A walk down tea memory lane

Woo Hoo!  It's Friday!  Even though I am now retired, Fridays are still one of my favorite days of the week!

I realized that this time last year we were in England - my childhood home and the beginning of my love of a good cup of tea.  My mum always said there wasn't anything a good cup of tea couldn't fix!  Growing up we were a PG Tips family.  My mum always used to make tea with loose leaf tea and a teapot.  I haven't done that in so many years - I'm a tea "heathen" who just throws a teabag in a mug most of the time.

 I remember the collector cards that came in the boxes.  We had stacks of them.  I remember using them with a clothes pin to put on the spokes of my bike wheels to make it sound like a motorbike - today's kids have no idea what they are missing!!

As soon as we arrived in Windsor, my brother and I had to hit Marks and Spencer's for all the necessary goodies!  The photo below on the left was 4:30 in the afternoon.  I had forgotten how early it gets dark this time of year.  This is Peascod Street, the main shopping area.  It was literally and figuratively a walk down memory lane.

This was my breakfast every morning, a cup of tea and a mince pie from Greggs.  Soooooo good.

Now to the tea that I had today from my advent calendars.

The first one was Candied Almonds Black Tea - I had high hopes for this one as I am a HUGE almond fan.  It smelled divine when the hot water hit the teabag.  Well, good news, it also tasted delish.  I would definitely buy this tea if they sold it separately.  It gets a rating of:

My afternoon tea today was Bergkrauter tea- this translates to mountain herb tea that originates from Switzerland.  It's caffeine free and is good for relaxation and immune support.  Perfect after a busy morning of running errands.  I am learning to steep these teas for quite a bit longer than I normally do.  The extra time definitely improves the taste.  I give this tea:

Toodles until tomorrow's tea....

 

Combo post - Days 10 and 11 - with a Christmas tree hunt!

Hello everyone!  Yes I am behind again - shocker!  I pulled myself into getting a craft project finished up for the school where I volunteer and totally forgot to finish up yesterday's post.  So today you get a two for one!

It would seem that my tastebuds have decided to mix things up on me and/or I just need to be a little more open minded about trying things again that I have not liked in the past.  Case in point being the Eggnog tea from yesterday.  I have to admit that I was strongly tempted to just throw this bag away when I first pulled it out of my calendar.  I am so NOT a fan of eggnog (yes, I know, I'm weird - been told that for a long time!)

I gave myself a pep talk about expanding my culinary horizons and into the mug the teabag went.  When I took the first sip, I'm sure that my face looked like a kid having to take medicine that they don't like.  Well, wouldn't you know - I ACTUALLY LIKED IT!!  Maybe my tastebuds are finally maturing and I'm getting rid of some of my "infantile palate" 😉

I give this tea a rating of:

The tea from my German advent calendar was Roobios Vanille tea - did some research and found out that this is a caffiene free herbal tea mix originally from South Africa.  It reminded me a lot of some Celestial Seasonings tea that I have drunk in the past.  A nice way to wind down at the end of the day.

I give this tea a rating of:

I was dragging this morning so I thought the Jolly Jasmine Orange Green Tea might give me the kick in the pants that I needed.  It did with a flavor that was punchy but not too strong.  It truly hit the spot along with the breakfast of champions - a Little Debbie chocolate Christmas tree cake.  I don't normally eat breakfast but today my stomach just needed a little something to get my engine started.  I'm going to give this tea a rating of:

While the white Christmas tree cakes are everywhere, the chocolate ones are not as easy to find.  My sweet husband had never tried the chocolate ones and is now a confirmed convert.  So much so that he has made it his mission to go to almost every Dollar General in our local area to find more.

My afternoon tea break was the Wintertee - I was expecting a spicy blend but this tea was very bland.  A complete meh!  I have to admit I was rather looking forward to this flavor and the disappointment was real.  Oh well, total first world problem....

This tea gets a rating of:

Happy Hunting if you are a fellow Christmas tree snack cake lover.  Toodles until tomorrow...

Day Nine with my quilt gang

Short post today - it's been a busy one.  Volunteering this morning and then a long lunch with my quilting gang.  I love those ladies and we always have such a good time 😆

I decided to switch things up this morning and try the tea from my Aldi advent calendar.  The flavor was Elf's Maple Herbal Tea.  I knew that this tea was going to be sweet the minute the hot water hit the teabag.  The smell was very strong.  Ugh! So was the taste.  It was like hot maple syrup.  Far too sweet for my tastebuds.  I find it funny because I do have a sweet tooth, but not when it comes to my tea.

I give this tea a rating of:

Late this afternoon I tried the Wurzelwunder tea from the German advent calendar.  Full transparency, I did research this tea before I tried it because I wanted to see if it had caffeine in it.  I'm very sensitive to caffeine and can't drink it too late in the day.  Luckily, this tea is caffeine free.  The translation for this tea was "Root Miracle Tea" and contains ginger, turmeric and licorice.  I'm a big licorice fan.  I loved it and would definitely drink it again.  I give this tea a rating of:

Toodles until tomorrow....

 

Day Eight - a Terrific Tea Field Trip

Welcome to week two of the tea advent calendars.  I decided to start the day with the Weisser tea from the German calendar.  This tea had a very mild taste that wasn't bad but wasn't necessarily that good.  After going to Google for some deep tea research, I found out that this is a white tea. A white tea gets is name form the white-silvery hairs that surround the tea bud before it opens.  This tea gets a rating of:

This type of detail reminded me of a local field trip that Tom and I took earlier this year to the Table Rock Tea Plantation.  This fascinating place is only 30 minutes from where we live and if you are ever in the area, I highly recommend you stop here.  It was the best tea related tour that I've been on.  That really is saying something because I've been to the Charleston tea plantation on Wadamaw Island and the Celestial Seasonings tour in Boulder, Colorado.

Such beautiful scenery.

We did buy a tea plant to grow at our house.  

They even have a tea quilt!  This is part of the Upstate Quilt Trail.

Who knew that tea seeds could be that large.  This is the top part of the tea plant that is picked at harvest time.

Imagine getting to see that view everyday at work.

The owner told me that wasn't him in the logo, just a stunt double!

My afternoon tea break tea was a Vanilla Chai Black Tea.  My son introduced me to chai tea several years ago and I love it both hot and cold.  This tea had a good steady chai taste with strong notes of vanilla and it reminded me of the Tazo tea brand which I am a big fan of.  It made for a lovely afternoon pick me up and I give this tea a rating of:

Toodles until tomorrow...

 

Day Seven - just how many Christmas mugs do I have?

 Hello there!  If you've been following along, you may have noticed that I've been featuring a different seasonal mug with the daily photo of the tea I'm trying each day.  I'll be honest, I don't own this many mugs!  I really downsized our mug collection when we moved.

My lovely daughter brought her extensive collection with her when she came up for my recent cookie exchange.  I had fun doing a mug/teabag photo shoot on my kitchen counter.  

I started the day with the Fenchel Anis Kummel Tea.  This is Fennel Anise Caraway Tea, a popular German herbal tea blend known for its sweet, spicy, and aromatic taste, primarily used to soothe digestive issues like bloating, cramps, and indigestion, thanks to the natural oils in these seeds.

Thank you Google for this information.  I've been waiting until AFTER I try the tea to look up it's ingredients.  I can be a little bit of a picky eater at times and I'm trying to get outside of my food comfort zone or as my dear friend says "my infantile palate!"

This tea was yummy but I think I should have let it steep longer before I drank it.  I give this tea a rating of:

For my late afternoon tea break I tried the Holiday Pear Green Tea.  I have to admit that I am not a big fan of green tea and had some trepidation about trying this flavor.  Well, I just need to get over myself because this tea was DELICIOUS!  I didn't even add any milk to this one. This is another tea I would definitely buy if I could find it. I give this tea a rating of:

Toodles until tomorrow...

Tea That Tastes Like Coffee and Go Tigers!

Hello friends!  Wow, it's already the 6th of December - this month is flying by.

I started the day with the Roter Winterpunsch.  I tasted it before I looked up the ingredients.  Well dang, it would seem that I need to change my opinion on Hibiscus, because wouldn't you know it, it's also in this blend.  This is another winter flavored tea and I think the best one I've had so far. 

 I give this tea a rating of:

I was a little confused when I pulled the Espress Black Tea out of my advent calendar.  Ummm, excuse me this is a TEA advent calendar - I don't like coffee!  The funny thing is while I can't stand the taste of coffee, I love the smell of it.  Both of my parents were big coffee drinkers when I was growing up and I always loved when the coffee maker came on in the morning.

I was very hesitant when I added the hot water - it smelled so much like coffee.  I tentatively took the first sip, thinking I was probably going to be pouring the rest of it down the sink.  I was so wrong!  I absolutely love the taste of this tea.  It literally tastes like how coffee smells to me.  I know that might sound silly but it's so good!!  I give this tea a rating of:

The very first tea to get a rating of FIVE teacups!

I try very hard to be fair with my children; also I don't want one of them giving me grief for showing one college themed Christmas tree and not the other one!

Here are photos of the tree I decorated with a Clemson theme the Christmas before my son graduated.  I will say that Clemson ornaments were a lot easier to find!

I think I still have most of these ornaments.  Now that we live only 30 minutes away from there, I could do a yearly Clemson Christmas tree.  That would make five Christmas trees - I don't know if my husband would go for that.  Maybe it will just "appear".

Toodles until tomorrow....

 Clemson Christmas Tree

Keeping the Tea Alive on Day Five

Yes, I'm a day late again!  I'm still coming out of my sugar coma from all the delicious cookies I ate Thursday evening!  I hosted a cookie exchange at my house and I'm going to say that we had an awesome time - I know that I did!

We have now lived at our Wiseman Walhalla Wonderland for just over a year.  In that time I have been blessed to meet and become friends with all these amazing ladies.  We were so fortuate to find a realtor who not only was the best at her job but has also become a dear friend. 

My husband and I have great neighbors and I love that their daughters like to come over to our house for tutoring and baking lessons.  They also love to give Tom a hard time!

I'm priviledged to be part of the "Fantastic Five", this is my pose of quilting gals.  We have lots of great adventures going to quilt shows and shopping for fabric - you can never have enough fabric.

Through volunteering at a local elementary school I've made some new teacher friends and get to be their baking, decorating and tutoring fairy 😉

Then there's my OG walking buddy who was my very first friend here and has been such a great resource for all things in the area.

How lucky I am!

Look at all of those delicious cookies.  Can you smell the sugar?  Such a mouth watering assorment of baked goods.

What goes perfectly with these cookies?  Of course, a good cup of tea!

The Freudenbringer (say that one quickly three times in a row) tea was a winter herbal mix that was really tasty - obviously it didn't have any Hibiscus in it 😜. I give this tea a rating of:

I had no idea what to expect with the Orange Cream Roobos Red Tea.  I've never tried a red tea before and had to admit it was a bit shocking to see the red color when I added the hot water to the cup.  However, the smell was amazing.  The orange was an unexpected taste and I like it.  I don't think this is something that I would drink on a regular basis but I'm really glad that I tried it.

Fingers crossed, I am going to stay caught up now.

Toodles until next time....

 

Day Four but a day late....

 

I apologize for my tardiness in posting.  I was having too much fun yesterday afternoon/evening (more to come on that in my next post) and ran out of time.  Oooops!

I started the day yesterday with the North Pole Peppermint Oolong Tea.  I haven't normally been a fan of Oolong tea but this one proved to be very minty and tasty.  A great tea to start the day with but not something I think I would drink on a regular basis.

So this tea gets a rating of:

Speaking of the North Pole.  Here's a blast from the past.  This was the photo from our very first Christmas card in 1994!  We moved to Fairbanks, Alaska in August of that year and when we saw this sign we knew it would be the perfect place to take a photo.  Of course, this was before cell phones, yes, there really was such a time!  This shot involved a 35mm camera, timer and tripod.

When we went back to visit in 2007, this sign was no longer there....so I'm really glad we have this memory.

My second tea of the day was Blutenliebe, which translates to "Flower Love".  This tea had hibiscus, mint and rose flavors.  I'm coming to the conclusion that I am not a fan of hibiscus.  To my tastebuds it tastes like dirt!  I'm thinking floral flavors are not my cup of tea - pun intended!

So it gets a rating of:

Toodles until next time...