Jasmine Tea: A love affair? An addiction? Currently a collection.

In highschool jasmine tea helped me through many a tough essay. A really hard essay would take at least four cups of jasmine tea and until about 2am the night before the paper was due to finish. I am now at a point where my brain is no longer trained to function past 11:30pm so I go through the same process slightly earlier in the day. The jasmine tea pictured here is from Trader Joe's. It has jasmine pearls, which means the tea leaves the tea consists of were rolled into little balls. It is very strong so I usually use one tea bag to make a pot of tea rather than a cup. Then I can sit back and sip it throughout my procrastination induced writing adventure. At the moment I own several varieties of jasmine green  tea. The different teas have their own charming subtleties that differentiate them but they all share a delightful flavor that tells me that I have a paper to write.

The mug shown above was made to commemorate the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. I acquired it because my friend's grandmother collected a few of them and decided to distribute them amongst the the youths sleeping over at her house. When I am older I hope I to distribute mugs to youths in a similar manner. Behind the mug one can glimpse my essay on the importance of liberal arts education taking form.

Constant Comment Green (From Bigelow)

According to my mother Constant Comment Green tea is very hard to find. The black tea version of Constant Comment is more widely available. Constant Comment holds an important place in our household because as a child it was the first tea my mother tried that wasn't Lipton. Constant Comment is flavored with orange rinds and a variety of spices that make it seem like mulled cider's tea-born cousin. Overall it is a lovely drink to sip if you-like me- don't believe that pumpkin is an appropriate flavor for everything edible in the month of November.

The mug shown above is one of my favorites. It features a hebrew blessing for coffee that some delightful potter made up. The direct translation is "Blessed is the one who gives coffee to the weary."

Tea-ja Vu

In my youth I would often prepare my tea in a microwave and when I engaged in this habit late at night I was witness to a slightly annoying phenomenon. I would place a cup of water with a teabag into the microwave, I would turn on the microwave and then when the microwave finished I would be doing something else so I would put off collecting my tea. Then I would completely forget about it for a short amount of time. I would only remember the tea after thinking to myself I wish I had tea right now, then after putting another tea bag in a cup of water and opening the microwave I would discover that I  already had tea. Naturally I didn't want to put the second tea bag back, it was already wet so I would just make another cup and alternate drinking both teas. My sister and I named this phenomenon "Tea-ja Vu."

Even now in my post-microwave tea drinking I encounter similar phenomena: I usually make my first cup of tea soon after waking up. I then carry said tea with me as I leave the warm cocoon of my kitchen and attempt make my way in the world. The problem occurs when I leave my tea on the counter to steep and forget to take it with me upon leaving. I am then very tired and I usually convince myself that my best option is buying tea. I am still pleasantly surprised when I come home and my first cup of tea is there waiting for me.

(I found the image above painted on an electrical box, it seemed appropriate.)

Chrysanthemum Tea (From TenRen and From Asha Tea House)

My preconception of chrysanthemum tea was that it was weird. I had somewhat thoughtlessly come to this conclusion after one of my friends looked at my herbal tea sampler from TenRen and asked me if I had tried the chrysanthemum tea. I answered, "Not yet." Said friend relied, "Oh, well chrysanthemum tea is weird."

Intrigued by this response I tried the chrysanthemum tea about a week later. It was a bit weird, at least compared to your run of the mill green or black tea. Yet I found the taste strangely pleasing, especially when a form of sweetener was applied generously.

Today marked the first time I tried chrysanthemum tea unsweetened. I was taken to Asha Tea house and I couldn't decided which tea to try. I decided on an herbal tea and since there had been chrysanthemums in the short story I had read earlier chrysanthemum tea seemed like an appropriate choice. Without sweetening the chrysanthemum tea definitely had more of a general weirdness. In other words, it was slightly bitter and had a very distinct chrysanthemum flavor, but for the most part I still found it pleasing. I would recommend chrysanthemum tea to people who want to go beyond the average herbal teas, despite its color chrysanthemum tea is nothing like your standard chamomile.

(Disclaimer: the image above does not depict the process of making chrysanthemum tea. I just happened to find a chrysanthemum and I though this depiction would be aesthetically pleasing.)

Kombucha (Green Ginger Tea From TAZO and Dragon Well From Far Leaves Tea)

I seem to have made it my mission to explore the many facets of tea life. In keeping with this mission, in the past week I have attempted to create Kombucha: a fermented tea drink. I wanted to made a green tea Kombucha, because most of the Kombucha I have tried was made from black tea. Since I generally prefer green tea I was wondering if I would prefer a green Kombucha. The conclusion is I do. I just sampled the Kombucha after a week of fermentation and it is absolutely delightful. It is light, bubbly, and the ginger gives it a pleasant zing. I greatly anticipate making more Kombucha with a variety of teas in the future.

Tea Is My Friend! (Rose Chai From Wissotzky Tea)

For the past two weeks I have be on a quest to find Rose Water. It is particularly illusive in my current living situation, but I desperately wanted it so I could make Iranian Cupcakes. I contemplated using vanilla extract instead but it just didn't seem like an acceptable alternative. I also considered making rose water, but I didn't know where to buy organic roses. (They would have had to be organic because I feel like the pesticides used on flowers that aren't meant for eating combined with cupcakes are not a good match.) Then I came to the realization that Rose Water is just water with some essence of rose and that is essentially what my Rose Chai tea is. Suffice it to say I used the Rose Chai and the cupcakes were delectable. The taste of the black tea that the chai is made with was apparent in the cupcakes, but in a pleasant manner.

Thai Tea (From Country Cheese Coffee Market)

There are mornings when I get out of bed solely because I know I can have Thai Tea. That may sound dramatic but I struggle with transitioning between being unconscious and conscious in general. In addition I really like my bed. (The gnome featured above is another factor that contributes to my waking up. He has such a stern expression I feel like he is judging me for being tired.)

Overall I am rather fond of Thai Tea. I like putting my tea ball into the water and seeing that pop of orange. I now know that this effect is the product of the dye that Thai Tea is usually made with, but it is still lovely. The downside is that this effect is occasionally disconserting, due to the fact that I usually judge if my tea has steeped enough by examining its color. (This is why I have so many white cups.) I acquired my Thai Tea after I came to the realization that I was spending a large amount of my income on Thai Ice Tea drinks. These differ from the Thai Tea I make now by the addition of large quantities of condensed milk, which is splendid, but a bit to rich for my morning tea.