About a week ago, I purchased a bunch of new teas. The last of them to arrive was my order from Tealeaves. I was first introduced to the company during afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian Resort in Disney World (which I definitely recommend). I enjoyed the teas there, so I went on a hunt to find where I could purchase them. Turns out, Tealeaves is a luxury tea supplier for fancy hotels, but you can also order their teas online.

Today I’m sampling their Ginger Peach black tea. I’ve been searching for a nice tea with this flavor combination, so I’m looking forward to it.

I really like their tins! I’m also trying out the teacup for the first time. (Oddly enough, I also got it at Disney World, in the Japanese department store at EPCOT. I thought the owl was cute, and the colors seem appropriate for the season.)

Just for fun, a shot of the cup next to the owl-shaped candleholder on my kitchen table. As you can see, I have a bit of an obsession with owls… Which reminds me, I haven’t talked about that on the blog yet! Maybe that will be my next post? (It’s a long-ish story, about writing and inspiration and the occasional weird coincidence.)

Anyway, to get back to the tea, this Ginger Peach is delicious! The peach flavor is soft and fuzzy, and the ginger is subtle, adding a spicy tingle to the brew. I love the taste of ginger in tea. It’s soothing and warms your whole mouth, which is great for cooler weather. (Also, I don’t know why, but it seems this particular flavor of tea goes extra well with food! Good news for people like me, who enjoy having the occasional cup of tea with dinner.) I’m glad I got a whole tin of this, instead of the smaller sample size.

Thanks for joining me!

So, I drink a lot of tea. My Steepster account shows how bad the obsession is. (Steepster is sort of like Facebook for tea people.) Spoiler: It’s bad. I hoard tea like Ebneezer Scrooge hoards gold. I compare flavors and varietals. I adjust water temperature and steep time according to tea type. I know the difference between gyokuro, sencha, matcha, hojicha, and genmaicha. I’ve tasted all of them.

I know what rooibos is.

Okay, so that’s not much of an accomplishment in the age of the Internet. But it’s safe to say that I’m a tea nerd. (An amateur one, but still!) I couldn’t survive as a writer without it. Tea keeps me calm, boosts my energy, and inspires me. My characters drink it as well. Many of them live in nineteenth-century England, or enjoy it for other reasons. I use tea as a way to experience a part of their lives.

In that spirit, I thought I would take afternoon tea today, and share a few photos.

It seems appropriate to start with the most obvious tea possible. So today I’m drinking David’s Organic English Breakfast blend. (David’sTEA is a Canadian company with a number of stores in the U.S. They have a lot of interesting flavors, and you can check out their teas here.)

Behold my tea mug! Fitting for a writer’s blog, isn’t it?

English Breakfast is a mixture of different types of black tea. The exact blend varies by company. It’s strong and malty, and goes well with milk and sugar. It also has a lot of caffeine. (Less than coffee, but more than most other teas.) Traditionally, you drink it for breakfast—but people have it all the time now. When I visited England this summer, one of the tour guides said that a lot of modern Brits only drink English Breakfast, even at teatime. The strong taste makes it a good choice to pair with food. Speaking of which…

Ginger biscuits! I found these in the gift shop at Highclere Castle during my trip. Highclere Castle, as in, the place where they film Downtown Abbey. I’ll have to write a post about it sometime. (If only to talk about what’s in their basement!)

Well, that’s it for teatime! Have a lovely afternoon.