Tea

I love tea—all different kinds of it. Recently, Jim West was discussing a new tea that he had gotten, vanilla jasmine. I especially love jasmine tea, so I asked him if he would bring some to SBL in November. Being the kind soul that he is (and a fellow tea-drinker), he generously sent me a couple of bags—along with a selection of other teas. It arrived yesterday.

This morning, as part of my normal ritual, I made a cup of tea, using the vanilla jasmine. The tea bag had a faint vanilla smell, so I was looking forward to the aroma of the cup of tea. Disappointing! There was no aroma. I wondered if the taste would also be flat... No, there was a nice, faint vanilla flavor to the jasmine. Very nice, just what I would have expected from Jim. He and I have a long standing dispute about how strong a flavor a cup of tea should have. I prefer mine to shout at me; he prefers his "minimalist," as he calls it. But, I must admit that the minimalist flavor fits this tea very nicely. I think I will have another cup...