I figured it was time to start keeping a blog about my tea drinking addiction. I post on Steepster under the name SunnyinNY....so feel free to follow me there as well. www.steepster.com It's a great board for learning about tea & reading what others think of various teas. I have to admit since I joined that site that I started giving more thought to starting this blog. I guess my love of tea & writing are finally coming together!
So today is the first day of 2012. A New Year with a fresh new start. What better way to start off the New Year than with a spot of tea?
Today I am opting to start off with a tea I haven't tried yet. This New Year should start off with something...well, new!
I stumbled onto Adagio Teas a little over a year ago. I was getting more into drinking tea & during a web search I found their site. I read the reviews of their teas & decided to give them a try. I found that buying sample bags worked best for allowing myself to taste several flavors without buying too much of something I might not like. And being in a one day delivery zone, there is no need to cry over having to wait for more tea if I did like a flavor.
I have several bags of Adagio samples to try & today I finally opened the Blackberry tea.
Adagio's Blackberry tea is a black tea, with natural blackberry flavor & blackberry leaves. Whenever I open a bag of tea I like to smell it. This tea smells good. Very sweet & fruity. It promises to deliver a good cuppa tea, as all Adagio Teas do.
Today I am feeling good. Had a great night to bring in the New Year & I've decided this morning to enjoy a good pot of tea. It is a great way to start a New Year.
So I start with making scones.
I love shopping at Home Goods. If you are lucky to have this store near you, I cannot stress how lucky you are! I live in Home Goods. I always find the best things for my home. Teapots, teacups, mugs & even food. Home Goods always carries this brand of scone mix that I love. It's from Sticky Fingers bakeries. It's a simple mix. Just add water to the mix & bake. You can't ask for easier when you are craving a scone. I would make them from scratch, but today I wasn't in the mood for that. So I'm taking the quick way out. And it works.
I will make the raspberry white chocolate scones.
So I put on the kettle & boil up some water. I bring out my favorite teapot & fill it with a few teaspoons of the Blackberry tea.
The smell of the tea leaves is wonderful! It's sweet & fruity. And I'm looking forward to drinking a cuppa of this tea.
This is my favorite teapot. I found it by chance in Home Goods. Again, I love that store! They always have a great selection of things.
I set the teapot on one of my cast iron teapot warmers. I love them! Found them on Amazon for a steal of a price. $11 to be exact. I ended up buying two of them. And yes, I use them all the time.
Of course I now have to pick a cup. I have several to choose from. I have been collecting teapots & cups & saucers during my tea learning journey. I have several teapots that I love as well as cups & saucers. I find them on-line or at Home Goods or wherever I happen to spot them. I even found a gorgeous teacup & saucer in my local dollar store!
But today, I will use my favorite cup & saucer. A gift to myself...my Alice in Wonderland cup & saucer set...
I take the scones out of the oven as the tea continues to steep. The smell of the tea mixed with the smell of the baked scones awakens my senses this morning. This is just what I needed to start off my New Year.
Let me set the mood...I'm snuggled up on my couch, still in my pajamas, the blackberry tea is ready & the scones are hot out the oven. I decide to light up my Christmas tree which puts me in a good holiday mood....even on New Year's Day!
And now the tea is ready for pouring. I admit this shot is odd, but hey, what do you want? I was pouring the tea, trying not to pour too much & take a picture at the same time.
I like my tea strong. I always try a tea in it's bare form...no sugar or milk. I like trying it naked to see how good it is or isn't.
This is a loose leaf tea, so of course there is some straining involved. The strainer was found in a local Asian market.
The first sip for me is just to test the temperature of the tea. It's not so much about flavor. That will be for the second sip.
I ended up adding some light amber agave to this cup. It needed something. The flavor was weak. If this was a plain black tea it would have been great & I'd be raving about it. However knowing it's supposed to be a blackberry flavored tea it's disappointing.
I wanted more blackberry, but there is only a mild aftertaste of it & seriously, it's mild...almost non-existant.
Disappointing.
I left the teapot on the warmer & left the leaves in. I figured maybe it needed more time to steep. So then I tried a second cup, which looked a little darker, but it did nothing to add to the flavor.
After awhile, I let it cool down. It started to actually taste a little better. Or was it maybe just my taste buds messing with my mind? So I figured I'd add some ice & try it as an iced tea. It wasn't so bad. It was okay.
Overall, it was a good way to start the New Year & this blog.
But would I buy this tea again?
No.
It's not worth keeping on hand. It was good to try, which is why I love sample bags from Adagio.
Oh well...so one new tea down & there are plenty of others yet to be brewed.
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