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Crikey I'm slacking! Lovely lovely Assam for Day 15. So new it isn't even on the website yet. Nothing 'special' just a really good 'Autumn Blend' which has been such a joy to drink all day. Good body with a wonderful smooth aftertaste.

Day 16: Pai Mu Tan Organic White Peony - this is hands down our best selling tea. I'd forgotten just how much I like it - it's incredibly clean with an almost buttery aftertaste. Because I'm stingy I also rate the value for money - this is the 5th infusion!!!

 No.17 in my ‪#‎yearoftea is Blood Orange Rooibos. Also known as Redbush it's a traditional drink in South Africa. The chunks of freeze-dried citrus give this herbal a wonderful scent and an added dimension to the earthy flavour. As well as having a good rich taste, being caffeine-free and really high in antioxidants makes it good for me too! ‪#‎winwin 

Day 18: Apparently, this is the most depressing day of the year.So for my 18th ‪#‎teaoftheday in my ‪#‎yearoftea I've opted for an Earl Grey Blue Lady Citrus Special. Because Bergamot is used to lift the spirits.
It's a black tea so you could theoretically put milk in it...if you were raised by wolves.

Day 19: Today's ‪#‎teaoftheday is a decaffeinated Assam - strong and malty with a lovely chocolatey finish. Decaff teas always used to have a really weird aftertaste but the High Pressure CO2 method of decaffeination has made that a thing of the past.

 For Day 20 in my ‪#‎yearoftea I've chosen to share one of my favourites It's a Thailand Choui Fong Green Tea really fresh tasting with a little bit of hazelnut at the front and a lively aftertaste. Water at 80°c and steep-time of 3 mins gives you a lovely bronze liquor.

 Day 21: Woke up feeling a bit 'meh' so figured a good antidote would be a Moroccan Nanamint tisane.Whereas I don't exactly feel like I'm sipping the golden stuff in--a-little-alley-cafe-a-stone's-throw-from-the-bazaar, it is really nice and I think I'll be using it later in the year to make a sorbet....‪#‎yearoftea

 Day 8: Well Day 8 in my ‪#‎yearoftea has brought me to the land where it all began - a Chinese Golden Monkey is ‪#‎teaoftheday To be honest the milk does it no favours so I've necked it and just waiting for the second infusion which I'll take au naturel (no, that doesn't mean nekkid)

Day 9: Well better late than never here's No 9 in ‪#‎yearoftea it's a White Monkey Green Tea. One story goes that it's so named because it's picked by monkeys because the trees are inaccessible. It's a good story but I'm a little sceptical - I prefer the story that it gets it's name from the fact that the downy white leaves look like monkey's paws. Either way it's a very good tipple.

Day 10: Thanks to August Moon Tea for reminding me that 10 days into my #yearoftea and I haven't had an oolong #teaoftheday ! This is Dong Ding and I've brewed it at 90° for 2.5mins

 Day 11 takes us to Japan and a Genmaicha. Also known as Popcorn or Brown Rice Tea. Originally this tea was for the peasants as the rice was a filler to keep the price down. Apparently it was also used when people were fasting or to keep people going between meals. I love the mixture of 'grassiness' (is that a word...?) and nuttiness.

 So Day 12 brings something completely different in my ‪#‎yearoftea It's another Japanese tea called Kukicha or 'Twig Tea' and it's made from only the twigs and stems. Seriously no leaves were harmed in the making of this tea! It's a roasted one so it's got a nut-like taste but it's also got a creamy aftertaste an a natural sweetness too. This is thr first time I've tried this and I LOVE it!

Day 13: ‪#‎teaoftheday is a Java Ciater Orange Pekoe 
It's a fermented, or black tea, that's extremely 'sturdy'. If you like your tea with a bit of welly this should hit the spot. BTW Orange Pekoe doesn't mean flavoured, it's merely a leaf-grade.

Day 14: ‪#‎teaoftheday is Malawi Thyolo. I've spent all day drinking this and still can't decide whether I like it or not. It manages to be simultaneously strong and weak (streak?) It's got the maltiness I love but for me it's missing something. I'm going to come back to it later and maybe mash it a little longer...It ticks all the other boxes: Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ but I'm reserving judgement!

Below is a copy of a Post Card posted in Kingussie, in the Scottish Highlands dated June 23^rd 1906 and sent to Mussoorie, India arriving on the 15^th July 1906. I have transcribed it exactly as printed although the sender added a few comments. I believe it sums up all there is to know about tea and tea drinking.

Extract from Armstrong’s Self-Educator. From 1906

Mr. Barlow:- “Now, Harry, I want you to write down, in plain English, all that you know about Tea, which your recent lessons have treated of, and show me how you have profited by my instructions.”

HARRY’S ESSAY ON TEA.

Tea was first invented in Ceylon by Sir. T. Lipton, who brought it over from America to this country in his yatch, called “The Mayflower,” which sailed from Boston after great difficulties created by the crew refusing to do their duties and throwing many of the chests of tea overboard. The crew came to be known as “The Pilgrim Fathers,” because John Bunnion wrote an account of their voyage under that title.

Tea is a brown liquid and is made or confused in tea-pots by women. Its taste is not nice unless a lot of shugar is added to it and it is mostly drunk with milk also, to keep it from getting on peoples nerves.

The Rushins drink their tea in caravans, which they get from China.

People that like their tea little and often are called tea totlers to distinguish them from people that don’t take tea at all, who are called totle abstainers.

Tea is full of black things that float about in it, and you can tell your fortune by them, and whether you are going to marry a lady or a gentleman, and how many, and whether they are fat or tall, and whether it is to be this year, next year, sometime never, and a lot more things.

The different kinds of tea are Black tea, Green tea, Mazawat tea, D tea and other sorts. That is all what I know about tea.

Harry Sandford

If you follow us on Twitter , Facebook or Instagram, way back on January 1st I decided to embark on a 'Year of Tea' by drinking a different tea or tisane every day. This wouldn't be a great hardship as I drink gallons of the stuff anyway. I was simply going to do it more 'mindfully' (to use that ghastly expression). I even made the decision to not limit it to teas which I like but to hopefully rethink teas I don't like with a fresh approach...we'll see about that as I've not worked up the enthusiasm to do that yet.

Anyway because I'm a bit of a Chocolate Teapot in the 'Media-Savvy' department it didn't until now occur to me to post them here - I know ! 

So because we're on Day 34 already, and as none of the posts are terribly large or in-depth it may be better as a weekly round-up rather than a daily post

So watch this space.....