The first new tea of 2024 …

New Year's Day found me at the T.J. Maxx/HomeGoods store in Peachtree City, where I enjoyed using some gift certificates and browsing for items without the mad rush of holiday shoppers. I found a snowflake tablecloth for my January decor, some new rose prints for the house, and my first tea purchase of the year, this Raspberry Truffle flavor of Pinky Up tea.

This tea contains yerba mate, roasted elderberry, white chocolate pieces, almond, strawberry leaves, blueberry, raspberry pieces, natural and artificial flavoring, and stevia extract.

I like yerba mate and haven't had any in a while. I come across the Pinky Up brand in gift shops sometimes, usually for around $15 or so, but this tin was just $4.99 at T.J. Maxx, and I'm glad I found it, because this tea is such a delightful blend of flavors: the distinctive taste of the yerba mate and the sweetness of the fruit flavors and chocolate. This is definitely a dessert tea, and it was a great way to kick off "the year in tea."

On another note, thank you so much for your kind comments and emails about the passing of Aunt Jane. Her funeral was yesterday, and while it was a sad time for our family, we are comforted by the fact we will see her again in Heaven and by the thought that her body (and even her mind, this time!) is now whole. And here's something only you tea friends will appreciate. My sister's husband is also a pastor, and a lady at their church had offered to host our family for lunch after the service, so we headed to a charming little antique shop and restaurant that's quite close to the cemetery. It looked like a lot of tearooms I've been to over the years, and even my nieces commented that Jane would have found this quite "fancy," and it seemed a fitting way to mark her homegoing. Now … here's to a brighter 2024!