Burlap Dancing Tea

It is foggy this morning.  In fact, it has been foggy almost many mornings this month.  Supposedly, weather lore has it that the number of foggy mornings in August is the number of snow storms you'll have in the winter. Actually, I just got an email from someone who really keeps track and it's only been 12.  The first winter we were here, that was right on target.  Last year we didn't have much fog and almost no snow.  We'll see how this coming winter is.  We really could use the snow, our ground is very dry.  I am hoping for a beautiful winter as we are going to have a brown fall.  Many of the trees are losing their leaves already and they're just brown - too little rain. We haven't had a really pretty fall in quite a while.

Tea wise, that means I can look forward to some cozy afternoons with a good book and a great pot of tea by my side.  Choosing one will be the problem, as there are so many I like.  As I continue to try different teas to review, my favorites list keeps changing.  It also gets altered by how my favorite tea turned out this year, given the weather in its garden.  I'm not too taken with this year's Yunnans, for instance and the Keemuns seem to be lacking a certain burgundian spark.

Today I am having an Assam - Queen Namsang from Simpson & Vail.  It is last year's harvest from the autumn, and comes from the Rani Estate, all of 157 feet above sea level.  It is organic.  The dry leaves are very black and quite small.  They give off a faint, almost apricot aroma..  I brewed it for 3 minutes with boiling water.

We often think of green tea as dancing as it brews, but I must say, this black is practically doing a jig!  It is really fascinating to watch tea leaves unfurl.

The brewing tea smells a bit like burlap, of all things!  But wait, there's also an aroma of maple/honey candy.  Hmm.  One thing I like about tea is that once you think you have all the scents down pat, along comes a new combination.  That happens with the taste as well.  I can't quite pin this one down.  It is something like sarsaparilla, something like little kids white paste with a trace of nut and a bit of sweet.  I put a bit of cream in it and it rounds out the flavor amazingly and brings out the sweetness.  A good, everyday tea, but nothing really special.

Isn't that a cool tree?  Reminds me vaguely of the flattish tops of tea bushes, ready for plucking.  Shorter than this, of course.

So Long Assam

Oh dear, I have a tea I really like and now discover it is no longer available. Phooey.  I am not a great fan of Assam tea.  Many are wonderful but many get too tannic too fast or they are too malty or too heavy or just too something.  And no, I am not going on a rant.  The tea is Assam Breeze from Teavana and it is a very attractive tea, a fine mix of brown and gold.    The dry aroma is chocolate-y with a twist of lime.

I brewed it a bit light, with boiling water for 3.5 minutes.  The result is a medium amber cup that is very, very pleasant.  Nothing special, no particular nuances or tastes.  I had it with cream and felt very cozy.  It is perhaps like the teas I had as a child, milky, soft and surrounded with love.  I am sorry this tea is discontinued, but I know there are other sources for some very nice Assam teas, so I won't cry too hard.

The weather here is finally moderating and our temperatures are just upper 70's, perhaps low 80's, with little or no humidity.  Summer as it should be, in my book.

I have also been drinking "Ice Tea Blend" from our local tea shop, Serendipity.  I think she may get it from Metropolitan Teas, a big wholesaler.  It is so accommodating.  I put it in the pitcher in the morning yesterday and forgot about it until this morning and it's lovely.  Usually, overnight is about all you should do with black teas.  It is mild and on the plain side, with teas from about 7 countries.  I like my ice tea to be gentle, whereas Himself likes it strong enough to carry bricks and then he puts milk in it!  As you might imagine, we always have 2 pitchers of ice tea going.

A lot of trees are beginning to show color.  Or maybe they are dying from heat and drought stress, although the latter usually takes 2-4 years.  The canopy was much thinner this year, as well.  The stream that comes out of our bog is the very merest trickle, hardly worth mentioning.  I have heard that bears up in the Adirondacks are breaking into houses in search of food, as the drought has produced so little for them.  I don't think it is that bad here, but I noticed that blackberries that are generally half a thumb size are only pinky sized.Quite the reverse from last year's overwhelming rains.

How's this for a cool relicry?

Is It Assam or Keemun?

Today's tea is Winey Keemun English Breakfast from Grace Tea Company.  To me, it doesn't smell very winey, more a cross between tobacco and pickles. The leaves are small, black and chopped.  I brewed it, per recommendations, for 3 minutes with boiling water.  The resulting brew is a lovely yellow amber, not quite what I was expecting.

The tea isn't, either.  It smells like an Assam, malty.  There is a spring vegetal edge to it as well.  None of this is unpleasant, just not what I would call a Keemun.  To me, it just doesn't have a winey Keemun presence. Assam, yes.  Drat, I love Keemun.  I like Assam as well, it's just my mouth was ready for Keemun.  Maybe I just got some that wasn't mixed as well as it could be, as it is common for these 2 teas to be blended for English Breakfast.

The big news this weekend is the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas  Korean has sent it's largest delegation ever and there will be a big emphasis on Korean tea, which is generally of very high quality.  They've been making it since at least the 7th century, so they ought to be pretty good at it by now.  They are working to increase the tea world's knowledge of them, increase production and farmer's wages and benefits. Excellent goals.  Almost half of their tea farms are organic, always a plus, as far as I am concerned.

India is also going to be major player, with emphasis on its 4 major growing regions, Nilgiri, Darjeeling, Assam, and Kerala.  They are working towards brand recognition in the world market, emphasizing quality.  They are also pushing for an open route into Pakistan, which would ease delivery to one of their best customers.  Tea producers are also working towards having tea declared India's national drink.  At the moment, India only ranks 53rd in  per capita consumption, about 1 pound a year.  Compare that to the United Arab Emirates folk who, (are you ready?), drink 14 pounds per capita, per year.  I can't imagine drinking that much tea.

I have been very busy in the garden, establishing a lavender bed, planting roses, daylilies, miniature bearded iris and enough annuals to make it look less bare until things are established.  I've also been appreciating natures bounty, as the daisies and garlic mustard are blooming away, the may apples are fruiting and everything is so beautifully green.  Did you know you can make jelly from may apples?  You need a lot more than I have been able to find this year, but it is a lovely delicate confection, highly suitable for elegant tea parties.

On the bird front, there is nearly a daily riot at the feeders, as grackles, blue jays, red wing blackbirds, regular blackbirds and those awful starlings compete.  The woodpeckers come earlier and later, so they have a relatively easy time.  Our turkey population has grown to 3 and the Ernster kitty has been stalking them.  They totally ignore him, walking right past on their way elsewhere.  The first time that happened, he sat down very casually, as if that was his intention, and washed his tail, then bounded for the house for a snack, as though this wasn't a great blow to his hunter's ego!  LOLOLOL.  As if he was not the one doing the stalking.  Cats!

Here we are at Ballenberg Museum in Switzerland.  The woman is hauling a cart of bread from the bake house to the shop.  On the right is a barn with corn stored under it for the animals. Above it are the living quarters.  It is typical of Swiss farmhouses to have house and barn as one - winters are just too severe, otherwise.

Tea Magazine, Spring and, Of Course, Tea

Tea, a Magazine was recently sold by long-term owner, publisher, editor Pearl Dexter, although she remains as a writer/editor.  I have always really liked this magazine, as it dealt with more than just tea parties - I have another magazine for that.  The format is quite different, with lots more computer, iPod, app, etc. information.  It seems to have more down to earth tea info, which I like.  It really is quite a shift, but all of life must change.  To not change is to die.  Cups raised to Dan and his staff in their new endeavor.

It is so interesting to me to see Spring progressing at its own sloe rate.  The woods are so colorful.  A different and muted palette than Fall.  There is the base note of dark evergreens, the understories of almost full green, the weavings of yellow green, neon green, spring green, the silver green of white birch and cotton wood, the delicate tracings of pink, white, yellow and here and there a flash of orange, coupled with a trace of mahogany from the sumac candles.

On the home front, the violets are blooming and my irises are in bud!  Tomorrow I need to repot my basil, tomatoes and peppers into 4" pots, some to go to the Master Gardener Plant Sale and some to go right in my garden.

That doesn't really relate to tea, but it is part of what is filling my heart right now and it all calls for a celebration - blackberry scones and TEA.  Today's is from Lupicia and it is Hapjan Purbat, BOP (CTC) from Assam. The instructions say 1-2 minutes of steeping - short, even for me.  But, as this is a CTC, I will obey.  It certainly does brew quickly, by the end of a minute and a half, it is quite dark and has that classic malty Assam scent, coupled with some red wine barrel to make it interesting.  Even without milk, it seems rich and creamy.

Well, it is all there in the taste.  It is rich and creamy and malty and a tiny tad sweet.  All undergirded with a taste I can only describe as fresh.  Maybe that's clean and crisp, like wash dried in the sun.  Whatever it is,  it is quite good, with or without milk.

Italian flowers on a cliff in the merry month of May.

Always Learning

Once again, the joke is on me.  After all my being so careful brewing Adagio's Assam Harmony, I find that about a heaping teaspoon for 4 minutes is just dandy, since this is a tea crafted to drink with milk and sugar.  It's lovely, a nice rounded, robust cup with a woodsy, nutty character.  I did try it with a slightly heaped teaspoon and 3.5 minutes.  Nope, so I gulped and pushed it and there it is, perfect.  A great morning or afternoon tea.  It was lovely with my orange molasses cookies.  This is a recipe from WWII when butter, sugar, vanilla and all sorts of other goodies were rationed.  I have a cake from that time, also and it is very good.

In fact, I will give you the cookies recipe right now.  When our kids were 9-10, they could make these with supervision, so they're not hard and you'll have cookies in about 35 minutes.

Ma's Molasses Cookies
325 oven

Grated  peel from 1 orange

Beat after each addition:
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup molasses - I use the darkest
1/2 teas. baking soda
3/4 teas baking powder
3/4 teas. cinnamon
1/2 teas. ginger
1/2 teascloves
3 cups flour
1/2 cup nuts

Turn out on lightly floured board and knead just a bit.
Form into two longish taller than they are wide and put on un greased cookie sheet.
If they seem a bit soft, stick pan and all in the fridge for 10-15 minutes
Bake for about 25 minutes.  They will be a  little bit soft on top but not much.
Let cool on pan for 5 minutes and then put on a rack.  Or eat from the pan.
You can slice these as you need them
You can double or triple the recipe.
If they are getting dry, put a slice of bread in with them, (or if you over-baked them.)

Tisanes and Tea

For those of you who are herbal tea or tisane fans, I found this recipe in Susan Wittig Albert's novel, Bleeding Hearts, p. 243 (in paperback):

China's Lemon-Lavender Tea
Mix 1/4 cup of each of the following  dried herbs: chopped lemon grass, lemon verbena, lemon balm.lavender flowers, and spearmint.
Store in an  opaque airtight container.
Use 2 teaspoons per cup, steep for 5 minutes

You can, of course, alter the recipe, just make sure everything has not been sprayed.

Most of these herbs can be easily grown, although some may have to be houseplants, at least where I live.  I am going to make some this summer.  I can imagine it to be very cooling, iced, on a summer day.

Today, however, I am feeling the need for warmth and strength, so I am having Assam Harmony from Adagio Teas.  When I opened the packet, I thought it smelled like crackers or not-too-sweet cookies.  The leaf was relatively small and a pretty mix of brown, gold and black.  I only brewed it for 3 minutes, as sometimes Assam can get tannic and astringent too early to suit me.  Besides, I have more of it to play with until it is just right for me.

This Assam brewed up on the red side of amber, with a good fresh air aroma.  Sadly, I didn't brew it long enough, so it was too weak to suit me.  Guess I'd better go for at least 3.5 or 4 minutes, as the information bills this as a quite hearty tea.  Tune in Thursday for an update.

This sort of a canyon on the side of one of Sorrento, Italy's main streets.  Under all that greenery are abandoned stone houses.  I don't know if it is left over from the bombing in WWII or if they are much earlier.  We did not go down and look.

Springing Into Assam

I am squeezing in this column whilst waiting for my pear and ginger scones to bake.  Then we shall have tea!  Today's is Kama Black from Foxfire Teas  http://www.foxfireteas.com/ .  It hails from Assam and the suggestionis for boiling water for 5 minutes.  I think I shall do 4, as I seem to remember that Assam can get to be a bit much if it goes too long.  The leaves are quite large, with kind of a woodsy, winey, cooking pasta aroma.

Ah, the scones are done, I can brew the tea.  The pears are dried and have made the scones quite sweet.  This is a variation on the recipe I shared with you about 2 weeks ago.  The tea is done also and has a rich malty aroma.  It's color is much lighter than I expected, a light toasty amber.  Very nice flavor, malty and rich, with overtones of walnut.  It goes very, very nicely with my scone.  An excellent tea for a tea party


The phoebes are here, along with the robins and the bluebirds.  I love Spring.  I would prefer it
to be an ordinary cool Spring, as with this heat (upper 70s in Upstate New York), our flowers fade and wither in about 3 days, instead of 2 weeks.  So we must enjoy while we can.  I spotted some chiondoxa today, little blue stars.  I am thinking of digging out a small section - what a lot of work, hauling all that gravel! - and using it just for some spring bulbs, as I do love daffodils,  the blue stars, and the old wild tulips.  It looks like everything except one hollyhock has survived.

A joke for your younger children, told me by a first grader;  Mrs. A., did you know you can tune a piano?  Yes. FG - But you can't tune a fish.  Much laughter.  I love it when kids tell me jokes and get so caught up in laughing about them.

On the Amalfi Drive again, yet another place I wouldn't mind living.  I am not a big fan of endless miles of beach.  I am a lover of rocky coasts and crashing surf.  That is probably because I am one of those people who just burn and don't bother tanning.  And I like weather extremes.  However, should I find myself at the beach, I love to watch the little sand pipers and the other birds, even the gulls.

Wining About Tea

My blogger has been non-functional for several days, but is now working - hooray!!!

I have really got to stop saying I don’t like certain kinds of tea. As soon as I do, up pops a type I do like and then I have to retract and be embarrassed and, well, really, I ought to just not make pronouncements. Sadly, that will probably not happen and I will continue to get in trouble.

I have often said I don’t generally like flavored teas, but then I make exceptions for Earl Grey, Jasmine, Rose-Kissed Jasmine, Lady Londonderry, and oh the sad list goes on and on. And I do like the whole gamut of wine teas. SBS Teas has a list of about 7 and I just got a bunch of them to try. They even have a black one, which is unusual. I am having it today, Assam Cabernet. It smells like the many wineries I have happily whiled away a day in, tasting this wine and that. A very happy association. Being mixed with Assam tea, it is a good bit sturdier than those mixed with the Oolongs, greens and whites. It also has cinnamon and licorice root in it. Hmmm, is that a good thing?

When I smelled these attractive dark leaves, it certainly smelled just fine. I brewed it with “furiously” boiling water for 3.5 minutes. At first I could smell the cinnamon and was put off by it, but by the time I was drinking it, that had disappeared into a very pleasant winey whole that I really like. Personally, I will use larger spoonfuls and a bit longer brew time next time, as this was not quite adequate, but I think the potential is there for a top-notch wine flavored tea. As it cooled, however, the cinnamon came out and I think this would be a better tea without it. Just the wine, please. Now if one could only find no calorie chocolate as good, we’d have a party.

I used a handy little gadget to measure the tea, cunningly called a “Loose Tea Measure” from SBS Teas. It is a sliding measuring spoon and measures out 1-5 cups of tea from weak to strong. It seems to work well and it’s a no-brainer and who among us doesn’t need another tea gadget. It was only $2.50, I believe.  SBS was also kind enough to send some tea candies, some tea samples and some cute little one cup make your own tea bags - thank you!  I really appreciate companies that do that, and sometimes I get the teas I'm sampling this way.  Lupicia Tea send out a short monthly newsletter, with a sample attached.  All very much appreciated.

Ah, mountains.  I've just been reading The Eiger Obsession, about climbing that mountain.  Not for me, I think I will just admire from afar.

A Tiny Little Teapot

Attention all you Anglophiles - I was at T J Maxx this am and they had the cutest tea pot.  It is a one cupper, with the British flag molded into the sides.  It's white and comes with 10 English Breakfast teabags for $6.99.  You mught want to check out your local T J or Marshall's if this is of interest.  Of course I bought it - too cute to resist.

Speaking of teapots, I was looking around the house yesterday and thought I had best shrink my collection before we have to move, which I will NOT do.  Between them and all my teas, it is getting ridiculous.  This after I just got another one.  Hopeless, just hopeless.

I am drinking a very nice Assam I got from my swap partner throught the Tea Blog Review tea swap, http://www.teareviewblog.com/ and look for "Tea Swap".  I don't know whose it is, but it commendably  brisk, malty and a great wake-me-up, which I needed after errand running today.  It is not a nuanced cup, just a pleasantly straightforward, good-tasting Assam.  Sometimes I am just tired of thinking about my tea and only want one that tastes good and requires nothing from me except making and swallowing.  I am very happy there at least both these sorts of tea in the world.  They are something to suit any mood or whimsey.

We got a wonderful food basket from my sister-in-law for Christmas and some of it was smoked duck breast (super tasting) and some was preserved duck leg.  I bought some beans and dragged out the French cook books and I am going to make cassoulet, which is basically baked beans with a few different kinds of meat and lots of garlic.  It is so good.  There are very traditional ways of making it, but I think that this peasant dish originated as using up what was on hand before the recipes got set in stone.  Therefore...  I think many dishes from many cuisines were like that and that we should be able to interpret our dishes that way.

As you may be able to tell from the colors, this is the organ of Tuesday's church, on the back wall  of the church.  It is so beautifully fancy, especially since the church is pretty plain.

The weather predictors say we will get 1-6 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow.  I would love it, but I am not going to hold my breath.

The Calm BeforeThe Storm

This is a view of our house from our next door neighbors back porch.  To the left is our porch and little garden; just barely discernible from the roof peak is a rainbow. You see we are pretty well surrounded by woods.


The Bon Teavant blog http://bonteavant.com/ has a brief video of women tea pickers in Dong Ding.  I think it is in Wednesdays  article.  Those ladies are fast!  Thanks to them we have some wonderful teas to drink. Actually, most tea pickers are women, with men usually handling the processing.


It is a mixed weather day here, with sun and clouds and a good bit of warmth. I need to go out and bring in anything that high wind might carry off. I guess I’ll leave the bird feeders out until tomorrow evening. I just don’t want to get drenched bringing everything in.


Today I am baking bread and I am so pleased by how high the loaves have risen. I guess this batch of yeast is a bit more sprightly than the last. I am also making a peach and raspberry tart. I had to go by the farmers market again today and…


That tart will go nicely with my latest tea tasting - the Earl of Bengal from Teatulia. This company is a single garden, organic tea estate in Assam, selling directly to the States. I really like this tea. It is definitely a malty Assam, with a very pleasant hit of citrus. Not really a bergamot, just citrus. It is very smooth and a bit rich. Sweetener brings out the citrus a bit and milk seems to go ok, too.

Testing the Waters

More bits of the 800AD church.

Aaah, a cool day. It is not even supposed to hit 80. My kind of summer day. I know I am in the minority, but there you have it. Morning was further enhanced by seeing a doe with her fawn, who is pretty well-grown by now, but still spotted. I have temporarily foiled them by tying plastic bags to my new plantings, which blow in the breeze and scare them. Putting up fencing is one of our next projects.

If you like reading tea blogs and wonder what ones are on line, go on over to http://www.teapages.blogspot.com/ . Katrina has a long list of them, just above her blog writing. She also has a book coming out this fall.

I have heard of mixing wine and tea and have had some myself, but tea and beer is a new one. The Stone Brewing Company from California has worked with some Japanese companies to produce Green Tea IPA (India Pale Ale). All proceeds will go to the Japanese Red Cross to support aid efforts of victims of the earthquake/tsunami. I am not much of a beer drinker, so I won't be reviewing this, but it is a nationally distributed company, so if one of you would like to do a guest blog about it, let me know and we'll arrange it.

Calling all West Coast tea people! There will be a tea festival in Los Angeles August 13-14, sponsored by the Japanese American Museum. For more information, go to http://www.teafestivalla.com/ .

Speaking of festivals, there just was one in Bratislava, Slovakia. Michal writes about it in http://poetryintea.blogspot.com/ . Lots of nice pictures, too.

I have 3 successful ice teas sitting in my fridge at the moment - Tie GuanYin from Dream About Tea, Hajua Sessa Assam from American Tea Room and that lovely Yunnan from Upton Tea I reviewed earlier this week, which is the least tasty - the cold seems to have eliminated the spice and sweetness.

My tea today is an experiment. If you remember, I had a very unhappy tea experience on vacation, trying to use bottled water for my tea. Today I got 2 kinds of water from the grocery store, Fiji, which was recommended in a tea magazine and Poland Spring, which is readily available everywhere in the Northeast. I am using Culinary Teas Lady Londonderry for the experimental tea, as I like it a lot and know what it tastes like. I brought both waters to a boil and brewed the tea for 3 minutes.

Wow, what a difference in color. The Poland Spring (PS) was a nice bright amber. The Fiji, a very dark brown, almost black. The taste was also heavy and dark and had a bit of tannin, it actually didn't taste much like Lady L, but was pretty flat - more like a not so hot teabag. The PS tea was lighter and more nuanced, much more true to the taste and aroma of this particular tea. I am going to try some others, just to make sure, but if PS works across the board, it will definitely be my tea traveling water. It is also much cheaper, which is an added plus. This was a blind test, so I wouldn't know which was which.

The Fox and the Fur Persons

All of the gold and white designs on this altar in Southern Italy are
exquisite inlaid marble.


Greetings friends. We had company over the weekend, so although I tasted a new tea, I didn't have time to write about it. My friend Dar brought her dog - consternation, upset, fluffed tails, oh my! The fur persons were not happy - after all, "Dogs drool, cats rule". They were all whispering this from under our bed. The dog in question is a beautiful, perfect specimen of Italian Vulpino. Think white and much prettier Pomeranian, with a true foxy face.

As I have driven around, it has been very interesting to observe the progress of spring as it creeps from riverside to hilltop. By the river - which is thankfully down about 3 feet - the trees have baby leaves and the maples and red buds and magnolias are adding red and pink to the scene. Up on the hills, there is either still gray or a faint haze of reddish pink. However, in the spinney across the road, the wild dogwood is lending a delicate white tracery to the gray trunks of the oaks.


I did manage to try a new tea from Teas Etc. It is their Assam Reserve. The leaves are a pretty mix of gold, brown and black and smell wonderful, like the best tobacco. It brews up very daark after 3.5 minutes in boiling water and gives off a wonderful earthy, wet barn wood, spicey aroma. Oh boy, says I, this will be a treat. Well, it was and it wasn't. The cup is pleasant and a bit astringent, which suited me just fine. However, the flavor was so mild and bland, I really have nothing to say about it. Guess I'll blend it with some other more flavorful Assams.


I just heard of a tea company in Europe that has been producing and selling tea since 1883. It is called Gorreana and is located on Sao Paulo Island off the coast of Portugal, http://www.gorreanatea.com/ I am going to order some of their tea and try it. I never heard of it before, but I saw it advertised on the World Tea News Home page.

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.

Tea from Korea

I was fascinated by the many types of church steeples we saw.
This one was in Austria on the way to Zurich.


A new friend, who is Korean, stopped in yesterday and we shared a cup of tea from samples I was sent from the Hankook Korean Tea Company, www.GoodGreenTea.net . I received 4 samples, 2 green, a persimmon and an Oolong. We tried the green one labeled Teuk Seon. There was only enough for one cup, which I brewed at about 160 degrees for 2 minutes. Neither of us was really taken with the taste, although Mae liked it better than I. To me, it tasted and smelled sort of seaweedy. However, hours later I finished it and cold, it was very flavorful, a nice combination of earthy and floral. I doubt I will be purchasing any. At $90 for 2 ounces, it is way beyond my price range.

Mae told me this is typical of Korean tea, that only the first plucking is considered good enough for tea and much of it is exported to Japan. She had lived in Japan for quite a while and said that Korean tea there was even more expensive than what comes into the US. She said most Koreans drank barley tea or corn tea or teas they made themselves from things in the garden, like mint or chamomile. Unless one was very wealthy, green tea was just too expensive. Mae told me the persimmon tea was something easily made at home and generally used for medicine, as it was quite bitter.

It has been very lovely here in the early morning and early evening. Across the road, the sun shines on the field of goldenrod and it is just brilliant through the dark trees of the spinney. At night, the sun is gone from our yard, but still shines in the swale beyond our thin strip of trees and again, there is that bright gold through the dark tree trunks.

Skipping around a bit, we'll now go to the Assam region of India, where many small landholders are newly growing tea and forming associations to market and manufacture their tea. They currently receive little if any help from the government, but it is promised to them and they hope for it so they can be more organized and earn more from their mini- estates. About 25% of Assam tea comes from these small farms. [Excerpted from Darjeeling Tea News]

Meleng Estate Assam

Last night we watched the fireworks from our driveway. They were spectacular. Lots of colors within individual ones, lots of shapes and 2 or 3 storey ones. The cats guarded the underside of the bed.

This am there was no tea as we were late for a meeting and this meeting only serves coffee. Oh well.

This afternoon I am having an Upton's sample - Meleng Estate Assam FTGFOP. The dry leaf is very attractive, with a nice dark brown leaf accented with plenty of golden tips. While it's brewing it has a very clean fresh smell of good tea. Instantly reminded me of all the church suppers I went to or helped at when I was a kid, growing up in a small town/rural environment. Unusually for me, I followed directions and brewed this for 4 min. instead of my usual 3. I am glad I did, I don't think the flavor would have been as apparant otherwise. Next time, I may push it to 5 and see how it is. It brews up into a nice robust brown with tinges of goldy red in its color. The taste is much sweeter and cleaner than many Assams I've had. There is a maltiness and some good apricot and cocoa to it. It ends sort of slowly with almost a winey tinge. I really like this one and it is from a top Assam garden. It is $16.95 for 100 gms.


I think Assam may have faired better weatherwise this year. Many, many tea gardens really suffered from drought or typhoons, mud slides, tornados, hail, all sorts of bad weather. As did we. The farmers market this am had very little - we've had almost no local strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, blueberries, blackberries, etc. We don't realize how dependent we are on weather for our food. It can really make or break any farmer, especially those who have only one crop, such as tea.