Tangentially Tea

I have a sad confession to make about my ginger plant.  I put it out too soon and most of its leaves are in a sorry state.  However, it seems to be coming back, so if I can resist putting it out too soon again, perhaps it will be all right.

I have rosemary and tarragon vinegars curing in the closet and red wine vinegar waiting for purple basil if it ever gets more than 2 inches tall.  I have awful luck trying to grow basil from seed.  I think I should just give in and only buy it from a nursery.  I am going to make a lot of herb vinegars this summer.  If you use white balsalmic vinegar as a base, which is much sweeter than the usual, they can be sprinkled on fruit salad to add a bit of pizazz.  I am also going to try mixing some fruit teas with the herbal vinegars for further flavor.  Like a citrus tea, made very strong, with orange mint.

Most of you know that I lean toward organic teas.  On the whole I believe they are better for everyone, from planters to consumers to the earth as a whole.  That doesn't necessarily mean the individual teas are better or worse. That is a whole other tale. I don't think it is just scare stories that the earth and its climate are changing.  Winters are generally milder, flowers are blooming earlier, the climate is weirder. More tornadoes in more places that do not generally have them is an example of this.

Our Master Gardener program, which is part of a Co-Operative Extension program of the land grant universities, such as Cornell, has asked us to keep track of the compost we save each month as a way of proving how much waste we save from landfills.  So far, my husband and I have averaged 66 pounds each month.  Multiply that by composters around the country and you can see how much can be kept out of landfills, since the compost goes right into our gardens (after a year or so) to enrich the soil.  Which is why I am pleased that tea and some teabags and their containers, like those from Teatulia are organic and biodegradable.

The Co-Operative Extension started about 75 years ago to promote good agricultural practises.  My father, uncle and two grandfathers were charter members.  They were part of programs to promote crop rotation, sustainable agriculture, crop comparisons, contour plowing, etc.  I feel like I have taken up a proud legacy by becoming a Master Gardener.  Even in cities like Philadelphia, there is a strong Co-Op, dedicated to urban agriculture, nutrition and other topics related to living well with the earth.

We are going away for a few days, so I won't be back until Thursday.

Again from Ballenberg, an example of the small huts that herdsmen would use in the summers in the high mountain pastures.  The lower level would be given over to cheese making and curing, while the upper level would be sleeping quarters.

Around the World With Food and Drink

More Switzerland.  I do love the country and the mountains.

We had pizza last night and I started wondering what tea you could serve with it. I always think of pizza and beer or pizza and coke. We decided that hot tea would be too weird, that maybe a fruity tea would work, definitely a black. Maybe a Ceylon or Keemun or a very muscatel autumnal Darjeeling, although I’m not sure that would ever be sturdy enough. Assam is too malty, Lapsang Souchong made us both go eeuw.  What do you think? Personally, I’m going to stick with cola, Dr. Pepper, root beer or beer, hide-bound traditionalist that I guess I am.



We have a Swedish recipe for pot roast that calls for a cup of strong coffee with cream and sugar for the liquid. It is delicious. I was thinking that this would be the place to try a strong cup of Assam or Lapsang with cream and sugar. I think next pot roast, I will try it. The tea would help tenderize the meat, just as the coffee does and the resulting gravy would still have a hearty flavor. I’ll let you know.



India is nearing completion of a billion dollar public/private endeavor to upgrade tea fields and factories. Wow, that is a lot of money! Some is going to help farmers replant, as many tea bushes are so old they are no longer as productive. Factories will be re-tooled and there will be an emphasis on better marketing. I hope there will also be an emphasis on care for their workers.


In that vein, Tetulia Teas has been recognized by the United Nations for its humanitarian and environmentally sound tea farming in Bangladesh. It runs the only USDA approved organic tea farm in that area. Their teas are very tasty, as well.

Today, however, I am trying some Pu-erh, from the Verdant Tea company in Minneapolis http://bit.ly/ss-verdant.  This a new company to me and comes via my monthly Steepster Select program.  Its official name is Diyi Cornfields Shu and comes in small nest like shapes called toucha.  It is individually wrapped in small printed pieces of thin paper.  The tea is grown between rows of corn, which gives it some shade and also imparts flavors of corn and butter, which new pu-erh drinkers, like me seem to enjoy.  it certainly smells like earth and corn, with a sweet overlay, kind of like that combination at the movies of buttered popcorn and sweetness given off by the candy and soda.  I brewed it with boiling water for 5minutes, one toucha per 12 oz. of water - perfect for my ever-so-English teapot.  I probably shouldn't say it, but I keep wanting to call it Do-It-Yourself Pu-erh.  Really bad, eh?

It is a very dark brew and smells wonderful.  It tastes that way too, really buttery, earthy and of corn.  It is almost overwhelming in the way it all comes together and lingers in your mouth.  This results in the flavors intensifying as you sip.  I like it, but for my personal drinking, I would like it a bit more dilute.  However, I think it would make a wonderful liquid for the Swedish pot roast, but without the cream and sugar.  This has enough going on to not need embellishment.

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.

A New Experience

The altar from the old church.

Today I had a new tea experience. Sadly, not a pleasant one. My tea tasted like chlorine! Since I had just had a cup of perfectly fine tea, I can only say it is the tea. It is Highland Blend from the Edinburgh Tea and Coffee Company. The dry leaves are clearly CTC or fannings bits and smell very ordinary, with a rough edge. The directions say to brew for 4 minutes and add milk. So I did. The resulting brew was dark as midnight and smelt harsh and strong, which is just what the taste was, although softened by the addition of some half 'n half. It took me back to the summer spent in Great Britiain and all the tea I drank there. However, as the tea cooled it tasted more and more like chlorine. Not a pleasant aftertaste. I guess the mulch pile wins this one.

Have you seen the new Finum Control Pots? Mark T. Wendell at http://www.marktwendell.com/ has them, complete with visual directions. I would like to try one, but I don't think I need another tea pot. And if I do, I have my eye on one from a potter at the farmers market.

One of my cousins is a geology professor at a university and her newest course is "As the World Turns: society and sustainability in a time of great change" She and I occasionally talk about this in regards to tea, where it is becoming and issue. I feel it should have been for far longer, as we need to keep in mind that the world is a small place and we need to learn to really care for it and each other quickly, before it is too late. Tea workers produce something we enjoy, we should see to it they are cared for and support them in their struggles.

In line with that, did you know that Teatulia Teas http://www.teatulia.com/ is a single garden organic tea selling directly to markets? It comes from Northern Bangladesh, north of Assam and close to the Himalayas. They offer about 9 different teas, from herbals through blacks. I am going to try some, so watch for reviews.