Day 7: Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea

This morning I got up and went for a walk, even though I didn't really want to.  My mind feels like it doesn't really want to do anything today - it's a bit foggy and unmotivated. Classic Monday-morning feeling, especially as yesterday was a nothing day. But I put on my trainers and sallied forth into the grey weather.  Over the weekend it was pure summer...this morning it was back to chilly winds and grey skies.  I can't really say it was raining this morning - it was more like water drops were being sprinkled randomly, with no real intent or purpose.  I would put on my hood and then realise I didn't need it, and after thirty seconds the raindrops would come again so on went the hood, and then the sky would go blue again...it was very strange.  I enjoyed my walk, although I was tired, and I'm glad I went.

I came back to make a pot of loose leaf earl grey tea. Earl Grey seemed to define the weather this morning, and the loose leaf tea is particularly pungent. Earl Grey seems to me to be the quintessential English tea.  The 'Earl' conjures up images of royalty and nobility, and the 'Grey' represents the continually changing weather, the London fog, the dark winters, the grey skies. All of these factors work together to create a general desire for a 'proper' cup of tea, and here it is.  I like the first cup especially, since it hasn't steeped much and is still light in colour and in flavour - a mere memory of this tea flavour.  Even smelling this tea makes me feel like I'm sitting for a moment in an old stone castle, not a more modern flat.

I'm trying to think of words to describe this tea, but it's difficult. It's just so much a 'classic' tea.  What does classic tea taste like?  How does it manage to be a classic tea and yet give a posh sense to it, a little bit of a snooty nose and straightened shoulders?

I'm starting on my second cup now, and it's definitely darker.  Almost a sense of the 'earth' in it.  Hmm, now I'm beyond sounding like a wine taster and am moving towards sounding like a whisky taster. Now THERE would be a fun blog....

Walk length: 45 minutes