Why Be In A Hurry?

Did you have a nice holiday weekend?

Hot dogs and hamburgers?

No hot dogs here, but I did have a turkey burger 

and some delicious macaroni salad and a beer (or two).
I watched the 4th of July festivities on TV .. beautiful!
How do people stand being out in the heat??!!

I have taken the red, white and blue buntings off of the balcony.

The Uncle Sam windsock has been replaced by a bright red flag

with a large sun, cactus and red pepper ...

a colorful message that the HOT summer has arrived! 

**

TeaVivre sent me samples of their Spring Green Teas.
I love the TeaVivre packaging ... really sealed!
The first one I tried is La Shan Yun Wu.
Opening the package I could immediately smell the tea ...
sort of a roasted spinach odor.

The dried leaves have an interesting texture.
Really dark green.




I like brewing the TeaVivre samples in my little red pot.
Perfect size for the sample and it has its own strainer.
I can lift it out, drink the tea, and steep another pot if I like.






I brewed the tea for 5 minutes.
Such a pretty light green color.

It has a chestnut flavor ... not overpowering and slightly sweet.

I haven't put up all the indoor holiday decorations yet. 
Why be in a hurry?!

You can see what the leaves look like after one brew.

Still delicate looking, but they really open up. 

TeaVivre said this was a good large mug tea,

so I got out one of my new mugs.

This is one from a set of four given to me on my birthday

 by another of my sisters-by-choice.

She knows how I love my tea and the birds!

I have a tea quote for you:

“As far as her mom was concerned, tea fixed everything. 

Have a cold? Have some tea. 

Broken bones? There's a tea for that too. 

Somewhere in her mother's pantry, Laurel suspected, 

was a box of tea that said, 

'In case of Armageddon, steep three to five minutes'.” 

― Aprilynne Pike, Illusions

Wishing YOU well, much joy and a wonderful cup of tea!

Thank you to the hosts of:

Mosaic Monday

Teatime Tuesday
Teacup Tuesday

Friends Sharing Tea

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Share Your Cup Thursday

Teavivre

I was asked several weeks ago by Teavivre if I was interested in tasting some of their teas.

Since tea is one of my favorite things, I didn't hesitate and said "YES"!
My package arrived late last week.
I quickly opened the box, reached in, and picked the first tea to taste --
Organic Superfine Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea.
(Clicking on the links will give you even more information about this tea.)

The tea leaves are a lovely jade green and sword shape -- all very much the same size.

When I opened the package there was a slight grassy smell and after steeping

I picked up a slight hint of spinach (that's great -- I love spinach).

I steeped and tasted at 1 minute, 3 minutes and 6 minutes. 

At one minute the taste was very light, mellow, almost sweet.

At three minutes, the taste was a bit stronger with some of the nutty flavor starting to appear.

At six minutes, there was no bitterness at all and the nutty flavor was strong. 

The color was still this lovely yellow-green.

Known in China for more than 1500 years, Dragonwell is still hand picked and processed according to the ancient methods of "Cha'Ching" or "the way of tea."

Dragonwell is famous for promoting mental alertness.

I can see why this was the favored tea of the Chinese emperors. 

Tea to the Chinese is like wine to Westerners,

With changing colors, aroma and taste.

There are many different kinds to suit individual and social tastes,

and able to refresh the palate, restore the spirit and can be medicinal.

Wishing YOU well, much joy and a delightful cup of tea!

A big thank you to our tea party hosts:

Tea Time Tuesday

Teacup Tuesday

Friends Sharing Tea

Tuesday Cuppa Tea