Black Bear Ices It

The walls of a church built in 800, under the Meieringen,
Switzerland church of my grandmother. You can just walk right in. Amazing!

I hope by now you all realize that my tea tastings are one woman's opinion about a particular tea. Whether you will like the tea I review or not is a matter of your taste, since so many things influence an individual's response to a particular tea. When I was starting on my tea journey, I found that some reviewers seemed to share my tastes and if they recommended a tea, I would probably like it. I am sure that goes for you as well.

I admit, sometimes I will try a new tea simply because I am captivated by its name. Such is the case with Black Bear Jasmine, from Kitchen TLC. Because we have bears and because I've had another black jasmine, I tried it - not a reasonable reason, but there you have it. If I had been smart, I wouldn't have bought it, since I never like teas with vanilla flavoring. But I got it. And I hated it. I gave it three tries. Full strength, it was perfume to drink. Half strength more of the jasmine came out and it was better, so I tried it about half-strength as an ice tea - about 2 teaspoons to 2 cups of water, refridgerated overnight. It's almost good, not much jasmine, more vanilla and something floral I can't identify. It actually is growing on me, iced. I probably wouldn't drink much, but I have friends who would love it, so now I feel it has redeemed itself.


I just found out I can go to World Tea East, Sept 9-10! I am so excited! I have wanted to go to the parent show, the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas for years, but couldn't. Many tea people are thrilled this is happening, as for us Easterners, this is so much more accessible. There are expos of one sort or another in Seattle and Western Canada, but it has been years since there has been one in the East. Be assured I will tell you all about it. What I do know is there will be a number of lectures given by some well-known tea people such as Bruce Richardson, exhibitions, tea competitions, etc. More to come!


If you are interested, Dawnya Sasse from http://www.teapartygirl.com/ has a webinar on "Starting a Tea Club for Fun or for Profit". Find out more information at Tea@TeaEvents.com. Dawnya has a regular email feature of tea recipes and often has these webinars. This will be the first webinar I will have tried, but her recipes are good and creative, so I expect this will be as well. You can sign up for the recipes at her Tea Party Girl website.

Black Bear Bombs

A very nice goat in Meieringen, Switzerland.

Today is My 500th blog. "Who'da thunk it", to quote someone I can't remember. For me, that is incredible perseverance.


Rain, blessed rain! We have been so dry and so hot. It is still hot, but it is almost manageable. This morning we planted 2 berry bushes and the rain will settle them in nicely. To think that only a short while ago, we felt like we wer drowning.


The Tea House Times, a tea magazine that publishes every 2 months, is now on line. They also have tea courses for both pros and enthusiasts. Go to http://www.theteahousetimes.com/ for more information on these and the other things they offer.


Looking for candy that combines your 2 great loves, chocolate and tea? Look no further, http://www.tea-room.stores.yahoo.net/ has a great selection. They have 9! tea infused chocolate bars, including chai, Early Gray green, jasmine and herbals that we often call tea, such as Mate, rooibus, and chamomile. They also carry a wide range of teas, many of which are organic.


I must say, Kitchen TLC, out in Bozeman, MT, is fast. I got my order 2 days after I placed it, with 2 free samples. I could not resist Black Bear Jasmine, which is organic, consisting of black and green teas, jasmine and vanilla flavoring. The dry tea is quite attractive, with the tea colors and the small buds of jasmine. The aroma is intense and very, very perfumey, almost too much so. I brewed 1 teaspoon at 195 degrees for just 3 minutes. It is unlike any Jasmine I have ever had. The flavor is incredibly intense and basically tastes like perfume. I did not care for it. I am going to try it again, with less tea or more water and see if that helps. At the moment, it is definitely not a winner.

We're Having a Heat Wave!

Lovely mountains and sky in Berne, Switzerland.

Today it is too hot to write, even in the house. I've mentioned Kitchen TLC (tea, life, chocolate) a few times and I finally decided to order some of their teas. I just did this Thursday and they are here already! They included two free samples, which is very kind of them.

I am only having ice tea today, which in this particular case is a melange of leftover brewed tea. It is going down very nicely. I made some sugar syrup to have on hand for tonight's guests, as I know they like theirs sweetened, but who wants to stir forever?

Perhaps by Monday I will have the cool to again do some tea tasting. I certainly hope so.


At the farmers market, not only was their new squash, but new potatoes and new corn! Did anyone say feast?


Here's something to try if you are grilling. lightly grill some peaches or nectarines and pop the slices in your tea. The grilling brings out their sweetness, adds a little caramel and if you're lucky, not much in the way of smoke. If you're like me, a bit of smoke is fine. Yum.

Have a happy weekend, drink lots of tea and keep cool.