Risheehat Estate Organic Darjeeling (Teahouse Kuan Yin)

 
The person behind the counter asks me what I'm looking for. "I'm not really sure," I say as I scan a very impressive list of teas. I've been standing there too long so I make a choice. "Can I get a pot of the Darjeeling?" "We actually have a separate Darjeeling Menu." I think this means I made a good choice. I am informed that the Risheehat Estate Organic Darjeeling is the most popular so I decide to give that a go. I don't know that much about darjeeling thusly I'm willing to put my trust in popular opinion at this point. I chose the cheaper second flush because I just bought expensive socks so first flush feels a bit too extravagant.

The tea is good. It has some almost jasmine like undertones. It took a while to steep so I forgot about it momentarily and let it steep a bit too much. Yet, it is still an all together pleasant darjeeling. I let myself go. I loose myself into the tea, the soothingly friendly environment of Teahouse Kuan Yin, and finally into my homework.

Miscellaneous Tea Photos

Over the past year I have taken a lot of photos of tea and myself with tea with the intention of posting about them. However as time passed I forgot what many of these photos were supposed to commemorate. The only one of the following that I clearly remember is the top left which is me being pleased because one of my friends made fan art for this blog. I am still very pleased about that.

Matcha (From The Spice Tea Exchange)

I know that I've expressed this before but it still astounds me how good matcha is in everything. Seriously everything. Just now I was eating some plain yogurt and I wanted to put something in the yogurt but I was all out of jam. I looked through my cabinets for anything that would make my yogurt better and I realized that I had a new bag of matcha that I yet to utilize. It took several teaspoons of matcha powder before the yogurt was adequately flavored but the result was marvelous. I also added a bit of strawberry enhanced agave which added to the delightfulness.

The matcha I have now is from The Spice Tea Exchange. It is combined with milled cane sugar which is not that noticeable but is generally pleasant. I've been very pleased with all the teas I've gotten from The Spice Tea Exchange so far including a Coconut Oolong and a Pear Carmel Black Tea that are both a constant force for good in my life.

Tea Juice? (Giant Peach From Tazo)

Recently I have become aware of a lot of teas that walk a fine line between tea and juice. There comes a point when a tea is made out of so many fruits that I almost question whether I am still drinking tea. I have been exploring this realm of fruity tea/ tea enhanced juices in ernest of late since I've been going through a bit of a juice faze. Today I found a tea/juice combination that I found particularly pleasing: Tazo's Giant Peach. I was fascinated by it because instead of just adding fruit to tea it adds actually juice. It combines green tea with peach juice, peach flavor, apple juice and ginger juice, all of which seem to harmonize together to create a soothing beverage that satisfies both my tea an juice cravings.

I was planning on taking another library picture with my Giant Peach tea but I found a friend on the way there so I took a picture of her with the tea in a different part of the library.

Hairy Crab Oolong (From Pied Cow Coffeehouse)

This tea was really marvelous. I ordered it because I don't currently own any oolong teas but I would really like to change that in the near future. In addition I had not heard of Hairy Crab Oolong before and the name intrigued me. I was not disappointed. The tea had a subtle springy flavor that tasted fresh like the color green. It was a bit like grass, but even richer and earthier. I am rather partial to the taste of grass so that was a pleasant surprise. Drinking my Hairy Crab Oolong was all the more pleasant because the Pied Cow Coffeehouse is located in a charming victorian house that has been repurposed to serve its current ambitions. For instance a set of stairs that were adjacent my table have been turned into an alter with the aid of many dolls, fabrics and lamps.

Honey Lemon Assam Tea Ice Cream (From Mallard)

Ice cream is actually not one of the foods I am most passionate about. I don't dislike it but I also usually don't make an effort to seek it out. I just tend to favor gelato. However every time someone comes to visit my city of residence they are taken to a lovely ice cream parlor called Mallard. I recently found myself there accompanying my roommate and her family. We arrived earlier in the day so I figured an ice cream that included black tea would be a good choice. I was a bit worried that the lemon would overpower the taste of the tea and I was pleasantly surprised when it did not. It just lurked right behind the Assam and the honey added a spritely hint of freshness.

I did not get a the chance to take a picture because I got too involved in my ice cream eating to take one. The visually content above is an artistic representation that my sister made of the experience. I would like it to be known that I don't actually own a shirt that says #goth but I would be open to it.

Superstar! (A Tea From Kranky Cafe)

Sometimes when I enter a cafe and I don't know what to purchase I just go for whatever looks the most weird or complicated. This was my logic when I ordered a tea called "Superstar!" It was an herbal tea that consisted of rose petals, jasmine flowers, sunflower petals, raspberries, and papaya. Overall it was a very pleasant floral tea and I thought it very cute how they tied the tea bag in a knot. I especially enjoyed the sunflower. It's flavor had a marvelous lightness and freshness to it, which was nicely filled out by the jasmine flowers. However every time I was beginning to enjoy the taste of the sunflower it was completely overpowered by raspberry. This was rather disheartening since the sunflower and the papaya played off each other in such a charming manner but I kept being distracted by the raspberry. I added a teaspoon of sugar which balanced the raspberry a bit, yet I still think the tea would have been all the more delightful had it just left off the raspberry to begin with.