Spice and Everything Nice

A scene from the outdoor museum in Ballenberg, Switzerland. It

is a lot like Mystic Village or Plimoth Plantation, where old buildings and heritage animals [such as that turkey] are preserved and there are costumed people doing all manner of things, like baking bread, tending the animals, playing old games. A really fun place to visit.

I spoke too soon yesterday. We are supposed to get snow flurries for the next several days, with nighttime temperatures in the low 20's. I guess summer is really over.

Brilliant color has been hard to find this fall, but of late, the yellow trees are putting on a really good, stand-out show. One particularly beautiful yellow was hit by a shaft of sunlight this morning, backed up by dark blue clouds - magnificent! My lovely red maple in the back has lost it's leaves and now it is pretty gray out this window. I think I'll put both bird feeders here for something nice to watch.

Sometimes our cats are particularly cute. They've been lined up in a row on the other side of the road, watching the squirrels in a big stand of oak trees. They just watch - maybe they know they'll never catch them or maybe this is "kitty TV". The only other time I've seen them do that was when there was a skunk in the yard and then it was from the safety of the porch. As for me, I am watching a confab of crows in the back yard. They are beautiful intelligent creatures. If they had nice voices we would love them.

This is a perfect day for tea, as what day is not? I'm going with two old friends, Upton's and Yunnan. It is their China Select Tippy Yunnan, Catalogue number ZY88. This lovely stuff smells like peppered old wood and the very best of burleigh tobacco. The leaves are long and twisted with a great abundance of golden tips among them. I could not brew if for the recommended 5 minutes, so I only did 4, using a good 1.5 teaspoons because the leaves are so big. I think I really need to make my scale more accessible, so I can more accurately measure big ones like these. But that has always seemed just too snobby and/or mechanical to me. While it was brewing it gave off a lovely aroma of spiciness, on top of the other, along with a hint of chocolate. Is Yunnan back? The proof is always in the taste.

Oh hooray, this is good stuff! Very thick and smooth with woodsy, spicy tones here and there, a lingering roasty toasty feel, a bit of new pencils, newly sharpened. It is so smooth that the other tastes or sensations are very welcome, lest it slip down too easily. The wet leaves are huge! Personally I think more of the high and low notes come out as it cools. I am doing a second wash, for 5.5 minutes with half the water, as I have found that some black teas will still be good this way, and, given the higher prices, I can make my tea go farther. And, second washes often bring out new tastes. Ah well, not this one, all the good stuff is gone and it hardly even tastes like tea.

A Fabulous First

Another Swiss mountain hut.

We're off to China again today, with a white tea from The Tea Spot, named Snowflakes. I hope it is not the precursor to the real things. This is my first white tea prepared properly. On their site, The Tea Spot says this is a single estate tea. It has the highest amount of antioxidants because it is the least processed of all the teas. They go on to say it has the least amount of caffeine, but there is some argument about that.

The dry leaves are a pale green with abundant silvery hairs. I cannot detect a scent. I brewed it up with 175 degree water for about 6 minutes. As it brewed I couldn't catch any aroma, other than a vague floral. The brewed tea is a very pale yellow and has a delightful floral taste, very delicate, but lingering.

My first time with white tea it was brewed in a microwave and I thought, hunh, this is just expensive water. The second time it was flavored with licorice, not a true test, so I really count this as first, and it is good, indeed.

I have led you astray. I told you the Korean teas I have reviewed were from the Korean Tea Company. They were not, they are from the Hankook Tea Company and are distributed by Good Green Tea. My apologies. You can visit their site at www.GoodGreenTea.net

Death of a Prince

A summer storage hut for cheese and milk.



Smoley Hokes, but it is cold today! I felt sorry for the folks at the farmers market. I bought some nice pears and other fruits and veggies. I have my counter full of stuff that is going into something today. Scallion rolls, apple pie, biscotti. If it's cold, cook, it warms you up.



A few days ago I said I was going to try Culinary Teas Prince of Wales Blend. It has taken me this long to get past the smell, which I think is horrid. The tea is kind of pretty, small leaves enlivened by red, white and blue petals. This is called a "Royal Blend" by them and identified as an afternoon tea with hints of black currant.



I am not even going to describe it. In my opinion it is awful! As bad as the smell. Rank, harsh, nasty.



Prince of Wales used to be one of my true favorites but in the past several years I have really not found one that is good, let alone excellent. I don't know if it is my changing tastes or if the good flavorings are no longer available. I like black currants, that is not the issue.


I read in a tea chat room that someone was reluctant to buy an electric kettle because of the difficulty of getting rid of scale. Scale is a whitish layer that forms on the heating or keep warm elements of these kettles from minerals in the water. It really is very easy to get rid of. We have pretty hard water, so every 6-8 weeks I simply run a potful with a hefty dose of lemon juice. Dump it out, rinse well and you're done. Before we moved I only need to do it about every 4 months. It all depends on the water you use.

Pumpkins With Coyotes

Yesterday was Summer, today is definitely Autumn, wind, cold,but blue skies and sun.

Last night was sort of disturbing. I think I've mentioned we have coyotes around us. Well, last night they sounded like they were right in our yard, there was so much loud yipping, howling and growling. Of course, one of our cats was out and I was very concerned about him. Especially at 4 am when it sounded like something was being killed right under my bedroom window. So, I leapt up, turned on all the outside lights and saw nothing, but I could still hear one coyote howling and growling nearby. Scary. Mr Andy, the absent cat, strolled in this am, nonchalant as could be. I was glad to see him, but I warned him about night excursions.

Two short reviews today. One from Hankook Korean Tea - Green Tea with Persimmon. It smelled almost minty with woodsy overtones as it was brewing - too small a sample in the packet. When it finished the infusion looked like old gold and smelled of hot metal, with medicinal touches, which is just how it tasted, no matter what I did with it. I did not care for it. I think it must have been persimmon leaves, as I assume the fruit would be, well, fruity and sweet.

The second is from Bigelow's and is their Autumn offering - Pumpkin Spice. The name says it all. It smells nice and spicy and full of pumpkin. I let it brew for 4 minutes and it was lovely. I added cream, but no sugar, as I thought it was sweet enough. However, I thought it would be a bit fuller tasting with some sugar, so I added some and it was. The box says you can make this as an ice tea, but that just doesn't appeal to me. It's a nice treat and could serve as dessert if you want to be careful with calories.

Another Sort of Yellow

I saw two gorgeous trees yesterday.One was a very large Japanese Maple that was a tapestry of bright red, orange and gold. The wind was blowing, so it was constantly shifting in its pattern, almost like watered silk. The other was some kind of oak that was the most stunning yellow I think I've ever seen, especially in an oak, as they often just get brown. The hills are really full of color, but it is muted because it hasn't been really cold over a period of time - only 2 minor frosts.

Today I am trying my first yellow tea. It is from Thunderbolt Teas, which specializes in teas from Darjeeling, India. Yellow teas are rare and particularly if they originate outside of China. This one comes form the Goomtee Estate. Yellow teas are green teas that have been oxidized a bit to rid them of the sometimes overwhelming vegetal scent and taste, they are sort of a sub- category of greens and need to be treated as such.

When I opened the sample Benoy kindly sent me with my order I noticed right away how fresh the large leaves looked, a greenish brown shot through with yellow. They smelled kind of floral, kind of vegetal, I couldn't really make up my mind. I brewed it at about 180 degrees for a minute and then a second time for 1.5 minutes. The first infusion was an old gold color and was still giving off the floral/vegetal scent. That was also the taste. For a short, cool infusion, the tea had a very thick mouth feel and a lingering hint of sweetness. The second infusion was very pale gold and the vegetal taste had pretty much disappeared, as had the thickness. It was very delicate.

I liked this tea, but I think I will stick to the greens I like, as the cost is more in line with my budget. I am grateful I had the opportunity to try it, however. I think I'll give the rest of the sample to a friend who is tiring of his green teas and see what he thinks.

A Honey of a Tea

A bench on the church porch in Darstetten. The Swiss are a very tidy people and you'd best be tidy, too, or they will remind you.

I have wanted to be more fair to green and Oolong teas in my reviews, but I just am not in the mood. So here we are with another black tea. This is from Aura Teas, in Vancouver, Canada. If you ever have the chance, this is a beautiful place to visit and you certainly can get good teas there. The tea is Formosa Natural Wuhe Honey Black. And is it a honey!

The dry leaves are very black,and quite twisted. Dry it smells like honey graham crackers or granola, with a floral/ripe fruit overlay. This continues all the way through into the cup, for 3 infusions worth! Powerful stuff. This tea is sooooo smooth and rich tasting. You won't need sugar with it as it is sweet enough on its own. I didn't even use a drop of cream. A dark rich brown, the flavor really mimics the scent and tastes of honey, graham crackers, roasted barley. Very rich, and all this is after only 2 minutes of steeping.

The second steep was 2.5 minutes and as I said, the aroma just kept going. The color was a bit more on the red side and there was a bit of a brioche bread taste to it, along with the honey tastes. I decided I might as well try for a third, so I brewed this next cup for about 3 minutes, using only about half the water. Definitely paler and it has lost a lot of nuances, but that wonderful honey taste is still there. Since this is $8 an ounce, it is nice to know you can get 3 infusions out of it, or the equivalent of 3 ounces of tea for $8, which is pretty cheap for high quality tea.

Something I often do is blend the 3 infusions together, which I did and it is just lovely, heavy, dark, sweet, smooth as silk. I would recommend you drink this as hot as you can, in small cups. As it cools, it seems to lose some of its magic.

This tea comes from Hualien, on the eastern side of the island of Taiwan, up against the central ridge of mountains. It is a new tea, that is raised and processed like Bai Hao [Oriental Beauty] Oolong. That means that the tiny green leaf cicada bugs, attack the leaves, forcing the plant to produce a protective enzyme, which gives the tea its particular flavor. The tea is raised without pesticides and organically.

From England to the Caribbean

This picture was taken from my grandfather's porch. That streak on the mountain on the other side of the valley is an avalanche run. Did you know that houses in an area of many avalanches are built with the peaks perpendicular to the mountain side so the avalanche will slide down the peaks? There is often a vee shaped structure between the house and mountain also. There will be many ramps and diversion structures built above a village.

Yesterday I felt the Kashmir Rose, while good and interesting, was missing something that would make it more appealing to more people. I added a bit of cinnamon to my last cup and wow! I thought it really brought it all together, making it warmer, somehow.

Today we're gonna zip over to an English style tea - Queen Mary from Culinary Teas. This is billed as a breakfast tea and indeed it is. After brewing it for less than 4 minutes, with boiling water, it nearly knocked my slippers off. It definitely reminded me of the tea I had the summer I worked in England. I used to run for tea break, hoping I could get some before they put sugar in it. This is a very straightforward tea, with not much in the way of nuances. Dry it smells a bit of chocolate and wine, but that doesn't come through in the cup. It is pretty tannic, which I am not crazy about, either in wine or tea. For me, I will keep it as a morning tea, especially on those mornings when I am just not waking up.

My husband and I came up with something that might do very nicely as part of the goodies for tea. We called it Plantains a Deux. We had 2 ripe - dead black - plantains to use up. We just had them for supper, with some ham.

2 very ripe plantains, mashed and beaten up with
about 1 cup chopped peanuts
about 3/4 cup coconut
2 eggs
1/4-1/2 cup flour, so the batter is about like that for potato pancakes
Lime juice to cut the sweetness a bit,
salt to taste
Sour cream for garnish, with a little sprig of something green or some toasted coconut

Fry in medium hot oil, making the little cakes pretty flat and being careful not to burn them. They should be cooked through, so they'll be a dark tan. Small ones will make about 24. Keep them warm in a 200 degree oven, on a paper towel until ready to serve.

For variation I think you could add a bit of curry powder or a little chili or some fresh coriander/cilantro, whatever sounds good to you.

Enjoy!