A watering trough outside the inn from yesterday. Notice it is
made from a tree trunk, with the branches serving as legs. I have
a coat rack from the same school of wood carving, Swiss Rustic, perhaps.
We welcome to the world and to our family, Ruby Sue Hagin, born Nov. 7, 2010! It's been a nice month - a family wedding and a new baby. The great ongoing-ness of life.
Breakfast Tea - I often say something I've tried has not many nuances and I would save it for breakfast, as I am not very awake then. This is not a disparagement of tea. I treasure a tea I can just let fall from numb fingers, and an even number brain, into a pot, brew it and it tastes just fine. At the other, empty end of the pot, I am alert, I hope, and ready to face the day. In the morning, nuance and careful thought are beyond me. Ritual is what I am aiming for then and some teas are just perfect for that.
One of them is Teas Etc. Irish Breakfast - see, even the name knows what its about - breakfast. You put it in your pot, you add boiling water, snooze for 4 minutes, pour it in your cup and voila! or voy-ler, 20 minutes later you may be able to really open your eyes. No muss, no fuss, no thought and there you are, awake, with a decent cup or two of tea inside you. This is a strong, hearty brew, with a good bit of malt in it. It goes well with cream and probably sugar, but I think it is a bit sweet all on its own. There is also some astringency at the end. It is obviously mostly Assam, but there may be some Kenya in there as well. Just a nice cuppa to get the brain going. I have a drawer of teas that are almost exclusively "breakfast teas", although not a lot of them have that name.
One of the joys of tea is that you have so much to choose from. First, there are the different categories of green, white, yellow, Oolong, black, pu-erh. Then there are blends. Flavored teas come in and there are, of course, the huge range of herbals. There is an even larger range of price and one can choose from an assortment of bags, sachets or loose teas, I have noticed that in the past five years, there has been an immense proliferation of new takes on tea. One example is Earl Grey. Upton's lists 14, plus a sampler. There is now vanilla, chocolate, lavender, rose, citrus, and grenadine added to Earl Grey. Some of it I can applaud, some not. I admit I have 2 of Upton's I like to blend half and half. Personally, I am not big on fruity teas nor do I like blends that have no taste of tea, but taste of something else entirely. I really prefer my pie with a cup of tea, not in it. For one who likes new things, being a tea taster is paradise, most of the time.
A new use has been discovered for tea cosies. We have a plunger type glass coffee pot. I often make coffee early in the morning and it gets cold by the time Himself arises. So I put my largest tea cosy over it and it is nice and warm for him. Tea people are sooooo clever. LOL
We really need to take time to celebrate. A lot of life is downright hard, scary, ugly and unpleasant so be joyful when you can, look for things to bring joy into your life. I am now 3 years cancer free and 37 years married, Let's boogie! Right now I am thankful for sun, bird calls, my cats winding around my feet, shadows on the lawn, good bread, warm feet, a good morning kiss. No biggies, but I am here to enjoy them. What are you thankful for?
1 comment:
I particularly like your remark "I really prefer my pie with a cup of tea, not in it." -- it's funny, Upton is one of my favorite tea companies, but I generally avoid their flavored teas. A number of them even have artificial flavorings, which strikes me as strange given the way the bulk of their catalogue focuses on high-quality, pure teas.
I have yet to try anything from Teas etc but I hope to try them at some point; they look pretty legitimate!
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