the caramel
the caramel, or "caramel tea" in english, was all that my friend N in reims could stomach in the morning. she told me she absolutely could not eat any food until lunch time. but she could drink one cup of caramel tea-- something she adored. i tried it once. it was black tea with little nubs of caramel looking things mixed into it. it was awful! (sorry, N!) it's bizarre to me how one would think to make something like caramel tea-- it's a strange combination.
i realized that a thermos of great tea is the only nice thing about having to get up at the butt crack of dawn every morning. it's a happy little glimmer of normal i while facing the 8 a.m. hour. so it's no use drinking swill. i love tea and i shouldn't be wasting my time with lipton. so last week i ordered some more mariage freres tea from the cultured cup in dallas. (culturedcup.com) JOY! i was so excited when the UPS man showed up at work on thursday. i ordered the following:
2 oz passion fruit
2 oz french breakfast (my favorite tea EVER)
2 oz wedding imperiale
2 oz montaigne d'or (mountain of gold)
the mountain of gold smelled is amazing. the passion fruit-- heavenly. the french breakfast-- stunning, bien sur. and the one i was looking forward to-- the wedding imperiale-- smelled just like the caramel! i was so bummed. i made a cup this morning thinking that perhaps the taste would be better than the smell-- but it's no better. it's still this sicky sweet fakey caramel toasted coconut monstrosity. the only redeeming feature is that it immediately reminded me of france and tasted like something i've only tasted in france which made me smile. it's a taste that doesn't exist in america. sort of like how there's no cinnamon flavor in france.
all the same, i think mariage freres is the best tea i've tasted. although barry's from ireland is strong and golden and delicious and comes in bags for when i'm in a hurry in the morning (most of the time). both are worth checking out.