This tea, however, is delicious. Have I mentioned that already?
I had high hopes for accomplishments today. And nope, by noon, I was done. It seemed the world wanted to keep me on hold on the phone forever—each establishment with a different variety of musical annoying. By the time I spoke with a person, he and she were unable to complete the task at hand nor were they able to answer the relevant questions to nudge the thing forward. Ugh. Exhausting.
Thankfully, I had a nice cup of tea on hand.
Today’s cup was fragrant with orange rind and mulling spice. The eggnog cream was there, but trailing behind and gently so.
Interesting how each cup is the same and yet different—a flavour or two or three of the mix become more prominent, kaleidoscope-like.
I went to see one of my Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners the other day— possibly the same one who suggested that I stop drinking tea altogether. Clearly, my response to that suggestion was nope, not going to happen.
This visit was about a new issue. The suggestion this time was to stop drinking caffeine at or before three. As opposed to approximately seven. Ok, not ideal but possibly do-able. At least as a health experiment. For a limited period of time. Just to see what will happen.
With this in mind, I’ve been slowly beginning to wrap my head around the concept while hunting a few non-caffeinated options down for the moment that I am psychologically prepared to follow these instructions. The moment arrived.
This tea is delicious. My spoon of leaf contained about three cranberries and that dense cranberry flavour permeated each sip. I steeped low and slow to escape the rooibos woodiness and that worked out nicely. The cranberry shines with a slight bit of citrus flavouring the tartness. The apple sweetens and softens the sip. And the gently cinnamon spiced honeybush and rooibos trails behind suggestive of sweet crumble pastry. Beautiful.
If I have to relax with the caffeine from three o’clock onwards, blends like this are going to make this challenging project a lot easier.
This spoon of dry leaf had TWO colossal sticky sweet Bing or Bing-type cherries nestled among the sunflower seeds and gunpowder pebbles.
The cherry flavour hovers nicely over the earthiness of both the gunpowder and the slight saltiness, really or imagined, of the sunflower seeds. In some sips, the rich natural cherry follows up on the tailend of the sip as well.
I continue to be a bit undecided, in general, about the sunflower seeds which most definitely come through as sunflower seeds regardless of whatever we are calling the flavour. In this tea in particular, I find the sunflower seeds in the first few sips rather jarring—screaming SUNFLOWER SEEDS at me—and then, somehow, I get over it and it’s all rather lovely.
I found a spoon and a half of this in my sample box and decided to split this into two sessions. This may have been a poor choice and I would have been better off with having a stronger solid cup during only one experience.
Tasty but ephemeral berry tartness supported by roasty toasty green.
I look forward to trying the remaining bit of leaf with far less water.
Thank you to whoever sent this my way.
