Good morning, dear tea friends! I’m so sorry for missing my tea post last week. Last Friday night, my basement flooded with 4 feet of water from a tremendous rainstorm, and I lost power and heat. In fact, I still don’t have heat but the good news is that will be fixed this week. Going through an experience like this, all I can say is – thank goodness for tea!!!!! This morning’s cuppa is a lovely black tea from the Temi Estate in Sikkim, a state in northeast India just north of Darjeeling.

Originally a Sherpa village, the Temi Tea Garden was established by the Sikkim government in 1969 and is the only tea estate there. Its gently sloping hills cover about 440 acres.

I steeped the leaves for 3 1/2 minutes in boiling point (212F) water. As the tea steeped, a rich fruity fragrance emerged from my glass teapot.

The leaf is tippy and infuses to a gorgeous dark amber color, much like a second flush Darjeeling.

The cup is brisk yet sweet with notes of honey and fruit. It’s rich enough for a dash of milk.

A hot cup of tea is so welcome in a chilly house! Until next time, enjoy your tea and have a Happy Halloween!

“The wind outside nested in each tree, prowled the sidewalks in invisible treads like unseen cats.
Tom Skelton shivered. Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows’ Eve. Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like the plumes of funeral parades. From kitchen windows drifted two pumpkin smells: gourds being cut, pies being baked.”

~Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree