A China Breakfast Moment

The mornings in Southern California have been gorgeous this week! Skies are clear blue, birds of all varieties are flitting around, showing off their colors, my rose bushes have exploded in beautiful spring blooms, and Edie has become fascinated with the abundant arrival of snails.

If you look really closely, you can spot the two snails below the rose bush who captured her attention this morning. "They're kissing," she decided. "This one's the mommy and this one's the baby."

"Yes," I said. "That must be right."

I'm beginning to understand the true sentiment of 'seeing the world through a child's eyes.' So many things that I've become blind to or grossed out by are new or fascinating to Edie.  "I touched his eyeball!" she'll exclaim about the snail's antennae, and I have to stop myself from physically cringing or ordering her not to EVER touch snails - Eww! Eww! EWW! Instead, I smile and gently suggest he might not like his eyeball touched, but he might not mind her touching his shell.

I also am reminded of the excitement I feel when I make my own new discoveries. Like the China Breakfast blend sent to me by California Tea and Coffee Brewery.

I was already primed for liking it based on it being a Breakfast blend, but seeing the deep, deep gold-tinged amber brew biased me even more. Is there anything more exciting than a first sip of tea (or the discovery of not one, but two snails frolicking under a rose bush in the morning?). Perhaps there is, but for me, this ranks very highly on the excitement scale. In this instance of The First Sip, I was struck by a hint of what I associate with Puerh teas. The slightest nuance of a fermented tea. It makes me think of that scent you'll find deep in the woods if you were to turn over the soil after a spring rain. But then there's more. A full, robust deluge of that familiar black breakfast blend flavor - in this case from the Yunnan region of China. Bold and hitting every point of my palate, I know I'm drinking tea, not flavored water, and it's good. Just the companion I want to journey through my morning with me. It's not quite as in-your-face as the Irish Breakfast blend that I adore from the same fine establishment, but it could certainly beat the English Breakfast blend in a fight, if the two were to run into each other in a dark alley.

We'll see what other interesting creatures Edie helps me rediscover in the coming days and months and what new teas make their way to me. My mission, however, is to not just be a passive specator, but to be Edie and Anne Marie's tour guide on their new adventure called Life. To point out the beautiful, the exciting, the interesting. I know we'll make many new discoveries together, and I'm looking forward to them.