Tea Commemorative Military Style

After a long red eyeflight to the East Coast, I needed a sturdy tea to revive. But at my parent's house, tea pretty much means either boiled roasted barley tea, ginseng extract tea, ginger granule tea, or job's tears tea in a bag. There are literally hundreds of pieces of china in my mother's multiple china cabinets but the only practical brewing option ended up being this Republic of Korea Army tea set.

Growing up in a military family has it's benefits.   My second fondest childhood memory involving such military perks was being taken to inspect one of the secret tunnels (a.k.a. "tunnels of aggression")  North Koreans had excavated near the 38th parallel.  My father used to teach economics at the National Defense University and his students used to bring endless gifts of Castella jelly roll which was my favorite perk.   But even now,  my parents receive a steady supply of army gifts for which I am often the happy recipient. The commemorative ROK Defense Department deluxe gold plated nail clipper kit is my husband's all-time favorite along with a 50-year armistice anniversary leather belt.  

The loose leaf in the strainer is a Vicony Tea's Lapsang Souchong sent via Hobbes. I haven't had LS in such a long time but my palate memory reminded me the initial smokiness is quite light in this tea compared against the tar-smoke LS I used to avoid.  I snuck in a few cookies I found hanging about,  Trader Joe's "Highbrow Chocolate Chip Cookie" to round it all off.