This tea is basically the essence of Christmas tastes to me, in the best possible way. It’s like drinking a warm winter pudding, redolent with soft warming spices and a rich fruitiness from the currant and orange peels, set against a robust breakfast tea base.
And it’s not too heavy on the cloves, which have a tendency to make me grumpy when they’re TOO overbearing, which they can be in some holiday-flavoured things. I mean, they’re there, but so is a good measure of ginger and cinnamon and cardamom. Bang-on, old skool holiday goodness.
(Though I do remember in my cooler, pre-asthma days, when I’d smoke those fantastically goth black clove cigarettes – like, a whole two a week, mostly in the interest of socialising with the other academics who smoked – so many people would comment that they smelled like Christmas time. I found myself sharing a sidewalk with somebody who was smoking one a few weeks ago, and it is a really comforting scent. I just don’t like too much of it in my tea.)
But I digress. The bad news is that my work just sent an email that I’m due to be auto-enrolled in the university’s pension scheme, even though I’ve literally opted out of it FOUR BLOODY TIMES THIS YEAR, and I thought they were supposed to give it a rest for a few years if you say no the first time. I’m sure this will mean there will be a chunk of change missing from my next pay packet that I’ll have to wrestle back from them a month later, which is pants because it’s Christmas and my pocketbook is so strained I’m scared. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAERGH
/nervously sips tea
