Grandpa Rocks

Today was "Turn a sow's ear into a silk purse day" in my refrigerator or kitchen cupboards and yielded bread pudding with strawberry sauce, chicken rice casserole with spinach, cheese, peppers,  and water chestnuts, chicken salad, roast pork with winter veggies, curried cauliflower, and oatmeal cookies.   Now I can almost find things in the fridge.

After that marathon, I really needed some tea!  Phoenix Tea Shop to the rescue with Grandpa's Anytime Tea.  This tea comes from a Kenyan farmer's co-perative and the Grandpa in question is a man who suffered for many years for workers' rights.  He is still tea farming along with his family, although he has passed the age of 100.

Grandpa's tea is tiny, tiny bits of CTC treated tea, finer than many coffee grains.  It has a very woodsy aroma, like the earthy wetness aroma of an early Spring woodland.  Phoenix recommends brewing this 1-2 minutes with boiling water and I would certainly agree and be careful to use just a level teaspoon per cup  - this is strong stuff.  It tastes as woodsy/earthy as it smells and is a real wake-me-up brew, very well suited for breakfast or for afternoon slumps.

A beautifully carved old German pulpit - we visited a lot of churches.  This is probably from the 1400-1500's.

It is still light out at 5:30 and the sun is once again shiningg into my kitchen!  I am so glad the worst of darkness is behind us.

Turks and Tea News

These are Swiss mountains near the tiny hamlet if Nidflue in Kanton Bern and look!  the sun is shining.  I wish it would here.

Did you know there is a man aged 110 who is still actively involved in growing tea?  Neither did I.  Arthur Njuguna Komo lives and works in the Kamunyaka Valley in the foothills of Mt. Kenya.  He has been farming tea since 1959, following in his grandfather's foot steps, and personally supervises the training of the teapickers.  He is also heavily involved in workers' rights, supporting and training other farmers, growers and processors.  Through his efforts, the KTDA - Kenya Tea Development Agency was established to work towards increased quality both in the tea and for the people involved in growing and producing it.  One of his grandchildren, Joy Njuguna has created a tea blend to honor him, named "Grandpa's Anytime Tea".  A fitting tribute.  It is available from Royal Tea of Kenya, although only to wholesalers at the moment.  Jane Pettigrew rates it highly.  I am going to keep my eye on them, as their website says it will become available to online buyers soon.

The Tea Spot, some of whose teas I've reviewed here, has received a $460,00 grant to do researrch on biodegradable tea bags/filters for the commercial trade.  Apparently cups, lids and stirrers are, but for some reason, teabags and filters used commercially, are not.  Hats off to them and may they have great success.  I know this is all possible, as one of our biggest farmers' markets has almost every container imagineable biodegradable.  Now, if someone would only do that for paper/styrofoam plates...

Today I am trying 2 more Turkish teas.  One of them I will give to my favorite Turkish restaurant, because they are such good cooks and such sweet people.  I misread the amount of tea I was buying and got 500 grams of each, instead of 50!  I am not brewing it the most traditional way, as I do not have a traditional Turkish tea pot.  See http://missparty.net/2011/08/15/how-to-brew-turkish-tea-hot-strong-and-full-of-flavor for these directions.  Mine is the western version of one cup, 1 teaspoon, boiling water, three minutes.

 

My first infusion is of Cayku Filliz Cayi, Special Turkish Tea, Filliz region.  It comes in a big! red bag and the tiny, slivered leaves smell of good clean earth with a hint of floral.  The brewing aroma is much the same, with a bit of leaf mold thrown in. It is a good plain, sturdy tea.  Best, I think in small amounts and perhaps, for mornings.  If you're not aware of it, the Turks usually serve tea in quite small glasses, maybe 2-3 ounces and traditionally, with sugar.  I added some sugar, from Austin Sugar Works, but this is not my cup of tea.  I like it plain better, or with a touch of cream.

The second, in a yellow striped bag is Cayku Rizi Turist Cayi, from the Rizi region.  I brewed both of these the same way, as they both have the same small, slivered leaf configuration.  This one seems to have a much gentler aroma, although definitely in the same earthy, leafmold, floral family.  The taste is somewhat gentler as well and I think I prefer it to the first.  I didn't bother with sugar, but went straight to a dab of cream and liked it very much

As sometimes happens, the taste of the tea follows directly in the foorsteps of the aroma, which to me, is one indication of a good tea.  Although I would not rank either of these in the top standings, they would both be good breakfast tea and would also go well with sandwiches and something like gingerbread or chocolate cake.  Oh gosh, now I made myself hungry and I haven't got either one in the house.  Must be I have to bake, right?

Some Tea News

This may look like a quilt, but it is actually the ceiling of a church, probably in Germany.

You have all been so patient, and I thank you.  I think we are serving between 75 and 100 families a day at the aid station with food, cleaning supplies,baby and personal needs and candy.  Candy is importent, it makes folks smile and brightens their day a bit.  And we are only one, the biggest, but there are 5-6 other small ones, plus the folks who carry stuff out to those who can't get in.  Today we got a big lot of stuff from the NY Mets baseball team - one of the wives is from Owego.  We even have a huge mound of dog and cat food and a big bag of stuffed animals for the little kids.  It is so nice to be able to give people not only necessities, but some treats, other than candy. 

I do have some tea  news for you.  In 2012 Stash tea will be 40 years old.  Amazing!  It opend in a Victorian house in Portland Oregon in 1972 and was one of the firs to go on line in 1995.  In 2005, they opened their first retail shop.  Pretty cool.

Kenya has joined thethe ranks of Darjeeling and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in having a mark of origin device for their teas.  The Kenyan one is the flag, fronted by a shiled with crossed spears and the words "Finest Premium Teas".

In Dooars, India, the workers are still on strike, albeit peacefully.  They have been on strike for 5 months and the government has brought in mediation teams.

Tomorrow I get to stay home, so perhaps I will do some tea tasting then.

A Quartet of Curds

The ancient great bells of Meieringen, Switzerland, church.

I was very pleased to see that one of my favorite tea rooms, The Whistling Kettle Tea Lounge and Cafe in Ballston Spa, NY, is featured in an article in the newest issue of Tea Time Magazine. They really deserve mention, as everything they serve is done well and the teas they have are top notch. I gave a short review of them almost 2 years ago. If you are going to Saratoga Springs for the races or the summer music season, they are only a short drive away.


You've all heard of that wonderful cake and tart filler, lemon curd. I hope you have had some as well, it is wonderful stuff. Now there is orange curd, available from http://www.curdelicious.com/ . They also have lemon, raspberry and lime curds, for $7.95. I saw they lots of other treats and recipes.


In the tea section of http://www.bellaonline.com/ is an article about the dangers of Bubble Tea. There are no sources listed, so I don't know how accurate this is, and you may wish to check carefully before you trust it. I can take issue with the statement that wheat gluten may be bad for you. If so, we'd best not eat anything ever again that is made from flour.



Currently, there is a young, newly fledged Blue Jay sitting on the suet feeder, trying to figure out how to eat the suet without falling off. Oops, he needs to try again. I'm sure he will master it, Jays are very intelligent birds.


Today I am again having some tea from Gay Grace Teas in Natick, MA. It is from Kenya, Tinderet Single Estate Black. The small dry leaves smell of licorice, which changes to a roasted aroma as the tea is brewing. There is a roasted barley or corn flavor to this very dark brew, but on the whole it is on the bland side. At the same time it is hearty and sturdy. I guess there just aren't a lot of nuances. It would be a pleasant afternoon tea.




My Florida son called me at 8:30 this morning to say they were 4 hours from here and would see us for lunch - they were due tomorrow night. So I had best go finish the preparations for them. I will not be posting again until Wednesday or Thursday. In the meantime, drink lots of tea and have blessed days.

TEA GIVE AWAY

Same barn, different view.




I misled you yesterday. When the tea cooled the second infusion was every bit as good as the first cup. Hot, it was blah, cool it was not.



So, how was your Halloween? "Rescue " some good candy from your kids? We were told we'd have less than ten but we had 18. Our whole side of the road is retired pastors and the development across from us is mostly retired too, so there aren't a lot of kids to show up. The best costume was a banana and a Sylvester "puddy tat". Sadly, the kid didn't know Tweetie's song about him.





**I have a super abundance of tea. Therefore I am going to do a Give Away. The first 5 people from the USA who leave a comment will receive a bundle of tea in the mail. Please tell me if there are some you really hate and I won't send those. Most of the teas will be black, with some green and some flavored.**


Today's tea is from Kenya. A lot of tea comes from Kenya and most of it winds up in teabags or some nondescript blend. Several years ago there were some excellent full-leaf teas appearing and then, due to a number of people factors, it was hard to find good Kenya tea. However, in the past 18 months, most of the teas I have had from there have been excellent. This looks to be one of them. Again, I have raided my Upton's stash to bring you their TK30 Bold Leaf Superior Golden Kenya TGFOP [Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe]. The smell is exquisite - tobacco, floral and a sharp note of perhaps citrus. The leaves are about medium size, with 1/3-1/2 being gold tips.

I brewed it for 4 minutes with boiling water and the aroma just continued, only with that "fresh wash on the line" scent on the edges, and more citrus. It is a surprisingly light golden brown. The citrus really comes out in the flavor, which is medium light and sweet, but not at all sugary. There seems to be a strong component of berry present also. Altogether a very good tea. I would use for afternoons, or for people new to "real" tea or a tea party, as it has a special taste without being so "out there" that few people would enjoy it.