As usual there's a few things on my mind that I want to talk about, the first of which being green tea and my disastrous relationship with it thus far.
Green tea is like the cool kid of teas. Well at least it used to be. Growing up I always loved black teas, Earl gray, orange pekoe, and English breakfast. Mix up a cup of half weak black tea, the other half creamo, and 2 large spoons of sugar, and I was happy (and hyper). When I first heard of green tea I thought, "wow now that's a sophisticated tea," but by this point I already had a horribly abusive relationship with coffee. There were some days in highschool when I would work out that I had had 1.5 - 2 liters of coffee before lunch! These cups were paired with copious amounts of creamo and sugar as well. Anyways, so green tea was cool, but what would
it taste like?
I thought I'd start my artistic tea phase with some herbal teas of the fruity variety. These types of tea (the raspberry, lemon, and peach zingers) are nowhere close on the cool scale as green tea, I do believe that even black teas are cooler than them, but I thought if I was going to ditch the creamo and sugar drinks for a more sophisticated cup that I should start with something that at least sounded appealing, "raspberry zinger anyone?"
Don't be fooled! Even when steeped for a full 4 minutes these herbal teas never taste as good as they smell. You can pretend to love them, but I'll never be fooled because they are disgusting and will never be loved.
So after a few months of faking a love for raspberry zinger, I thought, "yes now I am finally ready for the ever intellectual and intelligent green tea." I bought myself a "stash" green tea sampler. Even the names of the tea sounded grown up, "organic Japanese green tea, traditional ancient green tea, exotic blend green tea," etc. and the descriptions on the back of the tea bags were even better, "an exotic blend of 4 ancient green teas grown organically in the foot hills of (insert gorgeous place), a light tea with hints of dark rich nuts and fresh green leaves." Alright so it sounds grown up, but still I must try it before I can become an expert on the matter. I pick an original green tea from the sampler, it's described as light and nutty (similar to the rest). I steep it for the recommended time, let it cool down a bit, and go in for the first sip...
BLECH!
I described it out loud to my friends (I was 16 at this point) immediately after swallowing as, "it tastes like the water that you'd boil asparagus in!"
Needless to say I went back to my black tea, coffee, creamo and sugar. I left the green tea affair for several years, until recently where I've thought that maybe my pallate has matured and that I may like it now. I should mention that green tea has been out cooled by the ever exotic yerba matte which you drink out of a hollowed gourd from a silver diffuser straw, so even if I liked green tea, I still wouldn't be at the top of the sophistication charts, tea-wise.
So after many different types of green teas sampled, I have finally found a love. I thought that green tea would never be lovable, but I've found one. It may not be from a classy brand, or even blend but it's delicious, especially paired with a little bit of organic honey (from
happy bees and groovy beekeepers)! Are you ready?
Drum roll.
Lipton ginseng and lemon green tea paired with honey is actually delicious, and I am very happy that green tea and myself are finally in a happy, healthy, loving relationship.
Oh I know I said I was going to talk about more, but the tea affair took too long.
Enjoy some tea on this rainy November 1st!
Peace.
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