Honey Black Lemon Tea Balls

I’m finally getting around to trying this Honey Black tea stuffed lemon “tea ball” that I’ve been waiting for a special occasion to steep. This will not be my last tea of the year (I drank this on December 31st), but it did feel right to finally break into this beauty given how unseasonably warm it was outside which meant that for the first time in probably forever I was able to actually have an outdoors tea session on New Year’s Eve. Such a rarity and treat here in Montreal!!

This tea is also quite a special treat in and of itself! I don’t know if I’ve seen a lemon stuffed with tea in this way from anyone other than Mountain Stream Teas, and it’s not even the most “out there” chenpi-style of stuffed fruit they’ve offered. Unwrapping the rope to crack the peel almost felt like destroying a piece of art, though in the end it was worth it to get to have a taste. This is very much more than one session’s worth of tea leaf, but the portion I did steep up was phenomenal. Full bodied with just a bit of a sharper and borderline medicinal top note of brisk, pithy citrus before pivoting into a sweet, lingering mix of dark honey, lemon, malt, and florals that coats the palate and back of the throat. It’s dynamic and packed with flavour while still serving up so much nuance. Perhaps the most elevated version of a lemon black tea that I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEQhHRuyDJz/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxqfTLJ_BZk&ab_channel=PolyvinylRecords

Today is beautiful :)

It’s about 10:30 am on Christmas Eve. The sun is out in the far south and shining through some glass art Kiki made that I have hanging in my bedroom’s sliding glass door. The glass is casting red, yellow, blue and green across a small triangle of the floor.

I hear the throaty gurgle of one of the troublemaker crows in the date palm out front (the resident crows inspired another non-review https://steepster.com/derk/posts/419916 ). A migratory waterfowl hollers softly in the distance and at least 4 other kinds of birds are chirping. I see some of the little ones hopping around on the hog wire hoop trellises we set up for the green beans and cucumbers last year. One little bird is going back and forth from the chamomile to the avocado, to one of the figs, to the pot of paperwhites in bloom, to the mandarin. I opened the door to get some fresh air and the temperature and humidity are perfect right now. The door is staying open for as long as this blessing of a day permits.

Kiki put a tray of breakfast at this isolating invalid’s door. My favorite breakfast — hearty toast topped with feta and a fried egg. A side of pink pineapple that is everything I thought a pink pineapple might be without having tasted it before. Side note: pink pineapples are GMO and Del Monte “remove and replant each crown before shipping, sustainably cultivating the next crop of this magnificent rarity.” That’s doublespeak for “we don’t want anybody else growing our trademarked plant at home and making money off it.”

This tea is a blessing, too. Made by the hands of some unknown people in Taiwan. I would like to see their hands tie the knots in the string that cradles the lemon.

I’m on the other side of this virus.

Feeling so overwhelmed with joy and beauty and gratitude right now that I’m on the edge of letting some of it leak out through my eyes. I feel ashamed to experience so much bounty when others are without. I have to reabsorb these feelings, wrap them up for now, pass the package on to somebody who needs it. Someone very important to me once told me I’m too sensitive; countless others have told me I need to open up more. There’s a lot going on in this fleshbag of chemical and electrical processes. It’s best to just carry on as I am.