Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's...Leaves

[Update: Rescheduled from our original date on Nov 20th, to avoid meeting during regular work hours and give folks more advance notice. Hope this helps more attend!]

"If you're out on the road / Feelin' lonely and so cold / All you have to do is call my name"

Keeping to our seasonal theme, we are entering prime tea-taking territory: when cold winds start to blow outside, a warm cup in your hands while you huddle inside is practically the definition of cozy. (Of course this is STL, so it's actually 75 degrees outside as I write this, but we've had our first freeze and the blustering is still a'comin'!) So before the uber-holidays are well and truly upon us, let's gather for a roundup of some warming teas!

This time we will be featuring both one of the most familiar types for Western drinkers – the black tea blend – as well as possibly the less familiar oolong. We will have a brief background on how these types are distinguished and were developed; common varieties such as English Breakfast, Earl Grey, and Iron Goddess of Mercy; and highlight some offerings by our host location, The Tea Spout!

The Tea Spout is a wellness café and shop based in Chesterfield, open since 2023. They're a breakfast and lunch spot, so we will be meeting earlier than for prior events to stay within their schedule. Hopefully even if you can only stop by for a bite of lunch or a snack, we can still meet before everyone's schedule gets /really/ crazy. They also have custom blends of green, black, white, oolong, and herbals that you may wish to sample in addition to those we will bring for tasting.

Along with this event, we are also looking ahead to a Winter tasting early next year, as well as discussing plans to start up a 'drop-in' Cozy (klatch? clique? drip?) at the Cortex complex near BJC for the off months between featured events. If you aren't able to attend this month but have any suggestions or feedback about either of those, feel free to add comments or message me through the Meetup forum.

Hope to share a cup of warm spiced goodness with you all this Thursday!

[Nota bene: we are currently able to offer these teas and spaces at no charge, though of course any local business we visit would appreciate any additional purchases we can make. If you would like to voluntarily contribute something to help cover our costs, you can make a donation via the Pledge feature of our group, with our thanks. But mostly we just want a chance to share our love of tea!]