Monday, May 7, 2012

Of Tea and Churches

Mother's Day is coming soon.  Are any of you doing something special  for a mother in your life?  All my mothers and grandmothers have gone on and the one I kind of adopted is far away, so all I am doing is sending cards.  However, when I go see her later on, we are gong to tea at one of our favorite places - Thyme for Tea in Lansdale, PA.  They have a great assortment of teas and their food is wonderful.  They also have a very nice little gift shop.  I am in hopes they will have a violet sprinkled tea pot, as I have cups, but no pot.

Today is perfect for a hot cuppa.  It is gloomy and cold and I am going crazy trying to make my house as kitty fur and clutter-free as possible.  My cousins are going to visit and they are allergic to the little darlings.  So, of course, we all know they will climb all over them, they who have raised ignoring people to a fine art.

I'm taking tea with Upton's again.  It is TD60, Premium Darjeeling Blend.  I brewed it for 3.5 minutes with boiling water.  The dry leaves are definitely a blend, with black, brown, green leaves and some stems here and there.  There really wasn't much scent other than "tea".  As it brewed, however, there was that fresh-wash-on-the-line aroma, coupled with a bit of toast and muscatel.  At first I thought this gentle tea tasted a bit like bamboo with a hint of green, then there was some sort of wet wood/vegetation taste.  It is a pleasant tea, light and suitable for afternoons, but it isn't anything special and I don't know that I would label it premium.  But then, quite a while ago, I seemed to have lost my taste for Darjeeling, unless it is superb.

Yet another Italian church, filled with inlaid marble, this one is also on Ischia Island.  This is more to my taste, as it is less fussy.  The little church I attended as a child was plainer than plain, with huge clear glass windows, the better to watch birds during boring sermons.  It had a long shed behind, for stabling horses, a holdover from years ago and now filled with the junk such structures seem to acquire.  To this day, when an institution fires up its gas ovens or burners, the smell returns me immediately to the church suppers held in the basement.  It was a good time and place.

1 comment:

Alex Zorach said...

This is funny...I never thought much of watching birds during church...although, the other day, I watched a church while watching birds...I was looking at birds on the town square in Ponce, Puerto Rico and briefly peeked into the church on the square...

I do recall though a Unitarian Universalist church in Newark, DE that had huge glass windows viewable from the area of their service, and there was a beautiful view of nature out the window, with lots of birds abounding early in the morning.

Lansdale is not too far from me, and it's even closer to Sylvia, who does my graphic design, and who I visit sometimes...maybe I can check out Thyme for Tea some time! I spend a lot of time in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia because I know so many people there.