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Gingerbread tea and pie crust cookies

Ah, again, the tastiness that is Pie Crust Cookies! Today's pairing with Gingerbread tea (a seasonal tea from Adagio - big surprise, eh?) is MOST excellent. In spite of my laissez-faire approach to tea brewing, the gingerbread tea tastes like...well, like gingerbread. It makes me wish I had some gingerbread right now. In fact, that might be a tasty thing to bake up later this week....

But back to the topic at hand - the tea is a typical flavored black tea, providing a good balance between the bite of tea and the gingerbread mellowness. Not one of my favorites, but a nice tea anyway. Definitely would not want anything more substantial than the pie crust cookies with this one - it could get overpowered easily.

Friday! Chocolate MacNut Coffee and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

What a good day!
Zoe slept 10 hours straight last night, JJ woke up at 5 but didn't insist on bouncing out of bed until 7am - at which point he actually ate breakfast! - I worked out a little, got some work done, had a lovely lunch with my friend Joanna at a new place (The Holy Grail - the fried goat cheese with tomato jam was lick-your-plate AMAZING and the Red Dragon burger was scrumptious), and now, for my afternoon coffee, John sent me with Chocolate MacNut coffee and I snagged a couple of my fav cookies from Paradise bakery to go with.

Life is good. Really good.

Honestly, it just doesn't get better than this coffee. It is my favorite coffee of all time. And that's saying rather a lot. It has a velvety smoothness in your mouth that reminds you of that perfect taste you have in your mouth after you drink a cup of really high quality hot chocolate but before you've had anything else. And the cookies (already a fav) match perfectly.

I'm never going to lose weight at this rate, but right now I just don't care.

Here's to living the high life - yeah baby!

Strawberry tea and chocolate fudge

Ok, so it's been a rough day. The baby kept me up most of the night and I had an early morning meeting that I needed to be "on" for. I'm a little dizzy and a lot tired. SO, I was really looking forward to my tea today.

Unfortunately, the strawberry tea was disappointing. The first taste was quite nice but it quickly went bitter on the tongue. Like, I am inspired to shave my tongue bitter. No kidding. The fudge - one of our friend brought it to our Christmas in July party - was the saving grace for the afternoon. I only had a little bit, but it was heavenly and made up for the bitter bitter bitter tea. To be fair, I may have brewed it just a bit too long (like maybe a minute) - if so this is not a tea for the careless tea drinker (that would be me). I'm just not dedicated enough to time things that closely.

rooibos vanilla chai and sopapillas

OK - an odd comb I know. But I just *had* to have some sopapillas today (from Mi Chula's) and the rooibos vanilla chai was the only tea on my desk at the moment that didn't have the word "berry" in it. Surprisingly, they go great together. Actually, I guess it shouldn't be all that surprising since the sopapillas have a nice dusting of cinnamon on them. And they're sopapillas. I mean, really, what wouldn't go well with sopapillas?

The chai is a nice spicy sweet all on its own - definitely a sit up and grab you by the nose kinda tea. It give you that kind of sticky feeling at the back of your mouth that you get when you sip hot cider through a cinnamon stick. In a good way. I like this tea, but I think I will save the rest for a colder day. Since it's a rooibos tea, I could see myself having this before bed, maybe curled up on the sofa watching a rented CSI episode.

Tie Guan Yin and Big John's Cajun

After a delicious Pad Kee Mow for lunch, I was left wanting just a little something more. So I settled on some Big John's Cajun cheese and an apple as my "biscuit" today along with a pot of Tie Guan Yin. This oolong tea is light, floral, and less grass-like than most green teas. It actually holds it own against the spicy cheddar (which is to die for - get a sample and try it at your local Whole Foods), which is slightly surprising, but matches very well with the apple (a nicely crunchy Pink Lady that has been sitting on my desk all week waiting to be munched). I also have some cold yogurt pancakes for the baked item (I'm clean out of crackers at the moment) which also match well with this tea.

If you're a cheese fan, definitely get some of the Big John's if you can find it. So far, it seems to go well with just about everything - including hamburgers!

So, a veritable Friday feast today! TGIF y'all!

Blueberry tea and a chocolate chip cookie

Today's tea schedule was a bit off because I had a bunch of meetings in the afternoon, then I had to feed the baby, and then the my son said his head was grumpy....well, you get the picture. Chaos. Contained, but chaos nonetheless.

As a result, my tea ended up steeping a bit longer than I intended. Like, 30 minutes longer. But fortunately, that was ok. My Adagio Blueberry tea was still pretty darn tasty. I really like the flavored black teas from this company - they have a nice balance of tea-ness to whatever flavor they are using. In this case, the blueberry flavor was pleasantly understated, even with the serious tannin bite you get when you let tea sit too long (you know that fuzzy feeling that makes you want to scrape your tongue across the roof of your mouth?) Brewed properly, this is a very good tea. And it matches REALLY well with chocolate chip cookies. I had one leftover from my Paradise Bakery run (they give you a FREE chocolate chip cookie when you buy lunch) and it went perfectly with the tea. A lesser cookie would've been overpowered, but this one stood up to the challenge. Try it!

Tea Review: Gemini Adagio Blend and White Chocolate Mac Nut Cookie

Ah, Paradise Bakery, how I love your cookies. I was going to have an apple and cheese as my snack today, but as fate would have it, I found myself at Paradise Bakery for lunch (their Fire Tomato soup and Ham and Brie panini are a killer combo) and I CANNOT go there without getting their white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. I'm pretty sure they're illegal in some states - they are that good. Really.

My tea selection for this afternoon is the Gemini blend from Adagio teas. A gift from an online friend, I was pretty excited to try it. It smells lovely - the peach really comes out in the scent. Nice for a summer afternoon. And not at all acidic. Lovely. I wish I had my pie crust cookies today and my white chocolate macnut cookie yesterday! The cookie definitely overpowers the tea, but would go great with coffee . Fortunately, I'll get a chance to try that later this week as I thought ahead and got extras (cookies that is). Unfortunately it is taking superhuman will power not to just eat all the extras right now (did I mention I love these cookies?).

The Gemini tea is definitely a keeper for when you want something light and unobtrusive with a little fruit in the nose. I would order it again when I run out.

First Review: Koa Kona Estate Coffee and Pie Crust Cookies

Ok, so I got to thinking about this tea review thing and thought - why just do tea? So, I am adding coffee and cookies (or biscuits when it is tea) to the reviews. Because afternoon tea doesn't have to be tea - it's more about a short break with a light snack, a moment to reflect on the day and gather your resources for the next few hours so you can finish on a high note.

SO, with that in mind, today's "tea" is Koa Kona Estate Coffee (with heavy cream, no sugar) and Pie Crust Cookies.

The coffee has the characteristics I have come to appreciate in Kona coffees - smooth, full bodied, and very satisfying. This is a coffee drinker's coffee - no pretense of being anything but the classic idea of what coffee is. You know how when you smell coffee brewing it always has a certain smell, no matter what the variety of coffee is? Well, this is that coffee smell, in a cup. Perfect as an afternoon treat, a breakfast pick me up, or a counterpoint to a sweet dessert. Speaking of desserts, the pie crust cookies I chose for my accompaniment today do NOT do the coffee justice. They're good - plain, tasty, just a hint of salt - and would do well with a lighter, sweeter coffee or with some tea. But for this coffee they are just too blase. Something sweet - perhaps a truffle or a thin slice of Italian cream cake - would match much better with this coffee. I'll remember that next time I have some :)

For those interested in the "how to" on pie crust cookies: Make a pie crust using your favorite recipe (I like Crisco's basic recipe). Roll it out and cut shapes out of it like you would sugar cookies (I am fond of the old fashioned tin bridge cookie cutters), slap them on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes (depending on how thick/thin you rolled 'em). I like mine THICK. My toddler loves these things and they are stupid simple to make. If you like yours sweet, sprinkle sugar on top before you bake them.

A Cuppa Day - coming soon

Well, I'm ready to revive my interest in tea. Between my dissertation and having a baby, I've drifted away from this particular love for too long. Unfortunately, news of my temporary tea-less state, never reached my friends and relatives, and as gift giving opportunities arose, the tea samples started to accumulate. I have tea tins stuffed in bags and baskets, on display in the kitchen, falling off of shelves, propping up spices and a random bag of granola, and generally cluttering up the kitchen. My husband actually threatened to give some of it away (ACK!) because "you aren't drinking it." Well, pooh on that. I will drink it. At least, I'll taste it. And, to keep me honest, I'll review it too. At least once a week, and hopefully (as my life gets back under control), once a day.

Meanwhile, perhaps I should look into creating a modern tea ritual to get more out of it than just the tasty goodness...