30DC20: Something That Makes Me Happy

(If it weren’t already obvious enough) This blog is largely about all my favourite things – which is why it took some serious brain-wracking for me to come up with material for today’s topic, Something That Makes Me Happy, that I haven’t already talked about a bajillion times before.  But lo and behold, when I looked around my work desk for inspiration, I caught sight of something I’ve been obsessed with for about a year now that I (shockingly) haven’t shared with you yet on my blog -

It’s tea!  I absolutely love tea and have even before it became the cool, new It thing.  We’re big tea fans in my family, so I grew up drinking pu erh after meals to help with digestion, drinking tie kuan yin when we go out, serving jasmine when friends are over, etc.  One of my uncles is Japanese, so we also picked up the habit of drinking chilled barley tea in the summer to cool off, as well as plenty of oolong and matcha year-round.

I love it all but I find that I tend to favour tisanes (herbal teas), rooibos (a variety that is caffeine-free), and green teas.  I have no issues with caffeine, but it's just what I seem to prefer.  I’m also trying to drink more oolong because it’s supposed to have anti-inflammatory properties and therefore be beneficial to people who have eczema.

A quick glance over at the ledge of my work desk shows that I have 3 varieties of flavoured teas, all from the David’s Tea (pictured above): Coconut Oolong, Organic Super Ginger, and Daydreamer.  The first two are so popular that they are constantly sold out at my local store, and I had to go all the way to the gorgeous, huge location in the Village in Toronto (aka Church Street, aka gay district) to procure them. 

Coconut Oolong is part of the spring collection and, oh my god, it is so delicious.  I like to open the can sometimes just to smell it.  It’s creamy and nutty and almost slightly floral; somehow the coconut flavour plays really well with the botanical-ness of oolong.  I’ve tried it plain and it’s nice, but of course I like to load it down with a ton of sugar and milk (or cream, which is even better).  Most days I take it with a splash of 2%, a packet of sweetener, and two sugars (for my thermal mug at the office, which is about 1.8 cups).

I discovered Organic Super Ginger because of my girl Aqua – actually, I discovered David’s Tea because of her.  She had a tummy ache one day and the lovely Tea Guides at our local store recommended this to her when it was the Tea of the Month.  It is very spicy and peppery, and it’s my go-to for when I’m feeling, um, crampy.  Like I said, they can’t keep this stuff on the shelves, so I was delighted to score the last 76g from the Church Street store!

Daydreamer is a lovely, fruity, green tea – sencha, to be exact.  I love it because it’s fruity without being tart, which is rare.  Most fruit teas are sour to at least a small degree.  This one is just fruity deliciousness, no tang to speak of, and the mango, mangosteen, and guava complement the sencha perfectly.  I love it.  This is also part of the spring collection, which means it’s also limited edition!

My absolute favourite tea ever deserves a special mention, even though I don't have a picture of it - it's Banana Nut Bread, a herbal tisane also from David's Tea.  It's always been a Fall limited edition tea and I've been hoping and hoping they'll make it permanent already because it's liquid happiness.  Just the smell of it is intoxicating.  Because it's a very heavy tea though, with banana slices and currants and nuts, it's rather pricey. I've done the math, and ordering a cup from the store works out to be about the same price as buying it in bulk and making it at home.  By the time I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a tin to take home, it was sold out and gone from stores for the year, which left me devastated!  Thankfully, the sweet Tea Guides at my store saved a collector's tin for me, but I've learned my lesson for next year!

Deep in the bowels of my desk, I have three more kinds of teas.  I have two varieties of boxed teas – Twinings chamomile for that time of the month, and Stassen green tea, which is low quality but extremely affordable and imparts a lovely (albeit artificial) floral fragrance.

 

I also have some Mother’s Little Helper from David’s Tea that I’ve banished to a ziplock bag.  I originally liked it because it’s very soothing and calming – it has valerian, chamomile, and peppermint in it – but I haven’t had some in a while because I don’t like how tart the lemongrass makes it.

Et voilà - this is something that makes me happy! :)

By the way, to any other David’s Tea fanatics out there – did you know about their earth day discount?  It’s been going on for a week and there are only about a couple days left, but from now until the 22nd, when you bring in a tin to be refilled you’ll get $1 off instead of the usual $0.50 and if you bring in a travel mug for tea, you’ll get 20% off instead of the usual 10%!

Me + my Timolino = true love!