Tea Surprises on a Rainy Day

An Austrian farmstead.

Wow, when we finally get rain, it is in abundance. I am so glad to

get it, but I hope we don't get the whole summer's worth in one shot. A perfect day for a pot of tea.

I am so pleased with my new teapot - no drips and it holds 7-8 cups. I filled it with Upton's Cecilliayan Estate Ceylon FBOPFEXSPL, to give it its full designation. The dry leaves are tiny, with an abundance of gold buds. It smells very fresh, with a typical Ceylon nose. I brewed it for 4 minutes, as instructed, but next time, I am going to cut it back a bit, as it was a touch tannic. The liquor was a dark red amber.

This was very interesting tea, as plain, I thought it was just so-so, a candidate for ice tea or dull mornings. However! When I added some cream to it the tea took a giant leap forward into very very good land. There was some nuttiness, some malt, a hint of fruit with an understory of oak leaves and floral notes on top. Wow! what an incredible difference, making it worthy of the ExSpl designation.

I have finally been able to do some teabook reading. One I have especially enjoyed is Time for Tea by Michele Rivers, published in 1995. It is stories of tea and conversation with 13 English women and girls, ranging in age from 6 to 80, from farmers' wives to the Marchioness of Bath, children, teens, shopkeepers, B&B owners, etc. Each one included a recipe, all sweets, all saying "Make me." One of the women talked about giving birth and having the nurse encourage her with the thought of the best cup of tea in the world awaiting. She said "It was! It was terrific."
It is a quick or thoughtful read, one to savor if you wish or just skim, and a wonderful glimpse of the lives of our sisters in tea.

Holding Back the Fall

On the plains of southern Austria, suddenly, there's a wall of rock!

Fall is beginning to let us know that it is coming. A few maples are
starting to have bits of red and gold and early morning can be quite chilly. I've detected a certain smell in the air you only get when autumn is in sight. I will be happy to have cooler weather, but not dark at 4 o'clock or all the cloudiness and gray.

I can hold on to the good parts of summer a while longer by having some Fruity Apricot tea from the Assam Tea Company. I must say, of the seven or eight samples I ordered, only one has not been all that good. The apricot is not one of them. What a treat to open the packet and be greeted with the deepest apricot scent, with hints of bubble gum. Almost as if the fruit were roasted. As it brewed - for just three minutes according to directions - the scent was mostly that of fresh tea with a nice blend of apricot. Sadly, no more bubblegum, though.

The brew tasted primarily of very fresh Assam tea, with a gentle accompaniment of apricot. Your taste buds won't get smacked around with this one, which is how I prefer any flavorings. I tried some iced and it was very nice that way, as the fruit lightened the tea somewhat. It struck me as a good drink to while away the afternoon, sitting on the porch, in the shade. My husband, of course, used sweetener and I have to say, this brought out the apricot very nicely. This would probably be really good with a dollop of apricot nectar, but I don't have any. I think I'll get some and try it.

That Darn Cat!

A trio of columns in the covered courtyard of an old, but still functioning, monastery. I like the idea of the quiet orderly passing of days that has existed for centuries. Perhaps because I am not either of those things.


That cat! Ernie, the skinny orange one with surely, porcine ancestors. Today I was cutting corn off the cob to make a black bean and corn salad and I had to fight him off! It seems that in addition to his love of all meats, Mexican and Italian food, salad and salad dressing, he loves corn! Since this is truly exquisite corn, he's not getting much.


I may give him some tea, though, as he likes that, too. I was at a friend's house recently who still has hundreds of rose blossoms, from his thousand or so roses. This inspired me to try Golden Moon's Rose Tea. It is a very pretty tea, black with rose petals and a gentle, exquisite scent. As it brews for 3.5 minutes, it gives off a wonderful, deep scent of rose - almost like the best Victorian potpourri. I can hardly wait to try it! Well phoo, it tastes like perfume! Not at all like tea. What a great disappointment! I tried some cream in it and that made it worse. Not even the Ernster liked it. Oh well, tomorrow has another tea waiting for me.

Rubber Ducky You're the One

Leaving Ravena by train, we noticed these poppies. They are all
along the train lines in all the waste spaces. This picture doesn't
adequately capture them, but they provide a lovely note in ugly spaces.




I have found a really delicious tea - Ceylon Symphony, from the Boston Tea Company, who kindly sent me samples to review. Ceyon tea often doesn't get many rave reviews, as it can be bland and is certainly a lot softer and mellower than, say, an Assam. It is often used in flavored teas, as it blends well with them. However, from first to last, this is a wonderful tea! When I first opened the packet I was struck by the scent - a fresh, deep winey aroma came off the deepish reddish black leaves. There was some sweetness there, too. I was going to brew it for 5 minutes - a great leap for me, but I got distracted and I know it went for at least 6, if not more. I really was afraid of what it would taste like, but it was a very pleasant surprise. There was none of that awfull tannic taste you get with overbrewed tea, but instead, a deep roasted herbal taste and scent. The tea was delicate and gentle but with that roasted depth to it. Truly superb.





Some bits of tea news - got to www.worldteaexpo.com/index and click on tea championship, you'll see this year's winners in the tea competitions in several categories.

Hop on over to http://www.teanewsdirect.com/ and click on tea books for a fairly long list of neat titles.

Over on http://teachat.teamoods.com/ there is an article about an Indian company that has purchased the remaining remnant of the old East India Company, returning indian property to Indian hands. A great day for them.

Last, but certainly not least, for all you rubber ducky fans, there is now such a critter for brewing a cuppa uppa - go to http://www.dcigifts.com/ and click on new to get you own "bird in the pond"

From Market to Garden

I am sorry for the lack of paragraphing. Blogger won't coop-
erate!


Wow! This looks like a giant's stack of blocks. I love the play of

shapes against each other.

Can you tell I loved this church?

At the Ithaca Farmer's Market, I told you I got a new teapot. I also picked up a flyer about the potter's wife's business. She is a Japanese tea ceremony master and offers this ceremony to the public. The cost is $12 per person. The web site is http://www.teaceremonyithaca.com/ I am going to get some of my friends together and do it. It is near the beautiful Buttermilk Falls. Ithaca is at the southern end of Cayuga Lake, one of the many Finger Lakes. Lots to see and do from shopping to great music to camping and hiking.

It is VERY cold in winter, but lovely the rest of the year.

Moving on to another continent, today I am having Sweet Orange Mate from the Local Tea and Coffee Shop in Sarasoata, FL. I received this in a tea swap. Mate is really an herb, but is often thrown in with the real stuff. It is grown primarily in Brazil and Argentina and some in other Sout American countries, where it is known as Yerba Mate. It does contain caffeine, but that seems to be of a gentler variety than what is in either coffee or tea. This offering contains both green and roasted Mate, along with licorice root, orange peels and orange blossoms. It has a very nice roasted sweet smell. I brewed it for about 6 minutes with water just off the boil, using about 1.5 teaspoons for a cup.

The orange was a very delicate accompaniment to the toasty, roasty, nutty flavor of the herb. It felt like something comforting and warming to my spirit, if not my body. I found it goes very nicely with milk and a touch of some sweetener brings out more of the orange flavor. An all around nice cup for a cool summer day. I am sure it would be even more welcome on a cold winter day.

To Market, To Market

Another solid door to the Ravenna Church.

Today we went to the very interesting Farmer's Market in Ithaca, NY. Not only is there every sort of fruit and veggie, but there were cheeses - including the best blue I've ever had - a sheep's milk one. There are potters and artists, vintners, bakers, flower sellers and a lot of food kiosks - mostly Asian, but Cuban, Macro, crepe, ice cream and juice bars. A lot of fun. My husband bought me a beautiful new teapot, very Oriental in feel. However, the only tea I had today was some iced Jasmine. This was at the Sri Lankan food kiosk, Curry in a Hurry. It was made from a black tea and had some ingredient in it that really reminded me of all the health food stores I had been in many years ago. Nevertheless, it was very refreshing and I liked the fact that it had a different twist.

I took a different twist with some Teavana Tea I won a while ago. It is Vidyaranya Darjeeling FTGFOP1. This is billed as a black tea, but was not good unless I treated it as a green tea and even then, I wasn't much taken with it. However, as an ice tea, it shines. It is a lovely pale gold which has a full mouth feel and tastes somewhat nutty and malty, unusual in a Darjeeling. Adding sugar or honey really brings out the flavor. As usual, I did this by the cold brew method, about 5 hours in the fridge. I love to do tea this way - nothing to think about other than measuring in the tea.

Ginger by the Light of the Moon

More Buttresses. I really liked the recurring pattern, different, yet the
same.

As we feared, no rain yet. Yesterday we visited frieds who have a bumper crop of elderberries. These were a great favorite of my family when I was growing up, so I have an equally great sentimental attachment to them. I am going to make a pie aand some eldererry sauce.

Another Golden Moon Tea for today. This one is White Ginger, with Yin Zhen buds and leaves and pieces of dried ginger. The tea smells nice and fresh, with just hints of ginger. The leaves are large and downy, with a good amount of buds and what seems like a lot of twigs. I brewed it for about 2 minutes with not quite boiling water. It came out a pretty tan. This is a delicate tea, as are all white teas. It is gently sweet, with what I would think of as the right amount of ginger - enough to compliment, but not over whelm the tea. High marks!