tea!
Check out bexn's blog. It's da food (not bombs). http://www.bexn.net/

My ode to tea! Here's my collection:

Loose: camomile, honeybush, rooibos, red raspberry leaf, earl grey creme.

Bagged: hawthorn berries, peppermint.

I bought the camomile from Aphrodisia in Greenwich Village. The woman who runs the place has a lot of different herbs and spices and teas in there. There aren't many stores like it around. She also carries organic camomile, although she was out of it at the time when I purchased my (non-organic) camomile.

I first tried honeybush when I was working at a mostly vegetarian cafe in Brighton, UK. It carried a lot of different teas (mostly bagged), and one day, I tried the honeybush. At first I thought it tasted like dirt. Then it grew on me. I re-acquainted myself with it at Teany earlier this year, and then I went in search of it at Aphrodisia. She has it. I don't remember if it's organic. Honeybush has an earthy taste, but then it gets fuller and deeper the more you drink it, and it's never gone bitter on me, no matter how long I've steeped it. I think it's South African. No caffeine.

Rooibos also is from South Africa, I think. I bought a box of it (loose) in England before I left. Technically, it has "expired," but I'm gonna keep drinking it because I've got a memory attached to it. It was quite popular in Brighton, which, like all of England, is culturally fixed to tea, but has a healthy bent to it as well, so people there lean towards finding good non-caffeinated options. It's also called "redbush." The tea is red. Personally, I think it tastes freaking good with milk and sugar/honey, but some people can have it plain. I think it tastes thin by itself, but it smells good however you want to drink it.

Red raspberry leaf: non-caffeinated. It's got astringent properties. I drink it about ten days before my period, because supposedly, it reduces cramping. I believe it -- drinking red raspberry leaf tea, combined with using the Keeper/washable pads has made my menstrual week much more bearable. (More on this in a future post!) The tea actually tastes pretty good, health properties notwithstanding. I find it comforting, like green tea or plain ol' black tea (Chinese-style).

Earl Grey Creme: The tea of choice for Teany's customers. I usually don't like Earl Grey at all -- overpowering flower-type smell that ruins the tea, in my opinion. Earl Grey Creme somehow tones down the flower smell, and softens the edge with a little bit of vanilla. It's good! I bought two tins: one for myself, one as a gift. The price is steep: $10 for a 2-ounce tin. I'll cough up the money this once, but I'm convinced that Teany is making a killing on it, so I'm hunting down its potential sources. I've got a suspicious eye on www.specialteas.com. Teany carries an Earl Grey called "Earl Grey Royal." Well, so does SpecialTeas. Even more incriminating: SpecialTeas has an Earl Grey called "Earl Grey de la Creme." Hmmm. I'm thinking about buying a bag of the de la Creme, to see if it's the same.

Hawthorn berry tastes like plastic. I bought it from Neil's Natural for my parents to try, because supposedly, hawthorn is good for high blood pressure. My mom said that there's a Chinese herbal soup that is made from hawthorn, that can be made to taste a million times better. So no more hawthorn berry tea, although Neil is my favorite Flushing neighborhood health food man.

Peppermint: one day, I will try brewing it fresh. In the meantime, for the purposes of quick brewing and digestion, I will keep bags of it around.