Before I get to the tea: I want to announce that the winners of REVEL and THE DARK BETWEEN preorder, chosen through the mighty power of Random.org, are Carrie K and Regina Garvie! Congrats to both of them!
Now . . . TEA!
January was crazy, but I’m back with a tea recommendation for February.
In my early days of tea exploration, I shopped a lot at Stash. You often can find their bagged teas at the supermarket, but their loose leaf tea is quite good, too. The Stash website is a great place to spend some time, especially if you’re not quite sure what you like and don’t want to invest a great deal of money in sampling a few things. I’ve always been pleased by their offerings.
If you like a smooth black tea, you can’t go wrong with the Kenilworth Estate Ceylon from Stash. Here’s their description:
Long attractive leaves, exquisite flavor and subtle body. Excellent afternoon tea.
Ceylon teas from the Kenilworth Estate enjoy the seasonal monsoons which encourage the growth of the teas in the districts of Dimbula, Uva and Kandy. Select tender leaves picked after the first monsoon and processed during cooler weather, result in a creamy character unique to this estate. With long attractive leaves our Kenilworth Ceylon Orange Pekoe has the smoothness of a great Ceylon tea with the intriguing creamy top notes this tea is known for.
I agree that this is a great tea for afternoons — it’s not quite as dark and brisk as an Assam.
Last week, it seemed the perfect choice for “second breakfast.” (Not just for Hobbits anymore!) Steve and I had an early breakfast at Panera — one scone shared between us — and by 10:30 I was starving. So I made a pot of Kenilworth Ceylon and enjoyed it with a slice of homemade cherry orange loaf.
[The recipe originally called for fresh cranberries, but I couldn’t even find frozen ones this time of year, so I substitued tart cherries. They worked fine, but I will try with cranberries in the fall. You’ll find the recipe here.]
What’s your favorite tea for the cold month of February?
[Cross-posted at Livejournal]
