Tea time!

 

During the midsummer holiday, I went to my parent's and took advantage of my mother's garden. I had heard from several sourses that it isn't hard to make home made blackcurrant tea. So I went out, picked a whole lot of leaves from the blackcurrant bush and dried them in the owen at 50 °C for some 3 hours. After that they were so crispy that they broke into small, small pieces as soon as I crushed them once in my hand. Already the smell of the fresh leaves on the bush was lovely, but I was surprised to notice that the leaves kept their smell even after the drying process.

There was enough crushed leaves for filling a small metal tin my mom gave me. And now, every time I oped that tin, the lovely blackcurrant scent hits my nose and it really smells like summer. I think I'll very much look forward to opening that tin in the middle of the winter.

When I got back home, I got so inspired by my new tin and my new home made tea, that I decided to rearrange my stash of loose tea. So far they've just been inside a kitchen cupboard, losing flavour while stored inside simple paper bags. But now, I put all of my loose tea in different tins and jars, put a sticker with the name of the tea on the jar and moved them to this small shelf on the wall:

I especially like the white tin to the left. It's a souvenir a friend brought me from London with the Underground map printed on it. It used to be filled with English breakfast teabags, but now I filled it with loose Earl Grey in stead - so still remembering the origin of the tin.

I also have a lot of teabags in a wooden box made just for them, but perhaps I'll show you that another time. Maybe when I've finished my mug jacket I've been planning to make to prevent burning my fingers on the hot cup of tea.