My favourite teas.

I was arranging my tea stash and realized I hadn't been drinking several of them for ages. One thing lead to another and as you can see I ended up drinking quite a LOT of tea, of course photographing it as I went and noting to myself some things about each tea type, why I liked it and so forth. So here you go - my favourite teas (of the ones I currently have in my stash, if you think I've gushed about a tea that's not here it's entirely possible that I've finished it already)(I'm a tea fiend)!

Japanese green tea with Matcha powder mixed in 

This is my typical go-to tea if I have it because I seriously love the cloudiness of the taste that the powder creates. It's also one of the most beautiful colours for tea that I know, definitely my favourite of all the ones on the list although I'll readily admit tea of almost any colour has its own charming beauty.

Has a very distinct flavour and mouth feel due to the "powderiness". Very charming and energizing tea, goes well with almost any food and situation.

Keisari (= Emperor) black tea mix

First of all I'll have to confess I rarely buy tea mixes and that I don't generally enjoy them as much as plain types. Keisari is an exception to this rule, it's fun and playful and the scent reminds me of my teenage years.

Several black tea mixes titled Keisari-something (Emperor's Bride, Emperor's Cup) are sold in Finland and they're all very similar, it's like there's a type of black tea mix that shares that first name Keisari. Whether or not this is true one thing is definite: my love for tea began at my teenage years and was caused by these Keisari-tea mixes. A very nostalgic tea for me.

Ylliblómate

This is an Icelandic herb tea and far as I'm aware it indeed is only made of herbs. It takes a long time to brew - longer even than the 5min marked on the bag - but the time spent waiting is well worth it. A very distinctive flavour of flowers and excellent scent.

Gyokuro Tokiwa

Here's the prissy little princess of my tea collection. Very specific about correct water temperature and a short brewing time (you can't leave the pot for a second alone, that's how exact it is), yet has one of the most charming flavours when correctly done, almost like it had natural sweetness. This is a bit of a specialty for me and usually I'd only drink it for celebrating something but it could not be left out of my favourites list.

English Breakfast

Lots of teas seem to go by this name but this one actually tastes like English tea. It reminds me of everything good about England, although I know I tend to complain about Birmingham a lot I did have some great moments there as well. One of them was getting used to drinking tea instead of coffee. I can't say it was easy for me at first and it did also cause me my first massive culture shock but hey English teas are actually really, really good! Even cheap kinds are easily better than some expensive types you can find in Finland.

...and of course this is how I like it best. English tea is special also in that milk compliments it well, something that I learned at the student housing when someone would make tea and ignore my request of not wanting milk in mine - happened a lot and because I never made any note of it and drank my tea with milk it just became the way my tea was made. :D I learned to actually like it a lot! Excellent morning tea just like the name suggests, at its best on light, early summer mornings.

Milk Oolong

Another go-to tea for almost any situation, although never with food or snacks because I love the flavour as it is. It has this soft, milk-like touch to it that's really unique among the teas I have. Another positive part of it is that the leaves can be brewed several times, each brewing yielding a slightly different outcome!

Genmaicha

Ok I cheated! My apologies but this is actually cold tea. It's the kind of genmaicha that comes in a bag (it does of course exist as "normal" tea as well), you fill a bottle with water, dunk the bag in, close cap and soon you'll have a bottle full of tea. Genmaicha has roasted rice mixed with the tea which give it its taste - difficult to explain but seriously yummy. My favourite tea whenever visiting Japan during the hot seasons.

Icelandic chamomile tea

This is another herbal tea (Icelanders do herbal teas really well but that's possibly not surprising knowing the long history that herbal teas have here): nothing but chamomile flowers! Much better than any Finnish chamomile tea I've had. Also much stronger flavour and scent plus natural chamomile-sweetness, my mother who hates chamomile tea would probably not stay in the same room with a cup of it. :D

Jasmine tea

A tea mix with jasmine flowers included, a typical tea type you most likely know well already. Best tea for the cold season, excellent choice for all kinds of desserts such as cakes, pastries and cookies. Another tea that links strongly to my teenage years, my mother always had jasmine tea but I never showed any interest to it until I first got myself firmly hooked on the Keisari-teas. A stable part of my tea stashes always, everywhere, cannot have a proper tea stash without it.

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I know there are several tea lovers among you guys - I don't make a habit of including a question at the end of my blog posts but now I'm genuinely curious: what are your favourite teas? Anything you'd like to recommend me?

Clocks and cups.

Some recent changes in our apartment - the only thing I fear is taking this whole collection with us when we move! :D 

It's very much two collections come together, actually. I collect the cups, my SO the clocks. The cuckoo clock on the side is the newest item to his collection and we're already cuckooing back at it.

Cups!

Cups and clocks and -

...more cups and clocks! The black clock in the back has a little ballerina in it. I thought it fit well with the duck cup because there's ballerinas and ducks and both are pretty. There was logic in it when I arranged them but atm I can't find it anywhere anymore, sorry.

The curious thing about the tall one is that it seems to be a toy, yet the clock part of it is a real clock!

Top shelf represent.

It's hard to take photos of this collection because all the awesomeness really cannot fit in one picture.

The other side of the top shelf.

To end with here's the cuckoo clock. We're getting used to its habits of going a bit too fast, the spruce cone weights that have to be pulled up every day and the constant noise. At first the cuckooing woke me up at night but three nights in I already slept through it without a problem. 

Early autumn colours.

A collection of photos from the past few weeks. Iceland's been quite beautiful and although this is by no means unusual we're likely living the last few bright and sunny (and COLD OMG) days before the autumn really falls on us. After that it'll be rain, rain, rain and lots of tea with perhaps a touch of rum in it, heavy woolen sweaters, waking up in the mornings feeling like a bucket of gravel because the bed seems like a better option to getting out of it, hot soups and the sound of ravens getting up to something no good at someone's trash can.

So.

Before that all happens I'll just try to capture everything pretty. Like the newest addition to my tea cup collection, pale blue and with a relief decoration of a grapevine. Very passing for the season. Also exactly the right size for a cuppa. Stamp says:

WEDGWOOD of ETRURIA & BARLASTON

Made in England

EMBOSSED QUEEN'S WARE

FP DN

We had a huge storm some time ago and unlucky as I am our plane had to land in it! The turbulence was so bad even the stewardesses sat down. Down in Iceland the storm tore asphalt off the roads and threw rocks into cars and buildings. However...

...it also gave Esjan a light sprinkle of snow, the first of this year. She was quite breathtaking in the sunlight the next day.

Of course up north they got a bit more than just a light sprinkle - thousands of sheep were buried in the snow up in the mountains. They managed to rescue many but alas, many of the sheep also died.

I love rowan trees. They remind me of home and they turn so pretty when their leaves change colour. I was surprised at how many of them turn yellow instead of red like they would back home.

This ornamental rowan tree's my favourite! White berries!

And one more photo because I can.

WHOAH IS THAT THE MOON -

(Answer: no, it's our lamp reflecting from the glass but for a moment I was totally fooled by it and took a photo. I'm not one of the sharpest ones oh hi.)

Just a random patch of randomness.

I herd this is sexxay.

Just some spices that became some seriously yummy curry. They just looked so beautiful I needed photos of them.

A lovely flower lady card made out of dried petals, by Godofpoop! I'm thinking of having it framed.

Lastly two cards that join my collection. Both are of Hekla's eruption in 1947.

The above card simply states "Hekla að gjósa 1947/Hekla in eruption 1947", whereas the card below says "Hekla séð frá Selskarði 28. apríl 1947./Hekla sedd från väst 28 april 1947./Mt. Hekla seen from the west April 28th 1947." The photo of the card below is taken by P. Hannesson and the card is printed in Sweden.

These are a few of my favourite things...

I know this entry is wayyyy late, but it needed to be done. Lookie my Bobmas pressie from K and G! I had a teapot before but it was a cheapo Tiger one, nothing much to look at and nothing special for tea brewing either. This one's a whole different beast altogether.

First of all it's so lovely I want to jump around every time I use it, which means every day several times a day. Second of all it's very good for its purpose too. It's easier to clean than the old one, fits more tea and I may be hallucinating a little but I still think tea tastes better when done in this one. I know there are many specialists among You, dear readers, so feel free to correct me as much as you like.

I've forgotten which tea this is but I'm putting my bets on Oriental Rose from The Ounce, another Bobmas pressie, this one from Evanee of E.T. Thank you so much, all of you!

New cups for my collection!

Another reason to really, really thank myself for once being stupid and impulsive and ending up meeting my BF. :3 I swear, that man is dang awesome. I could count you the ways but it would take forever, so instead have a look at what he bought me from Kolaportið!

The first cup: marking TOA inside a diamond at the bottom.

More detail of the decorations. I have to admit I really love the over-the-top style.

Here's what makes this cup so special to me, though. The shape! OMG the shape!

The saucer is equally lovely.

Annnd a detail shot that I managed to wrangle out of my camera after way too many "macro the saucer NOT my skirt"-moments.

Here's the other one. This one simply says JAPAN at the bottom.

The decoration is only on one side, and someone's painted "Gudhjem" underneath the rose.

Backside - no decoration except for the relief border.

The saucer! Aaaaaaaa so pretttyyyyy!

Detail shot of the decoration.

I don't know why, but both of these cups somehow remind me of my childhood and especially the summers when we'd go and visit one of my grandmas (I had three: the usual ones plus a great-gran). Somehow looking at them makes me immediately think of light summer curtains, coffee outside at a garden table and squeaky, old swings. Of how tall hay smells like in sunlight, or how wind from over the lake feels like on the face. Of a well in the garden that you'll have to pump for a while before any water comes out of it, of the sound of cows in the nearby field and the scent of the tall lilac bushes behind the swing.

Ahem. Apologies for the ramble.

Naturally the book was also among the things he bought me... I can't help but wonder if this is a hint at how I could pay him back. :D

Some postcards again.

I found yet one more Fjallkona! Actually I found two but the other one seemed too wimpy for my tastes and lacked all her usual attributes, wearing a toga and holding a laurel wreath instead, phoo. I, however, want Fjallkonan with some weapons please, and this one's quite warsome even for her. I mean look at that scroll. It's just lying there on her lap as an afterthought and will probably be forgotten the moment she decides to whoop someone's ass. Awesome viking era -style sword-shied-helmet combo by the way. There's that star, now as a pendant, and a belt that looks very much like what the national garb has, and even a gyrfalcon (the national bird of Iceland). Me gusta.

However, another thing I like about it a lot is actually the text behind it. I know, it usually puts down the value if someone's written on it but there's something oddly charming about these short little messages written in old-fashioned cursive. This card simply says: "Have a happy summer and thanks for the winter!" in Icelandic. What's more, the address is simply "Unhól" and nothing else.

This card was sent to a fröken H. sans surname, whose whole address was Siglufjörður. The card itself is cute to no end and I want to do my hair like that, if I only found out how. The text congratulates her on her birthday on the 1st April 1917 and is signed by Jóna.

I'm a sucker for this exact type of cards, can you tell? This card was, coincidentally, sent to a lady of the same first name as the previous one, only this one also has a surname included and is addressed to Hafnarfjörður. Likely a different fröken methinks. 

This is - surprise - a Christmas card! The Icelanders have apparently never thought that a card would need to have a Christmassy picture for it to be completely ok to send around that time, and same goes actually for everything else. Cards can also be sent for about just any reason. "Happy summer holiday!" "Happy Friday, thanks for the previous Wednesday!" "Have great fun for the coming week!" Below any line like this, simply a signature and that's all that the card has written on it besides the address. :D

Anyway, this one's got a bit longer message on it. It's dated 24-12-23 and then has a long and elaborate wishing-well for the coming year, signature Ingibjörg and then something about a summer present? IDK I can hardly make out the writing and it's written with the old rules of spelling, so it's really quite challenging to me! Anyway, the idea of a summer present is awesome. :D