Fairy Tea

This has been a busy week of potting up things which I can't yet plant outside, deciding where to put them, getting caught up on a whole bunch of things, including trying to decide which teas to keep, give away or dump. So far, I have 2 of the latter - much too old and no longer at all tasty. I do have a pile of giveaways, so some time in the next month or so, I'll let you all know.


Yorkshire Tea Company, makers of Yorkshire Gold and other fine teas has a project to save parts of the rainforest. They are doing this by selling tea cosies on ebay and using the proceeds to purchase rain forest lands. This is a fine opportunity to get presents for your loved ones or yourself and contribute to a worthwhile endeavor. The details can be found on their website http://www.yorkshiretea.co.uk/ . If nothing else, it is a fun site.


I've read several articles on the web recently indicating that 3 cups of tea a day is good for our hearts. It contains a chemical that tends to widen our blood vessels, thereby lowering our blood pressure. I can't say yes or no to that, but I certainly drink that much tea every day.

Today I had time to try 3 lovely teas from Life in Teacup http://www.lifeinteacup.com/. I thought I would get ahead a bit as I don't seem to be able to manage trying new teas often enough to suit me. The first has a great name - Orchid Fairy Twig Green Tea. I love it. and it is indeed suited to fairies, with the short, twiggy, silvery green leaves. As you might expect, it smells something like orchids. This tea is rare in the USA, as the harvest each year, from wild trees, is quite small. It somes from Jiangchi Province in Wuyuan. The style is Chao Qing, that is, it is stir fried to kill enzymes


I brewed it up for about 2 minutes at about 175 degrees and the orchid aroma persisted. It was a very pale gold and the taste was so mild, I couldn't identify it. I brewed it again for 2.5 minutes and it was slightly more gold and there was a bit more taste - vegetal overlain with orchid. Very delicate, but very tasty. A third wash for the same time yielded a bit more floral taste. I really could not put my finger on the taste, only that it was exquisite and lingered in my mouth for quite a while. The leaves were fully unfurled and so pretty and delicate - mostly on the tiny side, suitable for fairy tea.

Correction - Gorreana Tea is grown on the island of Sao Miguel off the coast of Portugal. I did order some and will fill you in when it arrives.

Blessed Easter To All

Floral carvings on the choir stalls in Meieringen, Switzerland.
They were recently cleaned and look brand new in stead of several
centuries old.



It's another gray grizzly day, and it is pretty cold. The weather site says we won't see the sun for a week. I guess I'd better keep drinking green tea, although I may have to switch to black to warm these old bones.


I am having the Bamboo Tea House Melon Seed Green. This is also known as Liu An Gua Pian and hales from China, usually An Hui Province. I expected the leaves to be melon seed shaped and they weren't. Before I got all critical about that, I looked it up on several internet sites and none of them are. Phew.


The leaves are very green and very large and they smell like popcorn to me. As it brewed, it came to have more of a Cracker Jack aroma. This carried through into the tea, which was light and sweet, but certainly not cloying. There was still a bit of Cracker Jacks in it. It is delightful to have tea have so many aromas and flavors all on its own.

The First Flush Darjeeling harvest is done, so we can expect to see them in our tea merchants offerings within the next month or two. In Taiwan, the lower slope Oolongs have been picked and the high mountain ones should start to be picked in the next week or two.

I have been making a lot of blueberry scones lately and I have found that if I put them in the batter frozen (I have about 5 gallons in the freezer!!!) they do very nicely and come out with a bare minimum of bursting, instead staying a nice plump berry. I had best find some other way to use them, as summer is coming and I will certainly want to pick more.


I wish all of you an ecstatic Easter celebration and I'll see you again on Monday.

Sweet Clover in the Snow

These are the usual trucks one sees scurrying around small towns
in southern Italy. In these old towns, the streets are very narrow
and there simply isn't a lot of room.


It has been so beautiful here, with snow covering all the branches and bushes. So quiet, you can hear the snow fall. When we've gone for a walk, you just hear the squeaking of our boots and the snow slipping onto the ground. Ernie often goes along and is so pretty against the snow - orange on white. This last time he walked along the top of the fence and since there was about 2 inches of snow on it, he left little scallops where his paws knocked some off.


Today I am having some lovely green tea from Dream About Tea - Liuan-guapian. The leaves are very green, very long, soft, thin and silky to my fingers. They come from Anhui Province, in China. They smell faintly of clover and of course, green tea. The instructions say to do a tablespoon per cup for 3 minutes at 200 degrees, for 3 infusions. Wow, that's a long time and a high temp for green tea! But I am a good doobie and do as I am told. I am amply rewarded, as the aroma of the tea continues with that faint clover and some additional vegetal. The flavor is more vegetal, but there is a sweetness flowing through it as well. The first cup is surprisingly very yellow, the second infusion almost as much. The second is much sweeter, with a bitter finish that mingles with the sweet, giving a very interesting taste.

The third infusion starts out much paler and a lot more green. The scent has shifted to a mild corn, with a hint of baked vegetables. The taste is definitely vegetal, but soft and elusive. I tried all three together and wasn't impressed, they are much better and far more interesting on their own. Once again, I discover that green tea is definitely better in small cups, fairly hot, as it tends to get bitter as it cools.

I did all these in my new little Yixing pot, that I told you about seasoning. It is so cute, short and round with bamboo markings and a twist of bamboo for the lid handle, which to me looks a bit like a worm.

Well, I had best go to the library before this big snow storm arrives. The last one gave us a whole inch. Weathermen have gotten much too frantic in their predictions. I realize loving snow can be selfish, but there it is, I love lots of it. If we do get lots, I will definitely hope you are all safe and sound.

Tea in the Clouds

I must apologize. I wrote this for last Thursday and never put it
up.

The very tiny and tidy cemetery in Meiringen, Switzerland. Typically each gravesite will contain an exquisite small, flowering garden. I was quite taken with them.


I had a lovely tea today, Huang Shan Cloud from Life in Teacup. I believe it means Yellow Mountain. The tea comes from southern Anhui Province in Eastern China and is a UNESCO World Heritage site, that is known for its clouds and sunsets. In this area of steep mountains there are many temples and stone steps carved into the mountain sides. It is an area known for its mists and fogs, which means the tea receives filtered sunlight, which increases the chlorophyll content of the leaves. These are then only slightly withered before being processed into dry, long, wiry tea. This particular tea was plucked pre-GuYu, that time in the early Spring when the sun is exactly 30 degrees celestial longitude. This year, it means the tea was plucked before April 20.

I first rinsed this lovely green tea in boiling water and then let it brew for 1 1/2 minutes. It was a pale, pale golden green and gave off a lovely orchid smell. The taste was that of floral and asparagus, which went together very well, with more floral coming out as it cooled. The second infusion was paler, but with more floral aroma. The taste was a bright green vegetal with only a hint of flowers. It was a lovely tea, perhaps the first one I have really felt I would like to sip all day long, to continually experience all its nuances.

I went for a walk in the field around our house. In one area, where it had been mowed once in a while, the late asters had only grown about 4 inches, so there was a carpet of blue stars, sooo lovely. I also found the neatest little frog or toad - he was all gold, just like the leaves, so I had a hard time keeping track of him as he hopped about. I had never seen a gold frog before, so altogether, I felt I had a truly blessed walk.

A lazy day

I included this photo of Italian poppies because it is such a gray day. However, when I was out for a walk, I saw several dandelions, 2 plots of pansies, some phlox and some violas still blloming away. So bright on such a dull day. Did you know that dandelion comes from the French, dentes de lion. meaning lion's teeth, presumably for its outer row of petals?

Oh what a busy day, getting up late, having some lovely Rosy Earl Grey from Teas Etc., doing some genealogy, playing fetch-your-mousey with Ernie, just too busy for words. Trying a new tea.

Thankfully, my cold has abated and I can again taste things. I got out my samples and decided to try Upton's Ding Yang Dong Bei, a Chinese green tea. Don't you just love the name, it's very musical, reminds me of water falling over stones. They recommend 2 teaspoons per cup at 180 degrees for 3 min. I was surprised at the length of time, usually you are instructed to brew for only 2 minutes or less. The dry leaves are very pretty, about ½ inch long, flat and a nice green. They smell gently like newly dried grass, but very fresh.

I am anxious about brewing my tea too long, but I do and it seems ok. I brew a second cup for 4 minutes. The first cup is a very pale green and has a pleasant, almost sweet scent, sort of a cross between cooked green vegetable and perhaps a floral? The taste is gentle, slightly sweet, with an asparagus understory. Now to observe the wet leaves, which have retained their green color, although, after two brews they are getting pale. They are delightful, very clearly 2 young leaves and a bud, with almost no stem attached. The second cup is very pale and has little scent and a faint taste. I add it to the leftover of cup one and together they are very nice. I think next time I will use a bit less leaf.