I’m a little bit peculiar, I think, in my tea preferences change seasonally. Without really intending to, after I’d become a regular tea drinker, I often caught myself saying things like, “This would be a good tea for breakfast in the Summer,” or “This would be better in the Winter.” To me it just feels natural to change my teas—especially breakfast teas—with the changing seasons.

I bought my first tin of Taylors of Harrogate’s “Scottish Breakfast Tea” last Spring, and I fell in love. But as the weather got hotter, I decided it was a tea for cold Winter mornings, and I look forward to buying more now that the weather is chilly and the mornings are turning frosty.

This is really a great tea for the cost. It’s a blend of Assam and Kenyan leaves, and it’s warm and bright in the cup. It’s nice and strong, malty with hints of oak, and I find it on the brisk side so I brew it 190º and take it with a little milk. I get compliments on it whenever I serve it to guests. It’s a favourite of mine that I can’t do without!

I’ve created a Ma.gnolia.com account especially for Badgerish.Net, where I’ll be adding links to lifestyle stuff I find throughout the week, which will post here on Saturdays. For awhile I’ll be adding links I’ve collected in my Firefox Bookmarks, and from my other Ma.gnolia account, so posts may be long at first (a second account is needed because Ma.gnolia only allows one posting job per account). They’ll be of a more reasonable length after I get everything moved over to the new account.

PingMag MAKE features an article on Kikuchi Hojudo, who make the most beautiful cast-iron tea kettles I’ve ever seen.

It’s a fascinating interview (punctuated by many lovely photos) with the president of the foundry, who says Kikuchi Hojudo was founded during the Azuchi-Momoyama period (c. late 16th century). Go see!

muscatjelly_04
Originally uploaded by aelfsciene

Jelly made with muscat (champagne) grapes. Jonathan made this beautiful-tasting stuff.