Tea Magazine, Spring and, Of Course, Tea

Tea, a Magazine was recently sold by long-term owner, publisher, editor Pearl Dexter, although she remains as a writer/editor.  I have always really liked this magazine, as it dealt with more than just tea parties - I have another magazine for that.  The format is quite different, with lots more computer, iPod, app, etc. information.  It seems to have more down to earth tea info, which I like.  It really is quite a shift, but all of life must change.  To not change is to die.  Cups raised to Dan and his staff in their new endeavor.

It is so interesting to me to see Spring progressing at its own sloe rate.  The woods are so colorful.  A different and muted palette than Fall.  There is the base note of dark evergreens, the understories of almost full green, the weavings of yellow green, neon green, spring green, the silver green of white birch and cotton wood, the delicate tracings of pink, white, yellow and here and there a flash of orange, coupled with a trace of mahogany from the sumac candles.

On the home front, the violets are blooming and my irises are in bud!  Tomorrow I need to repot my basil, tomatoes and peppers into 4" pots, some to go to the Master Gardener Plant Sale and some to go right in my garden.

That doesn't really relate to tea, but it is part of what is filling my heart right now and it all calls for a celebration - blackberry scones and TEA.  Today's is from Lupicia and it is Hapjan Purbat, BOP (CTC) from Assam. The instructions say 1-2 minutes of steeping - short, even for me.  But, as this is a CTC, I will obey.  It certainly does brew quickly, by the end of a minute and a half, it is quite dark and has that classic malty Assam scent, coupled with some red wine barrel to make it interesting.  Even without milk, it seems rich and creamy.

Well, it is all there in the taste.  It is rich and creamy and malty and a tiny tad sweet.  All undergirded with a taste I can only describe as fresh.  Maybe that's clean and crisp, like wash dried in the sun.  Whatever it is,  it is quite good, with or without milk.

Italian flowers on a cliff in the merry month of May.