Yachak Tea, Blackberry

I thought I would try this Yerba Mate.   I like berries, so I thought blackberry would be fun to try.  I also like the caffeine from a Yerba Mate.  It gives me a nice kick.

https://www.yachak.com/

"A species of the holly plant that grows in the central and southern regions of South America, Yerba Mate is a natural source of caffeine and has been consumed as a brewed beverage for centuries."

I am only giving this 2 tea cups because of the sugar. Flavor was really nice, I was able to pick up the blackberry notes.  The price was okay.  But, it has way too much sugar in it.  Tea can stand on it's own, we don't need to keep killing society with sugar.

Empress Taytu, Ethiopian Spiced Tea, Cleveland

https://www.facebook.com/EmpressTaytuCle/

The food was amazing!!!  I love ethnic food and can not get enough of the flavors of other countries.

The tea was okay- it was had a lot of clove flavor.  It was just okay, but I was not a huge fan.

Yes, the droplets on my leg is tea...and yes, it is hot!!!

I have a couple of friends that are as daring as I am when it comes to food.  We are always going for the unique ethnic bite.  In February we decided on Ethiopian in Cleveland.  It was a great little place.

The food was outstanding and I would highly recommend it!!!  If you go with friends and split food that is the way to go...the more food you can try the better.

The tea may have been authentic Ethiopian, but it was not for me.  All I tasted was cloves. 

Lake Norris Ladies trip

My friends and I did a ladies Bible retreat in Tennessee. 

Before we left we stopped at Starbucks for Passion Iced Tea. 

We stayed at this beautiful house!  From the front it doesn't look like much, but when you look at the back of the house you see how huge it really is.

There were 28 of us ladies staying in this house.

We had so much fun being together and digging into God's Word.

I brought my teas and I made all sorts of tea drinks for the ladies all weekend.

I let them know- no matter what was going on, if they wanted tea I would make it for them.

I even did a hike!!  I am amazed how much energy I have now that I have lost the over 60 pounds.  The one after noon it was warm, so we explored a bit outside.

I was going to make bubble tea, but the kit I got had bubbles that had "melted"  UGH!!  I guess making bubble tea was not happening.  What a disappointment for all of us.

But, I made matcha lattes, London Fogs, and all sorts of other teas to make up for the lack of bubble tea.

Latte, Latte, and more lattes....

They also did a hot coco bar, so there were some fun toppings that ladies were adding to their lattes.  One of my favorites was the crushed candy canes.

One of the way home in Kentucky we stopped at a Starbucks. I was so excited to get my Kentucky "Been Here" Kentucky Mug.

These are some of the ladies I love being with.  We studied Psalm 23 - it was a great study.  Being with other woman and opening up and encouraging them is a blessed time.