Know me well, or actually barely know me at all, and you know that I am a tea drinker. While I'm not so much a fan of floral teas, I mean, you can keep and steep your Earl Grey, I will fist fight you for my Dragon Pearl Jasmine. Oh, I hear you. You're thinking, "Her! I could totally take that skinny little thing!" You think so? Well, okay you probably could, but you'd have to catch me first!
So, a while ago, when I received a sample of Rose Scented Tea with an order from Harney Teas I was sort of "meh!" about the whole thing. That little envelope lived in my tea stash and every once in a while I would open it, take a sniff and think, "Ewww, roses!" The aroma was strong, sent me straight into thoughts of my nana's rose scented soaps and bathroom fresheners, just strong enough so she could smell it and overwhelming enough to encourage the rest of us to hold it until we got home.
Then a couple of weeks ago on my daily rummage through the stash for the day's iced brew I decided to purge something, get it out of the stash for good. The Rose Scented had to go. I'd brew it and if it was so bad I'd dump it. I even brewed a second pitcher of a different tea just in case. Alright! A third pot, because I always brew two anyway.
To say I was surprised at the taste would be wrong. It pretty much tasted just like I thought it would. The glass approached my nose and I was immediately knocked into a rose garden. The first sip tasted like roses and I didn't think I liked it. I didn't hate it. I was compelled to keep sipping. And sipping and sipping. Until I went for another glass and all that was left was the scent of roses in the air.
My next stop? The Harney website, I love this tea. It was all I could think about until I replaced it. In another surprising twist, this tea was truly enhanced by the addition of a little bit of sweetener (Truvia is my sweetener of choice), and if you are familiar with my taste in tea you know that I prefer it neat, hot or iced. That little bit of sweetness really brought out the flavor of roses.
So there you have it, my floral shunning, sweet rejecting tea drinking self is converted with this tea.
Eighty-nine. AAAAAARRRRRGHGH!!!!!!!! Could you hear my wail today? After writing this post last night (Wednesday) and setting it to publish, I had a doctor's appointment today and among a bunch of information I got the results of my food allergy/sensitivities test. This is the one that may be causing some of the main issues I've been having, but certainly causes others like the muscle and joint pain among other immune or allergic reactions. Turns out that I really do have to go yeast free and I had figured out that strawberries and blueberries were on the list, but on the list of things that I have to at least limit, maybe eliminate, was..........BLACK TEA!!!!!!! WHAT!?
Okay, so I actually don't drink all that much black tea and limiting it to once a week or less shouldn't be all that hard, right? But the Rose Scented tea! So. Sad. But, I immediately went on a search and found this and this, this and this. Luckily for me, Harney anticipated my needs and came up with Hot Cinnamon Spice in green and rooibos varieties. There are more changes to be made to my life, hopefully the next two weeks go by without too much discomfort. Onward and upward. Even if less caffeinated.