Day 81: African Honeybush, Mandarin and Orange

Today's character, the person who came to life in my mind as I sipped my tea, is Mma Ramotswe from the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.  If you've read this book, you'll be familiar with this lady, a warm, generous-hearted, confident and humble creature.  It's a fascinating mix, and so is the tea for today.

African honeybush is a lovely phrase. Just makes you imagine you are wandering through the back roads of Africa and there is a flowering bush, sage green in colour to match the rest of the dry landscape, but with light white flowers covering it and being tended to carefully by thoughtful bees.  Somehow the bush gives off a fragrance of honey that wafts to you even from a far distance, and if you are fortunate enough to pass bush after bush, you have to stop with your eyes closed and just breathe it in for a few moments to truly take in the beauty.

This tea is like that, and with some citrus flavour to enhance it all, you can't ask for a much sweeter tea.  It needs to be steeped for quite a while - I'm thinking it would make an absolutely perfect iced tea, because by the time it has steeped to the level that all the flavours are brought out, it's no longer hot.  Maybe that's how Mma Ramotswe likes it, but I prefer my tea to either be hot or cold.

One of my favourite lines from the entire Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith is on the second page of the first book. We are introduced to 'Precious' Ramotswe, and her new business, and to her love of Africa.  "I am not ashamed to be called an African patriot, said Mma Ramotswe.  I love all the people whom God made, but I especially know how to love the people who live in this place."

When I read that line, I associated with it exactly. That's how I feel about Scotland.  I moved here ten years ago from America, and whilst America will always be my 'home country' in terms of where I am from, and where I often return to, and where my family is, I am not ashamed to be called a Scottish patriot.  I love all the people whom God made, but I especially know how to love the people who live in this place.  It's a beautiful thing to love where you are and love who you know there.  Airdrie is a town of 50,000 or so, small compared to Phoenix, where I grew up, which is 1.5 million strong and growing.  It's not the kind of place that people move to on purpose, so I'm constantly asked why in the world I left the glories of America to come and stay in Airdrie, of all places.  We have a few stabbings now and then, and a murder or two, and there are places you just don't go at night (or, sometimes, ever), and some people you pass have a bit of hopelessness in their eyes and in their face.  But when I moved here, it was to help support the little church down on North Bridge street, the block building that doesn't look so impressive from the outside, but inside has the words of life and a people who love God and each other and hope for everyone in this town and beyond.  And after ten years here, I especially love this place, and this country, and am proud to have become a citizen of it.

Took a longer walk this morning - just felt like I needed it.  Went beyond my usual and was plagued a bit by bugs, but overall it was a good walk and a beautiful day and I might just go out for another one later!

Walk length: 50 minutes

Day 2: Caramel Rooibos Tea

Having begun my blog with a simple Scottish tea, I thought I'd leap right in on day two with a completely different kind of tea.  My sister bought me this one, called Caramel Rooibos Tea.  I've tried a number of different rooibos teas in the past (but not on this blog, so you will experience them later!), and I like the brown, earthy-yet-light flavour.  It makes me think of African deserts and tigers and giraffes and dried grasses and other things of varying shades of brown.  I started drinking it when reading The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith - I remember noting that she was drinking "red bush tea" and made a note to try it.  Apparently red bush tea in Afrikaans is 'rooibos', so that's where we are today!

This is loose-leaf tea, which gives you the best flavour.  I have a few options for filtering it...one is in a spoon, which is handy for a one-cup option, and the other you just put the tea into it and lift it right out.  I decided to go with the liftable one this time, as it works a little faster, especially with a tea like this one that doesn't require a great deal of steeping. I also chose my mug very carefully, as it seemed to represent the national flavour of the rooibos tea by being rustic, with a variety of browns.  (The mug is from Cyprus, but that's also a hot, dry country, so I think it works.)

I generally drink tea with no milk or sugar so that I can get the full taste of it, and this tea is no exception.  The caramel flavour adds a smoothness that normal red bush teas don't have (they have a sharper bite at the end, I think).  I'm starting to feel like one of those wine tasters!  "Sharp, almost nutty, with a slight bite near the end..."  Well, tea is certainly its own flavourful journey, and I'm enjoying mine now.

My walk today was three circuits round the track of the local leisure centre - perhaps all my travelling is catching up with me, but I am just clean worn out by the end of this day.  But I got some good fresh air and exercise, it wasn't raining when I went out for my walk, and now I'm sitting inside with a lovely cup of smooth brown caramel rooibos tea!

Walk length: 20 minutes