Summer Tea

I take my tea with no milk or sugar, and am generally not fond of blended teas. Not a great fan of earl grey as well. Mariage Frères' 'Earl Grey French Blue' is the exception. Bought a truckload last June. The fragrance of bergamot scores a real hit in its balanced blend with a full-bodied ear grey. The royal blue of the cornflowers always adds a brilliant touch to the aesthetics of the plain tea leaves. The teahouse has a fairly breathtaking array of Darjeeling First Flushes (not to be confused with Darjeeling oolong) from different estates too. I love those. Its annual offerings are consistently gentle, uniquely floral without being cloying.

I've a constant supply of tea from many sources. :) Each spring, the Aunts send their picks from English tea companies. Many teas are gifted by the friends who know my preferences for certain brands/estates/regions. They've cleverly picked non-Chinese tea as gifts. Much easier to decide on. I'm pretty anal about my Chinese teas. The friends would rather not buy me any even if they know my favored teas, unless they're absolutely certain of origin, year of harvest, and how long it has been aged. Not unlike whisky. Heeeeeee.

A upset tummy from a tainted dish (or juice) at dinner, and overall peevishness meant that I should hide away from the world. It also meant subsisting on oats and tea for the day. I even rejected the sambal pomfret and vermicelli that the maid had cooked for lunch. Which made it a perfect day to open up a comforting new tin of 'Earl Grey French Blue' gifted by the ever thoughtful Lady J.  

Ignore the cappuccino coffee cup pictured above please. I'm not a stickler. A cup is a cup, regardless of what it's meant to hold. Have you seen the tiny Chinese tea cups? And how purists insist on teapots and cups made of Yixing clay, stone or bamboo. For some teas, I'm fine with using glass. Heh. As long as I brew it right, it'll do. I even skip the teapot sometimes and just pour straight out of the brewing pot. But I'm slightly more particular about cups for whisky and rum. A nosing glass is vastly different from the glass used to imbibe it neat or on the rocks.