Now that it's officially cold, I've had the weirdest craving to come home to a warm, sweet beverage after work. I mostly don't sweeten my tea/coffee anymore (weaned myself off of that years ago), except for the odd flavored latte splurge or "Polish-style" black tea with sugar and lemon. Since my big (5lb) jar of farmer's market honey finally ran out (and since I'm convinced at this point that I was duped, and it wasn't raw--though it was still so damn delicious), I got myself what felt like an overpriced experiment gone wrong: Y.S. Organic Bee Farms Super Enriched Honey. It's raw honey with pollen, propolis, and royal jelly mixed in.

I was expecting a sort of creamy translucent (not transparent, not for raw) gooey goodness. That's not precisely what I got, but, oh man, this stuff is intense. It's got the sexy greenish tint from propolis, and a heady kick of slightly bitter pollen. There's just a hint of textural change from the royal jelly, but it's very firm, firmer than crystallized honey. It just tastes like an old-school apothecary, in the best of ways. I wouldn't want it on, say, a piece of fruit, and don't even think about mixing it into yogurt etc, but this is perfect for my after-work sweetened beverage craving. I made a mugful of Yogi Tea Chai (Black) and while I'm still on the market for a better prebagged chai (for when I don't feel like making it from scratch), a dessertspoon of the hardcore honey in this is delicious, and lends a perfect savory note to the spices. I also feel like I'm getting a tiny nutrient boost out of my sugar.

(I'm a huge proponent of shopping around online for the cheapest prices, and right now I'm finding a lot of good deals on iHerb, where in the past Amazon was cheaper for the same products. If you're so inclined and want to take a look, you can use coupon code FEF016 for $5 off your first order--and yeah, I'd get a tiny kickback from it, but I wouldn't whore myself out if I didn't genuinely like the site enough to recommend it regardless.)