Tea ... For Me?

I'm the luckiest girl! I have a new coworker who custom blends teas. That's pretty cool, you're thinking. Neat to have a hobby, right?

But she blends serious tea! Custom tea for Hugh Grant! Custom tea for Oscar gift bags! I had read about her new venture in our local media years ago, but now I'm working with her. And she brought me some of her stuff. It smelled like heaven. It's black tea with vanilla, cranberry, orange and cinnamon. She labeled it Stephanie's Blend. She even brought me a thermal tumbler with a loose leaf infuser so I could properly sample the tea.

My mom had picked up the girls, so I brought the tea over to her house. We brewed three tumblers full, poured it into teapots and had the best tea party ever. Now, we drink our tea with milk. It HAS to have milk. Many a mug or cup of our tea has been discarded or abandoned when we go to the fridge and find no milk. Occasionally, when suffering in an office building, we have sprinkled a little powdered creamer in there, but it just about ruins it for us. This tea was so good, it didn't NEED milk. We could have had just the tea alone, and that NEVER happens.

My mom considers me "fancy" because I drink Earl Grey or Irish Breakfast or French Vanilla, while she drinks Lipton but I think the tea from Artisan's Cup may change her mind forever. This stuff was so good, we skipped dinner.

You can drink Stephanie's Blend from Artisan's Cup too. Only it's usually called Carolina Spice. But that can be our little secret.