Two Grumps and Two Goodies

I have been in a bit of a grumpy mood lately, and for once, tea related things did little to elevate it.  I got this month's issue of a tea magazine, filled with lovely tea party settings and wonderful food.  I saw some china that I admired and looked in their sources column for the manufacturer.  Ow, ow, ow!  A plate - one plate was $650.  Another I liked was one plate, $450.  Get real.  How many of us are going to spend that much on a plate?  It would be nice if they were a little more realistic.  There are pretty things that are not the cost of a plane ticket to Europe.

To continue my rant.  Tea itself.  I got this in a tea swap I am part of and I know the person was trying to please and I am not ungrateful.  I just hate this tea and couldn't get too much past the first few sips.  Even my husband, who is no tea snob, asked if I was sure this was tea.  The tea was DavidsTea Saigon Chai.  The base is Assam, cardamom, pink peppercorns, cinnamon, clove, maybe orange and lots of other stuff mixed in.  It smelled sweet with hints of pineapple, pepper, cinnamon and other things I could not identify.  The brewed cup tasted like that and more - just a mess.  In my very prejudiced opinion, any flavoring should let the taste of tea come through.

On to the good things.  Newspapers are still favorites of mine and I like having them in print.  I like the feel and smell and heft of them.  Not to mention their ability to be used underneath any mess I may be making.
Plus, they often have articles on tea.  Our local paper had a good one on the rise of the importance of tea and last week's NY Times had a full page on East Frisian tea.  Which, by the way, can put any Breakfast tea under the table in terms of strength.  East Frisia is known for being cold, damp and windy, which probably explains it.  Wow!  It's really wonderful to see tea getting mainstreamed.

I think this is Austria - I loved the steeple.

Woodpecker Watching With Chai

Today the great radiant heart of the sun is shining on the lovely gold and apricot trees and it is warm.  However, step into the shade and there's a different story.  Autumn's chill is here.  In fact, I think we had some frost last night - not enough to kill things, but tonight it is supposed to go below freezing.  Maybe I had best dig up that tender lavender and bring it in.  It can join the hibiscus, which are blooming their hearts out.  Great double reds and peaches,  a huge single dark red, almost mahogany in its throat.

Today is a good day for a chai and I have just the thing.  One of my WTE finds is Nature's Guru Instant Cardamom Chai.  I had tried this at the show and liked it, so I got some.  First of all, it is definitely cardamon.  And sweet.   It couldn't be simpler to prepare, open the packet, add hot water, stir.  I really like - so much so I bought a 4 pack from Amazon.  It is also carried by health food stores and Whole Foods Markets.  I am a big fan of chai, anyway and I found this to have a lovely balance.  If you don't like cardoamom, they have several other varieties, some sweetened, some not.  I got the unsweetened, as this was over the top for me.  Himself, of course, thought it was just right.

Did you know that these are the hibiscus you can dry and make into tea?  My friend, Marcel, the chef, dries them, pulverizes them and uses them in sugar to add color and a hint of flavor to fruits and peels he dries and candies.

The Downy Woodpeckers are diminutive - about 4-5 inches long, but they can be scrappy.  We have 4 tiny males battling it out at the suet.  There are 3 feeders and they are so small that each feeder can easily hold 2, but no, fight they must.  From the looks of things, I think it may be a sorely tried papa trying to get his young ones to feed themselves.  The papas and mamas certainly looked tired and bedraggled this summer from their fledglings.

These little birds have an odd habit. They take a long time of looking around to see if it is safe before they feed.  However, they are chirping loudly as they do so, giving the blue jay "bully boys" plenty of time to notice them and swoop in.  I keep thelling them to be quiet, but I guess I don't speak "downy".

Aah, Summer

For lunch today we had what could be considered the quintessential summer meal - corn on the cob, fried green tomatoes with buttermilk dressing, cucumber salad, raspberries and ice tea.  All seasonal, all from either our CSA or the Farmers' Market.  Well, the tea came from Uptons - ZK95, China Keemun Mao Feng Imperial. I made it on the light side and I must say, it is a delightful ice tea soft and winey, with a bit of floral..

In the same publication as yesterday, Delicious Living, I found a recipe for Chai Iced Tea Pops.  I modified the recipe some:


Simmer 8 chai tea bags or the equivalent tea and spices from your own recipe, with 1 cup coconut milk and 2 cups of water for 10 minutes, strain, add sugar to taste, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.  let cool for about 30 minutes and pour into pop molds, freeze about 3 hours.  You could also just use regular milk, it would be good either way.


Pop molds are in the grocery store, department store, craft store, almost every place and they are inexpensive - under $10 for 6 -8 of them.


Did you know the ancient Greeks had poetry, art, and architecture Olympics at the same time as the sports Olympics?     Remember the old concept, "sound body, sound mind"?  Greek concept.  In 1912 someone reinstated the poetry part in that year's Olympics.  It lasted until 1952.  It was discontinued mostly because the poetry was so awful.  NPR is having a poetry Olympics. We'll see if the poets are any better or should just fade away.


This morning I saw what looked like a deer family of poppa, momma and fawn, with gorgeous reddish brown coats and spots still on the fawn.  They are beautiful creatures, but I wish they would stick to woodland flowers and shrubs.


The wildflowers are early this year - the wild asters are already beginning to bloom and the purple loosestrife is running riot.  The chicory and Queen Ann's lace is having a superb year, with deep color on the chicory and more lace than usual.


My new lavender is blooming.  Not enough to do much with so I think I will just gather it and put the dried flower heads in with some Early Grey tea.  I first had this with some from Simpson and Vail Tea and I really like the combination.  I am hoping that next year I have a huge amount, both for tea and sleep pillows and all sorts of things

How's this for a casket?  Ravenna, Italy

Add A Little Chocolate to Your Life

Those wonderful stripes are early spring vineyards on the Rhine River.  These would have to be hand harvested grapes.  I did that a few autumns to make money when I was in college in the Finger Lakes of NYS.  It was hard work on such steep hills and we didn't get paid much.

I can't believe that here it is the last day of the year and I am just now trying my Christmas teas.  Oh well, a good way to see the year out.  Today's is Chocolate Chai, from the Briar Patch, one of our local stores, who thankfully, is coming back to town to reopen.  Her teas are available at http://www.owegobriarpatch.com/.  The smallish leaves are black and mixed with spices and the tiniest white and chocolate chips I've ever seen.  I brewed it up for 4 minutes, all the while sniffing the heady aroma of chai with the filip of chocolate.  The chocolate really seems to add something, although the proof is in the brew.

Ah, yes, it is indeed a good brew!  Not only does it smell good, but the spices are nicely balanced, along with the chocolate and they seem to chase each other around my mouth, first one is accented and then another.  The nutmeg and cardamom vie for the ending with the ginger sometimes taking over.  This is not so spicey as to put people off, but it is within range of those of us who prefer more in that department.  If anything, I think the chocolate rounds everything out nicely, without being overwhelming.

I have noticed that chocolate also goes very well with puerh tea and if you want to try puerh, but are a bit afraid of it, you might want to look for some blended that way.  I hesitated about puerh for a long time, but brewed right, it is a very pleasant woodland earthy tea.  If it is brewed too long, some of us find it begins to edge more towards barnyard earthy.

Aah, Sweet Spice

I just can't leave this monastery, it was just so beautiful.

My friend from the Owego Briar Patch, who blends teas and was flooded out of her store, has re-opened in another town, but has the same e address www.owegobriarpatch.com . She has some very nice teas.  (I don't know why that address is not linking, it works elsewhere.)

Bigelow teas is having a "Black Friday" sale from now until November 30.  A lot of their nice gift things are about 20% off.

Finally, we are having a nice day.  It is cool, but the sun is shining brilliantly, making lovely shadows on the lawn.  I've been noticing again, the muted, but lovely palate of late Fall.  There are bits of color everywhere - the gold of Tamaracks, the greeny yellow of some bushes, the red candles of sumac and the blazing of burning bush.  There are still the bright browns of the oaks and a few beech trees.  Nature gives up slowly.

I have finally finished my Master Gardener Program.  I wish I could have attended more, as it was absolutely fascinating.  We had really top-notch people and even things like lawns were interesting.

When the weather turns cold, my thoughts, tea wise, turn to Chai.  I love the stuff, but it never seems right for the summer months.  I happened to have a sample of Samovar's Masala Chai, black tea on hand, so I brewed it up.  Their directions were quite good, but as usual my impatience won out.  I did brew it for 10 minutes ( yes, me) and it is a fine cup, with cream and sugar.  Everything in it, from cardamom to tea is organic, which is a big plus.  The dry tea smells wonderfully of cardamom, which has something of a lemony aroma.  Indeed, there were 4 fat pods in the packet.  There is not enough clove to ruin it for me - I am picky about clove - but there was lots of action from the ginger and pepper.  It was all very polite and not overwhelming.  I would say it's about a 6 on a 1-10 scale of spice.  Samovar's address is http://www.samovarlife.com/   It would be super with sweets, or a nice Indian meal.

Cha, Cha, Chai

I apologize for the paragraphing, Blogger is misbehaving again.


Another gray day in the neighborhood, but I see on the weather map we are about to have snow. It smells like it and the fur persons have been running in and out. There's an air of waiting outside and in spite of the gray, it is very bright.

We are in that awful period between ordering the plants and seeds for the spring and when you can start some seeds inside. It is always so heartening to see their little leaves poke up through the ground and amazing that these tiny 2 inch plants will become an 8 foot tomato vine. However, I have to wait until the end of February.

Today I am having a lovely tisane, sent from my friend Elizabeth in Canada. She is a fellow chocoholic and the tisane is President's Choice Chocolatey Chai. It has chicory, carob, spices, natural flavorings, cocoa shells, ginger, licorice root, stevia and cocoa, all packed in one small teabag. The bag comes in a wrapper, which has tiny pictures and written directions on how to brew this tea. It smells exactly like one of my favorite cookies - chocolate jumbles, which are thin, frosted chocolate spice cookies. It has a rich, deep aroma, which is pretty much how it tastes, with the chocolate, carob and chicory giving great depth and the spices rounding out a very tasty cup. My husband says it is very flowery and aromatic. This would be an excellent dessert tisane with some sugar cookies or pound cake.

I am making a sad comparison of this this with Golden Moon's Kahmiri Chai, made from black and green tea, cardamom, clove, cinnamon and spice oil. It smells very spicey and floral in the packet, with lemony hints from the cardamom. Unfortunately, it is very weak. The cardamom is the most forward spice, followed by the cinnamon. The flavor is well rounded and tasty. Perhaps if the sample had been larger, so the brew was stronger, I would have given it a higher rank. Compared to the other chai, this is a mere weakling. This comes from Golden Moon's sample pack of 30 different teas. My only complaint about the sampler is the samples are one cup only and kind of on the small side. However, I have had some truly excellent teas from them.

In spite of my quote a few days ago from MFK Fisher, I want no nasty comments about "boiled mice" and I am not drying this mouse to reuse it.

Back to the Blog!

Hello Tea Friends

I am back, but for a while it will be about 3 days a week. The anesthesia seems to have fried some of my brain circuits. Otherwise, I am doing well, almost no pain at all, just much too slow for someone used to zooming around, both mentally and physically.

One of the things I really like about tea is that it so many things all at once - comforting, warming, cooling, homey, exotic. Today I was storing my order from Thunderbolt Teas and I just felt exotic. All those strange little packages from half a world away, conjuring up elephants and tigers, oh my. And the neat rows of tea bushes, with women in beautiful, graceful saris, chattering away in an unknown dialect. It's warm there, too, as I look out on the falling snow and rather bleak landscape. I guess I had best have some tea. My brain is not yet up for too much thought on tea, so I won't have this lovely Darjeeling yet, but I will have something to conjure up those lovely gardens.

I don't usually buy decaf tea, but I got some in a tea swap and it sounded good, so I had some Celestial Seasonings Decaf Indian Spice Chai. It smelled lovely in the bag and certainly looked good. I have a new Panasonic hot pot, so I brewed it at 208 for about 5 minutes, I think. I got distracted, so who really knows. It has a very pleasant mild spice scent and I think the mix of spices is right on target, with nothing standing out, except for a bit more of a mildly heavy bottom note I wasn't sure of. There was a sense of chocolate, but no pepper. I found it to be nicely warming all the way down. I may actually have to buy some of this. I often mix my own spices and tea for chai, but this would be so convenient and I know I can get it right here in the village.

We have not one, but 3 little shops that carry teas. One has a small loose leaf and Celestial Seasonings selection, one has Republic of Tea and the other has PG Tips, so I am fixed for tea bags. The Library often has odd tea selections for our book group, so I can practically never leave home without some being handy.

Gyokuro and chai

Today I had some Gyokuro tea from my sample collection. This is the
famous and expensive shade grown green tea from Japan. The sample is from Upton's. I brewed it at 170 degrees for 90 seconds. When I opened the pkg, it smelled wonderful, spinachy and with a slight floral edge, very fresh and green. When I went to pour it out the spinach scent was more pronounced with a stronger green note. The tea looked very thick, almost soupy. So far, so good. Then I sipped it. I hated it! It tasted like bad spinach. I kept sipping it and rolling it around in my mouth. Still awful. So I did another infusion. Weaker, but I didn't like it one bit more. Perhaps it is just as well, as it is very expensive stuff.
Later today I am going to have some no name pinhead gunpowder that I bought in the Asian market in Albany, NY. I know I like that. I say it is no name because I cannot read the Chinese characters. I love to go to Asian markets and buy a bunch of teas. They are usually inexpensive, as these markets usually cater to ordinary folk. The packaging is always colorful and there is a sense of adventure becuase I never know what I am going to get.
I have to say this is not true of the Indian market teas. In the ones I have gone to, there is usually a small selection of Lipton's, red, yellow or green label. I don't think there is much difference between them, although I believe the green label is more expensive -$8 a pound. They usually are in tins. There is also another brand that is more Indian appearing, but the tea is about the same. They are all CTC -crush, torn, curled teas and brew up very quickly. That, however may be their only virtue.
Well, no, they are a good base for chai. The only chai I have ever had has been made by my young friend, Raj Devathala from the Hyderabad area of Southern India - that is the nearest big city we would recognize. It has always been excellent. Some of it's charm has of course, been the company, but it could certainly stand on its own and is a fitting finish to a fiery South Indian meal. The Devathalas tell me that Indians are so fond of excessively sweet things as they are because it is a perfect antidote to the fire. The fire and sweet even each other out to produce a nice sense of well-being after a meal. And this is definately true, as well as delicious.

Today's picture is of the mosaic on the ceiling of one of the churches in Ravenna, Italy, a city famous for mosaics. This particular church was built about 600 AD and the mosaics are still absolutely, jaw-droppingly glitteringly fanatastic! Absolutely superbly beautiful and worth every second you can spare to gawk. I could say this after a huge surfeit of church viewing.