Mad About Tea

I have a confession to make: I'm addicted to tea. Ever since NaNoWriMo, I have betrayed my Bostonian roots and have been drinking tea like a colonial loyalist: frequently and without a care. If the tea tax was still in place, I would probably pay it just to get my tea fix.

To make matters worse, not just any tea will do. Like a British loyal, only hoity toity teas will do. No Celestial Seasonings or Lipton teas for me! I used to love the scent of Celestial Seasonings' peach tea, but the taste...uhg. All acid; I was very disappointed.

Anyway, since the revitalization of my tea obsession (to clarify, I have been drinking tea since I was a kid, but my obsession with it seems to come and go. My love of high tea will have to wait for another post.) I have been looking for local tea suppliers that boast quality teas. Yeah, I could get my tea from the local Teavana, but the trendy, fruity varieties don't interest me. Plus, I enjoy supporting local businesses when I can. Luckily, in a city like Boston, I have some options.

Tealuxe is a local tea cafe and restaurant that serves up a good atmosphere and a nice pot of tea. Though their bubble tea is, in my humble opinion, over priced, I splurged and got their caramel creme brulee bubble tea. I was pleasantly surprised. The roasted tea flavor supplied the "brulee" while the caramel flavor (doubt it's natural) blended well with the tea. I also like their Irish Breakfast for a morning pick-me-up.

However, it looks like Tealuxe's Irish Breakfast might be knocked down to second place after I tried the Scottish Breakfast blend from Upton Tea Imports. What a nice, malty and smokey breakfast tea. I'm looking forward to opening the gen mai cha (brown rice tea) I ordered. The real toasted rice in the tea should add lovely toasty, nutty notes to the green tea. I haven't had gen mai cha since leaving school (a scant seven months ago) and I'm totally craving a non floral green tea to balance out all the black tea I've been drinking lately.

I'm off to go drool over some tea blogs and websites. Ooh, I should make scones! Mmmm, lemon curd...

Formally yours,
Darth Formal