Teatime Tuesday #26

Welcome back to Teatime Tuesday!

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This week, I wanted to talk about a special teatime I had during a recent visit with friends. We got cupcakes from my favorite cupcake shop, Sprinkles–including a special flavor in honor of their tenth anniversary. These sprinkle-flavored cupcakes definitely lived up to their name: they were covered in tiny rainbow sprinkles, and even the cake was spotted with rainbow colors. The creamy vanilla frosting went well with the other flavors.

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For my tea, I had an old favorite: the decaffeinated vanilla black tea from Harney & Sons (which is sometimes called Vanilla Comoro). It’s the perfect tea to have with sweet desserts, because the sugar in the cupcake highlights the vanilla flavor in the tea. Plus, it’s nice to have an option that’s lower in caffeine, for drinking later in the day.

As always, thanks for joining me for tea!

Teatime Tuesday #24

Hello again, everyone! I’ve been working on a blog post about protagonists (specifically, female protagonists in YA), but for today, I have another Teatime Tuesday post to share.

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This week, I had a special treat in the form of some lemon poppyseed tea cake from Wolferman’s, courtesy of my grandmother. It was dense and moist and surprisingly sweet–particularly the frosting, which I loved. (This cake did not last very long at my house!) I tend to be a chocoholic, but I really enjoy lighter flavors like lemon, especially during this time of year.

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As for my tea, I’ve been hooked on Verdant’s Laoshan Autumn Green lately, which is probably my favorite green tea at the moment. (Verdant’s spring harvest teas will be coming in soon, though, so I may have some new favorites to share soon!)

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I also have a bonus teatime picture to share, courtesy of my friend and former college roommate, who made Earl Grey cupcakes last week. (She even let me take some of them home!) They were light and spongy, and had Earl Grey buttercream frosting. Also featured in the photo is a Hufflepuff mug, purchased from our epic visit to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter a few years ago. (I have the matching Ravenclaw mug, of course!) We had Lavender Earl Grey tea from Rishi to go with the cupcakes.

Once again, thanks for joining me for tea!

Teatime Tuesday #23

It’s Teatime Tuesday again!

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This week, I’m revisiting an oolong tea from Verdant called Shui Xian Wuyi Oolong, which I described in a previous post. It’s both a uniquely delicious oolong, and a good example of one with a classic floral profile (as opposed to the more heavily roasted types).

This week, I paired my tea with an extra special treat, a cupcake from Sprinkles. They have a shop in Scottsdale, where they make tasty cupcakes that just might be my favorite dessert ever. (I’ve even had them instead of cake on my birthday.) My favorite flavor is Chocolate Marshmallow, but they’re all excellent. This particular cupcake is a new flavor, Triple Cinnamon, with buttery cinnamon frosting. It pairs surprisingly well with oolong tea; the cinnamon creates a contrast with the juicy floral notes, and enhances them.

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That’s it for Teatime Tuesday! Thanks for joining me. I hope to have more writing-related posts to share with you over the next few weeks.

Teatime Tuesday #4

Short post today! It’s been a busy week, but I wanted to make sure to post the photos from teatime this afternoon.

Teavana roasted oolong

Today I steeped an old favorite, a roasted oolong from Teavana. This particular tea has been discontinued, but I heartily recommend oolong teas in general. Some are greener and more floral, and some are roasted and dark. I especially like to drink the roasted ones during this time of year. (Speaking of which, the weather here in Phoenix is finally cooling down! Huzzah!)

Tea and cupcake!

I also had a dark chocolate cupcake, courtesy of my sister. It spent a few nights in the fridge, so the frosting wasn’t as creamy as the first time I had one, but it was still darn tasty.

Tea and cupcake again!

That’s it for teatime! More posts coming soon.