Maddy Barone Send Message

This afternoon while I was sewing quilt blocks together, it poured. I had the blinds open and as I sat at the machine, I watched the sheets of rain come down. With the clouds and the rain obscuring the light, the day was dark. It put me in an almost melancholy mood. It was like something from a faded sepia photograph. Can you imagine it? Woman at a sewing machine in a gloomy room with a cat in a basket at her feet and a cup of tea in her hand, staring out the rain-blurred window…

This is a very nice tea, so smooth and mellow. Really perfect for a day of summer rain. What could be better?

Yep, love this one! For a few hours today I was able to smell fairly well. Do you know what I do during times like that? I go to my tea drawer and open the tins and bags and inhale deeply. Such joy. Such bliss. So much happiness is found in the rich scent of teas.

I made myself a couple of cups of this one tonight because the scent made me happy. What better reason to drink tea, right?

This is quite nice. I love the neat little tea sachets this comes in. And I mean neat, as in not messy. When I sniff the sachet I can actually smell something that resembles alcohol. The vanilla is very faint. It brews up very dark reddish-brown in my cup, and the scent remains sweet and rich. (boy, I just love being able to say I can smell this. My sense of smell is still very weak, but I do get hints and I LOVE it) Anyway, I wasn’t sure if I would really enjoy this, since rooibos is hit and miss for me, but this one is a hit. It doesn’t seem as “sawdusty” as some I’ve had and I like the hint of vanilla. I won’t go buy an entire tin of this, but I’ll enjoy the sample beelicious sent me.

Another excellent tea from 52Teas! So sweet, creamy and buttery before I even added a splash of milk. I think I detect a slight bit of spice in there too. I don’t get the banana flavor, but I imagine that is me and my failure of a nose. Teas like this make me want to bake. But today it was way, way, WAY too hot for that. Heck the overnight low is expected to be 77, which just makes me want to cry. The air conditioner is struggling valiantly along, but it’s still darned hot in my apartment, so I won’t re-steep this one. I’m going to put it carefully away and save it for this fall. It is worth keeping.

What a freakishly hot day here in Fargo ND USA today! It hit 96 F today, which is by no means unheard of (the record high is 101), but way above the average of 84. Thank goodness for air conditioning! My6 poor brother is a welder, and he’s working 12 days right now because they have a deadline on an order. I feel sick when I think of him wearing his jeans, overalls, gloves, mask all while using a blow torch in an UN-air conditioned shop. Sure, they have lots of water breaks, but when I talked to him tonight he says all his clothes are white and stiff from the salt of sweating. See? It makes me feel almost queasy just to think about.

Anyway, the tea. It is wonderful. I am thinking that honeybush teas might be my new go-to teas for evening. I like them better than rooibos. This one is warm —and I don’t just mean the temperature. The cinnamon gives it a warm spiciness that I imagine would be even more lovely on a cold November evening. I like the natural sweetness to it, and I can almost taste some sort of sweet, buttery/sugary topping like you get on a cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven. This one is certainly a winner. I am really glad I decided to join the kickstarter for 52Teas or I might have missed all these wonderful cups of goodness.

Still love this tea! Had it for my afternoon break. I’m getting faint whiffs of scent from time to time and this one has a subtle vanilla scent along with the mint. I am possibly imagining that, but I’d like to think not. Still a favorite even in the hideous heat of august.

Well, I finished off the generous sample that beelicious sent me of this. I remember it smelling deliciously creamy, almost buttery. My nose didn’t give me that same enjoyment this time, but it was still very pleasant. Smooth and rich. When I order in the fall this is one I’ll add to the list.

I wanted something nice and easy to drink tonight, that wouldn’t keep me up or jittery (the prednisone does that quite well on its own. thank you very much) I wasn’t sure how I felt about honeybush. I’ve had only one besides this one, and I liked it, but I don’t care for many rooibos teas, and I thought honeybush might be the same way.

Maybe it’s a fluke, but I like this honeybush too, maybe even more than the Cinnamon Roll one I had last. (Also from 52Teas) I could sort of “feel” the mint in it, and the mouthfeel was smooth and silky. It brews up quite dark, almost as dark as the pathetically weak coffee they serve at work. I like what little flavor I get. Not the tea’s fault! My nose is mostly on the fritz again. But there is enough flavor here to make me a happy camper.

I heard from the ENT today. The MRI is scheduled for August 20, and if it is good then I’ll be at the Mayo Clinic on September 15-17 being de-sensitized to aspirin. Part of me is really excited. I can not wait to see how much this improves my quality of life. And part of me is terrified. Aspirin could literally kill me. Yes, I’ll be carefully monitored and reactions will be swiftly treated. But it’s still scary.

Meanwhile, I’ll see if a I can get a second steep out of this.

Very smooth. Almost sweet, without any additives like sugar or honey. Really tasty. Even though I can’t taste this (although I have hope! The prednisone is giving me a hint of the scent of my peppermint essential oil, so maybe in a few days I’ll be able to smell and taste) I’m enjoying it. There’s no sharp astringent after taste, no bitterness to take away my pleasure. I might try the remainder of this as an iced tea. We’re expecting more nasty hot weather, and I’d rather drink tea cold then.