July Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea that makes you smile
Why did this tea make me smile? Because when I reached into the mailbox and saw an envelope that definitely wasn’t a bill, I knew it was a card from gmathis! This teabag was inside the card with a little piece of advice to make it half and half with black tea because it is so sweet so that’s what I did, combining it with Decaf Ceylon from Harney and Sons since it was after 3 pm.
Another reason to smile was that it was so timely. I have made a few different types of jams and preserves – fig jam, pear preserves, grape hull preserves, grape jam – but I don’t think I have ever made strawberry jam until today.
Last week the strawberries at the grocery store were on a big sale at a “3 for” price so we bought three. One container full was eaten, one was partially gone to the turtles, and the other was still full and the remaining strawberries were clearly about to be on their way out. So I made strawberry jam for the first time and the tea arrived just in time to pair it with my inaugural slice of toast with homemade strawberry jam.
And WOW was that cuppa sweet even though it was half strength! But it was also PERFECT for my afternoon treat. I saved a cup for Ashman and gave him tea and toast after supper and he glugged all the tea right down. It actually reminded me Anna’s Blend from Tin Roof Teas long ago, a tea I have sorely missed. That one as strawberry with yogurt flavor and the cream cheese flavor for the cheesecake aspect of this was close. I usually dislike stevia but it didn’t bother me in this since it was heavily diluted by the black tea.
I would totally buy this just for mixing with plain black tea. It might be great with green, too. Thank you, gmathis! You made my day!
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Our buildings and grounds guy is a tea dude and raved about this, but whooie kazooie, straight up, it makes your eyebrows sweat!
Ha I was drinking this one the other day, but I forgot how sweet it is and accidentally added my regular amount of sugar. Whoops, that was tough to drink.
As someone who is absolutely terrible at making food as soon as I stray away from beverages, I so enjoy the loving way you talk about preparing food!
AJRimmer – this is soooooo sweet, I can’t imagine it with sugar or even not cut with another tea! Ha ha! I bet that really was a tough drink.
Kaylee – I do enjoy making people (including me!) happy with food! Drinking tea has really helped me expand my palate, too. Today’s kitchen adventures also included zucchini bread for a neighbor having surgery tomorrow and chicken pot pie soup for our supper. Thursday, neighbor gets black bean enchiladas if he is well enough! Tonight I gave him homegrown Cherokee Purple tomatoes and Szechuan pepper for a special tomato sandwich with his mom who is staying a few days while he recovers. We have to eat, so I like to make it happy!
Ok now you’re just making me hungry!
Our buildings and grounds guy is a tea dude and raved about this, but whooie kazooie, straight up, it makes your eyebrows sweat!
Ha I was drinking this one the other day, but I forgot how sweet it is and accidentally added my regular amount of sugar. Whoops, that was tough to drink.
As someone who is absolutely terrible at making food as soon as I stray away from beverages, I so enjoy the loving way you talk about preparing food!
AJRimmer – this is soooooo sweet, I can’t imagine it with sugar or even not cut with another tea! Ha ha! I bet that really was a tough drink.
Kaylee – I do enjoy making people (including me!) happy with food! Drinking tea has really helped me expand my palate, too. Today’s kitchen adventures also included zucchini bread for a neighbor having surgery tomorrow and chicken pot pie soup for our supper. Thursday, neighbor gets black bean enchiladas if he is well enough! Tonight I gave him homegrown Cherokee Purple tomatoes and Szechuan pepper for a special tomato sandwich with his mom who is staying a few days while he recovers. We have to eat, so I like to make it happy!
Ok now you’re just making me hungry!