Oh Be Joyful!

A sign post in the town center of Darstetten, Switzerland, indicating it is a 30 minute walk to the hamlet of Nidfluh, where my great-grandfather lived. 30 Swiss minutes, maybe, we got a ride! The Swiss are great hikers and my great-grandfather' s house is part of an Historic House Walk. There was even a stamp with it's picture on it.

Hoo Whee, I'm rich today! Boston Tea Company asked if any of us who belong to the Association of Tea Bloggers would like to review their teas. Of course, says I, and today I received a total of ten, with some honey flavoring spoons. Nice big samples, too, so we can both try them.

Today's choice is Coconut Joy, Ceylon Black Tea with coconut pieces and coconut flavor. The leaves are small and dark, with the expected bits of coconut. What was not expected was the scent – just like fresh coconut or the best coconut milk. Not sweet or chemical tasting! I brewed 1 teaspoon per cup for 3.5 minutes. The directions said 4-6 minutes, but I can never bring myself to do that, especially with small leaves, which infuse faster.

The tea liquor is quite dark and smells very freshly of the tea with a pleasant overlay of the coconut. It is a sweet scent, but not sugary. The tea itself is really good. Exactly how I like my flavored teas – tea first, flavoring as second chair. On the tongue, it again has an elusive sweetness, without sugariness, hooray, and the coconut does tend to linger a bit, making me glad I tried this. With half and half, the coconut tends to come out more and it's delicious. I tried some lime juice with it and that was not a great success, as the lime was overwhelming. I didn't think a bit of sugar did anything for it either.

This is very good tea and will probably make it onto my favorites list. Which, incidentally, is huge. There is the inviolate all time favorites black tea, plain, list. Then there are black flavored, which I thought was quite small, until I started to think about all the ones I like. Never mind, I am embarrassed to say how many teas are my favorites. I do have one that is the king, however, Yunnan Gold. I just plain love the stuff. The recent crops are not as good as they were a few years ago, but I hope for the future! I haven't had any of this year's, so I am eagerly awaiting it.