Top 10 Albums of 2022 to Drink Tea With (So Far)

Hello hello!

A few years go, I released my top 15 albums to drink tea to for the end of year of 2020! (catch up here!)

I was going to prepare a list for 2021, but lets be honest here. There was maybe only 4 good albums to come out of 2021. Regardless of genera, 2021 was an embarrassment for the music industry...

However, now that we're knee-deep into 2022, it has become evident that all of the talent left behind in 2021 was somehow throttled into 2022! Since so many amazing works of art have been released this year, I thought it would great to release my list of the best albums released in 2022, to drink tea to!

Just like the previous-years list, I have a few guidelines to suggest to follow along with!

• Listen to these albums in their entirety. These albums are a journey, and just like a tea session, you cant jump in the middle and start on the seventh infusion (or 7th album track).

• While listening to these albums in their entirety, don’t skip any of the tracks. To add, especially add, listen to these albums in their intended order and not on shuffle. Let the artist take you on the intended journey.

• It’s very important that you take a deep breath, close your eyes, and try to physically place yourself in both the music and tea. If possible, were headphones to immerse yourself further into the music and tea….

With these suggested guidelines in place, I want to stipulate that the following albums have exclusively been released in 2022. When doing the year-end list, the album's current placement may change.

Now that we've gone over everything, lets move on to the list!

---

10.

(Album Art: Property of Daughters of Cain Records)

Artist: Ethel Cain

Album: Preacher's Daughter

Tea Pairing: Black Tea

Secondary Tea Pairing: Shou Puer or White Tea

About this Album: If you were born in the 90's, than this album might remind you of something you used to listen to while in high-school. This alt-rock album borders on the line of chill, and psychedelic. This album's tracks effortless flow together to create a cohesively smooth, and moody journey. The song's lengthier runtime is perfect for getting lost in each individual song. This atmospheric anxt is meditative, and will pair perfectly with your tea session...

---

9.

(Album Art: Property of 4AD LTD)

Artist: Jenny Hval

Album: Classic Objects

Tea Pairing: Sheng Puer

Secondary Tea Pairing: White Tea or Black Tea

About this Album: Jenny Hval's back-yard Portlandia ukulele-girl album is both soft, massive, and audience captivating. Her singer/songwriter style bleeds perfectly with her alternative pop/rock production, and bings forth a vulnerable breath of fresh air. This album is Fiona Apple adjacent as far as artistic goes, and is a brilliant album to listen to with your next tea time.

---

8.

(Album Art: Property of Aly & AJ Music LLC)

Artist: Aly & AJ

Album: A Touch of This Beat... (Deluxe)

Tea Pairing: Aged Sheng

Secondary Tea Pairing: Fresh Sheng Puer or Green Oolongs

About this Album: While this album initially released the year before, the new deluxe tracks of Aly & AJ's 'A Touch of this Beat' adds beautifully to make this album fresher than ever. Disney star's Aly & AJ bring forth a mid-2000's pop-rock production that reminisces of a 1960's California sun-bleached postcard with tie-dye synths. Overall, this album is great to listen to with your tea session because not only is this album refreshing, it's also groovy in a mediative way.

---

7.

(Album Art: Property of Future Classic)

Artist: Flume

Album: Palaces

Tea Pairing: Fresh Sheng Puer

Secondary Tea Pairing: Heicha or Aged Sheng Puer

About this Album: Australian-born synth artist used influences from all of his previous works to make the perfect combination of electronic music and pop music. Flume's Palaces has many incredible features through out the album, while creating a wide-range of emotion through distortion and synths. While some of these songs are flat-out ear worms, this album will help place you in a trance that will make you want to drip your next tea leaf on your tongue like a sheet of acid...

---

6.

(Album Art: Property of Jagjaguwar; Secretly Group)

Artist: Angel Olsen

Album: Big Time

Tea Pairing: White Tea

Secondary Tea Pairing: Roasted/Oxidized Oolongs or Shou Puer

About this Album: This highly-anticipated album os one helluva ride. Angel Olsen bends the rules with country music and meshes with rock, and ends the album with 4 blues/jazz tracks that punches your gut over the hills and into the sunset... The second half of this album is not only a masterclass in songwriting and lyricism, it also brings forth some of the best songs produced in all of music in 2022. The rawness of Angel's vocal performance will infuse harmonically with your next tea session.

---

5.

(Album Art: Property of Asylum Records UK, Warner Music UK Limited)

Artist: Charli XCX

Album: Crash

Tea Pairing: White Tea

Secondary Tea Pairing: Fresh Sheng Puer or Black Tea

About this Album: Charli's tong-in-cheek 'sell out' album bring back the 80's while channeling both Paula Abdul and Janet Jackson. Crash is a fun pop-album that is funky, nostalgic, and sexy to listen to. Crash is a masterpiece in pop music because as a whole, this album is both thrilling and balanced. Crash is amazing to listen to with your next tea session because not only is it a a fun album to listen to, it'll have you head-bopping along with your next cup of tea...

---

4.

(Album Art: Property of Noble & Brite LTD and EMI Records)

Artist: Kate Bush

Album: The Dreaming

Tea Pairing: Fresh Sheng Puer

Secondary Tea Pairing: Shou Puer or Black Tea

About this Album: Okay, before you start in on how this album was released in1982... Kate Bush is timeless, and because she's timeless, it means she's still relevant today. The Dreaming is legendary to the Queen of Pop, Kate Bush, because it's the first albums in her discography she wrote and produced herself. With her Shakespearian 'High School Theatre Kid' energy, this album is the sheer invention of art-pop in itself. To have such a monumental, yet incredible journey of an album that exists in all of our lifetimes, Kate Bush is one of the most incredible musicians to ever live. She's always an amazing choice, especially when pairing with tea.

---

3.

(Album Art: Property of Promised Land Recordings Limited)

Artist: Koffee

Album: Gifted

Tea Pairing: Green Oolong (unroasted)

Secondary Tea Pairing: Sheng Puer or White Tea

About this Album: Koffe brought forth one of the most incredible albums in music in 2022. With this, Koffee lit reggae ablaze. While re-awakening modern society to how fresh and incredible modern reggae can be, she created an atmospheric soundscape that's easy to fully submerge yourself in. This album is amazing to pair with your next tea session, because you will also be transported to a new plane of existence... (This album is like Solar Power by Lorde, except, it's reggae and it's actually good).

---

2.

(Album Art: Property of Dead Oceans Records)

Artist: Mitski

Album: Laurel Hell

Tea Pairing: Shou Puer

Secondary Tea Pairing: White Tea or Sheng Puer

About this Album: The long-awaited return of Mitski came with one of the most powerful albums in 2022 (so far). Mitski came out of retirement at the ripe ole' age of 31 to release an album that is 80's synth/Abba inspired. Laurel Hell is an emotional roller coaster that leaves Mitski the most vulnerable as she's ever been. Just like a good tea session, when this album closes, you wish that it could keep going and never end... Mitski's emotional and vulnerable delivery is what makes this one of the best album's to drink tea with (so far) in 2022...

---

1.

(Album Art: Property of Ploydor Records Release, Universal Music Operations Limited)

Artist: Florence & The Machine

Album: Dance Fever

Tea Pairing: GuShu Sheng Puer

Secondary Tea Pairing: White Tea or Oolong (any)

About this Album: The dog day's will alway's be here for Florence Welch, because one after another, her albums keep getting better and better. Dance Fever is the perfect combination of understanding the never ending rollercoaster of emotions that comes with surviving the pandemic. While this album touches a chord with how the pandemic left us feeling angry and upset, it also resonates with a vulnerable lust for us to keep moving forward, regardless of the anxiety that comes along with waking up the next day. Dance Fever's production is flawless, and beautifully carries any tea session you have with it...

~

Now that the year us more than half over, we shall see what's left in store for the world of music!

Do YOU agree with this list? Join the discussion on Instagram and tell me your thoughts!

See you at the end of 2022!

~The Oolong Drunk

Blissfully Tea Drunk

---

Disclaimer: Album covers are not owned by me and are utilized by fair-use. They may be copywrited material, used under fair-use, for the purpose of highlight various works of art.