Dilmah Irish Breakfast Tea

Today in the parlor we served Dilmah Irish Breakfast tea, a nice, strong, unblended, strong-to-help-you-face-the-day tea. Although not a blend, this was a smooth tea, strong, with no pronounced tannin aftertaste that stands up well to milk and agave nectar. It paired well with an egg and bean burrito and tofu bacon.

Celestial Seasonings Peach Cool Brew

Summertime is iced tea time.Celestial Seasonings has jumped into the cold brew market with several flavors, including Peach Cool Brew. Peach iced tea is a favorite in the parlor, and this tea is delightful. A blend of black tea for a little caffeine zing when the summer heat wears you down, and peach for enough natural sweetness that no sugar is needed. Best of all, this drink is ready to cool you off in just minutes. We're not great fans of herbal hot teas, but we lile herbal cold teas, and we love this one. This refreshing drink would be perfect swinging on the porch, lazing in a hammock, or even camped out on the couch with a stack of books. We've been enjoying it with snacks as well zingy pineapple salads, grilled chicken, and burgers. This is a great, readily available iced tea made with Celestial Seasonings quality; we just wish it had one of the cuter boxes for which the company is famous. Ah, well, better a superior content than a cutesy box, eh?

Impra Royal Elixir Tea

This Independence Day, the parlor is serving IMPRA Royal Elixir Knight Tea's Pure Ceylon Tea (big leaf). This a a nice ceylon with a strong, crisp, citrus aroma. One online review complained that this is too reminiscent of bergamot and must, therefore be infused with other teas or oils. However, ceylon tea should have a strong citrus aroma; we here in the US are used to milder ceylon or blends that incorporate ceylon.

IMPRA is a pure ceylon, however (note the Lion Logo from the Sri Lanka Tea Board), with nice, big leaves carefully packed in a foil bag inside a tin, which keeps the leaves from crushing. Those tea drinkers used to a more mellow ceylon may not enjoy the stronger flavor of the IMPRA, but we found it very enjoyable, a smooth, bracing cup. This morning, we served it with an apple strudel. As summer storm clouds scudded across the sky, we felt emboldened to tackle the wind-blown debris clean-up after a few cups. An excellent cup to start or finish the day.