I'm now posting from Budapest, and taking a little break from Sydney here on Arthur Hungry. Those of you who follow the food blogosphere may have noticed that the 2006 TasteEverything Independent Food Festival & Awards have been taking place this week. Hillel over at tastingmenu.com has been awesome enough to organize this yearly event, which basically gets a bunch of us food blogs together to hand out some awards to recognize food items of our choosing. Basically, we get to think of an award of any kind, and give it out to someone we feel is deserving. The awards have been going out all week, so be sure to check out all the great stuff out there over at the TasteEverything site.
After much deliberation, I decided to make my award the "Most Refreshing Replacement for Water" and give it to the house jasmine green tea at Infusions Tea Spa, served cold. The truth is that with Infusions just a couple of blocks away from my apartment at school in Allston, the green tea really has replaced water for me... I drink one every day, and I certainly drink more of it than I do regular water. Those of you who know me probably know that I go through one of their frequent customer cards (get a free drink after every 10 you buy) in a week or less. I figure, what deserves an award more than something I have every day? I have it so frequently that it doesn't really get the Arthur Hungry recognition it deserves...
large house jasmine green tea, cold - $3.26 Here it is, in all its glory. Note the EasyWay packaging - EasyWay is a bubble tea chain based out of Taiwan. Funny enough, there are EasyWays all over Sydney, where it is sort of like a McDonald's of bubble tea. At Infusions though, they pretty much just use the cups and the little plastic sealing machine. The tea is certainly different than all of the EasyWays I tried in Sydney.
And boy is it good - there's nothing more refreshing when you're thirsty. It goes well with all kinds of food. Ask for it with just a bit of sugar, and it has a slight bit of sweetness with a nice jasmine flavor. Vincent, half of the husband-wife duo (they've just had a baby, who is often hanging out as well) that run this place will shake the tea with some ice and sugar, and pour it out like a cocktail. The drink becomes ice cold, with no ice to dilute everything. There's nothing better, and I'm seriously going to miss this stuff when I graduate and move away from Boston. I sometimes wish that I could have a faucet that poured Infusions green tea instead of water - it sure would make my life easier (and less expensive).
Infusions also has a huge variety of other teas... all good, but I really like the plain green tea the best. There are a few very good food items, most notably the minced pork on rice and the egg salad on toasted baguette, both of which cost less than $3. The place is a great place to study, or just hang out and have a drink. In short, if you're in Boston, try Infusions right away. You'll get hooked.