Tag Archives: tea

Teatime Tuesday #22

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Welcome back to Teatime Tuesday!

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I’m keeping it simple this week. For my tea, I’m drinking a special limited blend by my favorite tea company, Verdant Tea. (This comes as no surprise, since I’ve been drinking so many of their teas lately!) It’s called Minnesota Blend, and it’s a green tea flavored with vanilla, toasted rice, saffron, and juniper berries. It has a very smooth taste, with a muted sweetness that goes well with the base tea.

To complement the vanilla flavors in the tea, I decided to pair it with some vanilla ice cream. Nothing too fancy, but who can complain about ice cream? (Not me, certainly!)

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That’s it for teatime! Thanks for joining me once again.

Teatime Tuesday #21

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Hello! Once again, it’s Teatime Tuesday.

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I had another scone this week from Wildflower Bread Company (much like my cranberry scone a while back). This is their chocolate chip version, and I must say, it’s delicious. Actually, it’s one of my best friend’s favorite desserts for teatime, which was how I was introduced to the company. While I’m generally a scone + jam + clotted cream advocate, I make an exception for chocolate-flavored scones like this one, and eat them plain. This one is really buttery with a slight glaze, so it doesn’t need any added sweetness to taste amazing.

I paired the scone with a roasted tea that has subtle cocoa notes, Verdant’s Laoshan Roasted Oolong. If you’re a fan of black tea but have been looking to try a partially roasted oolong, I would definitely recommend this one. (It’s almost out of stock on their website, so you’ll have to act fast! Or you can wait until another harvest comes in.) This tea has loads of flavor and is easy to steep, rather than being overly delicate. The roast gives it a savory quality, compared to greener oolongs that are more floral. It’s one of my favorite oolongs, since I tend to be partial to the more oxidized ones.

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Thanks for joining me for tea!

Teatime Tuesday #20

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Welcome back to Teatime Tuesday!

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This week, I visited Paradise Bakery and ordered one of their Peach Pecan Crunch muffins for takeout. It was warm and sweet; I especially enjoyed the peach flavor and the crunchy bits.

For my tea selection, I chose Vanilla Citrus Spice black tea from Verdant. The ingredients include orange peel, ginger, cinnamon, coriander, and vanilla bean. It’s a sweet spicy tea, with a certain savory undertone almost like chicken broth (and a comforting blend for this time of year in Arizona, since just about everyone I know is suffering from allergies, including me).

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Also, I went to the Tucson Book Festival last weekend, which was fantastic! I attended lots of panels with authors like Gail Carriger, Elizabeth Bear, Scott Lynch, Ally Carter, and Jenny Han. I also went out to dinner with my friend and her family (my very generous hosts for the weekend) to a restaurant called Food for Ascension Café, where I shared a pot of delicious oolong tea. So here’s a bonus picture from that particular outing:

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Thanks for joining me for tea!

Teatime Tuesday #18

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(Technically, this is Teatime Thursday, but for the sake of consistency I decided to keep the usual title.) Welcome back to teatime!

Today I prepared a cup of Verdant Tea’s most famous tea, Laoshan Black, which is also one of my all-time favorites. It’s a straight black tea with lots of flavor, and an interesting savory quality to it, which makes it stand out among the sweeter teas in my cabinet.

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To go with the tea, I had an apple turnover from the bakery at my local supermarket. It was extra sweet with lots of sugar, so it made a great complement to the savory flavors in the Laoshan Black.

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Thanks for joining me for tea!

Teatime Tuesday #17

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Welcome back to teatime! It’s been a busy week so far. So I decided on a simple tea today.

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Shui Xian Wuyi Oolong was one of Verdant’s limited oolong teas, before it sold out. This tea is best enjoyed on its own, steeped quickly in small amounts. So today, I steeped it in my Japanese-style owl teacup, which is a smaller size than most of my mugs, and removed the leaves after only ten seconds. (Seriously! That’s all it takes.)

This oolong is very light, with some typical floral notes. Except in this particular oolong, I noticed a sweet fruity taste as well. (Verdant’s site describes it as being reminiscent of banana, and I agree.) It’s refreshing, and great for sipping slowly during a break.

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I didn’t pair this oolong with anything, since the flavor is so delicate. It’s perfect on its own, though!

Thanks for joining me again for teatime.