Blackcaps and green tea

A tiny church in the German hinterlands - snazzy pulpit, though.

We were at our old house today and picked the black raspberries we planted last year - so tasty. I hated leaving them behind. We have started so many gardens over the year and seen few of them come to any sort of maturity. I don't know if I have the heart to do much here.


Aura Tea sent me some samples a bit ago and I am trying another one today. It is a green tea from Formosa – much more well known for its Oolongs. It is called Sanxia Biluchun, the last part of which I think means Green Snail Spring. The instructions say to use 2 teaspoons to ¼ cup water at 175degrees. I know that sounds odd – it did to me also, but the leaves are huge; long, twisted, dark green. I brewed it for about 2 minutes the first time. The dry tea has a slight vegetal scent. As the tea brews, the aroma is almost overpoweringly cooked beet greens mixed with asparagus, not pleasant and I wondered if I would have to hold my nose to drink it! However, the tea with the leaves removed was much more pleasant to the nose and the taste was ok, too. It really did not appeal to me, as there was too much of the cooked veggie taste, the first time around. The second time, it was somewhat bitter to add to the fun and I liked it even less.

I am not much of a green tea drinker and those I do like tend to be floral or only somewhat vegetal, so I cannot tell if this just wasn't a top-notch tea or if I brewed it incorrectly or just plain ole me.