There are three things I have an excessive passion for, leading me to be very cautious around them, for fear that I will spend all my money on them without realising it. Markers, scarves and tea.
That I enjoy tea should not come as a surprise. My mother loved tea herself, and did her best to pass it down to her children. Although for me the love came late, when at the age of seven I realised that the only reason I disliked the taste of tea was the milk which everyone insisted on adding. Milk tends to block certain aromas, due to certain fats and proteins which make up the colloid. When I stopped adding milk to my tea, a whole range of delicate flavours suddenly appeared.
It got worse, of course, when I came to Australia and found that Twinings sold a range of different tea blends - and all in inoffensive little packs of ten. Suddenly, I was addicted. I had to try every flavour! Over a space of two years I gained new favourites. The calm Earl Grey. The intense, almost meaty Lapsang Souchong. The grape-like Darjeeling, the bright, fruity Lady Grey, the spicy Chai.
One tea which Twinings didn't carry in the little ten-packs was white tea. I also wasn't about to stay with Twinings forever, not when other brands had their own enticing blends. And thus my most recent acquisition is the White Tea with Rose Pods blend from Madame Flavour. It's a very mild tea with just a touch of rose, and is packaged in little silken infusion pods. Perhaps the best part, however, are the little personal notes on the side of the box, and the letter from Madame Flavour herself within the box. You feel that you're buying tea from a person, as opposed to a faceless factory. It helps that the tea really is very good.
The other tea I want to try is blooming tea. It would be interesting to learn how to make the tea balls. And what a lovely gift it would make.
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