St. Goar's Church on the Rhine River in Germany.
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, not too cold, beautiful blue sky, nice breeze. The geese are grazing in the meadow and one of my squirrels has returned. They can be a pain, but they're cute and I am happy to see his return.
It is enhanced by the fact that I have found a flavored green tea I like. It is Simpson & Vail's Emerald Green Earl Grey, made from a Chinese Sencha. The dry leaves are a flat and silky mixed green, with a light floral scent of bergamot. I brew them for 2 minutes with water at 180 degrees. They unfold to large leaves and stems and leave a very bright soft green liquor, pleasantly smelling of both tea and bergamot! Actually, I got to smell the tea before the citrus. That is amazing. It is so hard to get bergamot right on, but Simpson & Vail did it.
The tea is pretty wonderful to drink, also. There is the fresh spring greeniness of grass, with the softest overlay of the floral/citrus bergamot. Very, very well done. I put some in the fridge to see how I would like it iced. It certainly is pretty enough and would go with a lot of summer foods and a lot of tea party fare of the more delicate sort. Hot, it would be lovely with sugar cookies or lemon cookies or pound cake. Better stop, I am making myself hungry and we have none of those in the cuppboard.
Oh yes, this is nice iced. More bergamot comes out and some of the Sencha is lost. I think I would just go for using it cold, without ice or hot.
