So Long Assam

Oh dear, I have a tea I really like and now discover it is no longer available. Phooey.  I am not a great fan of Assam tea.  Many are wonderful but many get too tannic too fast or they are too malty or too heavy or just too something.  And no, I am not going on a rant.  The tea is Assam Breeze from Teavana and it is a very attractive tea, a fine mix of brown and gold.    The dry aroma is chocolate-y with a twist of lime.

I brewed it a bit light, with boiling water for 3.5 minutes.  The result is a medium amber cup that is very, very pleasant.  Nothing special, no particular nuances or tastes.  I had it with cream and felt very cozy.  It is perhaps like the teas I had as a child, milky, soft and surrounded with love.  I am sorry this tea is discontinued, but I know there are other sources for some very nice Assam teas, so I won't cry too hard.

The weather here is finally moderating and our temperatures are just upper 70's, perhaps low 80's, with little or no humidity.  Summer as it should be, in my book.

I have also been drinking "Ice Tea Blend" from our local tea shop, Serendipity.  I think she may get it from Metropolitan Teas, a big wholesaler.  It is so accommodating.  I put it in the pitcher in the morning yesterday and forgot about it until this morning and it's lovely.  Usually, overnight is about all you should do with black teas.  It is mild and on the plain side, with teas from about 7 countries.  I like my ice tea to be gentle, whereas Himself likes it strong enough to carry bricks and then he puts milk in it!  As you might imagine, we always have 2 pitchers of ice tea going.

A lot of trees are beginning to show color.  Or maybe they are dying from heat and drought stress, although the latter usually takes 2-4 years.  The canopy was much thinner this year, as well.  The stream that comes out of our bog is the very merest trickle, hardly worth mentioning.  I have heard that bears up in the Adirondacks are breaking into houses in search of food, as the drought has produced so little for them.  I don't think it is that bad here, but I noticed that blackberries that are generally half a thumb size are only pinky sized.Quite the reverse from last year's overwhelming rains.

How's this for a cool relicry?

Welcome, Sunshine

We have been having a whole string of beautiful days.  Some were only half days, but around here, you celebrate sun.  Perhaps you could even say we appreciate it more because it is somewhat rare in winter.  In the summer, we often welcome a cloudy day that is little cooler.

Some tea news first of all.  Choice Teas has just introduced an organic Korean Green Tea.  It only comes in teabags at the moment.  They also have some other new ones - decaf green, chai, and rooibos chai.  All their teas are organic.  Their website is http://www.choicesorganicteas.com/  At just 4.99 for 16 teabags, this is a good way to try out some Korean tea.  Generally, it is prohibitively expensive.

Numi Tea has just gotten some awards for their organic teas and for their efforts at sustainability.  http://www.numitea.com/ .  I am pleased to see organic companies rewarded for their work in helping the planet and its people.

The New York Coffee and Tea Festival is taking place February 25-26 and there are lots of tea courses available to choose from.

The World Tea Expo, held in June in Las Vegas is 10 years old this year!  Wow, I didn't know that, it's heartwarming that tea has been that important for that long.  I'll have more information about it later on. 

I am having Dragonwell Imperial Reserve from Teavana today.  It is part of a swap I got from participating in the Tea Review Blog swap.  I thought it suitable for the celebration of the Lunar Year of the Dragon.  These lovely green leaves are so much fun.  They are long, slender and absolutely flat as they are generally hand-fired in woks.  They feel like silk as they run through my fingers.  These seem to give off a sweet aroma.  I am brewing them at about 170 for 2 minutes.  Wow, does this smell wonderful.  A cross between spring green and a sweet orchid.  It is a very pale green.  It tastes as good as it smells, delicate, sweet, spring grassy, a great way to welcome the new year in.

I drove by my neighbor farmer this week and spotted a flock of about 50 wild turkeys gleaning in his corn field.  My little downy woodpeckers are back at the suet feeder and last night I heard the owls calling to each other in the woods - it is mating season and I suppose all the gents were telling the ladies how wonderful they are.  I have been saving my yarn ends from my projects for the birds and soon I will string them through the bushes for them to use in their nests.  I also put out dryer lint for the same purpose.

This is another German ancester's church.  I guess they liked blue.  At some point they had a flood, which rose above the pulpit and up over the balcony.  I now understand what that is like.

Not A Forte of the Earl

I love this style of steeple.

I happened to be in Walmart and saw they have a selection of largish teacup and teapot planters. I have not yet sorted out all my garden ware from when we moved, so I was not tempted. I also didn't like them, which is the real reason I wasn't tempted. I am more into a mix of classic and my own version of tacky, as anyone can see who visits my house.

We just got rid of a love seat and got a new chair, so we have been spending the morning hauling furniture around. We're not done yet, but I am desperate for a cup of tea.

I decided to try more of the Tea Forte I was given, since I have had such good luck with it. I am having Earl Grey, which I love and I am always ready to try a new one. It is still that box of teabags and the bag is quite full. there isn't a lot of scent dry, but that is not surprising. However, there's not much scent wet, either. And, not too much taste, to boot. In fact, it seems like a cross between black currant and Lipton's, with the barest hint of citrus. It won't make me run right out and buy some loose.

Another note about Japanese Teas - any tea that is currently in a store or your pantry is perfectly safe, as it was here long before the radiation problem. Quite probably that will go for this year's crop as well. If you are worried, go to the New York Times website and look for their map of radiation. Most Japanese tea is grown west and south west and a bit north of Tokyo, on the big island. The reactor is on the large northern island. The same is true of Japanese restaurants. Almost all of their ingredients are purchased here, especially the ingredients in sushi or they have been here from before the reactor problem, so it is perfectly safe to eat in them.

However, we need to mention that Teavana had a voluntary recall of its peppermint tea, as there was a slight possibility that it was contaminated with salmonella. They are to be commended for doing this and if you have any you bought recently, please take it back or throw it out. It should be emphasized that no one has fallen ill from the tea.

Oh My, Not MY Chai

There are a couple of redesigned/new tea sites you might be interested in. The first is a more general site, having tea sets, filters, pots, teabags and some loose teas. It is aimed at the newer or average run of tea drinkers and can be found at http://www.buy-tea-online.com/. It is not an online store, but directs you to stores to purchase the item you want. They compare types and prices. The companion site is for people who prefer loose tea and that is all there is - loose tea. There are several categories and subcategories and again, this is not a store, but allows you to compare prices and select a store. It can be found at http://www.buy-loose-tea.com/ They do say they are newly reorganized and that they will be adding to their selections.

There aren't a lot of teas I hate right off the bat, but I have found one. I realize others may love it and that is okay. Awhile ago I won a certificate to Teavana and bought some teas, a cup and a teapot with it. The cup and teapot are great. I haven't been superbly happy with their teas and today's I think is downright awful.

We'll start with the name – Samurai Chai Mate – Samurai is Japanese, Chai is Indian and Mate is South American. We generally refer to Chai as the spiced Indian tea drink. So that confusion of names put me off right away. Then there was the ingredients list: green mate, Rooibos, cinnamon, pineapple and papaya bits, orange peel, lemon grass, coriander, cardamom and almond flakes. A bit lengthy and not too chai sounding, to me. Then there was the smell, which was peculiar, I really couldn't identify it. It also looked peculiar, with lots of tiny bits and some longish pieces. Brewing did not help the smell. But I persevered! I had 3 big swallows and threw it out. I think it is horrible, from beginning to end. The reason I think so is that everything is just too confused, nothing stands out, nothing is really blended well together. It's like those times when I clean out the fridge to make soup and don' t think through how it all goes together - too many things to really be good.

Let's have a nice cuppa tea

How about a cuppa of celery? I'll bet the vast majority of us don't think about celery much. We all have it in the fridge and we use it to add crunch to things or as one of those veggies that add some flavor to a sauce or stuffing, along with many others. It's one of those standbys with dips or to make us feel full when we are on a diet. A few of us may braise it as a vegetable on its own, but that's about the extent of its use. Certainly no one drinks it!

Well, that has changed. A group of us from the Association of Tea Bloggers heard about a study of green tea flavors and with Jason Walker leading, we decided to try 10 of the flavors and blog about them. Last week, Katrina from Tea Pages blogged about asparagus. This week I did celery.

I used McCormack's Celery Flakes, 1.5 grams – about a teaspoon to 8 ounces of water at 212 degrees, brewed for three minutes, then strained into a cup. Just as I would do a cup of tea. Meanwhile, I set up 5 green teas I had on hand to compare with it. I brewed them all according to their particular needs – on average 1 teaspoon for about 2 minutes at 170 degrees. One, Celestial Seasonings Authentic Green tea, I brewed a little longer. The other 4 were: Twinings Gunpowder Green; Teavana's Dao Ren Mao Feng Green; Andrews and Dunham Dragonwell and Special Teas China Fine Lung Ching.

The way I tested them was to have a big sip of celery, wait a little bit and then have a sip of tea, to make sure I remembered the taste of celery. One thing I discovered is that celery flakes treated like tea are actually pretty good. By the time I finished the cup of celery I was surprised to find all sorts of nuances in it and really beginning to appreciate it! It was all very very interesting.

Of the five, only two teas had any celery taste. Andrews and Dunham had the merest hint and Teavana's Dao Ren Mao Feng had a definite hint. At the end, I decided to put all the teas together in one pot, minus the celery tea. It was a pleasant brew, but the biggest surprise was, it had a real hit of celery. Not overwhelmingly so and I may not have noticed it if I weren't doing this experiment, but definitely there.

Being pretty new to green teas, I am very glad to have done this – the whole experiment is opening up a new world to me.

http://teapages.blogspot.com/
http://www.walkerteareview.com/

Lavender Fields Forever

Today is a wonderfull gift. It is warm - up in the 60's, which is
certainly unusual for around here in November - and an almost
shirt-tail cousin dropped in and we had a good gab about our mutual Swiss ancestors. One of his friends over there said that the
difference between our two countries is their society is based on trust and ours is based on mistrust. Sadly, I can see his point. However, on to happier things, like tea.


I’ve said before that I really love lavender. It has a lovely scent, some of the plants are really beautiful and it has remarkable calming properties, often used to help people sleep. There are at least 2 major groupings of scent, one that is more along the camphorous line and one that is sweetly floral. The latter is used in perfumes, oils and in cooking.


All this is in preface to tasting Lavender Dreams from Teavana, part of my winnings in a drawing. It is a white tea blended with Lavender, candied violets and flavoring. The dry tea is quite pale, with a few brighter touches of the violets, making it a very girly tea. The scent is delicate, reminding me of old lavender sachets. I brewed it at about 170 for just a few minutes. As one might expect, it had a very delicate, but very pleasant lavender taste. I could discern no hint of the white tea base and I am not sure it mattered, as it was not the best of whites, which are made only from the unopened bud. It is a very nice gentle tea, to serve to your best friend on a cozy afternoon, perhaps with tiny scones and some Devonshire cream.

Six Summits Oolong

I guess I am a tea addict. If I don't have some every day, I feel deprived.

In fact, I get a "jones" for tea. Are addict and afficiando the same?

Building on my recent successes, I tried another Oolong today -

Six Summits from Teavana - part of the stash I won in a drawing. The leaves are a nice green with a bit of brown, some are crumpled, while others are almost balled. I brewed it at about 190 for 3 minutes and poured my first cup. The leaves had mostly unfurled to a range of 1/2 inch to about triple that. What a loverly scent - like Swiss flowers. It was a pale almost true lemon color. It was a very sweet floral tasting tea with a tiny bit of chalk which reminded me very much of something I have had and liked, but I don't know what - maybe Linden, maybe the nectar from sweet flowers? My second brew had almost a minty component to it. Altogether a delightful tea.

Is nothing sacred? For lunch I was making myself a nice pesto and tomato pizza when along comes the piglet - Ernie, begging, as usual. The little bugger like pesto! Something else to keep away from him. One of our big cats - all 20 lbs of him - is sitting on the porch railing, next to the bird feeder. He thinks the birds will come to eat and he can grab one - especially that annoying blue jay. Ha and Ha again. He should've learned from last year.