Downtown Perk, Ashland OH Chai

I love wall art!!  I think it is great when cities have blank walls painted with local artist art.  There is something inviting and unique about it.  I think every city should invite artists to paint blank walls.

Ashland Ohio has several painted walls and I think it is awesome!

https://www.thesouthstreetgrille.com/

We had lunch at South Street Grille.  I have to say it was one of the best meals I have had in a long time.  I had a Toasted Market Veggie and Brussel Sprouts.  A-MAZING!!!

TOASTED MARKET VEGGIE

Parmesan crusted sprouted bread / zucchini / mushroom / spinach / pesto / provolone

We were heading to the car and I looked over and saw this cafe.  I popped over for a chai.  This place was adorable.  The front of the store had cute, unique items.  It was had a boutique feel.  Then you walk to the back of the store and there is a great little cafe.

The cafe was small, but had lots of options.  You can tell when a small place is busy it is good place to be.  All the seats were full and there was line to order.

https://www.facebook.com/downtownperk/

This place not only has tea and coffee, they also serve food.  They have breakfast, soups, salads, wraps, and more.  It is a very cute place.

If you want to see some beautiful lattes- check out their facebook page.  They had so many fun and beautiful drinks..the Jack Frost Latte, Holly Berry Latte, Snowflake Latte, 

Andes Mocha, and what I thought I'd love to try was the Caramel Pecan Pie Latte, along with other fun flavors.

I got the chai latte- minus the whip cream since I am trying to be somewhat healthy.

I would give the chai four tea cups.  The flavors were very good.  It was a sweet chai, not spicy.  The staff was really friendly and the price was decent.  I would recommend this little cafe if you are in the Ashland area.

We then headed to Columbus for Trader Joes.  We really need a Trader Joes closer!!!!!  I love this place, but it so far to drive.

 

Asterisk, London Fog, Cuyahoga Falls OH

My friend and I were out an about on a great fall day.   I saw on my google maps that there was a coffee/tea place near us, so we popped in to try this one out.

Do you use google maps to find things?  I use it almost daily.  I love when I am out in a new area to type in tea or cafe and see what pops up near me.  It is a super handy way to discover new places.  

The place was busy, so I will give the staff a pass on not being overly friendly.  I has some questions, but really did not get much answers.  For that I was disappointed.

https://asterisk.coffee/

What I was not disappointed in was the tea selection.  I love  when a mainly coffee place also has a great selection of tea.   It seems the majority of coffee places will just have your signature chai or London Fog...and I am still happy they have those!  But, Asterisk, offers a lot more than those two options.

Even though they had the extra teas I went with the London Fog.

Whatever questions I did ask and whatever the staff said sold me on the London Fog.  But, I have to say it was awful,  I did not even finish it

Sadly, this tea had no flavor. I did not get any of your Earl Grey flavors.  I am not sure what I was served, but it was not a London Fog.   The prices were decent here, the place was clean, but the staff needs to work on their service.  If I am in the area I will give them another try, but the first time was a bust.

We cam for the downtown festival, but I have to say there were only about 15 people here.  The hype of what the festival was in the past was just that, hype.  I am not sure if we were there at the wrong time or if people were scared of Covid, but the place was silent.

We showed up at noon for the silent auction items and the food trucks, but this is what we found.  We ended up finding a local restaurant and had a very nice meal.  Maybe the festival will be more exciting in 2022.

We then headed to Solon.  There was a lot more happening here.    There were vendors, food trucks, a petting zoo and more.  This was more of what we were looking for when were out and about.

I was able to do some axe throwing, which was fun.  I did not make contact, but I had fun trying.

The petting zoo was fun too.  I loved this silly guy.

We also discovered this festival.  We each picked  up a plant.  The ladies selling the plants were SUPER KNOWLEDGEABLE!!  I would buy plants from these ladies any day.  They looked up to be sure my plant was poisonous for my cat, told me about the light it needed and the watering. 

Check out Flourish Plant Mkt   https://www.flourishplantmkt.com/

Here are plants.  And I have to say as of January 2022 my plant is still alive. This is a victory for me.  I also loved the plant holder I bought.  The plant holder is an old brick mold.  The uniqueness of this planter fits my style perfectly.

Yerbae Sparkling water with tea

https://yerbae.com/products/12oz-variety-performance-pack

I was at one of my favorite discount stores, Wooster's, Everything Surplus.  https://everything-surplus.com/

You never know what you will find there.  I often find teas, oat milk, and other fun things.  This time I found Yerbae Sparkling Water.  I love sparkling water and adding tea to it is a bonus.

This pack would sell for around $20 on line and I got it for $3.

I think my favorite of the three was Acai Blueberry, but they were all good.  They had a unique taste to them- but not in bad way.  I liked the added natural flavors.  The flavors are stronger than most flavored sparkling waters, that is a win in my opinion. 

I give this tea water four tea cups.  The flavors are strong and bold.  There are 0 calories.  I am a fan and especially when you find a 12 pack for $3.  I wish I had bought them out, lol.

Twisted Fig Tea, Magic Strawberry Moon

https://twistedfigtea.com/

I discovered a new tea company that is in Ohio!

This fall I was at the Prairie Peddler in Butler Ohio.  It was a really fun festival, but my favorite part was finding this tea company.  I had heard of them before, but never tried their tea.  I was excited to meet the mother and son tea team.

This tea is a mix of black and green tea.  When I have a tea that is a mix of two kinds of teas I heat the water to the more delicate tea...that is the green tea here.  I heated the water to 190 degrees.  I then steeped the tea for 4 minutes.

If I remember correctly this tea won an award.  I do know that this is the best seller for them and has been for over 15 years.

They say to do a round teaspoon for 6 oz, my mug is 8 oz so I added more tea.  You can see the great tea here.  Also the papaya chunks.  There is some sugar in this one, so be ware of that.

I add my water to my steeper along with the tea and I let it steep and then it drains right into my mug.

This tea is amazing!  I love the slight tart of the strawberry mixed with the sweetness of the papaya and sugar.  You get a lightness in this tea even though it is a green and black tea.  I think it leans more towards a green tea- not in a grassy earthy way, but it the lightness.

This tea deserves the full five tea cups as far as I am concerned. The strawberry notes come through so clearly in this tea.  I also get some papaya after notes.  This tea is a decent price, $6 for 1.5 oz.  I love the flavors that come through.  I made this tea warm, but I think this would be a tea that would be wonderful cold too.