So much for perfume wearing in the last couple of days... I can't get any near fragrance because of a neck/shoulder/upperback/head ache that refuses to go away for the 3rd day now. I've got much I want to write about - including two natural perfume lines that I've just got samples from - but this will have to wait till I can enjoy fragrance without this painful background noise.

So for today I'll just share with you my enjoyment of Hoji-cha tea, which is a Japanese roasted tea leaf. Originally was invented by a tea merchant that wanted to find a way to use surplus tea and avoid waste. Hoji-cha has a cereal-like, nutty and mild aroma, which brought me the idea of blending it with Soba-cha this afternoon. Soba-cha is roasted buckwheat tea, which is essentially nothing else but the roasted "grain". They go perfectly well together - a very comforting everyday tea and goes well with a meal.

Excuse me for the terrible photo. Essentially the tea looks like roasted sencha leaves and also tea plant twigs.