But First, Fifty Teas.

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. C.S Lewis

Every year I set out to learn something new. I’ll be damned if I don’t have some personal growth every year of some sort. Besides, life is short or long depending on how you look at it; I am going to try to eeek out every experience I can before I die.

This process is really a hit or miss process.

One year I set out to learn everything I could about whiskey. I still don’t know my ass from my elbow when it comes to most whiskeys. However, I did learn quite a bit and sampled 27 different varieties till my impending motherhood put the kibosh on drinking. I would consider the whiskey drinking a bit of a miss only because of the kid but I did discover that I am indeed a 76-year-old British man deep down inside complete with tweed hat. You may call me Edmund Nigel Rickwillow III.

This is all a roundabout way to talk about my Tea challenge of 2013. Fifty teas in 365 days. No duplicates. Holy shit! How am I going to do that? With great joy and furious vigor that’s how. Annoying amounts of vigor

Typical household conversation while on the quest:

“Hey, honey I heard there is a tea shop that mixes their own teas a short fifty-mile drive from here.”

“It will be fun!”

“Yes, it will. Don’t 

make that face.”

“Sweetie, please don’t hide in the bathroom. C’mon we are going on an adventure!”

Annoying amounts of vim and vigor! Hell, even I annoyed myself. But, I love to talk exhaustively about my current mission/goal that totally isn’t obsessive. Yes, it is still cool. Please be my friend. ahem.

Here is what I discovered. I think in the same way wine is very much up to the user’s palette so too is tea. Yes, there are flavors out there; blends, mixes, regional variations that impart greater richness to the flavor profile. Again much like wine. However, if you are someone who can not tell whether the tea was picked in rainy season or sunny, that the person who picked it wore gloves and there was dew present on the tea. Who gives a shit! The most wonderful part of tea I think, I only speak for me, is that it is a hug from the inside out. It feels good in your hands, it feels good in your mouth, it relaxes the soul and gives you a hug. That is what it is all about and frankly, I think we all need more hugs. Internal and externally. I’ve attached my exhaustive list of tea I tried below. Some were very good, some tasted like satan’s asshole.

Teavana English Breakfast served cold. Only had it hot. Yummmy

Peach Tea by Stash. Serious yum. Mixed it with regular

I had a delicious English breakfast at cafe brief across from the library. Researching the brand

sweetheart valentines day tea by Bigelow. Bleh. Cannot stand red-hot candies and this is reminiscent of them complete with red food coloring…

Teavana Lime tea

white chocolate tea from Bigelow. Kills my sweet tooth craving for chocolate. But it is not really sweet.

St. Dafour organic black cherry tea

adagio peach oolong

bengal spice celestial seasons tea is delicious. I adore cinnamon tea and this is perfect non-bitter tea

Teavana – Kona Pineapple pop. YUMMY!

Teavana – wild orange blossom. Way to bitter for my tastes

Teavana – Blueberry bliss

Teavana – Citrus Lavender sage

Teavana – Opus rouge

Teavana – Strawberry rose champagne

Teavana – Maharaja Chai Oolong

stash – decaf chocolate hazelnut

Red Leaf Tea Company – Maple matcha

Peach Apricot – The Tao of Tea at the Portland Chinese Garden

Mint lime Mojito – Zhena’s Gypsy Teas. I own this tea but never had it hot. Total meh

Lemon Zinger by celestial seasons. Yummy lemon. Going to try iced.

Teavana Wonderberry chocolate truffle. This I liked a lot. But mark deemed it from Satan’s Asshole.

Tao of Tea Vanilla almond

Teavana – salt caramel tea

Teavana – Banana foster

Teavana – Peach tea

Strawberry Cream Tea Teavana – Too much hibiscus

Spiced vanilla chai blend – teachaiate

Vanilla tea from Camilla tea

Cinnamon tea from Camilla tea

lychee tea from Camilla tea

berry tea from Camilla tea

berry almond amaretto from Teavana

pineapple tea from Teavana

lime cola tea from Zoomdweebies.com

samurai chai mate from Teavana

maharaja chai mate from Teavana

dragonfruit devotion from Teavana- Yum from April

berry kiwi colada from Teavana

Peach Tea from Teavana

constant comment

house tea from Dragon tree

apricot creme from Thea.

Scottish breakfast tea

Twinnings Irish Breakfast

Tazo cinnamon spice tea

Tazo Organic Iced Green Tea

Teavana – Strawberry Sangria

Teavana – Fruit Bomba