TwoTeas for Spring

Yesterday I mentioned going to the Agway farm store. I think next to libraries, they are my favorite places. So full of possibilities, the mere aroma of feed and dirt and fertilizer starts me dreaming of what might be. There is so much there that is useful or even fanciful. Libraries are so amazing, also - all that knowledge, free for the taking. Again, just the smell of one fills me with satisfaction. All those worlds and times to explore.

Tea is like that. All those countries, all those varieties, all those different processes, different years. The cup of tea may be one that has many nuances that change from moment to moment or from infusion to the next. A tea store or even one's own tea stores are so satisfying.

Today I am going to expand that a bit and discuss 2 teas I have from Life in Teacup. The first is Tong Chang, Small Orchid. This is a green tea with flat leaves, some of which are wavy or 2 leaves and a bud. Their smell is of butter and they have such a good feel in my fingers as I measure them out in my little pot. I tried brewing it for a minute, but that didn't seem long enough, so I pushed it to two. Even so, it is very delicate and reminds me of the taste of the first slivers of grass in the spring that have just barely turned from yellow to green. The second infusion I pushed to 3 minutes and its is still just barely green, but now it has a bit of a floral aroma, along with something like asparagus or celery and that is how it tastes, very refreshing.

The second I must apologize to Gingko for not trying it sooner. It is a 2010 Pre-Qing Ming Weng Jin Shan, Shi Feng Long Jing. I love Long Jing leaves, they so silky, slippery smooth, flat, as though each one was ironed by the very best ladies' maid. They were hand harvested and hand-processed, so that is very close to their treatment. The first infusion, for a little over 1 minute is ethereal in color and scent. It is grass-like, flowery, but ever so delicately. Truly a tea to be savored. The second wash was about 1.5 minutes and the color has just barely come up to pale green. The aroma is still flowery but very crisp, almost flinty, if that makes sense. Not a soft floweriness. The flavor is right there with that also. More flower than grass, but crisp and clean. I certainly see why such a fuss is made over Pre-Qing Ming teas!

St. Peter's church in Bacharach, Germany. I like how they are restoring it to its original colors. I also think the stairway is lovely.

Okay, even I will admit we really are in Spring. Kids are riding their bikes, I did some cleaning up in the garden and I went to Agway (farm and garden) and spent beaucoup bucks on seeds, bulbs, potting soil, the whole shebang. I planted my saved forever tomato seeds and I am good to go. We have saved these seeds, which we call Peter's tomatoes after a friend of a friend, for over 30 years. They are so good, a type of Polish Paste, big, long, meaty. We have only saved seeds from the sweetest and tastiest. Now we need to work on making them more prolific. I also have some cherry tomato seed that I really like.

I celebrated with some Oasis from Tea Forte. This is a mix of green tea, spring flowers and citrus. I brewed it for about 2.4 minutes with 180 degree water and it is citrussy, but very pleasantly so. The liquor is a pale gold and is slightly sweet, with a mild citrus flavor that is well-undergirded with the green tea. Altogether a very pleasant and successful blend. By which I mean you can taste the tea as well as the flavoring. I really don't like tea that only tastes like flavoring. I don't see the point of drinking it.

Tea for Cherry Blossom Time

What Ho, gang! It didn't snow! And the sun is shining! My faith in Spring is restored. It is a good thing I don't live in Alaska. There is still snow in the woods and along the edges where the plows piled it up, but there is hope that we really are moving into flower time. The birds certainly think so. The gold finches have morphed back into their bright gold coloring and the purple finches are looking much brighter. I have heard 4 distinctly different drummings of the woodpeckers in the woods - one is a pileated, our largest woodpecker. It makes me soooo jealous that others, including my husband, have seen it and I haven't.



Good news from Darjeeling. Some of the workers' associations broke off from the main group and settled for a considerable raise, all the way up to a little over $2.00 a day. I don't know how this fits in with average wages in India. This affects 42 gardens, but I do not know which ones. The larger group of associations is still on strike. I hope it can be settled amicably, and the workers receive what they need.



I know many tea enthusiasts are also gardeners and a rosarian friend of mine, Lee Ginenthal, has started a blog about roses, Thorny Issues, which can be found at http://derrosenmeister.blogspot.com/. I like to blend roses with my tea, as well as lavender. I will be planting some of Lee's roses this spring, as well as some lavender. I am intending to only plant things which smell good, if I can find enough of them the deer don't like.



For those of you who have ordered tea from the Imperial Tea Court, Stephanie, from Steph's Cup of Tea - see the list at right for her address - just visited and took some great pictures.



To celebrate the sun and spring hopes, I am going to try some Sencha Green Cherry Rose from the Briar Patch here in Owego. It's a pretty tea, with rose petals in the green leaves. It smells mostly of cherry and green tea, with just a touch of rose, and not cherry candy, either, hooray. This carries through in the brewing, with the same delicate scent. The brewed tea is a soft, greenish old gold color. Much as I am not a fan of fruity tea, I find this to be a very good blend, where both the tea and the flavoring meld into one lovely taste. This would be a perfect tea to have in among the cherry blossoms. There was no rose taste, but the petals made the tea pretty, and sometimes, pretty is enough.

Over The Top

A detail of yesterday's altar.

I've not been tasting any teas this week, as I had some sort of bug, which left me with no brain and no palate. But I think I am back to as normal as I ever am. Also, I am finding it difficult to get too excited about Spring when it keeps snowing. We had some yesterday and we're due to have more tonight. I can say that most of last week's foot of snow is gone and the birds are singing from early morning until after sundown. Perhaps I should pay attention to them! I did notice that our lupines are raising tiny fans of new leaves above the ground and the bee balm seedlings are beginning to look as though they will survive.

Very much on the positive side, last week I received samples I had ordered from 3 more companies: Samovar Life, Tea Trekker and the Bamboo Tea House. Most of them are black, since my husband is really not a fan of greens and Oolongs.

I am trying Samovar's Lychee Black today. http://www.samovarlife.com/ I don't think I have ever had lychee flavored tea. The small leaves are quite dark and have a fruity, sort of citrussy aroma. The instructions on my sample say to brew the contents of the packet in 16 ounces of water for 2-5 minutes. I did 3.5, in an 18 ounce pot. As it brewed, it gave off a strong scent I didn't recognize - probably the lychee. I can only describe it as sharp. The tea is a very very dark amber and quite heavy tasting, nearly tannic, nothing like the light body, smooth, rosy, honey tasting brew the site describes. I found it nearly undrinkable, it was so strong. You know I like strong tea, but this was just awful.

Okay, a lot of the fault was mine, for following directions, instead of using common sense. The packet really contained enough for about a 5-6 cup pot. so I warn you - use your sense of how much tea is enough for your pot. I am going to write the company and tell them they need to do something about their directions, as all of their samples carry the same ones. I am going to try another one tomorrow and do what I feel is best. So stay tuned.

More Russians

A church in Sorrento, Italy, the Mary altar.

All of you Darjeeling fans may be in for some price rises. There has been a drought in some parts of Darjeeling and now some of the gardens' workers are striking for things like a living wage, better working conditions, education for their children abd health care. Apparently some of the attempted discussions to bring settlement have gotten very heated and there has been harassment of workers. Although I do like first flush Darjeeling, which is now ready to be picked, I am with the workers, who make only about $1 a day and live too far from schools and medical care. If you buy Fair Trade teas, these issues are addressed and some organic companies also are dealing with them.

Have I mention Alex Zorach's fine website http://www.ratetea.net/ ? It is a very worthwhile site, carrying some fine reviews of a wide range of teas and you can add your own if you would like. Another in somewhat the same vein is http://www.steepster.com/. There are many many blogs and review sites about tea and most of them are fun as well as informative.

Today I am in a black tea mood and I am trying Russian Style Black from the Bamboo Tea House in California. http://www.bambooteas.com/ I found their service to be very quick and they even went out of their way to make the shipping cheaper. My only quibble is there isn't much information on their site about the dirrerent teas.

The dry tea isa mix of brown and really black leaves. It smells dark, earthy winey, with some tobacco lurking in the background. I brewed it for almost 4 minutes with water just off theboil. The brewed tea is very dark, rich and fresh tasting, with maybethe very tiniest hint of smoke. The tea is very smooth and rich with a woody wine like flavor, backed up with a touch of astringency at the end. Somehow it conveys a smokey back room filled with intellectuals. (Touch of fantasy there.) I see why it is called Russian. It is not at all delicate, but just as smooth as can be. it takes milk and sweetener well.

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.

By the Mighty Brahmaputra

A church gargoyle. I'm not sure why it is inside - perhaps to frighten
people into good behavior?

I guess the winds of March are upon us, winds designed to begin drying the earth from all the melted snow. We have a little problem, since we still have snow. But we have sunshine and that makes up for most of it.


I saw an ad in last week's Time magazine about technology and tea. I am always pleased to see tea ads in national magazines, I think it indicates that tea-drinking is on the rise. Always good to know.


Today I am having an Assam tea. If you remember your geography, Assam is in the far Northeast of India, near Yunnan in China. The Indians and Chinese argue over whether it is Yunnan or Assam that was the birthplace of tea. However, their teas are quite different - different types of bushes and Yunnan is mountain tea, whereas Assam is a hot humid valley - that of the mighty and sacred Brahmaputra River. I hope I spelled that right. It is more of the lot I bought from the American Tea Room and is a single estate tea - Hajua Sessa STGFOPS which means Super Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Souchong. The last 3 words refer to leaf size.


Now that we have all that under our belts, let's get to the tea. The dry leaves are a mix of colors, ranging from beige to black. They smell of dry wood in the sun. I brewed it at about 195 degrees for 3 minutes. You can't brew Assam too long or it can be very tannic and unpleasant. The liqueur is quite dark and has a somewhat malty, nutty aroma. That is also the taste. It is very smooth with just the barest touch of astringency at the end. A very easy drinking tea.