This will date me…

Remember that white chalky medicine the doctors would give your parents when you were a child and sick? Remember the taste?

Yeah well…now think Starbucks Vanilla Rooibos Chai Tea!

I’ve been gone on a missions trip with a group of amazing young people to White River, Arizona. I was thrilled to have found a Starbucks that I visited each morning.

Every morning I’d grab a Venti Black Iced Tea, easy water, no sweetener….and a tall Chai Tea Latte HOT!

YUMMY!

One day I wanted to switch it up! I wanted to try one of the new teas, my pick…Vanilla Rooibos Latte.

So, not a latte for me…however I did love the new netted tea bag!

The flavor was really very chalky, with a milky flavor.

It left a coating in my mouth and an aftertaste that wasn’t much better.

I tried to steep the tea bag and squeeze it a few times to add flavor, did not work.

I ended up throwing it out.

Anyway…

In the favor of the tea, it’s vanilla, what kind of flavor was I expecting? What did I get?

Sorry Tazo… I won’t be buying your Vanilla Rooibos anytime soon!

I needed to post this blog to “tease” you all about an amazing “tea” I got to experience while on the Apache Tribe Reservation.

One of the men shared a tea and his story about how it really helped him. He told us how they find the “tea”, dry it, bundle it and put it in hot water.

The flavor is very mild and the tea is GOOD!

I was given 3 bundles to enjoy and I can’t wait to get home and taste test it for you all, and explain more of the details to the tea!

Hope you are all doing well and I’ll be home soon to be posting more regular blogs!

Be well
Lisa

So I was thinking of all the things that tea is in, I’ve seen tea brownies, and desserts, I’ve seen alcoholic tea and yes I’ve seen Ice Cream tea…but what about Tea Candy, so I did a search and wow, I found some

Bali makes a whole line of tea candy from Classic Iced tea, Green Tea Latte and Citrus Green Tea to name a few. How fun

Bali makes this statement about their Tea Candy
100% natural and contains no trans fat
Infused with real tea extract
A natural source of anti-oxidants
Cool, refreshing and delicious
Individually wrapped for fresheness

TenTea also has a Green Tea Candy

Ten Ren’s Green Tea Candy is ideal for the person who enjoys Green tea and hard candies. These canides are easy to enjoy even when one cannot have a cup of green tea. Made from green tea, maltose, sugar, and lecithin, these hard candies have a green tea flavor with pleasing sweetness. Each piece is individually foiled wrapped and sealed for freshness

I really didn’t find too much else out there, some generic or rip off so called “tea” candies…

Most of the tea candy was out of stock, so someone out there is eating it, anyone care to share your opinions on it?

I also know Teavana has some awesome Tea Mints in a cute tin. I love these and I’ve tried them both, they have great flavor and really do the job. I even have shared them with my grandson when we are out. I’d honestly suggest both of these to anyone who loves mints and likes to keep them around you, and if you don’t and you love tea…you have to give these a try, they are amazing!!!

Both mints are Green Tea: one is Lively Lemongrass and the other is Morning Lychee

Here is what Teavana says about their mints:
Vegan, Sugar and caffeine free.
Green Tea has been used for centuries to naturally inhibit the root cuases of bad breathe
All natural ingredients
3 mints equal 1 cup of green tea
for more infor contact: Sencha Naturals

So, when you are out and you find some Tea Candy let us know, we’d love to hear what you have to say about it.

Muddy waters… it’s all I could think about today as my iced tea was delivered to me. I’m drinking muddy waters.

I was thrilled to be sitting next to Connie who also ordered an Iced Tea. I asked her if she drank iced tea a lot and she said yes, so I got to share with her about my blog and about blogging herself.

Now Mimi’s Cafe is a really nice place to eat. The food is good the muffins amazing but, the ice tea. well, if they took anything off the menu for now it should be their iced tea. It’s awful. I’m not sure what it cost me, I’m sure I don’t want to know. But I can tell you, the taste was that of muddy water.

I was asked if I every drank muddy water. Yes, I have. You know sometimes you just get yourself into a situation where you have to do what you can and that involved muddy waters.

I did not ask what tea it was, and I know I should have, but I honestly don’t believe it was the tea, but more the preparation of it or maybe it was old, or yet the pot was not clean.

I can tell you this, I’ll tell you when the tea is good and I’ll tell you when it’s bad.

So I thought I would drop this in on you, it’s Saturday I don’t generally blog on Saturday but I had to let you know before Monday rolled around.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

I know I talked about this tea when I went to Pi’s Pizza in Saint Louis, but I liked it so much I had to taste test it myself, under my own circumstances and the way I make it. STRONG!

I ordered 7 ounces, I liked it THAT much. It came whole leaf in a bag, stapled at the top. I immediately put it into one of my canisters to keep it fresh.

Let me tell you a little bit about Choice Tea Company.

Formed in 1989, they believe in organics and dedicated to fair trade and ethical treatment of all workers. Founded in Seattle, Wa. Tons of awards, news, press and certifications.

Choice Teas carry a variety of teas and work closely with International growers to create organic teas known for outstanding character and clarity of flavor.

Now I have to say, this is my first Choice Organic Tea Taste Test but WOW!!! for a starter! I’m not sure where I can go after WOW!

I like my teas strong, so I brewed this in a 16 oz container with 3 teaspoons of Mango Ceylon and let it steep for around 3 minutes. I would not do this if I were drinking this tea hot, but since I am all about iced teas, I knew I’d be adding… ice!

This tea fresh out of the bag has an amazing scent, you really smell the mango and it really takes over the black tea that it is combined with. However, that is not the case once it is brewed!

This tea has such a lite taste of mango, it’s off in the distance but, you can taste it, you do know it’s there but it’s not a fruity drink at all. It’s very fresh and refreshing.

The color is a beautiful blood orange color (remember I brew strong) and as it dilutes to a beautiful deep amber color.

The smell is so fresh and honestly I hate to sound “poetic” but it will remind you of an island!

Here is what the package states:
Organic Mango Ceylon Tea marries highlights of fresh, juicy mango with he smooth flavor of ceylon black tea and elegant marigold petals for visual appeal. The refreshing, tropical flavor of our loose leaf blend is also perfect for iced tea.

You got that right it is. It’s an amazing iced tea and I do recommend you try it.

I wanted to start this year with some sort of scale for our taste test.

So, here we go:
on a scale of 1-10, let’s just try to make it simple here

Aroma: 9
Color: 9
Taste: 9

So for now, it’s Choice Mango Ceylon for me…

Let me know what you think!

I’m taking the time to copy this post from my other blog, because I think it’s that important…

I think a nation, any nation without a common goal, stand or stance, is a nation that is soon to lose it’s heritage.

So with that… my post:

his past weekend I had the pleasure to photography a gymnastics event in Saint Louis. I’ll be blogging about it in a few days but, while I was there something happened that really caused me to think.

I was there this past Saturday and Sunday. During those two days there were 7 different sessions the national anthem was to be played at the beginning of all 7. It was played five times.

I asked one of the people why? The fiddle player (who was amazing) was there and ready, why did we not have it played? She responded…well… different matches were going to start at different times so we did not want to do it? I looked around the gym.. no one had started to compete and just said that and she said well, “we just need to be flexible”! WE need to be flexible and WE did not want to do it…I wonder who WE were? As far as I could tell, the only people that noticed were a few other photographers gathered around me and WE did not think it was cool!

So the day ended with two sessions not having the anthem played.

The next day I spent those 3 sessions during the anthem being played watching. As the lady played an amazing tune on her electric fiddle, I noticed many of the gymnasts did not put their hand right hand over their chest. The judge standing next to me did not either. Two woman in charge of the event, and ironically one of the WE people who decided not to play the anthem the night before fidgeted and fixed her hair during the song. Another woman pledged her allegiance to the fiddler with the flag behind her. I noticed a muslim woman in the crowd who stood to acknowledge the flag and a military man standing a few feet away saluting. I saw bikers standing at attention with right hands over their heart and I watched a group of about 10 boys with a coach stand directly in front of me with no hand over their heart.

So, is it optional? I tried to recall at the last baseball game did we honor the flag in the same way? or did we just stand. I wondered that once this young generation before me grew up would they even see a need for the national anthem? I wondered how many of them even know what it was or why we put our hand over our heart.

I came home and asked my husband “So, they play the national anthem, where do you put your hand?” He replied “at my side”. I wanted to kick him off the couch!

So, it began, I went to the internet and found this: Wikipedia: The Star Spangled Banner

Included in that article is this:

Custom
United States Code, 36 U.S.C. § 301, states that during a rendition of the national anthem, when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart; men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold the headdress at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note; and when the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed. Recently enacted law in 2008 allows military veterans to salute out of uniform, as well.[15][16]
However, this statutory suggestion does not have any penalty associated with violations. 36 U.S.C. § 301 Moreover, generations of students who were introduced to flag etiquette prior to its enactment in 1998 were taught that the hand over the heart gesture was exclusively for the Pledge of Allegiance which has had the statutory requirement for much longer.(4 U.S.C. § 4)[citation needed] This behavioral requirement for the national anthem is subject to the same First Amendment controversies that surround the Pledge.[17] For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses are not allowed to stand for or sing the national anthem.[18][19][20]

Here is the link to USC 36

Now my husband made a good point and highlighted for me the papers I left him that I found on the internet and it states:

Moreover, generations of students who were introduced to flag etiquette prior to its enactment in 1998 were taught that the hand over the heart gesture was exclusively for the Pledge of Allegiance which has had the statutory requirement for much longer.(4 U.S.C. § 4)[citation needed] This behavioral requirement for the national anthem is subject to the same First Amendment controversies that surround the Pledge.

I remember being in school and saying the pledge and listening to the anthem over the scratch muffled loudspeaker every morning. I remember placing my right hand over my heart, which I still do to this day. My husband never had to, just to the Pledge.

So, here’s my question to you. Where does your hand go during the singing of the National Anthem?