I’ve never met a writer that didn’t love tea.
To be honest, I’m not much of a coffee person unless it’s either cafe au lait or something sweet with foamed milk and whipped cream.
But I love tea. And strangely enough, most of the people I know also love tea, so I’m going to tell you all about the types of tea I love.
My go-to tea that I drink first thing in the morning is ordinary, pretty boring old Tetley Orange pekoe, sorry to say. I’m often too lazy in the morning to bother with leaf teas. It does its job.
The first tea other than already-bagged tea that I tried was from David’s Tea. They’re everywhere in BC, and have a lot of different kinds. My favourites are:
Love Tea #7: Black tea, sweet, hint of strawberry.
Read My Lips: Black Tea, chocolate and peppermint flavour.
The Earl’s Garden: Black tea, strawberry, cornflower, and bergamot.
Dragon Pearls: Green tea, very light flavour, has blossoms that bloom in hot water.
Genmaicha: Green tea, Japanese, combination of Sencha and roasted rice. Often served in Japanese restaurants. If you had amazing green tea somewhere and can’t figure out which one it was, it’s probably this one. It’s the roasted rice flavour.
Pink lemonade: rooibos tea, sweet and light, good to drink hot if you have a cold or sore throat, also good to drink cold in summer.
I like to add agave nectar or honey to some of the black tea. Most of them are sweet enough that I don’t need to add milk or cream.
My friend Laurence and Jes (J.K.Pendragon) sent me some tea for my birthday, because before I moved, cockroaches got into a lot of my loose tea. The Vancouver west end is notorious for them, and I am much saddened by the loss of much of my tea stock. However, I got to try some new tea!
The tea they sent me is from a company called Silk Road.
Genmaicha: Green tea, Japanese. Like I said, I love my genmaicha, I can never live without it. It’s very calming.
Velvet Potion: Black tea, vanilla and spices. Sweet and very delicious. I often can’t just have one cup of this at a time.
English Breakfast: (this one is bagged) Black tea. I like this tea because it’s a bit lighter than orange pekoe, but still strong enough that it can wake me up if I’m feeling sleepy.
Lastly (for now, if I find more tea I think it is important for you to know about, I will certainly tell you all about it), I recently went to a tea party one of my friends held at her house, and she had a tea consultant there. I know. A tea consultant! The world’s only consulting teatective. I’m sorry.
She worked for a company called Steeped Tea, and she served us some tea, and I ordered some. My friend also received a ridiculous amount of tea which I will take delight in drinking whenever I visit, which is often.
Amaretto: rooibos, almond flavour. I was in literal ecstasy smelling this tea, and it was just as delicious when I tried it.
Earl Grey de la Creme: Black tea, cream and bergamot. So creamy, even though there was no milk in it.
After Eight: Black tea. I didn’t taste it, but it smelled very strongly of After Eight chocolate. If you held it underneath my nose alongside an actual After Eight bar, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.
Citrus Sangria: Fruit tea, grapefruit and citrus, perfect for drinking cold, especially if you’re making it into an actual sangria by adding white wine.
So that’s my tea post. Feel free to tell me your own favourite tea in the comments or making your own post about awesome tea. Because tea. It’s good for the writer’s soul. A writer can never have too much tea!
Great column
SDMW
I definitely need to try that Velvet Potion! My go-to writing tea is Earl Grey (my favourite is London Fog by Silk Road Tea). Keeps me awake but relaxed, and tastes delicious.