Chinese Flowers with an Irish Twist

So efficient to have your garage one with your house. We're still in Durlach, Germany, from which my many greats grandfather emigrated in 1755. It is fascinating to me to see houses and churches and business buildings that he once saw.

Goodness, my husband may actually be backing into a finer discernment of tea. I was the designated beverage person this am and I decided to do a straightforward, no holds barred Irish Breakfast from Bewley's. This, as you may remember from my review of it on September 16, 2009, is what I just said, a get-you-going-in-the-morning tea. Frank wondered what it was, and said it “tasted peculiar.” I told him and he said “oh, it's just tea tea.” Which is our definition of something okay, but definitely not special. I don't think I'll tell him he's becoming a connoisseur.

Harney and Sons Tea. I haven't had any of theirs in quite a while. However, I ran across one of their “tagalong” tins, which is a small round tin to hold 5 or 6 sachets. It had their Chinese Flower Sachets in it which I bought a while ago, so I decided to try it. I am glad I did. This is another very pretty tea and Harney's sachets are nice and big to give the tea room to expand. The tea is a Chinese green, with blue, yellow and pink flowers and some citrus added. Citrus is the one fruit I like in my tea. The tea has a very nice floral scent and as it brewed, it gave off a hint of that citrussy smell. It brewed up to a pale amber. I couldn't really identify any one flavor, but it all worked together very, very well to produce a delicate floral cup sparked with lemon.

Two from the Tea Spot

A huge and very tidy horse chestnut tree in the old part of Durlach-houses and barns still in use from the 1500s. It is amazing to see such old buildings still going strong when we tear down 50 year old structures as being "too old"

I tried two teas from The Tea Spot today. Both were samples, one I had purchased and the other came with my order. The first was Raspberry Rhapsody, a black tea with flavoring and raspberry pieces. I almost didn't try it because it had such a fake, overly sweet scent. But in the interest of being open-minded [?me?] I plunged ahead with boiling water and a 3 minute steep. The brewing tea began to smell better, more like raspberry candy and I had hopes... However, these were soon dashed as I tasted it. Overly sweet, overly fake. There was a bit of tartness at the end which almost saved it, but not enough for me.

Oh well, on to Blood Orange Smoothie. This is a Rooibos based orange and vanilla concoction with rose petals, hibiscus and several other things. The dry tea is kind of pretty, with all those bits making a colorful mix. I brewed it as they said, 7 minutes with boiling water, a teaspoon for one a cup There was definitely a scent of orange and vanilla, more like Kool-Aid than Orange Julius, but that's just a quibble. Sadly, the taste was not. It was ok, but it was cloying and wouldn't leave my mouth until I brushed my teeth in desperation. It did not taste like the wonder drink of my youth, nor like those orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream bars. But that is me and I am sure there are those who will really like this, [see yesterday's Comment] as well as the Raspberry Rhapsody.

The Tea Spot has many other wonderful teas and these wouldn't have been high on my list anyway. I am more and more convinced that except for a very few, I really don't like flavored teas. I really should just accept that fact and quit trying them. Then I wouldn't be disappointed and you wouldn't have to read about them.

I just came across some tea I haven't seen for ages – Pompadour Peppermint. Pompadour is a German company that specializes in herbal teas[tisanes, really]. I will be reporting on this soon.

New Snow and Vintage Oolong

This street is in Durlach, Germany. The houses are from the 1600s, built into the old fortified wall around the town. The curve of the street is a result of following the bends of the wall.


Snow, beautiful snow, snow all over, mounds of snow, snow up to my ears, snow on my tail, so much snow! About 2 feet of it, sculpted by the wind into drifts and hollows, with one great big one where the kitties are wont to play. Hence, snow up to my ears! The sun is out, however and already the snow, at least off the roof, is melting.




You know I just got some tea from The Tea Spot and of course, I can't wait to try the one new to me – Vintage Oolong. So, even before my wake-up cuppa I brewed some in my small gaiwan. It smells wonderful in the canister – a deep, fresh tea scent, with a good whiff of floral. Not too sweet a floral, more like a sweet one crossed with maybe zinnias. The tea is lovely little green balls with a bit of stem attached. I brewed it at about 190 degrees for about 2 minutes – long enough for the leaves to begin unfurling. As it brewed it smelled like lilacs, but again, not overly sweet, with deeper more solid notes underneath. The taste, ah, the taste. Lilac, with a bit of peach all on top of something toasty and solid, not really woodsy or vegetal, but with some body and heartiness. The flavor is mild, but not delicate. Just very very good. When I am done putting this blog up I am going to have some more, as the Tea Spot says you can get up to 7 infusions from one serving.


The Tea Spot, by the way, are those smart folks who use interlocking tins with double tops, so your canisters not only stack, but keep your tea nice and fresh. The other tea I purchased was a canister of their Bolder Breakfast, which I reviewed before. They sent me a sample with my order and I'll be trying that soon. I love it when companies send samples, especially if it is something I probably wouldn't buy myself. This one is called Blood Orange Smoothie, a Rooibus
herbal tea, supposed to taste like an Orange Julius. Gosh, I haven't had one of those in Years. So, even though I am not a fan of Rooibus, I am eager to see if it does call up memories of that wonderful drink.

Rainforest Ceylon

How mighty are dead warriors, carved in bronze.


It is so beautiful outside. Both yesterday and today we had wet snow and every twig and branch is outlined in white. It makes even the most mundane or even downright ugly thing look good. On the other hand, it is still snowing and we may get out heaviest snow to date. But it won't last, the sap is rising and the trees know when Spring is coming, even when it doesn't look like it.

The cats and I agreed that we would stay in today and I made myself a cup of Golden Moon's Rasa Sanharaja – Ceylon tea to the rest of us. It comes from an tea estate on Sri Lanka next to a rain forest. This is no ordinary Ceylon. When I opened the sample, The smell was intriguing – deep and dark and mysterious, perhaps a combination of chocolate and dark molasses. The leaves were very dark and skinny. I brewed it with boiling water for 4 minutes and that deep smell continued. The brewed tea is wonderful, very deeply mellow with that same hint of dark chocolate and molasses, but with a bit of a citrus kick at the end to spark it up. I had it with a bit of milk, which only served to make it more mellow and delicious. As it cooled, it seemed to morph into different flavors, all interesting.

Let me be clear, this tea hints of scents and tastes, you're not going to have a cup of hot chocolate sweetened with Bre'r Rabbit dark molasses. That would taste disgusting! And this tea is so much not that. So drink up, it's good.

Sample I purchased

The Pot of the Lost Orange

Such a gray day, spitting rain, sleet and snow at us. But we are
Northerners and we are not fooled – Spring is on its way.


I was at one of my local shops, The Cheese Trap, and bought some Orange U Slim tea, packed for them by Teas Etc. I bought it because I generally only like citrus in my tea, and almost none of the fruit flavors. In fact, I have met very few I did like. The tea comes in a nice reclosable zip-locked packet and is billed as a “medium body dark Oolong, with dried orange and orange essence.” The leaves are of mixed size and brown and black, with dried orange peel to add some color and flavor. There was the barest whiff of orange scent. There were no instructions so I brewed it for 2 minutes with water about 190 degrees. There was no orange flavor or scent to the brewed tea and the Oolong was just ok. What a waste of money and time. I decided to try and fix it by adding two drops of orange oil and reclosing the packet. I'll let it sit for a couple weeks and try again.

After that experience, I tried an old favorite, Upton's China Superior Keemun Mao Feng. Love the “line-dried wash” smell of good fresh tea, coupled with the slight smokiness. Love the long twisted black leaves. Love the bright amber color. And the great taste! It is like some wonderful vegetable slightly grilled over a super smelling wood, that gives it a special oomph, even though there is no real smokiness or vegetable to the taste. It is just very, very fresh and full tasting. A wee touch of smoke maybe, but nothing like my wonderful Hu Kwa from Mark T. Wendell. I have mentioned these teas before, but they are worth mentioning again.

Green Tea on a Gray Day

A small herb garden.

I wondered if I should get hyped about the ending of winter and I guess the weather is getting back at me for my excitement. It is much colder and grayer today and we are supposed to have sleet to finish out the day. Well phoo to that, I am still going to live in hope! In fact I shall be so hopeful that I will have some green tea, which I usually think of as more a spring or summer tea, as it is “lighter” than black tea.

I have a whole box of "Uncle Feng's Jasmine Green Tea" This is one of my Asian market sweep- through teas. It was not very expensive. Upon opening the box, there is a delightful smell of Jasmine, almost of mock orange. The leaves are very green and fairly long and twisted. I brewed up about 2 teaspoons at 175 for about 2 minutes. Too long, so I threw it out and brewed the next cup for 1.5 minutes. Just right. Some greens are very fussy and get bitter very quickly. While this is not the best jasmine I have ever had, it is quite good for the exceedingly cheap price I paid. A fitting cup with which to look forward to Spring.

We are beginning the process of "down sizing" prior to our move this summer. Too many teapots, too many teas, too many books - quite literally a ton. So far, I only got rid of two tea books - they weren't very good, so I won't even offer them to my readers. At some point I will have a tea give away, but that's still down the road a piece. The books that really hurt to get rid of are the cook books, which I can read as happily as a mystery.

Olympic Tea

The fountain in the town square in Durlach, Germany. I think I was going to translate the inscription. Alas, that has not happened.


Winter really is losing its grip and signs of spring are showing. Yes, it is still cold and gray BUT the willows are yellow, the alders along the creeks have begun to turn brown, and the maple and oak covered hills are no longer a solid gray, but beginning to turn pinkish. These are all signs of the rising of sap, as the temperatures begin a slow creep upward. An acquaintance of ours, who has kept track of the weather for years says that around the 20th of February the air begins to steadily warm. I've already seen one collection barrel for maple sap along the road and I am sure more will follow. Hooray for the return of light and warmth! Hooray for blue skies! Hooray for Spring, the promise and reward for endurance!


Speaking of endurance, have you been watching the Olympics? They are the only sports I ever watch. I am filled with awe as the athletes makes something so incredibly difficult look so easy and graceful. I just glowed with pride watching that young Swiss soar off the ski jumps with such perfection and into 2 gold medals. Likewise, as our athletes won medal after medal, amazed as always, when mere hundredths of a second were the difference between gold and bronze! Hooray for all of them, as well.


I thought I would have a Chinese tea to celebrate and my eye fell on a gift from a tea friend. This is Lipton's Yellow Label tea bags, which are made for the Chinese market. My friend says this is not your usual Lipton's tea bags, that her family searches it out and hoards it. I can see why – it's very good, especially for teabag tea. I brewed it with boiling water for about 2 minutes and it looked like tea – just the usual dark amber. But there the similarities ended, as it smelled almost floral, almost fruity. The taste was definitely different as well, not nearly so harsh as many, with an almost sweet taste and a full body to it. It was both milder and more fully nuanced with the overtones of floral and fruit the smell promised. It was good with both milk and plain. No reports on sugar in it, as I didn't want to waste a cup. I will definitely search for this at Asian markets. It might even replace my beloved PG Tips teabags. Well, maybe not.