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.

Sweet Clover in the Snow

These are the usual trucks one sees scurrying around small towns
in southern Italy. In these old towns, the streets are very narrow
and there simply isn't a lot of room.


It has been so beautiful here, with snow covering all the branches and bushes. So quiet, you can hear the snow fall. When we've gone for a walk, you just hear the squeaking of our boots and the snow slipping onto the ground. Ernie often goes along and is so pretty against the snow - orange on white. This last time he walked along the top of the fence and since there was about 2 inches of snow on it, he left little scallops where his paws knocked some off.


Today I am having some lovely green tea from Dream About Tea - Liuan-guapian. The leaves are very green, very long, soft, thin and silky to my fingers. They come from Anhui Province, in China. They smell faintly of clover and of course, green tea. The instructions say to do a tablespoon per cup for 3 minutes at 200 degrees, for 3 infusions. Wow, that's a long time and a high temp for green tea! But I am a good doobie and do as I am told. I am amply rewarded, as the aroma of the tea continues with that faint clover and some additional vegetal. The flavor is more vegetal, but there is a sweetness flowing through it as well. The first cup is surprisingly very yellow, the second infusion almost as much. The second is much sweeter, with a bitter finish that mingles with the sweet, giving a very interesting taste.

The third infusion starts out much paler and a lot more green. The scent has shifted to a mild corn, with a hint of baked vegetables. The taste is definitely vegetal, but soft and elusive. I tried all three together and wasn't impressed, they are much better and far more interesting on their own. Once again, I discover that green tea is definitely better in small cups, fairly hot, as it tends to get bitter as it cools.

I did all these in my new little Yixing pot, that I told you about seasoning. It is so cute, short and round with bamboo markings and a twist of bamboo for the lid handle, which to me looks a bit like a worm.

Well, I had best go to the library before this big snow storm arrives. The last one gave us a whole inch. Weathermen have gotten much too frantic in their predictions. I realize loving snow can be selfish, but there it is, I love lots of it. If we do get lots, I will definitely hope you are all safe and sound.

Wonderful, Wonderful

This is a diptych, meaning two panels, hung over the choir stalls in a church in Germany. I had such a good time in the European churches. They just made me happy and mostly, awe-struck with their beauty.



After having so much real fall weather - cool but often sunny, today is scalding hot - over 90. Not a true Indian Summer because we haven't had frost yet. The sunrise was beautiful this am, turning the trees pink. Moonrise last night was especially lovely as well, as the clouds played hide and seek with the moon. I really appreciate living where I can see these events.

I have new teas, so I just can't wait for it to be cool again.

As I mentioned earlier, one of my favorite tea merchants is Dream About Tea, a wonderful tea shop in Evanston, Illinois, that specializes in Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese teas. I have always gotten top-notch tea from them and this is no exception. Today's selection is Golden Silk, from the Yunnan Province of China. I reviewed last year's in January, but this is the 2010 crop. It is grown in the high mountains, which are ideal for tea cultivation and it is only the fine buds and first leaves from the first Spring plucking. It is an attractive tea, with large, almost black leaves and golden buds. I could not identify the smell of the dry leaves, but let me assure you, it is wonderful, like some exquisite food you can't wait to eat. Maybe a touch of very special well-aged wood.

I brewed it for 3 minutes with boiling water, using about 1.5 teaspoons per cup. I really should have weighed it, but I've gotten pretty good at guessing with big leaves. The scent of the brewing tea was very much Yunnan, but with a very smooooooth edge that carries a touch of floral. The brewed tea was a real shock. Usually you can describe Chinese teas as a "red" tea, as they do, because they are some sort of reddish brown, but this was such a dark brown I would have to call it black. Oh my, what a wonderful taste! Very Yunnan, but not the spicey sort. It is more woodsy with some honey around the edges and then has a touch of astringency to ground it. But it is the smoothest Yunnan I think I've ever had. Wonderful, wonderful. What's even more wonderful is it is only $7.00 for 2 ounces, which is quite inexpensive in this year's tea market.

Springing into Oolong

Ballenberg - A corner stove used for cooking and heating. The wood
would be shoved in from the woodshed to the left of the stove, being very efficient, as well as tidy, two Swiss national characteristics. These stoves were excellent warmers and would heat the whole house - a small one, of course.


It's another beautiful Spring day in the neighborhood. My fiddleheads are up, so I guess I know what tonight's veggie is going to be. Fiddleheads are the unfurled leaves of some ferns and they look just like the head of a ddle or violin. Ours are ostrich ferns – quite large. You need to pick them before they unfurl, when they are about 4 inches tall. You either boil or steam them and serve with butter and lemon juice. They taste a bit like asparagus and so much like Spring!


It is so springy today I am having Dream About Tea's Tie Guan Yin Oolong. I really like black teas when it's cold, they seem heartier, but as it warms I get more interested in the lighter teas. This traditional Tie Guan Yin is from AnXi County, Fujian Province, China. It is considered a medium roast, medium oxidation tea. The dry tea smells faintly of green and very faintly floral. It is composed of tightly-wound green leaf balls. I brewed up about 1 teaspoon at 205 degrees for 2.5 minutes, after I first rinsed the leaves. While brewing it smelled strongly vegetal with only a hint of floral, but when it was cool enough to drink there was a decidedly more floral note, with perhaps a hint of seaweed. In spite of my dislike of that, it suited this tea very well and I liked it very much. This is a fairly sturdy tea, almost brothy, and definitely smooth, with a very pleasant after taste.


The second cup was my favorite, as more of the floral came out and the third was almost as good. I often find that the second cup of a good Oolong is tastier than the third. Dream about tea says you can get up to 5 infusions, but three was enough for today. I found that when the leaves had completely unfurled, my cup was completely full. Some of the leaves were about 3 inches long, others appeared to be chopped. The edges of the leaves were slightly bruised. Very interesting to look through them. At $7.50 for 2 ounces, this is not an expensive tea, but it is more than worth the price.

Drinking the Tea Journey

Gotta Love those church pews!


I am constantly amazed about the tea I drink. It really is a journey of discovery! I used to be a black tea person, with a foray or two into green – just gunpowder please, a few herbals and some flavored blacks – not too many, of course. However, I have really begun to appreciate Oolongs, although I know very little about them and Chinese greens, again, with little knowledge.

I did manage to read a tea book recently, Green Tea by Mary Lou Heiss, who, with her husband, Robert, wrote an excellent book about tea in general. This one states right up front that is filled with recipes – hot and cold drinks, sweets and savoury foods. She does give us a bit of background on green teas and some tips on brewing, but quickly moves to the basics, the recipes. Almost all use fairly readily available items, like lemon juice, strawberries, or pineapple with a few forays into things like chrysanthemum flowers which are a little harder to come by. Many of the recipes will make you say “now why didn't I think of that”. But I hadn't and so I have this book, which I really, really like. At $12.95, it's a bargain


Having said all that,about green teas, I am going to review a black tea. But it still has an element of discovery, as the tea with and without milk are such different experiences. Both of which are excellent. This wonderful tea comes from Dream About Tea and is called Golden Silk Black. It originates in Yunnan, on high mountains and is mostly buds. It's a real smoothy to drink and has that characteristic “Yunnan” smell, but softer and sweeter than usual, with almost no bite. A bit of milk just makes it a whole 'nuther drink. A delicious treat. It is interesting to me that lately I've had a few teas that seem to be one tea plain and something totally different with milk. I'm not just talking about rounder or smoother, but almost as though they were two different teas. Part of the great journey!

Bacon and the Iron Goddess of Mercy

I have got to tell you about this tea I heard Adagio has blended. It is bacon flavored! Amazing. I’m not sure I’m ready to try it, but maybe you would like it. I have had chocolate covered bacon and that is goo-ood, totally bad for you, I’m sure, but one piece a year can’t hurt, right? I was going to make some, but wisdom prevailed. I wonder if there is peanut butter tea, as I like peanut butter and bacon sandwiches. I think this better be a plain tea day.

By the time I felt like tea tasting I decided to try Ti Guan Yin for the last time. The previous 2 times I have had it, I thought it was pretty awful. Since then I have learned a little about Oolongs and brewing tea. I think the ones I had had too much tea, were brewed too long or just were poor teas. My latest has come from Dream About Tea, a shop I discussed before. I loved the last tea of theirs I tried. My only complaint about them is they send their tea in paper bags. Picky, Picky.
I have been fooling around with brewing Oolongs but decided to try the one I just read about – water just under the boil, 3 minutes. I rinsed it off first, though. The dry tea was loosely rolled, mostly green with some brown and blackish leaves. The dry scent was sweet, with a hint of green vegetable. The leaves very rapidly unfurled, giving off a nice floral scent. The taste was definitely floral with that underlying green to it. It also had a slight taste of wet wash. What can I say, when I was little I’d put anything in my mouth. The feel of the tea lasted and lasted, filling not only my mouth, but all the way to my stomach – very warming and comforting, somehow.
Perhaps the curse of the Oolongs has finally been broken and I can now go forward in enjoying this vast area of tea. At least I am beginning to not approach them with a shudder, but with anticipation. Also, so far I have discovered that if I dislike the smell of the dry tea, I probably will dislike the tea. That may not always be true.