Tea

This beautiful melange of colors is Herbal Blend No. 1152 from Tea Gschwender. Rose hips, apple pieces, cinnamon, cranberries, hibiscus blossoms, blackberry leaves, lemon grass.

It's like a poem.

It comes from this amazing store near where I work. At first, it's overwhelming. So many choices. Green or black or white tea. Fruity or aromatic or smoky. Hot or cold. Not a good place to go when you're tired and at the end of the day and you just want an iced tea to drink on the way home.

But very good if you figure out a method. Last night I worked with someone who loves the place, and she has come up with a system. She begins by asking to sample either the hot or cold tea brewed daily. Every day it's a different tea, and this way she's starting to develop a base line of knowledge. If she likes the sample, she orders that. Otherwise, she tries something new.

So, today, when I needed to get a breath of fresh air, I went over to the store and tried this approach. Much better. I didn't even sample. I just ordered the iced green tea, which I was told was fruity and very refreshing. Honestly. That's the way they talk: this place is very serious about its tea.

But the stuff was great. A very pale green color, dry, a little bit medicinal like licorice or tonic water.

I'm hooked.