Wonderful, Wonderful

This is a diptych, meaning two panels, hung over the choir stalls in a church in Germany. I had such a good time in the European churches. They just made me happy and mostly, awe-struck with their beauty.



After having so much real fall weather - cool but often sunny, today is scalding hot - over 90. Not a true Indian Summer because we haven't had frost yet. The sunrise was beautiful this am, turning the trees pink. Moonrise last night was especially lovely as well, as the clouds played hide and seek with the moon. I really appreciate living where I can see these events.

I have new teas, so I just can't wait for it to be cool again.

As I mentioned earlier, one of my favorite tea merchants is Dream About Tea, a wonderful tea shop in Evanston, Illinois, that specializes in Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese teas. I have always gotten top-notch tea from them and this is no exception. Today's selection is Golden Silk, from the Yunnan Province of China. I reviewed last year's in January, but this is the 2010 crop. It is grown in the high mountains, which are ideal for tea cultivation and it is only the fine buds and first leaves from the first Spring plucking. It is an attractive tea, with large, almost black leaves and golden buds. I could not identify the smell of the dry leaves, but let me assure you, it is wonderful, like some exquisite food you can't wait to eat. Maybe a touch of very special well-aged wood.

I brewed it for 3 minutes with boiling water, using about 1.5 teaspoons per cup. I really should have weighed it, but I've gotten pretty good at guessing with big leaves. The scent of the brewing tea was very much Yunnan, but with a very smooooooth edge that carries a touch of floral. The brewed tea was a real shock. Usually you can describe Chinese teas as a "red" tea, as they do, because they are some sort of reddish brown, but this was such a dark brown I would have to call it black. Oh my, what a wonderful taste! Very Yunnan, but not the spicey sort. It is more woodsy with some honey around the edges and then has a touch of astringency to ground it. But it is the smoothest Yunnan I think I've ever had. Wonderful, wonderful. What's even more wonderful is it is only $7.00 for 2 ounces, which is quite inexpensive in this year's tea market.

Oh Canada!

This is Hilgenroth, Germany which I mentioned on Tuesday.

I have given up trying to match my tea to the weather. One day it is hot, the next, cold and mornings are definitely toe tinglers. Our trees are fast approaching peak coloration in some spots, with others kind of la-de-dahing around. It is my favorite time of the year. But so is spring and winter. Summer is tolerated as a necessity.

I put in a large order of one ounce samples to Culinary Teas and they came today, along with some nice samples of other things. So, of course, I have to dive right in. I chose Canadian Breakfast, as I had not heard of that blend before. We'll get to it soon, but first I wanted to tell you a bit about Culinary Teas. They have an amazing selection of what I might call British teas, some of which I think are the best of their type, like Lady Londonderry or today's trial. They sell one ounce sample of all their teas, so for not a huge outlay, you can try scads of teas. I love companies that sell in small lots, because if you get 4oz of something you hate, that is very expensive mulch.

On to Canada. I have done some traveling around in Canada and I highly recommend it. It is beautiful and the people are very nice. Which can also be said about this tea. The small dry leaves are chopped and give off an intriguing scent of wheat, asparagus and a touch of woodsiness. This aroma continues as it brews for about 3.5 minutes with 212 degrees water. It brews up to a really dark reddish mahogany, which is quite beautiful. In the cup, more of the woodsy smell comes out, which spills over into the taste. This is a smooth tea, with a good hit of malt, that woodsiness with some floral overtones and maybe a hint of roasted corn. It is delicious., a tea I'd really reach for in the morning or anytime on a cold raw day. It would definitely hold its own with a hearty breakfast or with some scones or desserts. I wouldn't brew it for more than 3.5-4 minutes, as I think it would get tannic.

I just finished a fun, small book - Steeped in the World of Tea. There is no editor listed nor any one author, as it was written by many people. It includes poetry, short reminiscences about tea, a few more factual essays and some bits about brewing tea. It is short and quite interesting, as the authors come from all over the world. It is the sort of book you can read an essay at a time, put it down and take it up again, without losing track of the flow of things.

A Great Disappointment

My many greats-grandfather Schaeffer came from here in the
great Palatinate emigration to the American colonies in 1710. This is Dickshied, Germany. I am standing in Hilgenroth, Germany, where his wife was from. I like knowing my roots.



I also like knowing where my tea is coming from and some vendors do a really good job with that, others don't. I ordered some Golden Pearls from Teas Etc. and all it says is that it is "an elegant smooth hand-rolled Chinese black tea. However, they no longer have it on their website, so I can't find out any more. This makes me wonder - did they not get much or is this last year's tea?

I reviewed this last year on Aug. 9 and gave it really high marks, as it was exquisite. This however, is rather hum drum, with few nuances, an ok smell and nothing to excite me. It's maybe even a touch sour or acrid. Rats, I thought I was getting something wonderful and it's below ordinary. I will try it on another day and hope for the best.







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Birthday Party!

I love the half timbering on these houses. I love the fact they've been there for 400 years.

I got my new license today - good for 8 years. It should be - it cost enough. I even look good. Most of the time I either look crazy or like some criminal. I don't know why that is, but it seems to happen to most people.

Tonight there is a birthday party at our house for 4 of us friends who are celebrating this month. There will be at least 2 cakes and of course, tea! I am letting people choose their own, as most are not much into tea or only drink herbal or decaf. I made a maraschino cherry nut pond cake ans I think there will also be a pineapple upside down one as well. These two are my husband's favorites, so he's in heaven.

However, this afternoon I had some tea from Simpson and Vail, Kenya Milima Estate Black. Dry there wasn't a lot of scent and the leaves were tiny. At first I thought they were the little CTC ones, but after they brewed I could see they were just chopped. I used heaping spoonfuls and I was only going to brew it for 2 minutes, but got distracted, so it went for about 3.5. Oh oh, I thought, but I was pleasantly surprised, as the tea was almost sweet and definitely mild and pleasant. It smelled almost of chocolate, with a very deep dark cherry edge. None of that came out in the taste, sadly, but this would definitely make a nice afternoon tea.

Who's Your Favorite?

A German street scene in Bacharach, a Rhine River town.

Cold and gray today, perfect for tea. I have some samples from Gingko at Life in Teacup to try and I thought I'd do her 2010 Red Tea Dan Cong. The leaves are huge and wiry, about 2.5 inches long. In the packet they have a rich strong grain-like smell, with some tree bark thrown in.

I covered the bottom of my Vietnamese mug's infuser with leaves and then threw in a few more, as I wasn't sure at all of how many to use. I brewed them for about 2.5 minutes, with boiling water. As you might expect, they barely unfurled. But they are wondrously large and some are only 1 bud and a leaf, while others are the more usual 2 leaves and a bud.

The brew is an old gold color and there isn't a lot of scent. What there is still smells of grain with a bit of floral and citrus. The taste is unlike any tea I've had, it is very light, again with a grainy taste and a little bit more of the citrus/floral coming through. Intriguing. It almost doesn't taste like tea, but with the next sip, I think, definitely a China tea. As it cools, more of a woody flavor comes through.

I brewed this a second time, for about 3.5 minutes. The color remains the same, but the scent seems to have faded. This one's taste is definitely woody-floral with just the barest hint of citrus. Definitely a really interesting and very good tea. I would not serve it with food, as its nuances deserve to be noticed all on their own.

A while ago I was trying to name my ten favorite teas and failed miserably, as there are far too many of them. But I can do my 10 favorite merchants: Upton's, Simpson and Vail, Life in Teacup, Aura Teas, Culinary Teas, Thunderbolt for Darjeelings, The Tea Spot, The Tea Smith, Harney's, Damman Freres. There, only 10. I won't mention the others, since I said I would do 10. Now it is your turn, I would really like to hear from you, dear readers, about your favorite teas or tea merchants.

Oh, Happy Day

An ancient carved pulpit, about 10 feet above the floor of the
church in St Goar, Germany, an old Rhine River port. It is just past what once was the treacherous waters of the Lorelei Rocks. Sailors making it through this passage would burn offerings or give money to some pagan diety for safe passage. St. Goar, an Irish missionery, thought the church might prosper and so, he established a mission here. Today, going through the Lorelei by boat mostly involves the captain playing an awful recording of the famous song, to which everyone sings along. Tacky, but fun.

It's always a good day when the tea is good. We went to lunch at what is becoming our favorite local Asian buffet, the Buffet Star on Old Vestal Road in Binghamton, NY. The tea today was really good. A very dark roast Oolong, with a lovely smokey scent and taste that really went very well with the food. I still haven't been able to find anyone there who speaks enough English to tell me the brand.

Later we had a very nice Upton's Keemun sample from last year, which I already reviewed. It has been so cool that a sturdy black tea is very appealing.

The deer are beginning to form herds and the yearling bucks are beginning to get horns, along with their winter coat, which is mostly a drab tan. A few of the younger ones still have summer's red, but it won't be for long. All three of the fawns have pretty much lost their spots. they come to graze in our backyard and on the edges of our road, so we can see all the changes they go through. They are beautiful animals, but I don't feel very kindly towards them when they eat my flower buds.

The Elusive Earl

More ancient frescoes. I believe this and the one from last week are both
from St. Peter's Church in Bacharach, Germany.

Our weather is keeping us alert. Today started out warm and sunny, then got very cold, poured down rain and then threw in some humongous hail to make sure we were on our toes. Now it is sunny and warm again. The cats informed us that this was certainly not acceptable. The geraniums in front are looking very sad from the beating they received.

Those kind folks at Boston Tea Company sent me more free samples to try! The first one up is Earl Grey Citrus. Earl Grey is one of my all time favorites. and I was eager to try this. It is a mix of Assam tea from India, bergamot, blue flower petals and orange peel bits, making it on the pretty side. The leaves are dark and small, which means they are probably chopped, as Assam plants have very large leaves.

The scent in the packet was wonderful, very strong, sharp bergamot with an almost equally hefty citrus aroma. Wow, I thought, what am I getting myself in for, here? I brewed it up with a heaping teaspoon per cup, for 31/2 minutes with boiling water. As it brewed, all the bergamot and citrus went away! Oh no! However, the Assam smelt wonderful, clean and clear and fresh.
When I finally sipped some, there was no bergamot taste, but a very nice citrus one, very muted. The tea base was excellent, however. Phoo, I was hoping for more.

I have begun to wonder if the bergamot that tea makers have available to them is of lesser quality than it used to be. If you've been reading this for a while, you know I've been trying a lot of them and my most constant complaint is the lack of flavor. Great smell, but not much in the cup. If it were only one or two, well, everyone has an off day, but instead it is only a few who have the flavor.

This weekend a group of friends is getting together to celebrate birthdays and share life stories. The birthday folk get 10 minutes and 10 pictures to convey their life. Yikes, I've lived too long, how can I squeeze it all in?