Specifically the leaves.
There are actually two posts I need to write about tea. This one is about leaves, the other one is about how I have rather suddenly and unexpectedly discovered that I really very much like green tea and I also quite like herbal ones too.
I drink a lot of tea. My husband also drinks rather a lot of it (he used to drink lots of coffee but discovered a couple of years ago it was giving him headaches, so even more tea is drunk now!) The 8 3/4 cups a day that Brew Tea suggests as essential for daily life seems perfectly reasonable.
Last time my dentist asked how much tea I drink I answered 'more than three' - the reality is usually a bit more like this: Two in the morning, one when I get to work, one at break, one at lunch and one in any other break I might happen to get, one when I get home, and then at least another couple in the evening. (I have started mixing a few cups of herbal tea into this slightly ridicluous regime) When the news came out a little while back that tea bags were stuck together with plastic it was a bit of a WFT moment. I had recently switched from Typhoo to Clipper tea - I'm pretty sure the Clipper bags are actually ok, they’re definitely unbleached - but that is still an awful lot of little bits of plastic I'd been merrily chucking into the bin without even realising it.
It was actually husband who decided that we would embark on a tea leaves project. Normally its me that comes up with the off beat plans to change things, but this one was all Ed. He got all excited telling me he’d ordered tea straining things - although he left the actual purchasing of the tea to me. This parcel arrived on Friday. I am of course a complete sucker for pretty packaging and the did excellently well on this front - lots of nice paper and card and almost no plastic! The bags of tea are sealed with a little bit, but aside from that nadda.
However, as much as I love the beautiful packaging, I’m not a hundred percent convinced on the tea. The English Breakfast is a little strong for me - I've tried to get used to it, but it doesn't seem to be working. Fortunately Ed likes it, as I rather idiotially bought two boxes - not sure why I didn't put an Earl Grey into the mix (3 boxes meant free shipping), the Chai on the other hand is really lovely and nice without milk or sugar, phew.
As for the actual making of the tea, it's fun scooping out the crunchy twirls of leaves and chunks of spices for the Chai - we just haven’t quite worked out a system of what to do with the tea leaves yet. Ed reckons you chuck them at the flower beds and the roses will say thank you. Whilst I am willing to give this a try, but I’m not sure how well this will work when it’s raining and I don’t want to go outside!
So - a bit of a mixed bag - I would love to say I will be buying tea making supplies from Brew Tea forever more as the parcel was really lovely, they're a responsible and ethically driven company - but - I need to actually like the tea! The search for the correct tea blend shall have to continue.
(Screen printing continues - King Aegeus is going to get some waves - after all he does chuck himself in the sea in despair at the loss of his son and thus Aegean Sea - dress rehearsals are in exactly a week and as it stands all of two costumes are ready and they are ones that I ordered. eeep)