I had an existential tea crisis yesterday. I was looking for a specific blend (that I can’t even remember now) and I searched through all 3 very large shelves I have for tea, along with the smaller compartments they’ve taken over… and then my 2 huge baskets of sample. And I realized. I have too much tea! So I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off fluttering over what to do about it. Sell big sample envelopes? But I dug through my samples and could hardly bare to part with any because I still want to try them. Ugh! So I stuffed a swap envelope I was preparing extra-full to make myself feel better and went to the post office in a tizzy. Tea is taking over my life! What shall I do! And then I came home to a package form tattooed_tea and quickly my worries were forgotten because hey, new tea to try! Of course this only compounds my problem but it’s hard to beat the new-tea rush (even when it’s only samples!)
I decided to try this first because I love Christmas. I find it a relaxing time of the year (usually… not in 2012 orz) and hoped a big cup of Christmas cheer would calm me down a little! I have floating anxiety that tends to “latch on” to every little problem and make it seem way bigger than it is. So really, the “too much tea” thing probably seems really silly but for a hour or so it filled me with so much anxiety I felt like I was going to burst at the seams with worry.
Ahh, this was just what I needed! It smells like, well, Christmas. Cinnamon, star anise, allspice, cranberry. And while there doesn’t seem to be much green tea when it’s dried it blows up and totally filled up my steeper. Or maybe that’s the mistletoe? Regardless this is a wonderful blend and quite different from other Christmas blends that I’ve tried which usually come down to cinnamon, orange and clove. The tastes here are surprisingly complex and I am loving the tartness the cranberry adds! The one downside is how darn heavy this blend is, it would be expensive to keep stocked round the year!