Have I Got News For You

For you Kombucha fans who live in the Portland, Oregon area, Lion Heart Kombucha has opened  small "brew pubs" in 2 locations in Northwest Portland.  They brew about 160 gallons of this fermented tea each week.  They have no desire to grow larger, as they want to maintain quality and a locovar profile as much as possible.  One of my friends brews kombucha and I must say, I can't get past looking at it.  Perhaps if I had some already tidied up...

The Third Annual North American Tea Conference is scheduled for September in Ontario Falls, Canada.  It is really for those tea folks who are in business.  If you are interested, contact either the Us Tea Association or the Tea Association of Canada for more information.

The English Tea Store blog http://www.englishtea.us/ has an excellent article on dealing with the special requirements of vegetarians and vegans you may have invited to a tea.  As of today, it is about the third or fourth article down.  I found it an excellent help.

Oregon is again in the news, this time in Eugene, where J-Tea can be found.  They just sponsored a tea "time capsule" event.  They sold jars of tea ranging from very small to over a pound, sealed with specially designed "year of the dragon" signed and dated seals so folks could then age their own tea.  At the event, there were tastings of 20 year aged Oolongs.  They may have some left.  You can check at http://www.jteainternational.com/

Japan has done a 3 year study of nearly 14,000 aging adults and their tea drinking habits.  They were careful to factor in things like diet, exercise and other life style choices and discovered that those who drank 3 or more cups of tea remained more agile and more independent, the more tea, the better.

On the World Tea Expo website, there was good news about black tea drinking and lower blood pressure.  It was not a great deal, but every little bit helps, right?

Meanwhile, the University if Illinois at Urbana has been doing laboratory research with Yerba Mate and has found it kills colon cancer cells.  I have heard from several sources that green tea does the same to prostate cancer cells.

So, fellow tea-drinkers, drink up!  Tea is good for you and besides, it tastes good and warms you inside and out, when it's not cooling you off - such a bargain!

The World Tea Expo website also has some statistics  that say tea drinking has doubled in the last few years, to the tune of  several billion dollars.  The US is sixth in consumption, behind the traditional tea drinking nations of China, India, Russia, Turkey and Japan.  Per capita, however, Ireland is still in the lead, with each person drinking over 2 1/2  pounds of tea each year.

After all that, I did do a bit of tea tasting today.  I am trying to use up my oldest samples, so I can go on to the new!  Today's is Vanilla Pomegranate from Rooibos Suite http://www.rooibos-suite.com/ .  The black tea was interesting looking with flower petals and pieces of dried lemon and pomegranate.  The actual tea leaves were all black, fairly large and twisted.  It had a pleasant vanilla/lemon scent.  I brewed it for about 5 minutes with boiling water.  The brew was a light amber color and smelled of both fruit and vanilla.

This was a pleasant mild tea that basically was just what it said it was.  No particular nuances, nothing spectacular, but a pleasant drink with my fig and pecan scones.

Grumpy Gertrude's Tea and Tea Swap

Same monastery, huge rosemary.  I would be jealous, but I was in a monastery!


Aaargh, as Charlie Brown would say.  Do you ever have those days when you really "shoulda stood in bed?"  Well, this one is mine.  I woke up crabby, warning my husband to steer clear of me.  Early sunshine gave way to clouds and not much has gone right since.  I am going to have some tea in the hopes that some sort of joy can be restored.  I did manage to get a number of Christmas presents on line, so all is not lost.

 I am going to make my tea in my new pot that I got at the big day on Saturday.  It is the prettiest aqua.  I saw it as soon as I walked into my favorite store.  It didn't hurt that it was 1/2 price.  The other nice thing was I've been looking for a slanted end spatula for my frying pans for about 15 years and that was there too.  I have one I 've had since we were married 38 years ago and I am always afraid it is going to break.  I can rest a bit easier, now.  I should count my blessings, big and small and not fuss.

 I am having Eiffel Tower, a vanilla flavored black tea from Blue Raven Teas.  Yup, smells like vanilla.  Himself will like this, vanilla fan that he is.  Hmm, this is a much better vanilla than most I've tasted, which I usually really don't like.  This almost moves into the good cake or cookie department.  I brewed it for about 3.5 minutes at 212 degrees.  It seems very sweet to me, so I definitely would not add sugar.  With cream added, it ismuch more rounded.  I still wouldn't buy it for me, but it is well done.

My new pot is a sweetie, very well-mannered - no spitting or dribbling.

Another reminder about the tea swap.  Go to www.facebook.com/groups/teaswap/ or email me from my profile page. It's fun!