Teatotaler Send Message

Bio

“Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea.”
- George Orwell

Darjeeling is the tea that inspired me to begin my beautiful journey through the wide world of tea and will always reign supreme in my tea pantry! My first tea love, so to speak. Nothing beats a truly great Darjeeling such as a good muscatel second flush. Also, Autumn flush Darjeeling, I believe, has been greatly under appreciated. Darjeeling autumn flush Gopaldhara Red Thunder Gold that I purchased through What-Cha is the best tea of any kind I have ever had the pleasure of drinking! I am most definitely a Darjeeling dude!

Other than my much beloved Darjeeling, teas that I especially enjoy are fine estate Assam teas such as Assam Dikom Estate or fine Ceylon estate teas – low, mid and high grown.

Besides my much beloved Indian and Ceylon teas I must say that I adore a really good Chinese Keemun and is another tea that is always stocked in my tea pantry. Yunnan tea and Formosa oolongs are other favorites.

As for scented teas, I am an Earl Grey fanatic! Earl Grey in fact is my main go to tea. Other favorites are rose, jasmine, violet, orange blossom, black currant, vanilla, almond, caramel, and spice.

I have a fondness for most herbal teas – A complete rooibos fanatic! I’m very fond of camomile and peppermint too. However, I absolutely detest hibiscus!

Black teas are my favorites. Green tea is okay, although I do love iced green tea! Pu-erh is just plain nasty in my opinion. Being fascinated with Russian tea culture, I take my tea Russian style with no milk and sometimes a little sugar or honey or, perhaps, fruit preserves such as strawberry or cherry. A lemon slice is also welcome. I would love to have an antique Russian samovar! A tea glass held in a podstakannik is also on my list. The Kusmi Russian teas are amazing with the Anastasia blend being my favorite.

One of my favorite guilty tea pleasures is Darjeeling with honey as King Charles III takes his.

I try to purchase organic tea whenever possible.

Location

Richmond, Virginia, USA