Cuppa?

Don’t you love when you get something in the post that isn’t a bill?  Lately everything that comes to the house from our postman (he is a man!) is either a bill or a DVD for Himself.  Or a parcel for my lovely next door Scottish neighbour.  So, imagine my delight when I opened a parcel, addressed to me, and found a big green box.  A box of tea and coffee! 

A while back I’d spoken to the lovely people in Cafe Cuba and they asked if I’d be interested in trying their range of Organic Coffee (they even do a decaf one which, sshhh, my ten year old son loves).  I said ‘yeah, sure why not but I’m not really a coffee person’ to which they replied ‘try our tea then’.  So I did.  Actually I tried both and had several mates try them too and I have to say I am impressed.

The coffee (non decaf) is really smooth.  First time in ages I’ve made coffee in that little coffee pot (my French Press Pot was accidentally smashed by Himself earlier this year and, now that I think of it, has yet to be replaced).  We had friends over for breakfast (very Nigella eh?) and were having a sausage feast i.e. as many different kinds of sausages that we could fit on the grill and lots of batch bread.  Clodagh isn’t a fan of tea, the way I like it (strong with milk and sugar – an Irish cuppa) but she does love Green Tea and this one is fabulous.  It doesn’t have that aftertaste that some other green teas have.  She wasn’t the first to say that, a friend the day before said the same thing “It doesn’t taste like it’s ‘good’ for you”.  I also liked it by the way but I’m more a fan of Mint and Berry Teas.  So back to the coffee, first off I made it, put the pot on my cheese board and brought it to the table with suitably pretty cups then I went around wondering what ‘that’ smell was.  Turns out that those little coffee pots get very hot and burn wood.  Worth it though, coffee was delicious and, again, no bitterness or aftertaste.  I made a pot of the decaf for the ten year old (don’t judge me) and he lapped it up.  Didn’t mention smoothness or bitterness or anything like that just drank it and smacked his lips.

So?  Their other teas.  So far I have tried: Pure Black - nice with milk and sugar ( I never said I was anything other than a philistine) and Himself said it’s lovely as it’s meant to be imbibed . .  just as it is.  Pure Green, delicious.  Earl Grey, okay I hate Earl Grey Tea and my friend who does like it is currently avoiding house renovations by hiding in Courtown.  I did, however, bake cupcakes with the tea and it’s really nice.  You can really get that Bergamot flavour.   Very Berry is really, really nice.  I drank it cold when the weather was hot.  Spring Mint.  I love mint tea and I love this mint tea.  It’s very refreshing and it’s nicely minty and, again, there is no aftertaste.  Have yet to try their Golden Mango (it’s raining!!) but will let you know how I get on.

The Green Tea is being divvied out to those who know I have a stash of the good stuff and I’ll let you know what they think.  Oh, you can read all about Cafe Cuba here and, love this, they are based just up the road from where Himself and myself bought our first house.  AND!!!! And, their tea range is called 'Cha', don't know whether it's a Nepalese/Tibetan thing but that's what my ma and da used to say when they wanted a cup of tea when we were kids. "Niamh, make us a cup of cha".