Violin in C Sharp

 This is such a lovely variation on Earl Grey.  Steepers is a local tea shop in Campbell, California and I often enjoy the blends from their shop.  Thankfully, for those of us who do not live near their brick and mortar shop, they do have an online store where I can get my refills. I am not often a big fan of the taste of lemongrass in my western tea blends as lemongrass for me evokes sense memories of Chinese and Thai food.  In this blend, the bergamot and orange changes that lemongrass flavor enough that my Asian food sense memory is not triggered. So many Ear Grey variations turn to other florals to balance the bergamot - and while I like a good Lady Grey with the cornflower addition, other variations with rose or lavender become too floral for me.  Of course, those that add florals usually use bergamot oil instead of bergamot flower and you can see from the wet leaf blend above that there are bergamot flowers and very little oil residue.  I will also lo...

In case you hadn't figured it out - NEWS FLASH - I love tea.      Like several other tea aficionados in my extended friend group, I have managed to make my love of tea more than a simple appreciation of a beverage - I've developed my love of tea into a full blown hobby.  I collect different blends, I follow different tea companies and their blend collections the way some hobbyists follow card sets.  I have multiple drawers and shelves full of tea related paraphernalia, I have an electric water kettle that has multiple temperature settings specifically for different types of tea.... tea is a part of my daily life.  When I take a vacation someplace special, I try to find a tea cup to bring home for my collection.  For Mother's Day last year, I took my mother out to a fancy tea house to treat her to a Mother Daughter afternoon tea as a way to mark the celebration of the day. I LOVE tea.      With this in mind, it should come as no surprise ...

Winter Spice is a black tea blend by Steepers in Campbell, CA First off, a word about Steepers.  Steepers is a local tea shop in Campbell, California that sells their own blends of loose leaf tea, tea paraphernalia, tea mix ins (like rose buds, dried currants, jasmine flowers, etc), and freshly steeped hot and iced teas.  It is a fabulous small business that deserves support if you're ever in the Campbell area.  Of course, this IS the digital age, so if you ever see me review one of their blends, you'd really like to try it but know you won't be in the California Bay Area any time soon, you can always find them online at:  http://www.steepers.net/ Alright - Winter Spice. I love how comprehensive and descriptive Steepers makes their blend write ups The cinnamon, clove, and orange peel really come through as the main flavors on this blend, which means of course that I love it to bits as those are some of my favorite things to add to my tea blends. The color after a 5 m...