Thursday Tea: October 29 (The Naming)

Thursday Tea is a weekly meme hosted by yours truly. To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the answers to these questions: what tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together.

Doing things a little different this week.

The book: This week I’ve fallen under the lureof Arthurian legends and pseudo-Celtic high fantasies. I sort of expected the Arthurian stuff, since I’m interested in them already. The high fantasies? Didn’t expect that so much. I’ve never been a fan of Tolkien (I’m a little embarrassed by that) and though I liked Sabriel I’m having a hard time getting into anything else like it.

But! I came across the Pellinor series by Alison Croggon on the library shelf this week, and I originally picked it up because I thought it was an Arthurian thing (it’s not). It looked really good, though, and once I finished with the Arthur trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland (review up tomorrow) I figured I might as well read the first Pellinor book and see if I liked it.

So far I do– it’s slow-going, but it’s not annoying me (as high fantasies are wont to do) and I like the surly main character. I’m about 70 pages in, so hopefully I like the rest of the book as well.

The tea: My campus has their own deli/grocery store thing that’s horribly expensive but very convenient, and they have packets of tea you can buy. Sort of like how Starbucks has individual packets of Tazo tea? My campus has individual packets of Numi tea. I’ve never tried it before, but I thought I would today. They had a lot of interesting flavors, and I went with Berry Black (subtitle: Fruitea Darjeeling Black Tea). It says it’s got some strawberry/raspberry kind of thing, and I can taste that. it’s very subtle, though, and not strong even though I brewed it for, like, ten minutes. Maybe it needs more sugar.

I really like the packaging, too. It’s got that kind of organic-environmentally friendly-save the whales kind of feel to it, which makes me feel very indie and 20-something college student-y (which I am).

Do they go together? I’m gonna say yes. The fruit flavor makes me think of bards being all natural and…stuff. And tea is a very bard-y thing to drink, isn’t it? Or maybe I’m just imprinting Tolkien onto the Pellinor book– when I think Tolkien, I think tea.

It’s all very confusing, but I enjoy it.

What are you drinking/reading this Thursday?