"Quoth the Raven"

Last night I was reading on the back porch and noticed how quiet it was. There was no wind, the trees were absolutely still. There were no lawn mowers, only a soft sound of conversation somewhere and the birds' chirpings fading as they readied themselves for the night. One small goldfinch feeding and the last rosy rays of sundown were all the activity to be seen. A moment to savor.

I see that Ajiri Tea, which I have reviewed before has again won an award for its lovely packaging. This company is a cooperative of farmers in Kenya and its profits go to provide schooling for orphans. Their tea is good, too. Please check them out at http://www.ajiritea.com/
Their tea is inexpensive at $9 for about a quarter pound.

Not too long ago, I reviewed some teas from Blue Raven Tea Company. Today I am moving on to Black Raven, from the Eastern Shore Tea Company. This is a black currant flavored tea, "darkly delicious", in honor of Edgar Allen Poe, who penned those famous words,"quoth the raven, nevermore". The package receives high marks for uniqueness and attractiveness, as does all their line. This one has, of course, a raven on the front and is tied with a purple ribbon. The teabags are individually wrapped in metallic plastic. They are filled with small bits of tea and smell (rats!) like cat spray, which seems to be an unfortunate scent many black currant teas have.

However, I am determined to try the tea and proceed, following directions to brew for 5 minutes. The aroma has settled down considerably, so I am encouraged. Actually, in spite of my fears, this does taste good, nice and fruity, with a bit of a bite at the end, which is black currant. It doesn't come close to Tea Forte's black currant, but it's quite drinkable. This is pretty high marks from one who is very critical of most offerings of this type.

Speaking of currants, we had 14 of these berries this year. Hopefully, next year, when they are in their permanent home, we will have more. The roses are blooming and theJapanese beetles are eating them. The deer have eaten more of my new little tree so I put a bag over it last night to thwart them and I'll continue to do that until I can put a fence around it. I enjoy our wildlife, but they can be destructive.

Currants and Tea

Flowers in Italy. Wish we had some now. Although the grocery
store just got in hyacinths and I had a good sniff fest yesterday.

Hot diggity dog! Or something like that. I found a black currant tea I can drink! It doesn't smell like cat spray! Woo Hoo! I am a happy camper, as I did like this stuff long ago and any I have had since has just been awful, awful, awful. The only problem is it is Tea Forte. Now Tea Forte makes some very tasty teas. The packaging is visually appealing, it would make lovely gifts. BUT (there's always one, isn't there?) that packaging is decidedly not earth friendly. There is so much of it and some is just not going to waste away in compost. Also, they are very expensive. But I may have to bite the bullet. Oh dear.





However, I am going to review it, because I am so pleased to taste it. I got mine as a gift, by the way. First of all, it smells wonderful, a gentle fruity aroma that smells like fresh black currants.
Then, after 3.5 minutes of brewing in it's cute little pyramid bag, it tastes wonderful, like the aforementioned black currants. Imagine that. Plus, there is a gentle hint of mint on the side. It really reminds me of being out in the garden, picking berries and gathering herbs. I wonder if they have any loose leaf. I'll find out and get back to you.

PS It snowed again last night - gorgeous morning when the sun came up and sparkled everything. It is so nice to have the sun up early and still be able to see at 6 pm. I love winter, but hate the gray, although this year has had a lot more sun.

Their Forte is Tea

Ravenna, Italy, some of the jaw-droppingly gorgeous mosaics. By
the time we arrived here, we had had a surfeit of Italian churches, but these mosaics were beyond spectacular. Our whole experience in this ancient port was wonderful: the churches, the food, our total marble room [even the closet doors were marble] and the crazy way people parked.

Today I am exploring the rich gift from my neighbor, Carol - Tea Forte. I noticed my sampler had Black Currant tea, so I decided to try that first. I used to love it, but in the past few years, it has all smelled like cat spray, which, of course, affects how I would approach the taste. Woo Hoo, it smells fruity and rich and NOT nasty. This is a definitely cute tea - a nice stiff pyramid, holding a goodly amount of tea with a neat little tea leaf on a stem to rescue it from your cup.

I brewed it for about 3 minutes with boiling water and it smelled wonderful all the time. This has a black tea base and the liquor is a nice deep reddish brown. Lovely taste, rich and fruity and dare I say it, like black currants! Woo Hoo indeed. I couldn't find any info on the black tea base, but it is good and in addition to the black currant, there are blackberry leaves. The flavor comes from natural flavoring and there is NO chemical after taste. Well done, Tea Forte. On the website it can be purchased as a loose tea, so I may just get some, as I have missed having this old favorite.

This is a very attractive tea, with an attractive presentation, sure to wow almost anyone. However, I have to give them low marks for using so much stuff to package it with, layer upon layer. Life is full of compromises. As a gift, this is a star, as eco-consciousness, it isn't. The loose tea would definitely get higher marks in the latter category.

All the kitties have gone to the vet and I seem to be forgiven for such incredible meanness. Everyone is out from under the bed, so all is well for another 6 months, when we can do this all over again. Ernie - the one in the bed springs, slept in the carrying cage the night after he did that. Cats!!!

In search of a Prince

I have always loved Prince of Wales tea. I think it may have been the first "real" tea I had a name for - by Twining's, of course and in the looseleaf can! For a long while it was impossible to get so I started searching for it among other purveyors. What a sad journey! Almost all of them put so much black currant in their tea that they invariably smelled like a male cat had sprayed it. And they didn't taste very good, either. Somehow, Twining's managed to make what I thought of as the good blend.

However, I am continuing the search and may have found another good blend of the Prince. I purchased a sample of Prince of Wales from The Tea Table. When I opened it it didn't smell too bad, almost a balance, still too heavy a scent of black currant, but not bad. For some reason it has yellow flower petals in it. As it brewed it didn't smell bad either, but the proof is in the taste, right? It actually may contend with Twinings, as all the different teas and flavorings come together to make a balanced whole! And it doesn't taste like cat spray, either - not that I've sampled any.

Neither of these Princes is an exquisite tea, rather they are pleasant and fill a sentimental, if you will, tea slot, so they are nice to find and to return to when a cup of comfort is neeed.

The lady in the picture is there because the Prince was such a lady's man - Edward that is, Victoria's son. She lives in the garden at the summer palace in Vienna. He probably would have found her charming.

I just finished reading an excellent book on tea - The True History of Tea by Victor H Mair and Erling Hoh. It covers everything, probably far more than most people want to know, from beginnings in China, India, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey, Kenya and almost everywhere else. It is very thorough and actually covers very recent things about tea. I found it a bit over heavy on names and dates I will never remember, but if the budget only allows for one history book, this is a good one. I found that reading a chapter at a time allowed me to absorb it all better and I thik I am going to re-read it so I get more from it. I got my copy from Amazon.

Speaking of booksellers, http://www.alibris.com/ has a wonderful selection of used tea books and they aren't all about how to have tea parties. They have old and new selections and you can make up a wish list. Their prices are quite good, I think.

I really envy so many under 30's who are developing a tea palate now. As we age, our tongue begins to lose the ability to discriminate tastes. I wish I had started a long time ago. Oh well, there it is, I'll do what I can and taste as much as I can of the new stuff soming out!