Doomed through hot sippy goodness

[jducoeur]

As many of you know, I've had to cut down on my coffee habit in recent years. Unlike many folks, it's not about the caffeine -- rather, the acid in coffee does a number on my stomach if I drink it too often. But I still want my warming cup in the morning, so I've spent a lot of time, especially in the past two years, learning about Tea.

A couple of months ago, I encountered an interesting tin in Whole Foods, labeled "Tease cafe latte -- caffeine strong loose black tea". Since I often need a kick in the morning, this looked interesting. It turned out to be heavenly, and just what I was looking for: a complex mix of black tea with bits of coffee, cacao and chicory to produce a dark, rich flavor that stands up to some milk and sugar. And "kick" is putting it mildly: it actually hits me stronger than some coffee does, so it has become my official, "Oh, god, how do I wake up?" pick-me-up.

Of course, all good things must end, and the tin is getting empty; unsurprisingly, when I went back to Whole Foods, it was no longer there. (It is very common for WF to carry a modest amount of stuff from local producers, but usually for a limited time.) So this morning I went a-Googling, to see if I could find it online.

Well, it turns out that not only are they online (as Teaguys.com), but the "cafe latte" variety that I've been drinking is just the tip of the iceberg. They have a *lot* of flavored teas of all sorts, as well as the usual mix of high-end conventional teas.

So I just went a little nuts. With flavors like "Maple Sugar", "Coconut Truffle", "Green Walnut", "Green Caramel" -- I think I bought samples of ten different teas, along with another six ounces of the Cafe Latte. Which is delightful, but I think I've just bought my quota of tea (flavored tea, anyway) for the winter, at a sitting, and now I have to restrain myself from buying all the *other* neat flavors...

Comments

[serakit.livejournal.com]

Oh, *yummy*... though the only exciting flavor that I'll actually be able to drink is the green caramel. (Though I doubt it will be quite as much of a habit for me-- I still haven't consumed all of the sencha you bought me.)