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.

Typhoo Tea

A nice, strong cup of tea that stands up to milk and sugar--that's what we like in the parlor. And this week, we are serving Typhoo Tea, that stalwart British tea. This is the tea to warm your toes after a cold day spent snowshoeing or fishing, the comfort tea you reach for when you just need a good cup of tea to brace yourself to face the world. Because it's blended, there's no individual elements that jump out to a sipper. It's robust and smooth and as good with a sandwich or soup as it is alone.

2012 Iced Tea Winners

The North American Tea Championship has concluded, and just in time for today, the first day of summer. Their website has the winners posted online. So let's all grab a glass of one of the winners or our own home-brewed sun tea or cold tea, and convene on the patio to enjoy these lazy, summer days. Happy tea drinking!

Tea Quote

"Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors." Alice Walker

It's still strawberry season, so we've been drinking our strawberry-and-chocolate infused Adagio Valentine's Tea this weekend, whilst sitting on the patio and enjoying the slightly cooler (and mosquito-free) mornings. They won't last, so we must get in as many al fresco breakfasts as we can. This morning, we served a zucchini and onion quiche with the delicious strawberries.

Dilmah Supreme Ceylon

We've been wanting to try Dilmah teas for quite some time, having read its praises in online reviews. We were delighted to find some in a local shop last weekend, and have been serving Dilmah Supreme Ceylon this week in the parlor. We're quite partial to Indian teas, as we like our teas strong, and the Supreme Ceylon is that. It's very smooth, with no tannin detectable. It's not as bright and lacks the slight citrus undertones in the Adagio Ceylon Sonata that we are particularly fond of, but we are enjoying the robust heartiness of this ceylon, which no doubt owes its taste and aroma to being a single origin tea. It's the perfect breakfast tea to accompany McCann's Irish oatmeal, or as an afternoon pick-me-up.

Those who prefer a malty Assam tea may find this too thin or bland for their tastebuds, but this is an easy transition tea for someone wanting to try a slightly familiar taste that is not a mixed blend.