Tea From Snowy Mountain

There's that gray again! We were supposed to get another of those
big storms, but all we got was about 4" of snow at night and a tiny amount of freezing rain. By afternoon, it was okay for walking and we did, along with the orange escorts, who are currently trying to get in the way of my typing.

I opened some of Culinary Teas' Snowy Mountain Jian Tea. The Jian should have clued me in that it was green. But no, I thought it was black, so I boiled the water and then had to wait for it to cool.


Anyway... This is a pretty tea, with longish rolled leaves, some gold and a good bit of nice white down . It didn't smell like much dry - just good fresh tea. As it brewed for 2.5 minutes at about 200 - I was impatient - it smelled very vegetal and somewhat seaweedy, with a gentle smoke overtone. In the cup, it is a light tan. It did not taste at all smokey, but just a pleasant vegetable taste. It seems to hold up better than most greens in a mug size serving, as it doesn't get bitter as it cools and I think it is another one of those you could sip all day. If I did that, however, I would do several smallish pots, rather than one big one. It does get more assertive as it cools, but it's still a decent cup of tea

A Turkish Party

The perfect way to explore Vienna.

What a good time we had last night at the Turkish restaurant! There 7 of us and I think we managed to sample about everything on the menu. I can't remember how to spell them all but there was eggplant pureed with garlic and herbs [baba ganoosh], the best hummus, wonderful fresh pita, spinach pie, some sort of stuffed with feta and herbs pastry, fresh and unsalty feta, olives, we split a chicken, lamb and sausage plate and there was baklava, kadiefi [glorified shredded wheat] and rice pudding for dessert.

I had Turkish tea, which the waiter says comes from the south of Turkey and is very traditional. It was served in small glasses, shaped like small hyacinth sprouting glasses, with an actual tea spoon and all sitting in a little colorful bowl. It was a pretty dark amber and was very hot - they brew it to order. The taste was on the thin side, with a fresh taste and metallic and astringent overtones. I am not sure I would get it again, but it was a very pleasant accompaniment to the hors d'oerves. To be truthful, I would've preferred the Turkish coffee - tiny cups, bitter brew with lots of sludge in the bottom, but wonderful stuff. Hey, what can I say? I like both drinks.


I couldn't help but think how many of the dishes we were served would make a wonderfully exotic tea party. All those delicious spreads for small pitas, the tiny savory pastries, white bean salad, cucumber soup, small lamb or chicken skewers, and of course, those sweeter than sweet desserts. With an exotic tablecloth and napkins, and plenty of good black tea, you'd be in business. Many Turkish dishes are very similar to other Middle Eastern ones and most are fairly easy to prepare, with recipes readily available on the internet.

Explorations on the Tea Web

In the middle of the beautiful city of Austria, right in front of the
palace, there are these big holes in the ground. They are the Roman ruins! If you look carefully in the upper middle of the picture you will see a round hole, which provided running water. Yup, the Romans had running water and bathrooms far more similar to ours than any other time up to the early days of the 20th century.


I am suffering from an extreme case of laziness today and I am not trying any teas I haven't already told you about. I am saving my palate for going to a Turkish restaurant tonight. I've never been to one, so I am really looking forward to it. Some friends found it just by chance and so a bunch of us are having a new experience.

Instead, I am going to tell you about some interesting things I found on the tea blogs I frequent.
The Odd Box that is part of the United Kingdom blog has some interesting things - go to www.tea.co.uk and check it out. They also feature many tea rooms if yyou are lucky enough to be going there any time soon.

At the Tea Gallery, there is an interesting article on aged gyokura, that very famous and expensive Japanese tea. Most people try to get the freshest, but some Japanese age it for about a year and say it is much better. Read about it here www.theteagallery.blogspot.com

Last but not least is a handy chart on tea processing, with explanations. This can be found at http://greatteas.com/about


Tomorrow I will reort on the Turkish restaurant and if they have tea or just those tiny cups of coffee. For now, I will finish the vacuuming and take a little nap.

Hot Tea in the Old Town Today

Another weeny Italian vehicle. After taking a bus on the Amalfi
drive, I really understand small cars.



It is a perfect winter day. Beautiful snow, [we got about 9 inches], beautiful sky, sun shining, a perfect day for a walk. I have to buy a ski mask, however. When I was a kid I stayed out ice-skating too long and froze parts of my face. Now, if the wind is just right and it is cold enough, my face is really painful where I froze it. Otherwise I will have to stay in or wrap up like a mummy. So today I guess I'll be a mummy and next week a bank robber. Better than inside, though.





I am so tempted to order a tea plant along with my other plants and seeds, but... not enough window space in the winter and definitely not enough humidity. In the winter, I prefer flowers to just greenery, so I guess I'll let you all do the personal tea thing.



Speaking of which, I have belatedly realized it is Hot Tea Month. We need to have a party and celebrate! I am too partied out, but I certainly intend to have lots of hot tea. Guess I will go and do that. I am having some Shui Jiu China Yunnan . Upton's number ZY65, which is organic. The leaves are medium sized, with a good bit of gold in them and they smell of old wood and spice. As it brews for 4 minutes - long for me, that aroma remains, along with a toasty/fire/grill edge - not smokey,but reminding me of those things.

It is a fairly light amber in the cup with a medium body and some maltiness. There is a bit of spice and a bit of astringency to make it piquant. It kind of grabs the back of your mouth and makes it juicy. There is a definite taste of mellow old wood as I drink it - it's better a little cooler and there is a trace of cotton candy. It's not the smoothest, most mellow Yunnan I have had, but I would consider it quite good and will get more. With some half and half, it does reach a very mellow, full state and this is probably the way I will continue to have it. At $ 7.50for 125 grams, it's a real bargain.

Mexico, Silver and Tea

It's really Wednesday January 12.

I love old stone work. I like to think about the people who shaped it and the strength of it and the age. Pretty impressive stuff.


We've been having some meals with a Mexican/Southwestern twist and I got to thinking about how you could do a Mexican themed tea party. Certainly there are enough foods that can be scaled down to do well as courses in a tea feast.


I was thinking of black bean soup, pureed, served with a small dollop of sour cream and a few of those corn chips that are long and skinny: A tropical fruit salad composed of pineapple, kiwi, mango or papaya with some raspberries or blueberries for color, drizzled with honey and lime juice: Taquitos, which are small and you can now get frozen, served with fresh homemade salsa: Homemade tortillias made from Masa Harina - small ones with Mexican style chicken and avocado slices and maybe grape tomatoes. You could also do small fried plantains or the ones made with peanuts and sour cream, or serve the tortillas with jam and butter or mock Devonshire cream. A small salad would be a pleasant addition.


For dessert there is flan or bunuelos or Tres Leches Cake, Mexican cookies or Jamaican bread pudding, made with a hefty dose of rum. For tea, I would definitely serve a good strong black. You could serve lime slices instead of lemon ones. With dessert, however, a nice chocolate tea with a dash of cinnamon would go very nicely. Mexican hot chocolate has cinnamon in it.



Okay, I have now heard enough about this and read enough that I can tell you. The best black tea is made in sterling silver teapots. Yup. Apparently this is a well-kept secret among the cognoscenti. It has something to do with chemical reactions and DOES NOT work with silverplate. Apparently black tea made in silverplate is absolutely awful. The only catch is that if you haven't inherited one or don't have beaucoup bucks you are out of luck, as sterling is astronomical in price. I have some teaspoons, but I don't think they'd do much for brewing the tea. Ah well, just one more reason to go junking. Such a sad thing to be forced to do. If you have a sterling teapot, please try it and leave me a note.


I do have some nice ceramic pots, however and I used one to brew up some of Culinary Teas Keemun Panda Grade 1 Black Tea. I used a little more than a teaspoon and did the usual 3.5 minutes with boiling water. The dry leaves had sort of an odd sharp smell I couldn't put my finger on. They were small and mostly black. As it brewed there was an aroma of old wood and a sour, but not unpleasant note, mixed with that fresh wash on the line scent. The taste was quite full and was something of a cross between hot toast and something deep and dark, but again, I can't think of the right word to describe it. Very frustrating. On the whole, it was a quite decent cup of tea.

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.

Oh Well

Yes, indeedy, angels have smiled on us and we finally have enough snow
for everything to be pretty. There's about 5 inches and the trees and bushes and bird feeders are all capped. It is very quiet - that stillness that comes with new snow. It's wonderful. We'll go for a walk in a bit but I doubt we'll have company - the fur persons are content to watch from the back porch. Besides, we are taking down the Christmas decorations and there are all those boxes and that crinkly paper to play with!


Here I am again, with Far Western Trading Company's Grand Keemun China Black Tea. Today, there is nothing burning in the oven and no bad cat food smell to interfer. The dry tea still doesn't have much aroma - just a plain tea smell. The brewing tea has a kind of fresh wash, old wood scent, with a little something besides. Not sure what, though.

This is kind of an odd Keemun. Plain, it doesn't have anything distinctive about it - none of that winey deep flavor. I think it is a tad stale. It is somewhat acidic but not particularly pleasantly so. It is better with a touch of cream, but I have had much better Keemuns at better prices. I don't care for their packaging, either. The tea comes in a sealed, metallic sack, but you can't reseal it, so you need to hunt up a can for it.


Have your gardening catalogues started to arrive yet? Ours have and I want almost everything in them. However, good sense must prevail and I am going to buy some black raspberries, currants, and other small fruit I really want and just a few plants for the small patch in front. I'll get the other stuff locally. It's always such a trick to try and appreciate the now while looking forward. But if we don't, there is so much we can miss. Since I am at the older side of my life, with perhaps only 20-30 years left, I don't want to miss anything. My grandmother bought her last car - a red convertible at 85 and had her first motor boat ride at 90. You go, grannie!