Radishes For Tea

I have made a tea sandwich discovery.  I have seen recipes for radish sandwiches but never tried them.  Today I had a bunch of radishes needing attention, so I decided to make some.  What an eye-opener.  The bread and butter tone down the sharpness of the radishes and it all makes a lovely crunchy sandwich with just a small hint of bite, and these were large, i.e. hot, radishes.  Guess I know one thing on the tea table this summer.

I am finally catching up on tasting some of the teas I got through the monthly tea tasters from Steepster Select on http://www.steepster.com/ This is a really nice program and much less expensive than many monthly tea clubs, since it is only $19 and you get quite large samples.  Today's is Shade Grown Tie Guan Yin from the Norbu Tea company.  This is an Oolong which hails from the Anhui Province of China.  It is also called "Iron Goddess of Mercy Tea".  Growing tea in the shade tends to concentrate both chlorophyll and taste in the leaves.  It is very, very, very floral smelling in it's dry state, as well as being almost so many verys green.  It is rolled in tight little balls and the first thing I did was rinse it with almost boiling water.  This relaxes the leaves and prepares them to unfurl.  And unfurl they did, into great long leaves, some about 3" long..

The liquor is a very soft pale yellow green and the aroma, while still strong, has softened a bit and smells like a cross between magnolias and mock orange, sweet, heady stuff, almost too much.  This is the taste as well - very floral, almost meaty in feel and just about too much to drink on its own, as the floral component was so strong.  I diluted it a bit with more hot water and used it as an excuse to have a cookie with it and then it was fine.  Next time I'll use a bit less tea.

A pleasant street in a small Rhineland village.  Most of these houses are from the 1600's and have been restored.  Then tourists like me can come along and take lots of pictures!  lol.