Clean Linens and Tea

The Amalfi Coast.


Have you got tea stained linens and don’t know what to do with them? Oxiclean to the rescue. This is available in most grocery stores, and places like Walmart, Target, Sam’s Clubs, etc. I have found that if you soak the items in a solution of Oxiclean and water - the package has directions - for a few days, all or almost all of the stains will come out. It doesn’t hurt the fabric. It will not do anything for burn marks - the fabric is altered forever. It works well on other stains as well -old or new. The Oxiclean people have come out with a spray specifically for old stains as well, but I have found soaking works better, and cheaper. I found that it works well on clothes with old stains, too and some of my treasured tees are now rejuvenated.


I just got my catalog from King Arthur Flour. They have 20 or more scone mixes, pans shaped to make those nice triangles and clotted cream, double Devon cream and lemon curd to put on them. So, if this is your sort of tea goody, hustle over to http://www.kingarthurflour.com/  and order up.


If you would like a weekly tea party recipe, Dawnya Sassa at http://www.teapartygirl.com/ sends them out for free. Most of them are quite good, very tasty things. Some don’t appeal to me, but that’s just personal taste.  Signing up for them is free and Dawnya often does podcasts or has classes if you are on the mailing list.



I had the best tea! It’s from Silver Leaf Tea Company, Irish Breakfast Extra Fancy OP1. It is a mix of India and China Teas and upon opening the packet, I was struck by its deep, dark, winey aroma. The longish black and brown leaves are highlighted by golden buds. I brewed this for about 3.5 minutes with boiling water and really appreciated the good fresh tea aroma that fairly burst out of the pot. It is a very roasted aroma that reminds me strongly of all the British Isles tea. This is a very hearty tea with a tannic edge that is nevertheless smooth. It is a very satisfying tea, one that warms you to your toes. It goes wonderfully with milk and it is true to its name, being an excellent morning tea.


I can’t believe our weather. Here it is November 8 and we are finally having Indian summer. This on the heels of a week of heavy frosts. Not good for our plantings, who were all ready to go to sleep for the winter.

Snow, Another Good Reason For Tea

More of Grandpa's view

Saturday it snowed - just enough to leave about an inch on things in the morning. By noon, the lovely, warm, bright sun has dissipated it all. The fur persons all ran out, tails up, noses twitching, to see this new thing. But wait! It is cold on the paws and it sticks. Meee- oooow! So they all rush in again, to warm their toes on our legs. Best have some tea, says I.




Silver Leaf Tea Company is offering a black tea from the Kenilworth Estate in Sri Lanka, still known as Ceylon in the tea world. The leaves are a pretty good size, almost all black with hints of brown. They have a deep throat-catching winey scent. I only brew it for 3 minutes, as my experience of both Ceylon and Assam is that they get nasty if brewed too long. All the tannin comes out and one could even say it was stewed. The resulting liquor is a very dark amber which gives off a combination of oak, fall vegetative matter and a roastiness. The tea itself, however, is only so-so, with no particular taste. It is much improved with a spot of half & half, which seems to bring out the oakiness and lift it into the pretty good realm.



Tea is always amazing me. Sometimes, with really good teas, you just get your socks knocked off, they ‘re so good. Some are subtle, some change their taste from the beginning of the cup to the end. Some teas are wonderful hot and dreadful iced. Some taste best with cream, others are awful that way. It is always an adventure and a comfort to have tea.



I bought some good coffee for my “best beau” and ya know what? All this tea drinking has sharpened my palette so that now I am better at coffee nuances as well. “Who’da thunk it?” If you have coffee drinkers in your house, the company is Gimmee Coffee, which originated in NYC, but I get it locally in Ithaca or on line at http://www.gimmeecoffee.com/ . The prices aren’t bad, the service is excellent and the coffee is roasted by them within a few days of delivery.



Since the flood, I have noticed that my water filter has been getting used about up 2-3 times as quickly and it is having a hard time filtering out all the chlorine. It’s a good thing we weren’t drinking it for several weeks.

False Alarm

This is the pulpit in a small but exquisite German church in which my many greats grandfather was christened. 

Hello again.  I do not have a detached retina, so no operation, hooray.  I do have a problem, but the eye doctor says it will cure itself.

I was having some chutney with a chicken dish for lunch today.  It's very good, but doesn't sell at the farmers market any longer, so I looked on line and there it is.  It's called Chutney Fever and is made right here in Trumansburg, NY, about 10 miles north of Cornell University.  It comes in 6 flavors, but I have only had 2 - Apricot Ginger and Peach Tamarind.  They are delicious and organic and make wonderful tea sandwiches, either alone or with cheese or peanut butter or chicken, ham, etc.  They are also very nice with scones.  The online address is http://chutneyfever-store.stores.yahoo.net/  They are a little expensive, but a small amount has big results.  I am a great fan of cheese and chutney sandwiches, myself, and these chutneys are a lot better than Major Grey's.

I am so glad to have our own water back and not have to mess with either bottled or overboiled water for my tea.  And... we can now shower and wash our clothes safely.  Owego continues to struggle with the devastation, but we are determined to bounce back.

Silver Leaf Tea Company, http://www.silverleaftea.com/ is the source for today's Evening Blend.  it is a mix of Indian and Chinese teas and is billed as having lower caffeine.  The dry leaves are huge, twisted and an interesting mix of brown and silver or pale green.  The aroma is interesting, as well.giving off a gentle but definite mix of tree bark accented with peach and tamarind.  I brewed it for 3.5 minutes with boiling water, as there were no guidelines with it. 

The resulting brew is very pale and doesn't smell like much other than fresh wash or milking parlor soap..  Even before tasting it, I wonder if I used too little.  I probably should have weighed it instead of spooning and eye-balling it.  Yup, it is just plain weak.  I may make more today, if so, I'll write about it.

Well, I made it the right strength and I have to say it's hardly worth the effort.  It's OK.  It has a bit of tamarind taste, over a bit of earthiness, but it is really nothing special, although as I finish my very large mug of it, it seems to gain more depth.

Tea Mystery

Ballenberg Museum

The interior of a small typical Swiss mountain home, about 150 years ago. The stove on the right would keep the whole house warm. Usually these homes were quite small, as many of ours were.

A gray, misty, rainy day, good for tea. I have some Nilgiri Chamraj Oolong from the Silver Leaf Tea Company. The leaves are very long, twisted, and dark. Their dry scent is perhaps pine and citrus? I honestly can't really tell, but that is the closest I can come.

I brewed this up for about 1.5 minutes for the first infusion and 2 for the second. There are a lot of stems in the tea and it is much darker than Oolongs generally are. The scent has shifted to a balsam. I can't describe how this tea tastes. Brown, with maybe traces of nuttiness.

I did better with the second infusion as it was clearly nutty, with some sort of candy edge to it, but not really sweet. I think I would have to put it in the just okay column for now, but I will come back to it at a later time and see how we do.

Samples and Surprises

Two items that may be of interest to you:

The first is that Tea Chat is sponsoring some sample tastings and discussions on it's forum. You might want to go on over to www.teachat.com scroll down to Tea and Teaware and click on New! OTTI. It's too late to sign up for the first 3 rounds, but you can join Tea Chat - it's free and no one contacts you - so you can sign up for future samplings.

Samples abound at many tea merchants. The latest one I heard of seems to be a really good deal. It is at www.englishteastore.com In the search box put in tea sampler. You will want English favorites. You get 5 teabags of 5-6 different teas for $5.79. They have others. Aura Teas also has several sample packages. These are a great way to see what you like, without a large outlay of funds.

Round Three of the Castleton Estate Tea from Silver Leaf Tea. I made really strong ice tea with it and lo and behold! I found some flavor. It is very nice this way. I used about 1/2 cup to my 1.5 quart pitcher and put it in the frig for about 6 hours. It came out a very pretty pale pumpkin, with a pleasant floral/slightly grape, slightly smokey taste. I am glad I found a use for it other than mulch.

Tea and Critters

Sorry about the run-on paragraphs, the blogger thingy is misbe-
having again.

Check out the Swiss flag!

Finally, I have had some time to retry the Silver Leaf Tea Company's Castleton Estate First Flush. This time I used water that was about 175 and brewed it for about 3.5 minutes. Aha, this time there is a nice fruity taste, with some muscatel [grape to us] along with it. However, the taste really is very faint. I am going to try again with more tea and see, but I am about ready to give up on it and perhaps just use it to cut some overly strong Lapsang Souchong I have.

Speaking of which I am remembering that Lapsang was one of the first "real" teas I ever had and immediately fell in love with it. When we were first married, it was our common winter tea. That's amazing to me, as it is such a strong tea that it really falls into the love it or hate it category, few people seem to be wishy washy about it. Hu Kwa is my favorite, but I appreciate some of Upton's as well. I find that as long as it is sealed well, it keeps for quite a while, too. I have some I have had for 2 1/2 years that is still lovely.

Well, I must say we have wildlife. Our doe with the week-old fawn just crossed the road in front of our house, there are owls hooting in the woods and I think I have heard a ruffed grouse drumming. Best of all, I have seen Baltimore Orioles in two different areas near us, yet far enough apart that I don't think it's the same one. It has been years since I have seen them and I am really excited to hope they may be making a comeback in this area. Our old neighbors in Greene have a nesting pair in their yard this year! Taking time to have tea on the back porch enables me to really appreciate these wonderful creatures around us.

My grandfather's hometown in Switzerland.

We had the most amazing rainstorm this morning - it rained one way, then the other , then both at once, then straight down. Everything on the porch is soaked and it is about 20 degrees cooler than it was at the start of the day. A good day for tea. And I just happen to have some to try.

Silver Leaf Tea, www.silverleaftea.com had a nice special on, so I bought some. Today's is Castlton Estate First Flush Darjeeling. The dry leaves are an attractive mix of brown, tan, black and green and smell like drying hay with a hint of wine in the background.

I brewed it with almost boiling water for 2 minutes and it smelled very light, very fresh, almost an Oolong scent. The liquor was a pretty pale orange. I think I must have underbrewed it because it seems to have little taste. I had a cracker to see if perhaps I had some leftover taste from lunch that was interfering, but that didn't help. As it cooled, it got fairly tannic, but still with no real discernible taste.

This will just be a partial review since it seems I goofed on the brewing - I will do it again tomorrow for 3 minutes at a lower temp and see if that helps - often Darjeeling first flushes have to be treated like green tea and that may be the case here - I'll let you know.