Bonnie Send Message

Cool Summer Mountain Morning

This weekend was the Boulder Tea Festival which I’ll write about in more detail as I review the tea’s that I tasted, the brilliant sights, sounds and people I met.

Boulder sits at the foot of a granite rock mountain (which explains the name of the town). In Summer during late afternoon, dark clouds form over the mountains, then thunder and lightning echo’s through the canyons bouncing off the rocky hills. Crackles and crashing followed by short downpours of rain or sprinkles. Noone bothers about it in this picturesque town.

Yesterday we had a good bit of rain…enough to make the sky dark blue grey and the Rocky Mountains look shrouded in mist.

This morning the air has been cooled enough to open all the windows and freshen up what is usually too warm by 10am. I have missed writing on Steepster and reviewing tea while I was sick last week. The rain has rinsed the dust away (maybe I’m like a piece of aged Puer.. and needed a rinse!).

This Xingyang Silk Road Spice is my third packet in the Alchemy Blend Starter Kit. The ingredients are 2008 Xingyang Shu Nuggets (good for my stomach), Organic Spearmint and Peppermint, Fennel and Cinnamon…all favorites of mine!

Not having any fear of a good dark brew, I decided to steep the leaves 3 minutes…and then…I forgot what I was doing…and remembered at about 6 minutes….eek!
Was this a disaster?!
Nooooo!
The wet leaves smelled so minty…the cup of almost black/brown tea was mint/cinnamon scented and tasted rich, warm and mellow with a natural sweetness from the Puer and cinnamon.

My mouth felt cool from the mint and warm from the fennel and cinnamon at the same time. I could breathe in and out smiling at the duel effect.
I sat for a moment, enjoying the air coming through the open window so clean and fresh from the rain the previous evening. Being still and letting myself think about the taste led me to remembering some of the Greek food I like to eat and the YiaYia’s (also spelled Ya-Ya for Greek Grandma) at Church who lovingly prepare dishes passed down from one generation to the other. Dishes often made with mint and cinnamon (and other things…hum).

I got bold.

I went to the frig and picked up a lemon and cut off a piece of zest (peel), then went into the cupboard for some honey.
I wanted to create a cup of Greek Tea!

I steeped my tea 3 minutes again (not 6), sweetening a little bit with honey and dropped a piece of zest in the cup. Yes, this was good! Opa!
I went and made some up for a cold brew.

The silky smoothness and warm, cool feel of this tea is so fine and soothing for the stomach. Impressive!

My love of these Alchemy Blends keeps growing and growing!