Some ancient stonework.Aha! I thought that my Twinings Prince of Wales tea was different, so today I tried a can I bought earlier along side the one I just bought – same mugs, same amount of tea, same water, same length of time to brew – 3.5 minutes. In fact, the dates on the cans are only 2 days apart. I don't know if that is a use by date or a manufacturing date. I think it is the latter. As they were brewing, the older one had a slight floral, fruit aroma, almost like really good bubblegum. The new one had a smoky scent, with a hint of leather. The older had a bit of a fruit taste, too – a hint of black currant with maybe a bit of spice. The new one had a harsher edge to it and reminded me of a mild Russian Caravan with that mild smokiness. So there is, they are different. Next I am going to try them mixed together. I did, they are nothing special. I guess I am going to have to find another Prince of Wales supplier. I hate having old standbys shift so much. I am going to complain to Twinings.
If you'd like another “hit of Brit”, the Tea Guy Speaks from April 1 has a good P G Tips commercial and access to some cute games on line, suitable for playing while waiting for your tea water to boil. http://www.teaguyspeaks.com/
The past 3 days have been very warm and sunny and the daffodils on the south side of the house are beginning to bloom. Last year they were all gone in three days, as they started to bloom just before we had a week of 90 degree weather the end of April. I much prefer the slow moving springs, so we can enjoy the flowers and not have them bolt. The pussy willows are already gone – only 1 day to enjoy them! Coltsfoot is also blooming and I am looking forward to a huge patch of trilliums I spotted last year – all white with just 2 red ones. I hope we get some cool weather back, as I love my lilacs and want to enjoy their scent blowing through the house.
I hope some of you get to go to the World Tea Expo in June. The theme is "Wake Up and Smell the Leaves" I think it is a great title.
2 comments:
It can be tricky to discover whether or not a source of tea is consistent because you can often try several batches before running into differences as striking as what you describe here. This is interesting to me that you noticed such a big difference!
This year has been really atypical here in Delaware too. It feels like summer today--hotter than some days in June even, and it's supposed to get even hotter tomorrow. My garden seems to be loving it...all my perennial herbs are growing vigorously, and the chance I took by planting Cilantro early (usually I'd wait till may) seems to be paying off.
An excellent point, Elizabeth.
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