Liz's Mind-- Proceed with Caution

I felt special seeing my favorite type of black tea ever featured on the OLL blog!  And I just got an electric kettle and some $20 (EEP!) tea especially for NaNo.  The expensive tea is fruity and nice, but when I really need to hit the caffeine, the Twinings Lady Gray comes out full force.

lettersandlight:

This blog post fueled by Twinings’ Lady Grey tea.

Every year, I look forward to November for two very important reasons. The first is NaNoWriMo. The second is tea.

Growing up in Southern California, otherwise known as the land of perpetual summer, November was the first month when drinking warm beverages made sense. Each year, I’d eagerly await the moment when it became cold enough to indulge in tea, or peppermint hot chocolate, or a perfect caramel latte without feeling like it made more sense to order it over ice. In fact, the Bay Area’s slightly more inclement weather was one point in favor of my moving up here for college: the “tea season” begins earlier in Berkeley.

I have always loved wintery drinks, but when I began to participate in NaNoWriMo, my holiday favorites acquired an entire new significance dependent solely upon their caffeine content. It’s easy to switch from coffee to espresso, but in the past, the most problematic part of November was the switch from herbal tea to black tea, which I never really liked.

Then I spent last year studying abroad in London, where I was taught (by fellow Wrimos, no less!) how to prepare a proper cup of black tea—and everything changed. Now that caffeinating season has rolled around again, I feel it’s my duty to share my black tea tips with the people who might need them.

 

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