Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Bohea For Me

There it is, the Swiss flag.

My, it has been an interesting day or two. Yesterday’s earthquake - ok, West Coasters, we’re wimps. Want a tornado? Hurricane? It did not get this far north. Only once have I experienced an earthquake and it was very mild and interesting.

Today Libyans are claiming their freedom. Yay Libya! Learn to govern well. I will toast them with tea!  And a good one it is, as the original tea called by this name was the tea the Colonists dumped in Boston Harbor in protest about “No taxation without representation”, the beginning of our struggles for freedom.   It is Bohea, which I believe is pronounced to rhyme with tea. At that time, it was quite cheap and  not of good quality. Not so today.



My particular cup is Bohea Imperial Organic, from Upton Teas, ZK72. It is a hand processed Congou from Fujian Province, China. The leaves are on the small side, very dark, twisted and smelling of smoke. Not as much as good Lapsang, but more than some may be comfortable with. I brewed it for 4.5 minutes with water at 212 degrees. A great deal of the smoke dissipated , leaving a clean milky aroma. The liquor is a pleasant medium amber.


Umm, what a good tasting tea. It is very mouth filling, smooth, with baked or roasted veggie elements. There is that hint of smoke, much modified from the aroma. There is also a hint of cocoa, in the way that cocoa often rounds out flavors. It actually is a rather delicate, rather than hearty tea, suitable for afternoon tea.  You might also try it with a bleu cheese, as I know Lapsang Souchang is good that way.


It is very windy today and I hear tell we may get a hurricane tail by Sunday. Last time that happened, I acquired my sweet Orphan Andy cat. The one before I had to grab my youngest as he sailed by, nearly blown off the porch.  We had no power for a week. One of our neighbors had a gas stove so our little cul-de-sac had a lot of communal meals. We all got together and played games and had a good time, since there wasn’t anything else we could do. I just hope we don’t lose any more trees. Enough already.

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