I’m a tea person. I’ve never liked coffee (although I like the aroma) and since giving up squash and fruit juice, I now only drink water, green juice and tea. You can imagine which one of these I enjoy the most.
The narrowing down of my beverage options has motivated me to look into improving my daily tea experience. I’ve long been aware that tea-bags contain little more than the sweepings from the factory floor, but now I’m finally investigating loose leaf tea for the first time.
Just before Christmas my sister bought me a lovely little tea pot with a built-in infuser and so I needed something to put in it. I bought a cannister of Gold Leaf Tea from M&S thinking this would be a good start. Sadly, it’s very powdery and is very strong, so I decided to look online. I searched for organic teas (considering I’m trying to go in that direction with my food) and came across TeaLyra.
After suffering from duodenal ulcers about ten years ago, I was advised to avoid black tea early in the day, so I drink at lot of Rooibos (or Red Bush) tea from South Africa. It is caffeine-free and is said to contain a number of minerals and is a high source of calcium, iron, potassium, copper, manganese, magnesium and zinc I don’t think it tastes as good as black tea but I can drink it with half a sugar and no milk. Unfortunately I can’t abide herbal or fruit teas.
I ordered some Organic Rooibos Pure from the website as well as a small amount of Organic Orange Pekeo Ceylon. I wanted a “proper” tea to have around 4.30pm (tea-time!) and really liked the softness of the Ceylon tea-bags a work colleague brought me back from Sri Lanka. It turns out Orange Pekeo doesn’t mean it has an orange flavour but that the young leaves are picked when the tips first open. Not unlike perfume, tea is a whole world of its own with its accompanying jargon, varieties and of course, connoisseurs.
Obviously I have a lot to learn, so tell me…
Do you have a love of loose leaf tea? What are your favourite varieties and where do you purchase them from? Have you tried any of the teas by Aftelier Perfumes? What equipment do you use and do you drink it from china or glass?
Let’s talk tea in the comments.
A Bottled Rose 