Uptons Does It Again

I do love Uptons Tea Imports.  You get good service, they let you know when a tea you are interested in comes in,  you can sample anything, there's an immense selection and they have some wonderful teas.  How can I go wrong?  Their Panyang (Panyong) China Congou is a case in point.    It is an excellent tea.

The dry leaves are quite small, well twisted and a mix of black and brown.  They smell like grass, new hay, old wood and have just the tiniest bit of spice sprinkled over.  I brewed them for 4 minutes, using boilung water.  The resulting tea was a very, very dark amber.  It smelled very fresh, with a clean earth aroma.

The  tea was really excellent, a bit earthy, with some walnut and biscuit and yes, a bit of spice.  There was a little acerbic kick at the end.  This was fine with milk, which round out the flavors a bit and added something of a caramel edge.

A baptismal font in Forio, Ischia, Italy.  It makes me think of some pyramidal candy I had when I was a kid.

Oh, I am in trouble.  The nurseries are opening with all those beautiful plants!  Oh woe, they call to me, wrapping a siren song of beautiful gardens around my head and I am led straight to where they are waiting, shining in the sun.  Then, clunk, I remember my terrible soil.  But I still over did it, with peopnies and daylillies and wild geraniums and oh yes, that lovely little yellow plant and there's one of those varigated iris and oooh, frilled pansies.  Oh my aching back and bank account!  Some of us never learn.