I am having one of Siam Tee's Oolongs today. It is Chaa Nang Ngam - DMS Beauty Oolong. The leaves are tightly wrapped in little balls. The packet has a dusty floral smell, with a hint of sharp library paste. I love the packets these come in - vacuum shrunk metallic, with a lovely picture on the front. This one is basically pink with a pretty woman on the front.
First, I rinsed it for a few seconds and then brewed it about a minute - not too impressive, yet. A nice floral aroma, and a somewhat slight floral taste. The leaves are barley unfurled.
Second wash, the aroma has shifted to a tart, almost unpleasant one, reminiscent of black currants. About 3/4ths of the leaves are unfurled. There is a somewhat sharp flavor as well. I let this second infusion go too long. I'll try again tomorrow when I will have more time. I am sorry I tried this today, as I am not patient. I really didn't give it a good test.
There are more signs of Spring - my heart rejoices with each and every one. The tiny white flowers of rock cress are blooming and in the woods, the small oven bird is calling in a very loud voice, "teacher, teacher, teacher". The woods below us are really flaunting the red of new buds and hooray, a lot of bulbs are poking up their heads, especially the little scilla, which are real favorites of mine. Sadly, the less attractive features are here as well, including a front yard barely above the water line and those pesky deer, who are getting redder by the day, eating my day lily leaves. I put this really noxious spray on them and perhaps it will help.
The birds are multiplying like crazy, today there were all our woodpeckers, the goldfinches, a cardinal, the grackles, blue birds, a white breasted nuthatch, a tufted titmouse and a huge! crow.The squirrels are out running around. I feed them peanuts, but there is one golden eared one who absolutely has to raid the bird feeder. He is not high on my popularity list.
Last night I went to a really interesting demo on grafting tomatoes. It's really quite easy and the success rate is high. The grafted ones are more disease resistant, produce more fruit over a longer period of time. I have two itty bitty ones and we'll see how they do. I was surprised to be told that any day it is over 50 I should put them out. We'll see about that as well. Oh, I am just so HAPPY that spring is coming on.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
Let's Lift A Cup To The Spring Peepers!
Today is a lovely spring day, sun shining, birds singing and Ta Da! the peepers are peeping. They started very faintly last Thursday and they are not yet at full crescendo, but they are getting there. They are a full month later than last year. Do you know what peepers are? They are a very small male frog that makes a lot of noise trying to attract a mate. They are rated on their "singing" ability. I wish them luck. This will last about 2 weeks. It is a definitive sign of spring and an indication that we have healthy wetlands here.
Noise wise, this is supposed to be the year for the 17 year cicadas to emerge, find a mate and then go underground again. I know they are well thought of in Chinese culture, but I hate them. They are totally ugly and make a terrible noise, far louder and harsher than the peepers. Fortunately, they will not last long, either, but while they are here, being outside will be a trial.
Guess what? Since I was in the hospital for 2.5 days I did some research on the availability and quality of tea. Don't, unless your taste buds have died, bother drinking it. It is for sure, tea bags, and I think they are saved from WWII. The water is luke warm and if you are really lucky, it will be served in a cup that still tastes like coffee. The coffee, while marginal, is a much better bet. The best, of course, should you be so stuck, is to have a visitor bring you in the good stuff, made with loose leaves and the right temperature of water. If not, don't say I didn't warn you should you decide to opt for tea.
Speaking of loose leaves, I know some people think that insisting on them is snobbish. My feeling is why waste your money on something that's not good when for less money, you can have the best? I have drunk a lot of tea, and I have time and again found that loose leaf is better and cheaper (next time you buy tea bags, pay attention to how many ounces you have and then compare that to $10 for 4 ounces of good tea). I do admit to using tea bags when lazy, but they are PG Tips which I think are quite decent for tea bags. Typhoo are another that are decent, as well. The only kind of tea bag tea that I really think is okay is herbal and I confess to a love of lemon herbals. So I guess I am a tea snob. And proud of it. I have no shame in this regard.
I have a gut infection, so I will not be drinking much tea - only herbals and nothing I have not reviewed before. I may yak about other stuff, however. You can't really silence someone as opinionated as me. I am also plowing my way through a book about tea and I may comment on that.
This is the very lovely ceiling of a church near the Rhine, in Germany, between Koln and Frankfurt.
Noise wise, this is supposed to be the year for the 17 year cicadas to emerge, find a mate and then go underground again. I know they are well thought of in Chinese culture, but I hate them. They are totally ugly and make a terrible noise, far louder and harsher than the peepers. Fortunately, they will not last long, either, but while they are here, being outside will be a trial.
Guess what? Since I was in the hospital for 2.5 days I did some research on the availability and quality of tea. Don't, unless your taste buds have died, bother drinking it. It is for sure, tea bags, and I think they are saved from WWII. The water is luke warm and if you are really lucky, it will be served in a cup that still tastes like coffee. The coffee, while marginal, is a much better bet. The best, of course, should you be so stuck, is to have a visitor bring you in the good stuff, made with loose leaves and the right temperature of water. If not, don't say I didn't warn you should you decide to opt for tea.
Speaking of loose leaves, I know some people think that insisting on them is snobbish. My feeling is why waste your money on something that's not good when for less money, you can have the best? I have drunk a lot of tea, and I have time and again found that loose leaf is better and cheaper (next time you buy tea bags, pay attention to how many ounces you have and then compare that to $10 for 4 ounces of good tea). I do admit to using tea bags when lazy, but they are PG Tips which I think are quite decent for tea bags. Typhoo are another that are decent, as well. The only kind of tea bag tea that I really think is okay is herbal and I confess to a love of lemon herbals. So I guess I am a tea snob. And proud of it. I have no shame in this regard.
I have a gut infection, so I will not be drinking much tea - only herbals and nothing I have not reviewed before. I may yak about other stuff, however. You can't really silence someone as opinionated as me. I am also plowing my way through a book about tea and I may comment on that.
This is the very lovely ceiling of a church near the Rhine, in Germany, between Koln and Frankfurt.Thursday, April 4, 2013
A Sip on the Wild Side
Korean tea is very slowly making its way into the American market. For one thing, there isn't a great deal of it and it tends to be expensive. Koreans don't drink a lot of tea. They generally drink coffee or "teas" made from barley, corn, fruit and various other herbs and trees. I got my Wild Pear Tea from a booth at World Tea East. The booth had been hurriedly put together and was manned by folks whose command of English was minimal. I don't know the name of the company but here is the website. www.jukro.co.kr It is in Korean with a few English words here and there.
The dry tisane smelled of dried pears and appeared to just be small pellets of pear, very dry and very hard. I brewed it for about 10 minutes with boiling water. There wasn't much aroma. I chewed some of the by now soft pellets and they tasted like pear and were very grainy, as pears are. I have to say the resulting brew didn't taste like much except slightly sweet hot water. Perhaps I didn't use enough. When my Korean friend, Mae, returns from Washington, I'll ask her how to make it and get back to you.
Hooray, today is sunny, only coolish, and the wind has stopped blowing. It's been a gale around here for about 5 days and quite often you'd hear a crash as an old tree or limb bit the dust. Speaking of trees. did you ever wonder why their branches grow the way they do? In the winter, I am often looking at them and wondering why they twist and turn so much, especially trees that are older and have clearly been by themselves, without interference from others.
Some of the bulbs I planted last fall are finally poking up their noses. I was wondering if they all died. They aren't far enough in the ground, but we only have 3 inches - really, I am not exaggerating- of so-called topsoil over gravel and there's a severe upper limit to how much digging out of gravel we'll do.
A simple gold candle holder, about 5 feet tall. Where else, Vienna.
The dry tisane smelled of dried pears and appeared to just be small pellets of pear, very dry and very hard. I brewed it for about 10 minutes with boiling water. There wasn't much aroma. I chewed some of the by now soft pellets and they tasted like pear and were very grainy, as pears are. I have to say the resulting brew didn't taste like much except slightly sweet hot water. Perhaps I didn't use enough. When my Korean friend, Mae, returns from Washington, I'll ask her how to make it and get back to you.
Hooray, today is sunny, only coolish, and the wind has stopped blowing. It's been a gale around here for about 5 days and quite often you'd hear a crash as an old tree or limb bit the dust. Speaking of trees. did you ever wonder why their branches grow the way they do? In the winter, I am often looking at them and wondering why they twist and turn so much, especially trees that are older and have clearly been by themselves, without interference from others.
Some of the bulbs I planted last fall are finally poking up their noses. I was wondering if they all died. They aren't far enough in the ground, but we only have 3 inches - really, I am not exaggerating- of so-called topsoil over gravel and there's a severe upper limit to how much digging out of gravel we'll do.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
At Tea With Vietnam
I put an order in to Upton's Teas because they had so many new ones to try. This particular one is from Vietnam, a black tea, Shan Tuyet, which means Mountain Tea, and comes from ancient trees in the Northern Highlands, rather than in the Mekong Delta region. Most Vietnamese tea is grown and processed by small farmers, who often use old laundry driers to cure their tea.
The dry tea has an odd aroma that I can't put my finger on. It is smokey, woodsy, earthy, mushroomy, but it isn't, if you can understand that. It is black with some golden tan tips included. The suggested brewing is 5 minutes with boiling water, so I do. The brewed tea throws in maybe roasted or grilled green beans or grilled summer squash. See why I can't put my finger on it?
The brewed tea is a yellowed amber and tastes a bit like a Lapsang Souchong. But it also tastes of tree bark and the vegetables, with a hint of chocolate in the back. It has a good clean feel, with a short lingering time, which is where the chocolate hint comes in. However, this is not a tea for sweets. This is a hearty breakfast or roast beef accompaniment. I, who always put milk in my black tea, didn't. I don't think it would go. I will probably try some when my cup is almost gone. At first I didn't like the tea, but by the bottom of the cup, I was a convert. This quite good and intriguing.
The entance to the Hapsburg Place in the middle of Vienna
The dry tea has an odd aroma that I can't put my finger on. It is smokey, woodsy, earthy, mushroomy, but it isn't, if you can understand that. It is black with some golden tan tips included. The suggested brewing is 5 minutes with boiling water, so I do. The brewed tea throws in maybe roasted or grilled green beans or grilled summer squash. See why I can't put my finger on it?
The brewed tea is a yellowed amber and tastes a bit like a Lapsang Souchong. But it also tastes of tree bark and the vegetables, with a hint of chocolate in the back. It has a good clean feel, with a short lingering time, which is where the chocolate hint comes in. However, this is not a tea for sweets. This is a hearty breakfast or roast beef accompaniment. I, who always put milk in my black tea, didn't. I don't think it would go. I will probably try some when my cup is almost gone. At first I didn't like the tea, but by the bottom of the cup, I was a convert. This quite good and intriguing.
Monday, April 1, 2013
A Bit of Gothic
The woods are dark and mysterious this morning, calling to mind gothic novels with their forbidding air of mystery, the mist moving as if it were the tatters of ghostly apparel. The trees bend in the wind, the birds are still, hunched in the rain that drops and slides over every tree and plant.
Perhaps this is a good day for a somewhat romantic tea, as most gothic novels I read in my misspent youth were romances with a big helping of mystery. They were so predictable. As soon as the handsome laird showed up and treated the heroine miserably you knew he was "The One" she would spend the next 150 pages trying to engage. Meanwhile, there was a gloomy manor, a scary cellar and surely, something she would need to be rescued from.
So, my tea today is SD Bell's China Raspberry from Best International Tea. When I opened the packet, it smelled just like a box of raspberry creme chocolates, rich, creamy, oozy. The dry leaves are pretty standard, quite black with some small white bits that may be flowers. There is nothing on the label to indicate anything about it. As I brewed it (3.5 minutes, 212 degree water) it began to remind me of church basements when the women of the church were preparing a big dinner - warm and comforting, filled with memories of good people and good food. There wasn't much raspberry scent at first, but as it cooled enough for me to sip it, more came out.
This is more a raspberry cream tea than a straight raspberry. It's good, but it isn't to my taste. Milk doesn't seem to do anything for it, in fact, it seems to overwhelm it. If you like raspberry cream, by all means try it. I would advice a heaping spoon and a 3 minute brew.
The nice folk at Best sent me some candy bars to try. So far, I have only had the milk chocolate with almonds. It's wonderful. Seems to have just a tad of sea salt in it as well, which I really like. It is very creamy, with slivers of almond running through.
There are the horses in action on the Vienna streets. Much of Vienna is quite charming and very elegant, with wonderful food.
Perhaps this is a good day for a somewhat romantic tea, as most gothic novels I read in my misspent youth were romances with a big helping of mystery. They were so predictable. As soon as the handsome laird showed up and treated the heroine miserably you knew he was "The One" she would spend the next 150 pages trying to engage. Meanwhile, there was a gloomy manor, a scary cellar and surely, something she would need to be rescued from.
So, my tea today is SD Bell's China Raspberry from Best International Tea. When I opened the packet, it smelled just like a box of raspberry creme chocolates, rich, creamy, oozy. The dry leaves are pretty standard, quite black with some small white bits that may be flowers. There is nothing on the label to indicate anything about it. As I brewed it (3.5 minutes, 212 degree water) it began to remind me of church basements when the women of the church were preparing a big dinner - warm and comforting, filled with memories of good people and good food. There wasn't much raspberry scent at first, but as it cooled enough for me to sip it, more came out.
This is more a raspberry cream tea than a straight raspberry. It's good, but it isn't to my taste. Milk doesn't seem to do anything for it, in fact, it seems to overwhelm it. If you like raspberry cream, by all means try it. I would advice a heaping spoon and a 3 minute brew.
The nice folk at Best sent me some candy bars to try. So far, I have only had the milk chocolate with almonds. It's wonderful. Seems to have just a tad of sea salt in it as well, which I really like. It is very creamy, with slivers of almond running through.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Signs of Spring
Those who know more than I about weather and plants and such things, say this long slow start to Spring is good for all the growers and I will take their word for it. I am just impatient and I do know they're right.
On my travels, I see that the willows and alders are yellowing, a sure sign of our best season. Everyday, there are more and more little bits of green sticking up out of the cold, cold earth and I must fight with myself not to go out and scrape away the detritus that is protecting them. The ducks are returning to our ponds, the turtle doves are mating and the geese are flying overhead in great numbers. The grass is even just barely green and it must be good - every morning and evening our little herd of 9 deer grazes eastward and then westward on it. If only they could be trained to eat weeds! Up here in the Owego Alps, we have no buds on the trees, but down in the valley, by the river, they are suddenly discernible.
Oh drat, another tea I am not impressed by. Another sample from World Tea East, which will be in Atlanta this year. This is a Jasmine Green sample from the Lotus Leaf Artisan Tea Collection, www.lotusleaftea.com It is a teabag, of the pyramid nylon type. I brewed it with water about 170 degrees for about 2 minutes. At first it had a rather peculiar aroma, reminiscent of seaweed, but with no hint of jasmine. I am sorry to say it did not taste very good. I don't think the tea type and the jasmine went well together. It could also be my fault, for waiting so long to try it, even though I did have it sealed up, even beyond their individual wrapper. I have some other samples I got from them, so I'll try some others.
All decked out for a Sunday Stroll in Vienna! Actually, I think these toppers are to keep flies away from eyes and ears.
On my travels, I see that the willows and alders are yellowing, a sure sign of our best season. Everyday, there are more and more little bits of green sticking up out of the cold, cold earth and I must fight with myself not to go out and scrape away the detritus that is protecting them. The ducks are returning to our ponds, the turtle doves are mating and the geese are flying overhead in great numbers. The grass is even just barely green and it must be good - every morning and evening our little herd of 9 deer grazes eastward and then westward on it. If only they could be trained to eat weeds! Up here in the Owego Alps, we have no buds on the trees, but down in the valley, by the river, they are suddenly discernible.
Oh drat, another tea I am not impressed by. Another sample from World Tea East, which will be in Atlanta this year. This is a Jasmine Green sample from the Lotus Leaf Artisan Tea Collection, www.lotusleaftea.com It is a teabag, of the pyramid nylon type. I brewed it with water about 170 degrees for about 2 minutes. At first it had a rather peculiar aroma, reminiscent of seaweed, but with no hint of jasmine. I am sorry to say it did not taste very good. I don't think the tea type and the jasmine went well together. It could also be my fault, for waiting so long to try it, even though I did have it sealed up, even beyond their individual wrapper. I have some other samples I got from them, so I'll try some others.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Snails For Tea
Today's tea is Upton's "Season's Pick" Yunnan ZY07 Black Snail. When I opened the packet, I was greeted with a winey, moist earth aroma, with an understory of tangy floral. Already I am intrigued. The little tightly rolled almost balls of greenish black tea resemble the "snail" Oolongs, but are not as carefully and tightly rolled. They seem a good transition into Spring teas, and the smell is intriguing.
I brewed the tea for 4 1/2 minutes, with boiling water. The result is a very dark liqueur and even with the extended time, many of the fairly large leaves have not unfurled, so I brewed them again, this time for 51/2 minutes. We'll see how it is. As it brewed, the first lot smelled wonderfully fresh, still with that sweet undertone. The tea is a tad sweet, tasting somewhat spicey and nutty and of wet bark in the spring. It takes milk really well, which rounded off some of the tannic edges. Four minutes and a little less tea would have made this ideal. The second wash is nowhere near as good as the first, but it will water plants just fine.
The Season's Pick teas are ones that Upton's packages for retail. Bigger packages mean a somewhat lower price. This one for which I would gladly pay full price.
Today is Maundy Thursday in the Western Christian world. It is part of Holy Week, the time from Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem through his "trial", crucifixtion and resurrection, celebrated on Easter day. This will be my last post until Monday, as I spend much of this time in prayer, meditation and worship. I hope that all of you will have a blessed and meaningful Easter and that you will also experience your own resurrection and re-birth.
This is the main altar in the Hapsburg Chapel in Vienna, Austria
I brewed the tea for 4 1/2 minutes, with boiling water. The result is a very dark liqueur and even with the extended time, many of the fairly large leaves have not unfurled, so I brewed them again, this time for 51/2 minutes. We'll see how it is. As it brewed, the first lot smelled wonderfully fresh, still with that sweet undertone. The tea is a tad sweet, tasting somewhat spicey and nutty and of wet bark in the spring. It takes milk really well, which rounded off some of the tannic edges. Four minutes and a little less tea would have made this ideal. The second wash is nowhere near as good as the first, but it will water plants just fine.
The Season's Pick teas are ones that Upton's packages for retail. Bigger packages mean a somewhat lower price. This one for which I would gladly pay full price.
Today is Maundy Thursday in the Western Christian world. It is part of Holy Week, the time from Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem through his "trial", crucifixtion and resurrection, celebrated on Easter day. This will be my last post until Monday, as I spend much of this time in prayer, meditation and worship. I hope that all of you will have a blessed and meaningful Easter and that you will also experience your own resurrection and re-birth.
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