Sunday March 2, 2025: A Small Moment of Delight
My tea with breakfast!
Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully. Occasionally, I will also publish some of my shorter fiction in this newsletter to read for free.
Daily Diary, Day 1642:
Once again, I started to do a TaDa post, and couldn’t finish, so shifted to doing a Small Moment of Delight post. I certainly have much to feel personal gratitude for, but celebration still doesn’t feel right at this time.
However, I do have good news to share. Yesterday, I got the results from my lab tests that reported that there is no sign of any underlying inflammatory disease as the cause of all my tendon, joint, and soft tissue problems. Some elevated white blood cells, all consistent with mild inflammation and my prednisone use. In short, seems all my aches and pains are simply the result of the effects of aging and my chronic endocrine problem that started over 40 years ago with the loss of my pituitary gland. Nothing life threatening, and nothing that I don’t have a lot of experience dealing with. So, yes, I do have something to feel enormous gratitude for today.
But one of those things that I am grateful for, that brings me moments of delight throughout my day, is tea. And it is the pu-erh tea I drink with my breakfast each day that is particularly important for starting my day in a positive fashion.
I wrote about why tea in general is one of my favorite things a couple of years ago in this post, and if you want to know more about this tea, and the shou-cha form I prefer, you might read this post from the company I get this tea from. But today I wanted to describe how pu-erh tea, at breakfast, brings me a particular moment of delight.
Every morning, as I slowly get my body going again, usually with a hot shower, I look forward to my simple breakfast of a half of an English muffin, my first protein shake of the day, and my first cup of tea, This morning it was my favorite, called Sticky Rice Pu-erh.
Sticky Rice Pu-erh doesn’t have any rice in it, but an herb Nuo Mi Xiang, is infused with the loose pu-erh tea, but it distinctly gives off a rice smell that I find especially appealing. It is also a very dark tea, which goes well with a dollop of milk and some stevia. And as a fermented kind of tea, it is particularly good for the digestive system, as well as providing just that jolt of caffeine I need to start my day…and give me a moment of delight.
So, I am wondering, do any of you have either a favorite beverage, or a favortie breakfast that gives you special delight? If so, do share.
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I'm currently drinking the delightfully-named Longevity Eyebrow tea.
Inspired by that original article about tea you posted, I've gone back to brewing a cup of tea in the morning. It's actually in a large mug so probably more like 2-3 cups! I have been drinking Numi's breakfast blend, similar to traditional English Breakfast. A dollop of half & half starts me off with an "ah."
I took a quick look at the grass in the Upton store. My goodness, I went cross eyed looking at the long list of breakfast tea!
My previous favorite was sencha. The ritual with the special pot was hand the fun. I bought the tea in SF's Japantown, where the merchant taught me the proper way to do it. Sadly, he no longer has a shop and I've moved on to easier mornings.