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I was very lucky and won in the supremely entertaining, intelligent, and creative Geek Day Tea Giveaway that Rabs planned.

The tea package came with intriguing instructions and each tea beautifully wrapped. I had to wait to procure my camera from my son and then took some pictures: the pictures do not do justice to the elegant packaging.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/destro/4675973000/

I hope that the above link will show you the beautiful and drop-dead gorgeous packaging. I am certain that this is the way gifts are packaged in the Tokyo branch of Tiffanys.

Today I rolled the die that RABS included and came up with an 8. The tea is Evening Escape by Tea Guys. Even though it was close to 3 in the afternoon, I decided to drink it instantly because the packages says “black tea, flower petels”. I opened the package and smelt——my sorely missed morning Lapsang Souchong!!!! Really! I wouldn’t consider Lapsang Souchongs an “evening escape” unless enjoyed with an opium pipe. The smell really stoked me to expect a great tea and this one did not disappoint me at all. I see that the Tea Guys are from Massachusetts and I can visualize them having Arlo Guthrie over for tea, music, and a pipe on the evening. They are on Adirondack rocking chairs on the wrap-around veranda of a retropurposed farmhouse which is now a tea blending company. As I wait for the tea to steep my mental image of the tea guys is complete. There were those lovely purple-blue flowers in the tea as well—-I believe that they are mallow flowers—and I like them. Anyhow, I see the Tea Guys as looking a bit like Crosby, Stills, and Nash of 45 years ago. “Carry On” they sing as they pick their mallow flowers.

My first impression is that this tea is a light Lapsang with the sweet floral highlights. I really like it a lot because I start to slurp it eagerly. It does taste a bit like a combination of Leland Lapsang and Mariage Freres Eros and in the combination it becomes unique. I know I will have to order this tea!
I felt as if I had been prudent enough. I waited almost 24 hours before the lovely package from RABS arrived to roll the dice so I decided to have a second cup and to try the sweetener/milk combination. NB: I do end up preferring most teas with a bit of whole milk and a few little brown/amber sugar crystals. This tea stands up to the milk without compromising any of its integrity and the sugar if anything enhances the sweetness of the floral element.

All in all, I pronounce this tea a quasi-divinity and pronounce Rabs a tea-Goddess for coming up with this lovely and alluring competition.

Evening Escape by the Tea Guys is very versatile: it will taste like bacon in the morning; like a robust lapsang with flowers in the afternoon. And the evening? It might just be an escape, but it is no soothingly lazy herbal blend. This is a daytime tea for me and a delicious delight.

May thanks to RABS for her exquisite inventive imagination and her superb good taste.